The Lady and the Captain (20 page)

He tried to rise, but could not.

“Lie down. You’ve taken a bad beating,” she said. She filled a cup of steaming bitter-root tea and passed it to him.

“Here, drink this . . . it may ease some of the pain. You’re most fortunate to be alive.”

“Do you know what happened to me?” he asked.

She shook her head. Though she wished to heavens she had been there. She would like to have had the pleasure of trying to stick her own knife in the assailants.

“I only know that last night Master O’Grady brought you aboard in this well-hammered condition. You’ve been in and out of consciousness most of the night and this is the sixth time you’ve asked me what happened.” She frowned. “I’ve had to waken you myself several times during the night to be sure that you hadn’t fallen into a deep slumber . . . the sort I wouldn’t be able to awaken you from.”

Concerned, she asked, “Do you remember anything at all of last night? Do you remember searching for Jemima Kaye at this tavern?” she asked, showing him the flyer.

“Nay,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m as blank as a piece of unwritten parchment. I can recall nothing of what happened or how I came to be in this lamentable condition.”

“Do you want me to fetch Master O’Grady?” she asked, pressing a cold compress to the back of his head. “He may be able to tell you something of what occurred. It would appear that he was present when this took place.”

“Nay, not if I am to go by the splendid bump on the back of my head. I must have caused him and his dear wife a great deal of trouble and worry. No, let them rest. I am certain they will deserve my thanks in the morn for whatever part Master O’Grady played in seeing me safely returned here.”

He gently took her hand in his, appreciating her concern for him.

Not for a minute did he doubt that under her tender care he would soon return to his normal self. Having her calming presence beside him already made him feel better. She had the ability to turn the darkest situation into one of hope. It was one of her healing qualities, which he liked and had come to value. For the moment, with his head pounding and his body aching, she was the only light in his dark, addled thoughts.

*    *    *

“It’s good to see some color back in your face, Commander,” said the giant master gunner, pulling on his forelock out of respect as he entered. His wife stood beside him anxious to see if the commander was on the mend.

“Aye, you’re lookin’ much better, sir,” seconded his wife, taking a quick peek at him.

O’Grady bowed his head a little, trying not to hit it against the low cabin ceiling.

“To tell the truth, afraid for ye, was I, Commander. You were nigh almost a goner when I found you in that alley with those demon cutthroats. Aye, though it is certain ye must’ve put up one Jim-dandy of a fight against them to have come out alive like you did, sir.”

He spared a glance in Sarah’s direction. She silently shook her head.

“Oh,” continued the giant softly, a look of compassion passing over his large features. “Aye, to be sure, I’d forgotten. The Mistress did tell me that you didn’t remember what had happened to you. A grand shame that . . .”

“Tell me now, O’ Grady. How did it come about that you found me? I take it I was unconscious?” asked Robert, reaching once more for the cold compress beside him.

He could smell the pungent lavender and clean spirits as he lifted it to his head. Sarah had made the poultice to help clear his muddled head. He pressed it to his temple and lay back again. Nausea once more swept across his insides. He fought the urge to be sick.

“Aye, you discerned correct, Commander.” The master gunner nodded. “I normally avoid that part of town. But my wife’s sister has fallen upon hard times since her husband’s death and took up lodging near there. I went to visit our daughter who has been living with her.”

He grimaced in remembrance.

“I can only describe this place as a corner of the world belonging to Lucifer himself, sir. Mind I plan to set my daughter and her aunt up in a cozy cottage in the country as soon as I’m able. Aye, well, it was as I was going past this alley by The Hair of The Dog that I heard a commotion. I turned and in horror watched as some ugly tall bloke hit you, sir. He did so with a bottle. Then I saw . . .” O’ Grady hesitated, he still had not quite believed his eyes. But noting the intense interest in his two listeners, he continued on with his tale.

He stated simply, “I saw Jeremy, sir. At least ways I believe it was him, for he was dressed in the attire of a female. He, I mean, she . . . well, she was yelling and screaming at the top of her lungs at them cutthroats, urging them into action. She wanted them to kill you right away, sir. Villainous, it was.”

The gunner scratched the back of his neck in reflection.

“What followed was a wee bit of a blur, sir. I pulled myself together and entered the alley as one of those rapscallions was about to lay into you with a knife. I picked him right up and threw him head first against a nearby wall, knocking him out.”

The giant demonstrated the throw with his long brawny arms. His large muscles, the same ones he used working the heavy forge on a daily basis, flexed as he made the motions.

“And then I took the other scurvy rat . . . he was a bucktoothed, skinny fellow that was standing next to you. He had a lead pipe in his hands ready to smash yer bones up with, he did, the rotter. Well, him I simply picked up by his boot straps and tossed him into the gutter with the rest of the horrid filth. He landed there and didn’t budge, I’m glad to say, sir.”

“As for yourself, you showed you were no yellow-tailed coward, sir. You’d already taken down one of them four scalawags before I got there, another you laid out with a good right hook to the jaw before a third hit ye in the back with a club, Commander.”

“But what of Jemima? What did she do?” asked Sarah, her hands clenching her skirt, outraged by the thought of evil scoundrels trying to hurt Robert.

“She came at me like a wild cat, that one did,” said O’ Grady, pointing to a series of small scratches that ran down his sun-tanned cheeks.

His wife leaned over and kissed the scratch and said, “Brave man that you are.”

“She was after your blood, sir. I must confess I wasn’t sure what to do about her. I swear, ma’am, I’ve never laid a finger against a female before in my entire life. And this time I wouldn’t have done it if she had not been set on destroying our good commander. She was ready to poke him herself with a blade that she had gripped in her hand.”

“You do credit to your mother, Master O’ Grady,” Sarah commented, calmly reassuring him that whatever he did must have been done for the side of good—not evil.

“Aye, that he does,” agreed his wife, beaming a smile of approval up at her giant of a husband as she hugged his side.

“But you know, sir, she was no lady you were holding at bay,” added Sarah. “Gentlemanly restraint cannot be expected to be fair for everyone, especially when such as Jemima Kaye is hell-bent on seeing you killed. Aye, it is best to be after taking care not to have any harm come to yourself first than worrying over behaving properly to an evil viper such as her.”

“Aye, that’s for sure, Mistress. Musha, to think she and I were once shipmates, sharing the same food, drinking and working together. Aye, it makes my head swim to think of it. How for weeks she fooled all of us concerning her true sex and reasons for being aboard The Brunswick. It is all confusing.”

He turned to Robert with an inquiring look.

“Did you know about her, sir? Is that why you were in that alley where I found you? Was it because of that hellion, sir?”

The officer nodded, slowly answering, “Aye . . . I remember vaguely seeing a woman who reminded me of someone. She was singing in the tavern—a terrible ditty—and playing an accordion. When I saw her face—” His face brightened, he suddenly remembered what happened. “That’s it! I recognized her immediately as our missing Jeremy!”

He touched the lump at the back of his head gingerly.

“I think I must have decided to have a word with her. We talked briefly, that much I remember. She told me that she would meet me outside . . . alone. I went out and after that . . .” He left the thought unfinished, shaking his head, unable to recall what had happened next.

“I don’t remember. It must be that when I stepped outside, she had already arranged for those scalawags to put an end to me.”

He held out his hand to his master gunner.

“I owe you my life, O’Grady. If you hadn’t found me, it is certain I wouldn’t be here today. Instead, I would be yet another unexplained corpse left in a dark alley to be dropped into a gravedigger’s ditch.”

The gunner, his head humbly bowed by the compliment, shook Robert’s hand.

“It was my pleasure, to be of some service to you, sir. You’re a fine officer, Lieutenant. And I’d not be ashamed to serve under you once more if you were to be once again commander of The Brunswick. Aye, ye did a splendid job with both her and the crew. ’Tis certain it’ll be a grand day for all of us when the Admiralty promotes you to the full rank of captain, sir.”

“But what of Jemima Kaye?” Sarah asked. “What became of her? Did ye hand her over to the redcoats, Master O’ Grady?”

“Nay, I didn’t have the chance.” The giant shook his head. “She kicked me in an unmentionable place and I dropped her. After which she took off at a quick run. Regrettably, I couldn’t catch up with her.”

He shook his head sadly. He had failed his commander.

“Aye, ’tis right sorry I am, Lieutenant. She escaped. A group of militia showed up shortly thereafter to sort out them other two cutthroats I knocked about. They recognized you, sir, and took away them scurvy knaves, leaving us to go peaceably our own way. I brought you straight away back here. I went to the garrison this morning to interrogate the two thugs they caught. They stayed mum about Jemima’s possible whereabouts. I’ve never seen men more scared of a woman than I did them. She’s a dangerous one, that’s for sure, and those blackguards had no wish to cross her. Aye, other than that, there’s nothing more I can tell you, Commander.”

“No one blames you, O’Grady. You did the best that you could. Jemima Kaye ought to be on the block for what she did,” Robert said. “Put any doubts you have on that matter once and for all to rest. If any finger pointing is to be done, it ought to be directed at me, for my pigheaded impudence in thinking that I could approach her on my own.”

He spoke bitterly of his rash behavior, “I behaved like a veritable fool. So full of myself, believing no harm could possibly occur to me. I believed that I was impervious to the same villainous schemes that had struck down Captain Jackson and John Stafford.”

He shook his head.

“The only action that can redeem my brash behavior is that I had the intelligence to listen to you, and the crew’s advice, in bringing Captain Jackson to Varrik Island. It would appear to be the only intelligent and sane decision I’ve made thus far.”

“Ye mean to say that Captain Jackson is still alive and well, sir?” asked the astonished gunner, looking at Sarah for affirmation.

She nodded. “He’s right this moment on the Island of Varrik under my mother’s care, recuperating from having been poisoned by Jemima Kaye.”

“Poisoned, ye say! Well, I never in me life . . .” the master gunner muttered. “If ever I lay my hands on that vicious harlot—I swear female or not, I’ll tear her limb to limb for the harm she’s done to our men.”

“That is if you can ever lay your hands upon her, Master O’Grady. Undoubtedly, she’s by now far away from here and out of the law’s reach. It might all be for the best, who knows how many other scurvy rogues she has at her command?” Robert said darkly.

Sarah glanced at him with concern.

She could see that he was taking this disappointment squarely on the chin. He was no longer deluding himself with the possibility of capturing Jemima Kaye. He had been outmaneuvered and outmanned by the cross-dressing hellion.

He frowned, taking a sip of the tea she’d left next to him.

“I must make a full account to the Royal Admiralty on the morrow. They will want to know everything that has happened since I took command. There will be some fuss over my not having alerted them as to Captain Jackson’s continued existence. However, I think the events of last night might excuse my obvious omission.”

He turned to the gunner. “My memory being what it currently is, I will have to depend on you to fill in the blanks concerning what happened last night. They will probably demand testimony as to what took place at The Hair of The Dog between those ruffians in the alley and us. I’ll need your help, O’Grady, in explaining all of this to the Admiralty.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the master gunner agreed readily. He understood the seriousness of the matter as the first mate’s career was on the line. His future depended upon a favorable review by the naval board.

“I’ll try to do my best, sir.”

“Good man,” said Robert approvingly, his eyes fixed upon the map above him.

It was the same one he had used to chart his first voyage to Varrik Island. Sarah could almost read his thoughts concerning what he intended to do after the Admiral Review Board’s inquiry.

“You’re planning on returning to Ireland to fetch Captain Jackson back to England, aren’t you?” she said. “You’ve given up pursuing Jemima?”

“Yes, I’ll have to leave this matter in the hands of the government for now,” he said, resigned. He had no other options open to him.

She knew it was hard for him to swallow his pride and admit defeat. But in his present condition, he could not take on Jemima Kaye and her black-market pirates. He would have to trust the redcoats to try and sniff the possible murderess out. Robert had no other choice. He was physically and mentally beaten. He would have to give up his investigation.

She felt a small measure of his frustration. She too would have liked the assassin captured and punished for her crimes. If not for what happened to Robert last night, then for John Stafford’s death and the almost fatal poisoning of Captain Jackson. Aye, such a she-devil ought to be caught and made to pay.