Chapter Twenty-one

"You'll have to stay still," Rhett told her, in a low voice. "I know that's not a specialty of yours."

He had not wanted to bring her tonight, felt that there was too much danger. She had argued passionately in favor of it, however, and he allowed her to believe she had persuaded him. In reality, it had been young Wade who convinced him to bring Scarlett along.

"She's the catalyst for all of this, Uncle Rhett," Wade said."If we leave her behind, we'll have to worry that Ashley will find some way to get to her, whereas, if we keep her with us, we can protect her."

Reluctantly, Rhett had to admit that he was right. If he left Scarlett behind, he would be distracted the entire time, wondering if she was all right, if Ashley had figured out their plan and gone for her, instead.

So Scarlett was with him, hiding in a copse of trees from which they could see the front lawn, and beyond it, the door of the National Hotel. Rhett had taken a certain amount of malicious pleasure in acquiring for her a maids uniform, telling her that none of her fancy dresses were in the least suitable for covert activities. She had eyed the rough-woven dove-gray cotton with disfavor, but had agreed after giving him a suspicious look.

"I know I need to be quiet," she replied, her voice calm. "Believe it or not, Rhett, I want to help, not hinder."

Perhaps she really did understand, or perhaps she simply did not have time to grow bored. Ashley did not wait for more than half-an-hour after sunset before he showed up, driving a double buggy.

"Rhett," Scarlett hissed. "That's him. It has to be."

"How do you know?" he asked, looking at the buggy rolling up the paved driveway. The angle of the roof hid the driver's face from their view.

"Because that's my buggy," she told him. "It's the only one in Atlanta with yellow trim on the roof and wheels. Ashley must have needed a bigger buggy, or else he wanted one that no one associated with him. Either way, he's up to no good, I think we can count on it."

"I think you're probably right, Rhett agreed. He watched as the buggy passed the front doors and drove around the corner of the building. "Let's follow him," Rhett said, and the two began making their way around the hotel, staying within the shelter if the trees as much as possible.

When they rounded the corner of the building, the buggy stood empty beside the back door that led from the kitchens. The courtyard was only dimly lit be the barely risen moon, but Rhett could see that the buggy was empty. Quickly, they slipped into the barn, joining Wade A few seconds later, Jamie, whose job had been to follow Ashley, slipped into the darkened barn. "Was it him?" Rhett asked.

"Oh, yassuh, it wuz him, 'n' he tahked to ole Tim Johnson. He's a cooks helpuh heah, 'n' a mean 'un. The kine who'll do anythin fer money. Make me think he's got somethin' real bad in mind!"

"So let's watch him and see if we can figure it out," Rhett said. The four of them positioned themselves inside the darkened barn, watching for endless moments until the back door opened and Ashley and another man emerged. Between the two of them, they carried a heavy, rolled-up tarp, which they heaved into the back of the buggy. They stood beside the buggy for a moment, talking. Ashley seemed to be trying to persuade the other man to do something, and the other man kept shaking his head in refusal. After a few minutes, however, they seemed to come to an agreement, and both men went back inside.

Scarlett turned to Rhett; even as their eyes met, however, she could see that they were thinking the same thing. She had only a moment to savor the pleasure of working with someone whose mind functioned the same way hers did; then he gestured to Wade and they moved towards the back of the buggy. Jamie disappeared into the depths of the barn, returning after the briefest pause with a rolled-up tarp similar in size and color to the one Ashley had brought out of the hotel. They made the swap quickly and noiselessly, which was a good thing, for the men were barely back in hiding before Ashley once again emerged from the hotel. He glanced in the back of the buggy but everything must have looked fine to him, for he took up the reins, clucked to the horses, and was gone.

Once Wade and Jamie verified that Ashley had, indeed left the property, Scarlett stood watch at the barn doors while the others roughly unrolled the tarp. As they had expected, they found Rodney inside; from the strong smell of alcohol that emanated from him, he was quite intoxicated. No one in this group had any sympathy for him; he was certainly guilty of insulting Scarlett and assaulting Penny, even if nothing else. "See if you can wake him up," Rhett said, gesturing Wade to the water pump. Even a vigorous dousing in a horse trough and even more water dumped on his face failed to awaken Rodney, however.

After several minutes of applying cold water had yielded no results except for spluttering and incoherent mumbles, Wade said, "I wonder if he's been drugged? By something other than whiskey, I mean?"

"Where would Ashley have gotten any drugs?" Rhett asked.

"Tim Johnson could get 'em fer him," Jamie said. "He be a source fer one o' dem places dat don' care if de guls iz willin' or not. Dey uses drugs ta keep da guls quiet."

"Ah." Rhett looked disgusted. "Well, if that's the case, there probably isn't much we can do but wait for it to wear off. Wade, can you and Jamie get him into the hotel? Take him to my room," Rhett handed him the key. "It's number 215."

Wade nodded. "I don't foresee any problems there," he said quietly. "Are you going to take Mother back to Aunt Pittypat's?"

"Yes. Even in your company, it would cause too much gossip if she stayed the night in a hotel room."

"I think you're right about that," Wade said. "Hopefully, we'll get the evidence we need to be able to get rid of Ashley." Rhett noticed that Wade no longer said 'Uncle Ashley.' "Have you thought about what you'll do with him? Will he go to prison?"

"Does the thought worry you?"

"Not out of concern for him! But... there's Beau. He'll suffer the most, and that's not fair, when he didn't do anything wrong."

Rhett nodded. "Not only that, he saved my life last night,"Rhett said, stroking his mustache. "All right, when we have evidence against Ashley, we'll ask Beau what he wants us to do. Obviously, we can't allow Ashley to stay here, but maybe being exiled up north and forced to earn his own living would be enough of a punishment."

Wade nodded and smiled. "For Beau's sake, I'm glad," he said.

Scarlett agreed, when he told her as he was walking her home of the discussion he had just had with Wade. Her reluctance was almost palpable, but she nodded. "Beau is a good boy," she said, "and he's more important than Ashley, who won't have any power once we have evidence against him. He'll do anything not to have people know what he tried to do."

"I think you're right," he agreed as they climbed the porch steps. "Only a few more hours, and we'll be able to put this behind us, and concentrate on more important things." He flashed her a smile.

She nodded. "Yes. Like sleeping. And getting the girls from Tara. I miss them, and I'm sure they wondered why I didn't come get them today like I said I would."

"You did send a telegram to Will?"

"Yes. But I still won't be comfortable until I'm back with them," she admitted.

He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. "Tomorrow," he said, opening the door for her. "I'll take you myself, I promise."

The house was quiet as she went up the stairs to her room. She undressed quickly, grateful for the maid's costume designed to need no help to get in and out of. Then she sat in front of the mirror, brushing her hair, which was as long and lustrous as ever. She remembered how Rhett had enjoyed doing this, on their honeymoon in New Orléans so many years ago. She wondered if he would still think she looked pretty in her shimmy. Judging from his kisses the other night, she thought he probably would.

A breeze from the window blew across her shoulders, and she turned, frowning. She had closed the window when she came in, hadn't she?

A shadow detached itself from the curtains. "Hello, Scarlett," Ashley said.

Sorry this chapter is later than I thought it would be. I had more trouble deciding how to get from point A to point B than I thought I would, and then one thing after another came up to prevent me from actually getting it written. Hopefully the next chapter will go smoother, because I left Scarlett in a bit of trouble. Or, as I prefer to believe, Ashley is in trouble; he just doesn't know it yet.

Thank you for reading. I'd love reviews, if you feel inclined:).