Hey Folks! Here is the second chapter of this two chapter posting. Again I appreciate your continuing reading and support of this story. Please let me know what you think of so far. Summary: This chapter focuses on Thomas' predicament and what he is going through. However, we do tune back to America as Alexander is the one to find the "safety net" that William spoke of previously. The safety net always being a clue as to where Thomas' location may be in the event there is a tragedy concerning him. Once this safety net is discussed research is done and a plan in the preliminary stages formed. Alexander confirms without confirming with Oliver Fitzroy that he would do anything to help bring William's son home. All doesn't go as planned though when William goes to see Bochinko.
Honorable Mention
Chapter 16
Safety Net Revealed
Thomas suffering illness from being captive in a cold warehouse for almost two months, approached Madame Scarleterri on her throne. She was not royalty but she may as well have been by the way everybody bowed and scraped before her. Thomas determined to be defiant even if it killed him. He would show respect but not obsequiousness. Besides, she was a criminal of a large smuggling ring. The whole reason he was thrown in the cell was because his cover had been blown and his gun removed from his person as well as the knife he carried in his boot. Although Thomas Wellington is the same size as William, all things were equalized the minute Thomas was knocked out from behind with some blunt object.
"Well, Mr. Wellington, since that is your real name you will accompany us on the ship to pick up our diamonds. If you are a good boy, we will leave you there to your own survival. If you make trouble then you will be killed and dumped overboard," the large buxom olive skinned woman warned Thomas.
Thomas was about to be defiant when he warned himself to bide his time. He was a very smart detective and had had the ability to extricate himself from odd circumstances. As much as he was losing hope, he was still counting on someone finding his safety net hidden in his drawer at home.
Thomas rubbed his beard and asked, "Now I know you won't tell me, but I am assuming that we're going to Africa since that would serve the purpose of leaving me nowhere and no way of getting in touch with anyone. Also as fodder for the savages."
"Your very astute, Detective Wellington. I should have known you would deduct where the ship would be heading. You should consider yourself lucky. You could have suffered the same fate as your cohort or I would have killed you where you stand myself. I do not tolerate defiance and I am the only one who authorizes maximum punishment. However, I think you could serve another purpose for me if you continue to be a good boy."
Thomas remained silent which one of her henchmen did not like so he slapped him hard in the face where Thomas stood.
"Say, thank you, Yankee," Carlo menacingly stated.
He was about to hit him again because Thomas did not utter his gratitude when Madame Scarleterri shouted "No!"
"Carlo, take Thomas, tie him to a chair and help the men take care of the crates."
"Yes, Madame," Carlo bowed and hauled Thomas broad frame with him to the back of the warehouse.
On the same day, Alexander was retrieving a pair of socks from where his stepsister had placed them. The drawer did not exactly shut tightly flush with the edge of the chest of drawers. Being the detective he was, Alex ran his hand around the back of the chest after removing the drawer. He grabbed his small personal light from the top of the chest. Shining it in the space where the drawer would be normally, he noticed the edge of what looked like the corner of a folded piece of paper.
He reached in with two long fingers. The paper itself seemed stuck, so Alexander relieved the pressure against it by loosening the adjacent drawer. Alex retrieved the paper and pulled it out. He opened the small piece of folded yellow parchment and it had only one word printed on it. Not really knowing why his stepbrother was in Milan at this point, Alex went in search of his mother and stepfather.
Since it was early morning on a Friday, Eliza and William could be found on their third floor office adjacent to their bedroom. Eliza was rifling through files looking for a forensic report that she had received from a private doctor who had been employed by the client who cooperated with the Scarlet/Wellington Agency to provide answers as to what a substance was on the lapel of the jacket for the insurance company. The case concerned rightful inheritance of property. The case had become suspicious once this jacket had been found among the remaining possessions.
"Eliza, you're not going to find that report if you keep throwing papers all over the office," William said as he retrieved the fallen reports.
"Don't touch it! I know exactly where it is when I need to refer back to it," Eliza warned as she looked up at her husband.
"I thought you had gotten out of this habit of throwing files all over the place," William said coming up to Eliza's desk and placing the papers back on her desk despite her warning.
"William!"
"Eliza." He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head to calm her.
"What's up with you this morning?" William asked.
She slammed the papers down and went over to the tea tray next to the whiskey decanter and glasses and retrieved a cup of coffee that Mrs. Ryan had been nice enough to brew for the both of them and bring them up an entire carafe replete with cream and sugar.
"I'm sorry, William. I guess I'm just not myself today."
William came over and took her into his arms.
When they separated, Eliza asked, "Have you found this safety net that you say Thomas always has when he takes a complicated case?"
"No. I looked three times and I found nothing. I'm afraid we may only have the clues from his notebook to trace. We know he's in Milan, but we're stuck."
"We did check all the shipping schedules into and out of New York for the last two months and next month, correct?" Eliza asked. She took a sip of her coffee. She watched as William fixed his coffee placing cream and sugar in the cup and stirring.
Eliza reached up and gave William a kiss on his lips.
"I really like working together in our office. Did I happen to mention that?"
"Yes, but I always like to hear it anyway."
Eliza returned to her desk and spotted the forensics report that she was looking for earlier.
"Thank you darling. It seems you found the report I was looking for," Eliza said as she came over to his desk where he was now sitting and showed him the results.
"Blood,' William said and shook his head. "Was there any sign of foul play? I don't remember."
"I cannot remember either," Eliza responded. "Looks like we will need to go back."
"Is the house still open?"
"I can call Mrs. Handlon and see if she can let us in. I will let her know what forensics reported."
Eliza went to her desk to call their client for authorization to go back to the house when Alexander stepped into their office and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but I think I found the safety net that you have mentioned previously," Alex said handing the small piece of paper to William.
"Africa," William said. "It says Africa. Do you think that is the ultimate destination of a ship?"
Eliza said, "It has to be. It's a smuggling operation from the other information we gleaned from Thomas' notebook." She quickly ran back to her desk and quickly retrieved Thomas' notebook with her transcription of it. She kept it locked in the center drawer of her desk.
"Yes! That's it!" Eliza exclaims. "You found it Alexander! We now have definitive information about Thomas' possible location."
She had handed the papers to William who read them and then passed them onto Alexander. Meanwhile, Eliza returned to her desk and retrieved the shipping schedules she had copied. She studied them until she could find a schedule that would gel with a ship that was going from possibly Genoa to Africa.
Her finger speedily went down the list. Alexander and William had spotted it before Eliza had.
"There it is, Mama, '15th June 1913'."
"Leaves Genoa with one stop at Morrocco and landing in Port Nolloth, South Africa 15th July 1913," read William.
"I think we need to contact Thomas' captain and let him know our latest," William suggested.
"Bochinko said he would help us, but even if he contacts the government everything is still out of their jurisdiction until the boat would land in America," Eliza mentioned.
"True, but isn't it a better plan to intercept the boat at Morocco?" William responded.
Alex then volunteered. "We could use Commissioner Fitzroy's connections to the government in England. The Foreign Secretary is still his cousin."
"Do you think he could really help?" William wondered.
Alex gave William a most favorable look. "For your son, stepfather, he would do anything and everything."
"Let's send Oliver a cable then," Eliza said. "We shall go to Western Union office first and get the cable off to Oliver and then we'll support it with a letter just so he has all the information. Then we can hit the Handlon house so we can cover that investigation as well." She smiled at her son and her husband as if she had solved the world's problems all by herself.
"Love, Alex and you both go to Western Union and The Handlon House. I shall go to see Captain Bochinko and let him know what's happening," William suggested.
"Yes, of course, William," Eliza said. "Alex, come along then."
Alex said to William when his mother had left the room, "You're not going to challenge her?"
"This is Eliza Scarlet we're talking about, right?" William asked his stepson sarcastically.
"Yes, why?"
"I've learned, son, not to argue with her. She's always right, anyway." William raised his eyebrows at Alex.
They both laughed out loud.
Thomas was tied to a chair as the Scarleterri men filled wooden crates with large green leaves. Thomas observed that the crew lined the bottom of the empty crates with large thick green leaves as they would serve as a support to however the smuggled goods were being packed. He could not fathom how the diamonds and gems were to gathered and carried safely unless concealed inside fruit or tea leaves. The stop in Morocco may reveal more about what else was being retrieved from South Africa.
Having lost his American Government counterpart, Thomas was working without positive intel. He had thoroughly reviewed all the reports and mission papers the night before he and Eric Seeler set out. Thomas' retentive memory was amazing, but there was a reason why the American Spy was there. He obviously had carried information in his head that Thomas had no privilege of knowing. Congruently, the smugglers' received their own definitive information that the two new "employees" were actually American Detectives.
Thomas' partner was killed in a spectacular gunfight and his body disposed of. Madame Scarleterri had not approved of so much violence so she punished her own men and threw Thomas in a warehouse cell with little food and no warmth shackled to the wall as if he were a rabid animal. Thomas could only think that Scarleterri would think he would either reveal what he knew of the operation or would simply starve or waste away until death.
"Hey, Yankee, Madame has plans for you," laughed the big burly Italian man named Carlo who had beaten Thomas and thrown him physically into the cell.
"Keep this up. I won't live long enough to be a part," Thomas retorted. He did not want to show his fear. He was a brave young man having received two awards for bravery. His father was no longer Police Commissioner, so if Thomas came out alive on this one then it would show to some of the other men that he was really that brave and did not receive those awards because of nepotism.
He continued to watch the lining of the crates and finally asked what they were doing and why but was summarily told it was none of his business. Thomas observed where he was now while he maintained a mental calendar of what day it was. He calculated that it was either the 13th or 14th of June and the ship would be leaving for South Africa soon. He had actually spent the first night in a cheap but comfortable hotel room for which he was locked in until Carlo and the men assigned to his detail came for him. Thomas was at least allowed to eat and get better from the pneumonia like symptoms he had been suffering for the last month since his capture.
Somehow, it seemed that the large older dark-haired woman actually took a shine to the handsome young man. Thomas was tall and broad like his father. He was dark like both his parents, but his face was not as ruggedly handsome as his father's. Upon real examination one could observe Ellen's genetic influence in Thomas' softer jawline and his blue eyes were larger and different shaped than William's. However, when Thomas' face was fully bearded as it was now one could not really tell a difference between the father and son.
Thomas sat tied to the chair and observed all he could just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Meanwhile, back at home, Eliza and Alex's efforts in getting a cable out to Commissioner Oliver Fitzroy was successful. Eliza was writing the letter containing all the intelligence they had gleaned from Thomas' journal and the speculation that the ship was scheduled to leave from Genoa, Italy in a few days. This would at least provide a timeline for British Intelligence.
"This is a nice house. Was this office already built in here?," Alex asked out of the blue. He was carrying a cup of coffee in his hand and took a seat next to his mother's desk.
"No. This was William's first wife's bedroom. It's a long story and not mine to tell, so don't ask. Anyway, he allowed me to decorate this room however I desired."
Alex crossed his long legs and sipped his coffee.
"You've done a lovely job, mama," Alex said. "Did you receive a letter from Sophia yet? I know she misses you. She has Bertie's mother to help her, but it's not the same."
Eliza looked at her son and suddenly felt guilty for being so happy and leaving her stepdaughter in her condition.
"I did. I wrote back to her that you arrived safely and we celebrated my birthday and I promised her that I would probably visit her before the baby came."
"I have to congratulate Sophia on her knowledge," Alex said which brought a curious look from Eliza.
"On what?"
"On how happy you are with William. I totally didn't understand."
Eliza put her pen down and put her hand on top of her son's which lay on the desk between them.
"Now you do?" she asked.
Alex took another sip of his coffee finishing it.
"I think I'm beginning to."
Eliza smiled a brilliant smile.
Sometime later near five o'clock in the afternoon, William came into the office and found Eliza still working.
"Love," William said as he bent to kiss his wife hello. He sighed heavily and sat in the chair that Alex had vacated only a few hours before.
Eliza looked at her husband and watched as he pinched the bridge of his nose with forefinger and thumb. She patted his leg and he pulled her onto his lap. Eliza crawled up into him and put her head on his shoulder.
"You've been gone for quite some time, darling. I assume that Bochinko and the American Government want no more to do with finding Thomas or catching this smuggling outfit," Eliza softly said touching William to comfort him.
"Yes. You are correct as usual, love. Bochinko tried presenting the transcribed notes and confirming the schedule. They shut down because it's been a couple of months since their agent, Eric Seeler, had accompanied Thomas."
"Isn't that being rather reductive? Those jewels that are being smuggled will eventually be shipped in some way or form as imports to NYC's jewelers. I am sure that if they are smuggling from South Africa they are not just turning around to go back to Italy."
William raised his head and looked at Eliza.
"What? I am right."
"Yes, you are. We need to do a little reconnaissance of the major jewelers in New York or other major seaports. It reminds me of the time we were trying to identify who sent unset bombs to Nash, Moses, you, and me on that case all those years ago."
"Well, we will have to come up with another cover story. We're already married… wait! I've got just the cover story we can use."
William smiled because she was sparkling as she always did when she was working. He kissed her again as she departed from his lap.
"Ah, Mrs. Wellington, what have you got up your sleeve this time?"