Stealing Jake (25 page)

“Luke, where are we going?

“You’ll see.” He looked away from Jessica’s accusing gaze. He’d made the decision to take her to the orphanage late last night. Butch and Grady had been combing shantytown for them, and he couldn’t risk them nabbing the little girl. Miss Livy would take care of her.

He halted a couple of blocks away from the jail and looked both ways. As he stepped out into the street, the blacksmith came stomping down the boardwalk from the direction of the jail, muttering to himself. Luke jerked back and pushed Jessica into the alley behind him.

“Shhh.”

After the blacksmith passed by, Luke grabbed Jessica’s hand. They’d take the long way around to get to the orphanage. Better that than get caught close to the jail.

“Ouch.” Jessica tugged against his grip.

“Sorry.” He loosened his hold on the little girl’s hand and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Come on.”

Movement in front of the mercantile caught his eye, and he stopped.

Will McIver swept the boardwalk in front of his father’s store. Luke stared at the tall, lanky young man. Will reminded him of the thief, but he couldn’t be sure. What if it wasn’t Will? What if it was somebody else, and he got Will in trouble for no reason?

He slipped away, towing Jessica behind him. Who should he tell? Miss Livy wanted to help, but what could she do? She’d just tell the deputy. What good would it do for the sheriff and his deputy to know? They’d simply arrest him, and Luke’s brother would still be locked up in that factory along with a bunch of other kids nobody cared about.

Luke frowned. He had information that might free his brother.

And he intended to use it as soon as he got Jessica to safety.

* * *

At least Jake had given her the benefit of the doubt last night. And Livy knew how much trusting her cost him. The first light of dawn split the sky as she slid a pan of biscuits out of the oven. Then she turned the ham, sniffing at the enticing aroma wafting from the pan. She’d bought the ham with her earnings from Emma’s.
Thank You, Lord, for extra income to feed the children.
Ginger rubbed against her skirt, purring in contentment. The kittens lay snuggled together in a tangled wad, sound asleep.

A soft knock sounded on the kitchen door. Livy frowned and glanced at Ginger. “Wonder who that could be so early?”

She wiped her hands and hurried to the door. Luke stood there, a little redheaded child wrapped in a tattered blanket clutching his hand.

Livy blinked. “Luke. What a nice surprise.” She stepped back. “Won’t you come in?”

Luke nodded at the girl and tugged her inside. Both looked like they might bolt at any minute, and Livy figured the girl would have if Luke hadn’t held fast to her hand.

Pushing the child forward, Luke cleared his throat. “This is Jessica. Jessica, Miss Livy here will take good care of you.”

Big eyes stared at Livy from a gaunt face. Livy knelt in front of her. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“I want Bobby,” she whispered.

Livy glanced at Luke. “Who’s Bobby?”

“Her brother.” Luke touched Jessica’s shoulder. “Jessica, Bobby’s got to work. He’ll come see you as soon as he can. All right?”

Livy smiled at the girl. “Are you hungry?”

She didn’t respond, so Livy cut her eyes at Luke. “I bet Luke’s hungry. How about I fix you both a ham biscuit?”

Jessica sniffed and looked at Luke. He nodded and urged her to sit at the table. Livy sliced open two biscuits and placed a piece of ham inside. After pouring two glasses of milk, she set the offering on the table. Jessica started eating immediately. Luke ate his slowly, seeming to savor every bite.

When he finished, Luke stood. “Jessica, I’ve got to go. Be good for Miss Livy, you hear?”

Jessica’s lip trembled.

Livy followed him to the door and touched his sleeve. “Luke, why don’t you come to the orphanage? Please. Bring the others.”

Luke shook his head. “We can’t.”

She glanced at Jessica and lowered her voice. “Are they wanted back in Chicago?”

He threw her a surprised look.

“Luke, I lived on the streets of Chicago as far back as I can remember. I know what it’s like.”

“Some of them.”

“Where is Bobby working?”

Luke pressed his lips together.

Livy grabbed him by the arm. “He’s working in a sweatshop, right? Here in Chestnut? Where is it? Tell me.” She glanced over her shoulder at Jessica, but Ginger and her kittens had entranced the little girl.

“I can’t tell you. He’ll kill me.”

“Luke, if you don’t tell me, he’s going to kill you. I know what those places are like.”

Luke met her gaze head-on, his eyes older and wiser than his years. “He brings the kids here to work for him for six months, or longer, depending on how much they cost him.”

“And what makes you think he’ll just let them walk out of there in six months or a year?” Livy whispered.

Luke hung his head. “I don’t know, but there’s nothing else I can do.” His gaze strayed to Jessica. “Except bring kids like Jessica to you before he gets his hands on them.”

“Tell me where the sweatshop is.”

A mulish expression thinned his lips. “No. I’ve got to go.”

Livy sighed. “All right. Just a minute.” She sliced open the rest of the biscuits, filled each with a slice of ham, and wrapped the food in used newspapers. She’d cook a pot of corn bread mush and open a can of syrup for breakfast this morning.

She held out the food. “Do you know the man’s name? The one who runs the place?”

“No. They just call him the boss.”

“Please, Luke, please stay.”

His eyes filled with tears as he glanced around the warm, homey kitchen. “I can’t.”

He slipped out the kitchen door while Jessica kept herself occupied with the kittens. Livy pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from sobbing.

* * *

The mercantile buzzed with tension when Jake walked in. Several shopkeepers stood around in addition to the regulars, their attention focused on Ed McIver, who was wound tighter than a Swiss clock.

“I’m telling you, if we don’t do something soon, those kids are going to take over our town.”

“What are we supposed to do, Ed?” Jesse Tatum said. “Them young’uns are slippery. I’ve only seen a couple of them on the streets late at night, and they scatter like rats before anybody can get a good look at ’em. I wonder how many there are. Jake, you have any clue?”

“Don’t know. Like you said, they make themselves pretty scarce.” Jake leaned against the counter and shrugged.

“I heard they’re living over in the burned-out shantytown.” Sam spoke up, busy restocking a shelf with canned beans.

“That’s a fire hazard waiting to happen. Gibbons bought all the land along the creek when he built the glove factory. Said he was going to clean it up and try to get more business in here.”

Jesse aimed for the spittoon and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’ll take some work to clean all that up. Half the buildings were gutted by that fire last winter. But Gibbons has the right idea. We could use some more businesses.”

“Jake, have you been over there to see if you could find ’em?” Ed asked, his jaw jutting forward. The thief taking off with his wife’s jewelry clearly had Ed’s blood boiling.

“I go through shantytown almost every day,” Jake said. “If you’ve been over there, you should know it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. With all the squatters and ramshackle buildings popping up, it’s hard to keep track of who’s where at any given time.”

“We ought to burn the whole place down.”

Jake shook his head. “It belongs to Gibbons now, Ed. You can’t just go in there and burn down a man’s property, no matter how dangerous it is.”

Ed slammed a meaty fist into his palm. “First it was a little food and some blankets from Sam, then guns; now they’re breaking into our homes. They’ve already shot at Sheriff Carter and Jake. What’re we going to do when someone gets killed?”

Jake straightened. Ed seemed determined to stir up the townspeople to the point where someone did something reckless. He’d always been one to go off half-cocked, but his anger had worsened over the years. “That’s going a little too far, Ed. Nobody’s going to get killed.”

Ed jerked to his feet, the sudden movement knocking his seat over. The chair popped the wooden floor like a gunshot. “Seems to me you aren’t all that interested in putting these fellers behind bars. You’re much too busy courting that little gal over at the orphanage, ain’t ya?” He sneered at Jake. “Maybe we need a new deputy around here.”

Jake’s jaw tightened. He wasn’t courting Livy, but if he were, it wouldn’t be anybody’s business but his.

“Ed.” Sam’s warning tone sliced through the thick air. Sam’s mild manner kept Ed from digging himself in too deep sometimes. “No need to get hot under the collar.”

Jake fingered the broken strand of pearls he’d found in the abandoned barn. The same barn Luke and Livy had tracked the thieves to. He’d looked around, put two and two together, and come up with the notion that Livy had to be telling the truth.

At least he hoped so.

“Ed, I received some information last night pointing to someone other than the street kids. I can’t be sure, of course, but I believe my source is telling me the truth.”

“So who is it?”

“I don’t know.” Jake pulled the necklace from his pocket and held it out to Ed. “But my source told me where to find this.”

Ed stared for a moment, then held out his hand. Jake dropped the pearls into his palm, the milky-white orbs clinking against each other. Ed closed his fist over the necklace, turned on his heel, and stomped out of the mercantile.

Sam threw Jake an apologetic look. “Sorry. Ed’s a little riled up this morning.”

“I don’t blame him. I reckon I would be too if someone broke in to my house.”

Jesse spoke up. “Ed lets his temper get the best of him, but he’s a good man at heart and a hard worker.”

Heads nodded all around. They sat for a moment in silence, thinking about Ed’s sacrifice in the war. Half the men seated around the stove had fought in the war, so they knew the horrors he’d seen. Ed’s shattered knee had almost cost him his life, and he’d live with the pain until he died. They could forgive him a little rage now and then.

“Reckon somebody else is doing the stealing?” Jesse speculated. “Remember Gibbons mentioned that at the meeting, but nobody wanted to hear it.”

Jake pulled out his knife and listened to the men talk. Livy had tried to tell him several times before last night that she didn’t think the street kids were to blame for the thefts. She’d also told him about the barn, and he’d found the pearls wedged between a trough and a horse’s stall. Surely she wouldn’t have told him all that if she thought the street kids were responsible.

“Nah. We didn’t have a problem with thieves until those kids from Chicago showed up. It’s gotta be them.”

Sam came out from behind the counter, righted Ed’s empty chair, and straddled it. “Well, I don’t know. Chestnut’s growing like a bad weed. Don’t get me wrong—more people means more business for me, but we’re seeing more and more gamblers and drunks showing up.” A pained expression crossed his face. “They’re having a bad influence on our kids.”

Nobody said a word. Everyone knew about Will’s troubles.

“Sam’s right. Those kids might be the least of our problems. Chicago’s bursting at the seams, and we’re getting the dregs of society. Why, ten years ago we had one saloon, and if you stopped in, you knew almost everybody there. Now we’re got three or four, maybe more.”

Everybody nodded, murmuring agreement.

“Remember that little gal from the orphanage who came to the meeting? She mentioned those sweatshops in Chicago where they work some of those kids twelve and fifteen hours a day. Anybody who’d do that to a kid needs a good horsewhipping. I don’t blame ’em for heading to Chestnut.”

“But that don’t give them the right to steal,” Jesse replied.

“I’m agin stealing as much as the next man, but what if your girls were starving or freezing to death, Jesse? Would you steal to keep them alive? It’s something to think about.”

Sam leaned his forearms on his knees. “Maybe we’re not doing enough to help ’em. I mean, how can we say we’re Christians if we don’t feed and clothe the hungry? Maybe give them a leg up so they can better themselves.”

“There are some people who are never going to better themselves. If you give ’em a piece of bread, they’ll stick their feet under your table three times a day and never offer to do a lick of work in return.”

“Yeah, but you can’t refuse to help everybody because of the few who’ll take advantage of you.”

While the men pondered this, Jake thought about Livy and Mrs. Brooks. They’d taken in every orphan who’d darkened their door, and he figured they’d take in every one that came their way until children spilled out of the orphanage like an overflowing ore cart. Livy roamed the streets at night trying to find more kids to save. They were doing their part to help those who couldn’t help themselves. Jake hung his head, suddenly ashamed. What had he done lately to help someone in need?

He’d been so focused on saving his town, he’d lost sight of the fact that saving the people came first.

* * *

Livy hurried down the boardwalk, avoiding the muddy splotches left by melting snow. The warmer weather brought out farmers by the dozens, and wagons and buggies filled the streets with people making last-minute preparations for Christmas. She hastened past the laundry and waved at Mr. Wong. He bobbed his head and smiled back. They’d exchanged no more than a dozen words in the couple of months since she’d met him, mainly because he didn’t know enough English to carry on a conversation, and she couldn’t afford to have any clothes laundered.

She spotted the sisters Huff in their hat shop, chatting with a couple of customers. Livy passed on by. She’d stop in later and check on Miss Janie, but right now she needed to find Jake. Mud covered the side street running between the hat shop and the butcher’s, but a couple of boards made passage easier. Livy lifted her heavy cloak and skirt and headed across the shaky walkway, making it to the other side without mishap.