Page 31 of The Swan Syndicate
“Cheval is the captain ofThe Horseman.” Jamie finished his coffee and poured ale in the mug. He took a long swig before leaning his elbows on the table. “He’s actually an Englishman and a smuggler, though he pretends to be a merchant. He’s traded with the French over the years and picked up the name Cheval along the way. And to complete the picture for you, the name Cheval means horse in old French.”
“So does he work for the English or the French?” she asked.
“He works for whoever can pay him the most,” Lando snarled from where he leaned against the wall.
“He’s more a man without a true country.” Beckworth refilled mugs. “And like MacDuff, has escaped the hangman’s knot on more than one occasion. He’ll smuggle anything from goods to people, but his favorite cargo are flintlocks, cannonballs, and gunpowder.”
“Hensley has tried to catch him several times without success,” Jamie added.
“Not from lack of trying,” Lando growled. “We’ve lost good men to him.”
Stella pressed down the first fold in the paper. Cheval sounded like a scary man, and when she glanced at Beckworth, he was watching her. He wanted to send her back to Waverly. He didn’t have to say it, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to mention it.
“Do you think Hensley will want you to change your mission?” she asked, turning her attention back to Jamie.
“We have standing orders for Cheval,” Lando answered. “The question comes down to who Hensley wants worse—him or MacDuff.”
“Right now, we don’t have enough information on either man.” Jamie finished his ale in a long swallow. “All we have is Cheval’s name and his ship, but we have no idea what the conversation was about. They could have been sharing a tall tale for all we know. And we’ve only begun the mission Hensley gave us. Let’s see what Fitz comes up with. Until then, we’ll share a meal then return to the pubs and inns later this evening. We need to gather more information. Unless we hear something more substantial, we’ll continue our route north tomorrow.”
Stella stood and collected her paper and the single finished swan. “I’ll just take this back to the cabin then help Cook.” She gave Beckworth a quick glance. His eyes were on her, but his focus was distant. He was working through something. Regardless of what the team discovered that evening, if he intended to remove her from the ship, he was going to have a fight on his hands.
12
When Stella returned to the galley, Beckworth was gone and Lando had taken his seat. Curious where he might have gone but unwilling to sound like a harpy who had to know his every move, she focused on helping Cook.
His name was Stiller, but everyone called him Cook. While he was in charge of the meals, he was also an accomplished sailor and often spoke about his days at sea. He was a few inches shorter than her but claimed his height made it easier to climb the ratlines and help with the sails. He kept his hair short, and it was always messy as if he constantly ran his hands through it, though she’d never seen him do it. The pinky on his left hand was missing, and the scar looked old. He didn’t offer how it happened, and she didn’t ask. She hadn’t known what to expect working with the crew, but she spent most of her time in the galley laughing at his tales.
Cook advised to finish the stew and serve it with fresh bread and cheese. A skeleton crew was kept active, and the men came down in shifts to eat. Once she was satisfied the crew was moving through the buffet line she’d set up, she dropped intoa chair where Jamie and Lando were looking over a map, their empty plates and bowls pushed to the side.
“Are you working out the next leg of our journey?” Stella asked.
Lando looked up from the map. “The next two stops, actually. Unless something changes along the way.”
“You mean if we hear any more about MacDuff or Cheval.”
He nodded and pointed to a spot on the map. “This is where we are currently.”
Stella leaned closer. It was impossible to tell how far it was between points. “This is Bristol here?” She tapped a spot near the mouth of a river just south of where Lando had pointed.
“Exactly. And this is our next stop. Baglan on the River Neath just short of Swansea, which is too populated for our purposes. Baglan is a bit larger than this port and is favored by some of the smugglers in these ports for restocking their ships.”
“This sounds more promising.”
“Possibly, but we’ll have to be more careful.” Jamie sat back and gave her a long look. “Thank you for helping Cook. He’s been waiting for a chance to visit his family.”
She shrugged. “I know my way around a kitchen, though I’m not much of a cook.”
“One of those modern-day women things?” he asked.
She laughed. “I suppose that’s part of it. Both men and women enjoy cooking, I’m just not one of them. Being a broker—or what you call an Estate Agent—tends to make for long evenings. If I need to show a house, a lot of times it’s after the client gets off work or on the weekends.” She winked at Jamie. “And there’s as much paperwork in my job as there is for a ship’s captain.”
Jamie grinned but he seemed to consider her again. For what, she didn’t know. “Which is why you recognized the estate contracts Gemini had hidden away.”
She laughed at the memory, which wasn’t so funny at the time. “I’d just been kidnapped by Gemini’s henchman, Gaines, and walked for miles in shoes that weren’t meant for walking, let alone over dirt and mud paths, only to be surrounded by crazy, scary men once we’d reached our destination.
“I knew AJ and Finn would come for me, but I had no idea how long that would take, and Beckworth hadn’t shown up yet. I’d been going through the trunks, somewhat interested in the fashions.” She chuckled, and the men laughed with her. “But when I found the stack of papers, it was the first thing that reminded me of home.”
“You were quite brave from what Beckworth shared.” Lando crossed his arms and his brows knit together. “And stubborn.”
