Рита Браун - A Hiss Before Dying

The chatter intensified in the tavern. The murmur of voices floated into the kitchen. A good sign, always a good sign.

Then everything was quiet.

“Hmm.” Eudes opened the kitchen door slightly to behold Jeffrey Holloway handing Yancy Grant a letter.

Yancy, who had stood as Jeffrey approached, opened it with his unused dinner knife, read it, threw it on the table. “I am happy to oblige. Let us give ourselves a week to put our affairs in order. Best we do this back home.”

People figured out what was transpiring.

“I agree. I traveled here as I didn’t want this to take more time than necessary. I thought I’d find you here. But I request that you tell no one but your second, as I don’t want my wife troubled.”

“No one will know other than our seconds.” Yancy sat back down as Maureen, Sheba, and DoRe walked into the room to everyone’s amazement.

“I told you he’d be here.” Sheba gloated.

Maureen, eyes narrowed, rounded on her husband. “You beast!”

“I am here because I knew Mr. Grant would be here. Now you must leave.”

Georgina rushed from her office, where Lolly had sped to warn her.

“What is the meaning of this?” Georgina demanded.

Binky picked up a thin log from the fire stack just in case. If the antagonists didn’t explode, the boss might.

DoRe moved next to Binky. He didn’t say anything but Binky was aware of a large presence by his right elbow.

“I’ve come to fetch my husband and put an end to this foolishness.” Maureen threw her shoulders back.

“Mrs. Holloway, your husband has barged in here to offend Mr. Grant. I would be happy if you would remove him.”

Binky looked up at DoRe. “That’s Mrs. Holloway?”

“Yes,” DoRe replied.

Binky dropped the log, walked toward Maureen. “Your runaway is in the kitchen. You promised a one-hundred-dollar reward.”

“What?” Maureen was taken aback.

“The little tiny kitchen lady described on the bill. She’s in the kitchen.” Binky persisted.

Sheba whispered in her mistress’s ear, “The thieving bitch.”

“If you have my slave, I will demand compensation for the time lost!” Maureen shouted, furious.

“I do not have your slave.” Georgina was wise enough not to block Maureen, Sheba, and DoRe heading for the kitchen.

Eudes, hearing it all, stood in front of Mignon, holding a meat cleaver.

As the door pushed open he warned, “You come near her and I will kill you.”

“Mignon, you slut, working in a whorehouse,” Sheba crowed.

Binky, also now in the kitchen, in his mind was already spending the money.

Jeffrey pushed past Sheba, nearly throwing her on the floor. “That is not our servant!”

Mignon had put on a bit of weight, looking healthier than she ever had in her life.

“I ought to know my own kitchen help,” Maureen spit.

He grasped her elbow, drew his face close to hers. “My dear, she is close, very close, but you have suffered many shocks. Let us not add one more.” He spoke to Eudes. “We are mistaken. I am very sorry.”

Sheba screamed, “It’s the thief. I know it!”

Jeffrey turned to DoRe. “DoRe, you knew the little woman. Is this she?”

“No, Sir, but she could be her sister. This woman is a little taller, lighter in color.” DoRe stared at Mignon, who now stood beside Eudes, cleaver still in his hand.

Jeffrey then said to Georgina, “I apologize for all this. I had no idea my wife and her lady’s maid were following me along with our coachman. As for my challenge to Yancy Grant, I do not apologize for that. He grievously insulted me and brought misery to my wife. She has suffered much in the last year.” He drew Maureen closer to him. While stiff, she did not resist.

Georgina, business first, looked at Maureen. “Madam, I am sorry for your troubles. I want you to know your husband has only enjoyed food here with business interests. The men like to come, we serve the best food in Richmond. But he doesn’t even look at the women.”

Sheba’s face fell.

“Thank you.” Jeffrey then spoke to everyone, but mostly for Sheba’s benefit. “My wife has witnessed her first husband’s murder. She has been cruelly buffeted by fate. Anyone who adds to her worries, who preys on her as she recovers, will answer to me. And Sheba, if you are hoping that I die in that duel, I will not. I intend to live and to see my wife smile again.”

Jeffrey may not have had the best education, but he had a pretty good sense of what had been going on.

Maureen relaxed a bit, leaning on him.

DoRe stepped forward to open the door. They walked through the hushed tavern, out into the front yard.

Binky had signed his own death warrant, but he was too stupid to know it.

Georgina clapped her hands together in the kitchen. “Back to work. We’ve got a full house and they’re hungry. Binky, carry out the breads. Send Lolly in here. Let’s get what we can on the tables.” She looked at Eudes, shaking now, nodded her head, and left.

Once outside, Jeffrey said to DoRe, “Walk my wife away from here. This is highly irregular. I will be right back.”

“You aren’t going to fight with Yancy now, are you?” Maureen looked at him with doe eyes.

“Not here. But I do need to settle with the proprietress for the uproar we have caused.”

DoRe, Sheba trailing behind, walked Maureen out to the sidewalk and a few steps away from the house. “Mrs. Holloway, shall I call a coach?”

A beauty was clattering toward them.

“Yes, yes, do. See if we can hire it. I will pay well, extremely well. I want to fly out of the city.”

As DoRe negotiated with the driver of the coach, the owner inside, Jeffrey tiptoed into the tavern. He motioned for Lolly, putting butter on the tables.

“Will you please fetch Georgina?”

Within a minute, Georgina, a bit flushed, walked up.

“Mr. Holloway.”

He reached into his inside coat pocket, pulling out five hundred dollars. “I do hope this will repair the problems I have caused.”

She looked at this large sum. “You are most generous, Sir.”

“If you will allow me, I would like to make good the terror caused to that poor woman in your kitchen. And I would also like you to know I am sorry about the reward postings. I did that to please my wife but I was wrong.”

“Of course.” She led him to the door, opened it, and stepped back.

Eudes and Mignon, tearstained face, looked up at him, dumbfounded.

“I deeply regret how you have been disturbed. Please accept this and if you have worries about anyone trying to declare you slave, I will see that manumission papers find you. You will be free even though you were not on Big Rawly.” He looked her straight in the eye.

Mignon dropped her eyes, half curtseyed, then took the two hundred dollars.

Each knew the other knew. Each played their part. Jeffrey turned and left.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She handed the money to Eudes. “I don’t know anything about money. You take care of it.”

“I…” He thought for a moment. “I will.” Then he held her close, tears also running down his cheeks. “I will take care of the money. I will take care of you. No one will harm you. I will kill anyone who tries.”

She held him tight. “I think you would.” She released her grasp and smiled at him. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me. You just need to accept that you will be spending the rest of your life with me.”

The door opened, Lolly breezed in. “The animals are hungry!”

Outside, the owner of the coach, a fellow in his late fifties perhaps, beamed. He’d sold the coach, the harness, the horses, for two thousand dollars, a princely sum at an enormous profit.