HF - 04 - Black Dawn

by Christopher Nicole

  He smiled at the lightening darkness. And now he had more than just something. Ellen had been at Hilltop yesterday, was probably still there now. That would have put the cat amongst the pigeons.

  'Mr Hilton?'

  He turned. Noble belied his name by actually owning this establishment. He was a nervous little man, who looked even more nervous this morning.

  ‘I did not wish to disturb you, earlier. But there is a young woman wishing to see you.'

  'Eh? I'm not in the mood, Noble.'

  'Oh, no, sir, not one of mine.' Noble allowed himself a grin. 'Although she could be, sir, given time. 'Tis the Gale girl. Harriet's daughter.'

  'Eh?'

  'Downstairs, Mr Hilton.'

  Tony brushed the man aside, ran down the stairs. Judith sat in a straight chair at the bottom. She wore no hat, and was indeed not dressed for town at all. He had never seen her face so solemn. But how good it was to see her. So perhaps she was no more than a tease. He knew now that she was what he wanted, in every way. It was not an admission he would dream of making to anyone—save himself—but women, Joan Lanken, the blacks, expected to be mastered by Tony Hilton. And became contemptuous when he would have them respond in kind.

  After Joan's sly smile, Harriet Gale, the thought of Harriet Gale and Uncle Robert, had seemed the answer to a dream. But that bitch had been interested only in the Hilton, in a perpetuation of her position. She had forgotten she had a daughter, who knew no other way of love, as she knew no other man.

  'Judith? What has happened?'

  She stood up. 'I don't know, Uncle Tony. I'm so afraid.' 'Afraid?' He took her hand; it was as cold as ice. 'Sit down. Tell me.'

  'Uncle Dick,' she said. 'He's disappeared.'

  'Dick? Rubbish.'

  'We came into town,' she said.

  'You and Dick? Why?'

  'Well, there was this quarrel, Uncle Tony. Between Uncle Dick and that lady. I don't remember her name.' 'Miss Taggart?'

  'Aye. And Mummy left in a rage, and then Miss Taggart left, with her mother. And then Uncle Dick said, we'll go into town and see them. He'd been drinking, Uncle Tony.'

  'Dick? You mean he was drunk? Good God.'

  'So we came in, Uncle Tony, and he went to the Laidlaws' house, where Miss Taggart is staying, and they wouldn't let him in. So then he went to the Park Hotel, where Mummy is rooming. But. . . ' She bit her lip.

  'She wouldn't let him in, either?'

  'She had a man with her, Uncle Tony. He ... he hit Uncle Dick.'

  'Hit him? Beat him up, you mean?'

  Her chin flopped up and down, as she nodded.

  'Christalmighty. So what happened then?'

  Judith Gale inhaled, slowly. 'He left, Uncle Tony. He just walked out of the hotel. But he was very upset, and he had a bottle.'

  'What time was this?'

  She shrugged. 'About eight o'clock last night.'

  Tony felt in his fob, took out his watch. The time was a quarter to six. 'He probably fell down and is sleeping in a ditch.'

  'I've looked, Uncle Tony. Well, I waited at the hotel for him to come back. Then I started looking. I've walked all Kingston, Uncle Tony.'

  Tony frowned at her. 'You have wandered the streets of Kingston all night. Unmolested?'

  'Nobody bothered me, Uncle Tony.'

  'Good God Almighty. You are an odd child. Don't you realize that he's gone back to Hilltop?'

  'His horse is still outside the Park Hotel, Uncle Tony.' 'Eh?' Tony seized another chair, pulled it next to hers, and sat down.

  'And I met one man, Uncle Tony, last night, who remembers a drunken man leaving the Park Hotel. He can't be sure it was Uncle Dick, but the time would have been about right. And Uncle Tony, the man walked towards the docks. The harbour, Uncle Tony.'

  Tony gazed at her. Dick, drunk and irresponsible? He would not have said that was possible, for such a level-headed prig. Although he had had a lot on his mind, and more building up all the time. But not enough, perhaps. Unless . . .

  'So what do you think has happened to him?'

  She licked her lips. 'I think he may have fallen in. Or . . .'

  'Or jumped? Because he was beaten up by some client of your mother's?'

  'He was very upset,' she said.

  It was quite light now; the clerk was snuffing the candles. And Judith thought Dick might have committed suicide. Now why should a girl like Judith Gale even think in terms like that?

  And if she had cause, what unimaginable vistas were suddenly opening in front of him. Dick had run away from something. That seemed fairly obvious. From Ellen? Hardly likely. She still had every intention of marrying him. From Harriet's friend? That was nonsense. All he had to do was declare himself to the Custos and they'd have the fellow in gaol. From something on Hilltop? Of which he knew nothing? Or from someone.

  And did it matter, alongside the plain fact that the owner of Jamaica's biggest plantation had apparently lost his senses, with a crop to be ground?

  'Uncle Tony?' she asked. 'You will do something?'

  Tony smiled at her. 'I will, Judith. When you tell me exactly what happened between you and my brother.'

  'Seven hundred and four, Mr Hilton’ said the clerk. 'But Mr Hilton, there's a man in there.'

  'Never,' Tony remarked. The clerk looked at Judith.

  'You sit down here,' Tony said. 'I'm going to have a word with your mother.'

  The clerk licked his lips. 'This man ... he had a fight with your brother, we think, Mr Hilton.'

  'Oh, aye?' Tony said. 'Tell me about it.'

  'Well, there was this noise, and a bump, and I went upstairs, with Harvey, the boy, you know? And there was no one there. But Mr Hilton had just gone up . . . and then, about an hour later, he came down, staggering, and went out of the door. And then, another half-hour later, that young lady came down . . .'

  'They'd been in one of your empty rooms,' Tony said. 'Recovering. But you remember all of that. As a matter of fact, old son, I would write it out, just to be sure you have it straight. I'll pick it up in a moment.'

  'You be careful, Uncle Tony,' Judith said.

  'I'm a careful man.' Because he did not want sex from Harriet Gale. Thus he could be the masterful man every woman who had never shared his bed supposed him to be. There was a paradox. One he found amusing, when he was in the mood to be amused.

  He climbed the stairs, and at the top took off his coat and laid it on the floor; the bandanna he used when rising to keep dust from his mouth was in the pocket; he wrapped it several times around his right hand, to bring the fingers together and protect them. Then he knocked on the door of room seven hundred and four.

  After a few minutes, it swung in; the time was still only eight-thirty. 'Christ,' said the large man. 'Another one?'

  'Good morning to you,' Tony said, and hit him in the belly. The man wore only a pair of pants, and they were no protection. He gave a gasp and his face came forward. Tony put his left hand on his shoulder to stop him, and while he was momentarily checked, hit him exactly on the point of the jaw with his protected right fist. The man gave a sigh, and his knees lost all their strength. Tony caught him under the left arm as well, and gently laid him on the floor. 'And to you,' he said to Harriet.

  She sat up in bed, naked, stared at him in total horror.

  He dragged the large man into the corridor, sat him against the wall, re-entered the room, closed and locked the door.

  Harriet licked her lips. 'What. . . what do you want?'

  Tony crossed the room, sat on the bed. 'To talk with you. I believe Dick came here last night.'

  Her head flopped up and down.

  'And was ejected by your friend. I imagine you were pretty angry with Dickie boy.'

  She gasped for breath. 'He just stood there, while that. . . that bitch kicked me out.'

  'And she did, kick you out,' Tony said with great satisfaction. 'You must show me the mark, some time.'

  'You . . . how did you know?'

  'Judith told me
. She told me a lot of things. Such as how, after leaving you last night, Dick raped her.'

  'He did what? Oh, that little whore. Rape her? She's been dying to get him between her legs for months. Years, maybe.'

  'Harriet,' Tony said, gently. 'You just do not seem to be paying attention. Judith was raped. She may not know it, yet, but you had better be sure she finds out. A fourteen-year-old girl? Of course she was raped.'

  'But. . .' Harriet's brows drew together, slowly, in bewilderment. 'That's a criminal charge.'

  'Indeed it is. And perpetrated by a man like Dick Hilton, why . . . imagination does not cope with the scandal. As he no doubt realizes. He has disappeared.'

  'Disappeared?'

  'He was last seen making for the waterfront. Certainly he is not to be found in Kingston. I have spent this last hour making inquiries.'

  'But... oh, my God.'

  'Suicide? Not Dick. On the other hand, he was drunk. He might have fallen in, and drowned. There's tragedy for you.'

  'You can sit there? And say that, about your own brother?'

  'An odd chap. Not really a Hilton. On the other hand, Harriet, a ship cleared last night about ten. The Cormorant for Bristol.'

  'And you think he's on that? Oh, thank God.'

  'It is a possibility. A guilty man, running, oh, yes, it is a possibility. But what a time to go, with a crop to be cut and ground.'

  Harriet once more licked her lips. 'You ... he ordered you from the plantation.'

  'Ah. I was wondering, do you remember that, Harriet?' She gazed at him.

  'Because I was thinking, he has also ordered you from the plantation. In effect. Now, even were I to be allowed to act for him, and in the circumstances, with him gone, and us not knowing whether he is alive or dead, and being unable to know until the Cormorant makes Bristol and returns again—why, twelve weeks at the very least—I could not take you back out there.' He leaned forward, gently cupped her right breast in his hand, adjusting its sag. Her eyes widened. 'But at the same time, being a very generous fellow by nature, were I put in charge of Hilltop I certainly would not think of letting you starve, especially after what Dick did to your daughter. And there is another point. With you making a formal accusation of rape, and concerning your daughter, it is doubtful whether Dick will ever dare return to Jamaica, and if he did, he would very probably go to gaol. Twelve weeks, was I saying? Twelve years more like.' He turned his attention to her left breast, stroked the nipple erect. 'I do not see, in the circumstances, how Reynolds could do anything different. Dick has made a will you know, leaving everything to me. Well, perhaps he isn't dead. But there it is. I am his appointed heir.' Harriet gazed at him. 'How much?'

  'Your own house, for a start. And shall we say, a thousand a year? There'll be no quarrelling with Judith, mind. She'll live with you, and you'll be the perfect mother, as regards her.

  What else you do with your time, and who else you do it with, is your business.'

  'A thousand pounds?'

  'A thousand guineas.'

  'My God,' she whispered. Then her head jerked. 'Boscawen. Merriman. They were there when you left.'

  Tony Hilton smiled. 'Boscawen and Merriman are slaves, Harriet. And Dick was an indulgent, an over-indulgent master. Why, those two, they'd perjure themselves to have him back. But I know how to deal with perjury. So do the Custos, I imagine. They're all planters.'

  Harriet Gale licked her lips. 'You are a devil from hell, Mr Hilton.'

  Tony Hilton stood up. 'I'm a Hilton, Mistress Gale. No doubt Reynolds will be in touch, for a statement.' He went to the door. 'I'll send Judith up. Be sure you treat her kindly.'

  The sun was swinging low in the western sky when Anthony Hilton rode up the slope. The rain of yesterday had left the air clean. The rain and the wind. There had been a lot of wind, although it was too late in the year for a full hurricane. And indeed, the gale had already blown itself out. But it could not have sprung up at a better time. It occurred to Tony that he might be an unlucky gambler, but there was nothing wrong with his fortune in other directions.

  He drew rein before the Great House. Instantly the yardboys surrounded the horse to take his bridle and give him a leg down. And instantly, too, Boscawen appeared on the verandah. 'Mr Hilton, sir? Man. I'm glad to see you, master. The master done gone to town, three days, and I ain't seen him.'

  Tony climbed the steps, took off his hat to fan his face. 'Fetch me something to drink. None of that damned sangaree. A bottle of good wine from the cellar.'

  'Man, Mr Tony, sir, Mr Richard done give instructions no wine to be taken from the good cellar unless he saying so.'

  'Listen, old man,' Tony said. 'Fetch me a bottle, and jump to it. And then get the drivers and that Merriman up here, and send for Mr Hardy.'

  Boscawen hesitated, looked down the steps as if hoping to see Dick materialize out of the dusk, then turned and went into his pantry. Tony entered the withdrawing room. The candles had just been lit, and burned brightly. The entire room glowed. It was a room meant to be crowded, with handsome, elegantly dressed men, and with beautiful, gayly dressed women. It had stood empty for too long.

  And now it was his. His now, and, if he played his cards right, his forever. And he played cards well. There was no sharper sitting opposite him this time. All the high cards were tucked away in his sleeve.

  Hardy hurried into the room. 'Mr Hilton? Thank God. If we only knew what was going on . . .'

  'It seems my brother has fled the island, or committed suicide,' Tony explained.

  'Good God. Because of that Taggart woman?'

  'Have you met her?'

  'Yesterday. She came out here, for the second time, I believe, looking for Mr Richard. It seems he had been meant to call on her in town.'

  'Ah. Was she worried?'

  'She was indeed, Mr Anthony. Well, she took the road in all that rain. Afraid for her safety, I was. But she would come. And then go again. What's to be done?’

  'There is little can be done, about poor Dick. It is also a criminal matter, James. A business of rape, on Judith Gale.'

  Hardy frowned. 'Judith? I would hardly call that. . .'

  'Rape is rape, James. The innocent must be protected. A complaint has been laid, and the Custos would certainly have to take Dick into custody should he reappear. But I have a feeling that he won't, for some time. In the meanwhile, I am to manage Hilltop.'

  'You, Mr Anthony? But, I did hear . . .'

  'Rumours spread by the blacks, James. You'll not believe nigger rumours, now will you? Of course, there will have to be certain changes. I doubt I possess my brother's patience with lazy swine. I have also long felt that you have been insufficiently rewarded for all your efforts on our behalf.'

  Hardy gazed at him for a moment, and then smiled. 'Rumours, Ml Anthony. I'll get to the bottom of them.'

  Tony also smiled. He had been looking past his manager to the verandah, where Joshua Merriman was hurrying up the steps; behind him were Absolom and several of the drivers. 'Then I suggest you begin.'

  'Mr Anthony?' Merriman stood in the hall, his hat in his hands. 'But what is this I hearing, Mr Anthony?'

  Tony went outside. 'Nothing that need concern you, Josh. Save that I shall be in charge of Hilltop for the next few years.'

  'You, Mr Anthony? But the master done say . . .'

  'I am the master, Josh. You'd do well to remember that.'

  Josh frowned at him. 'I got for hear that from the master, Mr Anthony.'

  'Another opinion I have long held, Mr Hardy,' Tony said, 'is that this fellow is unsuited to the authority my brother saw fit to give him. From this moment he will take his place in the field.'

  'You can't do that, Mr Anthony,' Joshua declared. 'I going talk with Mr Reynolds about this.'

  'You can talk to the sky,' Tony said. 'Mr Hardy, that man is at the bottom of all the rumours spread about my brother and me. I want him punished. Fifty lashes, Mr Hardy.'

  'Yes, sir,' Hardy cried.

  'You can't
do this,' Merriman insisted. 'The master done say . . .'