Circle of Spies (44 page)

His smile was more threat than reassurance, but he lowered the knife. “Not with Mari here. Though if you have the intelligence of a stray dog, you'll know this isn't over.”

And no doubt he would have more than a knife next time. She could barely force a swallow down her tight throat. “Dev, please.”

He slid the blade back into the sheath on his belt. “Come here, Mari.”

Walker's breath hissed out behind her. “Don't, Yetta. Don't go anywhere near him.”

The fresh flash of lightning in Dev's eyes spurred her forward before he could draw his weapon again. When he moved his gaze from Walker to her, she expected violence or some show of force.

Instead, he slipped a soft hand behind her head and pressed his lips to hers in a caress of a kiss. Somehow, the contrast made it more terrifying. “Have it your way, Mari,” he murmured as he pulled away. “No wedding until your father comes home. Just remember that those were your terms, not mine.”

He spun on his heel and headed for the back entrance. No doubt he would go in to see his mother perfectly confident he would have his way at some point.

Marietta wanted nothing more than to let her knees buckle and to sink down into the damp earth. Forcing herself to turn to Walker instead, she slipped a hand into her pocket and twirled the silver fob around her fingers, praying it would anchor her.

Walker was just repositioning his coat over the pistol. Even in the
deepening shadows she could see that every line of his face had gone tight. The next tolling of the bells across the square seemed the knell of death rather than victory.

“You have to get out of here, Yetta. Now. You and Barbara. Go to your mother or grandparents. Better still, go to Connecticut.”

She squeezed the chain into her palm. Wise advice at this point. If Walker hadn't come out…and to think she had claimed Dev wasn't violent. That he wouldn't hurt her.

But he was. He would. And far more certainly, he would kill Walker without a second thought. She loosed the fob. “I will if you do. You can't stay here.”

Frustration huffed from his lips. “Miss Lucy won't let Cora and Elsie go until she has to. You know that.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to insist that he go, then, until this had blown over, but why even give voice to such inanity? Cora would have her babe any day, and Walker would never leave his wife and children in the path of a raging Devereaux.

“Then I guess we'll have to keep each other safe until this is all over.”

“Are you mad?” He stepped close, pitching his voice low. “Do you realize what he would have done to you?”

Oh, to deny it…but she had seen his eyes, determined and deadly. “I know. But I already let him ruin me by my own choice, so—”

“Don't. You know better. You deserve better than that, princess, no matter what your mistakes were before.”

Maybe. But one could also argue that she deserved whatever she got at his hands. She sighed and looked up.

A light appeared in Barbara's window, two feminine silhouettes blurred behind the filmy curtains, one with a rounded belly. Cora and Barbara, and with Mother Hughes already retired too. She didn't dare go back in. Not until Dev left. So she slid over to the cool stone bench and sat. “Elsie?”

“Asleep. I left a window open so I can hear her if she wakes.” He sat beside her. Bracing his elbows on his legs, he was silent for a moment. Then he looked over at her with those silver-blue eyes. “You really never told Lucien you loved him?”

Marietta picked at a stray thread in her skirt. A few months ago, she would have denied it, knowing how it would appear to Walker. But
that was before he became her friend all over again. “I didn't want to lie about that.”

Walker kept his gaze on the silhouettes. A half smile touched his mouth as he watched Cora move in and out of view. “I didn't think I'd ever love anyone else. When Stephen wrote and told me you were marrying Lucien Hughes, I might have charged in to stop it if I weren't so spittin' mad at your choice.”

Her chuckle felt like honey, soothing and sweet. “I meant for you to be. Not that I thought to see you again. I certainly didn't expect Stephen to force you to work here…or for you to marry Cora so soon.”

“I couldn't let her suffer like my mama did.”

“I know. You did right. And look what God has given you.” She could smile, seeing the adoration in his eyes. “A woman you love. A beautiful family.”

“And I tell her so every day.” He looked to Marietta, the pearly light of the rising moon catching in his eyes. “What about you? You gonna tell Oz how you feel?”

Oz? Her lips tugged up. That was one of her grandfather's nicknames if ever she heard one. The man just couldn't call someone he liked by a full name. Though she shook her head at the question. “He intends to leave when this is over.”

“So? I don't see any fetters round your ankles. You could go with him, wherever he might end up.”

Would the panic ever stop nipping at her heels? Her hand sought her pocket again. “He already told me he has no interest in a relationship.”

Walker snorted and leaned back, folding his arms across his chest. “I have a feeling that was some time ago. Have you asked him lately?”

“Of course not.” It was one thing to tease a man about a kiss and quite another to demand he love her and seek her hand. How could she? Look what happened the last time she had planned to follow someone.

No, she must face facts. Maybe she inspired the wrong kind of passion in the wrong kind of man, but the ones worthy of her love would never deem her worthy of theirs. Not enough to fight for her.

“Aw, Yetta. Don't go cryin' on me, now. You know how I hate that.”

Startled, she lifted a hand to her cheek and felt tears slipping down.

“Thunder and turf.” Walker rubbed a hand over his face. “You really do love him.”

Had he just been baiting her when he said it a minute ago? She withdrew her hand from her pocket and slapped at his arm. And then slumped. “Maybe I do. But don't worry. I'm sure it'll pass after he leaves.”

It always did.

Twenty-Eight

Y
ou sure you're all right, honey?”

Cora took a long moment to answer Walker's question. Her breathing wasn't heavy the way it was when the pains were fully upon her with Elsie, but the discomfort must have been intense enough. She kept her eyes shut, kept on gripping the back of the chair until her knuckles were white.

At length she gave him a weak smile. “Just fine, Walker. No more serious today than they were yesterday. Only, since they kept me up last night…”

Not knowing any words to make it easier, he just settled his hand on her abdomen. The muscles were tense, hard as rock. Might not be today, but his babe was coming soon, and he couldn't decide if he was more excited or terrified. He remembered cradling the tiny, newborn Elsie, holding her to his chest so she could hear his heart beating for her.

Or in her case, feel it.

He looked forward to that again, but fear hovered as big as hope. So many women didn't live through the birthing.

“Don't you worry about me.” Easier again, she covered his hand and rubbed it. “I be just fine. Miss Barbara said everything's as it should be,
and she's been well trained by all them doctors. If I need anything, she's right there. You go on.”

He would rather stay by her side until the baby came, but since the horses wouldn't take a holiday from their business just because he asked nicely, he sighed and took a step away. Though only one. “I think it counts.”

She blinked her pretty brown eyes at him. “Ya lost me, honey.”

He splayed a hand over her stomach again. “Maybe it won't take effect until December, but the amendment passed. I think that counts. This little one will be born free.”

She cupped his face, tenderness in her eyes. “Close enough, I guess. I sure don't feel like runnin' anywhere, anyway.”

Relief washed through him as he kissed her. If she had insisted they make a run for it now, he didn't know what he would have done.

A minute later he stepped out into the midday sunshine, feeling that he should have been inside this time of day for a sign lesson. But Cora didn't feel up to them right now, so he went down the stairs, turned, and halted.

Osborne sat on a bench with no Marietta in sight. These days, that was something worth noting. “You get sacked, Oz?”

The detective looked up, but without the amusement Walker had expected, and only for a moment. “Yetta's too blasted curious for me to read this in the house. It's a missive from Booth.”

Feeling rather blasted curious himself, Walker came closer. “Bet the Knights were none too happy to hear about Lee's surrender today.”

“You could say that.” Letting out a gusty exhale, Osborne shoved to his feet. “They're going to act in the next few days. This was my notice to be ready. They've assigned me to capturing Stanton, the Secretary of War.”

“Isn't that enough, then? To arrest them?”

Osborne shook his head as he slipped the letter into his pocket. “Right now it's just talk, like their every other attempt. Besides.” He stared at the house, probably trying to divine where Marietta was, given his wistful look. “Hughes isn't involved with this. He's been working on something else, and I haven't figured out what. I have a feeling it's big, though.”

“So you need to figure out the one and stop the other.”

“Yeah. I—” He cut himself off with a frown when the clop of hooves sounded and took a few quick steps to where he could see the street.

Walker bit back a grin when he muttered a few choice words. “Still not on good terms with the Arnaud boys, I take it.”

The look Osborne shot him at least had a touch of humor in it this time. “But while they're here with Yetta, are you up for a little excursion to the rail yard?”

Snooping around in broad daylight, while Hughes was there in his office? Walker grinned. “Now you're talking my language.”

Osborne headed into the stable, but Walker strode instead for Ize and Hez, who must have caught a glimpse of Osborne, given their scowls in that direction. He chuckled and took the horses' leads in hand. “You two ever gonna let up on him?”

Isaac snarled. “Sure. Once he leaves.”

Hez sighed. “I would probably like him well enough if Mari didn't like him so well.”

“Hez.” Walker shook his head and rubbed the nose of the painted mare.

“Well, one cannot ignore the evidence. She has faulty taste in men. First Lucien, and then Dev.”

“Don't overlook the bevy of other objectionable beaux she stringed along until Lucien proposed.” Ize scowled in the direction of the house. “Our sister is inconstant and often foolish. If she likes someone, chances are he is too ambitious, too selfish, or of questionable morals.”

All amusement faded. He knew Isaac was mule headed, but Hez—he'd have thought Hez would have seen the change in her. Reevaluated, like the scientist he was. He clicked his tongue to urge the horses forward. “She has made her fair share of mistakes, but the real fools here are you for not realizing she's repented of them.”

He left them to chew on that, though they probably wouldn't. Deliberately shaking it off, he helped Osborne finish saddling their horses and was grateful for his silence as they mounted up and headed for the station.

The change in the city was palpable as they rode through. Still just as beat-up and run-down as ever, but folks seemed to smile more. Hope had finally come to call this past week. There might yet be a few skirmishes, but the war was over. With Richmond fallen, Lee's surrender,
and the Thirteenth Amendment passed, things were finally going to be different.

It took a few minutes for him to realize Osborne kept sending him sidelong glances. Walker lifted his brows. “Something on your mind, Oz?”

The detective pursed his lips and nodded. “Rumor has it Lincoln plans to go to Fort Sumter for the raising of the American flag on the anniversary of the battle.”

He waited a moment, but when Osborne said no more, he drew the connecting lines himself. The anniversary was the twelfth of April—just two days away. If Lincoln were to go to South Carolina now, then…well. That might get in the way of the KGC's plan to act in the next little while, mightn't it? “Sounds like we need to pay your friend Herschel another visit.”

“Not ‘we,' Walker. Not with Cora as she is.”

Hence the looks, he supposed. “So you go. I'll keep an eye on Yetta.”

Osborne nodded, but he gripped the reins too tightly. No doubt worrying over Hughes being so close to Marietta with him gone. Walker had told him about the scene in the garden the week before. Though when he'd seen the way Osborne's eyes snapped, he'd almost wished he had kept it to himself.

Camden Street Station soon appeared, a hub of activity as always. It should be easy to blend into the crowds. They probably ought to hitch their horses out of sight and walk in. Slip through the crowds of passengers and around to where the workers were. No one would think anything of seeing Osborne around. So long as they could avoid Hughes…