Epilogue
The jeweler was a tiny man who wore some of the thickest spectacles that Ethan had ever seen. He peered down at the ring and Diane’s finger, his eyes hugely magnified by the lenses.
“Yes, I can see this ring is a few sizes too large,” he said in a fussy voice.
“Yes, but can you adjust it?” Ethan asked.
The man looked up, his eyes now appearing owlish. A frown knitted his brows together in consternation. “Of course I can.”
“Wonderful,” Diane said. “What do we need to do to get that process underway?”
The jeweler fiddled for a while under his counter and pulled out a set of metal rings on a loop. He selected one and slipped it onto Diane’s finger.
While they were busy, Ethan decided to take a walk around and look at the rest of the store’s wares.
Thomas was peering into a glass cabinet that held engagement rings. He straightened up when Ethan approached. “Just looking to see what there is,” he said a little nervously.
“Planning for when your lady friend arrives?” Ethan asked.
“Clary? Yes, she’s coming in a couple of weeks, she said,” Thomas said. “But she wrote and said I don’t have to fetch her from the station.” He frowned. “I wonder what that is about.”
“I suppose you’ll find out in a couple of weeks,” Ethan said with a shrug.
Thomas grinned. “I guess so. I can only hope that Clary and I get along like you and Diane do.”
Ethan patted his shoulder. “I’m sure she’s going to love you, Thomas.”
With a happy smile playing on his lips, Thomas resumed his inspection of the rings.
Ethan walked around to where Warren and Dorothy were. They’d come with them to San Antonio, having business of their own to conduct there.
“Oh, aren’t those earrings charming?” Dorothy asked.
“Yes, they are,” Warren said, considering some little pearl studs.
“We won’t be much longer,” Ethan said.
“It’s fine; we’re not starving,” Dorothy replied.
“Speak for yourself,” Thomas said. “I’m always hungry.”
“It’s all that height you have to eat for, right?” Warren asked with a grin.
Thomas smiled and patted his stomach. “You bet.”
Diane walked over to Ethan. “It’s going to take him two weeks to make the alterations.”
“All right then. We’ll come back and pick it up. Should we go? We can hopefully get a good table for lunch,” Ethan suggested.
Warren and Dorothy nodded.
They filed out of the doorway and into the street. It was a bright, warm day with a few white, fluffy clouds drifting lazily by in the cool breeze.
Ethan was about to head along the street to the hotel when Diane stopped. He was holding her hand, and her abrupt stop jerked him back. “What’s wrong?”
“That man,” Diane said. “The one I met the other day. He’s watching us.”
Dorothy and Warren turned to look in the direction Diane was looking. Thomas turned too, squinting in the sun’s glare. Diane raised a hand and waved to the man. He frowned, and then a strange look crossed his face. As it did, he hastily turned and began to walk off in the other direction at speed.
“Oh my goodness!” Dorothy exclaimed. “It can’t be, can it?”
“I don’t know; it certainly looks like it,” Warren said.
“We must speak to him,” Dorothy said.
“What’s going on?” Ethan asked.
They ignored him and set off, walking down the street, weaving between the other pedestrians.
“I don’t understand,” Diane said, frowning. “Do they know him?”
“I guess they do,” Ethan said, watching Warren and Dorothy make their way down the street after the man.
“Should we follow them?” Thomas asked.
“Yes, we should go,” Diane said urgently. “Dealing with people like that takes a lot of finesse. I don’t know if Warren and Dorothy have the necessary experience.”
“Point taken,” Ethan agreed, and they set off after their friends.
It took them a couple of moments to catch up to Warren and Dorothy, who were making steady headway in catching up to the old man. He was limping, and he looked to be in distress.
“Warren, what’s going on?” Ethan asked. He wasn’t comfortable with this at all.
The old man suddenly ducked down an alley, disappearing from sight. Dorothy and Warren followed him with grim determination. Thomas, Ethan, and Diane followed them, confused and worried.
As they reached the alley, Dorothy called out, “Mac … please! We’ve been so worried about you. Please! Stop running away from us!”
“It’s Warren and Dorothy! You know us,” Warren called when there was nothing but silence.
“You raised me!” Dorothy said hopelessly. “Please tell me you remember that.”
More silence.
The alley was empty, apart from a whole lot of crates, boxes, and barrels of garbage.
Ethan looked around, wondering where on earth Mac had gone. There wasn’t a way out of the alley at the far end that he could see. Which meant that Mac was still there, but not talking to them. “Isn’t Mac supposed to be in New York?” Ethan asked.
“Yes, but he’s been missing for well over a month now,” Dorothy said.
“Most of the correspondence we sent off today was asking the authorities to get involved and look for him. We’ve been so worried.
Warren and I were going to catch a train back to New York.
I can’t even get hold of my aunt Sadie anymore. Something has gone wrong back east.”
A glass bottle tinkled as it fell over and then began to roll down the alley. Then a white face with a mop of graying hair appeared, rising above a stack of crates.
“Something happened to Sadie?” Mac asked, emerging from his hiding place.
Dorothy walked forward. “It seems so. But we’re so glad we found you. What is going on?” she asked, reaching him and taking his hand in hers.
Mac seemed to sag. “I can’t believe it. I’ve been railroaded out of my own company. The snakes were hiding right there in the grass the whole time, but I didn’t see it.” He shook his head. “You’re all in danger. All of you in Unity. There’s a spy among you, and I don’t know who it is.”
“A spy?” Ethan asked, his blood running cold.
He thought of the papers he had taken from the dead man in the smelter.
He had given them to Michael and Andrew and been sworn to secrecy.
From the looks on Warren and Dorothy’s faces, they didn’t know about the spy, although Ethan already did.
The papers pointed to someone having opened the gate and let the three men and their explosives in.
Should he say something now?
“Ethan, is everything okay?” Diane asked.
He shook his head. “I kind of thought there had to be more to the smelter explosions,” he said, telling what was technically a white lie. “That’s all.”
“Well, that’s not much of a leap of faith since we found that dead man right before the floor caved in,” Thomas said. “He certainly didn’t get in by accident. Him or his friends.”
Mac looked confused. “Something happened to the smelter?”
Ethan told him a very summarized version of events. “We were lucky to survive.”
Mac considered his words. “Okay. Here’s what needs to happen. I have to stay here in town. I’m trying to find El Aguila and everyone in his employ.”
“Do you think he’s here?” Diane asked, looking around a little nervously.
Mac chuckled dryly. “Goodness, no! I think he’s in New York.
But if we’re going to have a chance of taking him down, we need to sniff out his whole organization.
We need to see exactly how deep and far the rot goes.
We need to find everyone involved and bring them all to justice.
The jails will overflow with his men once we’re done. ”
“Or the cemeteries will,” Thomas said wryly. “He doesn’t seem to care too much about his men. He sends them against us like they’re ants he doesn’t care about squashing.”
“That’s true,” Warren said.
Mac made a vague gesture. “Well, however it goes, we need to know everything we can about this man and all of his subordinates, and that’s what I’m here trying to find out. He has people here. That’s how he knows so much about what goes on. That and his spy in town.”
“Come with us to Unity,” Dorothy said. “Please. I’m so worried about you.”
He patted her cheek. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. But we have to cut this short. We can meet up again when you come to town.”
Thomas shifted, looking nervous. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”
Mac smiled. “Yes, I’ll be fine. Now, excuse me, but I’ve got to disappear and act like a harmless, lost old man.”
“How will we find you?” Dorothy asked. “We need to keep in touch.”
“Like I said, you can find me when you come to San Antonio,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye out for you.”
She sighed. “Fine.”
They parted ways, heading to lunch. The talk was limited since no one felt safe speaking openly. The fun outing had been ruined.
After lunch, they set off back to Unity. Alone on the road, they began making plans to keep Mac’s whereabouts a secret until they knew who they could trust.
Ethan had the strange feeling that things were finally coming to a head. Soon, they find El Aguila, and he would pay for everything he’d done.
Taking Diane’s hand, he mused that by the time they were married and their children were born someday, El Aguila’s tyranny would be a thing of the past. It made him happy to know that.
As they arrived back in town, he put his arm around Diane’s shoulders, praying for a safe and happy future for them and all the citizens of Unity.
Thank you so much for reading our book. We sincerely hope you enjoyed every bit reading it. We had fun creating it and will surely create more.