Midnight Star (Star Quartet 2)

Delaney turned from his conversation with Dan Drewer at Jed Randall’s excited voice.

“What’s all this about, Del?” Dan asked. “Got whom?”

“Nothing to concern you, Dan,” he said to his partner. “I’ll be back later. A Mr. McIntyre is coming to see me about a loan. Would you deal with it? The file’s on my desk.”

“Certainly,” Dan said, staring after Delaney as he quickly accompanied the other man from the bank.

Delaney said nothing until they’d stepped outside the bank into the street. “Hoolihan?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. Actually, it was Monk who found him. He was in bed with a whore on Washington Street—Hoolihan, that is.”

“Where have you taken him?” Delaney asked, not bothering to inquire what Monk was doing at the brothel.

“To your warehouse, sir. Monk had to rough him up just a bit, but not too badly.”

Delaney nodded and increased his pace. Just as long as Monk Dove hadn’t broken Hoolihan’s damned neck, he didn’t mind what he’d done to him. Monk was a mountain, his strength incredible.

Ten minutes later, Delaney and Jed were at the warehouse. Men were working outside, replacing burned wooden planks, loading ruined merchandise into drays. The interior still smelled of smoke and the peculiar acrid odor of the Chinese fireworks.

Three men were standing in front of the tattered Hoolihan. Monk saw Delaney, and his mouth split into a wide grin, showing broken yellow teeth. “Got him, sir!”

“Excellent, Monk,” Delaney said, his eyes on Hoolihan’s face. The man was obviously frightened, his light-colored eyes dilated, his beard-stubbled jaw working spasmodically. When he saw Delaney, he paled even more and drew back.

“Now, now, mate, don’t be so shy,” Monk said, twisting his arm just a bit.

“Good work, Monk,” Delaney said. “Now, gentlemen, if you would leave us alone for a moment. Mr. Hoolihan and I have quite a bit to discuss.”

Delaney waited until the men had moved a respectable distance away. “Now, Hoolihan, I have just one question for you, and you will answer it, my friend. If you don’t, I will have Monk and his other friends shred you into small pieces. Do you understand me?”

“You’ve made a mistake! I don’t know what you want!”

“Do you understand me?” Delaney repeated very calmly. He read the violent, desperate attempt in Hoolihan’s eyes and added, “If you try to take me, I’ll shoot you. In your legs, both of them. I don’t want you dead, Hoolihan, but if you try something stupid, I’ll make you feel a great deal of pain, more than your poor mother when she birthed you. Now, I’m growing bored with this. Who hired you to kill my wife?”

Hoolihan licked his lips but remained silent.

Slowly Delaney drew out his derringer. “Your left leg first, Hoolihan. Your knee, to be specific. I wonder if your whore will like you as a cripple— if you don’t die of blood poisoning first, that is.” He carefully aimed the small pistol.

“No!” Hoolihan shrieked. “I don’t know! I swear it!”

“After the left knee, I’ll put a bullet through the right. Perhaps James Cora will let you sit on the sidewalk outside the El Dorado and beg for money, for you’ll not be walking.” He pulled back the hammer.

“Listen to me,” Hoolihan said, desperation and defeat in his voice. “It was a man I don’t know. He paid me a thousand dollars to sign on the Scarlet Queen. He knew you’d be traveling to Sacramento. I swear it. I don’t know his name.”

Delaney gently caressed the barrel of the small derringer. “Was the man English?”

“He talked funny, if that’s what you mean. Not like the blokes from Australia, more proper-like. Dressed like a real dandy.”

He’s telling the truth, Delaney thought. “Tell me, Hoolihan, what reason did he give you for killing my wife?”

“All he told me was that the lady had to be shut up. She knew too much. About what, I swear I don’t know!”

“What does he look like?”

“If I tell you, will you let me go?”

“Trying to bargain, Hoolihan?” Delaney asked, his voice sounding coldly amused. “Let me be blunt, my friend. I won’t turn you over to our local authorities. You’d be free in twenty-four hours if I did. No, if you don’t tell me everything you know, I’ll kill you. If you do cooperate, on the other hand, you’ll not be killed. But you will take a nice long trip on one of my ships. Hong Kong is really quite nice this time of year.”

Shanghaied, Hoolihan thought, forced labor of the lowest sort, but better than being six feet under with worms eating your flesh. He drew a deep breath, wincing slightly at the pain in his stomach. “He was old, and wore spectacles. Kind of heavyset, but soft-looking, like he’d really lived a grand life.”