Page 19 of Blackmailed (The Browns of Butcher’s Hill #2)

A gainst his better judgment, Phillip asked Virginia for help at the Ladies’ Organization.

He’d gone back and forth, mostly dismissing her involvement and yet knowing that he had no other way of obtaining the information he needed.

He sent her a message asking her to meet him the following afternoon.

“What a lovely day,” Virginia said with a grin as they walked along Wolfe Street huddled under an umbrella.

Phillip glanced at her and over his shoulder at the Wiest coach. “We should have stayed dry in your coach with Colleen.”

“But I’m thinking you wish to speak to me about something you don’t want others to hear.”

He nodded. “I made promises that I don’t want to break; however, you already know that what I’m looking into involves Mrs. Everly. But I will not keep you out in the weather if you’re chilled or damp. I don’t want you to become ill.”

“I’m fine. Even with the drizzle, it is not cold.

I’m wearing boots and a long coat. I’m warm and comfortable.

I was at a function with Mrs. Everly recently and she told me there’d been thefts in her household.

” She looked up at him, her blue eyes alight.

“What do you want to talk to me about? I admit I’m terribly curious. ”

“She told you that?” Phillip shook his head and wondered why he was being so careful with the confidences he’d been maintaining. “You said that the poker players’ winnings and losses were kept track of by a man in a separate room at the Ladies’ Organization.”

“It is separate from where the card players are, but the doors were open when I went by, and I saw some of the committee women going in and out while I was there.”

“So the office is not completely private.” Phillip was silent for a long while.

“I’d like you to attend the card playing again and see if there is a way for me to get to the book that the man keeps.

I do not want you doing anything yourself.

But you are observant and may see a way for me to get what I need without my doing something more . . . drastic.”

“Don’t confess to a crime you haven’t yet committed, Mr. Brown,” she said and smiled.

“Hardly, Miss Wiest,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t intend to commit any crimes.”

She looked up at him and arched a brow. “I will go again this Thursday and see what I can see.”

“You must do nothing that would be dangerous or put you in an awkward situation. Just look for ways I could see those numbers.”

Virginia dressed with care, in a high-necked jacket that hid much of her face, to attend the card party again at the Ladies’ Organization.

She and Colleen arrived with many others at the back gate.

She had plenty of pennies in her purse and several hundred dollars in bills in her reticule, which she held tight to her side.

“Did you bring something to pass the time?” Virginia asked as they waited in line.

Colleen nodded. “Yes. Some fashion magazines I hadn’t had time to look at thoroughly and the newspaper from yesterday. Your father wouldn’t be angry I took it, would he?”

“Hardly. He sends old newspapers down to the kitchens regularly. Although I don’t know if they are read or we just wrap old fish in them,” Virginia said with a laugh.

“A little of both,” Colleen said with a chuckle as the man at the gate perused Virginia’s member card.

At the entrance, they went their separate ways, and Virginia was greeted again by Marilee Berenson.

“I’m glad to see you’ve returned for our Thursday card club!” she said.

“I enjoyed myself so much last time, Mrs. Berenson. What a treat.” Virginia nodded to the door. “Newcomers. I won’t keep you.”

Berenson turned to the door at her prompt.

Virginia wandered the edge of the room and leaned back near the long windows to look at the room of women, now choosing tables and games.

From her vantage point, she could see into the open room where a man was speaking to two women and holding a black leather-bound book to his chest. Virginia watched him, a tall, spindly man, and overheard one of the woman thank him by name. Mr. Jefferson.

Virginia sat down for a few hands of euchre at a table near the edge of the room and watched as the poker players filtered in, many stopping to see Jefferson before sitting down at their table.

It was not long until she saw Mrs. Everly arrive and could hear her huffing and puffing from several rows of tables away.

Virginia kept her head bowed to her cards while taking surreptitious glances in Mrs. Everly’s direction.

The woman was wholly focused on finding her seat without a nod or a hello or a look to any other woman in attendance.

Virginia excused herself from the table and found a seat one poker table away from Mrs. Everly, who never looked up or noticed as Virginia seated herself with her back to her.

She had spent the previous evening in the kitchen while Mr. Turnbull taught her the basics of poker.

She’d memorized what hand was higher than another but did not have a good understanding of the betting, which worked in her favor as she wanted to lose a significant amount.

One of the women at her table looked at her. “Where are your stakes, honey?”

“Stakes?”

“Yes. You’ve got to go see Mr. Jefferson and tell him what table you are playing at. This is three. He’ll give you pennies to bet with. Each of us gets twenty to start.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said and smiled. “I didn’t realize.”

Another woman put her hand on Virginia’s arm. “You do realize that each penny is worth ten dollars?”

“Indeed, I do. Which makes the game so exciting!” Virginia gushed and turned toward Jefferson’s room.

She tapped on the open door and waited until the man looked up from his ledger.

“May I help you?” he said and stood as she entered.

“I’ve come for my pennies, sir. I’m at poker table three.”

Jefferson pulled a heavy leather bag from a drawer and dumped tokens onto the tabletop. He counted out twenty with care. “And who should I say these are for, miss?”

“Miss Wiest. Miss Virginia Wiest.”

The man wrote her name at the bottom of the ledger page he’d opened to. “Good luck today, Miss Wiest. See me before you leave to settle your account.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Virginia hurried back to her table and laid her pennies down, although they weren’t actual pennies, just thin discs with some markings that were hard to discern.

She picked up the cards she’d been dealt and did her best to remember Mr. Turnbull’s advice, but it was quite a bit different at this table than it had been last evening, with some of the staff helping her card choices over her shoulder.

She lost several hands but finally began to understand how probability played into a winning hand and how to cut her losses.

She was actually enjoying herself and nearly lost sight of what her task was.

But it was nearing four o’clock, when the card playing would end.

Virginia did not take a hand in the last several games.

She could see a reflection of Mrs. Everly’s table in the window glass and stood when she saw the woman rise.

“Oh, Mrs. Everly! How lovely to see you!”

The woman blinked. “Miss Wiest? Whatever are you doing here?”

Virginia smiled. “Playing cards. Although my usual game is euchre, I thought I’d try my hand at poker. I admit I need more practice.”

“It’s a game that takes years to play well.”

“I realize that now,” Virginia said and jiggled the few remaining pennies in her hand. “I’m not sure what to do about what I owe for my losses.”

Mrs. Everly looked her up and down. “Come with me, Miss Wiest. I’ll see that your ledger is correct.”

Virginia sat across from him in the parlor, looking as if she was ready to attend a fancy party.

She wore a pale green dress with stitching of some kind on the sleeves and on the scooped edge covering her bosom.

Her eyes shimmered with mischief as she removed her gloves and picked up a piece of Eliza’s shortbread.

“You will not have to worry about jail anymore, Phillip,” she said.

They were alone, as requested, her maid in the kitchen with Sarah. He liked to be private with her for a variety of reasons, but he did enjoy hearing her call him by his first name, which she did not do when they were in a public setting.

“Why is that, Virginia?” He smiled at the blush heating her cheeks. She was not immune to him either.

“I went to the Ladies’ Organization yesterday, as we talked about,” she said.

“Did you find a way for me to see what Mrs. Everly owes?”

“Actually, I can tell you what she owes to the penny.”

Phillip took a deep breath and forced himself not to raise his voice. “Didn’t I ask you to not do anything dangerous? To just give me ideas about how I might see that man’s book? Didn’t I?”

“His name is Mr. Jefferson. You did indeed ask me to look for ways to access that ledger, but I saw an opportunity and took it. And in the end, Mrs. Everly told me what she owed herself.”

“What? What do you mean she told you?”

“I played poker at a table near?—”

“You played poker? I thought you played the low-stakes games last time.”

“Mr. Turnbull and Cook taught me the basics a few nights ago so that I could be near Mrs. Everly. I thought I might find out something useful.”

“And did you?”

Virginia raised her brows at him and waited until he sat back in his chair before continuing.

“As I was saying, I played at a table near hers, intending to lose money, which was inevitable as the women I was playing against were very skilled. I stopped playing around half past three and waited for Mrs. Everly to stand. I stood at the same time and acted surprised when I saw her. She was surprised to see me. I mentioned that I didn’t know how to pay for my losses, and she guided me toward Mr. Jefferson. ”

Phillip smiled. “You can be devious when you set your mind to it.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, sir.” She grinned.

“Anyway, Mrs. Everly took me to Mr. Jefferson’s room, explaining all sorts of poker strategies as we went.

We stood in line behind some others paying what they owed.

When it was my turn, I laid my three remaining coins on his table, and he told me I owed one hundred and seventy dollars, which I paid. ”

“One hundred and seventy dollars? You lost one hundred and seventy dollars?”

“I told you the other ladies were very good and I had just learned, so yes, I lost that much.”

“That’s a lot of money, Virginia,” Phillip said as he shook his head.

“It is. Charge it to whoever is paying you to look into this.”

“I might just do that.” He grinned, imagining the look on Everly’s face. “How did you find out what Mrs. Everly owed?”

“I waited with her, attentive to all of her advice. I watched Mr. Jefferson look for her name in his ledger. Many columns had zeroes. Some had one dollar. Then he looked up at Mrs. Everly after counting her coins and said, ‘Another good day.’ He opened his drawer and pulled out a money bag. He counted out one hundred and fifty dollars.”

“She won one hundred and fifty dollars?”

“Yes. I watched him count it out. And then she asked if she had any payment due, although from the tone of her voice, she knew what the answer would be, which was no payment due. And then Mr. Jefferson teased her that it had been months since she’d had a deficit.”

“Are you saying Mrs. Everly does not lose when she plays poker?”

“I’m saying at least for the past few months, she’s been even or been owed money on her Thursdays at the Ladies’ Organization.”

“Then why . . .?” Phillip stopped himself, glancing at Virginia, who raised her brows at him.

“I’ll be going, then, Phillip,” she said and stood, scurrying to the door of the parlor.

Phillip stood as well, although it seemed as though Virginia was debating something with herself, he thought, as he watched her turn to the door, turn back, and tighten the strings on her little purse. “Virginia?” She glanced at him, her cheeks bright red. “What is it?”

“I know this is very forward, and I feel terrible asking,” she said as she looked across the room.

“You can ask me anything, Virginia. Anything at all.”

“Well, it is still embarrassing as a lady to impose on a gentleman.”

“What is it?” He walked across the room to her.

She took a deep breath and looked up at him. “I have a fundraiser I have to go to, and I would like an escort. There’s a man, the head of the charity, actually, whom . . . I don’t trust.”

“Of course I’ll escort you, Virginia. Why would you worry about asking me?”

“Traditionally, the gentleman is the one to ask the lady to allow him to accompany her. I hope I’m not being too forward.”

He smiled at her and touched her hand. “I know nothing about your society. How could I ask to escort you? Anyway, I’m honored you thought of me. I’d like nothing more than to take you. When is it?”

“Next week on Thursday. I was hoping you didn’t have to work early on Friday as we may be late.”

“I’ll check my schedule, but there’s a fellow who owes me a shift trade if necessary.”

Her smile lit up her face, and he moved closer, giving her plenty of time to hurry away if that was what she wished.

But she didn’t move away, in fact, she watched him get closer and closer still until his lips touched her cheek.

She sighed and closed her eyes, making him want to gather her in his arms and kiss her mouth and anywhere else he could reach.

He stopped himself after breathing in the scent of lilies always on her.

“Thank you for everything you found out for me. I’m happy to escort you wherever you need to go and will blacken any eyes that are necessary.”

Virginia laughed at that and squeezed his hand. “I don’t think black eyes will help, but I appreciate the thought. Now I really must go.”