Clive Cussler - The Assassin

Dave McCoart shot a hole in that theory. “He wouldn’t think it long if the guy weren’t actively competing. He would want to know how his gun did.”

Bell opened his carpetbag. “What do you think of this one?”

McCoart weighed the parts in his big hands, examined them in the light, then screwed them together. “Nice. Very, very nice work. The barrel and chamber lock like they’re welded.”

“Recognize it?”

“No. Other than it narrows the field considerably. There aren’t that many smiths of this caliber. Like I said, an artist. Did you shoot it?”

“I hit a fence post at a quarter mile twice and winged it twice.”

“Could have been the wind. Could have been the loads. Could have been knocked around since it was last sighted in. Would you like me to bench-sight it?”

“And load me some cartridges.”

“Where’s the telescope?”

“It wasn’t on it.”

“Why do you suppose he left such a beautiful piece behind?”

“To throw me off the scent.”

“Saving money on the telescope. Good ones don’t come cheap.”

“Or,” said Bell, seeing another way to backtrack the assassin, “maybe the telescope is even rarer than the gun.”

“What are your prospects, Mr. Bell?” Bill Matters asked bluntly when Isaac Bell called at Matters’ Gramercy Park town house.

Bell reckoned he should not be surprised by how young, vigorous, and tough Edna and Nellie’s father was. “Hard as adamantine,” Spike Hopewell had dubbed him. “Choirboys don’t last in the oil business.”

Still, he had expected a smoother company man version of Spike Hopewell. Instead, he found a man fifteen years younger than Spike. He had a hard mouth, and harder eyes, and seemed inordinately protective of his accomplished, independent daughters.

“Father,” said Nellie before Bell could answer, “Mr. Bell just walked in the door,” and Edna, who had descended the stairs with Nellie and was now seated beside her on a green silk-covered settee that highlighted the color of their eyes, said, “This role of vigilant father, Father, does not become you.”

Matters did not smile. Nor would he be derailed. “I want to know what his prospects are if he’s calling on my daughters. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Edna started to protest.

Bell interrupted.

“Thank you, ladies. I will speak for myself. To answer your question, sir, I enjoyed steady advancement in the Van Dorn Detective Agency. Now I’m striking out on my own. I intend to start my own firm, and I will work hard to make a go of it.”

“How much will you earn?”

“Sufficient for my needs.”

“Sufficient to support a family?”

“Pregnancy,” said Nellie, “has not come under discussion. Yet.”

Matters glowered.

Edna said, “I believe that Mr. Bell is a Boston Bell, Father. The bankers. He does not need to ‘marry well.’”

“American States Bank? Is that true, Bell?”

Bell looked from Edna to Nellie and addressed his answer to their father’s questions to both of them. “I would rather marry happily than ‘well.’”

Bill Matters barked a laugh that did nothing to soften his eyes. “Hear! Hear! Well said! O.K., you won’t be a detective for long. Take over the bank when your old man retires.”

“I will remain a detective,” said Bell. He did not elaborate upon the deep contestation with his father on that issue, nor that his grandfather had interceded with a legacy that made him financially independent. Neither was Matters’ business, beautiful daughters notwithstanding.

“Have it your way. Sit down. Girls, let’s give Mr. Bell something to drink.”

Matters’ butler appeared in the doorway. The man wore a tailcoat and white gloves, and his face was remarkably smooth, but Bell pegged his stance and light-footed gait as that of an ex-prizefighter who had retired before he lost a match.

“What is it, Rivers?”

“Telephone, sir.”

Matters hurried off without a word. Edna rose. “I’ll leave you two to it.”

“Where are you going?” asked Nellie.

“Mr. Bell is calling on you, not me.”

“Don’t be absurd. He’s calling on both of us. Aren’t you?”

Isaac Bell said, “Considering we’ve dined together, traveled together, been set upon by drunks and shot at together, I feel less like a caller than an old friend catching up.”

“Do you want me to stay?” asked Edna.

“Of course,” Bell and Nellie chorused.

Edna was still hesitating when Bill Matters returned to the drawing room, his face set in a grave mask.

“What is it?” asked Edna, resuming her seat.

“Old Comstock died.”

“Another bites the dust,” said Nellie. “That’s two in a week.”

“You won’t mourn him, will you?” asked Edna.

“I won’t speak ill of the dead,” said Bill Matters. “But you know I won’t miss his badgering.” To Isaac Bell he explained, “Averell Comstock treated me like some sort of interloper. He made it hard to do business, and hard to advance in the firm.”

“What did he die of?”

“God knows. Even a simple cold will kill at his age… The upshot is, Mr. Bell, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in weeks to come.”

“How is that, sir?”

“That was Mr. Rockefeller on the telephone. With Comstock gone, the president has asked me to accompany him in his travels. He mentioned you will be his bodyguard.”

“You poor things,” said Nellie. “I would rather die than be stuck all summer in Cleveland. The heat! The humidity! The neighbors!”

“Mr. Rockefeller summers at his estate in Cleveland,” Edna explained to Bell.

Matters gave Bell a significant look. “I suspect we’ll create the impression he’s in Cleveland than range farther afield. Wouldn’t you say, Mr. Bell?”

“I cannot say, sir,” Bell replied stiffly. “As his bodyguard, if Mr. Rockefeller confided our destination, it would be indiscreet, not to mention reckless, to repeat to anyone where we are going.”

The First Regiment of Newark was billeted in a sturdy National Guard armory, four stories of slab-sided brick walls, relieved only slightly by rounded turrets, and crowned with a parapet. The sentries guarding the arched Jay Street portal remembered Billy Jones warmly but expressed bafflement when Isaac Bell asked why the champion marksman had deserted right after winning the President’s Medal.

“Happy guys don’t take French leave,” the corporal put it.

“Big fellow?” Bell asked.

“Skinny little guy,” said the private.

“Any guess where he lit out to?”

“No. No one figured him for lighting out. Kept to himself except for one pal, Nate Wildwood.”

“Is Nate around?” asked Bell.

“Nate got killed,” said the private.

“In the Spanish war?”

“Never made it to the war,” the corporal answered. “Poor Nate fell under a train. Before Billy lit out.”

“Really? Tell me something. How short was Billy?”

“I don’t know. Maybe five-three?”

“Little guy,” said the private. “Short.”

“What color was his hair?”

“Brown.”

“What color were his eyes?”

“Green.”

“Not really green,” said the corporal. “Gray-green.”

The private reconsidered. “Yeah, you could say gray-green. They got kind of dead colored, sometimes.”

“Dead?” scoffed the corporal. “What do you mean dead?”

“I mean dead . I was next to him on the firing line more than once. When he started shooting, his eyes looked dead.” The young soldier turned to Bell and explained earnestly, “What I mean is, after I saw that, I never wondered how Billy Jones could be such a great shot. It was like he could stop every thought in his brain when he pulled the trigger.”