I did not have time to let the name or the memories it called up clutch at me. I tightened my hold on Madeline’s arm. ‘Yes, home to James. But we must leave now.’ Another tug, and this time she came to her feet.
It was at that exact moment that the two teamsters came back to the door for another of the barrels. Remembering the woman I’d seen with Madeline earlier, I braced an arm around her shoulders just as that woman had and, hoping they mistook me for the other woman, kept Madeline in place until the two men, grunting from their exertion, took the barrel to the wagon.
I knew we hadn’t much time.
We didn’t have far to go, and I would like to say we covered the distance easily but Madeline was like a man corned from too much whiskey. Her movements were loose and fluid, each of her steps exaggerated as if she couldn’t judge how much distance there was between her feet and the floor, and time and again I needed to stop, get a better hold on her and urge her along. At the intersecting passageway, I once again stopped and held my breath, listening for any indication of noise that would alert me to where Matron and the other woman might be. Hearing nothing, I kept a firm hold on Madeline and led her across the darkened hallway.
That is when I felt her jerk to a stop.
I stopped, too, and spun and saw the woman I’d seen earlier with Madeline. She was behind Madeline and had both arms around Madeline’s waist. She wasn’t about to let go.
I tugged and pulled and poor Madeline, like a child’s rag doll, flopped and would have collapsed if not for the hold the other woman had on her.
‘You cannot keep her here!’ I insisted, no longer whispering as I fought to drag Madeline away.
It was a pity I was so engaged in the effort that I paid little attention to my surroundings. I didn’t realize anyone had come out of the dark passageway until an arm went around my neck and jerked back my head. Another hand pinched my nose and, while I struggled for breath, the first dose of laudanum poured down my throat.
I woke to the most comforting rocking motion, and for many minutes – my brain still addled and my senses befuddled – I did nothing but lie there on my back and enjoy the sensation while I stared at the unremarkable white ceiling.
Unremarkable.
Somewhere in the drug-muzzy recesses of my brain, the word sparked a memory.
Surely, the building where I had gone to search for the answers to Lulu’s past, her fears and her connection to Succor … surely that building was unremarkable and, just as surely, it must be where I was at the moment.
And yet, drugged or not, I knew even unremarkable buildings did not sway.
Thinking through the conundrum and finding no answers, I drifted back into unconsciousness. The next time I opened my eyes, my head did not swim so and I dared to turn to see my surroundings. There was a cot beside mine and Madeline Emerson lay on it, her eyes closed, her breaths shallow.
Like a strike of lightning, the thought blew through me and I sat up. It was a mistake – the moment my stomach swooped and my throat clutched and my head spun, I knew it. Yet I forced myself not to collapse again upon the cot but rather kept my place and fought to get my bearings.
It would have been a damned sight easier if only the room would stop wobbling.
Wobble it did, back and forth in a gentle motion and, more fully awake now, I listened to the groan of boards, the whoosh of wind, the slap of water.
I was on a ship.
The words struck and my heart slammed my ribs, the terror so complete I could do nothing for a few long minutes but consider the implications and give in to the panic that filled my veins with ice.
Goodbye. Adios.
Far, far away.
Lulu’s words did not so much mock me as send out a warning.
Too late, too late. I should have known. Si, si. Adios.
Lulu escaped because she knew – or at least she sensed – she was about to be sent away on a ship.
But where?
And why?
And …
My breath staggered. I swallowed the sour taste that filled my mouth and forced a breath that felt like fire. I held it deep in my lungs and let it out slowly. And I told myself to think.
There was no porthole in the tiny room, just our two cots and a small table between us, and I braced a hand against it and stood on legs that felt as if they’d been poured from hot candle wax. The boat rolled and I stumbled and nearly lost my footing, righted myself again and lurched a second time before I knew enough to stand with my legs slightly apart and my weight centered. With my sea legs finally under me, I went to Madeline’s side.
I put a hand on her shoulder and shook her. ‘Madeline, you must wake up!’
She moaned and turned her head and, encouraged, I shook her again.
Madeline’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Evie?’ Her lips were caked with the honey that had been added to the doses of laudanum we’d both been forced to swallow. Her voice was rough, but I looked and saw no ewer and could not get her water. She hoisted herself up on her elbows. ‘What are you doing—’
‘There is no time to explain,’ I told her. ‘We must see if we can get off this ship.’
‘Ship?’ For a moment, I saw a flash of amusement light her eyes and was reminded of the Madeline I had known in Bethel, the lively girl with an easy laugh and a penchant for mischief. That is, before her eyes welled and her bottom lip trembled. ‘Surely not!’ She struggled to catch her breath. ‘That cannot be, for the other women, they talked of such a thing, but I thought …’
‘You thought it was no more than a story designed to frighten and entertain.’
Her nod was barely perceptible.
‘And you heard this story at Succor, for that is where you went for help, didn’t you, when James threw you over?’
Her tears flowed freely. ‘He didn’t mean it,’ she insisted. ‘We had words, and he spoke rashly, and I …’ She gulped down the pain of the memory. ‘I told him he didn’t matter to me, but Evie …’ Swaying from the movement of the ship and the cascade of emotion, Madeline sat up and swung her legs over the side of the cot. ‘He matters more than my next breath! More than anyone or anything in all the world. I need to make him see.’ She clutched both her hands around my arm. ‘I must make him understand, then he will surely take me back and love me again.’
I feared not, for I knew James Crockett had no understanding of love, and surely no compassion. But this hardly seemed the time to mention it. We had more important matters to consider.
‘When you went to Succor, Madeline, what did they tell you there? That they could help you?’
‘Help?’ Some of the confusion cleared from her expression. ‘They hardly said anything at all,’ she told me, ‘and never asked a thing. They took one look at me and bundled me off to the building with the sturdy doors and the walled yard.’ Her bottom lip trembled and I could not bear to watch her suffer so.
‘I do believe it is your red hair,’ I told her. ‘For they lost a woman with red hair and they needed one to take her place.’
‘Take her place for …’
I looked around the tiny cabin as my answer. ‘They are shipping you someplace. And I do believe it is a place where Spanish is spoken.’
‘Si, yes. Adios, goodbye.’ She slid a hand down my arm and clutched my hand in desperate fingers. ‘I did not understand the lessons. I had no idea. And now, you say we are aboard a ship, that we are being sent … where?’ Her voice was reed thin and so filled with panic, it started up a stampede of fear inside me.
‘Far away,’ I whispered, the horror of it all only now slamming into me full force. ‘Those barrels at the home where I found you … they did not contain freight, did they? Is that how they get the women onto the ships so no one notices?’
Madeline’s ginger brows dipped over her eyes. ‘I … I don’t know. I only know I must find James. James will have the answers.’
‘We will try,’ I assured her at the same time I felt the lie burn through my insides. ‘For now
, I think it more important that we find a way out of here.’
Her eyes wide, Madeline considered all the word meant. ‘If we are discovered …’
‘Were other women discovered? Did others try to escape?’
She wrapped her arms around herself and grew silent.
It was just as well, for all I had to remember was the terror that haunted Lulu to know the answer.
‘We must be very quiet and very brave,’ I told Madeline and tugged her hand. ‘Will you come with me?’
In answer, Madeline unleashed a fresh cascade of tears.
‘We will find James.’ I dangled the false promise and did not feel the least bit guilty when she stood at my side.
‘Yes, James.’ Madeline’s smile was dreamy. ‘We will find James and I will be happy again.’
I was not surprised to find the door to our cabin locked. I was surprised when I checked my sleeve and realized my captors had not searched me; the knife given me by Frederick Withnower was still there and I used it to strip away the wood surrounding the lock.
If it took minutes or an hour, I could not say. I only know by the time the lock gave way and the door swung open, my hands were slick with sweat and splotches of blood caused by many a sharp splinter, and Madeline was nearly prostrate with worry.
I reminded her to hush and led her into the passageway.
From the cabin across from ours I heard the sound of soft sobbing and, though my heart squeezed, my head told me to pay it no mind. It would be trouble enough to get one befuddled woman to safety; once that was taken care of I would worry about the rest. For I was sure there were others and wondered how many over the years. How many women had disappeared?
We crept down the passageway to stairs that led to another deck and still, no sign of crew or of Matron and the woman who’d help to capture us. At the top of the third stairway, I heard men’s voices in rumbled conversation somewhere nearby. There were packing crates stacked below the stairway, and I tucked Madeline behind them, told her not to budge and not to make a sound, and moved toward the voices.
It was then I realized it was not so much a discussion as it was an argument.
Something about freight and missing shipments.
I flattened my back to the wall and dared a step closer to the room where the men spoke.
‘The numbers don’t tally,’ one of the men said, and the voice was vaguely familiar though I could not place it with the cabin door shut. Then again, it was difficult to hear much over the pounding of my heart. ‘I don’t understand it. And if you don’t, Captain—’
‘I do. That is, I will, sir, if only you’ll give me a chance to look into it.’
‘So many barrels of beer equals so much profit. It is as simple as that. Only Captain …’ the man’s voice sank to a growl. ‘I distinctly remember the order from Senor Martinez was for eighteen barrels of beer. And there are twenty-four barrels in the hold. I counted them myself. Six of those barrels are empty. Those six are listed here.’ I heard the slap of his hand against paper. ‘Just as the eighteen are. It makes no sense. If you are falsifying records, I will hear an explanation, and I will hear it now, or there will be hell to pay.’
‘The barrels … they …’ Even through the closed door, I heard the captain gulp. ‘That is, sir, if you will give me but a little time, I will get the facts and figures in order.’
‘I thought they had always been in order. Until now. I swear to you, sir, I will be going over every page of every manifest for every voyage you have captained on my behalf, and if my findings match my suspicions there will be hell to pay. We will not leave port until this matter is settled.’
Not leave port.
My heart skipped a beat.
We were still in New York. There was still a chance for escape!
I would tell Madeline and she would be greatly encouraged, and we would get to the topmost deck and yell and scream and attract attention, and then someone would come and save us.
Yes!
My spirit soared but my steps were not quick enough.
Just as I made to scuttle down the hallway, the door of the cabin where the men spoke swung open and a man stepped into the passageway. For the first time in two years, I found myself face-to-face with the father of my child.
James Crockett was surely as stunned as I was, for he stood as still as a statue, trying to make sense of the impossibility of my presence.
It did not take him long to recover. But then, if there was one thing I knew about James, it was that his mind is as quick as his heart is hard.
‘Evie?’ He bent forward, peering through the gloom to confirm what he must surely have thought was a trick of his eyes. ‘What on earth are you doing—’
I put a finger to my lips and darted a look at the door of the captain’s cabin and James – I could not help but bless him in spite of the emotions that cascaded through me – took me by the arm and led me into another of the cabins and closed the door behind us.
This cabin was considerably finer than the one where I’d woken next to Madeline. The walls were paneled with rich wood. The furnishings were heavy and lavish – mahogany chairs, a table big enough to seat four, a bed, heavily curtained, built into the hull.
A comfortable cabin.
An owner’s cabin.
‘We are on one of your own ships.’ My voice was as hollow as my insides suddenly felt, and I cannot blame James for not responding, for surely he thought I was speaking the obvious. He shook his head and his hair – the color of a golden sunset – dipped over his forehead. He pushed it back with one well-shaped hand.
‘How did you get here, Evie? What do you want?’
What I wanted was answers, and now that I looked into James’s eyes I could not help but wonder if I would like them when I heard them.
‘Women have been smuggled aboard this ship in barrels so that they are not discovered on the journey from the house that acts as a sort of holding place. Once they are aboard, they are released from the barrels, of course, or they would die. They are drugged and locked in cabins for the journey. All the way to South America, I suspect. They are being shanghaied,’ I said, my voice so tight with fear I could barely get the words passed my lips. I had tucked Frederick’s knife back into my sleeve and I touched a hand to it for courage. ‘I swear to you, James Crockett, if you had knowledge of this scheme I will see you punished for such evil.’
‘Shanghaied?’ He had the temerity to laugh and I wondered that I’d once thought the sound as musical as church bells. ‘Have you been drinking?’
‘Yes. Laudanum.’
‘Lau …’ He threw his hands in the air. ‘You are as much of an enigma as ever.’
‘As much as Madeline Emerson?’
His mouth snapped shut, the better to bite through his words. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I know she was in the city with you.’
‘And that’s what you’ve come here to confront me about? My friendship with Madeline?’
I sniggered. ‘As much of a friendship as we two had together.’
‘Evie, it is a little late for these sorts of discussion, don’t you think? If you are feeling jealous—’
‘Jealous!’ I bit the word in half and spit it back at him. ‘Is that what you think? Then you haven’t been listening. I said there are women on this ship right now, women who have been taken against their will. Don’t you see, that accounts for your empty barrels, for the manifest that doesn’t tally with what you thought you were shipping.’
‘What?’
The single word from him was as sharp-edged as a sword but I didn’t let it stop me. Two years of anger and grief, two years of regrets, searing and painful, shot through me. I slapped his face.
‘You heartless bastard! You are finding desperate women with nowhere else to turn and you are selling them. Damn you, James Crockett. Damn you to hell!’
I would have slapped him again if he hadn’t seized my hand and twisted my arm behind my back. Pain
cracked through my shoulder but I refused to cry out, not even when he pushed me into the nearest chair.
His breathing as rough as mine, he looked down at me. ‘You heard what I told the captain. I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said.
When I made to get up, he shoved me back. ‘You own the ship.’
‘And send shipments around the world for concerns all along the seaboard. Are you telling me …’ His expression suddenly as flat as his eyes were empty, he dropped into the chair next to mine. ‘They told me they were sending beer, and you tell me that they are really sending—’
‘Women.’ I spoke the word, but my mind was not on it so much as it was on what he’d said. ‘Beer? These shipments are not for …’ I could barely speak the words. ‘For Sebastian—’
‘Richter’s brewery, yes.’ James scrubbed his hands over his face. ‘I never questioned it. I never thought … Are you sure, Evie?’
‘I can prove it. There are women below deck. Madeline Emerson is one of them.’
Before I ever had a chance to interpret the frown that soured his expression, the air was rent with Madeline’s screams.
TWENTY
I made it to the door of the cabin before James did, but he was bigger than me and faster, and he pushed me out of the way and took the steps two at a time, following the sounds of Madeline’s desperate cries for help.
I stumbled up the steps behind him and, if I had paid any attention to the arm he threw out to keep me in my place, I would have stayed on the stairway. Instead, I ducked under his arm, scrambled up the last of the steps onto the deck and found myself as James did, in the sights of the silver revolving firearm held by Sebastian Richter.
To Sebastian’s credit, he actually paled when he saw me.
‘I see Matron does not keep you as informed as she should,’ I said, somehow sounding as if my soul hadn’t been ripped in two and my heart torn to pieces by the realization that he was involved in the shanghaiing scheme. ‘You’re surprised to see me.’
‘I am disappointed to see you.’ Richter’s words were surely as sincere as the look he aimed down the barrel of the weapon was steady. ‘I told you I would look into the matter of your missing friend. You should have listened and not gotten involved.’ Ever so briefly, he glanced to the side where Matron had an arm around Madeline. It was a perilous situation, and yet Madeline’s eyes were on James and her face glowed with a smile.
Smoke and Mirrors Page 23