I am going to get out and look,” Josie whispered in Braham’s ear.
He clutched at her arm. She froze, afraid that the movement was obvious. “No,” he breathed out.
“They have not said anything for several minutes. Perhaps Alvin forgot the signal and is in trouble.” She would slip easily from beneath the canvas and crouch behind the cart. “I will be careful, I promise.”
Braham tried to hold her tight, but she wriggled free and slid away. She begged God to protect her as she carefully lifted the canvas, turned on her stomach, and dropped to damp mud.
The air outside carried a more pleasant smell than the dirty cart offered—one of lingering rain and quenched leaves. She crouched behind the large wheel and filled her lungs. Although the moonlight was bright, the trees were guards against it. Only a flicker shone several yards away. She squinted, allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She could see a fire. An occasional figure walked about it. Unease crept up her spine, wondering what Alvin might be up to. Did he truly forget the signal?
“Hey there!” The shout shook the silence on the road ahead of them. Her heart stopped then regained its strength with erratic thumps. The voice was too far away to have been directed at her. She caught her breath and crawled around the cart, her dress dragging in the mud. She snuck to the front and could just make out another cart like theirs, the white canvas catching the moonlight. A lantern’s light swung between two men—Alvin and a stranger—as they lugged a body into the wooded area. Several times Alvin looked over at their own cart. The glint of the lantern revealed his concerned brow.
“I haven’t much time,” the stranger grunted. “I need to get back before they get suspicious.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Alvin snarled. “I have my own load, you know?”
“Knock it off, Alvin,” Audra snapped from somewhere in the trees. “You’ve got nothing but time. Nobody cares where you are.”
Fury stabbed Josie’s heart. What a callous woman. Poor Alvin was facing her now.
Josie waited a few more moments. She heard the distant footsteps and listened carefully to be sure they didn’t grow close. Reins snapped in the air, and the cart ahead wheeled away.
She took quick steps back along the cart and ducked behind the wheel. The fire flicker was no longer visible, yet the yellow glow of a lantern showed Gerald, Audra, and Alvin sitting with their backs to her, pouring cups of drink. The only way she could tell that Alvin had followed through with their plan was by that lantern he had placed at the edge of the clearing.
Josie carefully lifted the canvas. Although she could not see Braham and the men in the dark, she could hear their breathing.
“It seems that another one of Gerald’s men arrived,” she whispered. “Too bad we could not stop him as well. But I think Alvin has been stuck with Audra bossing him about.” She reached in and found Braham’s hand. “It’s time that we go. The lantern is in place.”
Braham pushed himself to the edge. “I want you to stay back, Josie. These past minutes were an eternity.” His eyes caught the moonlight. They were wide with concern. He jumped down next to her then pulled her by the waist. “They might have seen you and—” He found her chin and lifted it.
“You needn’t worry. I stayed close to the cart.” She cupped his cheek.
“You are brave, I’ll give you that.” He gently kissed her. A shiver traveled through her. The nightmare was over, and soon the dream would begin. A smile threatened her lips as they pulled away.
She could not fully smile until this last scheme was accomplished.
“There now,” Tom whispered behind them. “Let us get this over with.”
Josie was thankful for the night hiding her blush. She slipped behind the men. Braham gathered some rope from the cart then held his hand up to her, insisting she stay back.
“I will stay behind you. I promise,” she assured him.
The men crouched down with pistols in their hands and the constable leading the way. Josie prayed, keeping her word by staying behind them at a distance yet creeping forward slowly. She would not stay at the cart alone.
Braham pushed down the anger that erupted at the sight of Gerald’s broad shoulders as he slung back whiskey beneath a black hood. The constable stopped just beyond the circle of light cast by the lantern. They were close enough to hear the conversation by the fire.
“Are you certain you won’t miss this?” Audra reached behind Gerald and ran her hand across his shoulders.
“Why get our hands dirty if we have the money from the trust?” Gerald snorted. “There is no proof that my uncle put a stipulation on it. There is no evidence of the ward’s part in the will at all.” He wagged his head then chuckled. “If you could have seen Williams’s face. He thought he was safe after I forced him to give me the money. Did not see what was coming—” He sniffed. “He died quickly. Easy and quick.”
Bile filled Braham’s throat. The heartless words of a murderer rang in the air, and it was from the one person he could call family.
Alvin stood up. The constable straightened his shoulders, and the others stepped forward with Braham. They waited for the signal.
“Oh look,” Audra whined. “We’ve made Saint Alvin uncomfortable with all this talk. He only likes stealing the dead, not helping them along.” She giggled, and Gerald laughed.
The constable flicked his head, and they crept up behind Gerald and Audra, who were still sitting. Alvin slung the rest of his drink in the fire, just as planned. The flames swelled then smoked.
“Watch it, man,” Gerald reprimanded. “You’ll put it out.”
Tom lunged at Gerald and grabbed his arms. “What the—” He squirmed, trying to get free, but Tom was nearly twice his girth. He swiveled him around, revealing Gerald’s befuddled face.
Alvin held Audra in a full-on embrace from behind. She screeched and hollered. Braham did what he was supposed to and waited behind the constable with the ropes to tie their hands.
“I never had a good feeling about you.” Tom spoke through his teeth in Gerald’s ear. “Your uncle was right to choose Braham over you.”
Braham winced. The truth would hurt any son.
Gerald’s face flashed with fury. He flung himself about trying to get free. Constable James stopped him with a pistol inches from his face. “You have just confessed to murder, Mr. Bates,” he said, his hands shaking. “Tie him up, Braham.”
When Braham stepped forward, he could not help but look Gerald in the eyes. “What have you become?”
“You cannot speak to me that way.” Gerald glared. “What I provide is the chance of discovery. Doctors make the greatest strides with these goods. An entire medical society depends on me.”
Braham recalled the letter to Dr. Brown. He shook his head. “But to kill for it … to do what you have done. Your father would be—”
“My father, Braham. Remember, he was mine,” Gerald fumed. “A far nobler man than yours was.”
Braham would not retort, not now. Even if the cruelty his father endured was, in part, due to this monger of greed.
“I just wanted to do the job I was entrusted with by your father. We could have been friends.”
Gerald sneered. “Never. You are just a pathetic servant. You always will be.”
Braham tied Gerald’s wrists tightly. “I would rather be a servant than what you are. One day I pray that you will remember the footsteps you could have followed. And I hope that you get a second chance to deserve the title of Bates Jr.” He secured the knot and stepped back, begging God that he would never forget to keep his word and pray.
With a sigh, he walked over to tie Audra’s hands, but she hadn’t stopped struggling in Alvin’s firm embrace. She thrust her head back and hit Alvin in the face. He let go, grabbing his nose that gushed with blood. Audra ran toward their cart.
“Get her!” Constable James called out. Buck Walters took off after her, and Braham tossed the rope down and also tried to chase her down. A cry filled the night, and then another. His heart sped up as he realized it wasn’t Audra’s cry.
“Josie!”
The two women were on the crest of the hill. Audra had Josie by the hair, and Josie was trying to pull her down to the ground.
“Get off me,” Audra shouted. She whipped her arms up, and Josie lost her grip. With a vicious shove, Audra pushed Josie down the slope. Braham lunged forward, but Josie tumbled down into the darkness. Before Audra could run, Braham was close enough to grab her and pin her down.
“It is over, Audra.” Alvin came up and began to tie the rope around her wrists. “Go, Braham, check on Josephine.”
Braham’s chest constricted as he took careful steps, trying to make his way in the darkness. “Josie?” he called out.
He heard nothing.
Panic gripped him.
The moonlight brightened, and a few yards away, he saw her. She was crumpled in the same position he had found her in inside the trunk. When he turned her from the muddy earth, he noticed that a large rock jutted from the ground where her head had been. She appeared lifeless. “Josie,” he whispered, gently shaking her. Her temple gushed with blood. He hooked his arm under hers, and as he stood up he threaded his other arm beneath her legs and lifted her against his chest. “Please wake up, my sweet Josie.”
No matter how much he begged her to awake, though, she hardly moved. Her eyes remained closed, and her breathing was shallow. The moonlight’s cast on her skin heightened Braham’s worry—she was more a ghost than a girl. She seemed more dead than alive.
He swallowed hard, trying to steady his staggered breaths. “We need to go. She is badly injured,” he barked at the men who were loading Gerald in his own cart filled with evidence of his sick network. “Constable James, good luck in Boston. Alvin, drive us home.”
He took long strides to the cart, passing up Alvin as he dragged Audra over to the constable. Braham was done worrying about them. The only thing that mattered was getting Josie help. After all they had been through, what would he do if anything happened to Josie Clay?