Kathleen Y'Barbo (32 page)

Perhaps it was the photograph of her that had him loitering on Adams Street at this late hour. For what he had thought was lovely while looking through the viewfinder had been breathtaking once he developed the image.

And so he had taken a walk to remove himself from the picture that stole his attention from everything else. To set his mind back on the track where he needed it to be, where he could think objectively about the elements of the treasure case without trying to reason a way that Millie and her family were not guilty of wrongdoing.

He stuffed his fists into his pockets and shrank back into the shadows as a maid tossed what appeared to be an oversized sack through the window.

The bundle landed a few yards from Kyle’s feet, and he craned his neck to see what was inside. A length of pale silk showed through the loosely tied opening. A gown of some kind, or perhaps a coverlet.

Shivering, he waited for one of the servants to retrieve the bag. Then he would make his exit. But no one came.

He glanced up and saw that the maid was gone, with the window shut tight and the curtains closed. Meanwhile, those at the burn pile now huddled close with hands extended, all the better to keep from freezing.

Kyle decided to retrieve the bundle. Should someone finally break away from the warmth of the bonfire to come looking for it, they wouldn’t find anything to cause them to pause in his vicinity.

Carefully, he retrieved the bag and pulled it into the shadows to look inside. Fifteen minutes later, he was standing in his hotel room ready to examine it when a knock sounded.

Palming the revolver he kept at the ready, Kyle walked to the door and opened it just enough to see who had come to call ten minutes past midnight.

“Henry?” Kyle stepped back to allow the captain inside. On his heels was Lucas McMinn. “Luke?”

He closed the door behind them and then shook hands with both men. He then shifted the burlap bag aside and offered his guests a place to sit. Lucas made himself comfortable as he smiled at his friend.

Henry shook his head. “Long train ride down. I’ll stand.”

“All right.” Kyle looked to Lucas. “Well?”

He shrugged. “I’ve been temporarily lured out of retirement.”

“For what purpose?”

“We are going to catch Will Tucker,” Henry said. He walked to the window and pulled back the curtain to peer out into the darkness. “I take it you are aware that Miss Mildred Cope’s engagement to Will Tucker has recently been in the news?”

“Tucker?” Kyle could barely say the name. “She told me she was engaged to an Englishman.”

“Trueck,” Lucas supplied. “Sir William Trueck. But it’s Tucker. The crook didn’t even bother changing the letters of his name. He only rearranged them.”

Tucker and Millie? The woman he had grown to care for had been engaged to the man he was determined to track down?

Kyle knew he had seen the engagement photograph. He struggled to recall the man standing next to Millie. Unfortunately, he had been so focused on the society scientist that her fiancé might not have been in the image at all.

“Will Tucker? Here in Memphis? And engaged to...” He scrubbed at his face with his palms before regarding Henry and then Lucas once more. “You’re certain?”

“That is what Lucas is here to confirm,” Henry said. “What I do know is that Silas Cope has joined up with this Trueck fellow on several high-dollar business deals in the last few months. From what we can tell, the money is coming from the Cope bank account, which is no surprise given the man we are dealing with.”

Lucas met Kyle’s gaze and nodded. “Looks like he’s branched out from conning women to conning their fathers.”

“It appears so. If Trueck is Tucker, then colluding with an escaped prisoner is reason enough to bring Cope in. It also gives us carte blanche to go over the company books in detail to look for irregularities.” Henry paused. “And hidden treasure.”

Kyle thought of the cypher. Of the locket and Millie’s admission of links to the pirate Lafitte. Of his duty to report all of this once he was certain there was a good reason. The enormity of the news, however, left him numb.

“So you want me to confirm it is him?” Kyle asked as he tried not to consider how close he had been to Tucker without realizing it.

“That will be Lucas’s job. Of the two of you, he has spent the most time with the man.” He turned around to face them both. “I am putting you in charge of keeping track of Miss Cope.”

Keeping track of Millie would be a simple matter. All he had to do was allow her into his workshop. Which would inevitably mean allowing her into his life. And that, he knew with absolute certainty, would mean allowing her into his heart. No, that had already begun. For where it came to the society scientist, Kyle was pitifully unable to keep his feelings from straying into dangerous territory.

Lucas must have realized this, for Kyle caught him studying him.

“As to how you will keep Miss Cope busy and under surveillance, I
will leave that to you,” Henry continued, interrupting his thoughts. “But I figure between you and Lucas you are bound to find a plan that will work.”

“And if I lose her?”

Henry crossed the room to close the distance between them. “You won’t. You are our best agent. That is why you are on this case.”

“Casualty of my retirement,” Lucas said to lighten the mood.

Unfortunately, the attempt failed miserably. Instead, Kyle saw his career reduced to babysitting a woman who refused to listen to him and, worse, unwittingly enticed him to kiss her. Regularly.

“But I thought that was why you put me on the treasure case,” he said, though he knew his protest was weak.

“They are one and the same now.”

“Am I to trust her enough to take her into my confidence?” Kyle asked.

“I will leave that decision to you.”

As Henry left the window and headed for his satchel, Kyle looked at Lucas. “Did you know about any of this?”

“If you mean the connection between your friend Millie and Tucker, then no. I had no idea.” He paused to lower his voice. “Is she the one you took flying on New Year’s Eve, or is there another young lady in Memphis who will be disappointed at your departure?”

“I am old but not deaf,” Henry said as he took two folders from his satchel. “And I will register my disappointment right now that I have not been afforded the same opportunity to go flying in your machine as whichever young lady to whom you refer.” He handed one of the folders to Kyle and then gave the other to Lucas.

Kyle set his on the table in front of him. “I would offer a flight tonight, sir, but the silk needs patching.”

Lucas looked up from his reading. “Oh? Was the material defective?”

“Not exactly.”

Kyle opened his folder to find a copy of the engagement photograph that had appeared in the local paper. Even now, knowing
that the man was Will Tucker, Kyle had to look closely to recognize him.

“Not
exactly
defective? What does that mean.”

“It means,” Kyle said as he set the photograph aside, “that Millie Cope
is an expert with a Remington pistol.” He paused only a moment to wave away any further conversation with a sweep of his hand. “Don’t ask.”

“Had not planned to,” Henry said. “But I will ask if you have any further questions before I bunk down for the night. I am used to sleeping in my own bed and definitely not comfortable in a sleeper car anymore.”

“I think we can take it from here,” Lucas said. “And I know I said this on the train, but I appreciate your including me on this. I don’t miss Pinkerton work, but finishing unfinished business is something I have strong feelings about.”

“And I appreciate your willingness to leave that beautiful wife of yours to offer us your expertise.” He nodded toward the file in Kyle’s hand. “The dossier on Silas Cope was enlightening, to say the least.”

“I look forward to reading it,” he said, though nothing could be further from the truth. “My only experience with the man was not a pleasant one.”

“Oh?” Lucas asked.

“I heard him in action, and he does not afford his daughter the kindness a father owes to his child.”

Lucas’s brows gathered. “How a man treats his children is a measure of how he will treat anyone else.”

“Agreed.” Henry said. “Ideally, we can arrest Tucker here in Memphis and save us all some trouble. But if we cannot, then I expect a plan in place.”

“Yes, sir,” Kyle said as he rose to walk his boss to the door.

“And, son,” Henry said, his hand on the doorknob, “I know she’s a pretty girl, but I’m going to depend on you to keep your head on straight and your mind on the task at hand, at least until this case is concluded.”

“Absolutely.” Kyle shook hands with his boss and then plastered an I-do-not-care look on his face before returning to the sofa once more.

Of course Lucas did not believe him for a minute. “Tell me about Silas Cope’s daughter,” he said.

“There’s nothing to tell. She is a fellow scientist.”

Lucas held up the engagement photograph Kyle had just cast aside. “A beautiful one.” He turned the picture so he could see it. “I cannot blame you for not recognizing Tucker. Unless you were expecting it, who would think an Englishman with that facial hair was our clean-shaven scoundrel?”

“I suppose,” Kyle said. “But I cannot help but think if I had been paying better attention...”

“Did you meet him or talk to him at all?”

“Not that I can recall.” Kyle pressed his fists against his knees, frustration building. “I just cannot see it. Millie and Will Tucker?”

“I understand. Remember, I married a woman who was also engaged to him.” He shrugged. “So, now that we have that out of the way, how are we going to manage this assignment?”

“If Tucker is in Memphis, we are going to find him,” Kyle said with a certainty that grew the longer he thought of it.

“You mean
I
am going to find him. A steamboat is leaving for New Orleans in the morning, and I think it might be a good idea if you were on it.”

“Me and Millie.” He set the folder aside and scrubbed at his face. When he looked up, he found Lucas watching him.

“You have it bad for her, don’t you?”

“It seems so. But for the life of me I cannot figure out how that happened. I was minding my own business and putting together the pieces of the flying device on New Year’s Eve when there she was, the prettiest woman I’ve ever seen standing in front of me and quizzing me on my invention. Asking about drag and lift and talking about scientific theories and reading
Faust
in the original German.”

“She was reading
Faust
on the roof of the Cotton Exchange? On New Year’s Eve?”

“No, that came later. In the attic.”

“I’m confused,” Lucas said.

“So am I.” Kyle rose to spend some of his restless energy on pacing.

“No, you are not confused,” Lucas pronounced with the certain authority of a man who had known Kyle since both were children. “You are in love. And for that, you have both my congratulations and deepest sympathy. Now, let’s see if we can come up with a plan.”

“I have an idea,” Kyle said slowly, “but it would involve purchasing a ticket to New Orleans for Millie.”

“Go on.”

“She’s a scientist, and as such, she has been inordinately curious about
my workshop.” His best friend grinned, and it was all Kyle could do not to knock the smile off of his face. “A clue in the treasure hunt could be better analyzed if I had access to my laboratory. I could offer to allow her to accompany me on the condition that she bring a chaperone.”

To his credit, Lucas did not scoff at the idea. “It would certainly make the job of keeping track of her easier. And if she
is
in collusion with Tucker...” He paused to shake his head. “I’m sorry, buddy, but it’s something we do have to consider, at least for now.”

“She ended the engagement,” Kyle offered. Then he sighed. “But yes, you’re right. We need to leave that open as a possibility.”

“Separating her from Tucker really isn’t a bad idea,” Lucas said. “Even if only to even the odds, as it were. So, how will we go about this?”

Kyle paused to think on the problem and then decided on the surest course of action. “I’ll pay her a visit first thing in the morning and invite her.”

The next morning Millie followed the scents of coffee, bacon, and biscuits down the stairs, her stomach revolting at aromas she might otherwise have called delicious. Sleep had eluded her last night, leaving her pacing the floor of the empty attic until dawn before giving up to change her dress and prepare for the day.

She reached into her pocket to feel the comforting shape of the cypher. The sound of a woman’s voice stalled her on the stairs.

Suppressing a sigh, she gathered her handbag to her side and determined to hurry past the dining room in the hopes of not being seen.

Her gloved hand was already touching the doorknob when she heard her name being called. Millie froze. Mrs. Ward-Wiggins? It could not be. And yet, unmistakably, it was.

Perhaps they would believe her already gone should she hurry and turn the knob. Unfortunately, Father’s valet caught her attention before she could step outside.