Ask a Shadow to Dance (27 page)

“If only we could warn the Captain.”

“I’m not ready to change history that much. There’s no telling what the consequences might be.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. David asked what was on her mind.

“I’ve been thinking all morning about Andrew and the fact we haven’t heard from him. I can’t help but think he’s up to no good. Yet there’s no legal way he can get to our money, the business, the house or any of it. Why doesn’t he go back to his plantation in New Orleans and try to make a success of it?”

“Because that would be the logical and honorable thing to do.
He doesn’t strike me as being particularly honorable about anything he does.”

“So, what is he planning? Where is he? I gave him enough money for two nights in a hotel, but that’s all. He doesn’t have enough money for return passage to New Orleans. I’d gladly pay his way, though.” A thought struck her. “David, I think I’ve got it!”

“What?”

“I’ll offer to pay Andrew’s passage to New Orleans on the
Cajun Star
. I’ll offer him enough money to run the plantation for a couple of months. There won’t be any need for all of us to go if we can just get Andrew on that boat.” The thought of luring Andrew to his death troubled her, but she hadn’t been able to come up with another plan. If Andrew’s death meant freedom for her father and Aunt Portia, then she could learn to live with what she’d done.

He didn’t answer.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to be rid of Andrew for good?”

“Yes, but is this the way? Sending him off to an unknown fate? If the boilers are going to explode on the
Cajun Star
, I don’t know if I could wish such a death on anyone—even a bastard like Andrew. I read about the
Sultana
.”

She had also heard about the explosion of the
Sultana
and shuddered, thinking about the terrible destruction of boat and passengers, the disastrous result of putting too many people on one vessel. She pictured Andrew on a boat destined to such a fiery death and squeezed her eyes tightly shut at the vision.

“Tell me, David, what else we can do.”

“I don’t know, but let’s keep searching for an alternative plan. When I became a doctor, I swore to save human life, no matter whose life it happened to be.” He looked away, struggling.

She knew then what she’d have to do if they were unable to cross to David’s century. But she would do it—not David. She could not ask him to break his oath as a doctor. If it came to that, sending Andrew to his death would be her doing and hers alone.

“It’s almost eleven o’clock. We should go to Mr. Rogers’s office to sign the papers and deliver the inventory.”

David seemed agitated, obviously concerned about the short time remaining before the
Cajun Star
departed Memphis this evening and about her suggestion. She wouldn’t mention it to him again.

Lisette told Seth to hitch the horses to the carriage. Aunt Portia was sleeping peacefully while Jacob ate some sort of mush Sedonia had cooked for him, muttering between bites how “starved” he was. Lisette almost wished Sedonia and Seth could come with them, but David had already thought about them. They would instruct Mr. Rogers, in the event Jacob, Aunt Portia and Lisette were no longer available to occupy the house, Sedonia and Seth would be hired as caretakers and allowed to live in the Morgan home for the rest of their lives with a stipend from the trust. This solution made perfect sense and satisfied Lisette’s desire to provide for them after they’d helped the Morgan family for so many years.

At the lawyer’s office, Mr. Rogers greeted them with a broad smile and all the papers he’d promised to have ready. It took only a few minutes to sign everything. David asked him to add a page concerning Sedonia and Seth. He had his secretary prepare the extra page, and it was also signed. The inventory was added to the bundle.

“I have one other request,” David told him and pulled an envelope from his pocket. “I’d like for you to arrange to deliver this letter to my brother, Joe Stewart.”

“Of course, Doctor Stewart.” He glanced at the address on the envelope, then frowned. “I’m not familiar with this street, or this town. Is it near Memphis?”

Lisette didn’t understand what David was doing. How was it possible to send a letter to Joe? “David, when is the letter to be delivered?”

“ On November twenty-first, 2009.”

Mr. Rogers’s jaw dropped with surprise. “I’m sorry, Doctor Stewart, but did I hear you correctly? 2009e?
Your brother?”

“Yes, my older brother. You’ll hold the letter in this office as long as the firm does business. If the firm closes, you’ll arrange for another firm to hold the
letter until November twenty-first, two thousand nine. On that day, at noon, the letter will be delivered to Joe Stewart, at that address in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis. I promise you; he’ll be there to receive it.”

To his credit, Mr. Rogers responded professionally.

“Certainly, Doctor Stewart. Is there anything else we can do for you today?”

David was grinning from ear to ear. “I think that’s everything. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.”

“And with you, Sir. I have to tell you, we haven’t had a client with such entertaining requests in quite some time. I wish I could be the one to deliver this letter to your brother.” He paused, pressing his lips together for a moment. “Perhaps, Sir, if you wouldn’t mind, that is, you and I might discuss this further over a drink at the Peabody some evening. I’d like to hear more about your brother and where he lives.”

David laughed and shook his hand. “I’d like that. Maybe we can do it sometime.”

Mr. Rogers looked at Lisette. “Will there be anything else, Mrs. Westmoreland?”

“That’s all for today, I believe. Will you be available later in the day, in case Doctor Stewart thinks of something else he needs?”

“Absolutely. Don’t hesitate to call on me. Good day to you both and congratulations again.”

On the way home, David bought Lisette an ice cream and told her about a place in his time with more than two dozen flavors, all of which were available for tasting before having to make a selection. She thought he must be joking, but taken along with all the other fantastic things he’d told her, she decided to reserve judgment until she could see—and taste—for herself.

Back in the carriage, David asked Seth if he would take them on a short tour of the downtown area.

David tried to absorb every sight and sound possible. He believed they were actually going to leave Memphis this evening and return to the time he called “home.” For all their sakes, and his happiness, she hoped he was right.

By the time they got back to the house, it was almost two o’clock. Only four hours until the
Cajun Star
would sail. Inside, the first thing she noticed was her mother’s angel, lying on the floor, broken into more than a dozen pieces. Sadly, she knelt to gather the remnants of the porcelain beauty. “Sedonia? What happened here?”

There was no answer. She ran upstairs, David right behind her, to Aunt Portia’s room. She wasn’t there. David looked into her father’s bedroom.

“He isn’t here either.”

“Where could they be? Where is Sedonia?”

Lisette could hear Seth downstairs, calling his mother with no answer. David and Lisette went through the kitchen, outside to the servant’s quarters. No one. Even Seth seemed to have disappeared.

“David, where is everyone? We had the carriage. They couldn’t have gone somewhere without us.”

Seth came to the back door of the main house. “A man is here to see you, Ma’am. He says he knows where everybody is.”

Lisette hurried past Seth to the foyer. Standing there, with a wicked smirk on his face, was Andrew.

“Where are they? What happened? Did my father have another seizure?”

“He didn’t have a seizure, but Auntie Portia almost did. They’re alive and well, along with that ridiculous woman. What was her name?”

“Sedonia,” Lisette murmured, barely able to speak at all.

“Yes, Sedonia.
They shall stay alive and well as long as you do what I tell you.”

David was to the point of explosion. She put one hand on his arm, terrified. “Let’s sit down and talk about this like sensible adults,” she said carefully. “David, let’s hear what Andrew has to say.”

“I’m not about to sit down and discuss anything with this miserable excuse for a man.”

“David, please—”

“Westmoreland, you will tell me, this instant, where Jacob and Portia Morgan are, and then you will disappear from this city forever. Where are they!”

The cold glint of hatred in Andrew’s eyes pierced Lisette’s heart like a dagger. He smiled, knowing he had the upper hand.

“I think not. Actually, it’s probably a good thing you’re a doctor. The Morgans are going to need your expert care. If you ever see them again.”

“You sorry bastard!”
David lunged at Andrew and seized him by the throat. Andrew grabbed David’s arms, trying to dislodge him, but David’s anger made him too strong to overpower.

“David, no!
We can’t accomplish anything this way. David!” She grabbed his wrists and tried to make him see reason. They had to listen to Andrew’s demands. Otherwise, she might never see her father and Aunt Portia again. “Please, David, let’s listen what he has to say!”

David stopped his attack, breathing heavily,
his face brilliant red. Lisette thought for a moment he might be having a seizure, but he finally controlled his rage. She whispered frantically. “He has them, David. We have to listen. We have to.”

Andrew rubbed his neck, coughing and choking. If he left now, they might never see Aunt Portia or Jacob alive again.

David finally took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “All right. We’ll listen to what the bastard has to say. But hear this first, Westmoreland. If you harm either of those people, I’ll see you rot in jail for the rest of your life.”

Andrew’s face paled a little, but he continued to smile in that cold, calculated way.

“We’ll see who rots. And where.” He stomped off into the parlor and sat down in the Turkish chair. David and Lisette sat together on the settee.

“All right, Andrew, we’re listening. Where are my father and Aunt Portia?”

“Somewhere safe, with two friends of mine and Sedonia to see to their needs, of course. But, the question is not where they are now, but where they’ll be tonight.”

“Where?”
She could hardly speak; her breath came so shallow. She continued to hold David’s hand tightly, hoping he wouldn’t lose control again.

“On board the
Cajun Star
, of course, bound for New Orleans.”

She couldn’t believe it. “You’re going to put them on the riverboat? Why?”

“I’m surprised you haven’t already guessed. But then, you thought you were the only ones privy to the fate of the poor old
Star
.” He reached into a pocket of his coat and pulled out a piece of paper. It took only a few seconds for Lisette to recognize it. The newspaper article. She felt all the color drain from her face. The expression on David’s face startled her. There was something in his eyes she didn’t recognize.

David stretched his legs and leaned back.
“So what? You found a novelty newspaper I bought from a street vendor. And you believed it? You surprise me, Andrew. I never thought you were the type to believe such nonsense.”

Andrew clapped his hands slowly and sharply. “Bravo, Doctor Stewart, for such a grand performance. You forget, I witnessed one of your little disappearing acts in the Peabody Hotel.”

David’s expression changed again. Lisette could tell he knew he’d soon have to confess the truth.

“Andrew, none of this makes any sense to me,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Tell me how this involves my aunt and my father. You know I’ll do anything to get them back, safe and sound. What is it you want?”

Andrew’s eyes narrowed, as dark as pitch. “That’s quite simple, my dear. Or, should I say, my dear
wife
?”

She could not have grown colder more quickly if someone had dropped her into the icy waters of the Mississippi. “That is one thing I will never be.”

“But you already are. You married me eight years ago in New Orleans. Surely you haven’t forgotten. It was such a touching little ceremony.”

She hurried to correct this vile lie. “David, you know it isn’t true. I told you about Andrew standing in for his father at our wedding.”

Andrew leaned back, thrusting his legs forward and crossing them at the ankles. His pose struck fear in her because it demonstrated complete confidence. “Who stood beside you at the altar? Who promised to love and cherish you, until death should part us? And who, dearest Lisette kissed your lips when the priest pronounced us husband and wife?”

She couldn’t answer. Her throat constricted with anxiety and fear, making speech almost impossible.

“ And who signed the marriage certificate—with his own name, which happened to be the same as his father’s?” Andrew pulled another piece of paper from his pocket and slung it into David’s lap. “Read that, Doctor, and know the truth. It states quite clearly that James Andrew Westmoreland—that’s me—married Brianna Lisette Morgan, the lovely lady sitting beside you, on the twenty-fifth day of July, 1877, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Father Pardieu, presiding, witnessed by Marie LeBlanc and Genevieve Lamont.”