The Devil's Teeth (Ravenwood Mysteries #5) Page 12

  Tobias stared at her. No doubt he was contemplating her sanity. But at least Sarah felt better. "Someone?"

  Caught in a corner, Sarah said the first thing that came to mind. "Is Jin in your fort?"

  Tobias rolled his eyes. "Why'd she get so angry?" he asked.

  "How the blazes should I know? Does Jin need an excuse to get angry?"

  The use of 'blazes' made Sarah feel better. The near curse was proof she was beyond furious.

  "Pretty sure she's a wildcat," Tobias said to the floor. "Maybe she's rubbed off on you and that's why you're so ornery."

  "Did you just learn the word 'ornery'?"

  He scowled, and turned to his work. She watched him struggling with dustpan and broom. Tobias was small and hadn't yet mastered the one-handed sweep into the bin. She finally gave in, and stood to help him.

  "Jin's not in my shack. Do you think she ran away for good this time?"

  "I don't care," Sarah said.

  Tobias thrust his hands in his pocket, and nudged the dustpan with a toe.

  "What?" she asked.

  He shrugged. "We could go look for her. That way you can say you're sorry."

  "She ripped up my drawing!"

  "It's just paper."

  "It is not. I promised my Gramma I'd fill every page." Tears stung her cheeks. It wasn't the sketchbook her Gramma had given her—that had burned—but the promise was still there. And now she'd never keep it.

  "Gawd almighty, don't start crying."

  Tobias’s plea only made it worse. Sarah dropped the broom and hurried to the water closet. Cool water helped the tears, but not the twisted feeling deep in her gut. She glanced at herself in the mirror, and nearly cried all over again. Puffy-eyed and bruised, she looked horrible.

  "You done yet?" Tobias called through the door.

  His question sparked anger. She wrenched the door open. Tobias sat on the floor, playing Jacks. "We could do something…" He let the suggestion hang in the air as he tossed up a wooden ball and snatched at the jacks.

  Sarah crossed her arms. "What?"

  "We could go to the drugstore on California."

  "If you say anything more about women issues, I'll wallop you like I did Jin."

  Tobias looked up at her with large dark eyes. The wooden ball hit the floor and rolled against a wall. He was as innocent as a boy of eight could look. Angelic even. "Remember Mr. Strata…" He scowled, stumbling over the name. "Mr. Nicholas? The odd man who thought someone was watching him."

  "Of course I remember him," Sarah said. "I felt sorry for him."

  "Exactly. You heard Mr. A.J.—he's too busy. And what with him now lookin' for Jin, he's even more busy. Your fight likely ruined his plans, so to help Mr. A.J. and Mr. Nicholas, we can poke around a bit. See what needs seeing."

  Sarah and Jin had ruined his plans. He had gone out looking for Jin and never returned. The three of them were supposed to be on a train to Bright Waters. "No. We have chores," she said.

  "I figure Mr. A.J. is angry with you."

  She bit her lip. It was true. That's where all the tangled mess in her stomach was coming from. After he found Jin, he'd likely tell Isobel what Sarah did, and they'd decide to give her to an orphanage after all. It only took an itty-bitty signature on some stupid piece of paper to get rid of a child.

  "Way I figure it," Tobias continued. "If you prove useful, he won't be so angry with you. This way you'll make up for all the trouble you went and caused."

  Sarah narrowed her eyes. Tobias White was eight. What did he know?

  "Or… you can stay and do the chores. Just remember how pleased Miss Isobel and Mr. A.J. was when I went and rescued Jin." Tobias jutted out his chin with pride. His ma had baked him a whole pie after the ordeal, and Mr. Riot had taken him to that fancy tailor Stead and Peel to get fitted for two new suits. Jin had stolen one, but that was beside the point. The more Sarah considered his proposal, the more reasonable it sounded.

  Tobias White and Sarah Byrne licked honey from their fingers. The children sat on the back of a delivery wagon with a busted spoke. Their eyes were fixed on a storefront. Detecting was hard work, and the California Market behind them was difficult to ignore. Hundreds of stalls and carts bursting with delicious temptations.

  Tobias wiped his hands on his trousers. "That doesn't look like a place that'll tolerate my color. I think you should go inside."

  "This was your idea," Sarah argued. "And besides, there's no sign."

  "There's no signs most places in the City. But there's signs all the same."

  Sarah frowned. "How come they just don't put 'No Negroes' on the storefront? I've seen 'No Chinese' signs."

  Tobias shrugged. "It's not polite, I suppose."

  "Don't know till you try."

  "You go," Tobias said. "I'll stay and watch for trouble."

  "What sort of trouble are we going to find in a drugstore?"

  Tobias had no answer.

  Sarah snatched his hand, and yanked him off the wagon. "Scaredy cat."

  "Am not."

  "Then come on."

  The pair maneuvered around a grocer's cart, waited for a cable car to pass, and darted in front of a hack to the other side of the street. Sarah pulled him into Joy's Drugstore.

  The bell dinged, and a man in a clean apron looked up from behind the counter. At the man's scowl, Tobias shrank two inches, and stepped behind Sarah. She jutted out her chin, sniffed at the man, and pulled Tobias over to a display of hand lotions.

  A second aproned man appeared behind the barrels. The badge on his shirt said Edwin Joy. "Can I help you, Miss?"

  "Huh." Sarah's mind went blank.

  "She needs something for her face." Tobias pointed at the bruising.

  "My sister punched me," Sarah said.

  Mr. Joy's brows shot up.

  "She tripped," Tobias corrected.

  "After my sister punched me," Sarah explained.

  "Perhaps some tincture of arnica for your bruises, and powdered alum in case your nose starts to bleed again."

  Sarah nodded, but even that hurt.

  The druggist glanced at Tobias, and back to her. "Do you have an account with us?"

  "Her mother is coming in. She's looking at hats." Tobias pointed across the street.

  "I see."

  "I have my own money." Sarah wouldn't lie—not like Tobias. But maybe a small one wouldn't hurt. "There was another druggist here. An acquaintance—Mr. Stratigareas. Is he in today?"

  "We call him Mr. Nicholas here. He's working in the back. Shall I have him come out?"

  "No, that's all right." Sarah glanced at Tobias, but the boy shrugged. He was no help at all. That thought jogged another loose. Mr. Nicholas hadn't wanted to give out his address. "Erm, I was going to send him a thank you gift—for helping me with something." She blushed. "But my mother lost his address. You don't know where he lives do you?"

  Mr. Joy stared down at her. Sarah smiled and fluttered her lashes, tilting her head just so. For a man named "Joy" he was not very joyful.

  "You could ask him yourself."

  "I wanted it to be a surprise."

  "He lives on Leavenworth Street. A few blocks from the University Club. I don't know the number, however."

  "That's wonderful!" Sarah caught herself. It was far too much excitement for such a mundane answer. But maybe she'd make a detective after all. Was everything this easy? Before the druggist became suspicious, she turned to flee, but Tobias was nowhere in sight. Not wanting to draw attention to his mysterious disappearance, she walked up to the counter. Mr. Joy gathered the recommended items, and she paid her money.

  When she pushed her coins across the counter, she glanced out the window. The glass was tinted, figures obscured behind the bold lettering. "Does Mr. Nicholas close the shop?"

  "Every evening, except on Sundays. We're not open." Mr. Joy smiled at her.

  "Does he work the counter?"

  "You're certainly curious about him. I hope his dealings with you have been r
espectable?"

  "Oh, yes, of course."

  Mr. Joy's eyes narrowed behind his pince-nez. She had roused suspicion. To quench it, she added, "I'm only asking in case my mother would like to speak with him."

  The bell saved her. Mr. Joy turned to the next customer. From the corner of her eye, Sarah saw a glint of silver. She nearly fell over. A gentleman dressed for death had walked into the drugstore. Her eyes traveled from his polished shoes, pin-striped trousers, and gentleman's walking stick to the snowy collar that only Miss Lily could manage. She grabbed her things and bolted behind a display of ointments.

  "What can I do for you, sir?" Mr. Joy asked.

  "A little something for the weekend," Atticus Riot murmured, taking out his billfold.

  Mr. Joy reached under the counter and slid a small paper package across. Package and billfold disappeared into Riot's breast pocket. He tipped his hat, and inclined his head towards the window. "Why the tint?"

  Mr. Joy glanced at the window in surprise. It was something so familiar that it had been forgotten.

  Mr. Joy dredged up an answer. "Discretion is a druggist's bread and butter."

  Riot swept a casual gaze over the store. He tipped his hat to the man, and left. Sarah remembered to breathe, and even Mr. Joy seemed to relax. She counted to thirty, and then darted from the drugstore.

  The crowd in the market comforted her. She attached herself to two ladies in fine dresses, walking along like she belonged with the pair. It took them a full minute to notice her. They gasped at her bruises, but before they could inquire after her health, or shout at her to leave, she hurried across the street, and sat by a lamppost in front of an oyster booth. Where had Tobias gone?

  Sarah chewed on her nails as she waited, her eyes on the storefront across the way. Twenty minutes passed, and she realized she had ruined her nails. What was she going to do?

  But before she had to answer that, Tobias appeared. He strolled from a narrow lane beside a block of stores, pulled his cap low, and darted across the street.

  "Where were you?" she hissed when he plopped down beside her.

  "In the drugstore."

  "I didn't see you. You just disappeared."

  "I needed a distraction. You did good," Tobias said.

  "A distraction for what?"

  Tobias screwed up his face. "I needed to see if Mr. Nicholas was really in the backroom."

  Sarah blinked at him.

  "You should use that tincture you bought. It might help you not look so bad."

  Heat rose in her cheeks. "You should have told me. I was worried about you! I told more lies in one day than I did my entire life. My gramma is gonna skin me alive."

  "Your gramma is dead. How's she gonna skin you?"

  "The second I get up to heaven she'll kick me right back out."

  Tobias made a face. "Don't worry. My Ma will let you back in."

  "I don't think your Ma has much say in the matter."

  "'Course she does. She's always telling me that the Lord is with her. That makes them friends."

  Sarah sighed. What did an eight-year-old know? She fished inside her handbag for the tincture, and dabbed it on. Checking her hand mirror, she frowned. It seemed to hide the bruising more than help it. "Was Mr. Nicholas inside?"

  "Yes. I'm never going to be a druggist. Boring job. He just weighs powders and mixes things, and counts pills. The man is all squinty and hunched up. Then he slaps a label on the package, and turns to the next bit. I got stuck under a table, hiding."

  "You could have been arrested."

  Tobias shrugged. "I suppose. But Miss Isobel gets herself arrested all the time, and she's all right."

  A throat cleared nearby. Sarah glanced at the men in front of the oyster booth. She lowered her voice. "How'd you get out?"

  "I climbed through a window as soon as he went up front." Tobias dusted off his trousers with his cap. "Glad I didn't wear my new suit."

  "While you were hiding, Mr. Riot came into the store."

  Tobias choked in surprise. "Did he see you?"

  "I don't think so," Sarah said. "He just bought something for the weekend, asked about the tint to the window, and left."

  "Not much gets past Mr. A.J.”

  "That's very perceptive of you," a voice drawled over their heads. The children froze, both hoping the voice would go away. Tobias's eyes slid over to Sarah, asking the same silent question her eyes were asking him: Did you hear that?

  Sarah swallowed, and started to turn around, but the voice stopped her. "Don't look at me," Riot warned. "You'll ruin your cover."

  She finally located the voice. In her peripheral vision, she noticed a man on the other side of a lamppost reading a newspaper.

  "Cover?" Tobias asked.

  "I could use a polish." Riot folded his newspaper and fished inside his pocket. He dropped a coin in Tobias’s cap. Catching on, Tobias hopped up and whipped out a handkerchief.

  "What did you two discover?" Riot asked.

  Tobias told him as he polished his shoes.

  "Keep an eye on the store, Tobias. Follow Mr. Nicholas when he leaves, but keep your distance. Shine shoes, sell newspapers, but don't loiter."

  "Yes, sir."

  Riot folded his newspaper and glanced down at his shoes. "Maybe stick with newspapers." He handed the Chronicle to the boy. "Sarah, meet me in front of the fruit stall." With that quiet order, he walked off and disappeared into the crowd.

  Sarah fidgeted, on the verge of running away. Maybe Jin had the right of it. Tobias made eyes at her. "Told you nothing gets past him." Before she could argue, Tobias ran off to try his hand as a newsboy.

  In the end, she trudged to the fruit stall, dragging her feet towards certain doom. Without missing a beat, Riot handed her an apple, and smoothly tucked her arm under his. He raised his stick, and a hack pulled to the curb.

  Sarah took a sharp breath. "I knew it. You're going to send me straight to an orphanage!" She tried to free her arm, but Riot pressed it to his side. Gentle but firm. He nudged the brim of his hat up with the knob of his stick, catching her eyes.

  His dark eyes were as calm as his next words. "I will do no such thing." He opened the door for her, and she climbed inside.

  "Leavenworth and Sutter," he called out, before joining her.

  Sarah twitched in surprise.

  "That's Mr. Nicholas's street."

  "It is," Riot said, settling beside her. "While I don't approve of the both of you investigating a case without informing me…" He gave her a pointed look. "I can't ignore your results." The corner of his lip twitched. Hope soared with that small smile. "But, Sarah…" And it quickly deflated. "Please discuss your plans with me next time."

  Brows drew together in puzzlement. "Would you have let us go?"

  Riot wasn't a man to be rushed. He tilted his head, weighing his answer on a pair of scales. "It depends how persuasive an argument you presented."

  Sarah thought him far too lenient, but she wasn't about to tell her adoptive father that. "You saw me in the store, didn't you?"

  "I saw you long before that."

  She sighed. "I'm real sorry."

  A hand came over hers. It blurred.

  "I'm not sending you away. No matter what you do. You don't need to be perfect, Sarah."

  It was hard to breathe. All she managed was a nod, and then pressed her face against his arm. A hundred questions swirled in her mind. What if Isobel changed her mind? What if something happened? What if Sarah annoyed the both of them? What if one of them, or both of them died? What if they moved away?

  Lips brushed the top of her head. That kiss silenced all her doubts.

  "A word of advice—don't hit your sister again. Jin's liable to stab you."

  It was too much. Sarah snorted against his coat, causing a fresh well of pain. She winced, but looked up at him, a small smile on her lips. He returned the gesture.

  "Did you find Jin?" she asked.

  A shadow dimmed his eyes. Riot turned the walking stick
in his hand. From her angle, she could peer under his spectacles, and the dark circles that ringed his eyes were plain to see.

  "I checked the mission first," he explained. "Miss Cameron hadn't seen her, so I checked the shipyard where the Pagan Lady is dry docked." He paused. "Jin was there, and then she wasn't."

  "What does that mean?"

  Riot gave her a rueful smile. "It means I'm not as small as I once was. She slipped through a fence, and by the time I climbed it, she was long gone."

  "She's really quick," Sarah said.

  "I eventually tracked down a ticket taker at the ferry building who'd spotted a Chinese boy boarding the early ferry to Vallejo."

  "Do you think she's headed to Napa Valley?"

  "I certainly hope so." Riot looked like his heart was on a spit. "I figured I would only chase her farther away if I kept on her tail."

  "I don't think she'd leave without saying goodbye to Isobel," Sarah said. "If I could travel halfway across the United States, then Jin can get to wherever she's going. She's a hundred times more independent than me. She'll be fine."

  "She's managed to evade my agents."

  "You have your agents looking for her, too?"

  "I should say, Tim's extensive army of informants."

  "You still look worried."

  He arched a brow. "Do I?"

  "To me."

  "Highbinders are opportunists. They won't hesitate to abduct a Chinese girl traveling alone."

  "Most adults don't tell children the truth."

  He stared down at her for a blink, looking unsure, and even a little lost. Her gramma would have said he was in over his head. "Would you rather I not?" he asked.

  Sarah shook her head. "I always hate it when adults don't tell me when they're sick. Or that there's danger. Makes me worry even more."

  Riot ran a hand over his beard. "Noted."

  Sarah plucked at some embroidery on her skirt. "If Jin shows up at Bright Waters, will Isobel be angry? We've not been well behaved."