By Hook or By Crook

by Gorman, Ed

  “Nothing like that,” he said, showing that rank of teeth. “It’s your husband.”

  “What about him?” Gambling debts, whores, petty theft? Another harebrained investment gone west? Her mind raced over the many ways Thomas could have offended Mr. Seaver.

  “I saw him at Clark’s law office this morning. I had business with Clark ... on behalf of my employer...”

  Anna barely stifled a shudder. Best to know nothing of Seaver or his employer’s business, which had brought a fortune so quickly that it could only have come from some brutal trade in West Indian contraband. Thick Thomas Hoyt was well beneath the notice of Seaver’s boss, praise God.

  “... and your husband was still talking to Clark.”

  “Yes?” Anna refused to reveal surprise at Thomas visiting a lawyer. He had no use or regard for the law.

  “He was asking how he could sell your establishment.”

  “He can’t. It’s mine,” she said before thinking.

  Seaver showed no surprise at her vehemence. “Much as I thought, and exactly what Clark told him. Apparently, Hook Miller wants the place.”

  “So he said last night. I thanked him, but I’m not selling. He was more than understanding.”

  Seaver tilted his head. “Because he thinks the way to acquire your tavern is through your husband.”

  The words went through Anna like a knife, and she understood. Her hand rose to her cheek. The beating had come only hours after Miller’s offer and her refusal. Thomas had been blind drunk, and she could barely make out what had driven him this time.

  “If I sell it, how will we live? The man’s an idiot.” She was shocked to realize that she’d actually said this, that she was having a conversation, this conversation, with Seaver.

  “Perhaps Thomas thinks he can weasel a big enough price from Miller.”

  “The place is mine. No one can take it, not even my husband. My father said so. He showed me the papers.” Feme sole merchant was what the lawyers called her, with their fancy Latin. The documents allowed her to conduct business almost as if she was a man. At first, it was only with her father’s consent, but as she prospered — and he sickened — it was accepted that she was responsible, allowed to trade on her own. Very nearly independent, almost as good as a man, in the year of Our Lord 1745. And, though she could never say so aloud, better than most.

  “I think Clark will be bound by the document,” Seaver said. “At least until someone more persuasive than Thomas comes along.”

  The list of people more persuasive and smarter than her husband was lengthy.

  “It’s only a piece of paper.” Seaver shrugged. “A fragile thing.”

  Anna nodded, trying not to shift from one foot to another. Eventually, Hook Miller would find a way. As long as she’d known him, he always had.

  Anna swallowed. “Why are you telling me this?”

  He shrugged. “I like to drink at your place.”

  She almost believed him. “And?”

  She knew what was coming, was nearly willing to pay the price that Seaver would ask. Whatever would save her property and livelihood, the modicum of security and independence she’d struggled to achieve. What were her alternatives? Sew until she was blind, or follow behind some rich bitch and carry her purse, run her errands? Turn a sailor’s whore?

  “And?” she repeated.

  “And.” He leered. “I want to see what you will do.”

  • • •

  The bad times were hard for everyone, but it was the good times that brought real trouble, she thought. A pretty young lass with no family and a thriving business on the waterfront. She might as well have hung out a sign.

  Anna hurried back to the Queen’s Arms, shopping forgotten. No one had ever paid the property any attention when her father ran the place. It was only after she’d taken over the tavern, within sight of the wharves that cut into Boston Harbor, that business grew and drew attention.

  The Queen was a neighborhood place on Fleet Street. “The burying ground up behind you, and the deep, dark sea ahead,” her father used to say, but in between was a place for a man to drink his beer after work — or before, as may be the case — the occasional whiskey, if he was feeling full and fat. Or three or five, if he was broke and buggered.

  She stumbled over the cobbles in the street, but recovered and hurried along, needing to reassure herself the place was still there, that it hadn’t vanished, hadn’t been whisked away by magic from the crowd of buildings that lined the narrow streets above the harbor. Or been burned to the ground, more likely. She never doubted that her husband, stupid as he was, would find a way to rob her for Miller, if that’s what Thomas imagined he wanted.

  Had Thomas Hoyt been content with hot meals twice a day, too much to drink and ten minutes sweating over his wife on Saturday night, church and repentance Sunday morning, Anna could have managed him well enough. She wanted a more ambitious man, but Thomas had come with his mother’s shop next door. When that allowed Anna to expand her tavern, she thought it a fair enough trade.

  Until she discovered Thomas was ambitious, in his own way. While she poured ale, rum, and whiskey, he sat in the corner. Ready to change the barrels or quell the occasional rowdiness, he more often read his paper and smoked, playing the host. His eyes followed his pretty wife’s movements and those of all the men around her.

  There were two men he had watched with peculiar interest, and Anna now understood why. One was Hook, named Robert Miller by his mother, a ruffian with a finger in every pie and a hand in every pocket. Hook’s gang were first to take advantage of all the trade on the waterfront, from loading and unloading ships to smuggling. But he did more for the local men than he took from them and was a kind of hero for it. Of course Hook appealed to Thomas: he was everything Thomas imagined he himself could be.

  The other man he watched was Seaver, but even Thomas was smart enough to be circumspect when he did it. When one of Miller’s men drunkenly pulled Seaver from his chair one night, claiming his looks were souring the beer, Seaver left without a word. But he came back the next night, and Miller’s man never did. That man now drank at another house, where no one knew him. Three fingers from his right hand were broken and his nose bitten off.

  The other men left Seaver alone after that. Anna smiled as she served his rum, but it stopped at her eyes. He was content to sit quietly, alone with who knew what thoughts.

  • • •

  Thomas was scrubbing the bar when she arrived. He looked up, smiled as though he remembered nothing of what had happened the night before. Maybe he didn’t.

  “There’s my girl. Shopping done?”

  “I forgot something.”

  “Well, find it and I’ll walk you to the dressmaker’s myself. It’s getting dark.”

  He said it as though the dark brought devils instead of the tradesmen who came regularly to her place. Who worshipped her. She had married him a year before, after her father died, for protection. She ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, felt the swelling there, felt a tooth wiggle, her lip tear a fraction.

  “I won’t have you be less than the best-dressed lady in the North End,” he said expansively, as if he emptied his pockets onto the counter himself. Anna and Mr. Long, the tailor, had a deal: Anna borrowed the latest gowns; wearing them, she showed them to perfection, the ideal advertisement with her golden hair and slim waist. The men at her place either sent their wives to the dressmaker’s so they’d look more like Anna, or spent more money at Anna’s just to look at her, a fine, soft, pretty thing amid so much coarseness.

  She pretended to locate some trifle under the bar, and Thomas wiped his hands on the seat of his britches. She forced a smile; her mouth still hurt. Better to have him think she was stupid or in love. Even better, afraid.

  “The best news, Anna,” he said, taking her arm as they went back onto the street. “Rob Miller has added another twenty pounds to his asking price. We were right to wait.”

  It was still less tha
n half the value of the place. Under no circumstances would she consider selling to Hook Miller and give Thomas the money to invest and lose.

  She nodded, as if her refusal to sell had been a joint decision.

  “I think we’ll wait until Friday, see if we can’t drive the price a little higher,” he said, patting her hand. His palm was heavy and rough. She saw the faint abrasions along the knuckles, remembered them intimately.

  She nodded again, kept her eyes on her feet, shoes peeping out from under her skirt, as she moved briskly to keep up with Thomas. He raced across the cobbles, she a half-pace behind.

  Friday, then. Three days. Between Miller’s desire for her tavern and Thomas’s wish to impress him, she was trapped.

  • • •

  Friday night came despite Anna’s prayers for fire, a hurricane, a French invasion. But the place was as it always was: a wide, long room, stools and tables, two good chairs by a large, welcoming fire. The old windows were in good repair, the leads tight, and decent curtains kept out the drafts. The warm smells of good Barbadian rum and local ale kept the world at bay.

  When Miller came into the tavern, Thomas got up immediately, offered him the best upholstered seat, nearest the fire. Miller dismissed him outright, said his business was with Anna. Anna tried with all her might to divert his attention back to Thomas, but Miller could not have made more of a show of favoring her in front of the entire room, who watched from behind raised mugs. Thomas glowered, his gaze never leaving Anna.

  “Why won’t you sell the place, Anna?” Miller’s words and tone were filled with hurt; she was doing him unfairly.

  Anna’s eyes flicked around the room; the men sitting there drinking were curious. Why would Anna cross Miller? No profit in that, they all knew.

  “And if I did, what would I live on then?” she asked gaily, as if Miller had been revisiting a long-standing joke.

  “Go to the country, for all of me,” he said, draining his glass. It might as well have been Go to the Devil.

  As if she had a farm to retire to, a home somewhere other than over the barroom. “I promised my father I would not,” she said, trying to maintain the tone of a joke, but the strain was audible in her voice, her desperation a tremor in her answer.

  “Well, come find me — ” he set his empty glass down. “When you’re ready to be reasonable.” He tipped his hat to her, ignored Thomas, and left.

  After that, the other regulars filed out, one by one. None wanted to see what they all knew would come next. Anna tried to entice them to stay, even offering a round on the house on the flimsy excuse of someone’s good haul of fish. But it couldn’t last forever, and eventually even the boy who helped serve was sent home. Only Seaver was left.

  It was late, past the time when Thomas generally retired. It was obvious he wasn’t going to bed.

  Seaver stood up. Anna looked at him with a wild hope. Perhaps he would come to her aid, somehow defuse the situation. He put a coin down on the counter and leaned toward her.

  She glanced hastily at Thomas, who was scowling as he jabbed the fire with a poker. Anna’s face was a mask of desperation. She leaned closer, and Seaver surreptitiously ran a finger along the back of her hand.

  “Better if you don’t argue with him,” he breathed, his lips barely moving. “Don’t fight back too much.”

  She watched his back as he left. The room was empty, quiet, save for the crackle of the fire, the beating of Anna’s heart in her chest.

  Thomas straightened, and turned. “I thought we had an agreement.”

  Anna looked around; there was no one to help her. The door ...

  “I thought, any man comes in here looking for a piece, you send him up to that fancy cathouse on Salem Street. And yet I see you, a damned slut, making cow eyes at every man in here, right in front of me.”

  She ran, but just as her fingers touched the latch, she felt the poker slam across her shoulders. She cried out, fell against the door. The next blows landed on her back, but Thomas, tired of imprecision and mindful of leaving visible marks that would make the punters uneasy, dropped the poker and relied on the toe of his boot.

  When his rage diminished, Thomas stormed out. Anna remained on the floor, too afraid and too hurt to get up. She measured the grain of the wood planks while she thought. Thomas would go to Miller, reassure him the sale was imminent. Soon she would have no choice.

  She eventually forced herself up, pulling herself onto a stool. No bones broken, this time.

  In her quest to find security, independence, she’d first tried the law, and when that wasn’t enough, she’d put her faith in her husband’s strength. Now ... she wasn’t sure what would work, but knew she would be damned if she gave in. Not after all she’d done to make the place her own. Her father had taught her the value of a business, repeated it over and over, as she held his hand while he died. He said there were only two books she needed to mind, her Bible and her ledger, but now the latter had her in deep trouble. She moved stiffly to the bar, poured herself a large rum, drank it down neat, exchanging the burn of the liquor for the searing pain in her back.

  • • •

  Thomas didn’t return in the morning, but Anna hadn’t expected him to. He often stayed away after a beating, a chance for her to think over her sins, he’d told her once before. But never for more than a day or two.

  She moved stiffly that day, easier the next, but late the third evening, when Anna was about to bar the door for the night, a man’s hand shoved it open. Maybe Thomas had had a change of heart, had come home —

  It was Hook Miller.

  She didn’t offer a drink. He didn’t ask for one.

  “Why not sell to me, Anna Hoyt?” he asked, warming his hands at the fire. “I want this place, so you might as well save yourself the trouble.”

  “I told you: my father said I should never sell. Property — it’s the only sure thing in this world.”

  Miller didn’t seem bothered, only a bit impatient. “There’s nothing sure, Anna. Wood burns, casks break, and customers leave. And I’ve had the lawyer Clark make your rights over to Thomas. Take my money, leave here.”

  She said nothing. Felt the paper she kept in her shoe, the copy of the document that gave her the Queen’s Arms, the property, the right to do business. Now they were, he was telling her, worthless. After all her work, all she’d done ...

  Suddenly, Anna had a dreadful thought. “Where’s Thomas? Have you seen him?”

  “Indeed, I have just left him.” Miller stood straight, smiled crookedly. He continued, mock-serious: “He’s ... down by my wharf. He couldn’t persuade you to sell, but he’s still looking after your interests.”

  The blood froze inside her. Thomas was dead, she knew it.

  Miller tilted his head and waited. When she couldn’t bring herself to respond, he left, closing the door behind him.

  The paralyzing cold spread over her, and, for a blessed moment, Anna felt nothing. Then the shivering started, brought her back to the tavern. Anna’s first thought was that her knees would give way before she reached the chair by the fire. She clutched the back of it, her nails digging into the upholstery. When she felt one of them snap, she turned, took three steps, then vomited into the slops pot on the bar.

  Better, Anna thought, wiping her mouth. I must be better than this.

  Still trembling, but at least able to think, she climbed the stairs to her rooms. She saw Thomas’s good shirt hanging from a peg, and buried her face in it, breathing deeply. She took it down, rubbing the thick linen between her fingers, and considered the length of the sleeves. She stared at the peg, high on the wall, and reluctantly made her decision.

  • • •

  Everything was different in her new shoes. Since she was used to her thin slippers, the cobbles felt oddly distant beneath the thick soles, and it took her awhile to master the clunkiness of the heels. She relied on a population used to drunken sailors to ignore her, relied on the long cloak to conceal most of her blunders. Thoma
s’s clothes would have been impossible, but she still had a chest full of her father’s things, and his boots were a better fit. Best not to think about the rest of her garb. She needed to confirm what Miller had hinted, and she couldn’t be seen doing it. Anna was too familiar a figure to those whose lives were spent on the wharves, and most of them would be friendly faces. But not if she were caught. If they caught her, so scandalously dressed in britches, well ... losing the tavern would be the least of it.

  Somehow, her need to know for sure was stronger than fear, than embarrassment, and the bell in the Old North Church chimed as she found her way to Miller’s wharf. The reek of tar and wood fires made her eyes water, and a stiff breeze combined drying fish with the smells of spices in nearby warehouses, making her almost gag.

  The moon broke through the clouds. She walked out to the harbor, feeling more and more exposed by the moment ...

  Nothing on Miller’s wharf that shouldn’t be there. She stopped, struck by a realization. Hook would never lay the murder at his own doorstep.

  The urge to move a short way down to the pier and wharf that belonged to Clark, Miller’s detested rival in business, was nearly physical.

  At first, Anna saw nothing but the boards of the pier itself. She climbed down the ladder to the water’s edge, hooked one of the dinghies by its rope, and pulled it close. She boarded, cast off, and rowed, following the length of the pier. Though she preferred to be secret, there was no need to muffle the oarlocks; the waterfront’s activity died down at night, but it was never completely silent along the water. Sweat trickled down her back even as thin ice crackled on the floor of the boat beneath her feet.

  The half hour rang out, echoed by church bells across Boston and Charlestown, and Anna shivered in spite of her warm exercise.

  Three-quarters of the way down the pier, Anna saw a glimpse of white on the water. She uncovered her lantern and held it up.

  Among the pilings, beneath the pier, all manner of lost and discarded things floated, bobbing idly on top of the waves: broken crate wood, a dead seagull, an unmoored float. There was something else.