The Night Angel by T. Davis Bunn Read Free Book Online

I could make inquiries.”
    “No, please, I must respectfully ask that you not share this information,” Alessandro inserted quickly. “My lawyers here, they have sought to determine what they can. It has been slow, so very slow. The country is wild, the people not welcome to outsiders.”
    “But the mine exists?”
    “There is a mine. That much we know. How profitable, how large a holding, I cannot say. Apparently there are no . . . I am sorry, I do not know the proper term . . .”
    “Assayers,” Falconer supplied. “Mining engineers.”
    “Yes. Assayers who are not already committed to other mines. It is all so very primitive, you see. And very closed to outsiders.”
    “So why not just take cash and be done with the matter?”
    “Because the gold, sir. The gold!” Alessandro’s hands began to weave in a distinctly Italian fashion. “All the Venetian jewelers and Murano crystal makers, we must pay a levy to the Vienna court for all our gold. Why? Because either the shippers or the mines themselves are controlled by members of the emperor’s court. Now, suddenly, a source has been offered to us, one that we may own!”
    Reginald Langston understood the problem immediately. “So you want Falconer to travel down and take the measure of this mine.”
    “And return with our first share of the gold. Only when we have something in our hands can we truly believe this to be real.” The hand gestures grew more dramatic still. “But negotiations have taken forever, good sir. Our lawyers here in Washington have claimed it is faster to deal with London than this provincial town of Charlotte.”
    Reginald was already looking ahead to the next problem. “The Austrian ambassador, how is he known?”
    “The legate, Prince Fritz-Heinrich.”
    “I don’t suppose he’s all too happy with the development.”
    Alessandro repressed a shudder. “He must not know.”
    “But if he does?”
    “Even if he suspects, my life and that of my family are in grave danger. Very grave.”
    “And Falconer? What of him on the road?”
    “I can take care of myself,” Falconer said. “And move easier if I remain alone.”
    Reginald started to argue, then thought better of it. He said to Alessandro, “You need people here with your family that you can trust. Especially once Falconer sets off on his mission.”
    “Good sir, you have already done so much, I could not possibly ask anything more of you.”
    Reginald gave no sign that he had heard. “Three men should be enough. One who can behave as a proper manservant. Two for the outside.”
    “I have located one good man already,” Falconer offered. “A carriage driver and jack-of-all-trades. He’s the one you see there, carting in the crystalware.”
    “Which means you require one man within the house and one outside.” Reginald nodded. “I’ll see to it this very day.”
    Alessandro began, “I could not possibly repay—”
    “A date,” Reginald responded firmly. “A date when Falconer will be done with this and ready to begin duties with our firm.”
    Falconer listened to the exchange, knowing he was being offered not just new employment but a new life. One which by his own request would take him far away from Serafina.
    If only the future might hold some shred of hope.
    Falconer berthed in the small two-story cottage at the back of the long and narrow lot. His room was on the ground floor and faced the main residence. Gerald Rivens had taken the chamber across from his. The two men being sent over from the Langstons would reside upstairs. Mary lodged in the main house’s top floor, a long room that stretched beneath the eaves.
    Falconer’s little table was situated by the window, from where he could scout the rather unkempt grounds and the house. There was a high stone wall to either side and a gated fence behind the servants’ cottage. The residence’s front windows all had stout oak shutters, which were now closed and locked. He had seen to that himself. The