Chapter Six

Fade to Black

Jordan let a slow, sly smile pull at the corner of her mouth. She'd felt the weight of his harsh judgment on her since he boarded, and for the first time in a long time, she had felt shame for the lifestyle she had chosen. Now, she had come to find that the square-jawed, clean-living detective was not only a cad but a hypocrite as well.

"I thought you Pinkerton men were supposed to be all decent, honest and upright, hand-selected by Mr. Pinkerton himself." She gave a sharp laugh. "Looks like one fell through the cracks."

She waited for him to defend himself, but his eyes were still cast down onto his feet. "You see now why she can't board." He tentatively raised his face to hers with a stern set to his jaw.

"Not a chance, Hoyt." She tossed her head back. "Like I said, I need the fare. And besides, I can't wait to meet Lu Seely."

"I'm in the middle of a murder investigation. You don't understand."

"Don't I?" She looked at him through narrowed eyes. "I think I understand all too well. The former Tallulah Simmons apparently comes from money back in Chicago. But I'm sure you already knew that," she jabbed at him. "They've paid good money for their darling's wedding trip. The finest stateroom on the Delta, champagne, a five course dinner every night. I can't afford to lose that fare. If I do, I might as well hand the deed to this boat over to J.D. Pollack right now, and that's exactly what he wants. I won't do that. Not ever. Do you understand?"

"She'll blow my cover."

"That, detective, is your problem. Not mine." Jordan unlatched the door and swung it wide open. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to dress so I can welcome our new passengers aboard."

He stood for a moment stubbornly holding her gaze, but he finally let out a small, unintelligible grumble of defeat and passed by her into the hallway.

"Well, well. Our Pinkerton man left a woman standing at the altar." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, and she gave a disapproving click of the tongue. "I suppose it just goes to show, Mr. Hoyt, appearances can be deceiving."

His first impulse was to skulk guiltily down the door and lick his wounds in his cabin, but he turned to look back at her before she went. There was a mixture of fear and determination in her eyes. This J.D. Pollack, whoever he was, had her running scared, but he had to admire her defiance in the face of it.

He turned squarely toward her. He wanted to take her shoulders in each of his hands, but he somehow dared not touch her. "Do you really think this Pollack is responsible for the murders on the river?"

"Yes. I know it. And it's because of me." There were tears hidden in her voice.

"All right. I think I have a plan, but I'll need your help. We'll talk tonight when it's safe. In the meantime, I'm asking you not to blow my cover with the Seelys."

She nodded once, and he heard her shut the door softly behind him as he headed down the hallway.

Thoughts of too many women ran through his brain. Natalie Thornton, the poor murdered girl; Jordan Cavanaugh, the infuriating owner of the boat; and now Lu. The memory of her stabbed at him.

He had somehow managed to wangle an invitation to some Chicago society party after he arrived from Lake Michigan, and he met her there. She was pretty and demure and passive. If there was something else lacking in her, a certain challenge, some indescribable pull, it seemed to matter little to him. She was all he ever wanted. Or thought he wanted, as it turned out.

After a proper courtship, she accepted the proposal of her tall, blue-eyed suitor, and her wealthy father had not objected. Mr. Simmons was a self-made man, and he could sense Woody's own confidence and keen ambition. Woody Hoyt had prospects, and he could make his only daughter a happy woman.

Prospects…a job with the new Pinkerton Agency and a ticket to New Orleans. It was all too alluring, thoughts of the city with its strange customs, free-flowing gin, and brothels packed with exotic, dark-skinned beauties.

There was a wild, new place for him to explore, without a home and a family to hold him back. As he dressed on the morning of his wedding, he felt like a man being led to the gallows, and he suddenly knew that he did not love his pretty, blonde fiancée.

His fingers fell away from the impossible cravat around his neck, and his hands hung limply at his side.

If you're a man, you'll go down to her house right now and tell her the wedding is off.

He turned away from his own gaze in the mirror and quickly changed into his traveling suit. He hurried to the train station with a suitcase in one hand and his ticket in the other. In the distance, he could hear the church bells peal in celebration of the wedding that would not be.

Standing here on the deck now, awaiting for Lu to board, he knew he had made the right decision. He didn't love her. He never had. Mr. Simmons' assessment of him had been correct. He was ambitious, too ambitious to be held down by any woman.

Which didn't entirely explain why he had felt such a sense of relief when Jordan Cavanaugh had told him there was nothing between her and the Englishman. She was beautiful, of course. But he knew he could never pin down this untamable woman even if he wanted to.

She had appeared now on the deck. She looked at him with a faint smile and said nothing, giving no hint of what they had spoken of a few hours earlier in her cabin. A carriage pulled up onto the dock, and the door swung open. He swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

It was her. She was all in pink and yellow, and her cheeks were flush with excitement. Her new husband was handsome in a sharp kind of way, and he seemed to wear a permanent sneer. He led her up the gangway to where the mistress of The Delta Marker waited for them.

"Welcome aboard, Mr. and Mrs. Seely. We've prepared the stateroom especially for you."

"We've heard about the death of the girl on board, but I'm relieved to hear that you've got a man in custody." Matt Seely interrupted her speech.

"Yes, an investigation is underway." Jordan shot a glance at Woody and quickly changed the subject. "I trust your journey with us will be a pleasurable one." She turned and gestured to Woody with a raised eyebrow. "Mrs. Seely, I believe you have already met Mr. Hoyt. He's traveling to New Orleans, too, and when he heard you were coming on board, he just had to come welcome you."

Woody watched as Lu turned her face to his and the color drained from her pink cheeks.

"You know this man?" Lu's new husband asked her.

Woody stuck out his hand, and Matt Seely took it. "Woody Hoyt. I…did some work for her father in Chicago a few years back."

Matt nodded benignly. There was no reason for him not to believe it, and Woody knew that Lu had never told her new husband about him.

"Now, if you let me show you to your room, Mr. Seely, I'm sure Mrs. Seely would like to catch up with her old friend." Woody shot a look at Jordan. Yes, she was enjoying his discomfort way too much.

"Yes, Matt," Lu said evenly without taking her eyes from Woody's. "Go on. I'll be along shortly. I'd like to hear where Mr. Hoyt has been all this time."

Matt shrugged, and Jordan led him away with a parting smirk at Woody over her shoulder.

"I'm still with the Pinkertons. The other passengers don't know I'm a detective," he said as soon as Jordan and Matt were out of earshot. "I need to ask you not to blow my cover."

Her big eyes widened even further. "Is that all you're going to say? After literally leaving me standing at the altar on our wedding day? No explanations? If I weren't a lady, I'd…" She balled up her fist but let the sentence trail off.

"Lu, I'm sorry…"

"Do you know what? I don't think I want to hear your explanations after all." She held up her hand, and he could see her wedding ring sparkle through her fingerless gloves. "I'm married now, Woody. I hope you've found what you were looking for, too."

She turned quickly from him and hurried to catch up with Jordan Cavanaugh and Matt Seely. No, he hadn't found what he was looking for. It occurred to him as he thought of everything she had told him in her cabin, that Jordan Cavanaugh hadn't found what she was looking for, either


Lu and Matt Seely strolled on the deck of The Delta Marker. The moonlight bounced off the river, and the heavy perfume of night blooming jasmine filled the air. She tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow, and they stopped for a moment at the rail to take it all in.

She was tired from the whirlwind of the last few weeks -- the engagement parties, the wedding – and she stood there with him in a companionable silence. It was more than just fatigue, she knew. She had been rattled by the appearance of Woody Hoyt on board. Matt knew her heart had been broken by another man, but his name had never been spoken. She couldn't imagine what her hot-tempered husband might do if he found out…

"Are you cold, Lu?" Matt asked her, and she realized she was shivering.

"A little. Could you go back to the cabin and get my wrap?"

Matt hesitated for a moment. "I don't like to leave you unchaperoned."

"I'll be perfectly safe here. They've caught the murderer. It was the drunkard captain. You said so yourself. Besides, you'll only be gone a minute."

He smiled and kissed her once before leaving. She closed her eyes and let the cool evening air blow against her upturned face. She could hear footsteps on the deck then.

It was Matt. She could sense him behind her, and she leaned back against him. She was about to turn to him when she opened her eyes to see an arm curling around her waist. No, not Matt. This wasn't the coat he was wearing. This wasn't him.

She started to scream, but there was something against her face, a rag. Her mouth and nose were filled with a thick, sickly-sweet smell, and everything went black.