Bret – The Peculiar Mr. Singer, Part II

"What happens when Singer finds out about the prison?" Bart asked once Pappy regained some composure. We were back in our sitting room by the time that happened and Pappy was only marginally less amused now than he'd been at dinner.

Pappy shrugged. "What can he do? Money's gone now."

"What about Langley?" I asked more concerned about him. Langley had already proven he'd act on emotion and impulse. What would the loss of that kind of money do to him? Especially since it didn't seem like the Mavericks were his favorite people.

Pappy erupted into gales of laughter again. "He'll do even less than Singer will."

"How can you be so sure?" Bart asked.

I was curious too. Pappy sounded absolutely confident neither one would be back. I would be the first to say chasing Pappy down again would be foolish and a waste of time, but then I wouldn't say that Langley or Singer was the brightest man I've ever encountered. I wouldn't put it past either one to try something when they found out about Pappy's con.

Pappy plopped down on the sofa and grinned at us. "For the simple reason young mister Langley already knows what Singer will soon discover about the money."

Bart and I looked at each other, then back at Pappy. "What?" Bart asked

"How?" I added.

"Because I told him."

Me and Bart exchanged another look. "You-you told him?" I asked in disbelief. Pappy nodded once. "When? Why? I mean what you do you mean you told him?"

Pappy chuckled again like he was enjoying a private joke and I guess he was; he was the only one who knew what was going on. He composed himself quickly this time, however. "Sit down, boys. You might as well get comfortable if you want the whole story. The real story."

"What do you mean by the real story?" Bart asked.

"About Langley."

"What you told us at dinner wasn't the real story?"

Pappy sighed. "Yes, but it wasn't quite complete. It was complete enough for Singer, but there is a little more to it."

I sat down beside Bart. "Like what?"

"Like Langley's a little smarter than you're both probably thinking he is."

I exchanged another look with my brother and I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. We were going to have to dig this out of pappy one piece at a time.

I sighed and leaned forward, propping my elbows on my knees. "Alright, Pappy, what do you know about Langley?"

That self-satisfied smirk of pappy's was well in place now. "Well, Elwood Singer may be a cad, but he's a good investigator. When he observed I was gettin' dogged by someone else, he started to inquire about Mr. Langley, thinking Langley might be someone who could help him with me. Or at the very least give him some information."

"And he was right," I said. "Wasn't he?"

"Not exactly. What Singer discovered was the late Mrs. Langley, Martin's mother, used to be Mrs. Wilkes. Martin and Tyler were only half brothers."

Bart shrugged. "What difference does that make?"

"It wouldn't necessarily make any difference, but Singer overestimated Langley's fraternal devotion. You see, Martin never met Tyler, and Tyler never knew about Martin. I told you Martin was just a little thing when I took that letter to his mama. He knew he had an older brother that had run off before he was born, and it seems he knew that brother died in prison, but that was about as far as it went."

I was starting to see what Pappy was saying. "So Martin wasn't looking for you?"

Pappy shook his head. "Nope. Our Mister Singer has a one track mind though. When he found out about the relationship between Martin and Wilkes and saw Martin following us around, he assumed Martin had intentionally sought me out."

"So Langley had nothing to do with any of this?" Bart asked.

"Not at first. It's like I told you, he and Olivia are engaged and the fight was real. Me being the one to step in and him being Tyler's brother was nothing more than a twist of fate. A happy twist of fate as far as Singer was concerned."

"So Singer got him mixed up in all this?" I was still confused as to what exactly had happened to get Langley involved.

"Precisely. Like I said, Singer assumed given how interested Martin was in us, that he had some reason for his interest."

"Besides Olivia you mean."

"Exactly. Singer just couldn't believe that all of us meeting was just coincidence, and was sure Martin had to be after the money too. He must have thought he'd found the perfect ally in Martin and apparently he asked Martin about it several times. Martin denied it all of course."

Bart seemed to think about that for a while before asking another question. "So how did Martin get involved with things here on the boat?"

Pappy grinned sneakily and chuckled again. "Well, I had a little something to do with that."

I matched Pappy's sneaky smile. "That's not at all surprising. So what did you tell him?"

"And how did you find out he was Wilkes brother?" Bart added. "Or did you know that from the beginning?"

Pappy shook his head. "Of course not. Granted, I never expected to see him again, certainly not here and under those circumstances, but his name meant nothing to me when I first heard it. It actually wasn't until I had my talk with Singer the other day that all the pieces came together. Singer seemed very proud of himself when he revealed that little bit of information."

"How sure are you Martin really wasn't following you though?" Bart piped up. "It does seem a little coincidental that Martin would just turn up here, that Olivia would get mixed up with you, and that Singer would be doggin' you too."

"I agree, and so did Singer apparently, but as I said before, it was nothing more than a twist of fate. Not to mention this would have all been a rather elaborate plot considering you boys and Olivia were involved, too."

What Pappy said was true, it would be elaborate if Martin and Singer had been in on all this together from the start, but was it any more unreasonable than thinking that this had all been happenstance? Besides, Bart and I have cooked up some pretty elaborate plans in the past ourselves. "How can you be so sure about Langley?"

"Because I asked him." Pappy held up a hand to stave off the questions me and Bart were both getting ready to ask. "I had a long chat with Mister Langley after my talk with Singer. As I said before, he's a little smarter than either one of you probably gives him credit for. Not that I blame either one of you given your experiences with him, but I think the boy finally has his head on straight."

"That still doesn't explain how Singer got mixed up with Langley again on this boat," I pointed out.

Pappy sighed. "Well, if the two of you would stop asking questions for a minute and let me finish my story you might understand."

Bart and I exchanged a look and I could tell Bart had to fight not to roll his eyes again. "Sorry, Pappy," I replied with a smirk. "You won't hear another word out of us until you're done."

"Bout time," Pappy muttered. He was quiet a minute like he couldn't remember exactly where in this crazy story he was.

I exchanged another look with Bart and Bart was the one smirking this time. "Langley wasn't looking for you," he said softly when the silence continued a few more beats.

"Thank you, Bartley," Pappy said shooting him a disgruntled look.

"You're welcome, Pappy," Bart answered with a grin.

"As I was saying," Pappy went on. "Langley wasn't looking for me. I asked him about that the morning him, me, and Olivia had our talk. Singer only assumed he would be looking to avenge his brother, but I don't think that ever crossed Martin's mind. Like I said, he never even met Tyler. In Martin's mind, Tyler was the wayward older brother that had very little to do with him. He did tell me Singer had approached him more than once, however, trying to make a deal with him. Of course, at the time, Martin was far more concerned with how I was involved with Olivia rather than Tyler and had no interest in anything Singer had to say. Well, after I talked to Singer that first day on the boat, he mentioned Martin was onboard. As far as Singer was concerned, that was just proof Martin really was after me and wanted the money all to himself. So, after I left Singer I went looking for Martin. We had a long talk about everything, and I finally told him about the letter."

Pappy stopped talking then, and after a long pause I decided to hazard a question. "How did he take the news?"

Pappy laughed again. "He found the whole thing rather amusing."

"Really?" Bart asked. "He didn't mind that all that money was gone for good?"

Pappy shook his head. "Not a bit. The Wilkes may not have had a lot, but money was the least of the Langley's worries." Pappy shrugged. "After that, I convinced him to play along with Singer. Told him I had a copy of the letter his mama had gotten and if Singer tried to make a deal with him again, he should accept it. I figured it'd get Singer off both our backs."

"And now that Singer's got the letter, he's gonna be in a big hurry to get to Dallas, all by himself so that he can collect both the money and the reward, and not give up any of it to you or Langley." Bart had a big smile on his face.

"Nice to know that my boys haven't lost their touch. It took y'all long enough to figure it out."

"You withheld about half of the facts, Pappy," I reminded him.

"Not exactly withheld," was Pappy's answer. "I couldn't take the chance that Singer'd find out somethin' I told you, so I had to keep what I knew to myself until the time was right."

"And now Singer will go tearin' off to Dallas, and Martin and Olivia will . . . "

"Will go on to San Antonio, where they'll be married by Olivia's brother, who's a priest there. As a matter of fact, we're all invited to the weddin' in three weeks."

"Are you serious?" Bart asked.

"Yes sir, I certainly am. Everybody's bruises should be healed by that time, and I told Martin we'd give it serious consideration."

Bart and me looked at each other, and both of us breathed a big sigh of relief. I can't imagine how dull our lives would have been if we'd have had anyone for a father besides Beauregard Jefferson Maverick.

The End