Sadie's Secret: 3 (The Secret Lives of Will Tucker) (25 page)

He stood and she followed his lead. “Does that mean you’re going back to Mobile, or are you coming along with me again as my reason for traveling?”

“It means I miss my wife dearly, and if I cannot convince Pearl to come to me here at Callum Plantation, then I shall be forced to return to Mobile and her. So no, I shall not be traveling with you any time soon.”

“I see.” She paused. “Then I do wish she would pay us a visit. I haven’t seen Aunt Pearl in far too long.”

Uncle Penn offered Sadie his arm and she took it. “Perhaps you should add your letter of invitation to mine. With two of us pleading our cases, how can she deny us?”

Jefferson stepped off the train in New Orleans, the Pinkerton agent still in tow. “I can manage from here,” he said to his persistent shadow.

“I’m sure you can.” Kyle hefted his bag onto his shoulder and stood waiting for him to do the same. “However, I thought maybe you could use some help.”

“Help?” He shook his head. “In what way?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Solving your case, maybe?”

A train’s whistle blew and steam rose as a conductor called out a warning to board. The crowd was thick on the platform, a great milling mass of humanity that stood between Jefferson and the city where his quest for justice would begin.

He started to walk ahead without responding. There was no need.

Kyle stepped in front of him, blocking his way into the station. “Hire me. Together we can remedy the situation.”

“Hire you? I think not. Nor do I need your assistance. I’m sure you have other ways to find my brother without pretending to help me.”

“Pretending?” Kyle appeared ready to argue and then seemed to think better of it. “All right,” he managed through a clenched jaw. “But if you’re going it alone, keep in mind that there won’t be anyone there to back you up if you need it.”

“I won’t need it.” He let the remainder of his argument go in favor of reaching out to shake the other man’s hand. “Thank you, Kyle. Without your agency’s assistance, I would still be behind bars waiting for someone to believe they had the wrong Tucker locked up.”

“You can thank Sadie Callum for that.”

Jefferson nodded and then parted ways with Agent Russell. “Maybe I will,” he said under his breath as he stepped out into the afternoon sunshine.

Kyle caught up to him. “I’d like to make a deal with you, then.”

“A deal?” Jefferson kept walking, sparing his companion only the briefest of glances.

“A few of my inventions in exchange for your promise that you will report back to me should you have any information on your brother.”

He stopped short and Kyle followed suit. “Why would you trust me?”

“I don’t.” Kyle waited until a pair of matrons passed them to continue.
“But I know you’re the only link we have to the man I want to put back in jail. I’m going to keep looking for him until my replacement returns to duty. Then John Tucker will be someone else’s problem.”

“Fair enough. But your inventions?” He shook his head. “Why would you offer that?”

“Same reason.” He shrugged. “I’ve already told you I have a vested interest in catching the man. If I can help you, then I’m thinking you’ll help me.”

“You’ll want them back.” A statement, not a question. And yet Kyle seemed ready to respond.

“You won’t get any of the good stuff,” he said with a grin. “Only a few things I have extras of. You can keep them if they suit you or return them if they don’t. I only ask that, as a man of honor, you help me or my replacement to put a guilty man back behind bars.”

“I see.” Jefferson thought only a moment before nodding. “I don’t suppose I can turn that offer down.”

“I didn’t think you would.” He lifted his hand to wave at a vehicle parked just down the block. The driver pulled the closed carriage up to them a moment later. Kyle tossed his bag in and then climbed inside, motioning for Jefferson to join him.

“I don’t live far from here,” Kyle said. “You’re welcome to stay with us as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you, but I won’t trouble you any longer than necessary.”

Kyle gave him an appraising look and then slowly nodded. “I warn you that my wife will insist you stay to supper. And lest you think you’ll be able to tell Millie no, I should also warn you that when I met her I didn’t have any thought of spending more than a few minutes in conversation with her before I went on about the business of testing my personal flying device.”

“That’s a first meeting that sounds different than most.”

“It was indeed. But then my Millie, she is definitely different than most.”

Jefferson’s smile was swift and genuine. “Then I will not waste my time in trying to leave until after supper.”

As it turned out, he not only stayed to supper but also returned the following day for lunch. As promised, Millie Russell was an engaging and
personable hostess. She was also a brilliant scientist, something he discovered when Kyle showed him the laboratory the two shared in their home near the center of the city.

“My father would love this place,” he told Kyle later as they sat together in the ground floor library. “He always was a man of science.”

“Was?” Kyle asked. “Is he no longer alive, then?”

“Oh, he is quite well. I received a telegram from him this morning, actually. I suppose that is why I had him on my mind just now.”

Kyle remained silent a moment. “And your brother? Any further news?”

“If I had news, I would have shared it.” He bit back on his temper. “I’m sorry.”

His companion shrugged. “I don’t suppose I would take well to the topic either if I was in your shoes. Perhaps we should return to discussing your father. Is he still sailing?”

Jefferson looked up sharply to meet the Pinkerton agent’s blank stare. So he had done his homework, not only on the Tucker brothers but also on their father.

“He is. When he can manage it, that is. The life of a ship’s captain appeals to him much more than the daily business of running a shipping company.”

“I thought perhaps a man at his level of success would leave the sailing to others.”

“I always suspected he took the helm of his vessels and sailed away in an attempt to keep John and me landlocked and perhaps to coax us into running Tucker Shipping. Now I think it’s just the life he loves and nothing more.”

“So you weren’t always a detective?”

“I was. John was learning the ins and outs of running the company until he got bored and disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“He was like that, my brother. The best at anything he attempted but always prone to bad endings.”

“That much has not changed.”

“Sadly, no.” He shifted in his seat and then said, “I wonder if I might ask you something about Sadie Callum before I go.”

Kyle lifted a brow. The beginnings of a smile quickly followed. “You can ask…”

“But you will not guarantee an answer,” Jefferson supplied.

“Exactly.”

“Fair enough.” He let out a long breath. “I need her to do something, and she may not agree. Any suggestions on how I can remedy that?”

Kyle chuckled. “Absolutely. The remedy is to not even make the attempt. Once Sadie has her mind set on something—or against it—nothing is going to change it.”

Not what he had hoped to hear. “I see.”

“There is one thing to consider. I’m just guessing here, but I noticed she sets great store by the opinions of her parents. Last I heard, they didn’t know she is a Pinkerton agent. So if you can figure a way to convince her parents, then maybe you have your remedy.”

“Both parents, or is there one who would be preferable to speak with?”

“Divide and conquer? Yes, I see your point. In that case, based on a recent meeting I had with the man, I suggest you speak with Sadie’s father. Name is Seamus Callum.”

“Seamus Callum. Got it.” He rose to shake Kyle’s hand. “I do thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” Kyle said as he also stood. “You’ll see why when you meet him.”

Jefferson got as far as the door before he stopped. “One more thing. You’ve told me who Sadie listens to. Any idea who Seamus listens to?”

Kyle shrugged. “Himself? And perhaps his wife, although I doubt that. The Lord, maybe?”

Jefferson nodded. “Then I will start praying.”

Two days later, Jefferson stepped out of New Orleans’ Hotel Monteleone onto Iberville Street. He glanced around to be certain he hadn’t been followed and then climbed inside the waiting carriage. The conveyance jerked forward, its wheels turning slowly on the rain-slick street.

“I trust your trip went well.”

Jefferson reached out to shake his host’s hand. “It did, thank you. And yours?”

“A day at sea is always a good day.”

How many times had he heard the expression? Not enough to tire of it, especially coming from this man.

He affected a casual expression that belied the fact he carried a substantial amount of cash and several weapons on his person, as well as a few choice inventions loaned to him by the Pinkerton agent.

The folding knife tucked into the sleeve of his shirt felt cool against his skin. It was a welcome diversion as the carriage rolled on and their conversation fell into pleasantries about the weather and the condition of the shipping industry. Not once was John’s name mentioned.

“Are you ready to tell me what this is all about?” the man asked.

“I need transportation by sea. Discreet and on short notice.”

At his companion’s nod of agreement, Jefferson relaxed. Indeed, he could manage this.

Nineteen