Mississippi Raider (14 page)

To prevent the police from
thinking he was a gentleman of leisure, as he put it—although not
in those exact words—Higgins ran a small, never very busy, and
far-from-lucrative shop specializing in the
locksmith
’s
trade on the fringes of the better part of town. Except on the rare
occasions when the business of the establishment had demanded his
attention, he had instructed Belle in the ways access to buildings
of various kinds could be gained and things inside opened by using
one from a set of what he termed “twirls,” but were more generally
known as “picklocks” and would eventually be described as “skeleton
keys.”

Having a keen brain and a
possibly inherited manual dexterity, which her parents had
encouraged to flourish instead of trying to crush it, as would have
been the case with many wealthy Southern families, the girl had
quickly acquired an affinity toward manipulating twirls. This had
led the little Cockney to exclaim on more than one occasion,
“You’re a
bleeding
natural,
Miss Boyd!” He had claimed that, as a result of his
guidance and her own ability, she showed a similar aptitude for
other aspects of the housebreaking trade. Furthermore, he had said
that if the need arose, he felt sure she would prove capable of
effecting an entry at above ground level in the fashion that was
his own specialty. In fact, he was so satisfied by her progress
that he had agreed without demur to let her put the training into
effect in a way of bringing herself to the attention of the people
she was seeking.

When the contingency had been
discussed, the Cockney had concurred with Belle
’s opinion that the intended
victim would probably prove too embarrassed to take legal action
should they be successful, and might even decline to do so on that
account if they were caught. If the latter assumption was
incorrect, she had promised to do everything in her power to
prevent his suffering the consequences regardless of what her own
fate might be. She had considered that her father and mother had
enough friends—some of whom were holding down positions of
importance, if not at the highest level, in Richmond—who would
exert pressure for her to be the recipient of lenient treatment
despite having declined to help her make the contact with members
of the Secret Service she desired. Nor, due to her determination to
take revenge upon the men whom she had seen personally murder her
parents and, she had learned, led the mob of drunken rabble that
burned down Baton Royale Manor, would she have been deterred if
this had not been the case.

With the instructions of the
day completed, Belle had returned to her room at the Sandford Hotel
to make ready for whatever activity she had selected as offering
the best chance of achieving her desire without needing to employ
the methods she was contemplating with the aid of the lessons
in
“crib-cracking” she was receiving from Higgins. She had
alternated attending the balls and soirees to which her social
standing gave her access without the need for a formal invitation
and visiting the less luxurious places where the lower ranks of the
Army and, to a lesser extent, Navy spent their off-duty hours in
more rowdy and less inhibited fashion than their superiors did
openly.

Although the girl had not thought that she
had made progress toward her goal at either type of venue as far as
she was aware, she had chosen the person she felt was the most
suitable—and deserving—subject for the more risky means she was
planning to put into effect.

Wilberforce Crumley was large
and overweight to the point where it was fortunate that he would
never be called upon to see active combat duty, not that such had
ever been his intention when choosing to join the Army instead of
continuing to run his most lucrative business as a cotton broker
along the Mississippi River in Louisiana. From personal experience,
Belle knew him to be pompous, overbearing, and not above stooping
to sharp practice when granted the opportunity. In fact, she
suspected that to be the main reason political pressure had been
exerted to have him appointed as a one-star brigadier general
without needing to go through the usual military process of gaining
practical experience while rising through the lower ranks of
officers. It had been thought that this was not needed for him to
perform his duties as head of the Quartermaster Corps. She had
heard that, probably because he had
the backing of men who had spent years in
that department of the Union Army prior to coming back to their
Southern birthplaces when it became obvious that war with the North
was unavoidable, he was running things with at least passable
efficiency. In spite of this, having found him no more likable in
his present capacity than he had been in civilian life during their
one meeting since arriving in Richmond, she had felt he would
receive less sympathy when it was learned what she was hoping to
bring off than would have been the case of a senior officer in a
more active command.

Having reached her decision,
the girl had not rushed blindly and recklessly into putting her
scheme into operation. Once again calling upon the practical
knowledge of how to carry out the kind of robbery she envisaged
long experience had given Higgins, she had set about learning all
she could to help bring her scheme to fruition. Accepting an
invitation to an afternoon soiree given by Mrs. Crumley—who
possessed most of her husband
’s outer physical appearance added to an aura of
arrant snobbery that had ruled out any misgivings Belle might
otherwise have had over the selection of the victim— she had
contrived to learn and make an accurate sketch of the building’s
interior layout and the grounds, which had caused the Cockney to
repeat his assertion that she had a natural bent for such
matters.

Contriving to meet Mrs.
Crumley
’s
white maid off the premises on the day following the soiree,
dressed suitably so as to avoid recognition as a guest who had
attended it and posing as having a similar and equally
unsatisfactory position with the wife of another senior officer,
Belle had made her acquaintance and, through her—taking care to
avoid arousing any possible jealousy by stating her firm attachment
for a sergeant major in a Cavalry regiment—that of a corporal
attached to the General’s staff with whom she was soon on good
terms. It had taken only a short while in their company for the
girl to conclude that the pair were ideal for her needs. Neither
had the slightest loyalty toward nor liking for their employers,
and when away from the house, made no attempt to conceal their
hostility.

Hired in the belief that she
gave an indication of greater wealth than would have been the case
with the more usual
colored servant in that category, the maid was embittered
by having to serve a demanding and far-from-generous mistress. An
old soldier disenchanted by a failure to rise higher in the ranks,
the noncom had a hatred of all officers. This was even more the
case with the one on whose staff he was currently compelled to
serve. Because Crumley was wise to all the tricks he had hoped to
employ, he was unable to augment his pay by the means he had
intended to use.

From the disgruntled pair, with the aid of a
few drinks in a tavern that she had claimed to be purchased with
money acquired from her much-disliked and unsuspecting mistress,
she had gathered information about how the household was run. The
most important factor to have emerged from her point of view was
that Crumley did not have the grounds guarded in any way at night.
Higgins, on being informed of what she had discovered, offered the
equally satisfactory news that, as neither Crumley nor his wife
could abide dogs anywhere near them, there were none on the
premises to make what was intended more difficult.

Although the girl would have preferred a
better-guarded place, as this would make the successful outcome of
her scheme more impressive, Higgins had stated that they should be
thankful for small mercies and take what was more readily available
than was likely to prove the case elsewhere. Never one to ignore
what she knew to be good advice, despite having declined to do as
Colonel Myles Raines had suggested at the conclusion of their
meeting, Belle had yielded to his greater experience. He had
carried out a personal reconnaissance under the guise of seeking
any employment for which his legitimate specialized knowledge would
qualify and had returned from it satisfied that she had done a most
excellent piece of work in discovering all she had to help make the
task easier.

Aware that General and Mrs. Crumley were
attending a ball being given by a prominent politician and would
not be home until the early hours of the morning, a situation of
which the girl had discovered the domestic staff would be taking
the fullest advantage, they had set out to put her plan into
operation.

~*~

After having made sure that there was still
nobody in the vicinity to see what was happening, Alfred Higgins
deftly tossed a padded sack, brought along for the purpose of
covering the shards of broken glass on the top of the wall, to
where he had decided would be the most suitable point at which
entry could be gained to the property. Belle Boyd and he were
meaning to remove certain items of no especial financial value, as
her intention was to arouse interest from the people she was trying
to contact by returning them the following day. With the necessary
precaution against being cut while going into the grounds taken, he
was about to turn, with his back against the wall ready for the
next part of the way they were to gain access, when he was
forestalled.

Adopting the position for the same purpose
before the Cockney could do so, the girl held her cupped hands
downward before her with interlocked fingers. Then she braced her
shoulders against the wall and gave a cheerful smile accompanied by
an upward jerk of her head. Both gestures served to satisfy Higgins
that she was not having second thoughts about engaging in what,
regardless of its motives, was an illegal action and, considering
the identity of the intended victim, might be construed as
something even more serious in time of war. He had known male
beginners at the house breaking business to be affected in such a
fashion when taking part in similar ventures. However, she gave no
indication of flinching from her resolve. In fact, her demeanor
suggested the opposite. She was determined to go ahead and willing
to face whatever consequences might result should they be caught in
the act.

Also grinning and making no
attempt to comment upon the change in the original arrangements,
ensuring that the items suspended from his belt were unlikely to be
shaken or slip free, the Cockney placed his right foot in the
cupped hands. Combined with the bounding movement he made, the
upward thrust from Belle
’s far-from-puny slender arms raised him until he
could hook his arms over and swing himself astride the padded sack.
Making sure it was firmly in position beneath him and he had lost
nothing from his belt, he bent at the waist and extended his hands.
With that done, he braced his legs more tightly on the protective
covering and gave a nod.

Moving around, thankful for
having decided to fetch a pair of boots intended for savate boxing
with the rest of her attire, the girl sprang into the air. Her
upraised hands closed on
Higgins’s wrists, and setting her feet against the
wall, she ascended swiftly, helped by the pull his small wiry body
was capable of exerting, until she too was sitting on the wall. A
quick scrutiny of their surroundings located no cause for concern
and the absence of any outcry indicated that they had been spotted,
so she turned to first hang and then drop to the garden. A moment
later, having a similar lack of difficulty and making no more
noise, her smaller companion joined her.

Exchanging looks redolent of
satisfaction, the pair advanced stealthily side by side through the
decorative bushes and across the lawn, which was now poorly kept by
the temporary occupants, or rather by those whose duties it should
have been to carry out the gardening duties. They arrived as
intended at the right side of the house, still without having been
challenged. Not that either was particularly surprised by their
invasion of the property having gone unnoticed. Going by what she
had seen of them and been told, General and Mrs. Crumley were not
the kind of employers to arouse the liking or loyalty of those they
hired. Therefore, as she had been informed by the embittered maid
would be the case—in the course of their latest seemingly innocuous
discussion regarding the less-than-likable qualities of their
respective mistresses— the almost total darkness of the building
and absence of noise from anywhere inside suggested that the whole
of the domestic staff were making the most of the
couple
’s
being absent by taking the night off.

“
Let’s
find out whether Fanny was making it up when she said they always
leave the French windows of that guest room unfastened,” Belle
whispered, pointing upward. “It’s done so they can sneak in, since
they got back late one night and everything was locked up. They had
to sleep in the stables, which she said they would have enjoyed if
they hadn’t needed to make sure they were up before the Crumbs woke
up, as they wouldn’t have approved of such goings-on between the
lower classes.”

“
They
must have a ladder to do it,” the Cockney guessed in a similarly
low voice, scanning the wall that rose to where a balcony jutted
out. “I could shinny up easy on the climb, but I wouldn’t think a
skivvy wearing a frock could.”