Mysterious Signal (26 page)

Suddenly Dexter cried out as if he had been robbed. “Stop! Thieves!”

CHAPTER 21

O
n the street a woman turned toward Dexter as if wondering what to do. In that moment Peter leaped ahead, racing down the block. Suddenly he disappeared.

Where is he?
Libby wondered with her heart in her throat. After Dexter’s threat to Peter’s life, the possibility of his being caught filled Libby with panic.

Then, three buildings ahead, she saw Peter edge out from behind a tall man. On the boardwalk next to the street he darted between the people like a scared rabbit. Caleb followed next, then Jordan, with Libby running not far behind.

Filled with terror, she glanced back. Dexter was gaining on them now. As Slick pulled ahead, his boots thundered on the wooden walk.

Next to a tall brick building Peter disappeared once more.
Where is he?
Libby wondered again.

Then Caleb raced past an open doorway and disappeared. Soon after, Jordan vanished.

When Libby drew close to the doorway, she saw Peter standing in the opening, hidden by the wall. “Hurry!” he said and raced into the building.

As he ran through the store to the back, Libby followed close behind. There she found a flight of steps. Already Peter was partway up with Jordan ahead of him. At the top of the steps, Caleb looked down, waiting for Libby to catch up.

Up that flight of steps, then another, Libby raced. By the time she reached the third floor she was panting. Still running, Peter had taken the lead again. As the rest of them slowed down to see what to do, Peter hurried out a door.

A door? A door from the third floor?

But Libby had time for only that fleeting thought. From far beneath where she stood came heavy footsteps on the bottom step.

Again Libby hurried after the boys. When she passed through the third-floor doorway, Peter was still ahead, tearing across an iron bridge between the door and the street on the upper level. Again Libby glanced back. Dexter had reached the top of the stairs.

Libby’s feet clattered on the bridge. Through the iron grating she looked to the ground three stories below. For an instant her knees felt weak. Gulping, she caught her breath and raced on.

Her side ached now from running so hard, but Libby kept on. Not far ahead, buildings stood close to the boardwalk. Beyond one of them was a large tree. Suddenly Peter swung left, disappearing around it.

Moments later Jordan vanished, then Caleb. When Libby followed, she ran headlong into the arms of the city marshal. Catching her, he whispered, “Stand aside.”

As Libby obeyed, she saw that six or seven men waited nearby. When Dexter and Slick rounded the tree, the men surrounded them. Two men grabbed Slick. The city marshal
caught Dexter and twisted his arms behind his back.

For a minute Dexter fought hard, trying to get free. Then, as he saw the men who stood guard, he stopped struggling. His face red with anger, Dexter glared at Peter. “I will
still
get even with you!”

Turning his back, Peter refused to look at Dexter. But Libby saw the pain in Peter’s eyes. He didn’t need to hear Dexter’s words. Peter knew. As the city marshal and the other men led Dexter and Slick away, Peter’s gaze followed them.

Just then Libby remembered Pa’s loan. “What time is it?” she asked.

At the same moment Peter said, “Let’s go!” Back along the upper street they hurried, then down a long, steep flight of steps to Main Street. There Peter pointed to one of the beautiful new brick buildings.

While Peter and Jordan waited, Libby and Caleb crossed the street. When the door opened to Libby’s knock, a man invited them inside. In the hallway stood a tall grandfather clock. The hands pointed to ten minutes to four.

“Are you Mr. Thompson?” Libby asked. “I’m here for my father, Captain Nathaniel Norstad of the
Christina
.”

“Come in, come in,” the gentleman replied. He led them into a room with a large, highly polished desk. As Libby and Caleb counted out the bills, they laid them one by one on the desk. When they put down the last dollar of the amount owed, the grandfather clock struck four times.

When Mr. Thompson filled out a receipt he smiled. “That’s the most interesting delivery of money I’ve ever seen. But it’s all here.” In large letters he wrote across the receipt: PAID IN FULL.

“Tell your father it’s been a pleasure doing business with him. And with you.”

When Libby smiled, the weight she had been feeling fell from her. “The
Christina
is free!” she exclaimed as she and Caleb went back outside. “Free, free, free!” She wanted to run, to shout, to tell the whole world.

Then she remembered Jordan’s family.
Will this be a day of celebration for them? Where is Micah Parker now?

As Caleb, Jordan, and Peter went to talk with the policemen about the counterfeit press in Dexter’s house, Libby hurried through the streets. She could hardly wait to see Jordan’s sister Serena again.

Jordan’s mother worked for a steamboat captain whose wife had turned their mansion into a boardinghouse. Jordan’s family lived across the yard in the upper half of the carriage house.

When Serena opened the door of their home, she took one look at Libby and whooped with surprise. “Where’s that brother of mine?”

“Jordan is on his way,” Libby told her. “Is your daddy home yet?”

Instead of answering, Serena giggled. Libby decided Serena had a secret she wasn’t telling. But Libby knew she needed to squirm the information out of Serena.

“When your daddy comes home, it will be Jordan’s birthday,” Libby told her.

“His birthday?” Serena’s dark brown eyes held a question. “How do you know?”

Quickly Libby told about the celebration of her fourteenth birthday on the bluff above Hannibal, Missouri. When she had
asked Jordan his age, he didn’t know. Nor did he know his own birthday.

Libby paused, wanting to be sure that Serena heard what she said. “That’s when Jordan told me, ‘I want my birthday to be the day I know my daddy is free.’”

Serena’s eyes filled with laughter again. “Build up the fire, Libby,” she said. “We is making a cake.”

In spite of the August heat, Libby took kindling, then small pieces of split wood. Gradually she added larger pieces. By the time the heat of the cookstove made the kitchen unbearable, Serena had mixed all the ingredients for a cake.

“Are you keeping a secret from me?” Libby asked.

Serena wouldn’t tell her, but when she slid the pan into the oven she winked at Libby.

The cake was baked and cooling by the time Caleb, Jordan, and Peter returned. Serena even had frosting all mixed and ready to spread.

Only then did Serena tell her younger brother, Zack, “You’d better go and see if Momma can come home.”

Picking up the cake, Serena carried it outside, then down the steps into a small yard in back of the carriage house. On the ground she spread out a tablecloth, and all of them gathered around. Serena, Zack, and their little sister, Rose. Their momma and Jordan. Libby, Caleb, and Peter.

Leaning forward, Serena set the cake in the very center of the cloth. Then she and all the others began to sing. All the others except Jordan.

“Happy Birthday to
me
?” he asked when they finished. “Why do you think it’s my birthday?”

It was Libby who told him. “You wanted your birthday to
be on the day you know your daddy is free.”

“Free? How do you know my daddy is free? He can’t be really free till he reaches his family.”

Then, as if hiding from within, a light came to Jordan’s face. Suddenly he leaped to his feet. “Daddy!” he called out. “Where you hiding?”

With a shout of laughter Micah Parker came around the corner of the carriage house.

“Daddy!” Jordan exclaimed again, as if unable to believe that all of his family was together.

Ah!
Libby thought.
Jordan’s daddy
has
been here for a while. Maybe even four or five days
.

Then Micah opened his arms, spreading them wide. “Come here, family!” he cried.

In one swoop Zack threw his arms around his daddy’s waist. Following her brother, little Rose hugged her daddy’s leg. As Micah reached out, circling Serena’s shoulder, his arm caught Jordan in the hug. Micah’s other arm closed around his wife.

With his family gathered to him, Micah wore a proud look that reminded Libby of Jordan. Lifting his head, Micah looked upward and spoke softly. “Thank You, Lord!”

Then a tear slid down his cheek. As other tears followed, Micah bowed his head. When he began to sob, his tears fell on Jordan’s face.

When at last it was time to say goodbye to Jordan’s never-give-up family, Libby, Caleb, and Peter started down the tree-shaded street.

“Do you think Pa is here yet?” Libby asked. Seeing the Parker family together made Libby feel lonesome for her own family.

As they came out in the open, Libby looked down the steep hill toward the Galena River. There beyond the tall brick buildings on Main Street, she saw the
Christina
tied up at the waterfront.

“Do you see her?” Libby asked proudly. She felt glad that she knew enough signs to tell Peter too. “Isn’t she the most beautiful steamboat ever?”

But then Libby noticed something else. High on the hurricane deck a quilt hung from the railing. A quilt with a cream-colored background and dark red and blue pieces. From where she stood Libby could even see the paths created by colored pieces of cloth. The tracks of the Underground Railroad leading north.

Libby gasped. “My safe quilt! Annika must have taken it from my room!”

In a flash she remembered the teacher’s words. “
Whenever you look at your safe quilt, bring my words to mind. No matter what happens between your pa and me, I’m part of your never-give-up family
.”

No matter what happens …
But now Libby wished with all her heart that the quilt meant more.
After I left, did Pa and Annika become friends?

Catching up her skirts, Libby started to run. She ran straight toward the
Christina
.

In the dark of night Libby Norstad wakes up.
It’s quiet. Too quiet
. Then the rapid strokes of the ship’s bell. Libby leaps to her feet.
What’s wrong? What happened? Where’s Pa?

Minutes later out on deck, Libby hears the slap of paddle wheels against water. In the dense fog a steamboat whistles. A steamboat coming too fast, too close. Grabbing Annika’s arm, Libby yanks her away from the railing.
Run!

But out of the dark and the danger come the high notes of a gifted fiddler. Who is he? Why do his eyes seem to hold a secret? Why do both Jordan and Peter need protection?

Three suspects. Three directions from which danger seems to come. Can Libby, Caleb, Jordan, and Peter solve the mysteries heaped upon them? And what has happened to Annika? Will she be lost to the
Christina
family forever?