Free A Charm of Powerful Trouble (A Harry Reese Mystery Book 4) by Robert Bruce Stewart Page A

we’d scouted out the day before. It was nothing more than a vacant lot with a wide assortment of weeds poking through the gravelly soil. But off near the point, I spotted a pile of rubble from a collapsed shed. I fashioned a little bench out of some miscellaneous boards and we sat down and took turns scanning the river with the field glasses. The sun hadn’t risen, but it was light enough to make out all the tugs and barges.
    It was a cool, damp morning and Aunt Nell had nestled pretty close beside me. I heard her teeth chatter, so I gave her my jacket and put my arm around her. Then she laid her head on my shoulder and moved in even closer.
    When a fellow finds himself like that, with an attractive woman pressed up beside him, her hand warming itself on his thigh…. Well, by then I wasn’t feeling any chill, and I sensed that things were about to take on a life of their own.
    I hopped up and built a little fire, hoping to obviate any pretext for intimacy. But as soon as I’d gotten it going, she coaxed me back on the bench and we were right back where we started.
    I hopped up again, stoked the fire, and, before temptation made its presence felt, suggested I go see if I could procure some breakfast, as we’d gone out before the hotel kitchen had opened.
    “Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea,” Nell agreed.
    There was no way of knowing what had been going through her own mind a few minutes before, but I had the impression she’d been feeling the same ambivalence. Then again, she may have just been feeling the cold.
    It took some serious searching, but in due course I came across a lunch counter about six blocks away. I had the fellow wrap up some sausage and biscuits, then took that along with a pail of coffee back to our lookout. Nell was nowhere to be seen. I was sure I was in the right spot, so I didn’t see any alternative but to sit down and hope she had just needed to attend to things and would be back momentarily. I started on the coffee, setting the food aside until her return.
    At first. But fifteen minutes later I was feeling a little annoyed. So I got a head start on the sausage. It was very good sausage, so I had no trouble increasing my umbrage to a point that justified finishing it off completely. After that, it was the work of a moment to do likewise with the biscuits. I watched a couple more tugs on the river, but there was no sign of the Captain Shandy .
    A good half hour had passed since my return and I realized something was amiss. I stood up, ready to take some decisive action—and only then saw the note that had been pinned to the bench. Why I hadn’t seen it when I approached I can’t say. I suppose I was focused on seeing Nell. Or the food. Or perhaps some combination. It read simply:
     
    Highbinders spying on us. Will lead them off, you keep watch.
     
    I was relieved to learn I’d unintentionally followed her instructions. But why she was convinced these Chinese fellows were ruthless highbinders still seemed puzzling. They looked an awful lot like two of the farmers Willie had held conference with at the farm on Bowery Bay. And what harm could come from her leading a couple of Chinese farmers about Albany?
    That was my thinking until about nine. Then I started to imagine quite a variety of ways she could come to harm. And then my having to explain to Charlie how I sat enjoying the view of the river while his mother was being kidnapped by white slavers. There was but one choice: try to find Nell and hope we got back in time for the tow.
    I set out toward the main part of the city, visited both railroad depots, the capitol, the hotels, etc. Then I thought I’d check back at our lookout on the river one last time. The only ones about were a couple fishermen.
    “I don’t suppose you’ve seen a woman here this morning?” I asked.
    “Woman? What’s yours look like?”
    “Good-looking. Fortyish, but not at all matronly.”
    “Sounds just like my Celia.”
    “No, it don’t,” his