The Lost Baroness

by Judith B. Glad

  "She's alive," Buff told her as they started down the stairs. "You've got to believe she's alive."

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Rolf was already asleep in Soomey's bed. Siri offered to take him, but both Soomey and Silas refused. "You need a good night's sleep," Mr. Dewitt said. "Besides, Soomey's having fun being an auntie again. She misses Tao Ni." At Siri's look of surprise, he added, "Our boy. He's back East at school."

  Curious, but too exhausted to ask questions, she went into Dewitt's bedroom. Her son and Soomey were cuddled together, fast asleep. Siri touched a finger to her lips, laid it on Rolf's chubby cheek. "Sleep well, min barn, min älskling."

  Once back in the sitting room, she accepted without protest the small glass of wine he handed her. It was easier to drink it in one swallow than to sip it. Besides, it was bitter.

  Once she'd set the glass on a table, she followed Buffalo into their bedroom. His hands were gentle as he helped her undress. "Great God!" he whispered when he'd unwrapped the binding that held her arm--and Soomey's little gun--close to her body.

  "Is something wrong?" Oh, it felt so good to have the arm unbound. She found she could not unwrap her fingers from the little gun. "Please, my hand..." The fingers tingled as if waking, when Buffalo took it from her and set it on the round bedside table.

  "You're burned," he said, as he carefully unbuttoned her blouse. "Let me get this off."

  For some reason the fabric was stuck to her midriff. Siri gasped when he began pulling it away, for it felt as if he was taking skin as well.

  "You're lucky you didn't set your clothes on fire," he muttered, as he helped her step out of her skirts.

  "I did. I felt it smoldering after I shot, so I pressed very hard, and it got better."

  His arms went around her and she found herself being held very, very tightly. "Oh, God, Siri, I...I'm sorry I got you into that. I should have insisted--"

  "You are speaking nonsense, Buffalo! I am Rosel's mother. You could not have kept me away."

  "Yeah, but I should have known there was more to this than was on the surface. Great God! Jaeger was after you all along. Only he didn't know it."

  "What do you mean? How could he have been after me? I heard him say he had followed you all the way from Honolulu."

  "It's a long story. Long and complicated. And I'm not sure I believe it, even now. Let's get some rest now. I'll tell you everything when this is all over."

  She got into the bathtub, hissing between her teeth when the warm water struck the crusted, fabric-covered burns. By the time the charred fabric had been pulled free and the burns thoroughly cleaned, she was all but walking in her sleep.

  Buffalo lifted her from the tub and dried her off. "You're not going to wear a nightgown tonight. We'll let that burn dry out a bit before we cover it." He carried her into the bedroom and placed her in the bed. After wrapping a soft band around her to hold her right arm in place, he pushed her back against the pillows. "Sleep now. I'm going to get cleaned up."

  From under heavy eyelids, she watched him as he opened a bureau drawer. The ragged shirt someone on the ship had given him was stained with criss-crossing red stripes. "Your back. I will--"

  "Go to sleep, Siri. Silas will tend to me."

  She had no choice but to obey.

  Poor girl. Buff was pretty sure Silas had drugged her wine. A good thing, too. Otherwise she'd have spent the night stewing about her little girl. He picked up his dressing gown and went back in to the sitting room. "Ready to torture me?" he said to Silas, who was sitting before the fire.

  The next hour wasn't the most comfortable Buff had spent. By the time Silas had cleaned all the shallow cuts from Jaeger's whip, he was stiff, sore, and mad as hell. "What's next?" he said, accepting the glass of whiskey Silas handed him. "I've run out of ideas."

  "So have I. That's not to mean," he went on before Buff could speak, "that my boys have stopped looking. Before we're done, there won't be many spots in this town they haven't been. Them or the Chinese. Soomey's got them looking too."

  "I'm obliged, Silas. Siri will be too, when I tell her what all you've done. Seems like you're always pulling me out of a tight spot." He downed the last of the whiskey and rose to get more. It wasn't his favorite drink, but tonight beer wasn't strong enough.

  "No obligation. This is family business, the way I see it." Silas leaned back and cradled his glass in his clasped hands. "You are going to marry Siri, aren't you?"

  "Yeah...yeah, I guess I am," Buff said, with a curious sense of relief. He simply could not imagine a future without Siri.

  "Well, then, let's find that girl, so you can be on your way home. You can't marry her until Hattie gives her blessing. She still hasn't forgotten how she wasn't there to see Katie wed."

  "Ma's going to love her. And won't she be tickled with some ready-made grandkids?" Buff could just see the big grin on Ma's face when he brought Rolf and Rosel to her.

  Rosel! "Silas, how do we know the girl's not already been shipped out? It'd be just like Jaeger to sell her to a slaver."

  "I thought of that. Even if he took her out through a tunnel, she's still in the area. There's been no sailings of ships that might take her in the last week. She's somewhere around here, Buff. I'd bet anything on that." Whiskey swirled slowly in his glass. "We'll find her."

  "Yeah, well, I sure as hell wish I knew where. With all the identities Jaeger had, God only knows where he might have hid her." He drained the last of his whiskey, decided he'd had enough. "I'm going to bed. Wake me when you get up, will you?"

  "Sure. Good night."

  Buff slipped into the bed beside Siri. He shouldn't bother her, but right now he sure wanted the comfort of a warm body beside him. He'd never felt so damn helpless in his life. He rolled toward her and pulled her into his arms.

  She burrowed against him. Her good arm went around his waist, and her long legs tangled with his. Her hand found him, clasped gently. "Älska med mig, Buffalo. Var snäll och."

  To his surprise, he felt a growing desire. It was the last thing he'd expected, given the pain from his back and his exhaustion--how long had it been since he'd had a night's sleep? Still, she was tired, and mildly drugged. It wouldn't be fair. He pulled slightly away, and told his eager cock to go to sleep.

  She clung. "Nej. Do not leave me." It was the barest whisper, but almost enough to melt his resolve.

  His body tensed in response. "This probably isn't a good idea, sweetheart."

  "It is a very good idea." Her thumb caressed the tip of his cock. "We could have died today, Buffalo. I do not want to die before I tell you--"

  The roaring hunger that swept through him left him no time for words. If he didn't have her this moment, he'd...he'd explode. Even in his passion, he remembered her shoulder, but nothing else. He swept her up and lifted her above him. In the dim light, he saw her face, heavy-eyed with desire. "Oh, God, Siri, I can't wait." He lowered her, letting her take him with exquisite slowness. Holding back the surging need that threatened to overwhelm him.

  "Wait," she commanded, when he would have started thrusting into her. "Wait, Buffalo. I must say this."

  "Ah, Siri, this isn't a time for talk," he said, moving his hips just a little. Just enough.

  Her back arched as she ground herself against him. He felt the heat that rushed through her, trembled with her as the great surge of completion clenched her every muscle. And then he was with her, ramming himself into her, his wordless shout drowning her shrill keen.

  She collapsed against him and he held her tenderly, for she was infinitely precious to him. "Great God!" he whispered into her hair, "I thought you were tired."

  She sighed. "I am weary beyond belief, but I needed you...I needed to tell you..." Her voice trailed off as her body melted into total relaxation. Her breath was warm against his chest. He stroked his hand along her spine, down, then up to her neck, where he tangled his hands in her hair, still dark and a little stiff with the dye.

  He had almost joined her in
sleep when she stirred. Her head lifted only a little, but enough so he could see the glint of her half-open eyes. "Jag älskar dig." A broken sigh. "I wanted to tell you before... I love you."

  Words Buffalo had sworn never to speak to a woman unless he could say them with his whole heart came easily then to his tongue. "I love you, Siri Hansen Trogen. Will you marry me?"

  His only answer was a soft little snore.

  * * *

  Jaeger's face haunted Siri's dreams that night.

  Sometimes he was Mr. Gans. Carleen had laughed at her when she'd said his looks gave her gåshud, accusing her of finding him very much a desirable man. But the shivers that accompanied the pebbly skin on her arms had been from fear, not attraction.

  Sometimes he was a priest, although she'd never seen the man Buffalo called Father Spatz. Once he was a hideous face seen only for an instant through a dirty, smeared window as she knelt above Buffalo's unconscious body.

  Most often, he was a grotesque djävul who screamed, over and over, "You will never find her. Never. Never. Never...neverrrr..."

  She fought to escape the dreams, but only found others, as terrifying. She was lost, in a dark place, where she could not move, for cruel bands circled her wrists and ankles. The place moved, rolling her back and forth, against other bodies, across a slimy surface smeared with filth. She wept, called for her mamma, for Anders, who was her other self. No one answered her cries, and she wept again, until finally giving up all hope, she curled herself into a ball of misery. She was lost, and Anders could not find her.

  The bonds that held her in the noisome place were removed after a while, and she was pushed out into bright light that made her close her eyes in pain. She was on a boat surrounded by nothing but water, and no one spoke in words she could understand.

  "Mamma!" she cried. "Anders, where are you. Oh, where are you?"

  Suddenly the boat was tossing like a treetop in a windstorm, and she was picked up and thrown through the air. But it was not air, but water. She sank, slowly, into the dark water, but then she felt the wind on her face again, and heard it screaming.

  She was bound again, but now the iron lay heavy across her body, and held her so she could not move. Water splashed into her face, into her nose and mouth. She choked and gagged. Her hands clawed at the weight across her body, but it would not move, save to lift her high into the air, then carry her deep into the water.

  As the water covered her face, she gasped and it filled her nose and mouth. She could not breathe. Could not scream. The last thing she saw was a bolt of lightning slashing across a djävul's face. He held a child in his arms.

  Her child. Noooooo!

  "Siri! Wake up."

  "Ge tillbaka mina barn! Ge tillbaka dem!" She clawed at the djävul's face, at his shoulders.

  He did nothing to stop her, only said a name, over and over. Siri. Siri. Siri?

  She stopped fighting. Was she Siri? Why did the word not feel right on her tongue?

  Of course I am. It was only a dream. "Ja, jag heter Siri." Then she opened her eyes.

  "You okay?"

  Her mind still full of fragments of nightmare, she nodded. "Ja. I dreamed...so terrible. I could not wake."

  "You've been restless for maybe an hour. Muttering, then yelling and crying. When you screamed, I couldn't let you suffer any longer." He gathered her into his arms and held her close. "Oh, God, Siri, I can't stand to see you suffer."

  "It was only a dream," she told him, touched by his tender caring.

  They lay together, warm and safe, but she could not sleep. Neither did he, she thought, for his body never relaxed. After a long time, she said, "Buffalo, did Jaeger stay in that hotel when he took Rosel there? All night?"

  "Yeah. Silas had men watching all night, and he never stuck his nose out."

  "But all those disguises... What if someone else did?"

  He lay still for a moment, then said, "Well, hell! I never thought of that." He rolled away from her. "I'll ask Silas if his men--"

  "Wait! Not now! It is the middle of the night!"

  "You're right. It'll wait until morning." Settling back, he pulled her again into his arms. "I'll sleep if you will."

  Curiously enough, she did.

  * * *

  The two men who'd watched Jaeger's hotel through the night came to the suite early the next morning, while Buff and Silas were studying a map of the city. Buff told them about the many disguises in the case they'd found. "So can you tell me who all came out that night? Particularly anyone carrying a kid, or even a big package."

  "There was a couple of whores," the one Silas had introduced as Wilson said. "And a deckhand off the Lillie Mae. I didn't pay much attention to him, since he wasn't anything like who you told us to watch for. 'Sides, he's been around for years."

  "One really fat fella come out way after midnight," the other man--Enoch--said. "'Twas whilst you was off checkin' the alley, Wils."

  "Well, hell!" Buff sat back, wondering how he was going to tell Siri they'd hit another dead end. "What about the tunnels? Could they have gone out that way?"

  "We checked. The one from the cellar there is flooded at high tide--around midnight."

  "Wait a minute," Silas said. "Tell me about the really fat fellow."

  "He musta' weighed three hundred pounds. I swear, Mr. Dewitt, I never saw nobody so big. He waddled like a duck, side to side. He had this little case that swung against his knee with ever' step." His hands showed a rectangle about a foot by twice that, far too small to hold a child.

  "And you're sure he was fat? Not just wearing stuffing? Was his face fat, too?"

  Enoch scratched his whiskers. "Now that you mention it, no. I didn't remark on it then, probably because of the scraggly beard. But his head looked real little atop all that blubber."

  "Did you see which way he went?" Buff said, not allowing himself to hope.

  "Well, he turned left out the door, so he come up this way." Enoch shrugged. "I didn't watch where he went."

  "That's how he got her out," Buff said, sure he was right. "He wrapped her around his middle. She's long, but not heavy. He could have done it."

  "Wait a minute," Silas said. "What was the fat fellow wearing, Enoch?"

  The grizzled sailor frowned. "Something different. What was it?" Again he scratched his whiskers, a raspy sound loud against the expectant silence of the room. "His collar," he said at last. "It was one of them things preachers wear. No necktie. Just white all the way across."

  "Father Spatz!" Buff said. "The priest."

  "How many churches are there in town?" Silas said.

  "I don't know, but we'll find 'em all. I'll get Siri."

  "I'll get my men on it too," Silas said. "They can ask around, see if anyone saw a fat priest that night."

  They were forced to delay their search because it was Sunday morning. All the priests and preachers in town were in church. Buff paced and Siri stood staring out the window, despite all of Soomey and Silas's efforts to distract them. When the clock struck eleven, Buff said, "That's it! We're going. I'll haul every preacher in town out of his pulpit if I have to. Come on, Siri."

  They walked out of the last church on their list late in the afternoon. There were no grossly fat clerics in Portland. Nor had any of the clergymen they'd talked to been called out the night Jaeger took Rosel. "Let's go check with Silas. Maybe some of his boys have found something." He doubted it, but didn't want her to lose hope.

  Siri was staring off to the right, beyond the church. "What is that big house over there? Has it something to do with the church? See, there is a cross in the front garden."

  Buff looked. "I don't know, but finding out is easy." He took her arm.

  The house was an orphanage. The nun who answered the door was suspicious as first, but thawed slightly when Siri explained that a bad man had stolen her daughter. "She is very blonde, and her eyes are pale, like mine. Her name is Rosel."

  The nun considered for a moment, then opened the door wider. "Com
e in. I'll take you to Mother Superior."

  Buff decided he wouldn't want to get into a poker game with Mother Superior. She looked as if she could outbluff the devil himself. She listened silently as Siri haltingly related the events that had led up to Jaeger getting his hands on Rosel.

  "So you acted outside the law when you went to your mother-in-law's house and took your children. Took them by force. Is that correct?"

  "Ja, Madam. Because I knew Martine would never give them to me willingly. She believes I am a bad mother."

  The nun looked Siri up and down. Buff knew what she saw. A tired woman with dark smudges under her eyes and hair that was poorly dyed an ugly, unnatural black. An expensive cloak and gown, both new, but worn, shabby boots. "Are you a bad mother?"

  "I do not know. I love mina barn...my children, but I have not found work that will let me take care of them. I do not know--"

  "She'll be able to take care of them from now on," Buff interjected. "I'm taking her to my mother, over in Boise City, as soon as we find the girl." He caught Siri's hand and gave it a warning squeeze. "We'll be married there."

  The nun's dark eyes bored into his, as if she could read his thoughts. Buff resisted the urge to squirm guiltily. Then she looked at Siri, who had not even breathed since his announcement. "Is this true, Mrs. Trogen? You will marry this man?"

  Again Buff squeezed her hand.

  Siri opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "Ja," she whispered. Cleared her throat. "Ah, ja! I will marry him."

  "Then perhaps I can help you." She picked up a small bell and rang it. When the door opened a crack, she said, "Bring the girl Father Spatz brought to us."

  While they waited, she said, "He came late at night, Friday. He had just come off a ship, he said. The child's parents had been lost at sea. Relatives had been notified, but would not arrive for a day or two. He said he would come after the child when they did." Her mouth twisted in a moue of distaste. "I knew nothing of the man, and had no reason to disbelieve him. But there was something about him..."

  "I know," Siri said softly. "Something that made the skin on my arms stand up in gåshud."