Page 37 of Hired by Pirates

He sighed heavily. “But the town has changed so much, we might need you after all. Come with me.”

He led me to the navigation room, and waved for me to have a seat. Then he paused, as if he really didn’t want to bring me into it. Part of me appreciated it, but a larger part was becoming increasingly frustrated.

“Please, just tell me,” I begged. “I promise not to think any less of any of you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The Captain nodded, and his expression softened. He reached out to hold my hand across the table. “Astor, that’s one of the things I truly adore about you. You really don’t judge the lot of us by the same measuring stick.”

Nodding, I squeezed his fingers. “And I never will. Now, please, tell me everything.”

“We have an important job to do today. Some papers must be delivered from the bookkeeper’s office to the Mayor while he’s on stage at the Town Hall during the closing speech of the festival. But the town has grown a lot since the last time we were here, and the map isn’t as accurate as we?

?d like.”

I nodded. “Go on.”

“We need to make sure that we get the information to the stage at precisely six o’clock, which is when the mayor always gives his big speech of gratitude.”

Nodding, a few things came together. “Simon must be your lock picker, and that’s why you’re concerned about how quickly his fingers will work.”

The way he smiled at me made my insides melt. “Yes, my darling girl.”

“And of course you don’t want to get caught taking this information...” I continued.

“Yes, but it’s worse than that. Acreton hates pirates. Most people do, but many years ago, there was an incident that nearly tore the town apart. So now people are on high alert for anyone who might possibly be a pirate, or even know one.”

“But you’re traders now, aren’t you? I even noticed that there is a blue flag atop the mast.”

“Yes, but there’s a certain, shall we say, look about us as a crew that might make people nervous.”

“So not only are you stealing information, you’re hiding from every person in the town?”

“In a word, yes.”

I blew out a slow breath. This entire situation indeed sounded tricky. “And why do you need this information?”

He briefly told me about the two families who had been overcharging the townsfolk for their wares by staging a fake feud, and creating a monopoly. Trying to swindle elderly folks out of their homes, even though they were rich beyond measure and didn’t need any more land.

Even worse, not only were they cheating people, they were also tinkering with their ledgers, not paying their fair share of taxes, costing the town a ridiculous sum.

“So while the mayor is being given this information and announcing it to the town, we will be in a private room of the Town Hall that acts like a bank, where these two families have been stashing most of their money over the years. Simon will open the safe, we’ll help ourselves to a liberal amount, and then leave the safe open for the mayor to examine once he’s finished going through the records of the crooked bookkeeper.”

“It seems that you have everything planned out perfectly,” I said. “So why is everyone so tense?”

“Because the town has grown so much, there’s always a chance that the bookkeeper moved offices. And if they’ve been doing so much paperwork for the Ledfords and the Strouds and their many businesses over the years, they could have made their records storage more secure. For all we know, the cabinets might be locked. That would take quite a bit of time to sort out.”

I nodded, staring down at the wooden desk as I thought. “But as long as you knew exactly where the bookkeeper’s office is, and exactly how the files were secured, you’d be able to time everything perfectly?”

He nodded. Those thick fingers drummed absentmindedly on the table as he frowned.

I hated seeing him looking so lost. This great man had all of the elements he needed to both bring in money to feed his crew, and straighten out a town. But he was resisting using the one element that could fix his problem.

Giving him my brightest smile, I leaned forward, giving my slight cleavage a shake. “Captain, I don’t look like a pirate at all, do I?”

~ Chapter 16 ~ The Captain ~

* The Navigation Desk *

Astor gave me a cheeky look as I quickly rolled away the maps, then giggled as I lifted her and set her on the desk.

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