The Trainmasters (19 page)

If Teresa’s judgment of Ben Kean was right, she was too late to do anything about it. For Kean had seen them, and he was making
his way across the dance floor.

He was a man of average height, slim and languid, and just a bit feminine, with a soft face, thin, sandy hair, and a wispy,
somewhat bedraggled-looking beard. He looked to be in his midthirties, but he was actually ten years younger than that.

“Why, here we have little Tessy,” he said when he had reached them. “What a surprise.” There was a cool but savage smile on
his face. “And she has found herself a new,
young
boy.” He looked Graham up and down with greatly exaggerated attention, as though he were examining a slave on a block, a
slave that he found in every way wanting.

Graham moved closer to him. “You told me you know this man?” he asked Teresa.

“Yes,” she said, tight-mouthed. “I know him.”

“Has he always been such a lout?”

“Graham!” she warned.

Ben Kean bristled, but he did not respond directly to Graham’s insult. Rather, he turned to Teresa. “Is that what you’ve told
your boy about me, sweet Tessy?” He moved closer to her as he spoke. “Have you told the boy I’m a lout? We can’t have that,
can we, Tess? We can’t leave him believing that, can we? Tell him that I’m no lout, Tessy. Answer him, darlin’. And then tell
him that you’re coming away with me.” His voice was no longer savage. His tone, instead, was filled with longing, and his
face had an expression of helpless, doglike adoration. “Tell this boy that I’m your man.”

The man’s mad
, Graham thought as he watched the change come over Ben Kean.
And dangerous
.

“Ben, please,” she said, pleading. “You know I’ve told you that I don’t belong to you any longer.”

“You’re coming with me, my girl,” Ben said, once again.

Teresa shook her head and turned to Graham. “Let’s go quickly,” she said. And he took her hand and started to return to the
place where they were keeping his topcoat and her shawl.

Ben followed them, talking all the while, insulting Graham and imploring with Teresa.

And then another man slipped up beside Ben Kean. The second man was older than Ben, and they were clearly related. Yet, where
Ben was slight and somewhat delicate, this man was paunchy and hard. Teresa groaned when she saw him.

“You’ve found Teresa Derbyville at last, have you Ben?” the man asked.

“Who are you?” Graham interrupted.

“And who are you, limey?” the other said, spitting out the words.

“Graham,” Teresa said quickly, her hand clutching his. “This man is Matthew Kean. He is Ben’s brother.” And then she looked
from Graham to the Keans and back to Graham. “This is Graham Carlysle,” she said nervously.Matthew was direct and firm. “Tessy,”
he said, “you come on home with Ben, now. And then there won’t be trouble.”

Graham drew Teresa closer, but his eyes were on the two other men. “No,” he said. “That’s not going to happen. The lady doesn’t
want that. And neither do I.”

Matthew looked at Graham with a sad face. “I’m sorry for you, Mr. Graham Carlysle,” he said in a slow, laconic, confident
voice. “But the way it is is this. This lady can’t stay with you any longer. She has already been taken… by my brother Ben.”

As he spoke, Graham was working out what he must do. He knew now that Teresa was right; there was no advantage to staying
here. The question was whether he could escape with her without getting into a brawl.

Graham looked at the Keans, weighing his chances if a fight broke out. Matthew was about two inches taller than Ben, which
put him at just about five feet eight or nine. And Graham was an inch over six feet, which made him the same height as his
father.

That was good. But Graham knew that his height advantage wasn’t enough to make a difference against two men, especially since
one of them was hard and heavy.

His knife was in its sheath in his boot, but he was loathe to use the weapon.

He put his hand on Teresa’s back, driving her forward. As he did that he nodded at the two Keans.

“I’ve been listening to the two of you tell me and this lady what we are both going to do,” he said to the Keans in a soft,
husky—but menacing—voice. “I don’t want to do that. And neither does she. We’re going to leave.” Then he turned his back on
the other men.

“Stop,” one of the Keans said. “Both of you.”

They kept moving.

Graham noticed Teresa starting to look back. “Don’t,” he said. She turned her face to his. Her face was filled with fright.

“Tessy,” Ben Kean said, his voice rising to a wailing cry, “don’t leave with that boy! You stay with me! Do you hear me? You
stay with me!”

“Keep going and don’t answer him,” Graham said.

They were at the door to the long entrance corridor now. It was a double swinging door. Teresa pushed through.

“Don’t run!” he said to Teresa, resisting the urge to race away from the two other men. And he added unconvincingly, “Keep
calm.” They did not run, but they did hurry down the hall to the exit, and then they burst out into the night.

Outside, they heard feet pounding after them on the cobblestones. They didn’t need to look back to see who it was.

“Are you going to run away from me, Tessy, you and your new boy?” Ben called after them, and then he laughed a deep-throated,
mocking laugh.

“He’s crazy, isn’t he?” Graham said to Tess.

“Yes,” she said, squeezing his hand. “He is absolutely mad … And do you know I could have married him?”

He shook his head. “You’re better off the way you are.”

“No,” she said. “But I’m better off not married to Ben Kean.”

Ben called out. “Where are you two going now? Do you think you’ll find some place that’s private from us?”

Then Matthew’s deeper voice added, “Do you hope to put in a little lovin’?”

“Don’t answer them,” Graham said.

It was pouring rain now, the dim, ill-lighted street was even more obscure than usual. Perhaps, if they were lucky, they could
slip away into the darkness.

“Is Matthew insane, too?” Graham asked.

“Matthew? Oh no. Most of the time Matthew is all right. He works with his father—they’re teamsters, they operate many wagons,
they’re well off.” She was breathing hard, but continued. “He works like an ox. But he protects Ben. He tries to take care
of him. And so he thinks I would be good for Ben, that I could turn Ben Kean into a steady, church-going, family man.”

“Why don’t you spread your legs for him here, in the street?” Ben yelled. “What’s to stop you, Tessy darlin’? You don’t mind
doin’ it in front of me and Matthew, do you? You’re not the kind of girl that minds men watchin’ you rut?”

“Hey!” Matthew shouted gaily. “I’d like to see that! Show us, Tess. Go ahead.”

And then Ben yelled, once again with his mocking laughter, “How much is your boy payin’ you for your pleasures, Tessy? How
much, Tessy girl? I’ll tell you what. I’ll pay you double that if you’ll both do it here and now.” And then he added,

“And I’ll pay him, too.”

“You won’t get a good offer like that soon, Tess,” Matthew said.

Graham couldn’t stand their insults any longer. He twisted around to face them. “Ignorant, stupid bastards!” he shouted. “Get
out of here! Both of you get out of here!”

The Keans just laughed.

Then they started closing in.

“Tessy? Tessy? Tessy?” Ben called, jeering, derisive and yet imploring. “Tessy!”

Teresa looked at Graham. “Run!” she whispered, and then dashed away.

Graham thought a moment, considering whether he wanted to risk staying and fighting. He soon realized that it would be crazy
to stay and fight them. He dashed after her.

They ran a block, turned, ran half a block, and then raced up an alley, came out onto another street, ran up it a short way,
and then slipped into another alley. They hoped to hide there.

For a moment, they stood gasping for breath. Then Teresa fell into his arms.

“Oh, Graham!” she sobbed. “Graham!”

The alley was as dark as a tunnel. Its outlet to the street, though, was a bit brighter. Graham stared at the outlet and remained
coiled, alert, waiting.

The rain pounded on them.

Without taking his eyes off the dim area at the mouth of the alley, he whispered to her. “Are all your other lovers like Ben
Kean?”

“Oh, Graham,” she said, her voice throbbing with shame, “I’m so sorry about him. I never thought he would come after me that
way. And I never thought that Matthew would be mad enough—or devoted enough—to help him.”

Graham shook his head. “I admire his taste in choosing you,” he said. “But I wonder about you choosing him.”

“Wait!” she flashed. “Just wait, Mr. Graham-superior-Carlysle. When I took up with Ben Kean, he was the gentlest man I’d ever
met. And later, when I saw his other side, I left him. If you know of a way I could have stopped him from refusing to let
me go, then you tell it to me.”

Graham had no reply to that. So he took her head in his hands and kissed her full on the mouth.

“That’s better,” she whispered.

“Hush,” he whispered.

Someone passed the alley’s entrance.

The figure moved beyond visibility, but Graham held his hand over Teresa’s mouth.

Then they heard shouts between the two Keans. Then another figure passed across the mouth of the alley. This one carried an
oil lantern.

“Think they’re in here?” the one with the lantern called out. It was Matthew Kean. Ben appeared next to him. Through the rain
and mist, Graham could see that Ben was carrying a pistol in his hand. It gleamed dully and coldly in the lantern light.

Teresa and Graham retreated farther back into the alley. But soon they were forced to stop. The alley came to an end against
a faceless brick wall, probably the rear of a warehouse.

On the right side of the alley there was a high, stout wooden fence. Graham knew that he could probably scramble up it, but
he doubted that Teresa could, especially dressed as she was. But the other side of the alley was more promising, a large,
open yard. They moved into it, carefully, for it was filled with junk and abandoned scrap… as well as tall, massive, finished
and unfinished stone blocks—monuments. Tombstones.

“This is a stonemason’s yard,” Graham said.

“How pleasant,” she said, shivering.

“We can hide here,” he said.

They threaded their way through the junk and the half-finished tombstones. Among all the detritus was a large, broken-down,
four-wheeled wagon, turned upside down. Graham led Teresa behind it and made her crouch down. “Stay there,” he whispered.

Then he bent over and slipped his knife out of its sheath. After that he drifted like a shadow over to the side of the yard.

The two Keans were now standing at the end of the alley, peering through the rain into the yard.

“Come out, Carlysle,” Matthew Kean said, raising the lantern above his head to see better.

‘Tess,” Ben called. “Tessy. Let me see you. Let me see your face.”

“Carlysle,” Matthew said, louder this time, “we’re going to let you go by us, safe and sound, if you leave Tess. But,” he
paused significantly, “if you stay, we’ll tear your ass off.”

There was a rustling noise, like a body slipping and falling. Teresa cried out, then rose and stood at the edge of the lantern’s
glow. Then she vanished.

“Stop, Tess, for God’s sake!” Ben said, without moving.

But Matthew, more alert, strode quickly after her.

Graham had not expected Teresa to show herself; and he had no idea why she did so. Yet her movement served Graham’s purposes.
It distracted the Keans.

Both brothers were now rushing to the spot where they last saw Teresa.

In a second, Graham was at Matthew’s back with his knife edge at the side of the other man’s throat.

“Drop the lantern,” he ordered.

“Damn you,” Matthew snarled.

“Just drop it.”

The lantern fell and shattered. Oil spilled, the flame caught and flared, and for a moment there was a pool of yellow-blue
flame; but the rain quickly drowned that out.

There was very little light now. But Graham could hear Ben moving closer through the stony rubble. And there were other sounds
farther away. Surely that was Teresa.

“What now, Carlysle?” Matthew asked, breathing heavily.

Graham said nothing… in fact, he didn’t know what move he ought to make next. His own heart was pounding, and he, too, was
breathing in great, sucking gulps.

And then Ben was upon him. With a piercing, angry cry, he crashed into Graham and his brother, sending Graham sprawling onto
the ground. As Graham fell, his knife slashed the side of Matthew’s neck, but it was not a deep wound Graham, aware of Ben’s
gun, rolled, and then he twisted up onto his feet.

Ben had followed him as he rolled. And he was now no more than six feet from Graham. The gun was leveled at Graham’s face.

“I warned you,” Ben said. The madness that Graham had heard earlier was in Ben’s voice. “Tessy is not yours. You can’t have
her.”

The gun was a small one, a double-shot derringer. There was a possibility that it would not fire in the rain.

Matthew now stood at Ben’s side, but a few feet behind him. He was holding a rag to the slash on his neck.

As Graham watched him, Matthew suddenly staggered and made a sharp, brief cry. Then he fell on his face.

Teresa had come up behind Matthew and struck the back of his head with a piece of marble the size of a melon.

Ben, distracted, looked in her direction… and, as he did that, Graham dove toward him, with his knife arm extended in front
of him.

Ben fired the pistol, and the bullet passed Graham harmlessly. But the action checked Graham’s rush. And then, after he fired,
Ben quickly backed away. He raised the pistol again. He fired, and this time the bullet struck Graham’s right side, just above
the top of the hip bone. He staggered, swept by a wave of agony. But he kept driving at Ben; and the knife found the other
man’s body and penetrated.

Graham had braced himself, expecting resistance. But that did not happen. The knife passed into Ben’s body with no more effort
than if it had been plunged into a loaf of bread.