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“It was my fault, Isaac.”
“Everyone did their job. We hit, front and back, right on the nose. It’s not your fault they were waiting.”
“I’m afraid it was,” said Archie.
“What are you talking about?”
Abbott hung his head. He looked mortified, and it began to dawn on Isaac Bell that his old friend Archie Abbott was more deeply downcast than even the Raven’s Eyrie fiasco would warrant.
“What are you saying, Archie?”
“I think I was played for a sucker.”
“Who played you—the girl you’ve been seeing?”
“Francesca.”
“You told Marion you were ‘besotted.’”
“Totally.”
“What did you tell Francesca?”
“Only that I was going on a raid. I had to break a date. I said I’d be away overnight, up the river.”
“Archie . . .” Bell felt his head swimming. Culp was in the clear. Culp protected Branco.
“I just didn’t think.”
“Did you tell her we were after Culp?”
“No! . . . Well, I mean, not really.”
“What the devil does ‘not really’ mean?” Bell exploded. “You either told her it was Culp or you didn’t.”
“I said it was Culp’s house. I didn’t say we were after Culp. It could have been anyone on the estate. I was sure that was the impression I left. Until—”
“Until Culp had the Sheriff and the Army Guard ambush us . . . What the devil were you thinking, Archie? . . . Sounds like you weren’t thinking.”
“Not clearly. What do you want me to do, Isaac? Should I resign?”
Isaac Bell looked him in the face. Not only were they the closest friends but Bell felt responsible for him because he had talked Archie into joining the Van Dorns. He said, “I have to think about it. And I h
ave to talk to Mr. Van Dorn, of course.”
“He’ll fire me in a second.”
“He’s the Boss. I have no choice.”
“I should save him the trouble and quit.”
Archie should resign, thought Bell. He knew the Boss well enough to know that Van Dorn was in no mood to forgive. But he was getting the glimmer of an idea how he might turn the tables on Branco.
“You know, Archie, you’re still not thinking clearly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Pray this doesn’t get in the papers. Because if it does and your Francesca reads it, she will put two and two together and realize that the boss she ‘confessed’ to in that church is Branco. And she will also know that when Branco reads it, he will know that she knows. Branco went to great lengths to ensure that the criminals who carried out his orders could never implicate him, much less testify against him.”
