Page 26 of Blackmailed (The Browns of Butcher’s Hill #2)

“ G oing to Minehew’s Barn dance with the doctor?” Phillip asked Sarah that evening as she did the mending in the sitting room.

“Dr. Prosperi asked me, and I said yes,” she replied and threaded her needle with a new strand.

“Just wondered, no need to be testy.”

“Where did you hear that from anyway?”

“Timothy mentioned it.”

“Timothy?” She glanced at her brother. “Why would he care?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you should ask him.”

“Maybe I will,” she said and scowled, which told Phillip all he needed to know.

Phillip stood when there was a knock at the door, and Uncle Patrick went for the rifle on top of the cabinet. Phillip lifted the bar and opened the door.

A man in a watch cap and dark coat shoved a letter in Phillip’s hand. He turned and walked away quickly, melting into the night. Phillip turned it over in his hand and broke the seal as he walked back to the parlor and leaned close to a lamp to read.

Clement has his eye on you and yours. Consider yourself repaid for your warning to me. Don’t ever come on my property again.

There was no doubt in Phillip’s mind that the note had come from Irene Littleman.

He was shocked she’d sent a warning after his and Timothy’s rescue of the captain and lieutenant.

He tapped the paper against his hand and turned to his uncle.

“I think you should stick around the house for the next few days if you can. Help with the errands. I don’t think the women should be out. ”

“What in the hell have you done now?”

“I think I got to the bottom of who killed Colfax behind Dolly Irving’s shop.”

“Somebody isn’t happy with what you found out, I’m guessing. I’ve just been doing piecemeal work at the dock. I’ll stay.”

“Good. I’d feel better. Sarah, send Uncle for groceries and make sure Eliza and Jenny stay inside. You too. I think this will all be coming to a head soon, but don’t take any chances.”

“We’re all going to Minehew’s on Saturday. You better plan on being there,” Sarah said and turned to her uncle. “Are you bringing Mrs. Dexter to the dance?”

Patrick huffed and hurried out of the room. They heard his bedroom door close with a bang. Sarah smiled, knotted the thread, and clipped it off, shaking out the petticoat she’d been mending.

“You can’t help yourself, can you?” Phillip asked.

She stood, stretched, and gathered her sewing. She walked past him and stopped to kiss his cheek. “You better ask Miss Wiest to the dance. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to tell her about all the women you danced with.”

It had never occurred to him to ask Virginia to Minehew’s.

What would she think about kicking up her heels with the butcher and the stone masons and their wives?

It was doubtful that anyone from the cannery would be in attendance, as he knew of none who lived on Butcher’s Hill, but it was possible.

But hell, he’d dressed himself up and gone to her socials. Why couldn’t she come to his?

Phillip found Jimmy, Schuyler Colfax’s driver, at a smoky coffee shop on the outskirts of the fancy Baltimore neighborhoods. He slipped onto a chair across from him before he had time to protest.

“I think somebody’s been following me. Has it been you?” Jimmy asked. His thumb tapped the tabletop in rhythm with his knee bouncing against the table leg.

“I don’t just randomly follow you. When I have a question, I track you down. Like today.”

“Don’t want to answer any more questions. I can’t sleep. I barely eat anything. They’re going to find me, and you led them right to me,” Jimmy whispered, tears filling his eyes.

“I wasn’t followed, but I did follow a young boy who was tailing you.” Jimmy did cry then, wiping his eyes and nose on the sleeve of his jacket. “Why don’t you answer my questions and then think about getting out of Baltimore for a while?”

“What about my job?”

“You’re driving a wagon, Jimmy. There’s always jobs for drivers. Do you have any relatives you could stay with for a few weeks?”

“My sister has a farm outside of the city, probably twenty miles away. Maybe I could go there. I could help her a little too. Her husband died last year.”

“She could probably use the help,” Phillip said.

“I’d just need to get to my rooms and gather what I can carry. There’s a hauler I know who would let me ride in one of his wagons halfway,” Jimmy said with some enthusiasm.

“That’s all good. I’ve got a few coins to help you with your travels,” Phillip said as Jimmy’s eyes lit up. “After you tell me what you know about how Colfax got hold of three items that Clement owns or stole first.”

“What three items?”

“The ones I found in Colfax’s bedroom closet. The ones you told me about. The same ones I watched being carried out of his house by a couple of big guys.”

“They were there?”

Phillip nodded. “And then they weren’t. Did you tell Clement’s guys they were there too?”

“I didn’t. You have to believe me! I stay as far away as I can from them. Ain’t no way I’d talk to them.”

“Unless you had no choice.”

“That’s true. I would to save my life.” Jimmy stared off in the distance, his knuckles finally quiet, his lip trembling.

“Clement’s probably looking for you less now that he has the items back, but I wouldn’t say you’re safe. He doesn’t like loose ends,” Phillip said and sat back in his chair. “How did Colfax get the items that I saw in that cupboard in his bedroom from Clement?”

Jimmy leaned forward. “One of Clement’s guys is bent.

He told Colfax when they were moving the items from the fence, that Bruner guy.

Colfax sent a couple of men to rob Clement’s guys.

I was the lookout. Our guys knocked Clement’s guys out before they knew what was happening and threw them in the bay. Grabbed the merchandise and took off.”

“They threw them in the bay?”

Jimmy nodded. “One guy made it out from what we heard, but one didn’t. Clement was pissed.”

“So Clement takes out Colfax. Broad daylight. Quite a message.”

“I’d say. Who’s going mess with this Clement guy now? Nobody, that’s who.”

Phillip put a few coins in Jimmy’s hand and found his way through the kitchen to the back door of the coffee shop, nodding to the cook protesting his presence.

He sincerely hoped Jimmy took a back route to his boardinghouse as he was certain Clement’s people were following him.

He trotted down the alley to the end, stepping over trash and a moaning drunk, and turned to the main street.

That’s when he heard Jimmy shout.

Phillip had a moment of thought that had him walking away without looking back.

But he couldn’t do it. This dumb kid was up to his eyes in violent men who were smarter than him and would surely make him pay, but he wasn’t necessarily a bad kid.

Maybe time on his sister’s farm would be the making of him.

Phillip turned around and ran full tilt at the two men dragging a screaming Jimmy by the arms.

He took one to the ground on impact. The man’s head hit the pavement with a crunch.

Phillip turned just in time to duck a wild punch from the second man and pull his knife from his boot.

He lunged and nicked the second man’s cheek enough that blood was spilling over his shirt.

A third man came running from a small carriage across the street, most likely meant to haul Jimmy to the bay.

Phillip slashed at the second man again, connecting with his ear and skull, but knocking the knife from Phillip’s grip. The man stumbled away, a hand over the side of his face and ear. Jimmy came up behind him and hit him on the head with a loose street cobble.

The third man shouted as he ran toward Jimmy and his fallen partners. “I’m going to kill you, Brown! Then I’m going to kill your sister after I have a little fun with her.”

The man charged, head down, into Phillip’s middle, taking them both to the dirt.

Phillip groped for his knife while the man pummeled him with meaty fists.

Suddenly, the man slumped, and Phillip struggled out from under him.

Jimmy was still holding the handle of Phillip’s knife, staring at it sticking out of the man’s back.

Phillip pulled himself up, grabbed the knife from the man’s back, wiping the blood on the dead man’s coat, and took Jimmy by the arm, hurrying him down the street.

“Come on. Let’s get your stuff from your room and get you to that hauler you know before Clement finds out about this,” Phillip said and pointed a thumb over his shoulder. Jimmy nodded and hurried to keep up.

Virginia received a note from Phillip late in the day on Thursday.

Would you like to go to Minehew’s Barn for the dance this Saturday? Phillip

Minehew’s Barn? Virginia had never heard of the place. She found Colleen in the kitchen checking on the dinner menu for the guests they were entertaining that evening.

“Have you ever heard of Minehew’s Barn?” she asked Colleen. “They must have dances there.”

Colleen shook her head. “I’ve never heard of it.”

Millie whispered to Mrs. Barkley, who was busy supervising the pastry shells for that evening’s desserts. “Millie says she knows about Minehew’s.”

“What do you know, Millie?” Colleen asked.

“My cousin goes there when there’s a dance. They have music and dancing and food for sale. She says it is always so much fun.”

“Ah,” Virginia said and walked with Colleen up the stairs. “Would you like to go with me to this Minehew’s on Saturday? Mr. Brown has asked me to go with him.”

“I don’t want to interfere between the two of you,” she said. “He has asked you to step out with him.”

“But I’ve never been to a dance at a barn, Colleen. What will we wear?” Virginia laughed. “Please say you’ll come.”

Colleen smiled. “We will find something suitable for both of us.”

Virginia hurried to her office and wrote a quick acceptance. She was going to a dance!

Phillip was called to Everly’s office as soon as he arrived at the cannery. He tapped on the door and opened it.

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Everly?”

Everly turned around from where he stood with his back to the desk. “I did. Have a seat, Brown.”

Phillip did his best not to let his shock at Everly’s appearance show on his face. It was as if the man had aged a decade or more overnight. He sat down when Everly did.

“What can I help you with, sir?”

Everly blew a breath. “You can stop your investigation of my household. My mother has confided her . . . activities to me and the reason behind them. I’ll not pursue it any further.”

“I see.”

“If possible, I’d like to put this behind my family.”

Phillip nodded. “Understood.”

“Let me know how much I still owe you,” Everly said and folded his hands in front of him on his desk. “I’d appreciate it if none of this was repeated, although I understand that my mother spoke to Miss Wiest about some of it.”

“I do not talk about the people I help or work for. I never have and won’t begin now.”

“That’s good to know.” Everly stood.

Phillip stood as well and leaned over the desk to whisper. “But don’t you want to confront whoever is blackmailing your mother? Who has caused her this pain and embarrassment?”

“Of course I do, Brown. But I don’t want to think about it anymore. Now that I know what my father did, the threats will stop. There’s nothing to blackmail her about. And anyway, she told me who it is. Mr. Antonio DeFlavio. The widower.”

“If the threats continue, let me know. I’ll have a conversation with him.”

“Thank you, Brown.”

Phillip looked at Everly as the man looked away, clearly uncomfortable with thanking him, being in debt somehow to him, owing him some graciousness. But there was also embarrassment and regret. Phillip opened the office door, glad the job was at an end.

“What do you think, Colleen?” Virginia asked as she stood in front of the full-length mirror in her dressing room.

Colleen tilted her head in concentration.

“I think it is perfectly suited to the occasion. I don’t think it would be wise to outshine all the other women attending tonight with diamonds and feathers and silk and such.

You look lovely just as you are. And you know Mr. Brown would think you look beautiful if you were dressed in a potato sack. ”

Virginia smiled. She had chosen a pale blue dress with a simple fitted bodice and a flared skirt that only required one petticoat. She held a dark-blue-and-rose shawl in her hand and touched her hair where it was rolled at the nape of her neck. She turned to Colleen.

“You look very nice, Colleen. That dark green is just the color for you.”

“Dolly and Sarah Brown insisted it would look well on me, and I think they were right,” she said from where she stood beside Virginia, both women looking at themselves in the mirror.

Virginia laughed. “Look at the two of us, admiring ourselves!”

Colleen smiled. “You’re right. Mr. Turnbull is no doubt waiting on us.”

Phillip stood outside his house watching for the Wiest carriage. Sarah was beside him, picking at her hair and bonnet.

“What has you in a tizzy?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said and stilled her hands.

Phillip turned back to the street, seeing the carriage approach. He walked up to it as it slowed and nodded at Turnbull. “I’ll get the ladies.”

He opened the door and helped each of them down to the thankfully dry street. “Miss Hughes, you look very nice,” he said with a smile and turned to Virginia, losing his smile but staring at her with awe. “You are so beautiful.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Are you ready to walk? You can ride in the carriage to Minehew’s if you’d rather.”

She shook her head and smiled. “I came prepared. I’m wearing my most comfortable boots.”

Phillip turned to begin down the street after wrapping Virginia’s hand around his arm. “I thought Prosperi would be here to take you,” he said over his shoulder to Sarah, who was following them with Miss Hughes.

“I told him not to bother, that I’d meet him there. We’re only a few blocks away.”

“Is your uncle not coming?” Virginia asked.

“No. He’s staying home with Eliza and Jenny.”

“Did he tell you he got a note warning him about whatever he’s doing to catch Colfax’s killer?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Virginia said and looked up at him. “No, he didn’t.”

“It’s not like I didn’t know the guy is mad at me,” he said softly. “But I am concerned for Sarah, Eliza, and Jenny. Uncle Patrick is staying home with the women for a few days.”

“Do you think you’ll have this all concluded by then?”

“I hope so.” He looked down at her. “Did I tell you how pretty you look in that dress?”

She blushed and looked straight ahead. “You did, but you can continue to tell me all evening.