“How long do you think it will take to escort her to Washington, DC, and then take her to Texas?” Alexei shelved another book.
Yuri shrugged, sliding the book in his own hand onto the shelf in the novel section. “It’s two weeks just to get to Washington. But hopefully once we’re there, the banking details will only take a day or two, and then we can board a train to Texas. So maybe a month, but possibly less.”
Alexei rubbed his jaw. “The moment the deed to the shipyard transfers, someone needs to be on-site in San Francisco.”
“I intend to run the shipyard like you said, but I won’t be able to get there by the beginning of March. But maybe Sacha is the best man to get things started. I know what a dry dock in need of repair looks like, but if you expect me to catalog the supplies needed to fix it, I’d get it wrong ten times over before I got it right. Sacha will know right away, and he’d be able to interview new workers and figure out who knows a thing or two about working on wooden ships.”
“Sacha has two adopted children and a baby on the way. I don’t want to uproot him from his family.”
“Then send everyone down there with him for a few weeks. Ainsley and Finnan will think of it as an adventure. And Maggie can still return here in plenty of time to have her baby.” Yuri slid yet another book onto the shelf.
“Maybe that will work.” Alexei gave a small nod, then turned to him rather than reaching for another book. “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I just received word from Jonas. He’s coming to Sitka with Kate and Nathan. There’s been an incident in Unalaska, and the judge, Marshal Hibbs, and Dr. Hollis are all headed there for an investigation and trial. Jonas will fill in for the Marshal while he’s gone, and Kate and Nathan will fill in for Dr. Hollis. Evelina is staying in Juneau to continue running the Indian school and trading post.”
“It will be nice to see everyone, plus we can give Jonas the seal-harvesting ledgers while we’re waiting for Secretary Gray to arrive. When is everyone supposed to get here?” Yuri bent down to retrieve another book, then paused. He was nearly to the bottom of another crate, but the books at the very bottom didn’t look like normal books. They looked like journals or ledgers, nearly identical to the ones Rosalind had given him two nights ago.
Alexei was busy giving him some kind of estimate about when the others would arrive, but Yuri nodded toward the crate. “Alexei...”
“Are those more ledgers?” Alexei crouched beside him, then picked up one of the books and opened it. “This one is for two summers ago.”
Yuri opened the other one. “So is this. It has more seal tallies.”
“And mine has the bribe amounts and dates.” Alexei rubbed his jaw. “She must not have had a way to get them to us directly, so she hid them here.”
“Or meant to give them to us and didn’t get the chance.” Yuri swallowed as he flipped through the ledger. “Do you think her father knows? Do you think that’s why she’s not here today? Because he found out what she did?”
Alexei just shook his head. “I don’t know, Yuri. I’m sorry.”
“Could we... That is... do you think it’s possible to...” Yuri licked his lips. “To send someone to check on her somehow?”
“And just how are we supposed to do that?”
“Perhaps someone can drop off donation forms from the library for Rosalind to fill out? I bet Caldwell will want credit for giving the library so many of his books, and we need an official way to track who gave what.”
Alexei blew out a breath. “We could probably send Bryony over. Caldwell might even let her talk to Rosalind for something like that.”
“I hope so.” He had to at least know she was safe—and that she was still planning to leave Sitka with him in a few more days.
25
“Rosalind?”
The door to the library creaked open, and Rosalind slammed the book she’d been holding shut, her heart hammering against her chest. Never mind that she wasn’t snooping on the bottom shelves any longer. She’d stopped that ten minutes or so ago, about the time she guessed her father and Leeland might want a break from whatever they’d been discussing in his study for most of the morning.
But the copy ofThe Last of the Mohicansstill felt like fire in her hands, and she couldn’t stop her heart from pounding against her ribs as Foster nudged the door open and poked his head inside the room.
“Ah, there you are. Your father needs you in his study.”
“He does? Are you sure?” Her heart hammered harder. What could he possibly need her for? Unless...
Her eyes drifted down to the three crates sitting on the floor, each one filled with books.
And each one concealing a set of ledgers at the very bottom.
“Are these crates ready for the library?” Foster asked, following her gaze. “I can have them loaded into the carriage if you’d like to drop them off after dinner.”
She swallowed. “Yes. Yes, they are. Please see that they’re loaded.”
“Very good, Miss Rosalind. I can take one of them now, unless you need me to escort you to your father’s study?” He headed toward where the crates sat beside the set of shelves she’d just finished sorting through.
