When the waiter came with our bill, Eli signed it and asked that the charge be put on his room account.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the waiter said. He was trying not to look embarrassed. “The management asks that you settle each charge as it comes up.”
Eli got out his billfold with more calm than I could have shown and gave the waiter cash. In fact, he told the man to keep the extra as a tip.
“That is petty harassment,” Eli said, just loud enough to hear, as we passed Miss Mercer at the desk on our way to the stairs.
We still had an hour before visiting time at the hospital. We’d spread Jake’s papers out to dry the night before, anchoring down the corners with ashtrays and Bibles so the fan wouldn’t blow them around.
The most bloodstained paper was the one that had been in Jake’s chest pocket. I puzzled it out slowly, reading each word out loud to Eli. “Dear Jake, I already miss you and you are just leaving. I bless the day I met you. You are a handsome man inside and out. You have honor and integrity and a beautiful cock.” I decided to read the rest to myself. “More of the same,” I told Eli, trying to sound matter-of-fact. “It’s signed ‘Burke.’ ”
Eli said, “Burke was in love.”
“That makes me sad.” Burke would want to know, as soon as I could get his full name and hometown from Maddy.
There were receipts, too, but I knew where we’d been so they weren’t that interesting. Eli unfolded the other note with his long fingers, the one that had been in Jake’s boot. Eli read it out loud in a voice just above a whisper. “Mr. Tutwiler: When you get to Sally, a representative of mine will meet you and assume responsibility for the cargo. Once you have handed it over, you can return to Texoma. My representative will say ‘Let my people go.’ If you’re approached by someone who doesn’t say that, he’s a thief. Act accordingly.”
It wasn’t signed. This was so aggravating.
“How’d Jake know this letter was actually from your employer?” Eli said.
“Maybe something was enclosed. Or maybe there was something on the envelope. Or maybe he knew the person who handed it to him.” I was ready to learn something solid. You needed to know who your enemies were. That was even more important than knowing your friends. “I don’t like maybes.”
“I knew that about you,” Eli said. He was smiling, just a bit. “I don’t either.”
Mr. Mercer’s shadow of the morning was at the desk as we walked by on our way out. As I’d guessed, her name tag read MISS MERCER.
“Mr. Savarov,” she said, kind of cooing. “A moment, please.”
We went to stand in front of the desk. She looked almost pretty and round in a light green dress with a dark green scarf at the neck.
“Will you be staying with us longer, Mr. Savarov?” she asked, not even bothering to look at me.
“I made my reservation for three more nights,” Eli said. “Was that unclear?”
“No, sir.” Miss Mercer couldn’t think of a lie quick enough.
Eli looked puzzled. “Then there’s no problem,” he said carefully, trying to figure out what was going on.
The girl flushed. She didn’t know where to look while she talked to someone as outlandish as Eli; her big brown eyes went from his long braid to his neck (his collar was askew and one of his tattoos was just visible) to his grigori vest. And back again.
“I hope you have a lovely morning, Miss Mercer,” I said, and started toward the front door.
When we were safely out the door, I said, “Eli, never be alone with that girl.”
Again, he looked puzzled. “I don’t plan on it,” he said.
“I think she does,” I told him. Eli flushed and we walked the rest of the way to the hospital in silence. I watched my feet in their strange shoes move across the sidewalk. Today I wore my pale-blue skirt with little white flowers, and the white blouse. I felt like an idiot.
Maddy was awake, but right away I saw she had a fever. Her face was flushed, her eyes were dull, and she was listless. “Good to see you,” she said. “I was glad to have my bag. But one of the nurses locked it up with my guns in it. She said we couldn’t have those lying around.”
“Are you okay with that?” I didn’t know what I’d do about it if she wasn’t, but I’d try to do something.
“Yeah, I guess. I ain’t going to be doing any shooting for a day or two, I reckon.” Maddy managed a smile. “And I don’t need my clothes.” She plucked at the white hospital gown.
“What does the doctor say about your fever?”
“You can tell, huh? He gave me a shot to kill the germs, he said. I should start getting better today.” Maddy tried to smile.
“Can I trouble you for Jake’s boyfriend’s name and how I can send him a telegram? I figured he’d want to claim the body.”
“Burke Printer. He prints the newspaper in Sweetwater. His office is at … let me think … it’s on Armstrong … sixty-two.” I checked on Charlie’s information while we were at it.
Eli wrote everything down on one of the scraps of paper he seemed to always have in one of his pockets. “I hope you get better,” he said. “If you need us, ask the nurse to call us at the Pleasant Stay Hotel.”
Maddy looked a little surprised at the offer. “Thanks, I will.”
I spent a little more time with Maddy. We talked about the food, which she said was fine, and her leg, which looked okay. I wondered where the fever was coming from. Was the wound infected? Or one of her cuts? But I could tell Maddy was nervous about the fever and didn’t want to discuss it.
I asked Miss Mayhew, on duty at the entrance desk again, where the telegraph office was. I’d figured it would be somewhere around the train station, and it was, from her directions.
Eli and I decided to go there first, then work our way from the station out through the town looking for Ritter and Seeley, or Rogelio, or Sarah Byrne. Anyone familiar. “We can cover ground faster if we split up,” I said, which was common sense.
“I think we need to be together,” Eli said, sounding real firm.
“Yeah? Why?”
“For one thing, we’re married. For another, women on their own here can …” Eli stopped, at a loss for words.
“Do you think I can’t take care of trouble?” I could hardly believe what I was hearing.
“You can’t wear your guns,” he said, taking care to speak really quietly. “You don’t want to draw attention to yourself. I know you can take on a small army by yourself when you’re armed. But Dixie is different, and believe me, we want to get in and out of here with as little notice as possible.”
“Why don’t I want to draw attention to myself?”
“Lizbeth, can’t you take my word for it?”
That was a good question. I looked up at him and thought. Eli’s face showed worry rather than anger. Eli was seriously troubled about my well-being in Dixie … yet he’d seen me fight. I had to take him seriously.
“All right,” I said slowly.
He bent to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks,” he said. “This is a terrible place, sometimes.”
“You’ve been here before.”
“Yes, I came last year.”
“With Paulina?” She’d been his partner. She’d died twice.
“Yes. It was a nightmare. You knew Paulina. How could she comply with the rules here?” Eli looked away. And then he said in a completely different voice, “Could this be your gunnie from the train?”
“Yes! Sarah Byrne.”
Sarah was still wearing pants, but she was not toting her guns. She spotted me the next minute, and made haste to join us. “I’m glad you’re feeling better,” she said. Her eyes went up and down me. “Wow, you look different! Did all your clothes get burned up in the crash?”
“Sarah, this is my friend Eli.” Sarah looked up at him, and a little line appeared between her eyebrows.
“Grigori, huh? I never talked to one before.”
“I am a grigori, yes,” Eli said, springing all his charm on
her. He had quite a bit, when he chose. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Uh-huh,” Sarah said, looking back at me. “Well, if you say so. Lizbeth, your arm feeling better? Any muscle damage?”
“No, just sore,” I said. “Harriet’s salve and Eli’s healing helped a lot.” I paused; this was going to be awkward. “Jake died, though.”
“Sorry to hear it. He didn’t seem that badly hurt.” She shifted her feet. “Well, if you need me … I’m at the Darby Hotel, one block over. It’s real cheap.”
“I’ll remember. Hey, have you seen Harriet Ritter and Travis Seeley since yesterday?”
“No, but I ain’t like to. Why?”
“You do see ’em, tell ’em I’m at the Pleasant Stay, and we need to speak. Or Rogelio, too. He kind of vanished.”
“Lots of people trying to find other people in this town. Hope they’re not down at the funeral homes.”
“They’re not,” I said.
Sarah was surprised that I’d checked. “Oh, what happened to your cargo?”
“Stolen from Jake. He was murdered.”
Losing your cargo was a disgrace. Sarah made an effort to look like it wasn’t such a big thing. “Well,” she said abruptly. “You know where I am if you need me. If I’ve left there, I’ve found some means to go on to my sister’s place.”
“Good luck with that,” I said, and Eli told her good-bye. Sarah gave him another doubtful look and was on her way. I had no idea where she was going, but she walked with purpose.
I didn’t feel easy about the whole conversation. I didn’t know for sure why. Eli, too, seemed uneasy. He asked me exactly how I’d met Sarah, where she was from, where her sister lived. I didn’t know all the answers.
We passed a drugstore on our way to the next hotel. The gold lettering on the window read BALLARD PHARMACY, SODAS AND SHAKES. When I glanced in the window I saw familiar faces.
“Speak of the devil,” I said to Eli, gripping his arm to make him stop. “Those two, Eli, are Harriet Ritter and Travis Seeley.” I was as proud as though I had planned this. “We been looking for ’em and we found ’em.”
They were seated in a large booth with another man whose back was to the window. Looked like the three were having a serious conversation, all hunched over and their heads together.
The fans in the store were going, and I thought it might be fifteen degrees cooler than out in the sun.
As if Travis Seeley felt me looking at him, he stopped talking and raised his head, looking directly at me. His mouth fell open. I’d almost forgotten how different I looked in the white blouse and blue skirt, with its tiny white flowers.
I gave him a cheery smile and wave. Seeley nudged Harriet Ritter and jerked his head in my direction. Ritter, too, gave me a startled look. If I hadn’t been so uncomfortable in the new clothes, it would have made me feel kind of smug.
The third person at the table, the one with his back to me, twisted around to see what his friends were looking at. Rogelio Socorro. The suspicion I’d had after he’d vanished from the hospital? Justified.
“Well, well, well,” I said, when we were standing at the booth. “We all meet again.”
Eli said, “Please introduce me.”
“Eli, you met Rogelio yesterday, when he was on his way to the hospital. Because he was so badly hurt.” I thumped Rogelio on what I hoped was his sore shoulder.
We made it clear we were sliding into the horseshoe-curved booth with them, and Rogelio scooted toward the middle. Slowly. I got in next to him. He’d know I had a knife.
Rogelio’s face was a study. The two others from the train were not abashed in the least.
“I have seen your friend, Lizbeth, but we haven’t officially met,” Harriet Ritter said, smooth as glass. She tilted her blond head as she gave Eli a little smile. And a devil bit me in the butt.
“Harriet Ritter, Travis Seeley, this is my husband, Eli Savarov,” I said. “Prince Ilya Savarov.”
Some moments are just perfect.
Eli gave the three a gentle smile all around before leaning in to speak to Rogelio. “Mr. Socorro, we’ve been very worried about you. We talked to Maddy Smith, who is in some difficulty. Then we went to check on you, but you weren’t listed as a patient. Your injuries weren’t as serious as they seemed?”
By that time, Rogelio had gotten his feet back under him. “I didn’t want to take up a bed at the hospital when I could walk out of there,” he said. “I was sure there was someone who needed it worse than me.”
“That’s noble of you,” I said. “And to think you met up with our other two companions on our journey! Miss Ritter and Mr. Seeley!”
“Please, call us Travis and Harriet. All of us who were lucky enough to survive the crash are wandering around Sally,” Travis said mildly. “We were bound to bump into each other. As witness our meeting with you now. And your … husband.” He didn’t try to keep the doubt out of his voice.
We were all doing a lot of disbelieving.
A young waitress arrived just then to ask us if we wanted to order. Eli ordered a glass of ice water and ice cream for us both. I had only had ice cream a handful of times, and I sure wanted to try it again. Especially since Eli ordered chocolate flavor. The waitress brought our water immediately and bustled off to get the ice cream. I took a long and welcome swallow.
“We found Jake’s body at one of the funeral homes yesterday,” I said.
“But I thought he wasn’t hurt too bad. And he had the crate to guard,” Rogelio said, very slowly. I was convinced he was having a hard time believing me.
“While we came over to the tent to talk to you, Jake got murdered,” I said. “Stabbed in the throat.” I let that sit there for a minute. Rogelio was silent, his mouth slightly open. He was staring straight ahead of him. I would swear he was shocked.
“The crate was there, broken open, its contents missing,” Eli said.
“We figured you and Jake were holed up somewhere with your cargo,” Harriet said, looking at me. “We were going to track you down today, Lizbeth. Make a plan for delivery.”
“And how are you involved, Miss Ritter?” Eli asked. He was still smiling.
“How are you involved, Mr. Savarov? When did you get to be part of this mission?”
“My superiors sent me,” Eli said. “To find out what was happening.”
“And who are your superiors?” Travis was doing his best to sound just mildly curious.
“Ultimately, I answer to the tsar.”
Travis’s eyes widened, Harriet’s lips mashed together in a straight line, and even Rogelio seemed startled.
At this interesting moment, we got our ice cream, and the waitress took the opportunity to clear the empty plates in front of the others. I took a bite of the ice cream. It was … so cold and so chocolate. It was all I could do not to close my eyes and go “Mmmmmmm.” I began to eat it steadily. After all, it was lunchtime.
Eli gave me my own little smile. Then he became all business. “Who is your employer, Harriet?”
Finally.
“Iron Hand Security,” Harriet said, after a glance at her partner. I had heard of Iron Hand, a company that had offices in every country in North America, even in Canada. Iron Hand had a very tough reputation. Very tough was what you wanted in a security company, which was the glorified version of a gun crew, in my estimation. I had dreamed of hiring up with a security company someday.
“Did you send the first two shooters into the car to test our mettle?” I said, leaning forward to look that Harriet Ritter right in the eyes.
“I wouldn’t send two men to their deaths to test how good your crew was.”
I wasn’t sure that exactly answered my question. “Why were you there in the car to watch us? Were you hired as backups?”
Harriet Ritter deliberated. Then she lied. “We were there on another matter entirely,” she said.
“Sure,” I said, not bothering to sound like I believed her.
“I’m sorry you don�
�t think I’m telling you the truth,” Harriet said, not sounding sorry at all. “But we weren’t there to watch your crew. And we tried to help you out after the train wreck.”
“And yet here you are with Rogelio,” Eli said. “Who didn’t tell the truth about his painful injury.”
“Yet here we are,” Travis said, with a smile and a sweep of his hand. “Survivors of the same disaster, coming together to share our experiences.” He made it sound like they’d been having a fellowship hour, and we’d arrived to add to the fun.
Eli made a little noise expressing scorn. A snort sounded funny coming from his high-bridged Russian nose.
“If you won’t be truthful, we’re wasting our time,” I said, though I had no idea what else we were going to do. I had finished my ice cream and so had Eli. He left some money on the table for payment, and we slid out of the booth. I looked up at him. “Let’s go do some work.”
CHAPTER TEN
What work did you have in mind?” Eli said, once we were out on the sidewalk.
“First, I got to send a telegram to Jake’s boyfriend.”
I found the Western Union shop easily thanks to Nurse Mayhew. I had enough money (from Jake’s pockets) to tell Burke Printer the bad news, but I had to be economical. I finally wrote, So sorry Jake and Charlie killed train wreck at Sally. Bodies Hutchison Funeral. Who is employer? I signed it, though I wasn’t sure Printer would recognize my name. I put our hotel on the form so any reply could be delivered there.
The telegraph office was busy, but I stayed until the operator sent the message. I hoped Jake’s boyfriend would notify Charlie’s family.
“I think we better have a talk,” I told Eli when I was back on the sidewalk.
“I figured,” Eli said, gloomy all over. Men never look happy when you say that.
It was hard to find a place in the crowded town where we could have some privacy and shade. We went back to our hotel, though I had misgivings about being in a room with a bed and Eli when we needed to say things rather than do things.
But those things had to be said, no matter how much I enjoyed his company—which I did, especially when we were naked. I didn’t want us to be at the same cross-purposes we’d been at the last time we’d worked together.
A Longer Fall (Gunnie Rose) Page 8