THE CRY FOR FREEDOM (Winds of Betrayal) (17 page)

“What is this for?” Tepper asked.

“You made quite a few people happy, my friend,” he responded. “Have you heard the news? Although Mayor David Matthews has been under suspicion for a long time, they arrested him last night at his Flatbush home along with around twenty of his Tory friends. William Leary was able to confirm your information. A conspiracy indeed has been thwarted to harm our General. Moreover you were correct with the assumption that his own guards were in on it. Sergeant Thomas Hickey was the one who was supposed to carry out the deed.”

A sly grin appeared upon Tepper's face, a satisfied expression. “Not bad, I suppose, do you think?”

“I believe if it had gone down, it would have been devastating,” Barnaby replied. “But that's what we do. Don't suppose you're going to tell me how you pulled this off.”

“Ba
rnaby, you know better than I,” Tepper answered. “What about the information I sought for my friend? Were you able to find out anything about the girl's fiancé?”

Barnaby nodded. “Ya, matter of fact he's station here in New York.”

Tepper paused; a silence ensued for a few minutes. He weighed over his options. “You know, Barnaby, I believe I would like to meet this man. Can you arrange for me to meet with him?”

Tepper rubbed his forehead. He shook his head, thinking, plotting his next course of action.

“Do you think this will do?”

For a moment, he forgot where he was. Reality slowly seeped back in.  Hannah stood before him, asking if the fitting was done.

“This should be fine for this one,” he said, “I expect you back next week. Remember if you need me before, send for Cora saying you need my expertise with my sewing. A better gown, bed gown, doesn't matter. I'll get the message and take the rest from there.”

“Have you had any word on Gabriel yet?” she asked softly as she stepped down
off the podium.

“I'm afraid not, my dear. Be patient, I'm working on it,” he
offered his hand to Hannah. He patted her hand. “Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of the everything for you.”

The house sat quietly. Hannah’s extended family had accepted an invitation for dinner at one of her grandfather’s business associates, Oswyn Millbury. She had met him once at the shop. An older widow gentleman whose eyes followed her every movement, making her extremely uncomfortable. He had made a special request for her presence at the dinner, but fortune smiled down upon her when she could beg off by being indisposed. More
importantly, the house was vacant, a moment she had been longing for.

The sun hadn’t yet set when she crept down the winding staircase. Her eyes held fast to her goal, her grandfather’s study. Fear she pushed aside. Thoughts of the consequences of being caught she refused to consider. The study could well hold the secret she sought. She had no choice.

She glanced around the foyer for any movement from atop the staircase and listened for any sound. She swallowed hard and inched toward her destination. She gently tried the doorknob and heard a click. She looked back over her shoulder once more before quietly and only slightly opened the door. She closed it quickly with her back against the door. She held her breath for any sound of her venture being discovered. Upon hearing only silence, she gathered her courage and eased toward her objective.

The desk was cleaned. Organized. Nothing out of place. She made a mental note of where everything lay. Her attention turned toward the drawers. The middle one held nothing of importance. The larger lower on the left side held papers, business papers, mostly bills. A book with debts and credits, she carefully removed it from underneath the papers. She glanced through the pages.

She studied the book, matching up the papers with the book, but they didn’t work.  At times she had helped her father with the paperwork at the shop. He had always said she was better with numbers than he was. She looked over it again. Why did it seem that some were duplicated? She needed more time to decipher the workings. She couldn’t at the moment. She took a couple of the papers from the bottom of the large pile and placed them in her pocket. She needed privacy to study them.

She sighed. She was wasting time. She carefully replaced all the other papers back in the same position and tried the other side of the desk. The drawer opened easily enough, but within sat a locked box. She withdrew it and placed it upon the
desktop. She took a quick look around the desktop for a key, the middle drawer, but to no avail.

“Try the bowl behind you, Cousin,” a voice said from near the door. “I believe you will find what you are looking for there.”

Hannah whipped her head up, locking eyes with Susanna, who stood quietly against the wall. Hannah froze.  Her heart pounded wildly. 

Susanna pushed from the wall and moved toward Hannah.  Her cousin made her way around the desk and reached to the upper book shelf, pulling down a cut-glass bowl.  She fished the key out and handed it to Hannah.

“Will this help?” she asked. “Don’t tarry. You don’t have long.”

Hannah’s hands trembled as she tried the lock. It opened. Calming ever so slightly, Hannah watched Susanna walked over to the window. “I’ll watch for any signs of Grandfather. Hurry.”

Hannah swiftly shifted through the contents. Letters, all her letters to Lydia lay within the box; letters from Lydia. She read quickly through one.

My darling sister, I do miss you so. So much has happened since you departed. Gilbert has moved into the plantation, which is welcomed. He has helped with all. Matthew itches to return to the militia, but is bound to help at the shop until Jonathan or your return. I haven’t heard from Jonathan or from anyone on the battlefront. I’m not certain that he knows of the raid as of yet, but I have heard from Catherine. She has warmly invited us both to Philadelphia. I politely declined. I’m not ready for such. I did inform her of your visit to New York. On your return you might have the desire to visit her. She had the most wonderful news in the times when good news has been sparse. Jonathan and Catherine are to become parents. May God be with them.

Tears fell from Hannah’s eyes. She wiped them back. She glanced up to find Susanna’s eyes upon her. She gently replaced the letters and searched underneath. More letters addressed to her grandfather. She reached for the first one.

“Hannah, I see a horse riding up. It’s George. Quick, replace everything,” Susanna whispered nervously. Hannah
, breathing rapidly, returned all to their place. She double checked upon their position within their spaces, not wanting to cause suspicion. She locked the box within the drawer and returned the key to its hiding spot. She felt the drawers to ensure their placement back to their original position. She swiftly followed Susanna to the door.

Susanna slowly cracked the door, laying view of the front door. Within moments, George strolled through the front door, walking straight to the study. Susanna quickly shut the door, and motioned Hannah to the closet around the desk, barely joining her within before George opened the door. Hannah could feel Susanna shiver as they listen to him walk to the bookshelves. He reached for something, but put it back quickly. They dared not look out, but held their breath until they heard him depart. The two cousins stayed longer for fear of being caught. Gradually, they eased out into the darkness. Night had fallen. The two wasted no time. They exited the study and fled up the stairs.   

The two didn’t look back until they entered the safety of Susanna’s bedroom, collapsing upon the bed. Breathing heavily, Hannah looked over at her cousin and spontaneously broke into laughter. Hannah hugged her Susanna tightly.

“Thank you,” Hannah said when she caught her breath. “I can’t begin to thank you. If I had been caught, all would have been over.”

“What are you doing, Hannah? I can only warn you not to take upon Grandfather, dear cousin. He has no mercy upon those he feels betrays him,” Susanna broke away from Hannah. She sat pulling her feet underneath her. “I have felt his vengeance.”

“Cousin, I don’t know if I can explain all,” Hannah said hesitantly. She looked away from Susanna. The other girl reached over and grabbed Hannah’s hand.

“I’m happy to have found out. I thought you a foolish girl until tonight,” Susanna said. Hannah sat up and sat across from her cousin in the same manner.

“Why were you here? I thought everyone attended the Millbury dinner.”

“I fended off, being ill,” Susanna winced. “In reality it’s Oswyn Millbury. I can’t abide his eyes upon me like he’s undressing me with his eyes. I’m afraid that Grandfather is trying to arrange a marriage between one of us to the old leech.”

Hannah smiled. “I felt the same. Poor Camilla.”

“I’m sure she will be able to fend off the old man. She won’t even notice his attentions because she won’t consider him a suitor. She has in mind the man who will sweep her off her feet and I’m afraid Oswyn Millbury doesn’t fit the image of her dreams,” Susanna laughed. Her expression changed. “As for this evening, I noticed you walking down the stairs and followed. You didn’t even look up when I walked in. You were so engrossed in studying his papers. I hope you know what you’re doing, for you’re treading on dangerous ground.”

“I do, Cousin,” Hannah said simply.

“Do you?” she asked. “I don’t think so. Do you want to know what you’re dealing with Hannah? I’ll tell you.”

Hannah sat silently. She watched her cousin’s lips thin before she continued. “I have never talked of this. It is hard for me to remember. I fell in love. So in love. Walter worked as an apprentice to a printer not far from here, Tobias Montague. He wanted to start his own shop and worked toward that end when I met him at church.

“Of course, Grandfather considered him quite beneath us and ordered me to stay away from Walter, but I wouldn’t listen. I was in love. Had I only known…but we eloped. I had no qualms about leaving this house. We knew well we were on our own and expected nothing from the family. We didn’t get far,” her voice faded off. She turned back to Hannah.

“We were making our way up to Boston. We stayed the night in a small village in Connecticut. George found us on our second night together. George wasted little time with Walter. He sliced his throat, Hannah. He bled out upon my lap as I tried desperately, so desperately to stop the bleeding. If not, if not for Colonel Durham, I, too, would have lost my life.”

Hannah caught Susanna’s eyes. Her own eyes hardened. “It couldn’t be the one of my own acquaintance, a British soldier whom was sent to spy upon my family, who stole a package from my father.”

“I don’t know, Cousin. Marcus has been a family friend. When he first came to New York he lived in the house down the street from here with his family,” Susanna said. “I can’t imagine him being deceitful. He rode to save me because Camilla ran to him and told him that she felt I was in danger. Grandfather had flown into a furious rage. She was scared.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “I know with everything in me that he ordered George to kill Walter. And George so easily took my husband’s life. Walter hadn’t a chance to defend himself when George drew the knife. I can so clearly see it now. Walter died in my arms. George grabbed me. And threw me back onto the bed,” Susanna paused. She stared at Hannah, but her gaze had gone back in time. “He yelled at one of the men he had with him. George told him to do with me what he wanted to. I screamed as the man’s hands ripped at my nightgown. George stood and watched with a malevolent grin, but Colonel Durham found me at that moment.

“He found me in time to save me, but Walter lay dead upon the floor. I can’t remember all after, but Colonel Durham rescued me, and handed George over to the authorities in Connecticut,” Susanna broke her gaze. “I’m certain Grandfather took care of the authorities, for George returned within the week. Colonel Durham offered me his home, but I requested to come back to my sister, and to my mother. I have regretted that decision every day since.”

Hannah squeezed her hand. “Let us just know that we hold similar views on our grandfather.”

Susanna tilted her head to the side. “I’d thought of asking you when you first arrived, but you seemed so determined to get on Grandfather’s good side that I thought I’d been wrong to think you might just be.”

“What, Susanna? You thought I might be what?”

“A Patriot. With all I had heard about your father, I had hoped,” she answered simply. “Walter was a Patriot. He felt strongly for the cause. Do you? Is that the real reason you’re here?”

* * * *

Hannah watched from her grandmother’s window. The last couple of weeks had been uneventful. The pressure within the house eased some upon the confidence with Susanna. Hannah admitted nothing to her cousin, fending curiosity about her correspondence to Lydia. Hannah didn’t assume Susanna believed her, but Hannah had no desire to draw Susanna within the web she herself was in. 

“My dear, come away from the window,” her grandmother said. “You are making me nervous. Are you expecting someone?”

“Of course not, Grandmother,” Hannah smiled at her. “I was just contemplating what a lovely day it is. Would you like to go into the gardens?”

“I believe I would,” she said after thinking a bit. “I would like to sit outside in the fresh air.”

“I’ll go ask Mrs. Hayes to help us,” Hannah replied. She quickly gave her grandmother a kiss on her cheek and walked out the door. She couldn’t find Mrs. Hayes anywhere upon her search. She walked by the study door which had caught and not closed properly. She paused as she heard voices. She didn’t realize they had company, especially midday.