I frowned. “You already know you’d hurt her?”
He looked out the window as he pulled forward a little farther. “It’s not something I do on purpose. It comes with the job.”
“I know a lot of actors who have very happy relationships. Hurting people is not a by-product of acting.”
“I’m not talking—” He stumbled over his words, as if he hadn’t meant to say them, and finished weakly, “About acting.”
“Then what job are you talking about?” I frowned as I recalled his meetings at Sardi’s and on the gambling ship. “You’re working with George Cryer and Kent Parrot, aren’t you? That’s why you were with Mr. Cryer at Sardi’s that day and why we went to the gambling ship—and probably why we were in the speakeasy that evening.” I pulled back as far as I could in the car, the frown deepening. “That’s it, isn’t it? You came out here from Chicago. Do you work for Al Capone?” I whispered, my eyes widening. “Is that what you meant when you said you didn’t want to tell me how you got out of Chicago and into the movies?”
Spencer put his finger over my mouth to silence me.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ally.” His voice was serious as his brown eyes held mine captive. “You have bits and pieces to a puzzle, but you can’t see the full picture.”
He didn’t deny my charges.
The vehicle ahead of us pulled away from the curb, and it was our turn to get out.
“There’s no need to keep asking questions,” he said, “or talk about this again. Do you understand?”
I pressed my lips together as I nodded, not sure what else to do.
“The most important thing is that I will do everything I can to keep you safe,” he told me.
Again I nodded, but fear started to creep into my heart.
“I care about you and your family, Ally.” He watched me closely. “Everything else might be a lie, but that’s the truth.”
An attendant opened my door and offered me his hand to step out of the automobile as another took the keys from Spencer and drove the vehicle away to park it.
Spencer came around and offered his elbow, a smile on his handsome, familiar face.
No one would suspect him of anything.
And perhaps that was the whole point.
19
October 1, 1849
Middle Yuba River, California
My thoughts were on Spencer asSam and Imade our way down the mountain. Knowing thatSpencerwas a gangster out of Chicago changed everything I thought about him. Why had I not realized who he really was or what his meetings had been about? I felt foolish and naïve—and unwilling to go with him anywhere else that might compromise my safety or reputation. What would my parents do if they knew who he really was? Would they call off the agreement? I couldn’t let that happen this close to the end of filming, so I would still be obligated to spend five evenings a week with him. But those dates would be on my terms now, and more importantly, I wouldn’t let him hurt Vicky.
I had so many other questions and wanted to know how deep his involvement with the Chicago gangsters went. Had he come to California to be their liaison with Hollywood? Was he running alcohol illegally? Supplying the gambling ships?
“You’re deep in thought,” Sam said as we walked side by side down the trail, leading our pack mules by ropes.
Four hundred pounds of gold was a lot for the mules to carry, but we had separated it between the two animals, and Sam assuredme they could handle the weight. It meant that we couldn’t ride them back to Marysville. The trek through the Sierra Nevada Mountains had been arduous while riding the mules, but on foot, it was even worse. We tried to stick to an Indian trail. Unfortunately, in most places there was no predetermined path, and there were rocks, briars, and snakes to contend with.
“I have a lot on my mind.”
“From your other life or this one?”
“Both.”
He didn’t press for answers or demand that I explain. Instead, he walked silently beside me. I knew he’d listen if I wanted him to, but I wasn’t sure what I could say about Spencer. I didn’t want to let on that I had thought I had a crush on him—a word that didn’t even exist in that sense in 1849—or that Spencer had misled me and my family.
And I didn’t want to tell Sam about the kiss. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like I had betrayed him in some way.
