River

Gregor

I have to lay a trap. I must make Mason think that he has all the information he needs to succeed. Then when he makes his move, the trap will spring.

I wish Thomas was back in town. I hadn’t really anticipated he and Samuel staying away for this long. It has been over a week, and I have been wondering this whole time what is happening at Ellis Cliffs. Thomas and his connection to the militia could be very useful to me right now.

I have to force myself to acknowledge that I will need to leave Rosalind here. All I want to do now is keep her with me every second, not let her out of my sight. But I can’t do that. I have to allow myself to be observed, going about my business, laying the trap.

It feels like it will kill me to be more than a few feet away from her right now, knowing that the beast is planning to harm her. The horror shudders up my spine when I contemplate that.

I have at least a day or two before Mason will make his move, though, based on what Wolk told me of his current plan. He intends to collect information, in order to find if there is a pattern that will present him with the opportunity to kidnap my wife.

The panic flares, and I tamp it down. I have to stop being so emotional. I have to just place the pieces on the board, like Wolk said.

Well, the first piece is going to have to be Moses. He is already watching things for me. I know I can trust him.

I leave my study, force my features into some semblance of normality. I don’t want to alarm Rosalind by allowing myself to look like a wild-eyed desperado. Especially since that is exactly what I am at the moment. I pass through the kitchen, where she is chatting with Nadine, and force myself to only embrace her briefly, before moving outside to speak to Moses in the garden.

“It is working so far, darling, she senses nothing out of the ordinary.”

Good. Moses is kneeling in the vegetable beds. I move across the yard and join him there, kneeling right down in the dirt next to him. He looks up at me, perplexed. I glance over at the house, and decide to pull some weeds while we talk. That will look normal, right? Wolk rolls his eyes, still in the man form. That’s how I want him for now, it feels comforting.

“Here, Moses, I’ll pull these weeds.” He nods, but obviously wonders what on earth I am doing. I lower my voice. “Please just carry on, Moses, I have a problem and need your help with it, but I don’t want to alarm the women.” I think that being up front with him is the best way to make sure that he can do what I am going to ask.

His brow furrows for a moment, then an expression of resolve crosses his face. He is glad to have my confidence in this.

I speak quietly to him, as we both kneel in the garden, tending the plants together. Wolk tells me, “Rosalind has glanced out the window to see what you are doing, and is amused but not alarmed by your actions. She sees it as just another example of your endearing oddity, that you should decide to do some weeding with Moses before proceeding to work.” Good. Maybe being a habitual oddball will work in my favor here.

“Moses,” I start, and knowing what I want he continues with the little garden tool he is using to loosen the soil around the plants, in order to more easily extract the weeds, as though there is nothing wrong. “You have been guarding the house, I know, on the lookout for unwelcome visitors as I have asked.”

He nods, keeping his eyes on the plants. “I have learned that such a person is going to make an effort to come here, and possibly harm my wife.”

His eyes raise to meet mine, and I see in his expression that he shares my determination to prevent this. I nod back to him, acknowledging that I see his resolve.

“He might be coming by in the next day or two to watch the house, to try to learn our movements. He might send other men to watch the house for him.”

“I’ll stop them,” Moses breathes quietly. I’m sure he could - he is a very large and strong man, far bigger than me.

“No,” I tell him, and he lifts his eyes to mine in surprise. “Not yet. We have to let them. We have to pretend we don’t know we are being watched.”

He drops the tool and stares at me. I nod my head at it, so that he will pick it back up and proceed.

“We’re going to do everything just like normal for the next couple of days, except that I am going to leave in the evenings. I’ll go to the club. Whoever is watching will think that I go to the club every night if they see that.”

“Ah,” he breathes, and I am relieved to see that he is following along with my reasoning. “You’re setting a trap.”

“Exactly.”

“So I should stay late while you go to the club?”

I grit my teeth. That’s exactly what I want. And exactly what can’t happen. “No. They have to think that Rosalind is unprotected for a time in the evenings, after you and I both leave.”

He raises his eyes to me, stricken.

“I know,” I tell him hoarsely, “I don’t like it any more than you do. But unless they think it is safe, we won’t lure them out.”

“Let me at least watch,” he says. “I’ll pretend to leave, then loop back around, keep an eye out to make sure nobody actually tries to get in the house.”

I exhale shakily. “Yes, yes, thank you.” I look up, glancing around at the houses and buildings surrounding us. My house is on a strip of land between the cliff paralleling the river, and the tidy dirt street containing a row of other houses.

One of the houses across the street, a smaller house two or three doors down to the south, is vacant, because I have purchased it. I haven’t told Rosalind anything about this, because I have been waiting to hear back from her family, but when the property became available I decided to acquire it so it would be ready for her mother and siblings when they arrive. I think maybe this house can be part of the plan, and I’ll have to think about that later.

In the meantime, I tell Moses, “I imagine whoever is watching the house will do it from across the street, to keep an eye on the front door. Probably there, or there.” I point with my chin to the corners of the buildings opposite, and he follows with his eyes. He nods. “I think if you head towards your home at your normal quitting time, then go along the edge of the cliff behind, you can get up to the boundary of the property without being seen, and stand back there. You should have a view of the street and the back door from there, to make sure nobody goes in.” He tracks what I am saying, then swivels his head around to look at the far north edge of the yard. There are some bushes and a large tree there, he should be able to blend in without being seen, especially once it gets dark.

“I will wait until I know you are back in place, watching, before I leave for the club,” I tell him. “I’ll have to stay away for a couple of hours, to make sure that my trip to the club is noted.” He nods, ready and willing to lurk in the brush behind my house for hours in the dark. I am deeply grateful for him.

“One more thing,” I tell him. “I don’t think it will be needed, but you should know that I keep a gun in my study, in the desk drawer. It’s a flintlock pistol. I’ll make sure it’s loaded. Do you know how to use that?”

He nods. I believe him. “Let’s leave it where it is, but if you think it is needed, I want you to know about it.”

He glances back at the house, where we can hear the conversation of the women through the open back kitchen door. “What will you tell her?” he asks.

“As little as possible,” I say grimly. “I don’t want her to be scared. I’m hoping she never knows about any of this.”

Thomas

I’ve finally agreed to leave Ellis Cliffs and go back to Natchez with Samuel after breakfast. The poor fellow has been down here for over a week and is worried about his practice in town. I have to agree with him that things seem more or less under control here. Brandeis is back, so with the overseer the plantation will run all right even without Abraham participating. He sits by his wife’s bedside all day. Mrs. Ellis is unchanged, keeping to her bed but apparently speaking with her family and servants. I have not seen her since I carried her to the bedroom on that dreadful morning. I would have no business going back in there.

Nancy has assured me that she will be fine without me, and I have to believe her. She has found some reserve of strength and calm that I never would have suspected, but which now seems as mighty as the Mississippi river itself.

I kiss her hand, in my most gentlemanly manner, when I take my leave. I wish I could do more. Fourteen years old, I remind myself sternly. We have time. I must discipline my impatient body to wait for its time to come.

Samuel and I have been here so long it feels like we should have luggage to bring with us, but we don’t. Neither of us had any idea how long our stay would be when we arrived. The staff has been tending us very well.

He comes down the stairs, having checked on his patient one more time, and nods his head at me. We proceed to the porch, accompanied by both Nancy and her little brother Richard, who although even younger has been undergoing a similar forced maturation process in light of their parents’ tribulations.

“I’ll drive,” I tell Samuel as we approach Gregor’s carriage which has been brought around from the stables, and is waiting in front of the house, a slave holding the horse’s reins. “You can relax in the cab. I’ll bet that as soon as we arrive you are going to be terribly busy with all the work that has been backing up.”

He nods. “I won’t argue with you,” he says. He looks tired. I know he has been checking on Mrs. Ellis every night several times, so he hasn’t been getting much sleep.

Nancy is waving at me as I flick the reins to get the horse moving. I stare back at her for as long as I can, until the carriage has passed the whipping post where this whole situation started, and the curve of the drive takes her from my sight.