An Unsinkable Love

chapter 27


Fred Dunby turned away, his red hair hidden under the broad-brimmed derby hat. He reeled from the shock of seeing the man from the Titanic lifeboat sitting right there in the car as it passed. Luckily, DuMont had been focused on something in his lap and hadn't noticed Fred standing on the curb. The car stopped a block away. The big man exited and hurried down the alley as the car accelerated and disappeared around the corner. Fred set off after him, keeping a healthy distance.

He wasn't sure what good it would do to follow DuMont, but he figured the more he knew about the lying sneak, the better chance he'd eventually get what he deserved. The New York police had threatened to lock Fred up when he tried to tell them what really happened in the lifeboat. They might not have believed a lowly sailor, but they had passed his story on to the shipping line and he'd heard from some friends White Star was searching for him. If they got a hold of him, he'd likely face charges—bad ones—for stealing the lifeboat, and maybe murder if he couldn't convince some of his shipmates to come forward with the whole story.

Fred couldn't sleep anymore. Visions of Chief Steward Latimer's surprised expression as he slumped to the deck, his head with a neat little hole in it bouncing off the railings with a metallic clang, haunted him. The cries of children calling for their mothers, the thrashing of drowning passengers echoed in his ears, all while his own lifeboat bobbed safely along, nearly empty. He'd accept any punishment, so long as Mr.

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An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

High-and-Mighty DuMont got his as well. It wasn't right the man got off Scott-free just because he was a nob.

Fred followed the dark suit, stepping carefully so as not to alert his quarry. Eldon turned and sauntered up a few steps to a back stoop before knocking three times, then twice more, then a final time on the door of a big three-story house. It opened and he slipped inside. Fred couldn't see anything but shadows through the heavily curtained windows, but it seemed several people moved about. He looked around and found a corner behind some ash cans to hunker down and wait.

Once, a pretty young woman wearing naught but a silk wrapper came out the door with a box of trash. She walked toward him and he flattened himself in dust, and worse, as she deposited the trash in a dustbin. A short while later another man was admitted after he used the coded knock, then a different man came out. Fred thought about it, and decided the building was either a gambling hall or a whorehouse. Either way, if he played his cards right, he would find a way to make life miserable for the bastard.

The second schooner of beer he'd had for lunch was making him mighty uncomfortable an hour later when DuMont reappeared and headed back to the street where the fancy car waited.

Once it motored out of sight, Fred ambled out of the alley and sat on the stoop of an empty storefront, pondering his next step. He didn't need to follow the car. He'd already visited the rich estate where the man lived. It had cost him a pretty penny to get on the train in New York, but he hadn't 190

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

wanted to risk never finding the man again after seeing him in the station. After watching DuMont's party disembark in the hamlet of Linton, he made a beeline for the local pub. It only took a few beers and friendly conversation with the locals to find out who the man was and where he lived. It took him the better part of a day to walk to the house and back, after spending time scouting around for good places to spy on the occupants.

Fred made a mental note to find out exactly what went on in the house off the alley then slouched back to the dingy boarding house where he had a room. He would take his time and do this right. He wasn't likely to get another chance.

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191

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson