“No, it’s not.”
“Thank you for your concern, sir,” she said to Lester. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way.”
Lester moved back some more and Gideon gave him a hard stare as he allowed Elizabeth to step out into the flow of pedestrians in a hurry to get wherever they were going. Lester didn’t look the least bit contrite, though. What was he doing here at this time of day if he was working for Thornton? But Gideon didn’t have time to worry about Lester—or Thornton, either—just now.
He hurried to catch up to Elizabeth. “We need to cross the street here,” he said when they reached the corner. “The telegraph office is on the next block.”
She didn’t reply. She didn’t even glance at him. All the color had drained from her face, and regret stabbed at him. What had he been thinking? If he’d had any chance at all of winning her from David, that chance was gone now. The most he could hope for was preventing her from marrying David, and that would probably mean he’d never see her again.
They’d reached the telegraph office, and he hurried to grab the door handle before she could. He held it, preventing her from entering and forcing her to look at him.
“I’m sorry—”
“Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Bates. You may now be on your way.” Her gaze chilled him.
“Can you find your way back?”
“Yes. I paid particular attention this time. May I go inside now?”
He turned the knob and opened it. She went in without a backward glance, and he closed the door behind her. Left with no other choice, he headed down the street to the offices of Devoss and Van Aken.
? ? ?
Elizabeth needed a moment to compose herself before approaching the counter. What was she going to do about Gideon Bates? She’d thought he would mind his manners if she treated him with disdain, but she’d underestimated him. Her disdain only made him more interested in her. And how dare he try to ruin her engagement to David when that was what would save her very life? Gideon Bates was infuriating.
“Can I help you, miss?” the clerk asked, gazing at her from under his green eyeshade.
“I want to send a telegram.” She stepped up to the counter and took a blank form and pulled a pencil from the can. She scratched out the address of Dan the Dude’s Saloon and the message: “Cannot leave town. New plan. Meet at Cybils today eleven.”
“That’s exactly ten words,” the clerk said when he’d looked at her message.
She paid him and waited while he sent it.
By then she figured Gideon would be well away, and when she turned, she was not surprised to see Lester peering at her through the plate glass window.
She stepped outside.
“What do you think you’re trying to pull?” he demanded.
She gave him her haughtiest look. “Would you please explain to Thornton that an engaged woman cannot live in the same house as her fiancé, so I have gone to live with Mrs. Hazel Bates. This will in no way affect our arrangement.” She started to walk away, then stopped and turned back before he could recover his wits. “Also, do not be alarmed to see that I am going to visit Anna Vanderslice this morning. We are then going to visit friends in Greenwich Village, and I will return with her to have supper with her family.”
“How is that going to convince Vanderslice to help sell those rifles?”
“Is that your business?”
“No, but Thornton will ask,” he said with a grin.
“Vanderslice will be at his office all day, so I’ll be ingratiating myself with his family. Is that good enough?”
“I guess it’ll have to be.”
“Fine. Now if you give me a head start, I’ll try to make it easy for you to follow me back.”
She didn’t like the hard glitter in his little pig’s eyes, but she didn’t let it show. She took her time walking back to the Bateses’ house, pausing to look in shop windows on the way, just to annoy Lester. She wasn’t going to forget he was the one who would beat her if she failed. That was one reason she’d asked Gideon to go with her this morning. She certainly could have found the telegraph office herself, but after she’d moved into a completely different house, she didn’t want to explain it to whichever one of Thornton’s goons was on duty this morning until she was in a very public place.
Now she had to figure out how to deal with Anna and her inconvenient infatuation.
? ? ?
“I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who lived in this neighborhood,” Anna said when the taxicab had dropped them off in front of Cybil’s house in Greenwich Village.
It was a ramshackle place close to a hundred years old, and Elizabeth felt the sting of tears when she saw it. She couldn’t give in to emotion now, though. She took Anna’s arm. “Come on.”
Anna needed a tug to get her started up the walk. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“I told you, these people are good friends of mine.” More than friends, if the truth were known, but Anna was going to get enough truth of her own today. She didn’t need Elizabeth’s.
Ordinarily, Elizabeth would have just walked right in, but she didn’t want Anna to know exactly how familiar she was with this house. Cybil saved her the trouble of knocking, though. She threw open the door just as they reached the front stoop. The Old Man must have told her Elizabeth was coming.
Cybil stood half a head taller than Elizabeth, but she had the same auburn hair and bright blue eyes. Today she wore a red silk kimono over a pair of baggy black trousers gathered at the ankles. On her feet were peacock blue satin slippers. Elizabeth thought Anna’s eyes might pop right out of her head.
“Lizzie!” She threw her arms around Elizabeth, shocking Anna even more. Cybil started to say something else, but Elizabeth jerked her head toward Anna, silencing her. She took Anna in with one shrewd glance. “And who’s this now?”
“Cybil, this is my dearest friend, Anna Vanderslice.”
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Anna, but where would you be meeting somebody named Vanderslice, Lizzie?”
Elizabeth smiled with delight. “We met in jail.”
Cybil smiled back with delight. “Then you’d best come inside and tell me all about it.”
They took off their coats, and Cybil led them into the cluttered parlor, which was furnished with a collection of mismatched furniture chosen primarily for its ability to provide comfort or function, preferably both.
“Zelda, Lizzie’s here!” Cybil called, and in another moment, a tiny, blonde woman came bustling in. If Cybil was outrageously dressed, Zelda was as prim and proper as any lady Anna’s mother might have known. “And she’s brought a friend,” Cybil added in warning.
Zelda greeted Elizabeth with a kiss on both her cheeks. “I’ve just made some tea. I’ll bring it in and we’ll have a chat.”