Forever Young Birth Of A Nation (4 page)

“What is it you two seek?”

“We have information which might be
useful.”

“Do tell.”

“Yes, we know somewhat about a fellow named
Henri Lafayette.”

Edwards nodded encouragement so the fellow
continued “He is a banker, and very well connected all over Europe
and particularly in France where he enjoys great favor with His
Majesty Louis XVI. We believe that he may have had something to do
with the death of Aldric Moreau as well as Emile Francoise.”

“Continue.”

“Arnaud Moreau overheard the names “Ian” and
“Henri” mentioned the day after his brother died. We two were there
the night that Emile Francoise died in the fire that consumed his
mansion.”

“I know Moreau. How is it you have heard
about what he knows concerning those two?”

“We have talked with an acquaintance of his
in France, Donatien Francoise. He is also known as the Marquis de
Sade. It was he who told us of this and gave us your name.”

“I see. Well in any case I know nothing of
that incident, so how is this is supposed to interest me?”

“Both incidents occurred as a result of
kidnappings of children”

Edwards looked narrowly at the two then,
thinking of the piece of an ear he had found with what looked like
the bite mark of a child where it had been severed. His interest
now piqued, he nodded and said “Go on.”

“We know that your brother is missing. Do
you know of a kidnapping involving a child that might have been
connected to your older brother in some way?”

“I might know something relative to that.
What else do you have?”

The man looked disappointed that he wanted
still more, yet he was hopeful when he said “Mr. Edwards, we are
quite motivated and are willing to help you search for information
regarding this Henri and Ian.” Edwards only sat looking at the two,
feigning disinterest. Stefan then continued. “We think that they
may also be involved in the death of Emile Francoise and for this
as well.” He held out his right arm, the silver hook glinting in a
shaft of sunlight reflected from a vase sitting near an open
window. Edwards shrank back from the reflected sunlight, covering
his eyes. The two on the sofa looked at each other knowingly,
realizing then that Edwards too was a vampire.

Edwards reached into his pocket and withdrew
a small object wrapped in a linen handkerchief. He spread the cloth
on the low table between them and watched them intently. They
looked puzzled, and finally the woman said in a flat voice “That
looks like it could be a piece of an ear.” Her husband turned in
his seat and looked at her as Edwards said “I found this the day I
discovered that my brother was missing, right out back in the guest
house. Is there anything about it that stands out to you?”

The woman spoke then, again in a flat voice
saying “It looks like a very small mouth made that bite, perhaps
the mouth of a child.” She thought
my god! It is likely that
only a vampire child could bite through anything as tough and
gristly as a human ear! What does this mean?

Edwards nodded slightly, thinking
you are
most observant, Yvonne. Those green eyes do not miss much. You
might well make a competent investigator.
He said “If you two
are so interested in this affair then see if you can learn of any
kidnapping that took place around the time when this Henri
Lafayette and Ian were here in London.” He tossed a small bag of
gold coins onto the table next to the grisly article. “Keep me
informed and let that include where the two of you are staying.”
Stefan picked up the purse with his hook and handed it to Yvonne.
Edwards continued “If you happen to encounter Moreau, just say that
you are assisting me on this investigation. He may be able to help
you as he seems to agree with the two of you.”

“How is that, Mr. Edwards?”

“He thinks that this pair killed his older
brother Aldric while in Austria.”

Stefan sat back then as did Yvonne and
looked at each other, nodding. They both turned to Edwards then and
Stefan said “I think that we shall have a mutually productive
relationship, Mr. Edwards.” Yvonne nodded toward the goblet beside
Edwards and then said “And if you will pour each of us some of that
rabbit’s blood you are drinking this morning, we vampires shall
seal this with a toast.”

Edwards could not conceal the look of total
surprise that spread across his features.

“Ian, I may have a lead on a building we
could buy for the bank.”

“I was going to suggest that we both get
busy on that starting today. What do you have?”

Grinning at Ian, James said “At least one of
us was working last night, Ian. While you were dancing with the
lovely Rebecca Davis, I was dancing with Laura Millhouse. She is
the niece of August Millhouse who just died last month. It seems
that he was building a place to house a mercantile and commodities
exchange and had bought up an entire block. The building is well
along towards being finished and the family is going to sell it and
return to England.”

Chuckling at James’ joke at his expense he
replied “We should see it today.”

“Agreed. If you have nothing else we should
do, let’s go look at it this morning.”

About then Mrs. McKinley came in with a
platter loaded down with scrambled eggs, hashed potatoes, and slab
bacon, fried until it was crispy golden brown. “This is the first
time you have eaten here since you have rented a room. At this rate
I will make a good profit on the two of you. Whenever do you young
men ever sleep?” Ian thought
if only you knew…..

“Mrs. McKinley we are just too eager to see
all of New York City. There is so much to take in and we were
confined aboard ship so long coming here that we are working that
off it seems” said James with a smile. Ian chimed in saying “If
James here had not just this day told me of a business opportunity
I should be sleeping until lunch time. You run a fine establishment
Ma’am, and we are well pleased to be staying here.”

She beamed her pleasure at the compliments
from the two handsome young men as she hustled off toward another
table.

Within two hours they were sitting in the
parlor of the Millhouse mansion not a mile from the New York
Mercantile Exchange Building under construction. When the butler
ushered them into the opulent parlor, the widow Millhouse, her
sister and niece were all present. The young lady beamed a radiant
smile at James and he at her as he performed introductions. After
giving their condolences on the untimely death of her husband, Ian
presented her with an offer for the entire property including the
building and the entire block of lots on it which had two buildings
now rented. “Take all the time you need and do consult your
attorney Ma’am” he said with a friendly smile.

“That is not nearly what we hoped to get for
it Mr. McCloud, but property prices have plummeted since the
outbreak of hostilities in the colonies these past few years.”

“Indeed they have, Ma’am.”

She thought
aren’t you the well informed
one even if you did just arrive here.
Then she said “There is
no need for me to consult with my attorney since he predicted that
what you offered would be as good as I could hope for. It is only a
little under what we paid for it some eight years ago. I accept
your offer and we can go to my bank today and do all of the
paperwork and have it duly witnessed.”

“That would be Merchants?”

“Yes.”

Laura approached and said “Aunt Thelma, may
I invite these two gentlemen to my birthday celebration?”

“Why yes child.” She turned to the two and
said “It is tomorrow at 7 PM and dinner will be served. Please do
come.”

Ian looked at James who was smiling broadly
at Laura, and then he turned back to the widow Millhouse with a
chuckle saying “It seems that it would be our pleasure Ma’am. Shall
we meet you at Merchants later then?”

Whatever for? We shall all go there together
now. I will have the carriage brought around shortly. Please wait
here, gentlemen.”

Within some thirty minutes or so they
arrived at Grover Merchants’ Bank and concluded their business
within the hour. Milliken Merchants’ Bank of New York now had an
official address and Ian had an appointment for later that day to
speak with the contractor who was building it. By evening, he had
looked at all of the drawings and had conferred with the contractor
showing him the needed modifications and reaching an agreed upon
price for the deviation from the original plan.

He patiently explained to James later that
this would become a nerve center for private communications of the
banking network of the Milliken’s and Lafayettes in the new world.
That was the reason for buying the whole block of lots and
buildings instead of only the site and building itself. The bank
would always control the entire block down to who leased space
there and would always have ingress and egress privately through
the back, exclusively for the bank itself and its couriers and
officials. James readily saw the reason and the wisdom in that and
was only too pleased to be learning from Ian about this type of
planning. Ian had seen it first hand when he appeared to testify at
the
Supreme Council
headquarters in Liechtenstein and again
at the Banque de Lafayette in Paris. It offered far better security
in an urban setting when done this way. Henri and Robert would be
pleased.

That night the two dined with Andrew Norris
aboard
New Hope
. Ian and James gave him letters posted for
Robert and for Henri regarding the purchase of the bank and where
they were now living. A detailed economic forecast was included.
Encoded within that forecast was information to the effect that the
hostilities in America between the Crown and the colonists was
worse than reported and that the supreme commander in charge of all
British forces in America was himself quite worried for the long
term about the direction things were going. The war was spreading
to the southern colonies as well. The events at Concord and
Lexington Massachusetts were listed along with Ian’s personal
observation of seeing Hessian mercenaries and that a formal state
of war existed. It was now a situation with increasingly popular
support amongst the citizens of the colonies themselves.

Ian used the code taught to him and James
while they were together in London before Alandra died. It was a
code whose key was the date itself, and was very difficult for a
human to even use, let alone detect. He also enclosed a personal
letter for Marie and Henri as well as a general one for the family
members and a special letter just for little Aimee. Included was a
letter for his human family in Scotland and he left it all for
Andrew to deliver to Robert Milliken in London upon his return
voyage.

They hunted across the East River on Long
Island and got to stretch their legs that night. Visiting six more
taverns later, they listened in on the scuttlebutt regarding news
of the war. The most popular tavern was a place called The Green
Dragon Tavern and Inn. It was frequented by Tory loyalists which
was quite evident from the conversations the two could hear while
they were there.

The next day after checking on progress of
the new bank building, Ian happened upon a small public area called
Grover Square. In the center of it was a rather tall pole with a
gilt vane at its top. The single word ‘Liberty’ was easily readable
on that vane. Asking a passerby what it meant, Ian learned that
this one was the eleventh such that the Sons of Liberty had erected
in New York City in some nine years. He was told that they were
commonly seen in Boston and Philadelphia as well as many other
towns in the Colonies. The British did not like them and
periodically tore them down in due time. Ian took it to mean that
the idea of liberty from English rule was now an idea that would
not die no matter what the British did. He pondered on that for
much of the day.

That evening he and James arrived promptly
at 7 o’clock at the Millhouse mansion for the birthday celebration
for Laura Millhouse. The white-gloved butler who answered the door
showed the two into the foyer where the widow Thelma Millhouse,
Merriam her sister, and Merriam’s daughter Laura greeted them with
smiles. Both Ian and James handed gift-wrapped packages to Laura
who smiled and blushed prettily as she curtseyed a second time,
thanking the two. Ian could not miss the look she gave to James nor
his especially broad smile to her. Thelma and Merriam each flanked
Ian and put their arms through his, leading him into the cavernous
parlor while Laura and James followed. Ian let his gaze travel
about the opulently furnished room as they approached the area
where the guests were seated. He thought
now here is a home that
Henri and Marie would love. It is big enough for all of us and the
Millhouse family will sell it if they are returning to England.
He stopped and turned to Thelma to ask about that when a young lady
who had just entered the room came to them.

“Ian. What a pleasant surprise.”

Ian turned to see Rebecca Davis approaching
with a dazzling smile on her lovely face. He smiled broadly and
stepped forward to take her hand saying “Hello again, Rebecca.”
Bowing slightly as he kissed it he then said “Once again I am
enchanted.” As he moved to one side to include Laura and James his
eyes traveled to the seated group and encountered the steely stare
of Colonel Grundy. Ian smiled and nodded towards Grundy who gave a
nod and a thin smile in return. Ian easily noticed that the smile
did not include his eyes and wondered at that just as Rebecca put
her arm through his and led him to the group for introductions.

The group numbered around two dozen of which
half of them were friends and peers of Laura, of hers and Rebecca’s
approximate age. There were two British Army lieutenants and two
Navy ensigns as well, all young men besides Colonel Grundy who Ian
estimated to be around thirty years old. The two naval men
immediately engaged Ian in conversation, having heard of the story
of when he had been in the party that had defeated two pirate ships
in the Mediterranean some eight years earlier. They plied him with
questions as Rebecca stood by smiling. A servant rang a brass bell
and Thelma announced that dinner was served. The guests rose and
began to drift toward the dining hall.