27. Twenty-Seven
“Daniel!”
Stella’s alarmed cry brought him out of the hidden room in his grandfather’s study where he’d been racking his brain to figure out any additional clues.
He kicked the camouflaged door closed behind him just as she darted inside. “What’s wrong?”
Stella waved behind her. “A strange man’s out there! Lucas was getting the wood and—”
His pulse railroaded through his veins and sent a shock up his spine. He bolted past her and into the hallway before a single panicked word breached his tight throat. “Lucas?”
If he’d been taken…
Why hadn’t he insisted Mabel and Lucas stay somewhere else until he unraveled this mess of trouble?
“He’s fine.” Stella caught his elbow as he snatched the doorknob. “I have him up in my room.” She wagged her head. “Lucas said he saw the same man we talked to in an alley a few days back.”
The heat thrumming through him turned cold. “What man? Why wasn’t I informed about this?”
She wrung her hands. “Didn’t think much about it at the time. Lucas saw a hobo and worried about the man not having anything to eat. I made him come along but told the hobo he could get something to fill his belly at Mama’s. Then we went on our way. Didn’t even see him good in that dark alley. Don’t know how he’d know where we live.”
Could he be the same man who had snooped around the house? How else could he have known where Lucas lived? Had men been following the boy too?
Daniel pivoted and started up the stairs to check on Lucas and Mabel. With his nephew safely inside, he didn’t need to rush out into the darkness without a weapon or a plan to search for a kidnapper.
He met Buck and Finn on the landing. They shared a room at the end of the hall since Violet and Daisy hadn’t minded moving in with Stella for a short time. Camilla had insisted she needed a night alone with Hattie for women’s talk, so she planned to come tomorrow.
Daniel gestured to the crewmen. “You two head back to Hattie’s and get Camilla.”
At least he wouldn’t need to decide between going after her and staying here to keep watch over Lucas and the other women.
Finn scratched his head. “What for?”
So Daniel could keep her close. Make certain she stayed safe. Solomon could surely protect her. But he needed the peace of mind of seeing that for himself. “Something suspicious is going on, and we need to all be together. Safety in numbers and all. Tell Solomon and his mother to come along as well. We need to plan.”
Buck’s eyes widened, and he gripped Finn’s shoulder, stifling any protest the other man might make. Not that he seemed inclined to objection. Both men bounded past him down the stairs without further questions. Their loyalty to their captain extended past the riverbanks.
“Wait!” Daniel jogged down after them and then into the study. He couldn’t send them off without a means of defending themselves, should trouble meet them on the way.
He found what he needed in the second drawer of Grandfather’s desk. He only had two pistols in the house, so he couldn’t give a weapon to each man, but hopefully, they wouldn’t need one at all.
He hefted the revolver and checked the cylinder. Full. He snapped it closed and joined the men in the entry hall.
He thrust the gun toward the older of the two. “Take this.”
Buck shook his head. “I promised never to hold a weapon again.”
Too much emotion clogged those words for Daniel to explore, so he lifted the pistol toward Finn.
The redhead had no such hesitation and tucked the weapon inside his jacket. Solemn eyes caught fire in their blue depths. “We’ll fetch the others and be back as quick as we can.”
Daniel grasped Finn’s shoulder. “Be careful.”
They hurried out the front door, and after engaging the lock behind them, Daniel took the stairs two at a time. He found Stella, Daisy, Violet, Mabel, and Lucas crammed into Stella’s room. Mabel stared out the window, fiddling with a long strand of golden beads around her neck. Daisy, Violet, and Stella huddled near the wardrobe, speaking in hushed tones.
Lucas jumped up and down on the mattress, making a mess of the bedclothes and leaving dirt and leaves on the blanket.
All eyes turned to Daniel. Stella whispered to the two younger girls, and they scurried out, each with a wide-eyed stare.
He caught Daisy as she passed. “You girls stay upstairs. Don’t go outside.”
Daisy blinked large dark eyes. “All right, Mr. Gray. We’ll stay put.”
He nodded his thanks and closed the door behind them.
“Lucas.” Daniel kept his tone light. “Let’s have a little talk.”
The boy flopped down to sit cross-legged in the center of the bed. “Are you going to ask me about that homeless fella too?”
“I am. And I need you to tell me every single thing you remember.”
“All right.” He scrunched his nose. “I was playing with my yo-yo, trying to get it to come back up and not just drop down each time. It’s not much fun when you only get to watch it go down, and then you have to wind it back up.”
Daniel patted the boy’s shoulder. “How about we start with when you went outside to get the firewood.”
“Yes, sir.” Lucas found a dried leaf and crumbled it between his fingers. “Stella told me to put up the toy and get on with my chores, so I did like she said. I lit the lamp we keep by the back door and made sure both of my shoes were tied.”
Daniel clenched his teeth and forced himself not to interrupt. He had told the boy to tell him everything. A child his age had no way of knowing how to separate important facts from the mundane.
“I went outside, and I checked to see that the door closed behind me. Stella don’t like it if I forget that part because she says I invite all the outside bugs to come on in and make themselves comfortable in our kitchen where they don’t belong.”
Lucas glanced at Stella, who encouraged him to continue.
“I got down the steps and about halfway to the woodpile when someone said ‘Psst, lad.’ I stopped because I couldn’t see him real good. I thought about running back to the kitchen, but then I figured a bad man wouldn’t have called out to me. Bad guys in stories are always sneaky, and they grab children without announcing their presence.”
Daniel crossed his arms. Lucas had a point. But why come talk to a child if he didn’t have nefarious intentions?
He’d tried not to worry the others, since so far, the only thing to rouse suspicion had been a faint cigarette smell and a barking dog. He should have warned Stella not to let Lucas out of her sight.
“Then the man said he’d talked to me before. I was kind to him and Miss Stella gave him a free meal, so he came to thank me. I thought it was a little strange he knew where I lived, but he seemed nice so I stayed.” He puffed his chest. “I’m real smart, though, Uncle Danny. Just like my father taught me, I kept out of reach in case he thought about trying to grab me. But he didn’t do nothing. Just stood there sticking his hands in his pockets like you always do when you’re thinking about something super hard.”
Stella cocked an eyebrow.
“That’s a good observation. Thank you.” Daniel jabbed his fingers through his already mussed hair. “Then what happened?”
Lucas plucked at the blanket. “I told him he could come in to eat. That’s probably why he came, him being hungry again and all, and I knew y’all grown-ups would want to know about a man in our yard.”
“You should have run away as soon as you saw him.” Mabel’s tight words made Lucas hunch forward, but she never took her focus off the window to notice.
Daniel cut her a glance she didn’t see. “Go on, Lucas. What did the man do next?”
“He told me I should tell Mama to take me somewhere fun.” He cocked his head. “But he said it funny like. He said ‘mum’ instead of mom or mama.”
A tingle snaked along Daniel’s spine. British. Like the man who’d come onto the Alma May after it ran aground. The man they’d described to the detective. Could that also be the cigarette man? “Do you remember what he looked like? Or what clothing he wore?”
Lucas tilted his head, mouth puckered. “He had brown hair and…blue eyes. Maybe green? But not brown. And he had on a jacket with a…white shirt under. No tie. No hat.”
Could be the same man. “Did he smell like he smokes tobacco?”
“Don’t remember.”
“That’s all right. You’re doing well.” He patted the boy’s shoulder. “And the man said you should tell your mother to leave?”
Mabel remained silent, her focus stubbornly set on the window. Why would the men who’d been following them give a warning to the boy and not one of the adults? Or had Mabel received one and ignored it?
Lucas swung his feet and knocked them along the side of the bed frame. “I told him you had already asked Mama to go away and she told you no. If I asked, I’d just get in trouble. He got upset and said bad men were coming, so it was important I told her. He didn’t tell me why. Then Stella called me, and he disappeared.”
Stella rubbed her hands along her arms. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have sent him out there by himself.”
“This is my fault, not yours. I should have told you about my suspicions of being followed. I didn’t want to worry anyone—and look what could have happened.” Daniel stood from where he’d crouched by the bed. “Mabel? Do you know anything about this?”
She snatched her head around. “Why would I know anything about strange men in our yard?”
He glared his silent question, and she clamped her jaw. Fine. They would discuss it in private. He focused on his nephew.
“I’m thankful you’re safe. But let’s not talk to strangers who show up in the dark from now on. People who don’t announce themselves in the light don’t have honorable motives. Understand?”
Lucas nodded, big eyes sad. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t want anyone to go hungry. That’s awful. Your stomach growling and gnawing so hard you want to cry but you know you shouldn’t.” He wagged his head. “No one should have to feel like that.”
What? How would the boy know anything about that kind of hunger?
“Enough, Lucas.” Mabel stalked past Stella and held out her hand. “Come with me to our room.”
He scooted off the bed with downcast eyes and took his mother’s hand. Daniel followed them out of the room and down the hall.
Someone had opened the gaslights on high, banishing every possible shadow. The incident must have rattled Stella enough to push past her normal frugal ways.
Mabel opened the door to the room their grandmother once used, ushered Lucas inside, then closed it, and faced Daniel with a stiff spine.
Words leapt out of him. “What does Lucas know about being so hungry his stomach gnawed?”
His sister notched her chin. “I’m surprised he remembers so far back. And anyway, he’s exaggerating.”
“You never said you and Lucas Sr. were having financial troubles.”
She toyed with her necklace. “Men do have their pride, you know. He had a bad year, but he made it right. Promised he’d take care of me, and I’d never go without again. He made good on that.” She stabbed him with a glare. “I won’t go back to that situation ever again. Wondering if we will be able to eat.”
That explained why she’d been so determined to stay in Grandfather’s house. He’d missed a lot when he’d buried himself in his practice. He shifted the topic back to the matter at hand. “Where did you go today?”
“To see a friend.” She swallowed, but her eyes remained defiant.
“What sort of friend?”
“Why does that matter to you?” After reading his features, she drew a long breath and let it out slowly. “Look, I know you mean well. But I told you, I can handle things.”
His fingers curled against his palm. “So ‘handling things’ is strange men talking to your son and telling him bad men are coming? What if Lucas had been taken, Mabel? What then?”
“What about you?” she snapped. “You knew about men coming to my house and about someone lurking around here and you never said anything! You knew something could have happened to Lucas going around at night by himself, and you couldn’t even be honest with me then! All you do is give me orders and expect me to obey them without telling me what’s going on.”
The accusations landed with knifing blows. She was right. He should have told her. Why did he always think he could handle everything on his own?
Guilt wrenched through him. He called himself a man of faith, but he’d charged forward without praying for wisdom or seeking God’s will in any of the decisions he’d made in the past year. Perhaps that, and not God’s punishment, had caused some of the trouble crouching at their doorstep.
“I’m sorry, Mabel.” He sought and held her gaze. “I should have told you about the men who came to your house that day and the reason I kept hunting for treasure despite the abysmal odds of finding lost gold. And I should have told you I suspected someone had been sneaking around our home. Lucas being in danger tonight is my fault. Please forgive me.”
At length, her shoulders fell. Then the hard lines around her mouth softened. Her chin quivered. “No one is going to hurt Lucas.”
“How do you know?”
“He promised.” She twisted her hands together.
“He?” Daniel unlocked his clenched teeth. “I need you to tell me the entire truth.”
Mabel’s eyes flashed like she wanted to throw his concealment of pertinent information in his face, and she pressed her lips together.
“I should have told you sooner, and again, I’m sorry for not being more forthright.” He touched her elbow. “But this keeps getting worse. First the brutes saying we had to pay off a debt. Then someone following me. Now this with Lucas. Have you known about this trouble all along?”
“Some of it.” Tears glistened, but her posture remained stiff. “I found out about my husband’s business associates after he died. He only did what he had to for us. His family. They shouldn’t have killed him for it. I learned who he worked for. He has a house here in Natchez.”
“Who does?” Daniel’s stomach churned, but he did his best to keep his emotions from showing.
He must have failed, because Mabel planted her hands on her hips. “Mr. Durkin has taken a liking to me. He knows I didn’t know anything about what happened. He feels sorry some of his men acted too rashly. He’s going to make it up to me. He has the authority to make all of this go away. Just trust me, will you?”
“And in exchange?” Daniel gripped her arm. “What does he want from you to make it all go away?”
“That’s none of your concern.”
“The devil, it isn’t!” He released her and stepped back, heat boiling in his chest. Rash words never helped. He hadn’t lost control of his tongue like that in years.
She shied back and scuffed her shoe against the carpet running the length of the hall.
Blast his temper. He jabbed his fingers through his hair. He wouldn’t be like their father, regardless of how angry he became. He gentled his tone. “Forgive me. I shouldn’t have spoken so crassly.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed. After a few tense heartbeats, she wiped out the mark she’d scraped into the carpet.
“Men like that are dangerous, Mabel.” He let all his fear for her hang on his words. “They take and they don’t give. One wrong move, and you end up with bruises or worse. I’ve seen it a dozen times in my profession. Promise me you won’t go back to see him again.”
“Without the money, there isn’t…” She rubbed her eyes when her voice cracked. The defiance leaked out of her, and her resignation knifed into Daniel’s heart. “This is the only way I can pay the debt and protect my son.”
“That’s a lie.” Daniel tipped her chin so she could read the truth in his gaze. “He wants you to think you don’t have a choice, but you do. I’m here. We’ll find a way out of this.”
But without the treasure, how would they pay anything back? They’d need help.
Lord, please.
His heart cry came out paltry at best. But perhaps God would have mercy on him.
He took a step back and let a little of his inner desperation seep into his words. “Tomorrow morning, we are going to talk to Detective McCready. Let the law bring justice.”
Her eyes flared at the edges, a gasp slipping loose. “No. You can’t—”
“Think of Lucas.” His soft words halted her protest. “His mother living as a criminal’s mistress, always on edge, wondering if any perceived slight might get her harmed? At least until her lover grows tired of her and tosses her aside for the next woman without a penny to her name? Then what will happen to your son?”
Mabel’s lips quivered.
He pushed on. She had to see. Needed to understand. “Can you risk your son growing into a young man with criminals around to influence him? What happens when he’s old enough to get brought into the operation? When that’s the only way to make sure his mother stays safe?”
She squeezed her eyes shut. Tears leaked down her cheeks. “All right.”
“Good. We’ll go over everything once we are all here. Gather our information so in the morning we can—”
Something banged downstairs and they both jumped. He ushered Mabel into the room. “Stay here. Stay quiet. I won’t let anyone upstairs.”
As soon as he heard the lock engage, he bolted to the stairs. Someone banged a fist on the door. Did he have time to get to the other pistol? Why hadn’t he already put it in his pocket? He needed to be more logical. Make sure he—
“Mr. Gray! Open up!”
Finn?
“Solomon’s hurt!”
Daniel dashed down the remainder of the stairs, tripped on the last one, and landed hard on his knees. Ignoring the pain, he gained his feet.
Finn pounded on the door again.
Daniel flung it open to find Buck and Finn sweating and heaving, Solomon propped up between him. Blood seeped between the big man’s fingers, clutched to his side.
“My baby!” A tiny woman scooted around them, her face pinched in terror. This must be Hattie, Solomon’s mother. “The doctor. We need a doctor!”
Daniel ushered them inside, the sharp scent of blood clogging his senses. “To the parlor. Put him on the couch in there.” He glanced out the door, and his chest tightened. Oh no. “Where is Camilla?”
The elderly woman wrung her hands, tears rolling down her face. “They done took her! Shot my boy and took her.”
Daniel’s stomach hit his toes. His chest constricted as though his heart had been ripped away and his body fought to hold on.
Please, God. No.
If anything had happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.