He sighed. “You can turn around now, Penny.”
Uncertain what she’d find, she turned slowly and saw John as she’d never seen him before. “Did you shop for that suit, too?”
He wore a well-fitted black suit and a string tie with a golden oval decoration. He had on his usual flat-topped, broad-brimmed black hat, but now he’d added a silk band with another golden oval to match his tie. With the tie, black suit, and sharp white shirt, the hat looked like one a rich man would wear. And he had on well-shined black boots. He’d been wearing those before, but he’d stopped and gotten them all shined up.
“Nope, I had it with me in the bag I left at your homestead when we rode to town.”
“The hat and boots are the ones you always wear.”
“It’s what made me think of the Hessian boots as a clue. A man traveling by horseback, or even stagecoach, doesn’t want to carry too much. And hats and boots take up a lot of space in a satchel or a bedroll. So, I don’t switch those when I’m trying to fit in with Western men. Add in the tie with the bit of gold matching the hat, and all of a sudden I’m a fancy-dressed man.”
“Do you dress like this back east?” He’d been in broadcloth and denim before this, dressed much like Cam and Trace.
“I have a few more choices back home, but I couldn’t haul everything with me.” He pulled one last thing out just as she hoisted her satchel to sling it over her head.
“You can’t take that.”
Penny looked down at her battered bag. “I never leave this behind. It’s saved our lives at least once already.”
He waggled some black velvet thing at her. “We can’t get away with our disguise if you’re carrying that bag. Use this reticule instead.”
“Reticule always sounded a lot like the word ridiculous to me.”
Nodding, John said, “I got the biggest one I could find, but your Army Colt isn’t going to fit, so—” He tugged open the fancy bag and produced the littlest pistol Penny had ever seen.
“I can’t stop much with that peashooter.”
“I’m really hoping you don’t have to gun anybody down, Penny. I’m going to do my best to keep this from turning into a turkey shoot. But I got this little pepperbox so you’d have some protection in this town. Lots of lawlessness left, even if the town is growing into a grand city.” He handed over the gun.
“The aim is bad, so only use it at point-blank range.” His eyes met hers. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Penny nodded. “Tell me how to load it.”
They spent a few minutes working over the gun. It fired five shots and rotated with each pull of the trigger.
“How much did all this cost?”
John tucked the gun in her reticule. Ignoring her question, he said, “Your gun is the hideout one I usually carry. It’s from a matched set.”
He made a sudden slashing motion with his arm and another gun, a twin to hers, appeared in his hand.
Blinking, Penny got close, while staying off to the side. “Oh, I saw that one before. How does it work?”
John showed her the little accordion holster. “And you remember the pistol strapped to my ankle and a knife in my boot and another one hidden in my hat? But your sleeves are too tight for the arm gun. You’ll have to carry yours in the reticule.”
“Any other surprises, husband?”
He smiled at her. “A couple. Let’s go act like we’re rich people. Try not to mention how well you can skin a buck in the middle of a conversation.”
“But I’m really fast.” She smiled back to make sure he knew she understood. “I lived in Philadelphia for years. Saw my share of rich, snooty folks coming into the store where I worked.” With an exaggerated western slang, she added, “I reckon I kin purtend to be one rightly enough.”
John rolled his eyes and took her arm. “Let us be off, then, madam.”
He sounded like he’d stepped out of the pages of a fancy book.
Penny had her work cut out for her being close to as good with a disguise as her new husband. She refused to feel bad for not having a knack for being a sneak. Then she thought of all the time she’d spent sneakin’ up on game in the woods. With a little practice, she might do better at this than she’d first expected.
CHAPTER
16
The waiter bowed low. The man wore a black suit and white shirt, both made of silk, with a black vest and a little white bow tie. The restaurant was as fancy as any place John had seen on the East Coast, with white china and tablecloths—and silver everywhere John looked. The forks and knives looked like real silver, and there were crystal-footed glasses that were also rimmed with silver. The bright lights of the place drew his eyes up to silver chandeliers flaring with gaslight.
The waiter turned to guide them through the room, and an elegantly dressed woman rose from her chair and gave them a gracious nod.
“Carstairs, wait a moment.” The woman halted the waiter in his tracks. “You’re new in town, aren’t you?”
John didn’t let one bit of his tension show on his face. But there were a lot of ways this could go wrong.
Penny, with her hand through his arm, said with a remarkably civilized tone, “We just arrived. I am Penelope, and this is my husband, Jonathan Call. We’ve heard so much about Virginia City, we had to come and see it.”
“Part of a short trip out of San Francisco,” John added. They probably should have talked a little bit about what story they’d tell. “We’re from Philadelphia, but business brought us west.”
The lady gave the most demure gasp possible and rested one gloved hand on John’s arm. She was a young woman, dressed in bright blue satin, with lace at her wrists and throat, and jewels gleaming with silver and diamonds, including a garish ring on the third finger on her left hand.
The woman looked at her companion. “This is my husband, Andrew, and I am Leota Wilkerson. We haven’t been back east in ages. I think of myself as a welcoming committee to town, and we’d love to have you join us, wouldn’t we, Andrew?”
Andrew was at least twenty years older than his wife. He had heavy sideburns on his jowls. He wore spectacles that didn’t cover the shrewd intelligence in his eyes. He had neatly trimmed hair and a suit that was tidy but a bit out of date compared to John’s.
John noticed he wore highly shined Hessian boots, but in black rather than brown. Holding his breath, John intended to get to know these people if he possibly could.
“Yes,” Andrew said, “we’ve just been seated, haven’t even ordered yet. You can tell us about yourselves and share any news you have from back east.”
John felt Penny tense up. He rested his left hand on her right, where she held him. “We’d love to join you.”
Andrew Wilkerson had shrewd eyes. John couldn’t whisper to Penny any advice. He just had to hope she knew how to play along.
The waiter was at their table instantly, and he helped Penny sit. She handled it like she’d had a fancy waiter pushing in her chair all her life.
John began a lighthearted story about life in Philadelphia. Penny threw in enough details to make herself part of it. By the time the food came, John said, “Well, we can’t do all the talking. We’re here to see Virginia City. Tell us what you do here, Andrew?”
Andrew turned out to be a talker, and his wife went along with him. They were both as snooty as royalty.
John was an expert interrogator. And his best skill was getting information out of people without letting them know he was even asking.
Leota called people over to the table throughout the meal until John felt like he’d met nearly every important man in the city. He couldn’t help but wonder if one of them was their kidnapper. He was sly about it, but he checked each pair of boots.
When he and Penny left the restaurant, they’d been invited to dinner at three people’s homes. And they’d been invited to call for tea with four others. The only real problem he had was trying to figure out how he could make sure Penny had a new fancy dress at
every home. And then he figured that out, too.
The Wilkersons left the restaurant with them and climbed into a black carriage trimmed in silver. “I can’t believe,” Penny whispered when they were a safe distance away, “that you offered to pay for that expensive meal. How much money do you have, anyway?”
John patted her arm and smiled into her alarmed eyes. “There was never any chance old Wilkerson would let me pay. The man was showing off for his fancy young wife and in front of all the other fine folks in that restaurant. I could have paid it if I had to, but I sure didn’t want to.”
“I thought you were broke. Didn’t you try and steal my gun and money back in Dismal?”
“I was asking to borrow things, not robbing you. I wanted to get right back on the trail from Dismal. I had money in my pack that was left back at your cabin, but I didn’t want to go back and get it, but it was good to get cleaned up and grab the rest of my supplies. And Cam gave me a few of those twenty-dollar double eagles, but I don’t want to spend them. They’re too unusual and might make someone remember me. But I have them if it’s necessary. Even without them, I can fund our little operation. I’m not overly flush, but I have enough to keep up appearances. We have to be careful not to let on where we’re staying, and normally a wealthy woman like yourself, Mrs. McCall, would need a different dress for each dinner. But we’re going to invent a disaster with your trunk. I’m thinking it fell off the top of the stagecoach.”
“My goodness, that’s a terrible piece of bad luck,” Penny said dryly.
“Wasn’t it? That stage driver certainly got a piece of my mind.” John could find a fine upper-crust accent if he wanted. “And we didn’t even notice until we were unloading. You are so annoyed with me because you wanted us to buy a private carriage for the trip here, but I didn’t want to take the time, so I insisted we take the stage. The driver has promised to search the trail on his return trip, but for now we’re making do. That will even explain your dress, in case one of the ladies has seen it for sale.”
“It makes me a little sick to my stomach to talk like such a snob. That poor stagecoach driver. I hope he doesn’t get in trouble.”
“Hopefully they all consider stage riding beneath them and don’t know a thing about drivers.”
“You do all this lying a little too well for my peace of mind.”
John smiled at her. “It’s a disguise. And it worked.”
The crinkled lines of her brow were a delight. John couldn’t remember the last time he’d been around a woman so frank, so clearly honest. It gave him a twinge about all the falsehoods he told. He considered himself an honest man—a Christian man. But it was the plain truth that his job led him to do and say some dishonest things. All with a goal of solving crimes. But the twinge became more like a pang as he wondered how God saw him. Wondered it for the first time in a long time.
And now he was going to make it worse.
“Mrs. Wilkerson and her society ladies kept you busy talking.”
“Mostly listening,” Penny said.
“But while you chatted with them I found out something that is going to give me a direction for my investigation.”
“What is that?”
“Well, I asked who sold good quality clothes here in Virginia City, and along with all the advice, I found the name of the only man who sold Hessian boots. They aren’t a common item out here, though I did see a pair or two in there tonight.”
Penny froze right there on the sidewalk, and her hand that had been loosely resting in his elbow tightened. “Are you saying you’ve found the name of the man who—” she glanced left and right before dropping her voice to a whisper—“the man who kidnapped us.”
They were alone on the sidewalk, and John knew he needed to get them tucked away in their room before it got any later. They’d left the street with the fancy restaurant and were in a declining-but-still-respectable area between the wealthier and seedier parts of town.
He said, “Let’s keep moving. We need to get tucked away for the night, before drunks start staggering out of the saloons.”
With a guiding hand, he got her moving again. “I didn’t learn his name, but I did find the man who almost certainly sold him the boots. His pair looked to be in good shape. Perhaps not brand new, but certainly not too old, either. And they were shined beneath a day’s dust and dirt. I’m going to—” He hesitated, wondering if he should tell her more. But he needed to explain his coming absence.
“I’m going to, uh . . . visit . . . this store. The owner must keep records. I hope I can find the name of the man with those boots.”
“You’re going to question this man? At this time of night?”
Silence met her question. He kept her moving. He just needed to get her locked in that room, gun in hand, and be about his investigating. It also suited him to leave their room. It made him uncomfortable to think of spending the night in that small room with her, his duly sworn wife. A woman who kissed with an amazing amount of enthusiasm. It was all perfectly fine for him to be in there . . . with her . . . and their marriage license.
“No store is open at this hour.” Penny leaned close and hissed, “You’re going to break in.”
John glanced at her and kept walking.
“Isn’t that illegal?”
“I’m not going to steal or damage anything.”
“Won’t you have to break the door down to get in?”
“No.” John didn’t say more.
She rammed a fist into his shoulder.
“Ouch.” He rubbed his shoulder. Cam did say she never learned to pull her punches. They approached the boardinghouse. “Can you hold off punching me until we get inside?”
She walked faster, as if she could barely wait. She pounded up the stairs. He’d have criticized her ladylike act—she was failing at it—except they were staying in such an unladylike place that it hardly mattered.
She waited at the door, tapping her toe, arms crossed. He hoped she didn’t confiscate the key from him. It was probably wrong of him to find all of this incredibly attractive, but he did. A strong woman had always interested him. Never to this extent, though.
He got inside and held up both hands, palms out, and he stayed well back. “We’re not going to argue about this. I’m sure you can figure out that I have my ways of getting into a locked building. I am not going to damage or steal anything. I will slip in, thumb through the files until I find an order for Hessian boots, get the name or names if there are multiple orders, and slip out. Then we’ll look into the background of the boot owners and see what kind of men they are. If that’s not enough, we’ll visit them and see how they act when they see us.” He also hoped, with his visits, to uncover talk about the nature of his suspects that would narrow his search.
Penny crossed her arms. He braced himself for what she’d say. The woman was making him feel guilty for being a lying housebreaker. He resented it. Probably because he was guilty. A conscience wasn’t something he worried about much, since he figured he was fine in that regard. Until Penny started glaring at him.
Her mouth opened. He steeled himself to resist her appeal to his better nature, assuming he could even get any better than he already was.
“I’m going with you.”
He was so ready for her to blast him for his behavior, he almost stumbled forward. “You can’t go with me!”
“Why not?”
“B-Because women can’t—”
“Can’t what? Commit crimes? Break and enter? Lie? I assure you they can. And the only reason you don’t want me to come is because you’re trying to stop me from doing things you think are fine for you to do. How does that make sense?”
“No, the reason I don’t want you to come is because I’m good at this. I’m sneaky. I’m quiet. I’m quick and a lot less likely to draw attention to what I’m doing and thereby avoid arrest.”
“I can out-quiet you any day of the week, McCall.”
He wished she’d prove it by being quiet rig
ht now. He was still wishing it when they were walking toward The Gentleman’s Haberdashery.
“Gwen, we’re going on a little ride.”
Cam stopped his wife from tucking the children into bed for the night.
“You’ve been upset all day.”
“On edge, ready for trouble. Not upset really.” Upset seemed like something a weakling would be.
“What’s going on?”
“We are going on. It’s almost dark. We’ll put the lights out in the cabin like always, then you and I and the children are going to slip away. We’ve had men watching the house. Three of them, though not all three at the same time.”
“Three?” Gwen’s eyes sharpened. “It was three men who kidnapped Penny and John.”
His wife was a mighty smart woman.
“I can find no sign of a campfire or that they are watching through the night, and I’ve been scouting them all day. They break off the watch once we go to sleep, or so I’m thinking.”
“We’re going to run?” Gwen’s voice had a snap to it.
Cam was pleased to see it didn’t suit her to run from trouble. He’d been helping her learn to scout and shoot. It’d brought out a fierce side of his pretty little wife.
Cam liked it so much he’d’ve kissed her if he wasn’t going to be real busy.
“We’re going to Trace’s as soon as I’m sure they’re gone. I’m going to go out to the barn and then do some reconnoitering.” That was an army word he’d always liked. “If Trace is willing, we’ll trail these coyotes. Find out where they came from and maybe that’ll lead us to the fourth man—most likely the one behind all this.”
“I’d like to ride the trail with you, and face these men, but I reckon taking little children to a possible gunfight is a poor excuse for an idea.”
He’d married a sensible woman.
“Pack some extra clothes. You might be at Trace’s for a few days.”
“Be careful and come get me if you find all three of them and decide this is going to end in trouble. I can get the young’uns to bed and come help.”
The Unexpected Champion Page 12