“Maybe I was just missin’ the place and wanted to come back and mosey around the great hall.”
“And you also wanted to don a suit of armor because, what? You made a habit of doing that when you worked for the captain?”
Blackeye Bailey nodded. “All of Captain Harvey’s staff liked wearing the armor. We found it amusing.”
Drusilla wrinkled her nose. “I don’t buy that, so how about you try again, and the truth this time, if you please.”
“That was the truth.”
She took a second to pull her pistol out of her pocket, which had the immediate result of his gaze locking onto it. “While I might believe men would take to dressing in armor once their workday was through, perhaps to engage in mock battles, you and I both know that’s not why you donned armor tonight, nor did you do it because you were feeling nostalgic.”
A bead of sweat began trailing from his forehead and down the side of his face. “There ain’t no reason for you to keep that pistol out because I have no desire to suffer a bullet. How about I just tell you that I work for someone who has their eye on this property. I was asked by that someone to do what I could to encourage you to go on back to where you came from.”
“May I assume this isn’t your first time wandering around this castle impersonating a knight? And no, I’m not talking about when you were still working for Captain Harvey.”
“Could be I’ve put on a suit of armor once after I left Captain Harvey’s employ.”
“When you were asked to scare my aunt’s staff away a year and a half ago?”
“That would be the time,” he muttered.
Drusilla shifted the pistol to her other hand as she tried to get her thoughts in order before she frowned. “Have you been working with Norbert to continue making it appear that the castle is haunted?”
He blinked, blinked again, then gave a shrug, although it wasn’t much of a shrug since his hands were tied behind his back. “I ain’t no snitch.”
“I’ll take that as a yes, but who are you and Norbert working for?”
“I ain’t gonna snitch about that either.”
Realizing she was getting nowhere, she decided a change oftactics was in order. “Why didn’t you and Norbert continue on in Captain Harvey’s employ when he headed for warmer shores?”
“I have family in this area.” He smiled, revealing a few missing teeth. “Besides that, me and Norbert decided, since Captain Harvey was going off to Florida, we’d miss the snow.”
“Because pirates have such a fondness for snow.”
“I never said nothin’ about me being a pirate.”
“With a name like Blackeye Bailey, you didn’t need to, but speaking of names, I doubt that’s really yours.”
“’Course it is.”
“No, it’s not, and I know this because Norbert told me that everyone who was a longtime employee of Captain Harvey left Chicago with him, save one man—Sneaky Pete Smythe, to be exact.”
It wasn’t much of a stretch to realize she was on the right track about him being Sneaky Pete when he took a marked interest in the new chandelier Rhenick’s crew had recently hung in the great hall.
“May I suggest,” she began, “since we’ve established your true identity, that we turn once again to the person who hired you?”
Sneaky Pete’s lips thinned. “I don’t see how telling you that would benefit me at all, and again, I ain’t no snitch.”
“But itwouldbenefit you because, if you were to cooperate, I might feel compelled to make certain my sister keeps a tight hold on Fidget instead of encouraging her to set the ferret down and aim her in your direction.”
Thirty-Two
Sneaky Pete’s forehead immediately took to perspiring more than ever. “I wouldn’t think a lady keen on opening a school to teach proper manners would stoop to threatening a man with what sounds like torture techniques since that’s hardly fitting behavior for a lady who’s supposed to be all prim and proper.”
Drusilla gave a wave of her hand. “I’m sure you’d love if I’d invite you to enjoy a cup of tea instead of setting ferrets on you, but having been woken from a sound sleep to discover a suit of armor strolling about has left me with little desire to cling to the proprieties right now. With that said, if you don’t want to suffer a round of torture, I suggest you start talking, and start by telling me who sent you.”
Sneaky Pete glared at her for a long moment before he swung his attention to Annaliese, who gave Fidget a bit of a tickle before sending Sneaky Pete a wink.
