AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gaudy, she’d called it once. But she’d never replaced it.
Behind this desk sat an attractive colored woman with a curvy body and kind eyes. She wore a beautiful blue dress in some high style that hadn’t yet made it to the West Coast, and when she gracefully rose to meet Andan Cly, the tiny bells sewn into her sleeves made a delicate tinkling sound. Ruthie introduced them by declaring, “Captain Cly, Hazel Bushrod. ” And in French she said, “Hazel, this is the airman Josephine sent for. ”
Hazel ducked her head in a discreet bow, and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. I’m sorry Miss Early isn’t here right now, but I hope I can help you all the same. ”
“Miss … Bushrod? Is that right?”
“Yes, and no, I didn’t make it up or acquire it on the job,” she said, the kindness in her eyes hardening briefly into something else. “It was my father’s name, and now it’s mine. And if you have anything further you’d like to say—”
“No, no, ma’am. It’s an unusual name, that’s all. I’ve never heard it before. ”
“Well, now you have. And if we’re finished with the subject, I’d like to invite you to pull up a seat. ” She sat back down, her skirts and those tiny silver bells conspiring to make music. She crossed her legs beneath the desk, unleashing a new round of rustling, and the rubbing together of fabrics and thighs.
Ruthie pulled up one of the striped chairs and offered it to Cly, who sat gingerly upon it. Then she drew up the second one and positioned it beside Hazel’s, so that the captain could not escape the feeling he was about to be interrogated, quizzed, or possibly sentenced.
He didn’t recognize either of these women. They hadn’t been with Josephine back in the old days, which stood to reason, given that neither of them appeared to be older than her mid-twenties. A decade before, they would’ve been young for such a life, by Josephine’s business standards.
Cly shifted in his seat, attempting to get comfortable without damaging the furniture, which looked delicate on the surface but bore his weight without creaking. “I suppose Josephine told you, she called me here about a job. ”
Hazel said, “How much did she tell you about it?”
“Almost nothing. She wants me to fly something from the lake to the Gulf. ”
“Did she say what she wanted you to fly?”
“No. ”
“And did you think it was strange?” she asked, reaching into a drawer and withdrawing a collection of papers without taking her eyes off the captain.
“I did,” he admitted. “But I needed to make a big supply run for my town anyway. And say what you will about Texians—I’m sure they’re none too popular in this house—but they know their way around a machine shop. And I need one, because I’m having some work done on my own bird. ”
Ruthie and Hazel considered this response and exchanged the kind of gaze that old friends can sometimes share—squeezing a whole conversation into an instant’s worth of facial tics, blinks, and small frowns. When the moment had passed, Ruthie rose from her seat and went to shut the door. Then she returned to her position beside Hazel, and the pair of them turned their full and absolute attention upon Cly, who could scarcely recall having felt so uncomfortable in his life.
“I get the feeling this is trickier than I thought. Stranger than I thought. ”
Hazel said, “Miss Early told us you weren’t stupid, and so far, so good. Yes, what we have to tell you—what we have to ask you—is tricky and strange, and I want you to understand how much danger you could put us in, simply with one wrong word. ”
“Danger? For you?”
“For us,” Ruthie said. “For the Garden Court. For Josephine. ”
Hazel folded her hands on the desk and said, “Dangerous for you, too, once we tell you everything. So first I must ask, and I expect you to answer me truthfully: Have you now, or have you ever, owed any loyalty to the Republic of Texas or to the Confederate States of America?”
Easily, he responded, “No. Nor the Union, either, if you want to get precise about it. I was born on the Oregon Trail, somewhere east of Portland. I’ve been a merchant by trade most of my life, and it’s been worth my time to keep from making enemies. ”
Ruthie snorted, and Hazel said, “A merchant? Josephine said you were a pirate. ”
“Same thing, in a way. I’ve run plenty of goods that weren’t good for anyone. But I’m trying to leave that life behind me now. That’s one reason I’m here in the city, getting my bird refitted up in Metairie. ”
Hazel asked, “Why would you leave pirating? The only money anybody has anymore comes from working while the law isn’t looking. We know that better than anyone, don’t we, Ruthie?”
“Mm-hmm. ”
“Ladies,” he said, opening his hands as if to entreat them. “Josephine and me, we have birthdays only a week apart—and I want to settle down while I’ve still got the life in me to enjoy retirement. But whatever Josie wants, I’m prepared to help her out—even if it’s something that we don’t want the law looking at, since that’s what you’re implying. I told her I’d fly for her, and I will. But you have to tell me what’s really going on, and what Texas and the Rebs have to do with it. Is this a military thing? You want me to sneak something out past the forts?”
“Yes,” Hazel said bluntly. “That’s precisely what we want. We have a craft out at Lake Pontchartrain, and we need to bring it out to the Gulf of Mexico—into it, past the edge of the delta and then some—and deliver it to Admiral Herman Partridge aboard the Union airship carrier Valiant. ”
“An airship carrier? I’ve heard of those, but never seen one. Fairly new to the war, ain’t they?”
