“That’s because he’s a spy, and a good one, at that.”
“I wish you’d quit defending him. I’d like to hog-tie him for all the grief he’s caused me.”
“How about we hog-tie Captain Holland instead? He’s the one who caused all the trouble.”
Never had truer words been spoken. This entire experience had been a lesson in humility. While she imagined herself a sophisticated woman with exceptional insight and access throughout Washington, she’d been duped not only by Captain Holland but by Philip the Meek as well.
“Hello, Philip,” she said with a tight smile as she waltzed into his cramped office an hour later.
He had the grace to look abashed, but only for a moment before greeting Luke with a back-pounding hug.
“Be careful not to break his ribs,” she pointed out. “He’s frail as a toothpick, thanks to you.”
Philip ignored her as he cleared a stack of books from achair and gestured for Luke to sit. “Tell me what you know,” he prompted, his genial face settling into a mask of concentration.
“Captain Holland is at the bottom of everything,” Luke said. “The main rebel leader in Cuba is a man named Mateo Ferraz. He thought I was just a rich American coming down to dabble in a little smuggling and revolutionary mischief. I smuggled his rum and cigars but never made much progress in winning his trust. Anyway, when I was arrested, Mateo’s name was among the rebels in my list of contacts, so he was rounded up too. We were all housed in the same Cuban jail.”
Understanding began to dawn, and Luke met her gaze with a nod. “Thatwas why I didn’t want to be transferred to an American prison. By staying close to Mateo, I knew I could eventually win his trust and figure out who was funding the insurgency from Washington. It took a while.”
It turned out that some of Mateo’s cousins had moved to America decades earlier, and one of them married into Captain Holland’s family. Mateo first met Captain Holland during a family holiday in Puerto Rico.
“They go fishing together every December,” Luke continued. “I guess it was enough for Holland to have a sense of Mateo’s political leanings. When Holland needed a man to keep the insurgency alive, he turned to Mateo.”
Caroline still didn’t understand. “Why would prolonging the war benefit Captain Holland?”
Luke was ready with an answer. “Holland signs off on the contracts for armaments and warfare, but not reconstruction. My guess is that he’s been skimming from that budget for a long time, and when the military budget skyrocketed, he was like a pig at the trough. He didn’t want it to end. When peace had been achieved, money for the war evaporated. He wanted to keep it stoked.”
It made Caroline feel nauseated. Captain Holland lived hiscozy life in Washington while ordinary soldiers bled and died in Cuba.
“Mateo and I were in separate cells, but we were let out in the yard for around an hour each day,” Luke continued. “He saw me sweating and suffering along with all the other rebels who’d been arrested, and that’s what eventually won his trust. He told me of his connection to a high-ranking American officer and wondered if it could help us get out of jail. I said it might, but only if he gave me the name. He eventually told me it was Captain Holland. He eventually told mea lotof things, which is how I knew about plans to blow up that road to Havana. Now we can arrest Holland and haul him into a court of law for sabotaging the war effort. He’s been funding the rebels with money and ammunition for two solid years.”
Philip shook his head. “Everything you’ve told me is hearsay, not even enough to get a search warrant. Captain Holland is one of the navy’s highest officers. He’s got powerful friends, and he outranks me.”
“He doesn’t outrank President Roosevelt,” Caroline said.
“We’re leaving the president out of this,” Philip said. “It doesn’t look good for him to have been dabbling in this, and we can do it without him. All we need to do is trick Holland into action, and it shouldn’t be hard.”
The plan Philip outlined was breathtakingly simple. They could manufacture a fraudulent telegram from Mateo to Captain Holland, claiming Mateo had escaped from prison, along with an offer to continue the rebellion. To raise the stakes, the telegram would report that Luke Delacroix was an American spy investigating military embezzlement, and he’d escaped the prison on the same night. It would force Holland into action. All they had to do was carefully monitor Captain Holland after receiving that telegram to see what he would do.
Luke’s smile was devilish. “I want to be in on the stakeout.Nothing would give me greater pleasure than hauling that man’s carcass into court.”
“Whoever is involved in the stakeout needs to blend in,” Philip said. “That means your hair has got to go.”
An expression of amused dismay crossed Luke’s face. “I like looking like a reprobate.”
“You don’t look like a reprobate, you look like a skeleton with hair,” Philip said. “Eat a decent meal, sit in the sun, and get a haircut. Then I’d be prepared to send you on—”
A knock on the door cut off their conversation. Luke shot out of his chair and pressed his back against the wall beside the door. No one knew he’d returned to Washington, and it was best to keep it that way. Philip crossed to the door and opened it. Caroline recognized Freddie Alden, one of the Secret Service agents who guarded the White House.
“You have been summoned to the Treasury Department,” Freddie said to Philip. Then he moved farther into the room and closed the door, revealing Luke hiding behind it. “You too.”
Luke gave his Cheshire cat’s smile. “Who wants to see us at Treasury?”
“John Wilkie. Chief of the Secret Service. He’s long suspected someone was running their own investigations out of this office.”
Luke swiveled an accusatory glance at her. “Is this Romeo’s doing?”
“I told you he planned to tell Wilkie. And I’m afraid he operates very much by the book. The only details I gave him were that you suspected corruption in the military and were working for the very best of people. And, Philip, I was being generous by characterizing you that way.”
