Jimmy tied his horse out of sight down the road, where he would likely not be seen if Jacoby came riding past before Jimmy could recover the mount. He hurried up to the gate and quickly looked it over. Two easy footholds and a handhold later and he was peeking over the top of the gate. A servant was leading Jacoby’s horse toward the stable and there was no one else in sight. He heard the door to the main house close, and assumed Jacoby had just entered.
Jimmy jumped down from the wall and hurried toward the house, keeping off the pathway and stooping low beside a line of decorative shrubbery. Reaching the house, he glanced about. He didn’t know where Jacob’s library was, save it was on the ground floor, and he knew that only because Dash had mentioned it.
Silently he cursed himself for not thinking of asking Dash if he knew. Ah well, he thought, preparation had never been his strong suit. Dash had the more devious mind.
He glanced into a few windows and saw no one moving. He at last found himself staring at a dim room in which only a pair of candles burned, but he could hear voices raised.
“Don’t come in here and demand anything of me, Timothy!”
Dash risked a better look and was rewarded by the sight of Timothy Jacoby leaning over a desk, knuckles hard against the surface, as he yelled at Jacob Estherbrook.
“I need gold!” shouted Jacoby. “Lots of it!”
Estherbrook waved his hand as if wafting away a bad smell. “And I’m supposed to give it to you?”
“A loan, then, damn it!”
“How much?” asked Estherbrook.
“I hold option orders for sixty thousand sovereigns, Jacob. If I can’t meet the order, I’m going to forfeit everything we own unless some grain comes on the market in the next three days.”
“You’re worth more than sixty thousand, Timothy, a great deal more.”
“It’s not the price!” Jacoby nearly shouted again. “It’s the penalty for the grain not delivered. By the gods, wheat is up to three silvers a bushel and rising! There is none to be had. Every miller in the Kingdom is in Krondor howling at the grain brokers. Someone has bought up all the contracts and there is none to be had.”
“What about all that cheap grain you have coming in from Kesh?” asked Estherbrook.
“We’re delivering that tomorrow, but that’s less than half the contracts we took. When I secured that grain, how was I to know that little insect and his partners would order up five times that amount? Instead of choking him on it, we’re making him wealthy. The market price has doubled over the option we’ve secured.”
Jacob pointed at Timothy. “You got greedy, which is bad. But you were stupid, which is worse. You let your distaste for Roo Avery color your judgment. And what’s more, you killed a completely innocent man for merely being his business partner. You’re the only man in Krondor who won’t be given a chance to negotiate his way out of this.”
“Innocent!” said Jacoby. “Ask my father about Helmut Grindle. He knew a man’s throat was below his chin and which side of a dagger had the edge. He just happened to be in the way. Avery has a knack of taking goods from me that are difficult to replace, and my customers for those goods are less than forgiving.”
“Running drugs for the Mockers, again, Tim?” The disgust in Estherbrook’s tone could not be hidden. “You made that bed, so lie in it alone.”
“Are you going to loan me the gold or not?” demanded Jacoby.
“How much?”
“If grain comes onto the market in the next two days, I can survive with sixty thousand gold sovereigns. That will bail out deWitt and the others who came along because I told them. If it doesn’t, you don’t have enough to save my company. DeWitt won’t be the only one fleeing the city to avoid prison.” He lowered his voice, and Jimmy could barely hear him as he warned, “But if I’m taken, Jacob, there are things I can tell the magistrate that might buy me a lighter sentence. I can take a few years in prison, Jacob, but you’re not a young man. Think on that.”
Estherbrook considered it. He looked out the window and Jimmy ducked out of sight. He heard footsteps approach and crouched as low into the shadows as he could, holding motionless. “I thought I saw something,” he heard Estherbrook say.
“You’re imagining things,” said Jacoby.
Jimmy heard the sound of a quill on parchment. “Here’s a letter to my accounts keeper,” said Estherbrook. “He will honor the letter. But be warned, I am going to hold your father responsible if you default, our old friendship not withstanding.”
“Thank you, Jacob,” said Timothy, and his tone was icy. Jimmy heard the door slam and was judging how best to time his move to the wall: Jacoby’s horse was in the stable and if he hurried, he might get to his own horse before Jacoby cleared the gate.