Page 29 of Blackmailed (The Browns of Butcher’s Hill #2)

“I’d like to speak to Mrs. Littleman.”

“Would you now? What did you come for? A cup of tea and a cake?”

“Certainly not. I came to ask Mrs. Littleman for a favor.” The man’s face would have been comical if she hadn’t been so terrified. She’d heard what these men did to those poor Pinkerton agents. “May I come in?”

He just stood there, his mouth hanging open. Then a woman’s voice from inside.

“Who is it, Thomas?”

“Some woman wants to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?”

The door opened wider, revealing a woman, younger than Virginia had expected, looking her up and down, as if her dress and hat were not up to standards, while she was dressed in a similar outfit, although just a cotton cap over her hair.

“What’s in the basket?” the woman asked.

“Are you Mrs. Littleman?” Virginia asked.

“I am. And you are?”

“Miss Virginia Wiest. May I speak with you inside?”

“What’s in the basket?” she repeated.

Virginia shrugged, feeling silly after having met this Littleman woman, but there was no going back now. “It’s a gift for you.”

“A gift, you say? What do you think of that, Thomas? Miss Virginia Wiest has brought me a gift.”

“I hope it’s ham and eggs, but I don’t smell nothing. Maybe sweet rolls?” he said.

“It ain’t food,” Littleman said and shook her head. She dug in her pocket and handed the man some coins. “Go fetch us some rolls from the bakery and coffee too.”

“You all right alone with her?”

Littleman lifted an eye to him. “You think she’s going to beat me with a wicker basket that has a carrot top sticking out the bottom? I’m getting chilled. Bring her in and go get our breakfast.”

The big man, Thomas, inched around her and closed the door behind him. Littleman continued to eye her.

“What kind of favor would Phillip Brown’s woman want me to do?”

Virginia hadn’t counted on her knowing who she was, but she was here and the woman hadn’t locked her up yet.

“There is a man threatening myself and those dear to me because I know he killed Mr. Colfax or had one of his men do it. Colfax stole some items from him after he purchased them from Thomas Bruner. But I have no proof. This man collects art and artifacts.”

“I know who he is,” she said and sat down in one of the wooden chairs near the stone fireplace. She pointed at the chair opposite and Virginia sat. “Horatio Clement.”

“That’s correct.”

“What is Brown planning?”

“We can only wait until Clement breaks the law.”

“Unless?” Mrs. Littleman tilted her head and tapped an impatient finger. “Come now, Miss Wiest. What is Brown planning, and what favor do you want from me?”

Virginia explained what type of arrangement Timothy and Phillip were planning to catch Clement in the act.

“You do realize Brown and that other one broke into my property and took charge of two men I was holding until the authorities could be summoned. Why would I possibly want to help them with their honeypot?”

“Now, Mrs. Littleman,” Virginia said with a smile. “Surely you don’t think I believe you intended to call the authorities about the Pinkerton agents held here. They were the authorities.”

Littleman eyed her for several long moments. She glanced at the basket finally. “What is in there?”

“I almost forgot,” Virginia said and pulled the basket close. “I had to guess at a color that would complement your features, but I think I did very well without ever having met you.”

“My features?”

“Yes,” Virginia said and pulled a deep crimson-colored bonnet from the basket. “I think with your dark coloring, this will look very well on you.”

“A hat? You brought me a hat, Miss Wiest?” she said with some anger in her voice.

“Yes. They said you rarely leave your establishment. I thought you might want something new for springtime.”

Virginia began to see the error in her judgment as Littleman continued to stare at her.

This woman hadn’t any interest in her appearance, although she was neat and clean about herself.

How foolish! Mrs. Littleman was a criminal in her own right, cruel, and abusive to the Pinkertons.

Why did she think the woman who clearly ran her own kingdom would want a new hat?

“And you think that I am a woman so easily bought?”

Virginia shook her head and reached for the hat. “No. No. It was just . . .”

Thomas swept in, dropping a box closed with string holding some delicious-smelling pastries or the like inside and a porcelain coffeepot, clearly full to the brim. “Here you go, Mrs.,” he said. “Hot coffee and some sugary buns hot from the ovens. Oh! Whose pretty hat is that?”

Thomas picked up the hat, admiring it and turning it over in his hands, touching the ribbons and pleats. Mrs. Littleman grabbed it.

“Give me that. You’ll dirty it with those great grimy paws.”

She would not look at Virginia, but she did stand and walk to the window at the back of the room, where the sun was not hitting. She pulled the hat on over her cap and tied the matching ribbons under her chin and looked at herself in the window’s reflection.

“Very fetching,” Thomas said as he gobbled down a roll and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“As if I’d take your word for it. What do you know of fashion?”

“Me sister’s a seamstress at a dress shop. I know what’s what. And that bonnet is fetching.”

Virginia watched Littleman as she turned her head this way and the other. “This woman wants a favor from us, Thomas. She brought a hat to bribe me. I may just keep the hat.”

“What are we doing with her, then?”

“Don’t know yet,” the woman said.

Virginia’s hands were shaking at the cavalier tone Littleman and her man had taken when she was the subject. It was all she could do to not stand and run to the door as fast as her legs could take her and pray Mr. McDuffy was still waiting.

“And what do I get in return?” Mrs. Littleman asked. “You don’t think I’d do something like this plan of theirs without something in return, do you? This could be illegal for all I know, and I don’t want to run afoul of the coppers.”

Thomas laughed and slapped his leg. “Run afoul of the coppers,” he repeated.

Virginia hadn’t realized right away that Mrs. Littleman was attempting a joke until Thomas laughed outright and Littleman grinned. Good Lord! Should she laugh? Should she cry? She didn’t quite know how to feel and would give the woman all the credit for keeping her off-kilter.

“In return, the Pinkertons will not retaliate for holding their officers for a period of one year.”

“How generous,” Thomas scowled. “Those boys come on our turf, telling Mrs. here what to do and accusing her of killing that jump-up Colfax.”

“I didn’t have Colfax killed. And yet those men stormed in here and scared my customers away and threatened me. We defended ourselves.”

“From the injuries the captain received, it was a little more than that, but I can’t endorse what they or you did.

Violence does not solve anything,” Virginia said, her voice wavering.

“And you have no guarantee that the Pinkerton organization and the Baltimore police will not target you for what you did to those men, whether it was their due or not.”

“Don’t like violence,” Thomas said and leaned over her. “Then why are you here?”

“To prevent violence to myself and my loved ones. As of now, you don’t have any idea whether you will be the focus of retribution or not. This plan buys you a year from the Pinkertons. I can’t say about the Baltimore police.”

“I don’t worry too much about the police. Got plenty of them on my payroll.”

After a few long silent moments, Virginia held her breath and asked, “Will you do it?”

Littleman nodded after glancing at her man. “I’ll only deal with you for the details. Don’t want Brown or his boy Sweitzinger anywhere near me. May not be able to control my men if they showed themselves. Come back when you have something else to say.”

Littleman stood, and so did Virginia. “Thank you, Mrs. Littleman.”

Virginia gathered her basket and went to the door. She stopped when Littleman spoke.

“A pair of gloves to match this hat wouldn’t go amiss.”

Virginia smiled but did not turn to face the woman. “I’ll have them sent by messenger.”