He’d given little thought to the possibility that Garrett might use Charlotte to exact retribution. In truth, he hadn’t believed Garrett possessed the finesse required to come up with such a strategy. And it would have been far more effective to attack Michael directly, or to inflict some form of damage on the Henrietta Dale.
Clearly, Michael had underestimated Garrett’s propensity to commit evil acts.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Chapter 16
So Garrett attacked Charlotte because you cut him out of your smuggling business?” Jordan asked.
“Yes,” Seavey answered. He glanced at Hattie, as if to gauge her reaction, then continued. “Garrett had become far too great a liability to remain in my organization. In an earlier meeting, he’d alluded to the fact that he knew Charlotte was Hattie’s sister. I admit that I dismissed his comment, paying no further heed to it.” He sent an apologetic glance to Charlotte. “I will always regret that I caused you pain.”
“I never blamed you, Michael,” Charlotte said. “Indeed, you paid for my physician and kept me safe for as long as you were able.” She turned to Hattie and Jordan. “My injuries, though painful, turned out to be not as severe as Michael had assumed.” She closed her eyes, trembling for a moment before continuing. “Although if Jesse hadn’t summoned Mona’s bodyguards, I quite believe Garrett would have killed me.”
“Possibly,” Jordan agreed. “I’ve talked to the man, and he clearly enjoys violence in all its forms.” She looked at Seavey. “So you kept Charlotte at the hotel while she recovered?”
“Yes, for the next forty-eight hours. Then I felt it wise, since I was leaving town for a full day, that she travel with me.” He paused, then shook his head. “It was the best I could do, and I see now that it wasn’t enough.”
“You can’t be blamed, Michael, for what happened after you died,” Hattie said softly.
From behind them, Frank made a disgusted sound. “On the contrary. His actions directly caused Charlotte’s injuries. Clearly, Garrett planned to use Charlotte as leverage. When one engages in a lifetime of risky and illegal business activities, these types of violent acts are far too commonly the by-product.”
Seavey flinched.
“Garrett was the one to beat me, so he is to blame,” Charlotte stated with vehemence. “Michael was the one who tried to save me!”
Jordan held up her hand. “Can we move on?” Though the events Seavey had related were revealing in terms of Garrett’s character, she still wasn’t any closer to discovering a connection between Garrett and Holt’s killer. “What happened after Jesse brought Charlotte to you?” she asked Seavey.
He shrugged. “I fear I don’t have much more to tell you. I did, of course, make certain that Garrett received a ‘message’ designed to impress upon him that he should refrain from such reprehensible actions in the future.”
“You avenged my attack?” Charlotte smiled tremulously at him, placing a hand on his sleeve. “You are such an honorable man.”
Jordan thought Seavey might have looked slightly abashed at her reaction.
He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Jesse delivered Charlotte to my hotel suite two days before the maiden voyage of the Henrietta Dale. While I continued to oversee last-minute details regarding the seaworthiness of the ship and the accommodations for my passengers, I paid Willoughby handsomely to see to the treatment of her injuries. Accordingly, we set sail early on the morning of August 5 for Victoria, with a return trip planned for that evening.”
“Whoa, wait,” Jordan said, startled. “You said a minute ago that you kept Charlotte in the hotel until you left on a trip, at which time you took her with you. Are you telling me that Charlotte was aboard the Henrietta Dale when she ran aground?”
“That’s precisely what I am telling you,” Seavey said. “Charlotte served as chef for the opium smokers in my great cabin. It worked out well for all concerned, in my opinion. I needed a beautiful and charming chef to help my passengers enjoy their experiences with my pipes, and Charlotte needed a place away from the waterfront to heal.”
Hattie gasped, her hands flying up to cover her mouth, her expression stricken. “What?”
“Oh, dear,” Charlotte murmured, looking apprehensive.
Seavey frowned. “You needn’t be worried, my dear, that Charlotte was in any way treated poorly. Indeed, she was working in luxurious surroundings, handling beautifully designed cloisonné enamel boxes, intricately carved jade pipes … and, of course, serving a number of Port Chatham’s societal elite.”
“But to expose her to such wanton activities …” Hattie’s voice trailed away.
“Truly, I thought you knew, my dear. Charlotte came under my protection from the time she was beaten until the shipwreck. I had no expectation that Garrett would heed my threats to leave her alone; therefore, the only logical method of concealing her and keeping her away from him was to bring her on board.”
“You thought the further ruination of an innocent such as Charlotte by introducing her to an opium den was preferable to leaving her under guard in your hotel?” Frank asked, his expression incredulous.
“My bodyguards accompany me at all times,” Michael snapped, losing patience. “Forgive me, but I didn’t trust any of my other men to keep her safe. Would you have had me put her at further risk? All because of the possibility that she would be exposed to a few upper-crust guests who smoked a drug that was, may I remind you, legal at that time? In luxurious surroundings, rather than in the squalor of a common opium den? Good God, man! It’s not as if I forced her to smoke the stuff!”
“Frank, please,” Charlotte chided softly. She fidgeted in her chair. “The decision was not Michael’s alone—I asked to come along. I knew Jesse would be on board, and I … well, I felt comforted by that knowledge. Jesse had become a dear friend, and I was petrified that Garrett would make another attempt on me the minute Jesse and Michael left town.”
“Well, I’m confused,” Jordan said. “I have a list of the survivors of the shipwreck, and, Charlotte, your name wasn’t on it. I thought you didn’t die until a year or two after the shipwreck.”
“That’s correct,” Charlotte replied. “I was murdered on the waterfront approximately a year later, in an unrelated incident.” She shook her head, folding her hands in her lap and refusing to meet Hattie’s eyes. “You must understand. By the time I was rescued, I knew that Jesse was dead, and I had no idea what had happened to Michael or his bodyguards. I had to protect myself from Garrett, and the only way I knew how was to make him think I had gone down with the ship as well. When I saw Eleanor’s reporters lurking about …” She looked at Jordan. “The reason you didn’t see my name among the survivors is that I gave the authorities a false name.”
“Dear God, Charlotte.” Hattie wrung her hands, her expression distraught. “Why haven’t you told us about this before now?”
“Because I didn’t want you to think any less of me than you already do,” her sister admitted softly. “I knew you disapproved of smoking opium, and that you didn’t want to hear that I might have been pulled into that culture by Jesse. And to have been a chef for Michael … Well, I thought you’d blame him even more than you already did.”
“So let me get this straight,” Jordan interposed, before the conversation devolved any further. “Charlotte, you’re telling me that you were on board the night the Henrietta Dale ran aground, and that you witnessed the entire incident, including the attempted rescue and the sinking of the ship?”