The Smuggler's Gambit (Adam Fletcher Adventure Series Book 1)

by Sara Whitford

  “Wait just a minute if you would,” said Emmanuel. “Sit back down. I want to talk to all of you.”

  Adam, Boaz, Elliot, and Joe all went back over to the sitting area and took seats on the settees. Emmanuel sat in his armchair.

  “What happened yesterday? Where did they take you?” said Boaz.

  “Well, unfortunately Mr. Smythe was gone yesterday, so Inspector Sheffield held me in custody until Mr. Smythe was able to come by and be made current on the situation this morning.”

  “So Mr. Smythe just found out about the charges against you today?” said Adam.

  “Yes. Inspector Sheffield tried to question me when they first took me into custody, but I told him I thought it would put our local customs agent at a disadvantage, considering he could not be present, particularly since some of his questions related to Mr. Smythe’s role in our recent transactions. He conceded that might be wise, so we waited until today to have our discussion.”

  “Where did they keep you yesterday, then?” asked Adam.

  “In the gaol, my boy,” said Emmanuel. “They held me there until Mr. Smythe returned. Thankfully, he got back into town late last night, and I was brought in to speak with him early this morning. It went rather quickly, and then Inspector Sheffield left with the Hornet—at least for the time being—to return to their watch point near Cape Lookout.”

  “And Smythe let you go?” said Elliot. “You’re free?”

  “Only temporarily. They’re charging me with trade violations, so they’ll hold a special vice-admiralty-court hearing as soon as my attorney arrives. They apparently have a witness who’s come forward claiming to have knowledge about this company’s commercial activities.”

  “They say who this witness was?” asked Boaz.

  “No. That information will be presented when the charges are read at the vice-admiralty court. I told them my personal attorney is William Martin of New Bern, so they’ll not hold court until he arrives, and then we’ll have a day or two to prepare for the preliminary hearing.”

  “Martin left for New Bern right after they took you yesterday,” said Boaz. “I reckon he’s getting to New Bern right about now, which means they’ll probably be back sometime tomorrow evening or early Thursday.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear it,” said Emmanuel. “I’ll need William’s expertise. The vice-admiralty court is nothing like our regular county court, lads. There’s no jury, and the judge is an appointee of the Crown.”

  “You didn’t tell them about the second dock, did you?” Adam asked.

  “No, son. I most certainly did not.”

  “So they don’t know anything about it, then,” said Boaz.

  Emmanuel shook his head. “I don’t think so. Unless this secret witness they have knows about it and has told them of such.”

  “Well, I hate to tell you this, but Absalom Reading may be the rat!” said Adam.

  Emmanuel looked stunned. “Miss Rocksolanah’s guardian?”

  Boaz nodded. “Yep. The boy went snooping around Rasquelle’s place and overheard him talking with another man. He fits the description of Mr. Reading.”

  “What’s this?” Emmanuel said, aghast. “And you went skulking around Rasquelle’s place? Oh, I don’t like hearing that! That’s dangerous business, boy!”

  “I heard Rasquelle and another man, who I’m pretty sure was Reading, and they were talking. I couldn’t make out what they were saying at first, so I snuck in to the warehouse and got closer. I heard—”

  “I thought Mr. Reading was traveling,” interrupted Emmanuel.

  “Apparently he came back early,” said Elliot.

  “I see.” Emmanuel waved his hand, urging Adam to continue his story. “I’m sorry, boy, please go on.”

  “Quite a bit was said, actually, but the important part is that Reading and Rasquelle are involved in some kind of conspiracy. Reading knows about La Dama, and it sounded like he has done this deal with Rasquelle to get Miss Laney in trouble on purpose.”

  “What an imbecile!” exclaimed Emmanuel. “Doesn’t he know if it comes out about the Martin estate, he’ll go down with the ship?”

  “We’ve already talked about all of that,” said Adam. “First of all, Richard Rasquelle didn’t tell the authorities where the second dock was, and that’s what Absalom Reading was mad about. Rasquelle thought they’d be able to extract that information from you somehow. Secondly, Absalom Reading was out of town when La Dama unloaded at the estate. He can plead ignorance to the authorities on what was happening there that day.”

  “He’s ignorant alright,” said Emmanuel, “but not about our use of the second dock! He’s been there many times to oversee the unloading of cargo there, even when I’ve been unable to be there myself. What does he think he can gain from such a scheme as this?”

  Adam, Boaz, and Elliot brought Emmanuel up to speed on everything they knew. Emmanuel agreed with Boaz that Adam should go try to warn Laney. He also agreed that if Reading was there, Adam should urge him to help conceal the contents of the basement, but that under no circumstances should Adam tell the girl what he had overheard at Rasquelle’s.

  “It would be enough of a reason for you to go warn her simply based on my arrest,” suggested Emmanuel. “That would raise no suspicions on the part of Mr. Reading, nor Mr. Rasquelle.”

  “By the way,” said Boaz, “there’s a chance Rasquelle is holding some contraband in his own warehouse right now.”

  “How’s that?” Emmanuel asked.

  “Have you seen any ships—merchant-type ships—here on Taylor Creek in the last week? I mean other than the Elizabeth Ella?” asked Boaz.

  Emmanuel shook his head. “No. I have neither seen nor heard of any other merchant-class vessels in this port in the last two weeks.”

  “Rasquelle’s warehouse was full of cargo last night,” said Adam. “It wasn’t that way when I was there a week ago. Not even close.”

  “So?” Emmanuel was dismissive. “It’s likely just cargo ready for shipment.”

  “We’ve already thought about that,” said Boaz. “It may very well be, but Fletcher said the casks he saw were marked with an MB. Do you know anybody around here with an MB mark?”

  “We were wondering if they might belong to Milton Blount, over on the western edge of town,” said Elliot.

  “Milton Blount isn’t producing anything yet,” argued Emmanuel. “It wouldn’t belong to him. In any case, he’s promised to bring his business to me if and when he decides to start harvesting stores from his woods.”

  The men exchanged puzzled looks.

  “Well, then, whose cargo is in Rasquelle’s warehouse?” said Boaz. “Where’d it come from?”

  “It wouldn’t be the cargo from that sunken vessel, would it?” asked Elliot.

  “No,” said Emmanuel. “No, I’d say not. All the cargo that was recovered from that vessel would have been held at the local customs warehouse. They don’t use it often, but it’s where any confiscated or rescued cargo is held until it can be either sold at public venue or returned to its rightful owners, whichever is appropriate given the situation.”

  “I want to know if all the cargo in his warehouse is marked from the same shipment or not,” said Boaz.

  “And how do you reckon you’ll be able to find that out?” said Emmanuel.

  “Let me go. I can check on it myself,” Adam suggested.

  “You’re not going to sneak in again. You were lucky you didn’t get caught last night,” said Boaz.

  “I wasn’t thinking of sneaking in,” said Adam. “I was thinking I could go in the middle of the day—when Rasquelle is there.”

  “Well, we’ll have to discuss that later,” said Emmanuel. “I think you’d be wise right now to hurry to the Martin estate to warn Miss Rocksolanah.”

  “I’m going now,” said Adam. He rose from the settee.

  As he approached the door to leave the apartment, he turned back to look at Emmanuel. “I’m glad you’re back, Mr. Rogers.”
/>   “Thank you, my boy. Me too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  ADAM LASHED THE HORSE HE’D borrowed from Elliot to the hitching post in front of Laney Martin’s house. He looked all around to see if anyone was watching him or the estate, though he doubted there would be now that Reading was back in town and Emmanuel had already been arrested.

  Charles answered the door with his customary formality.

  Adam said, “Is Miss Laney here?”

  “One moment please,” said Charles.

  He left Adam standing on the porch, waiting until Laney could come to the door herself.

  “Mr. Fletcher, what are you doing here?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  She slowly stepped back into the house and motioned for him to enter. “Of course. Come right in.”

  Adam walked right into the foyer and looked from room to room to see if he could see Reading.

  “What’s going on this time?” Laney asked. “Are you looking for spies again?”

  Adam said nothing until he had peered into all of the downstairs rooms.

  “We need to talk. Did you know Emmanuel was arrested?”

  Laney’s eyes grew wide. “What? When did this happen?”

  “Yesterday morning.”

  “Is he alright? Have you seen him?”

  “He’s out now. He just came back to the warehouse a little while ago, but I needed to let you know. Even though he hasn’t told them about this place, we need to—”

  Just then someone appeared over the upstairs balcony and started to walk down the stairs.

  “Mr. Reading!” said Laney. “Adam Fletcher, this is my guardian, Mr. Absalom Reading.”

  Adam turned to see the man who he had just seen a few hours earlier in Richard Rasquelle’s warehouse. So it was him!

  Reading walked across the foyer to greet Adam.

  Adam enthusiastically shook his hand. “I’m very pleased to meet you, sir. In fact, I’m glad you’re here. I was just telling Miss Laney that my master was arrested yesterday.”

  “Good heavens!” exclaimed Reading. “Is he alright?”

  “Yes,” said Adam. “He’s fine. They let him go this morning, but he’ll have to appear in vice-admiralty court just as soon as Miss Laney’s brother gets here from New Bern. Martin went to fetch him yesterday.”

  “Oh, thank God,” said Laney.

  “Don’t you worry, dear,” said Reading. “When the authorities come to talk to you, don’t you worry. Let me do all the talking.”

  Laney looked horrified at the prospect of being caught up in a smuggling investigation.

  Adam quickly responded, “Oh no, sir! I don’t think we’ll need to worry about that! Mr. Rogers didn’t tell them anything about this place. The authorities know nothing about it—at least not yet. And they won’t, provided we are able to conceal the cargo that’s downstairs in the basement.”

  Reading paused at the revelation, then said, “They don’t know about this place?”

  Adam shook his head. “No, sir! They sure don’t!”

  “Oh, thank heavens. Well, we’ll just have to figure something out, then, shan’t we?”

  “Yes,” said Adam. “I was thinking perhaps you can arrange another temporary location to store the cargo, sir. Perhaps even a neighbor’s barn? If you could arrange that, Mr. Reading, I think that may just save us!”

  Adam felt as if he’d just cornered his opponent’s king on the chessboard.

  Reading nervously scratched at his jaw in contemplation. “Why don’t we just move everything to one of the barns here?” countered Reading. “I’d be hesitant to get another party involved. They might not prove trustworthy.”

  “That’s a good point,” said Laney.

  Adam narrowed his eyes. “You can’t keep the cargo here. If inspectors come, you can’t really think they’ll only search the basement! Don’t you have any neighbors you could trust?” He looked desperately at Laney, then Mr. Reading. “You don’t have to tell them what the cargo is. You can just tell them some work is being done—maybe tell them your basement is flooded—and ask them to store the cargo for a short time until it’s dried out.”

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” said Laney. “We could do that!” she said to Reading.

  Reading thought for a moment and then responded. “No, dear. Won’t they just wonder why we didn’t move the cargo to one of your barns?”

  Laney rolled her eyes and sighed. “Ugh! He’s right.”

  Adam tightened his jaw. “Well, how about the tavern?”

  Wait, Adam thought to himself. Did I just say that? He couldn’t believe his own poor judgment. He wished he could take the words back. There was no way he wanted to involve his family in this mess.

  Laney wasn’t sure. She looked to her guardian for his opinion.

  “I’m not so sure that’s such a good idea, either,” said Reading. “I’m not sure which tavern you’re referring to, but there are none close enough to this estate that we could move so much cargo such a distance without being noticed.”

  “Hmm . . . You’re prob’ly right,” Adam conceded.

  “So let’s just move everything to one of the barns. I can have Charles tell George and Pluto to get started right away,” said Laney.

  “Yes, we’ll get on that right away,” said Reading.

  “Adam, thank you for coming by to warn us,” said Laney.

  “Oh, of course, Miss Laney,” said Adam. “I’m just glad I was able to make it here and that hopefully they won’t ever find out about this place. I’m sure gonna do everything I can to make sure they don’t.”

  “Yes, thank you, Mr.—what was it? Fletcher?” said Reading.

  “Oh, don’t you worry, sir. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect my master and Miss Laney.”

  At that, Adam bade them both farewell and headed back to town.

  As he neared the warehouse, Adam made the decision he’d go ahead and see Mr. Rasquelle before Boaz or Emmanuel could tell him not to. He tied the horse to the hitching post nearest Rasquelle’s warehouse and then approached the building from the street-side entrance.

  “Is Mr. Rasquelle here?” Adam said to a young slave boy of about twelve or so, sweeping outside the entrance of the warehouse.

  The boy didn’t say anything. He just motioned inside towards the office. Adam nodded his head and thanked him.

  He made his way through the warehouse as though he was really going to the office. He paid special attention to all the casks as he walked by them. It appeared that most of them did have Beaufort marks. That left him curious. He looked over in the direction of where the casks with the MB marks had been the previous night.

  They were gone. Rasquelle had moved them.

  He thought he knew where they might be, so as he got near Rasquelle’s office, he tried to quickly glance inside the room with the heavy wooden door and iron-barred window. There they were! He tried to commit the mark to memory. It was a very fancy design with a mark that said “MB” in the center, but there was no further identifying information.

  Just then one of the coopers from the warehouse passed by and said, “Oy! Who are you?”

  Adam turned around quickly and said, “I’m looking for Mr. Rasquelle’s office.”

  “It’s the next one,” said the cooper, pointing at the next door down.

  At that point, Adam knew he better go see Richard Rasquelle. He couldn’t risk having that worker tell him he’d just seen a kid snooping around in his warehouse. He really hadn’t thought much about what he would say, but he knew he wanted to try and find out if Rasquelle would tell him anything that could be useful.

  As he approached the office, Rasquelle’s door was closed. Adam took a deep breath and gave it a sturdy knock.

  “I’m here,” said a voice from inside the office. “Come on in.”

  Adam turned the knob and slowly peered around the door. He knew Rasquelle wasn’t expecting him, and he didn’t want to startle him by just barging right i
n.

  “Mr. Fletcher! To what do I owe this surprise?”

  “Sir, I was wondering if I might come in and have a word.” Adam was polite. He even made an effort to sound a bit desperate.

  Rasquelle motioned for the boy to enter. “Of course, of course. Come in and have a seat.”

  Adam slowly and carefully closed the door behind him and sat down in one of the chairs opposite the merchant’s desk.

  “What can I help you with, young man?” said Rasquelle.

  “Sir, have you heard about what happened?” the boy said.

  “I’m not sure. To what are you referring?”

  “Mr. Rogers. He was arrested.”

  Rasquelle paused a moment before he answered. “I have heard something about that. It hardly comes as a surprise, though, does it?”

  Adam shook his head. “No, sir. I suppose not, especially after what you told me.”

  “I think it’s appropriate, if not unfortunate, that it had to happen,” said Rasquelle as he reclined in his chair. “So why does this bring you here today?”

  “Sir,” said Adam, “Mr. Rogers is my master, and I am counting on my apprenticeship to help me make something of myself. I want to be successful like you, but I don’t see how that can happen if I’m employed by a criminal. Furthermore, Mr. Ellison Smythe—well, his son was the one I got into that fight with, and, well, he told me that I better complete my apprenticeship or he’ll make sure Mr. Robins brings down the full penalty on me.”

  Rasquelle folded his hands on his desk in front of him and listened.

  Adam continued: “I’m no fool, sir. I know you are a successful and shrewd businessman, which is why I originally had hoped I’d be bound to you as apprentice. I see Mr. Rogers’s arrest as my chance to be freed from that bond and to be apprenticed under you, sir, if you’ll have me.”

  The merchant leaned back in his chair and smiled at Adam. “I certainly appreciate your forthrightness, but to be honest, I’m not sure that I have a place for you here now. I have all the help I need.”

  “Please, sir,” said Adam. “I don’t know what will happen to me now that Rogers’s ship is sinking. I don’t want to have to wait for the verdict to be read—we both know how that will turn out. I want to get my situation sorted out now, and I had really hoped you could find a place for me here. I really want to work here. I have no doubt I could learn so much from you. You know the right way to run a shipping company.”