Turner's Vision (17 page)

“My dear, the only naked man you’ve seen is me and I don’t think that gives you the right to go around viewing all the naked men you know.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he held up one hand. “The extent of Officer Howard’s wounds may be more than you’re used to seeing. From the smell, some may be festering. Allow me to strip him quickly, while you see to boiling the things the doctor will need.”

He held the door for her, motioning for her to relinquish the scissors. “That task may be more important to saving his life than removing his clothing, wouldn’t you say?”

Claudia gave a sigh of resignation, handing him the scissors as she walked out into the hallway. “I nursed my father for years. I’m not as delicate as you seem to think, Micah.”

“I know, love.” He kissed the tip of her nose as she started for the stairs. “It’s your size that gives me that impression, you know.”

She narrowed her eyes at him before descending.

Micah walked back to the bed and began cutting the rotting material from Noah’s body.

“I don’t know how much you can hear me or what there was between you and Claudia before you disappeared, Howard, but she’s mine now and I don’t share.” He doubted the man could hear him, but he needed to warn him off. The taste of jealousy in his mouth was distasteful. He hoped saying the words out loud would take the bitterness out of them. “Let that sink into whatever awareness you have. I’ll help her save your life, not because of what you mean to her, but because you may know something about my sister, Patrice.”

“Patrice…” The hoarse murmur escaped from the man’s parched lips.

Micah froze, a little shock that the officer recognized the name. “Do you know my sister, Patrice?”

“Patrice…brother…kill…must get back…” Howard opened glazed eyes. He reached up to grab Micah’s shirtfront and lift himself up off of the bed. “Gold…reserve…warn Colonel.”

“Yes, we know about the gold reserve, Howard. Lie back down until the doctor is here.”

Micah eased him back onto the bed, prying the man’s fingers loose from his shirt. He cut away the last of the man’s trousers and pulled up the quilt to cover the bloody wounds there. Leaning closer, he tried again to get some information about his sister. “Do you know where Patrice is?”

“Patrice…lovely…sweet…” He took a ragged breath, and fell into oblivion again.

“Micah, the doctor’s here.” Adam opened the door to admit an older, white haired man into the room. “Criminy. He took some kind of beatin’.”

“That he did, Adam. You go down and see if Claudia needs any help, then both of you boys put the carriage and horses away once Henderson and Cain get here.”

“Yes sir.” The boy left the room, shaking his head.

“I’m Dr. Schulman.” The white haired physician introduced himself in a thick European accent as he removed his jacket. “Can you tell me what happened to your friend here?”

“I’m Micah Turner, sir. This is Noah Howard, an agent for the army. My best guess is he was kidnapped while on a highly secret mission and tortured to extricate information. I discovered him tonight, and brought him directly here to be treated. I don’t know how long he’s been like this. Possibly two weeks.”

“Mmm…hmm.” The doctor examined the extent of Noah’s injuries. Fingering the bandages on the ribs and arm, he murmured, “Good, good. Can you help me turn him over?” He pulled on Noah’s uninjured arm while Micah pushed him up onto his side and held him for the doctor.

“It’s been many years since I served on a ship, but I would say this man has had the displeasure of meeting up with a cat o’ nine tails. He has a very hard fight in front of him.”

Walking over to his bag, the older man signaled Micah to lower Noah back to the bed. The physician took out several bottles and set them on the table next to the bed. He looked up and smiled as Claudia entered the room carrying a steaming kettle of water and a basin.

“My dear, I didn’t think I would be seeing you again quite this soon. We are in familiar surroundings, no?”

“Yes, Dr. Schulman.” Claudia set her burden down on the table, instructing Joey to lay the towels and bandages beside them. “Have you met my husband? Micah this is our family friend and doctor, Isaac Schulman.”

“Husband?” The doctor lifted his bushy eyebrows in surprise and turned quickly to look at Micah more closely. Apparently deciding he liked what he saw, his face split into a wide grin. “Good, good. A strong man is what you need to keep you out of trouble, no?”

“Yes.” Micah agreed, this time his own smile answered the older man’s. “It’s just what she needs.”

“What do you need me to do first?” Claudia asked, hoping her question would change the subject from her own embarrassment and bring the two grinning males around to the task at hand.

“First, I believe we will need to bathe his arm and hand, so that we can set the breaks. While you are doing that, I will mix up a poultice to help draw out the pus.” Directing Micah out the door, Dr. Schulman asked, “I will need several smaller bowls, if you please. One large enough to wash my hands.”

He closed the door against Micah’s protest, then turned to Claudia and smiled. “Claudia, I do believe that young man feels threatened by our young patient, here. It is a good thing for a husband to be possessive of his wife, no?”

“I don’t think you should read more into our marriage than necessary, Dr. Schulman.” Claudia kept her face centered on the task of cleaning the dirt and crusted blood from Noah’s body. “Micah married me to keep an eye on me. He feels some unnecessary need to protect me and he forced me to agree to marry him. There was no great profession of love on his part—or mine either, for that matter. I would say our marriage is more a business arrangement than anything else.”

“As you say,
Frau
Turner.”

The doctor busied himself, laying out various instruments he would need, such as scissors and probes and needles to place in the pan of boiling water, thankfully letting the subject of her marriage go—for the moment. She knew he’d broach the subject once their work was done. Hopefully, by then, she’d have her own emotions about her marriage under control.

Despite what the doctor seemed to believe, she was under no misconception about Micah, or his reasons for marrying her. While he seemed to take great pleasure in teaching her about the benefits of their marriage bed, she didn’t doubt for a moment that he harbored no special feelings for her—possessive, protective or loving.

Micah returned with the extra basins. “Henderson is back.”

“Is Cain with him?” Claudia asked, filling one of the bowls with hot water.

“His houseman said he was out for the evening. We’ll have to get word to him tomorrow.”

Claudia nodded, then focused on helping the elderly physician.

Dr. Schulman washed his hands from fingertips to the elbows in the boiled water. With Micah holding Noah’s torso still on the bed for him, he began the laborious procedure of opening the wounds that were raised, red and irritated from the purulent fluid trapped inside.

At first Micah had to turn his head away from the stench, swallowing hard to fight back his own bile. After a few minutes, he was able to stand the sight and smell to be of actual use to the physician.

As soon as the wounds on one part of the body had been opened, Claudia laid steaming-hot towels onto the area to help drain them and increase circulation to the area. When the wounds bled only fresh blood, the doctor filled in the area with a poultice of mixed herbs and molds.

He explained that in the old country, the herbs and molds brought about healing properties and fought further festering of the injuries.

Then the affected areas were bound with layers of clean, white cloth.

After all of the cuts on Noah’s front had been treated, and his right hand and arm reset, Micah carefully turned the unconscious man over to expose his back, where the most serious wounds remained to be treated. The process took more than six hours. The pink and lavender rays of dawn had broken through the night sky when they finally had all the wounds treated and Noah rested quietly.

The doctor and Claudia looked exhausted from their efforts as they finished cleaning up their supplies, and Micah felt the same.

“Claudia, I would like to remain here for the next day or two.” Dr. Schulman stood, feeling his patient’s pulse and skin for signs of fever.

“There is more than one empty room for you to stay in doctor.” She carried the dirty basins to the doorway. “I’ll have Robert make up one for you.”

“No, no dear.” The doctor shook his head gravely. “I think I should remain right here in this room. Perhaps you could move a cot or chair in here for me? The possibility of our young friend here making it through the next few days is quite slim, I’m afraid.”

“You think he may die, then?” Micah stood looking at the pale, battered man on the bed.

“To be truthful, sir, I am surprised he has lasted this long. It’s as if something very important was keeping him from giving up. Perhaps it is the vital mission for the army you mentioned earlier.”

“It could be that.” Micah continued to watch the other man as Claudia and Henderson cleaned the mess from the room. He needed to talk to Howard about Patrice.

The doctor, Claudia and Henderson retired to the kitchen for breakfast, leaving Micah alone with their patient. He walked over to the bed and whispered in the other man’s ear. “Stay alive, Howard. I need to know what it is you know about Patrice. You stay alive long enough for me to find her, you hear me?”

Then he turned on his heel, marched out of the room, down the stairs and outside. The door slammed behind him.

Claudia sat sipping tea with the doctor and Henderson. Her tea cup stopped halfway to her mouth at the sound of Micah leaving the house.

What had driven him out at this hour of the morning in such anger? She sincerely doubted it was jealousy as Dr. Schulman had suggested earlier. Knowing what little she did about her husband, she suspected it was more frustration than anything else. He’d hoped to find his sister last night. Given the shape they’d discovered Noah in, Micah had to be more desperate than ever to find Patrice.

Maybe a long walk would cool him off and ease some of his frustration.

She set her cup back down. Excusing herself, she headed up to check on a bed for the doctor, before retiring, herself. Henderson would take the first watch over Noah, while she and the doctor slept. Hopefully, Micah’s own exhaustion would force him to bed soon.

* * * * *    

Cain Duncan entered his apartments weary and frustrated after a night of searching the docks for any sign of his missing agent, Noah Howard.

What Cain needed was a drink.

He pulled the skullcap from his head, walked into his study and tossed it onto his desk. Grabbing his whiskey decanter, he poured himself two fingers’ worth into a crystal tumbler.

“I could use one of those,” Micah’s southern drawl sounded from the shadows on the opposite side of the room.

Not surprised to find his former captain sitting in his study, Cain poured a second drink and crossed to the leather chairs flanking his fireplace. He handed one to Micah, then sank into the other chair and drank half of the contents of his own glass. The liquid burned down his throat. He waited a moment for the warmth to thaw his chilled body.

“What brings you here his hour of the morning?” he finally asked.

“I sent Henderson round to get you last night. However, your houseman said you were out. Anything to do with our investigation?”

“Remember my missing agent?”

Micah nodded.

“Six months ago, I received a dispatch from the commander of the Presidio in San Francisco, informing me Noah had infiltrated an illegal trade ring as a crewman aboard an international shipping vessel. That same vessel,
The Stargazer
, docked two weeks ago. I haven’t had a word from him.” Cain took another drink. “So I spent the night down at the docks hoping to get some information about him.”

“You were looking in the wrong part of town.”

Cain paused, his glass halfway to his lips. “Where should I’ve been looking?”

“In a warehouse across the Potomac, in Rosslyn, Virginia.”

“And you know this how?”

Micah set his empty glass on the table next to his chair. “Last night, Claudia and I got word someone was being held prisoner there. We’d hoped to find my sister. Turns out it’s your man.”

Cain shot out of his chair. “Why didn’t you tell me? I need to question him.” When Micah didn’t move, a sense of dread clenched his throat. “Unless he’s dead.”

Micah motioned him to sit. “He’s not dead. Yet. He’s unconscious and unable to give either one of us much information right now. We’ve got him at the town house and a doctor is looking after him.”

“So, I’ll ask again. What brings you here this early in the morning?”

“It’s time we filled the Secretary of War in on the scenario unfolding around us. Ask him to rotate the troops nearest the docks for fresh ones—all hand-selected for their loyalty. Until we know Wallace’s status or how deeply he’s involved in this scheme, we need troops we can trust available.”

“I can do that this afternoon. Then I’ll drop by to check on Noah’s condition.” He finished his drink and walked Micah to the door. “What else do you have planned?”

“Right now I need to see a seamstress about a ball gown, and see two Congressmen’s wives about adding to their guest list for a ball.”

“Sounds interesting. Any particular reason to do this now?”

“Enough innocent people have been hurt. I intend to give them a new target.”

“Anyone we know?”

Micah arched one brow. “Me.”

* * * * *    

Micah returned to the town house at noon to find the good doctor watching over his patient, who had yet to regain consciousness, although he appeared more stable than earlier in the day. Dr. Schulman informed him Claudia had gone to rest not long ago.

In search of Henderson, Micah located him with the boys, washing more sheets for the doctor’s use. He instructed Henderson to admit Miss Brauner, the seamstress, when she arrived at four, and to awaken Claudia and himself half an hour beforehand. He also gave the boys a list of instructions to carry out for the day, then headed up to join his sleeping wife, his mood much improved.