Page 25 of Blackmailed (The Browns of Butcher’s Hill #2)

Phillip stared at her and slowly smiled. “I would never be cheerful at another’s troubles, but it is difficult when it is about Mrs. Everly.”

Virginia nodded. “I find myself having sympathy for Mrs. Everly. I can only imagine her humiliation, but then I think of the scene as it must have played out, and, well, it is unkind of me to repeat some of my reactions.”

“It makes me feel sorry for her, even disliking her as much as I do.”

“I feel the same. Does this information help you?”

“It does. Unfortunately, I’ll have to have a conversation with Mrs. Everly on a subject that I don’t want to talk about. Especially with her.” Phillip rubbed his forehead, unable to imagine how he would even begin a conversation with the woman about her husband’s infidelity.

“Let me do it.”

“No. She’d know I told you, and I swore to Mr. Everly that you or your father would never know about it. I can’t break a promise like that. Even though it has turned out that way.”

“Then talk to Mr. Everly about what you’ve found out. Maybe he knows who would be trying to blackmail her, or maybe he could ask her about it.”

“I can’t tell you how much I’m dreading that conversation.”

The following morning, Phillip went directly to Mr. Everly’s office, convinced that an unpleasant task should be completed as soon as possible. Fortunately, Mr. Wiest had not yet arrived.

“Good morning, Mr. Everly.”

“What is it, Brown? I’m busy.”

“I’d like to speak to you about your household away from this office,” Phillip said.

Everly jumped up from his chair. “Have you found the thief? Have you?”

“Mr. Everly, we need to speak at some length in a private setting.”

“Just tell me, Brown. Tell me who the thief is, and I’ll go home this instant and fire them. My nerves cannot take this any longer.”

“Mr. Everly. Not here . . .”

“Tell me, Brown!”

“It’s your mother, sir.”

“My mother what?”

“Your mother is the one stealing the items.”

“Good Lord! You must be insane.”

“I’m not insane. I’m certain. But it should not be discussed here.”

Everly dropped down in his chair, wiping a hand down his face as if to clear what he’d heard from his mind. He glanced up at Phillip, white-faced. “You must be mistaken,” he whispered.

“I’m not mistaken. I can meet you after my shift somewhere private, and we can discuss what I know.”

Everly shook his head. “No. I cannot wait. We will discuss it now. But you’re right. Not here.”

“Let me tell Josiah I have to step out for a few minutes. I’ll meet you at Red’s Tavern,” Phillip said.

Phillip walked the two blocks to the tavern and found Everly standing outside the door.

“It’s locked,” he said.

Phillip walked down the alleyway behind the tavern and found Red lugging kegs of beer into his cold room.

“What do you want now, Brown?” the big man said.

“Place to talk in private and a cup of coffee.”

“Go on in, then. The wife’s in the kitchen. She’ll give you a cup.”

“Thanks, Red.”

Phillip led Everly through the back door, past a room holding beer and other supplies, and through the kitchen. He smiled at the rotund woman rolling out dough on a tall table. “Morning, Mrs. Red. Any coffee to be had?”

“I heard you well enough when you was talking to my man. Go on, then. It’s on the stove, and the mugs are hanging on hooks.”

Phillip walked over, poured himself a cup, and moved away from the stove. Everly was bewildered, looking from the cup on the hook to the pot on the stove. He reached for the handle, and Phillip stopped him.

“For the love of God. Use the towel, or you’ll burn your hand,” he said and then just handed Everly the mug in his hand and poured another for himself. “Come on.”

Both men slid into a booth, Everly shaking his head.

“I don’t know why I didn’t throw you out of my office this morning or why I agreed to meet you here.”

“We can end this right now,” Phillip said and moved to the end of his seat.

“Sit down, Brown. I want to hear your wild accusations and find out who is telling you these awful things so I can confront them. So go on. I want to hear.”

Phillip looked at the man and felt a moment of real sympathy. The feeling left quickly as he looked at Everly’s smug expression.

“Your mother plays poker every Thursday at the Ladies’ Organization for the Benefit of Baltimore City. She consistently wins.”

“She wins ten dollars once in a while. What does that have to do with the thefts in my home?”

“The stakes at those poker tables are considerably higher. I don’t think it’s unusual for her to win hundreds of dollars in an afternoon.”

Everly shook his head with a laugh. “That’s ridiculous. What would she do with this money? Sew it into her mattress?”

“She has her winnings and however much she gets from the pawnshop when Porter takes the household items there.”

“Porter is stealing from us!”

“The only thing I know for certain is that Porter visits a pawnshop every other week or so. I followed her twice. I saw what I think is your Revere coffee set on a shelf there after Porter left and I went browsing. As well as several items your mother mentioned when I spoke to her.”

Everly’s eyes widened. “Where is this place?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment. But what I need to tell you now may be more upsetting. Try and calm down.”

“Calm down? There’s something else? Good God, man! What is it?”

“I don’t know who it is, but I believe your mother is being blackmailed. That is what she does with her winnings along with the money from the sales to the pawnshop. She pays her blackmailer.”

Everly’s mouth hung open and his head shook slightly, like a tremor in an elderly person. He smiled then, seemingly pulling himself together. “What in God’s name could my mother be blackmailed about? Are you not right in the head? You’ve met her!”

“It’s not something your mother did that she’s being blackmailed about.

” Phillip took a deep breath and continued.

“It’s something your father did.” Everly leaned across the table as if to reach Phillip’s jacket.

Phillip leaned back in his seat and caught the man’s hand.

“You don’t want to make this physical, Mr. Everly. It would be a mistake.”

Everly sat back in his seat, his face bright red and his hands shaking.

“My father was a saint. Worked hard all of his life, built up our standing in the city and our family’s wealth, left my mother in comfort and our properties fully paid for, and money in diverse investments. He was universally admired. Don’t you dare sully his name with rumors.”

“It’s not a rumor,” Phillip said and leaned forward. “Do you really think I want to talk to you about this? If you’re not sure, I don’t. I don’t ever want to deliver this kind of news to anyone, let alone one who can make my life miserable.”

Everly sat back. “You’re serious. You think you know something about my father that I don’t and that someone is blackmailing my mother about.”

“According to someone close to your mother and father, and no, I’m not going to tell you who,” Phillip said as Everly began to speak.

“That someone said your mother and several members of your church caught your father with another woman, a neighbor apparently, in one of the guest rooms of your house.”

“A neighbor? Who?”

“A Mrs. Deflavio.”

“I remember her. What was she doing in one of the guest rooms?”

Phillip just stared at him, willing the man to figure it out on his own, but Everly just stared at him blankly. “They were naked.”