Kissing Comfort (50 page)

“And our names came up?”

“Yes.” She started to say that she was the one who mentioned them first, but she didn't have the chance. Newt was laughing and reaching into his pocket at the same time. “You said it, Tuck. Damn me for not believing you.” He extended his hand and dangled a twenty out to his partner.

Tuck took it, thanked him, and put it in his vest pocket.

Comfort came close to throwing the tin. It was owing to the fact that she couldn't decide who deserved it more that she kept it in her hand. “You are both ridiculous. Aren't either of you insulted?”

“I told Newt that Bode would have to eliminate us as suspects before he'd let you come back here. That was good thinking on his part. I figured when we saw you at the bank, he'd decided it wasn't one of us.”

“You didn't suspect each other, did you?”

“Now that would have just been plain foolish,” said Newt. “Bode doesn't know us the way we know each other. Sounds like you tried to set him straight, so we appreciate that.”

Comfort simply shook her head. She'd never understand the way their minds worked. She set the tin down beside the dou lì and let Thistle paw at it. “Tell me about the bank. What have you been doing while I've been gone?”

 

 

Comfort was enjoying a hot bath when Bode arrived. She heard Newt and Tuck greeting him like the prodigal son and wondered if they were contemplating killing the fatted calf for dinner. She thought Bode would come straightaway to her room, but the voices receded, and she realized her uncles were stealing him away. If she didn't join them soon and carefully pour their drinks, they would all be three sheets to the wind.

Suey Tsin helped her dress and fixed her hair. She hadn't realized how much she missed the luxury of this attention, and judging from Suey Tsin's expression, her maid had missed it as well. “We'll work something out,” she said. “I promise. I won't leave you again, not if you want to stay with me.”

Suey Tsin's fingers stilled in Comfort's hair. “Mista Bode say okay?”

“He will. I let him have Mr. Travers. He can't deny me you.” She saw that Suey Tsin didn't understand, and she didn't try to explain. She reached over her shoulder and found Suey Tsin's small hand. She squeezed it gently. For now, it was enough.

Comfort expected to find them gathered in the study. When she didn't, she stopped one of the maids and was directed to the conservatory. She heard their low, distinctly male voices the moment she opened the door. They weren't immediately in sight. She followed the familiar path through the palms and ferns to the clearing at the center of the room. Each man was seated on his own bench, a drink in hand. They stood as one when she came upon them.

Comfort waved them back. Bode invited her to sit beside him, but she shook her head and took a seat on the last empty bench in the six o'clock position. Newt was directly opposite her at twelve, Tuck on her right at three, and Bode on her left at nine. She had the sense that they had only been passing time until she arrived. Now they were ready to talk.

“It's hard to know what to make of anything that Bram says,” Bode told them. “The laudanum doesn't help. In the short time I've been gone, I can see what a difference the use of it's made. Alexandra wasn't at home, and I didn't want to wait for her, so I'll go back and see her later. I wanted you to know what Bram told me.”

He set his drink aside while he ticked off the important points on his fingers, most of which Comfort already knew. Newt and Tuck listened without comment or question as Bode outlined his brother's betrayal. “He says he's taken care of the debt, but that only means he's pushed it onto someone else. I didn't think he'd admit it, and I suppose that's where the drug worked in my favor. He either couldn't control his tongue or his conceit, but he told me where the men he owes would be looking for their pound of flesh.”

Newt's fingertips whitened on his glass. “Not Comfort. Not again.”

“No. Not this time. I'm the one they're after.”

Tuck pointed at Bode's chest. “You?”

Comfort's stomach turned over. The marble bench under her fingers suddenly felt warmer than she did. “What does that mean, Bode?”

“It means they're going to call in Black Crowne's debt, take over the business, and sell off assets to recover what Bram owes.”

“Bram told you that?”

Bode didn't look at her. He stared at his folded hands and recalled how the crank turned slowly under his palm. Bram's arrogance was short-lived, but he hadn't caved as quickly as Bode hoped. His ability to tolerate the pain spoke more to his fear of the man sent to collect the debt than it did to the laudanum still dulling his senses. “Eventually,” he said, making a steeple of his fingers. “He told me eventually.”

“Oh, Bode,” Comfort whispered. “What can we do?”

“Tomorrow I'm going to visit Mr. Bancroft at Croft Federal to see if I can stop him from calling in all the loans.”

Comfort saw Newt and Tuck share a glance, but neither spoke. Bode had picked up his glass and was studying it as he rolled it between his palms. He missed the exchange. Comfort didn't ask them what they were thinking.

“Did Bram tell you how much he owes?”

“It's a little more than I thought.” Newton whistled softly when Bode told him the amount. Tuck was more stoic, showing no reaction. “He said he was trying to win enough money to contribute something toward Black Crowne's debt. That's not true, but he's always at his most sincere when he's lying through his teeth.”

“You didn't knock them out, did you?” asked Comfort.

“You knocked them out, didn't you?” asked Newt.

Bode heard the questions posed simultaneously. The answer to both was the same. He shook his head. “Tempted, but no.”

“Do you think Bram's said anything about this to Alexandra?” asked Tuck.

“No. I told Comfort that I think it's likely she knows that Bram's in trouble, but the depth and details of it are only what she's been able to imagine. Bram didn't want to tell me any of it. He's that afraid of Crocker. I'm fairly confident that it's still a secret from my mother.”

There was so much silence around him that Bode looked up. They were all staring at him, nearly identical frowns pulling at their mouths. “What is it?”

They all spoke at once. “Crocker?”

Bode didn't realize he'd said it aloud. He hadn't meant to, but the name was a low, persistent drumbeat at the back of his mind. It was inevitable that it would roll forward like thunder. He took a swallow of his drink. “James R. Crocker,” he said. “You all recall the name?”

Comfort certainly did. She saw her uncles were also nodding. “That's the gentleman from the opera house. The one who dropped the glove.” She sighed. “The tin. What does he have to do with Bram?”

“He's the collector. When Bram stopped paying toward his gambling debt, the men he owed hired Crocker to get their money. I'm certain Bram wouldn't have given me Crocker's name if I hadn't already been suspicious of him.”

“So it's this Crocker fellow who is responsible for Comfort's abduction,” said Tuck.

Bode couldn't let his brother off so easily. “With some help from Bram.”

“Bram knew what would happen to me if he didn't pay?” asked Comfort.

The set of Bode's mouth was grim. “He'd been threatened, yes. Not with the details of what they would do, not then. He says he thought he could hold them off. I don't believe that. I'd told him about our meeting, remember? He let Crocker know exactly where you'd be. He thought you'd be held for ransom, Newt and Tuck would pay, and you'd be safely returned. Crocker's plans were different. He wanted to make a point.”

The pressure on Comfort's chest was enormous as she considered the breadth of Bram's betrayal. She could only draw a shallow breath.

Newt knocked back what remained of his drink. “Good thing you left his teeth, Bode, because it'll be a pleasure for me to take them out.”

Tuck put out a restraining hand even though he was too far away to reach Newt. “Give it a chance to sit awhile,” he said calmly. “There's no reason to jump at the first thing that crosses your mind.” He watched Newt's puffed-out chest slowly deflate. When Tuck was confident that his friend wasn't going to storm out of the house and take his fight to a cripple's bed, he withdrew his hand and returned his attention to Bode. “You understand that it's hard to sit here and not want to do something. He's your brother, so you have to weigh that, but Newt and I don't have to give it much thought. We like you just fine, Bode, and we don't hold what Bram's done against you, but this won't be over for us until we've settled with him. There's money debt and then there's the other kind. Bram owes us the other kind.”

“Please,” Comfort said, shaking her head. “Please don't say that.”

Bode cocked an eyebrow at her. “You wanted revenge. It's what you said back on the
Demeter
.”

“I know, but I was talking about the Rangers. Uncle Tuck's talking about your brother.”

“And not saying anything I haven't been thinking. It's only complicated by the fact that I believe it's my responsibility, not their privilege.”

Newt leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees. He looked intently at Comfort. “You could have been killed. It doesn't matter what Bram thought would or wouldn't happen. He made sure the Rangers could find you. He might as well have planned the attack.”

Comfort could see that Newt meant to give no quarter, and then she saw it was the same for Tuck. She turned to Bode, and her heart broke for him. His beautiful blue-violet eyes were bleak with anger, sorrow, and hurt that cut bone deep. It was all she could do not to look away, but it was in that moment she forgave her friend Bram DeLong for what he had done to her and came to understand that she would never forgive him for what he had done to Bode.

“Tell me about Mr. Crocker,” she said. There was nothing to be gained by dwelling on what Bram had done. What James R. Crocker was setting in motion lay before them. “He's not above the law. Surely there's something we can do about him.”

“Above the law,” Bode said, cynicism edging his tone. “I'm not so sure. It seems Mr. Crocker is a Pinkerton man.”

“No,” Newt said, shaking his head fiercely. “No, that can't be right.”

Tucker ignored Newt's outburst. “What makes you think Crocker's one of them?”

“As luck, coincidence, or careful planning would have it, Alexandra hired the Pinkerton Agency to find me, and—”

Newt's eyes practically bulged. “Are you going to tell me that Crocker is the one who showed up at her door?”

A very slim smile touched Bode's lips. “Not now that you've said it for me.”

Newt apologized to Comfort in advance of letting loose a string of inventive curses. He didn't so much wind down as sputter to a halt.

Tuck looked at him sideways. “You done now?”

Newt merely grunted.

Tuck set his attention on Bode again. “Just because the man says he's from Pinkerton doesn't make it so.”

“Bram didn't dispute it when I brought up Crocker's association with the agency. It makes sense that the men Bram owes would hire a Pinkerton man to collect the debt. My experience with the Pinks is that they're better enforcers and bodyguards than they are detectives. I didn't anticipate my mother would be so frantic about my absence that she'd make use of their services. My father and some of the other shipowners would hire Pinkerton agents when word got around that the men working the wharf were organizing.”

“Organizing what?” asked Comfort.

“Themselves. Mostly they got together to talk about wages, and that never set well with the owners. Pinkertons were good for getting into the meetings and turning the talk around. If they couldn't make it work from the inside, there were more direct means.”

“Broken hands,” Newt said.

“Broken heads,” Tuck said.

Comfort put out a hand. “I understand.” The troubled smile she turned on Bode was also a bit rueful. “They prefer to use clear examples.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

Comfort set her hands firmly in her lap. “So what's to be done about Mr. Crocker? Can we appeal to the men that hired him? Tell them to rein him in? Tuck and Newt have some influence.”

“That's a risk since we don't know yet who hired Crocker. Bram didn't get into trouble here. Six months ago I asked him to go to Sacramento for me on business. It was Alexandra's idea, one of the few that I could agree to without reservation. Whether Bram was successful or not wasn't a large concern. I didn't think past the business to how he might conduct it. He had meetings with the governor, a couple of legislators, and some railroad men. The temptation to join them for cards or at the races would have been enormous.”

Tucker struck a thoughtful pose. “Pretty fast company.”

“Powerful, too,” said Newt.

Bode agreed. “That's what I'm thinking. There's no safe harbor there. Any or all of them could be involved. The governor's used Pinkerton men for protection. The Pinks also kept peace among the Chinese immigrants for the railroads. If there's going to be any justice where Crocker's concerned, it'll be because we mete it out.”

“I'm prepared to do that,” Newt said. “You, Tuck?”

“The same.”

Comfort had heard enough. She felt as if she might be sick. “You're all talking as if this is what we do every day. I'm not aware that any of you have the experience to confront someone like Crocker.”