*
Jack and Ezra pushed Abbott and his butler into Garret’s office. The Captain of the Watch looked up from his desk, nodded at Jack, and grinned at Abbott. “What a pleasure it gives me to see you. I see that you met my friend Jack.”
Abbott drew himself up proudly and stared angrily at Garret. “I must demand that you let me go now. I haven’t committed any crime, and this miscreant here is arresting me illegally.”
“Is that so?” Garrett asked. “I’ll have to look into the matter for you.” He turned his attention to Jack and demanded, “And just why is this bastard here?”
“I need you to hold the both of them here for a little while,” Jack replied. “We have a good lead on where Lawrence Hanson has been taken.”
Garrett leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. His open fingers rested on each other, making a steeple. He said, “Perhaps we could hold them for questioning? It will only be for the night though. I just don’t have a lot of space right now, but I can always find a place for these two.” He then called in two of his men to take Abbott and his butler away.
Abbott stared at Jack as he was being led away. “I’ll be seeing you in Hell,” he spat.
Jack shook his head. “If I don’t see you first.”
“What have you two been up to?” Garret asked after the prisoners had left. His face was creased with interest. He motioned for them to take a seat, pulled a bottle out of his drawer, and took out three glasses. “Let’s have a quick drink and you can tell me.” He poured out the whiskey and sat back to listen.
Ezra took the glass and swallowed half of it in a hurry. “Jack and I have been busy. We have found out who was behind the disappearance of the Anaconda Plans.”
Jack nodded. “Yes, do you know someone called Ethan Davis?”
“I’m familiar with him.”
“We’ve met him over at the Hanson house. He was a bit of a bore and I would never have suspected him as being involved in this mess.”
Garrett filled up Ezra’s glass again and took a drink for himself. “Davis - I probably can’t tell you anything more than my partner already knows. He is quite popular with the society crowd. But he has never been in any trouble with the law.”
“Is he a Secessionist sympathizer?” Jack asked.
“He is from down south, but he has never shown any pro-Rebel sympathies that I’ve ever heard. What connects him with up with Abbott?”
“I have talked to that woman who Lawrence was seeing – Miss Mulholland. She mentioned that Davis was the one who set her up with Lawrence. She in turn was being blackmailed by Davis who was using her to get the love letters passed between those two.”
“So?”
“Well, if that was the case – how did Abbott get a hold of those letters? He had to have some hold over Lawrence to get him to steal those plans. The only way he had to get those letters was from Davis. I bluffed Abbott, and in the end he confirmed what I was guessing at.”
“You do realize that Abbott will be a free man by the morning. Will that give you enough time to get Lawrence?” Garret asked.
“We will be heading over to Stevenson’s house right now. If we don’t come back, then we fell into a trap. You’ll know who did it.” Jack finished his glass with a swallow and motioned to Ezra that it was time to leave.
“Ezra?” Garret growled. “Take care of Jack, will you? He sometimes rushes into things too fast and won’t watch his own back.”
The ex-slave smiled at the Captain knowingly as Jack left the room. “I’m used to the job.”