11. A Shore Thing #2
As I step back, it’s as if a switch has been flicked off, the tension in the room easing.
Grunting, Captain Night stands and pulls on his jacket.
The blue of it sways around him as he strides toward Jack, taking a piece of parchment.
I frown, watching as Astra’s expression wars with itself.
Despite the alarm bells ringing, I want to ask what’s going on, why I’ve been brought here, but I press my lips into a thin line and bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep quiet.
“How much have you told him?” Adelphine asks.
Captain Night turns and surveys me for a long beat before shaking his head. “We haven’t,” he admits.
Adelphine pushes back her chair before standing and rounding the desk. “Laszlo,” she says, coming toward me, “I’m sure you have heard many things in your week aboard She Deceitful. Tell me honestly: What do you know?”
I swallow, searching for an answer among the familiar faces in the room. “I—I don’t understand.” And I don’t. I don’t know why I’m here in this room with these people. I don’t know why Captain Night still hasn’t killed me, and I don’t understand what’s going on.
The woman stops before me and touches my arm, her expression softening. “You seem kind, Laszlo, which, in this business, is not as unusual as you may think. But kindness only goes so far. I will ask you once more: What do you know?”
My pulse pounds in my fingertips, and I can feel the weight of her question on my shoulders as they all focus on me.
I think back to Astra and Captain Night, to the two of them and Jack disappearing into the captain’s cabin with a piece of parchment from the merchant ship.
Flinching, I hear the bang of the pistol like it happened moments ago.
“I don’t…” I sigh, running a hand down my face. “I don’t know, honestly. I do know it involves the three of them, and whatever they were looking for wasn’t aboard the ship we raided. And the only way to get whatever information they needed was to kill the captain.”
Adelphine rounds on Captain Night. “You killed the captain? I needed him!”
“I had to!” Captain Night roars. I can practically taste my pulse on my tongue, the du-dum of it in my throat as the room stills and silences. Captain Night’s chest heaves, his expression furious. “It was the only way. I can’t have people sailing around, asking questions after me.”
Adelphine pinches the bridge of her nose. “If we’re not careful, someone will find out, sooner or later.”
Captain Night’s features twist as if he’s being tormented. His hands ball into fists and he takes a step forward. “No one will find out. They won’t know anything has happened until he’s dead. I’m certain of it.”
Until who is dead? What have I gotten myself into? Now I’m more certain than ever that this is no ordinary pirate crew.
“If you aren’t careful and this links back to me and this place…” she warns, trailing off.
Captain Night nods curtly. “It won’t happen, I promise you.” There is surety in his tone, and even I believe him.
Sighing, Adelphine crosses past Jack and Astra, stopping before Captain Night. With short, careful fingers she accepts the piece of parchment. She spins on her heel and holds it out to me. Frowning, I take it.
Unraveling it, I squint down at the fine script.
My vision blurs for a moment, the beginnings of a headache coming on as I stare down at large letters swooping across the page in black ink.
I notice distinctly that, unlike my own writing in the logbook, there are no ink splotches on this piece.
In fact, I think that might be a bit of blood at the corner, and I try desperately not to read into it, instead scanning over the words.
“This is a ship manifest,” I say after a moment.
I peek at Captain Night, but Adelphine is already taking the paper from my hands and handing it back to Astra. They tuck it into the inside pocket of their waistcoat, tilting their chin up.
But I don’t understand. The secrecy, the quiet, the sneaking around, the raid. All for a manifest? What’s on that manifest that would be considered important enough to kill for? What information are they after?
Astra pushes off the wall, and Adelphine, with a nod to them, retreats to her seat behind her desk. Expression carefully blank, Astra rounds on me, and I lean away, hands in the air. Captain Night may have an air of dominance, but Astra has the air of someone ready to kill. I swallow hard.
“Wh-what is this? What does that ship manifest have to do with me? Why am I even here?”
“Why is he here?” Astra asks, swiveling to Captain Night.
“I trust him,” Captain Night says, gaze trained on me. I meet his deep brown eyes, confused.
Why? Why does he trust me?
Against all odds, he has helped me time and time again. When he let me stay aboard his ship, when he gave me a job, cared for me while I was sick, caught me in the boat, caught me again in the waters at the beach.
But the anger rolling off Astra now is poisonous. Why did I ever think I could find a place in this world? I’ve been fooling myself.
“My ex-fiancé,” Astra finally says.
I blink. “Sorry, come again?”
“Two years ago,” Astra says, “I was stood up at the altar by my then-fiancé William Fitzgerald.”
They stare at me in silence. I try to imagine the Astra standing before me at an altar with someone named William Fitzgerald, but this oddly aesthetically pleasing, grimy look is all too fitting for them. Then I remember the scrap of lace in their pocket, the way they fiddled with it.
“What does that have to do with the…” With the manifest. Oh, it makes so much sense now. The quiet, the sneaking, the merchant ship. And the manifest. “You’re looking for him, aren’t you?” I ask, turning to them.
My hands drop to my sides as I take in the solemn expressions of Adelphine, Jack, and Captain Night. After my gaze lingers on Captain Night a second too long, it slides back to Astra.
“I joined Captain Night’s crew two years ago, dressed in disguise.
I thought William had been pressed to sea, but thanks to Captain Night and his connections on this island, I finally have a lead.
” Astra sighs, pulling off their hat. For the first time since I’ve met them, they appear defeated, if only for a moment.
But that defeat quickly turns to animosity, fire burning in their eyes.
“His name is Willie Taylor, and we thought he was working aboard that merchant ship, but, as it turns out, he’s forged a new career. ”
“The manifest—” I start, recalling Fitzgerald’s name on the list.
“Yes. Two years ago, he worked aboard that ship to pay off some gambling debts. In the time since he’s built a bit of a reputation.”
“Reputation?”
Astra smiles coyly. “It would seem he’s since joined a crew.”
And then it dawns on me. “You’re hunting another pirate now.”
None of the others are nodding, but they’re also not shaking their heads.
What am I missing? I still don’t understand what part I must play in this, but going after another pirate or whatever Willie Taylor has since become, hunting for a man who turned Astra’s world upside down and left them at the altar …
I think back to Astra crouched on the stairs, a withered gray scrap of lace in their hands that they kept hidden away in their pocket. How long have they wondered where their William went, why they were stood up?
But there’s no sadness in their face now, only determination. And, of all the things pirates could get up to, I rather like the image of revenge in honor of a crew member.
Against my better judgment, against the urge to snatch Captain Night’s jacket and leave, I feel a sense of adventure tugging my core. This is what my book’s been missing, and I can stay a little longer, just long enough to gather more research.
I can’t stop myself from grinning as I cross my arms over my chest. “Where do I sign up?”
Captain Night smiles tentatively at me, and I force my gaze not to stray to his jacket, to the brilliant blue fabric that wants to pull my attention.
It isn’t going anywhere, and when I’m ready and I’ve seen this through to the end and collected my necessary research, I can go.
It’ll be easy.