“Why us?” Claudette asked.
“Because if anyone can track them down it would be Bronco.”
“It says here that it might be a tribe.”
“Indians?”
Bronco nodded. “The Navajo are a peaceful people and the Utes are up in the mountains. That leaves the Apache or Pueblos. I can’t imagine the Pueblos dragging a woman up the ladders to their houses.”
“Why’s that?” Claudette asked.
“Because they live in these really tall mud dwellings several stories high. They would have to drag someone up those ladders if they wanted to hide them. There isn’t much of a way to be stealthy when the ladders are out in the open.” He looked at Archie. “What’s our cover?”
“You are going to be staying at the Governor’s mansion in one of the guest houses. You’ll be friends of the Governor who are visiting the area. Claudette, you’ll be a museum curator, looking to collect native American artifacts from the area. Bronco, you’ll be her guide, also a museum employee.”
Bronco nodded. He could understand why Archie asked them to take this case. “Who is our contact?”
“You’ll meet the governor’s man at the train station. You’ll be arriving around dark this evening, so you better get going. It is nearly a five-hour ride to Santa Fe. Your tickets, all the correspondence and the notes about Charlotte are in there. I don’t have to tell you to burn it once you’ve read everything.”
“Got it.”
“And Bronco?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t blow your cover. I want to see you and your partner back here as soon as this is all over.”
Bronco nodded and took Claudette by the arm to the front of the house where a carriage was waiting to take them to the train station.
Claudette stopped at the bottom of the steps and looked at Bronco. “What did he mean by don’t blow your cover? Have you blown it before? How many covers have you compromised?” He continued on and opened the carriage door, gesturing for her to get in. “I’m not feeling very safe right now.”
“What he meant is that sometimes new agents forget the role they are playing, and he wants me to make sure that I train you properly. No, I’ve not. This is really a discussion we shouldn’t have outside the office. Only discuss agency matters when we are in private. Get in, we need to go.”
Claudette only paused a moment before climbing in the carriage, pushing her travelling skirt to the side so Bronco could climb in. His long legs took the rest of the small car and he bent them, so he looked like a frog in the seat.
“I wish Archie would get a larger coach.”
“Is this one his?”
“Yes, he keeps it in the stable beyond the dormitory. It is rarely used, unless someone is running late somewhere. Normally we walk, or we get a hackney.”
“We don’t have those in Louisiana.”
“Most big cities have them. It is basically a rented coach for a short distance.” Bronco looked at the papers in the envelope. "Here’s our tickets. I’ll give those to you for safe keeping."
Claudette looked at the papers. “They say Mr. and Mrs. Delacroix.”
“I guess that is the cover that Marianne gave us.”
“Marianne?”
“She sometimes picks the first round of names when agents travel. She keeps a log of those names that have been used already. We can’t have too many Abner Doubleday’s out there.”
“You said the first name.”
“Yes, once the agent clears the first leg of the travel, it is up to them to decide on the aliases they will use going forward. Not every case requires an alias though. Sometimes being yourself is the best way to get a job done.”
Before she could ask anything else, they arrived at the train station and Bronco climbed out of the carriage. He reached in and grabbed her carpet bag and a backpack that Claudette assumed contained his traveling items. He held the door open as she climbed out. When she was on the ground, he shut the door and bade the driver his leave.
“Okay, let’s go. We are going to probably see Arielle and Caleb here. Marianne said she sent the trunks ahead with them.”
Claudette stood up straight and opened her parasol, shading herself from the mid-afternoon sun. If she was going to play the part of a Delacroix, she would be the best Delacroix she could be. She knew a family by that name in Louisiana, so she put all her thought into channeling their youngest daughter.
“Ma’am?” The man in the brown suit greeted her as she approached the train. “May I see your ticket?” A commotion at the end of the platform caught her attention. There was Arielle, and that must be Caleb, arguing with a trainman.
“Yes, you may.” She handed the man the two tickets. “What’s going on down there?”
The conductor turned to look. “It looks like they want to get on the train.”
“You mean they can’t?”
The engineer laughed. “You are lucky to be getting on with him.” He pointed to Bronco.
“That is terrible. You know we are one of the richest families this side of the Rio Grande.” She didn’t have a clue where the Rio Grande was, but hoped the conductor wouldn’t know that. “Mr.?” She looked at his name tag. Brown. How completely ordinary. “Mr. Brown, my husband and I need to get to our car. Those two persons are my house servants and I demand that they are shown to my cabin immediately.”
Claudette held her hand out to take the two tickets the man was examining. He handed them back to her and looked at Bronco for some kind of confirmation. Bronco simply tilted his head and smiled. “You heard the lady. Immediately.”
Claudette watched as the man ran down the platform to speak to the trainman giving the other agents a difficult time.
“House servants?”
“I didn’t know what else to say. I don’t know what it is like here, but down home they would be travelling in either the stable car or a box car.”
“Really?”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Delacroix, prejudice still exists. Even for a handsome Indian like you.”
Bronco laughed. She saw the conductor signal for Caleb and Arielle to board the train. She took Bronco’s hand. “Okay, we can get on board now.”
She entered the train and looked for the passenger compartment matching her ticket number. She saw Caleb and Arielle coming from the opposite direction. Finding the compartment, she opened it and saw a young couple sitting there.
“I apologize, I thought this was a private cabin.”
“No,” the woman replied. “We have tickets for this cabin.”
“This will never do,” Claudette whined. “Albert, they promised us a private cabin! How am I supposed to rest, if we don’t have a private room? Where is that conductor person?”
Claudette allowed her wails to get louder until she noticed people were paying attention to them. Nothing Bronco could do would satisfy her. He apologized to the couple, who appeared more uncomfortable by the minute. The conductor immediately came over. “Mrs. Delacroix, is there a problem?”
Claudette sniffed for good measure. “I was just telling Albert here,” she put her hand on Bronco’s chest, “that I don’t know how I’m going to rest if there are other people in my cabin.”
“But you…” he pointed to Caleb and Arielle.
“I told you, Virginia is my ladies maid. She’ll make sure I get my tonic for the trip. Now how about you show these kind folks to the dining car and allow me to pay for their dinner?”
“Of course. Sir, ma’am would you follow me this way. Let’s get you seated in the dining car and then I’ll find you some more suitable accommodations.”
The couple scrambled out of the cabin, shooting looks of sympathy to Bronco. Claudette pretended to dab her eyes once more. “I so appreciate it, Mr. Brown. I’ll be sure to tell the railroad what a fine job you did taking care of us.” The conductor looked at her for a moment longer. “What?” Claudette finally asked. When he didn’t respond she turned away. “You are dismissed,” she said
over her shoulder. “Virginia, Sam, please put my bag on the top. It doesn’t appear there is much room. Come, Albert, we should get settled.”
Bronco entered the cabin and closed the door behind them. Claudette pulled the curtain closed and turned to look at the three faces staring back at her. “What?” she said, pulling her gloves off one finger at a time.”
“Albert?” Bronco asked.
“Virginia and Sam?” Arielle countered. Caleb didn’t say anything, he just moved to the corner of the car and sat down on the plush bench.
“I couldn’t think of any other names and those came easily to me. Besides, all that matters is we are now together in this car.”
“Quick thinking, Claudette,” Arielle said.
Bronco sat on the bench opposite Caleb and stretched his legs across to the other side. “How did you come up with those names so quickly?”
“They were the names of my father’s prize hunting dogs. He liked to fox hunt in the winter.” She shrugged. “Like I said they were the only names I could think of, off the top of my head.”
“Good acting, Mrs. Delacroix, you might make an undercover agent yet.” Claudette beamed under his praise, but he didn’t see it because he put his hat over his eyes and prepared to take a nap.
Chapter 7
Santa Fe, New Mexico
They had been in Santa Fe for nearly three days and they weren’t any closer to finding the women than they were back in Denver. The Governor was frantic with worry. His wife had been confined to her room since the news was announced.
Bronco was getting frustrated as there were literally no signs of any of the missing women. Claudette watched him pace the floor of the guest cottage. It was evening and they were due to attend a meeting with a political figure in just a bit.
“You are going to wear a hole in that carpet, Bronco. You might as well sit.”
“I can’t sit Claudette,” he said. “Women don’t just disappear.”
“You are one of the best trackers. Mrs. Hawthorne said so.”
Bronco looked impressed that Mrs. Hawthorne admired his tracking abilities. He had used them on numerous occasions when someone was lost or missing in Denver. “Nice to know. However, dear wife, I need to have something to track.”
Claudette loved it when Bronco referred to her as wife. It gave her the illusion that her marriage was real; but she knew it wasn’t. There was the option for an annulment. Unless she convinced Bronco he couldn’t live without her. She’d have to think on that, but she could start planting the seeds now.
“What do we have so far?”
“Nothing. I have nothing. No one saw them disappear. They left no clues behind.”
Claudette bit her bottom lip, thinking. “What if they weren’t moved by normal means?”
Bronco paused. “What do you mean?”
Claudette got up and went to the wardrobe to select a dress. “I’m not sure. It was just a thought that came to me. Do we know why they were taken?”
“We don’t know that they were. They could have simply left on their own.”
She pulled out a dress that was made with yards of pink fabric and had many layers underneath, one of her favorites, and went behind the screen to change. “Hmmmm. Yes, that does make it more difficult. Perhaps when we meet with the governor and Mr. Blackburn, we might be able to see what they think.”
“We don’t want to involve anyone in our case, Claudette. No one knows we are here as Pinkertons. Only the governor.”
“I know, husband. You can get information without having to divulge anything. Let me see what I can do tonight.”
“I’m the agent in charge, Claudette. Remember that.”
“Of course, you are. I’m just going to use my powers of conversation to find information. That is all.”
“Don’t do that,” he warned.
“Do what?” Claudette peeked her head around the screen to look at him. He had a peculiar expression on his face. “I honestly don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Agreeing with me about being in charge. Marianne does that to Archie. I can see why it drives him mad.”
“So, you don’t want me agreeing with you?”
“Yes. I mean, no.”
“Well, which is it?” Claudette was sounding exasperated as she came from behind the screen and shook out the dress, adjusting the neckline. It was off the shoulders with a pink chintz top layer that was form fitting with swaths of white lace that formed the shoulders. The same fabric created an overskirt that draped like a theater curtain over a solid pink fabric underneath. Lace peeked out from the bottom of the skirt where the many layers began.
Claudette walked over to Bronco and presented him with her back. “Can you please lace me up?”
When he didn’t respond she looked over her shoulder at him to see that the color had drained from his face.
“You’re wearing that?” Bronco swallowed trying to get his thoughts in order.
Claudette was looking over her shoulder at him. Her very appealing, very bare shoulder. “Yes. Why?”
“Shouldn’t you wear something a little less… I don’t know… revealing?”
Claudette looked down. “I’m perfectly covered. I realize that it might be a little outdated, but it does reflect where I came from.”
“I don’t know if anyone there would have seen an antebellum ball gown before.”
She looked back over her shoulder at him, shaking her shoulders as if she were dancing. “This isn’t a ball gown, Mr. Wauneka. It is a garden party gown. If you are going to criticize me, you should know the difference.”
“Garden party?” He took the laces in his hands.
“Yes. You know,” she sighed. “Tea, sandwiches, idle gossip. You can learn a lot at a garden party.”
“How do I do this?”
“Just like lacing a shoe. Make it tight and then tie it at the bottom. Tuck the laces underneath.”
Bronco took a deep breath. He was a trained Pinkerton agent. He wouldn’t allow this little slip of a thing to unhinge him. He pulled the laces at the top and his finger touched her bare skin. He gave a little groan. This was going to be harder than he thought.
Claudette looked over her shoulder once more. Her dark eyes peeked out from underneath full lashes. Her lips were in a slight pout and looked larger from the rouge coloring them. The same rouge brightening her cheeks. “Everything alright? Do you need me to ask Arielle to help?”
Bronco touched her chin and tilted her head up a bit. He could lean down and capture those lips. As quickly as he touched her, he let her go. “Turn around.” His voice was hoarse and husky. He quickly finished tying off the laces and gave Claudette a pat on the shoulder to let her know he was done. He quickly left to go to the sitting area and gather his thoughts.
All he could think about was how beautiful Claudette looked when she came out from behind that screen. The pink was a beautiful color and suited her darker coloring. He knew he had an instant attraction, but he was surprised at the strong physical attraction he had to her. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced.
When he was around her, his heart would race, his hands would sweat, and his mouth would become dry. When he was working with her everything was fine. She was professional, demure, and looked to him for direction. The challenges came when they were alone.
He slept on the floor, knowing she was just a few feet away from him. He’d toss and turn until sleep finally came in the early hours. Thoughts of Claudette would invade his dreams. It seemed he wouldn’t find peace from her.
He heard her call him from the other room. Running his hand down his face he stood up and went to the room and stilled at the door. She had her foot on the bed, her skirt hiked up, showing the ivory skin of her legs.
She was tucking a single shot revolver into her boot. When she was done she lowered her skirt and came to stand before him.
“Are you ready to go?”
“You need to stop that, Claudette.”
“But I didn’t agree with you this time, Bronson.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Claudette raised an eyebrow. “Keep your clothes on. It is very distracting.”
“I was just getting ready for tonight. I’ll be sure to ask Arielle to help me if she is available. I’m sure she won’t mind.” She flaunted past him and grabbed her wrap from the chair.
He held out his arm, offering her his elbow. She weaved her hand through his arm and looked at him.
An Agent for Claudette (The Pinkerton Matchmaker Book 4) Page 7