Jewel of the Pacific (43 page)

Eden stood. “And she said she would do what was best for Hawaii. How easy to make excuses when one’s heart is bent on having its way.”

Rafe said, “It’s hard for me to reject the notion that there hasn’t been some promise of private booty to be passed around as well. Not to the queen, but to some of the others. There’s no evidence of that, but personal greed and a lust for power are ever with us, and are often garbed as angels of charity for the masses. Underneath, they don’t care about the ‘masses,’ but their own pockets.”

A week later when Grandfather Ainsworth sat at the breakfast table enjoying his morning coffee and waiting for the platter of various sweet fruits to be brought in, he opened the morning
Gazette.

Silas stopped pouring coffee into his cup and watched with startled amazement as his grandfather’s face went from a peaceful tan to two ruddy blotches on his cheeks and then fading to a pasty white. Ainsworth gasped so loudly that it startled the man who was entering with the platter of fruit. He tipped the platter, and half of the mango and kiwi plopped onto the floor.

Silas stood. Was his grandfather having a heart attack? He started around the table to reach him when Ainsworth exploded with temper.

“Where is that Benedict Arnold?” He slapped his hand against the table causing the dishes to rattle. He rose. “Is he too much of a coward to meet me face-to-face?” He turned and stomped out of the dining room, into the hall, and to the bottom of the stairway. Silas followed.

“Zachary! Come down you traitor!” Ainsworth grabbed his walking stick and thumped it on the stair.

Silas cleared his throat. “He’s not here. He left an hour ago. Mind telling me what’s wrong?”

Ainsworth whirled on him. “Wrong? Read it!” He pushed the
Gazette
into Silas’s hands and continued shouting at the empty stairway.

Silas stared at the bold black headline: “Derrington Grandson Involved with Mainland Gambling Cartel.”

The article began, “Silas Derrington may be a newcomer to the Islands, but as a gambler from Louisiana he knows how to wield political power and rake in the winning chips.

“Silas is the elder son of once respected legislator Townsend Derrington, who is now wanted by the Honolulu police for numerous crimes. Credible sources insist that Townsend’s son, Silas, is involved in a fortune-telling scam with the gambling and opium dealers to influence the queen to pass the lottery and opium bills …”

Ainsworth called for his hat, coat, and carriage.

“From this moment Zachary is disinherited. He is not permitted to set a foot in this mansion! I thought Rafe owned sixty percent of the
Gazette!
How could he permit Zachary to print this rubbish?” He snatched the
Gazette
and shook it. “And Nora! My sister! Allowing this kind of rabid gossip to be spread all over the front page! I’ll take them to court. I’ll make the three of them eat their words. Daring to attack you like this. Dragging the Derrington name through the mud. Pay no heed, Silas. I’ll see the
Gazette
ruined for this.”

Silas groaned and slumped down on the stairs.

The next day, Zachary hung his golden head, staring miserably at the carpet in Rafe and Eden’s living room of their suite at the Royal Hotel.

“Now he’s struck me from his will. I’m not even allowed in the house. All of my belongings were taken from my room and dumped on the lawn. ‘And don’t come back,’ Grandfather shouted, shaking that walking stick of his like it held magic to turn me into a toad.”

“We may all be toads before this ship passes in the night,” Rafe commented. He was frustrated over the action Zach had taken. He’d blown the bugle before the charge was ready. Now Oliver knew they were on to the scheme to influence the queen.

Zach hadn’t just hurt himself. The reputation of the
Gazette
was on the firing line, as was Rafe’s, and Nora’s. While the information Zach disclosed was primarily fact, he’d forged ahead independently and ruined Rafe’s plans.

Zach ran his fingers through his hair. “Nora won’t speak to me. Candace says she can’t wait to get away from Kea Lani to live at Hawaiiana. She doesn’t want me coming over. She’s even thinking of moving into the plantation house alone before the wedding. Keno’s mad at me because Candace is upset. I’m done for, Rafe. I’m skinned, gutted, and deep fried. You’re the only friend I have left.”

“Don’t count on it. I’d like to throw you over the lanai if I could get by with it,” Rafe said.

Zach went on moaning out his mistreatment. “I’m living on my boat now—and everything inside is cracked up.”

“Get it fixed. Send me the bill.”

“What about my inheritance? It’s gone. I’m a pauper. Who would marry me now?”

“I don’t know,” Rafe said.

“No Derrington inheritance,” Zach moaned again. “Not even a bag of marbles.”

Rafe’s thoughts turned back to Silas. Rafe was now writing a report to alert the Reform Party movement of what was ahead so they could plan their own offensive to stop the passage of the lottery and opium bills. Silas had told him the queen was working on a new Constitution. “If the queen’s supporters in the Legislature can get the lottery and opium bills passed, she’ll sign them and close the Legislature in September. Then, next January, she’ll introduce the new Constitution to replace the 1887 one.”

If she does
, Rafe thought,
there will be a revolution
.

“You blew it all right,” he admitted. “Why didn’t you get my approval before rushing to print?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t give me approval,” Zach confessed. “Nor would Nora.”

“We know why Nora would never break the story. But I intended to, as you know. We even planned it out. The first breaking headline wasn’t to be about Silas, but Oliver.”

“I know, I know, but he’s slippery. We won’t get much on him.”

“It so happens I have new information on him.”

Zach looked up. “What is it?”

“So you can put it in the
Gazette
tomorrow? I know you hate to hear this, Zach, but Silas is the lowest catch on the totem pole.”

“It was the way Silas acted at the
hoolaulei
last week. He was out to impress Claudia. Well, now she knows what he’s really like.”

“You’ll be astounded to know he’s not the least interested in Claudia. He was forcing your hand. You won’t accept this, but he had your best interest in mind. He knew Ainsworth wanted you to marry her, and he thought he’d help you along.”

Zach snorted.

“Whatever brotherly feelings were beginning to sprout,” Rafe suggested dryly, “you’ve now ripped to shreds. You’ve smeared his sins all over the front page.”

“He deserved it,” Zach grumbled.

“If we all got what we deserved, I shouldn’t want to say where our final destination would be.” He drummed his fingers pensively. “We’ve got to move on and see what we can do to give an emotional sedative to your grandfather.”

“Before that happens we’ll have a snowstorm in Hawaii for Christmas,” Zach lamented.

Rafe smiled. “Thinking about the
Gazette
, I need to see Nora about getting Eden’s first installment of ‘Rebecca’s Story’ printed. We’ll do it this week.” He looked over at Zach. “Think that’s possible?”

“The next edition? Sure, why not? Maybe it will even soothe the feelings of Honolulu citizens toward the
Gazette
.”

“Then go talk to Nora about it today, will you?”

“I’ll go now. Is she here in the hotel?”

He nodded. “We saw her at breakfast. Tell her to get Eden going on the second installment right away. I’ve got to go meet Hunnewell and Thurston at the Legislature.”

I
n the days after Zachary’s disclosure, people in Honolulu seemed much less upset than Grandfather Ainsworth. There were angry letters to the
Gazette
office from the queen’s supporters, and mockery from other newspapers over the “astute journalism practices of the mighty
Gazette,”
but nothing from either Iolani Palace or those in the Legislature supporting the lottery bill.

Zachary and Ainsworth did not know Silas had turned his back on the gambling cartel and promised to help Rafe thwart the cartel plans. With Zachary disinherited, and Ainsworth fuming at Rafe because he “hadn’t kept a closer eye on that volatile nincompoop Zachary,” Rafe decided to risk a meeting between the offended parties. He asked Ambrose to encourage Silas to confess the truth about his past to Ainsworth. And he was pleased when Ambrose let him know that Silas was willing.

Although hoping to go to Hanalei on the Big Island for the rest of the summer, Rafe was obliged to remain at the Royal Hotel for the long session of the Legislature. The queen had refused to permit the customary yearly dismissal.

“It’s part of the opponents’ plan to keep us in session until they can bribe enough legislators to vote for the approval of her new cabinet, containing supporters of the lottery. So far, Thurston’s Reform Party has managed to vote down the names the fortune-teller told her. Each time we send several trusted names, she refuses to add them,” Rafe told Ambrose.

“How does the vote look?” Ambrose asked.

Rafe shook his head. “It’s just a matter of time before the bribery tactic wins. She wants men like Samuel Parker and Wilson for marshal.”

Ambrose raised his brows. “Wilson? Charles Wilson? Not Percy Harper?”

“Wilson and his wife are friends of the queen. He’s also more willing to make some arrests and use a curfew, if necessary.”

Ambrose studied him. “What are you suggesting, lad?”

“Silas has learned that when the queen gets her cabinet and her votes in the Legislature, the next step is to call for a new Constitution. If she does go through with it Thurston’s Reformers will raise trouble. The queen has confidence in Wilson to do what is needed. So, she needs these men confirmed before the Legislature is dismissed.”

“I see. Well a person can’t run a country and expect blessing by selling gambling, opium, prostitution, and liquor franchises to raise money for the government coffers.”

When Eden heard the bill was going to pass and the queen would sign it, she and Candace mobilized the Christian women’s groups in Honolulu to call on Liliuokalani and plead with her not to sign the bills. Although the queen kindly received them and understood their concerns, she was determined to “do what is best for Hawaii.”