Pitman said nothing, but his eyes glittered and his hand moved toward a drawer. A pistol? Alex wondered.
Alex used his tiredest voice. “Perhaps we should try to understand one another. You see, I have never fit in with the Montgomerys, such a loud, overbearing, brutish lot. I favored music, culture, the art of the table rather than standing on the deck of a lurching ship, swearing at a pack of smelly sailors.” He shuddered slightly. “But my father decided, as he said, ‘to make a man’ of me and sent me away. The money he gave me ran out quickly so I was forced to return.”
Alex smiled at Pitman but the man said nothing. “If I were one of my brothers, I believe I’d have every right to evict you from this office.” He nodded toward the locked cabinet. “I imagine that is full of papers, perhaps even some deeds of ownership. And it would be my guess that you used Montgomery funds to purchase what goods you own, thereby making them, legally, Montgomery deeds.”
Pitman’s eyes were like two coals on fire and he looked as if he were about to spring at any moment.
“Let us make a bargain. I have no desire to spend my life in this room juggling pieces of paper, nor do I want to be confined on a boat where I am expected to do heroic deeds such as my revered brothers accomplish on an hourly basis. You do not touch the Montgomery lands—we never sell the land—and pay me, say, twenty-five percent of your profits and I will not interfere with you.”
Pitman gaped for a moment, his eyes going from dangerous to wary. “Why?” was all he said.
“Why not? Why should I put myself out for anyone in this town? My own sister has not extended a welcome to me, merely because I do not live up to the expected ideal of the Montgomery name. And, too, it’s easier for me to allow you to do the work while all I do is collect part of the profits.”
Pitman began to relax and his hand moved away from the desk drawer, but there was still caution in his eyes. “Why did you return?”
Alex gave a laugh. “Because, my dear fellow, they expect me to do something about you.”
Pitman almost returned Alex’s smile and relaxed even more. “Perhaps we can work together.”
“Oh yes, I believe we can.” Alex began to talk to Pitman in a lazy style that he hoped would convey the impression that he wasn’t really interested, but he wanted to know to what extent Pitman had put the Montgomery holdings in debt and, if possible, to find out what he was planning. Pitman’s appointment as Customs Officer gave him a massive amount of power. It was left up to his integrity whether he abused that power or not.
It was while Alex was attempting to get information from Pitman that he saw a head appear at the top of the window—an upside-down head of one of the Taggert kids. The head disappeared almost in the same instant, but Alex knew that the child had been listening.
Alex waved his hand at Pitman. “I’m tired now. You may tell me more later. I think I shall take a stroll, then nap before supper.” He yawned behind his handkerchief and then rose and left the room without a further word to Pitman.
“If I get my hands on that kid, I’ll wrap his ears about his throat,” Alex muttered. He couldn’t hurry through the corridors of the house because if someone saw him, his image would be shattered. It wasn’t easy to act languid and still hurry. He had to catch that child and find out what he’d heard.
Once outside, he stood still, trying to figure where a child would have run to if he’d been caught doing what he shouldn’t. Alex remembered how many times he’d escaped to the woods when he was a boy.
Following an old Indian trail, he walked into the quiet darkness of the forest that ran behind the Montgomery house. About half a mile in was a cliff that led down to a little rocky beach called Farrier’s Cove. Alex headed for it now.
Agilely, he made his way down the bank and came face to face with the Taggert boy he’d caught eavesdropping and Jessica.
“You may go, Nathaniel,” Jessica said haughtily, her eyes on Alexander, every bit of her hatred showing in them.
“But, Jess, I didn’t tell you—”
“Nathaniel!” she said sharply, and the boy clambered up the embankment and they could hear his footsteps retreating.
Alex didn’t say a word to her, since he wanted to find out how much the boy had told her.
“So now we know why you came back to Warbrooke. Those poor fools thought you were going to help them. Twenty-five percent should keep you in laces.”
Alex tried to keep his face from showing his emotion. It looked as if the brat had told her everything. Amazing memory—not to mention hearing—the child had. He turned his back to her so that she couldn’t see his face. He had to find a way to keep her from talking. If this got back to the townspeople or…He thought of his father, already an invalid: this would kill him.
He turned back to her, sm
iling. “So how much do I pay you to keep your mouth shut?”
“I don’t sell myself for money.”
He gave her a sneering look up and down, then put his handkerchief to his nose as if to get away from her fish-stinking clothes. “I can see that.”
She advanced on him. He was taller than she, but with his s-curved slouch, they were almost equal. “There are no words low enough to describe you. You’d take money from a man who ruins people just so you can have those silk clothes.”
As she moved closer to him, Alex forgot all about what she’d heard and that he wanted to keep her from repeating it. All he was aware of was her eyes flashing with fire and passion and her breasts inches from his chest and heaving. She kept yelling at him and calling him names that no lady had ever called him before, but he didn’t hear a word of it. When her lips were very close to his, she stopped abruptly and moved back. Alex’s breath was coming from deep within his chest.
Jessica stood back and looked at him, her eyes blinking rapidly, as if in confusion.