Kathleen Y'Barbo (36 page)

“Tell me what is going on here with this.” He pointed to the edge of the diagram and a representation of a fuel system alteration that she thought might be more efficient.

“You rearranged the alignment of the valve system. This way the fuel is funneled down instead of up and is used more efficiently and thus...” Kyle looked up. “Millie, this is brilliant.”

“I don’t know about that. I just thought that because I nearly ruined your flying machine, the least I could do was to consider a way I might help with an operational issue. And when you mentioned your fuel troubles...” She paused and then looked him in the eye with a small smile. “Had I paid more attention to my tutors, I might have been able to sew a patch on the hole I put in the silk, but the womanly arts are not my forte.”

“Anyone can sew a patch, Millie. But this—”

“Honestly, Kyle. I didn’t mean for you to see this. It’s not finished.”

“Well, no, although I can see value here.” He turned the sketchbook on its side and regarded the page intently. “And this will never work.”

“What?” When he pointed out what he considered to be an error in her calculations, Millie defended the numbers vehemently.

“I suppose you could argue that point,” he said. “But when you factor in the variation in wind speed, then what?”

Millie considered his question and offered an answer that had them debating design and theoretical physics.

And then her stomach rumbled. Embarrassed, she took the sketchbook and set it aside with the cover firmly closed. “It’s all hypothetical. Right now I am hungry and our dining partners will be wondering where we are.”

“Actually, we will not be dining with the Milligan brothers. I hope you do not mind.”

“Not at all,” she said as she allowed him to lead her into the passageway and then shut the door. “Though I wonder how you managed it.”

As she turned toward the dining room, Kyle stepped in front of her
to halt her progress. “We’ll be going in the other direction. Thanks to our captain, we are dining on the hurricane deck.”

“You mean the roof?”

“One and the same. With the passengers all down in the dining room, I thought it might be a good place to have a conversation without being overheard.” He gestured toward the exit. “After you, Miss Cope.”

A few minutes later, Millie stepped onto the topmost deck of the
Victoria Anne
to find a table set for two near the rail on the opposite side of the ship from the paddle wheel. The noise from it and the boilers was louder than down below but not so loud as to make conversation impossible. And true to Kyle’s assertion, other than the captain and his crew, who were secured inside the wheelhouse, they were alone on the deck.

Millie allowed Kyle to help her to her chair and then busied herself adjusting her skirts and smoothing back her hair while her companion took his seat across from her. Other than a light breeze that blew from the south, the sunny deck was blessedly warm for late January.

The table had been set much in the same way as if they were dining downstairs. Formal china and silver and a tablecloth of white linen were a stark contrast to their rooftop location. Two silver-domed serving platters containing enough food for twice their number graced the center of the table.

“All right,” Kyle said after he had filled both their plates. “About our discussion last night.”

“I need you to help me find the Lafitte treasure, and in return I will assist as best I can with your fuel conundrum,” she said as she leaned back to regard him.

“Agreed.”

“Without your expertise and the photograph you took, I have nothing to go on.”

“And you are certain your father has given the locket to the man you were to marry?”

She let out a long breath and reached for her water glass. “I am sure of nothing anymore. Not since Father burned everything of value.”

“Burned? What did he burn?”

“My library. All the books and sketchbooks and...” She paused to gather her thoughts. “All of it.”

“Including a dress?”

Her brows gathered. What an odd question. “I don’t know. Why?”

“Just curious.” He dug into his meal with gusto, sparing her a look only when he realized she was not sharing his enthusiasm. “I thought you were hungry.”

“I am, but I’m also interested in what we were just discussing. Are you purposefully stalling sharing your thoughts on how we will proceed or is that accidental?”

Her direct question surprised him. Kyle set his knife and fork aside to give her his full attention. “Neither, actually. I just happen to enjoy a good steak. But enough of that. You once told me you didn’t know whether your fiancé knew anything about the treasure. Would you still say that is true?”

“No. I believe he knows something, though likely it is only whatever my father has told him. And according to Cook, my father does not know the whole story.”

“Go on.”

“Not until I have your assurance that any treasure we find will be a secret between us that you will neither acknowledge nor share with anyone else. If not, then I have nothing to gain by giving you any more information.”

“I have agreed to help you, though in what capacity and at what level of secrecy is yet to be determined.”

“I am not sure I follow.”

He looked around and then back at her. “I am a Pinkerton agent, Millie. And right now I am working another case.”

He could tell she had not expected that, but due to her earlier guesses, she likely was not altogether surprised. “I see.” She paused as if to collect her thoughts and then continued. “I don’t suppose I can ask what case you are working on.”

He smiled. “You can certainly ask, but I cannot tell you.”

“Does your current assignment conflict with my request for help?”

“It could.” Once again he reached for his knife and fork. “However, as
long as what you are asking of me does not interfere with what the agency is asking of me or cause me to break any laws, then I see no problem with agreeing to help with your search.”

“Thank you for your honesty.”

“Honesty is important to me, as I am sure it is to you.” While she considered this, he said, “What does Sir William know about the treasure?”

“He knows the locket is valuable. At least to me. If he did not know this, then he would not be in possession of it right now. Or perhaps Father still has it and is trying to solve the puzzle himself, if indeed the locket is hiding secrets that might lead to the treasure. It’s impossible to know with any certainty at this point.”

“Tell me what you know about this man to whom you were engaged.”

“Apparently very little. I recently discovered how many lies he told.”

“Such as?”

“About his background, his mother, the location of his home.” She paused to sip her water. “It seems that none of what he told me was the truth. I would not be surprised to find out that even his name was false.”

“Actually, Millie...”

“What?” She shook her head. “Of course he lied about that too. Just who is this man my father holds in such high regard?”

“We are fairly certain Sir William Trueck is one Will Tucker, a convict who escaped from Angola Prison and is wanted for a list of charges, including duping women into agreeing to marry him and then stealing an item of value from their jewelry boxes to pass on to the next young lady.”

He watched as she absorbed the news. “But he did not give me any jewelry, Kyle. Even the engagement ring he offered me ended up on another woman’s finger, so it was never really a gift to me at all. It was just something staged for a newspaper photograph.”

If he needed any further proof that Will Tucker was a first-class fool, Kyle only had to look across the table at the woman who might
have married him. To miss that opportunity took more than the average stupidity. “You are certain of this?”

Millie nodded. And then she thought of the conversation on the roof where she had been told that the fact she already owned a set of pearls had ruined his gift. “Wait. He brought jewelry up once when we were talking. He was disappointed I already had something similar to what he wanted to give me.”

“How did the conversation end?”

“With him saying ‘that would be different, would it not?’ Those were his exact words. I remember thinking it was an odd thing to say, but I put it off to his English customs.” She gave Kyle a pained look. “He’s not English, is he?”

“Best we can tell, he comes from Texas.”

“Texas. I would never have guessed.” She swung her gaze to meet his. “He is good at what he does, Kyle. I am not a stupid woman, and he had me completely fooled. At least for a time.”

“He
is
good at what he does,” Kyle said gently. “Do not be hard on yourself.”

“I suppose I was looking so intently for a solution that I cast aside the details that did not fit.” She shook her head. “As a scientist, I know better than that.”

“But as a woman...”

“As a woman I depended on my father’s opinion of the man.” She paused to gain control of her emotions. Now was not the time to show Kyle Russell that she, too, could feel humiliated even when she did not love the man. “He introduced us. Championed him, actually. Took him in as a partner in his business. I was just the glue that held it all together. Or maybe I was his reward,” she said with a chuckle that held no humor.

“And he was the means of your escape.”

To hear the words said aloud took the breath from her. “Yes,” she said softly, her eyes on her clasped hands in her lap. “I was also using him, something I am not proud of.”

“Millie.”

She looked up at Kyle. The sun slanted across the angles of his face while the breeze teased at his dark hair.

“Try not to focus on that. Your moment of recrimination can wait.
Right now we need to concentrate on two things. Capturing Will Tucker and finding your treasure.”

“Absolutely,” she said, although she knew there would be a time of wrestling with her own responsibility in this situation.

“Let’s discuss the first order of business,” he said firmly. “In order to accomplish what I have in mind, I will need your full cooperation. And I will remind you that of the two of us, I am the professional here, so I will lead all aspects of this project and you will follow.”

“Of course.”

He lifted a dark brow. “Millie, our success and your safety will require an understanding of the meaning of the word ‘follow.’ Are you so informed?”

“I fail to grasp your meaning,” she said calmly, trying not to laugh.

“I mean you must assure me you fully understand the concept of abstaining from making any decisions without first consulting me.” He paused to rest his palms on the table. “I will have your full cooperation or we can dissolve this partnership effective immediately.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said as she tucked an errant curl behind her ear. “Why would you assume I would make some sort of decision without consulting you? I have just given you my assurance you will take on the lead role in this matter.”

He sat back and regarded her with the beginnings of a smile. “I have a length of silk with a bullet hole in it down in the cargo hold that would argue the opposite point.”

Would she never live that down? “Fair enough. From this moment forth, you are in the lead. The supreme commander. The decision maker and emperor of all you survey.”

“That will do for a start, though it might help if you put it in writing. Just to give you something to consult should you suffer another regrettable memory lapse or happen to—”

“I understand. I agree. Now shall we get to the topic at hand? How shall we proceed from here?”

“You want your locket and I want Tucker. Your father said Tucker would return the locket once you married him.”

“Yes, but I don’t intend to marry him, and he knows that.”

“Unless you can convince him you have changed your mind, and then—”

“You could catch him, and I could have my necklace back.”

“To which I can do a test on the evidence to see if there are any leads we can follow to find this treasure you insist exists.”

“Not just me, Kyle. Cook knows it exists too. As did my mother and grandmother.” Millie paused to consider whether she should save the remainder of her information or tell him now. She decided to compromise and tell him part of what Cook had said. “There is more.”

“Oh?”

“I told you I had new information. I didn’t board this steamboat merely to follow you to New Orleans. There was another reason.” She paused and then took the plunge. “I have family there. A relative who owns a home on Royal Street. Or did, anyway. Cook says she can tell me more about my mother and grandmother and, just maybe, about the treasure.”

“But will she?”

“I can only ask. At least she may know who Sophie and Julian were, and whether there was ever anything on the paper in the cypher. And then there’s the key...”

“Yes...” he said, and then he stopped as he noticed the captain coming toward them and waved.

“Afternoon, Mr. Russell,” the captain said to Kyle. “Lovely day. I am very glad you and your lady friend accepted my invitation to dine privately here on the hurricane deck. Things are quiet up in the wheelhouse right now, so if you are still wanting me to answer those questions you mentioned yesterday, now would be a good time to do it.”