The telegraph office was busy, but I stayed until the operator sent the message. I hoped Jake’s boyfriend would notify Charlie’s family.
“I think we better have a talk,” I told Eli when I was back on the sidewalk.
“I figured,” Eli said, gloomy all over. Men never look happy when you say that.
It was hard to find a place in the crowded town where we could have some privacy and shade. We went back to our hotel, though I had misgivings about being in a room with a bed and Eli when we needed to say things rather than do things.
But those things had to be said, no matter how much I enjoyed his company—which I did, especially when we were naked. I didn’t want us to be at the same cross-purposes we’d been at the last time we’d worked together.
Maybe we were already there.
As we went up the stairs to our room, I glanced over the bannister to see the waiter we’d had that morning and the night before. He was looking up at me curiously, and when he saw me looking back, he shot out of sight like a bullet. I wondered what was on his mind, but not for long. I had other fish to fry.
When the door was locked behind us, Eli pulled off his grigori vest and his hat, and I shed the shoes and stockings I’d hated all morning. I sat cross-legged on the bed while Eli took the easy chair. “Tell me how you came to be here,” I said. “You know why I’m here. And I swear you know everything I know.”
Eli took a deep breath, and he let his unhappiness show. “I am not in favor at the court anymore,” he said, as if he were confessing to torturing cats. “My father was a traitor. So no matter how faithful I have been, I’ve been regarded with doubt ever since the plot against the tsar was uncovered.”
“But the grand duke begged off, the guy your dad was backing as the next tsar, right? If the grand duke got pardoned, why didn’t his followers? And their families?” If you forgave the head of the snake, you had to forgive the body, too, seemed to me.
“The grand duke said he was ignorant of this plot to do away with Alexei. He wept with grief that he could be considered guilty, when he loved his nephew so much. My father could not have said that believably; there was too much proof against him. It was a relief to the tsar when Father didn’t have to go to trial, though his death was a great puzzle to everyone.”
Eli’s father had died in a little hotel in Segundo Mexia. Yep, that had been mysterious to everyone but me, Eli, and Eli’s younger brother Peter.
“Even though your father is dead, and he was the plotter, you and your family are in the doghouse?”
Eli looked confused.
“Your whole family is tainted?”
Eli nodded grimly. “Even after my service to my tsar. Even after I have had the privilege of tending to him personally when he was ill.”
“Your older brothers?” His half brothers. They’d had another mother.
“My oldest brother denounced my father, swore his loyalty to the rightful tsar, and gave the tsar an ancient icon, one we brought with us when we escaped, as earnest of his devotion.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I got the gist.
“Alexei has a son now, and he wants to protect that son’s path to the throne more than anything else. Nothing else is as important as that.”
I could see that other things were more important to Eli. I had a lot of other questions about his family and how they would manage, but it wasn’t the time. “I can tell your family’s in big trouble. And I’m sorry. Maybe everything depends on how you do here, huh? And what you have to do here is find the chest stolen from my crew and make sure it gets to the right people.” I paused. He nodded. “So what was in the chest?”
Eli hesitated. Finally, he said, “That is a long story. I want to tell you, and I will, but not at this moment. Too many lives are hanging on it. Let me think.”
I took a minute to recite the alphabet in my head. When I was able to speak without cursing, I said, “Take all the time you need. Who do you believe stole it?”
“First thought? Someone who had no idea what was inside. Someone who happened upon Jake, saw through the splintered crate to the carved chest, decided it was valuable… and saw Jake could not defend it.”
Eli had said that not like it was a thought, but like it was a hope. Whatever was in the chest was powerful. Eli very much hoped it was not in the hands of the enemy, whoever that enemy was.
“Jake would have been waiting for that to happen,” I said. “And he had his gun.”
Eli took a deep breath. “My next guess is that someone was searching through the wreck for the chest and spotted Jake with a likely looking crate. Approached him, maybe to ask if he needed help. That person killed him and took your cargo.”
“Do you know of anyone who would fit that bill?” I asked.
“There are many, many people here in Sally who would do that.”
“Eli, this is like Mexico all over again. You’ve hired me to help you and then not given me the information I need to do a good job. You better rethink this soon. Is there a third thought?”
Eli’s jaw was set hard. He stared at me as if he was trying to send his ideas into my head, because he didn’t want to say them out loud. “Yes,” he said. “My third thought is that the people for whom it was intended stole it, hoping they wouldn’t have to honor the agreement that…”
A knock at the door interrupted Eli. We’d both been concentrating on the conversation, keeping our voices low. I jumped. I’d been too intent.
I had a gun in my hand in a flash, and I nodded to Eli.
“Who is there?” Eli used a calm voice, though I saw his hands were spread and open. He was ready to use magic.
“I brought your drinks, Mr. Savarov.” The voice was a little familiar.
We hadn’t ordered any drinks.
“Leave them outside the door, please,” Eli said pleasantly.
“Sorry, can’t leave glasses on the floor,” said the voice. “Please, sir.”
If he hadn’t added the last two words, we would have told him to take the drinks back. But there was a desperate note when he’d said “please” that made me believe this man was afraid. I met Eli’s eyes and nodded. I got up from the bed and went silently to the door, stood to the left of it against the wall. Eli went to the door and opened it, stepping back quickly as he did.
The man outside was the waiter I’d noticed earlier. He’d served us at breakfast. He stepped into the room, his eyes going from side to side to find me, and when he did he had a gun at his head.
“God almighty, don’t kill me,” he said.
Eli shut the door behind him and took the tray with the two glasses from the man’s hands. He placed it carefully on the little table by the easy chair. “Now, why are you here with drinks we didn’t order?” he said.
“Tell her to put her gun down, please, sir,” the man said.
“My name is Eli Savarov, and this is Lizbeth Rose,” Eli told him. “What’s your name?”
“James Edward Johnson, sir.” The waiter took a deep breath, seemed a bit more composed now that he saw we weren’t going to kill him straightaway.
“You don’t have to call me ‘sir’ every time you speak to me,” Eli said. “What do you need to tell me?”