Unending Devotion (Michigan Brides #1)(54)
“Good cookies,” Stuart said again, as he had after each one he ate.
From her spot across the dining-room table, Vera narrowed her eyes on Connell. “At least one of you will go home with a full belly.”
From the way Vera hovered over Connell every time he came into the Northern, it was clear she missed him.
Since the day he’d moved out, guilt had crawled in Lily’s stomach and made a home there.
It was her fault for the upheaval, for the disruption to everyone’s lives, for Vera having to lose her favorite boarder, for the drop in Stuart’s newspaper circulation since they’d announced the start of the Red Ribbon Society. She’d even cost Oren some business the past Sunday, when one of the camps refused to let them set up and take pictures.
She’d caused them all unnecessary trouble. And if they helped her now, she’d make things even worse for them, much worse.
She traced a finger along the diagram of the Stockade. Well, it wouldn’t be long before she’d be gone and out of their lives. With Daisy.
Her finger found the small square on the map with the word Bella scribbled inside. Her pulse pattered with the same staccato as the ice-snow mixture that pelted the window. Daisy was there, in that very room.
Stuart’s assistant, Bass, had willingly provided them with all the information they’d needed about the Stockade. He frequented the place often enough to draw an outline of the inside of the building, including the stairways and rooms, the livery, the distances to the palisade, and even the location of the outhouse.
And over the weekend, Bass had managed to get one of his regular girls to tell him more about Bella, where her room was located, and how to get to it. For extra cash, he’d even bribed the girl to deliver a note from Lily.
During the past several days since then, Lily had expected Daisy to try to smuggle a note out to her. She’d waited and hoped for some sign her sister had received her message and that she would be alert and ready for their rescue attempt.
But there had been nothing from the Stockade except silence.
And yet, Lily had decided she wouldn’t let the lack of news discourage her. After all, how could Daisy manage a note without putting herself in danger? She was likely trying to stay safe and waiting expectantly for the rescue, as Lily had instructed her.
“What about the bouncers?” Connell pulled off his glasses. “If Carr’s got them at every stairway and in each of the girls’ hallways, we’ll have a difficult time sneaking past them.”
Stuart stared at the diagram and rubbed his hand across his beard, wiping away cookie crumbs. “That’s going to be one of our biggest obstacles.”
“According to Bass,” Connell continued, “no one can get past the bouncers unless they’re with a girl and have already paid for the time with her.”
“Then each of us will just have to pay for girls—”
“Come on, Stu. You know that won’t work.” Connell’s voice was punctuated with a frustration that only seemed to grow with each passing evening they met to discuss the rescue plans. “If either of us takes one step inside the Stockade during business hours, Carr will suspect we’re up to something. He’ll have his bouncers all over us.”
Lily sighed and wished she could tell them to go back to Stuart’s house, that she didn’t need their help, that their plan to sneak inside was completely foolish. If she allowed them to carry through with it, they’d be walking into a deathtrap.
She stifled a sigh and tried to convince herself again that her decision to make the rescue by herself was right. She’d have a much easier time sneaking through the shadows unseen and unheard compared to the two of them.
Besides, hadn’t she already successfully rescued several girls that winter?
Yes, her plan was much safer. It was the only one that would work, especially if she hoped to keep Connell and Stuart alive. But if Connell figured out she was going into the Stockade by herself, he’d tie her up and lock her in her room.
She studied the diagram again. She’d need to know every bump and corner so well that she could traverse it effortlessly in the darkness of night.
“So what do you suggest we do?” Stuart had asked that exact question so many times she’d lost count.
“We’ll have to sneak in after visiting hours are over,” Connell replied. “Next Saturday. After the boys are all passed out drunk.”
“But we’ll still have to get past the dogs and the bouncers, no matter what time we sneak in.”
“I’ll have my knife,” Connell said, but there was something in his tone. Something that said he didn’t think they really had much of a chance of succeeding.
Or maybe he hadn’t dedicated his heart to the plans to begin with. Hadn’t he told her that anyone who took a stand against Carr would face dangerous reprisals and loss of business? If he helped her free Daisy and lived to tell about it, he would make an enemy of Carr.
Sure, Connell said he wanted to help her. She’d sensed his sincerity when he’d stopped her from going up to the Stockade in broad daylight. But she also realized in spite of all her talk about sacrificing for what was right, she didn’t want Connell to get hurt. Or Stuart. She didn’t want to put either of them in danger.
“Your yap’s been extry quiet over there, young lady,” Oren said gruffly between puffs of his pipe. “As quiet as a fox sneakin’ up on a hare.”