Page 79 of The Gift of Patience
“He’s been talking rather a lot, which is unexpectedly helpful considering tomorrow is the big day.” Ashley inspected his fingernails. “He was very willing to open his budget so eager he is to be with you.”
“He doesn’t know anything.”
“Apparently, he knows more than you give him credit for. He snuck out to see you meeting with our man at The Golden Goose one evening.”
Angry, Devil was a sight to behold. The veins on his face and neck were bulging and the hue of his face was somewhere between red and purple.
“If you’d like to see your son again, I suggest you tell us the rest of what you know.”
“I’ve done told you everything.”
“I’m beginning to think not. Billy mentioned you offloaded the goods onto a fancy ship. You never mentioned that, and I am quite, quite certain we asked that.”
“What of it?
“I want to know where and the name of the ship.”
“’Ow is that important if it’s long gone by now?”
“You’re telling me you weren’t to load the next shipment onto it as well?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “We ain’t been told what to do with it yet. ’Tis need to know with this fella.”
“The name and location,” Baines demanded.
“It was just across the way at the Greenwich docks. It wasLe Coquetteor something Frenchie like that.”
“But you do not know where it went after that?”
“I assumed it went wherever he wanted it to go. I ain’t no sea captain.”
Ashley glanced at Baines. It appeared Devil was telling the truth. It all came down to asking the right questions, which they had not. Another question they had not yet asked. “Do you know where the goods were to go?”
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Aye, that I do know, least with the next shipment. We were to take it and the goods to America. Me and Billy, we’re going to make a new life there.”
Ashley paused for a few moments to contemplate that knowledge and how best to use it.
“I’ll tell you what, Devil. If we can catch this man, I’ll try to make that happen. It matters not to me whether you go to Botany Bay or the untamed colonies.”
“Why would you do that?”
“It just so happens your Billy has charmed one of my partners.”
Wouldn’t Patience Whitford cackle with glee if she’d heard him call her that? He dared not look over at Baines, lest he be fully transparent.
“Is there anything—anything at all you can think of that would help us catch this man?” Baines asked.
Devil hesitated. “Iffen you’ll let me go long enough, I can try to send a message to ’im.”
“I beg your pardon?” Baines growled. “I’ve been asking you day and night if you knew how to contact him.”
“You never offered America to me,” Devil shot back.
Ashley would have laughed if they weren’t so close to moving in for the kill.
“How can we trust you won’t tip him off?”
“I don’t s’ppose you can, but all I do is let someone at The Golden Goose know and he magically appears later that night.”
