“The bank has big windows,” said Mrs. O’Neal. “With our luck he will be looking out of one just as we try to slip away.”
“Go out the back. I will bring the buggy around and you can ride out of here without him seeing.” Mabel took one last look at Albert and shook her head. “Man that fine-looking shouldn’t be so dirty on the inside.” She looked at Emily. “Get going out the back. Only take me a few minutes to pull around with that buggy. Waste of a day so far,” she muttered as she started toward the door. “You bought nothing and I didn’t get to shoot that man.”
Emily shook her head and looked at Mrs. O’Neal. “Mabel is a bit of an odd stick.”
“I know.” Mrs. O’Neal started for the back of the store. “Wanting us to pay for the window just ’cause she’d break it doing a kindness for us. Just trying to get someone to pay for the window that is already cracked, if you ask me.”
It was not just Mabel who was odd, Emily thought as she hurried after Mrs. O’Neal. They stepped out the back of the store onto a narrow landing and waited for Mabel. The woman drove the buggy around a moment later and stopped it right by the stairs leading down from the landing.
They climbed into the buggy and Mrs. O’Neal thanked Mabel, promising to get back to shop as soon as she was able, then snapped the reins and set off for home. Emily kept a close watch behind them until they were a good distance from the little town but no one followed. Although she did not feel particularly safe, she relaxed a little.
“No one chasing us?”
“No,” Emily answered. “It appears we got away without him seeing us.” She frowned as she thought on what she would tell Iain. “I suspect the MacEnroys will think I should have let Mabel shoot him.”
“Yup. She would have killed him too. Woman can shoot really well.”
“But it would have caused her trouble. He was just standing there and I suspect no one really knows what he has been up to. It would have looked as if she just picked some random fellow on the street and killed him.”
“Might have. Might not have. Never can tell with Mabel. She knows a lot of people and they’d listen to her. Don’t think anyone in the area would be willing to see her hang for shooting a man none of them know and who doesn’t live here. And the boys would’ve gone in and told everyone why he needed killing.”
Emily was beginning to think she should have let the woman kill Albert. It would have solved a lot of their troubles. It certainly would have ended the trouble she had brought to the MacEnroy house. She began to suspect she was about to get an earful from the MacEnroys when the story was told.
* * *
“Why the devil didnae ye let her shoot the fool?” demanded Iain as he filled his plate with food.
Emily sighed. They had waited until the evening meal to tell the brothers what had happened in town. She was surprised at how they had all stared at her as if she was mad or witless. Yet, she could not really say she would have acted differently.
“I rather thought that she could go to jail for it.”
“Nay.” Robbie shook his head. “We would have spoken up for her.”
Thinking of all seven brothers swearing to what a threat Albert was made her think that there had been little threat to Mabel. It all would have been cleared up quickly. She was not even certain there was any sheriff or constable in the town.
“Then I apologize. It appears I made an error in judgment.”
Iain almost winced. She was speaking in her very proper, very English tone, which meant she was upset. The more upset Emily got the more precise her accent, the more like gentry she sounded. He suddenly realized that the accent did not bother him as it once had, just the realization that she was upset.
“Weel, since ye saw him in town, it might be a good idea if we go and see what we can see. Might even find him”—he smiled coldly—“and have ourselves a little chat.”
“I can see how that might be a good idea but I can also see how it could get someone hurt or killed. Yes, I want the man gone, but I don’t want anyone hurt in the doing of it.”
“Weel, the fairies willnae come and whisk him away,” said Robbie, who then muttered a curse when Matthew smacked him on the back of the head. “Just pointing out that no matter how one would like it all to be so gentlemanly and no one hurt and all, there will have to be some fire and lightning. Always will be when dealing with a man like that.”
“I know,” Emily said, and sighed. “But one cannot help but wish for something better now and then.”
Mrs. O’Neal nodded but said, “You get a few more years on you, dearie, and you will see the better and nicer is one of those miracles that only comes once in a blue moon.”
“We will think on what needs doing and try to get ye one of those blue moon miracles but dinnae put too much hope on one,” said Iain.
“I will not.” She looked at Mrs. O’Neal and said, “I am sorry your day of shopping was ruined. I hope we can arrange so you have another day free to do it.”
“We will take them fishing again when ye decide ye want to go and it is safe,” said Iain. “Nay many days left for fishing unless ye wish to dress up like a bear to hold off the cold.”
“I will tell you when I am of a mood to go. Thank you,” said Mrs. O’Neal.
“So he is in the town. I have to wonder if he has been there all along or only just arrived because the men he hires keep failing.” Emily frowned. “I wonder how he knows that?”
