at Sylvia’s, and the girl goes back where she belongs. Capeesh?”
The unexpected plan, let alone the speed of it all, threw Ellis off. He fell wordless until Max leaned forward. “I trust you ain’t got a problem with this.”
Preventing another grip to the throat, Ellis answered, “N-no. Not at all, Mr. Trevino.”
Max took another pull off his cigar and reclined once more. “Sal, we’re finished here. Give Mr. Reed a lift back.”
In stoic compliance, Sal started for the exit. Ellis hurried out of the booth to follow. This time, he’d be the one trailing behind but wishing he could charge to the front.
A few steps in, he realized he hadn’t voiced his thanks. It was more of an investment than a courtesy. He turned around to find Max lost in thought, and knew not to interrupt. Particularly with pensiveness riding the man’s features. The duty of telling his sister the news had to be a source of dread.
Just hopefully not enough to change Max’s mind.
Chapter 36
Lily had every right to be cross. Ellis was well over an hour late. And yet, when he stepped through the entry of the dimly lit pub—among the few establishments still open in town—only relief poured through her.
He appeared to feel the same. Upon spotting her, he marched straight to her table in the corner. “I’ll explain,” he assured her. “I’m just so glad I found you. I was afraid you’d headed home by now.” He had taken a chance, traveling all this way, searching the area for her.
“Yes, well…there’s a reason I stayed.” She hesitated to share the news, but his expectant look pressed her on. “He’s been adopted, Ellis, but I know we can still find him.” She emphasized the last portion before catching her own volume. There were enough local patrons scattered about to be cautious.
Ellis sat across from her, his interest captured, as she caught him up and detailed her plan. “To be safe, we really ought to wait another hour. By then, the lights in the orphanage should be out for the night. The front door is heavily bolted, and other doors might be the same. But in an old building with so many windows, there simply has to be a way to sneak inside and peek at those files.”
When she paused, Ellis’s lack of reaction made her cringe. He had to think she was mad. What if they were caught? The director was hardly the lenient type. They could wind up before a judge, their careers and reputations destroyed no matter the verdict. Not to mention the fresh dose of gossip that would plague her family.
But they couldn’t just give up. She couldn’t.
“Ellis, if you don’t want to be part of it, I’d fully—”
“I’m in.” There wasn’t a speck of wavering, and that confidence helped fuel her own. Still, the way he looked at her with those blue eyes nearly made her forget her purpose.
Then a noise intervened, a small relief. It took her a second to identify the growl of his stomach. A similar recollection came to her, from their time at Franklin Square.
She suppressed a smile as she slid over her bowl and spoon. “Do you ever remember to eat?”
He took a whiff of her remaining stew, and his mouth curved upward. “Only with you, apparently.” His sigh after the third bite suggested more than one skipped meal.
As he continued to eat, Lily sought to avoid dwelling on the risks of the mission ahead. “It just occurred to me,” she said, “that day in the park, you never told me the story.”
He was in the midst of a swallow when he looked up, uncertain.
“About a duck and…gelatin, was it?”
He half chuckled, half coughed.
“Sorry.”
He cleared his throat and shook his head. “It’s a silly thing. Nothing worth repeating.”
“From the sound of it, I highly doubt that.” She pressured him with a playful stare until he raised his spoon in a show of surrender and sat back from his stew.
“I was about ten, I guess. Wanted to go pheasant hunting with Pop, so I tried to work up the gumption to shoot a real bird. When no one was home, I took our four-ten shotgun outside, along with a carrot-and-spinach gelatin mold that Ma made for a potluck supper with some mining folks.”
Lily could see where this was going. “Oh gosh. You didn’t…”
“The shell was just full of tiny BBs. I didn’t think a single shot could do that much damage.”