Free Kathleen Y'Barbo by Millie's Treasure Page B

died in a shoot-out trying to kill your wife.”
    Lucas shook his head. “That was almost two years ago, and no one is going to hold the man’s wife and daughters responsible for bad decisions they did not make. But let’s change the subject. How did the test flight go?”
    “It went well. I think its time to go back to the lawyers and complete the patent application for the steering device.”
    “That good?”
    “Better.”
    “About our patent attorney...I bring good news.”
    “Oh?” Kyle’s hopes rose. They had at least a dozen inventions awaiting approval and twice that under consideration by the patent attorney. “Which one?”
    “The weapons noise reduction system,” Lucas said with a look of satisfaction.
    “That is good news. I have not yet had reason to use mine in the field, but having the noise of gunfire reduced or eliminated completely is going to prove useful.”
    Lucas nodded. “Apparently we should also get good news on the crystal oscillator, the electrostatic precipitator, and the radio direction finder soon. But enough of that. Tell me more about the flight tests. Were we correct in our fuel calculations?”
    “I was able to sustain flight for a quarter of an hour with fuel left for at least another ten minutes.”
    He continued to field questions from Lucas, carefully avoiding any indication he did not take the test flight alone. Finally his old friend stopped to regard him with an amused expression.
    “All right, Kyle, what are you not telling me?”
    Shrugging, he shifted positions to pick up the brass voice tube. As he pretended to study the piece, his mind conjured up and discarded several possible answers.
    “Come on, buddy.” Lucas leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “What are you keeping back?”
    Scientifically, the information was significant. Personally, he would catch all sorts of grief once his best friend knew he had taken a woman on his test flight. A beautiful woman who carried a revolver, quoted aerodynamic theory, and danced across a ballroom like—
    “Who is she?”
    Kyle snapped to attention and banished his errant thoughts. “She?” He cleared his throat. “All right, she was an unexpected copilot on tonight’s flight. And before you start making jokes, we were not given much of a choice. We were locked out on the roof of the Cotton Exchange and the only exit was by air.”
    “Go on.”
    “That is all there was to it. I just helped a lady out of a situation that was not of our making.”
    “You expect me to believe you and a young lady on the roof of the Cotton Exchange is a situation not of your own making?”
    Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “I expect you to take me at my word, yes.”
    “One more question.” Lucas’s expression turned serious. “Is she pretty?”
    Kyle picked up the nearest pillow off of the sofa and threw it at him.
    Lucas dodged and then laughed. “I will take that as a yes. And now to the other reason I decided to crash your little New Year’s Eve party.” He paused only a second. “Tucker.”
    Among the Pinkerton Agency’s list of missing fugitives, Will Tucker’s name stood out because of his personal connection to Lucas McMinn. Not only had Tucker scammed Lucas’s sister Mary in a false bid to wed, but he had also done the same to Flora Brimm, now Flora McMinn.
    Unlike Mary, all Flora lost was a pair of earrings. Mary McMinn had a watch and her life stolen from her, though technically she died in an accident. If Will Tucker had not failed to arrive at the church, Marywould never have run directly into the path of that New Orleans streetcar.
    When the criminal was finally caught and sent away for an extended stay at Angola Prison, both Kyle and Lucas had celebrated. In a cruel twist of irony, Tucker escaped his prison transport vehicle on the same day Lucas married Flora.
    Now, more than a year later, Tucker still had not been caught. But he would be.
    Lucas reached into his pocket and retrieved a small black box,