“He might be right about the eighty-four, but doesn’t matter. They’re just throwing numbers around to rattle us.”
“It’s workin’,” Alfred admitted. “’Sides that, though, Ora would be pleased as punch iffin’ I got ridda the monkey for a hundred big ones ’cause it’s always nickin’ her jewelry.”
“A hundredisa lot to ignore,” Thurman muttered before he glanced to the parrot on his shoulder then turned to Annaliese. “Would you be interested in buyin’ this parrot too?”
“That would depend on how much you want for it,” Annaliese returned, even though Seth had the sneaking suspicion that Annaliese would be leaving the fair with a monkeyanda parrot no matter how much Thurman wanted for it.
Thurman’s lips quirked, something that left him, not lookingfriendlier, but more on the terrifying side. “I like the ring of a hundred big ones as well.”
Annaliese rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you do, just as I used to like the idea of acquiring a unicorn, but alas, I’ve yet to procure one of those. I’ll give you ten dollars for it as I know for a fact that plume hunters are selling parrots on the open market for five dollars.”
It was rather concerning when Thurman took to smiling, his smile causing the scar that bisected his face to stand out in stark relief. “That’s what I bought this one for, but I have a feeling you’ll go as high as a hundred, ’specially after I tell you that if you don’t buy the parrot, I’ll just sell it back to a plume hunter.” His smile widened. “I’m sure you know what’ll happen to it from there.”
Countless emotions flickered over Annaliese’s face before she inclined her head. “I certainly don’t want to be responsible for the demise of your parrot, so I’ll raise my offer to—”
Before Annaliese could finish her sentence, the tent flap snapped open again, heralding the arrival of a man who looked more formidable than Thurman and whose entrance left the other men edging backward, a telling sign if there ever was one.
“Ah, Paulie,” Marvel began as he gave his paper collar a tug. “Wasn’t expecting a visit from you today.”
Paulie cocked a brow Marvel’s way. “I’m sure you weren’t since I told you I’d come collecting the money you owe me tomorrow, but...” He placed a hand over his heart. “I surely was wounded to hear that you found some plump pigeons to pluck and didn’t invite me, a man you owe money to, to participate in said plucking.”
“There’s, ah, no plucking going on,” Marvel hurried to say before he nodded to Annaliese. “Me and the boys were just doing some business with that woman. She wants to buy the monkey and parrot.”
“But I heard it mentioned, as I was lurking outside, thatyou’re entertaining members of the quality. Seems to me that you boys aren’t thinking grand enough because I know for fact that being quality means access to a lot of money.”
“If you heard that,” Marvel countered, “then you probably also heard that the odds are against us if we try anything underhanded.”
Paulie shrugged. “I ain’t worried about gettin’ arrested. I already had the good sense to arrange for a little disturbance far away from this tent that will keep all the policemen occupied for at least the next hour.”
Flick took that moment to straighten to his full height and step forward, puffing out his chest again. “If you think I’m going to stand by and watch you threaten these people, Paulie, you surely are mistaken. If you haven’t noticed, there are children here.”
“’Course I noticed the children,” Paulie said. “And after I did that noticin’, I realized they’re what’s going to motivate that man and woman to cooperate and give me money—and not a measly amount.” He nodded to Marvel. “I’m gonna need that rope you use in your act.”
Marvel blinked. “What for?”
“To tie everyone up.” He turned and settled his gaze on Norma Jean, who’d crossed her arms and was glaring at the man. “We’ll start with her ’cuz she looks like trouble.”
Seth’s fingers curled around the handle of the pistol Norma Jean had stashed in his pocket, but before he could pull it out, Annaliese dropped her reticule to the floor, bent over, fiddled with the folds of her skirt for some reason, the reason becoming clear when she straightened and aimed a small derringer Paulie’s way, one she’d evidently pulled from her stocking.
“Ah, would you look at that, the lady’s got teeth,” Paulie sneered as his attention settled on the derringer in her hand. “Don’t reckon you have the guts to pull the trigger, though.” With that, he began advancing Annaliese’s way, stopping in histracks a second later because Pippin, who’d been lying still as a fur collar around Annaliese’s neck, took that moment to stir. After unwrapping herself from Annaliese’s neck, she stood on her hind legs, her beady ferret eyes fixed on a man she undoubtedly saw as a threat to her mother.
Paulie, obviously unaware that ferrets could turn vicious, began to chuckle, his chuckles coming to a rapid end when Pippin suddenly launched herself through the air.
“Get the girls out of here!” Seth yelled to Flick as Pippin attached herself to Paulie’s face, earning a bellow of rage from a man who’d just learned the hard way how brutal ferrets could be when provoked.
Thankfully, Flick proved himself to be a man who didn’t hesitate when confronted with a dangerous situation because he grabbed hold of Velma and Coraline’s hands and pulled them out of the tent. Phoebe and Mabel followed directly behind them, their path unimpeded because Annaliese was now training her pistol on Thurman, who’d stopped in his tracks on his way to obviously interfere with Flick’s progress and was now holding his hands in the air.
Unfortunately, before Seth could breathe a sigh of relief that the girls were out of danger, he spotted Norma Jean, who was not heading after Flick but was rummaging around in her reticule instead.
“Norma Jean, get out of here!” Seth yelled.
Norma Jean, instead of bolting for the door, continued fiddling for a second before she withdrew an object from her bag that was oblong, four inches in length, and attached to what had at one time been the shaft of an arrow.
“Let’s see how you like this!” Norma Jean yelled before she lobbed what was a prototype of an invention he’d been working on through the air—a prototype he’d named a percussive smoke grenade.
Before he could do more than grab hold of Annaliese andyank her out of the direct path of the smoke grenade, there was a resounding boom paired with a white flash before smoke began filling the tent. Directly after the flash, the monkey began shrieking, the parrot squawking, and then Thurman was charging for the exit, plowing over Seth as he thundered past, which resulted in Seth plummeting to the ground, taking Annaliese with him.
Six
