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PART I
SPEAKING IN TONGUES

20-B
(Please note: This is the second half of a long-ass chapter.)

“WE WERE FOUR months in arrears. I wouldn’t have been as patient if I were a banker, not if I could see which way the wind was blowing. Not even being that far in the hole would make my daddy come crawling back to you for help, so what does that tell me?”

“I’m sorry about that,” the old man croaked. “But whatever happens here, now, I need you to know the last thing your father would’ve died of is a broken heart. He was too strong for that.”

Trey’s eyebrow rose.

“You were twelve, so he probably didn’t let you see how hard he would’ve had to work to cover for three boys and your mother. He likely worked himself into the grave.”

Trey’s lip curled. “How would you know?”

“That was how my father died. Young, though not that young. Working too hard for too little. He was a farmer too. I decided I didn’t want to spend my life making just enough to eat and working too hard to do it. So I—”

Trey held his hand up, and his grandfather stopped speaking. He had to think about this. All this time thinking his father had left him and … it might not be true. Of course his grandfather didn’t know for sure, but Trey did remember the long hours he and his father had put in to keep the farm going. They had been alone. Everyone around them was dead or sick from the flu enough that they would probably die. The flu wiped almost everyone out, except the bankers.

He might or might not change his point of view after contemplating it, but he would need time to decide what to believe.

“Crime pays,” Trey muttered finally, gesturing to his grandfather.

“That it does,” his grandfather murmured in return. “And it runs deep in the Dunham family genes.”

That shocked Trey, and he met his grandfather’s eyes, which, now that he was noticing, were exactly the same ice blue as Trey’s and just as unnerving as everyone found his.

“My great grandfather,” the old man said as he once again dug into his meal, “was a pirate who stole a king’s ransom of gold from a British pay fleet during the Revolutionary War, and my great grandmother was a privateer captain for the Americans. They came to blows somewhere in the Caribbean. Or so the story goes.”

Trey’s fork clattered onto the side of his plate. “The hell you say,” he whispered, shocked. Thrilled.

“I think,” he added wryly, “and if I remember my grandfather’s stories correctly. The pirate was ancient when I was a boy. My great grandmother was already gone before I was born, but I did find her letter of marque, so I know that was true. Her name was Celia. I have reason to doubt his story, though because he was supposedly also an English earl. The problem is, Dunham is an old name from Scotland, and was my great grandmother’s father, who was also a pirate on the Barbary Coast. Logically, the pirate’s name couldn’t have been Dunham, and if he was an earl, he would have had neither reason nor opportunity to be one, nor would he have gotten away with it.” He chuckled and shook his head. “My grandfather told the tallest tales. My father thought they were a riot, but didn’t believe a word of it. I hung onto every word, but those words were gone soon enough. His sugars, they said. Same problem I have. It’s apparently from my great grandmother’s side. That’s what she and her father died from too, I understand.”

Trey nodded vaguely, thinking. Still thinking. “Your father’s heart? My father’s too?”

“If I had to guess, yes. That’s what it sounds like to me, unless he was a drunkard.”

Trey shook his head. “Mama didn’t hold with that. I found out I like my whisky well enough, but I also don’t drink much, relatively speaking. Cocaine, aphrodisiacs, opium, peyote, reefer, heroin, whatnot—tried ’em all—make my heart drop out on the floor, which isn’t worth the high, so I don’t. None of that stuff. I don’t touch it.”

His grandfather nodded soberly. “Best you keep it that way. You have enough on your plate with Boss Tom.”

“Boss Tom ain—isn’t—my only problem,” Trey muttered.

“Oh?”

“John Lazia,” Trey admitted reluctantly, because that said too much.

“Ah. Well, I’ll not get into your business. I will say, whatever you’re doing, if you’re not in hock up to your ears—”

It was a question. Trey shook his head.

“—you’re doing well enough for yourself.” He paused. “So you really didn’t come here to see what you could squeeze out of me?”

“No. I overheard Boss Tom talking to Lazia. Said your name. He didn’t want Lazia to get you mad at him, and … All I wanted was to get answers my daddy would never answer. He and Mama wouldn’t speak of you, and now I realize I don’t even know her maiden name. I had too many of my own problems after he died to think about any of that.”

Trey had forgotten his grandmother was there until she began to weep again. Quietly. No one at other tables could hear. But Trey did and he watched her for a moment, wondering if he should do something to comfort her.

He turned back to the old man. “I do a lot of bad things,” he said flatly, “but I don’t shake people down. It’s easier to do business when people know you want a fair exchange.”

“Wise, too. But you’re getting your real money from elsewhere.”

“You don’t need to know all that.”

“I wasn’t asking. You’re my grandson. Dunham blood runs true, ne’er-do-wells, the lot of us. Or farmers, but it’s the ne’er-do-wells who keep the money flowing through every other generation.”

“Don’t know how you’re defining ne’er-do-well, old man, but you look like an e’er-do-well to me.”

“We make our money, then get out. Go straight.”

“They do?” Trey asked incredulously.

“For the most part. Can’t leave it behind completely because we have to protect ourselves, but yes. Always best to leave the table when you’re winning. Pigs get fat—”

“Hogs get slaughtered.”

“Indeed. I would be surprised if you didn’t have a plan, if you’re already that straight-shooting.”

Trey pursed his lips, wanting to tell someone, but needing to keep it to himself. “I have a plan. You don’t need to know that, either. You went straight from bootlegging to the bench?”

His grandfather gave him a crooked grin. “That path was not straight, but I did my best, yes. My grandfather was a lawyer. My father and great grandfather pirate were farmers—which is another reason I doubt the pirate story. Your father wanted to be a farmer as long as I can remember. Mother Nature would be his only boss. Now you— I’d bet my last dime you’ve been making plans to go to law school.”

Trey’s jaw ground.

“Have you graduated from high school, Trey?” his grandmother asked.

“No, Ma’am. Sixth grade.”

So it was his turn to shock his grandparents.

“I read a lot. I get tutors for math and suchlike. I had to, to learn to keep books properly. I do that well.”

“You speak and act well for someone of your education and occupation.”

“I go with nice girls who can teach me those things. I watch the folks who come into my— I watch the upper crust. Listen. Mimic. I get confused, though. Nothing sounds right to me when I’m in places like this, talking to folks like you. I go back to my life and continue speaking this way, and I get looks. I slip again when I come back into this life and I get looks.”

“I can teach you more,” his grandmother offered softly.

“I would like that, Ma’am, but I’ve been gone long enough. I need to keep an eye on what’s mine.”

“Protect your territory.”

Trey nodded reluctantly.

“What is your territory, Son? No use skirting it; you know I’ll find out within a day.”

Trey gave up with a sigh. “I manage 1520 Main for Boss Tom. It’s a speakeasy, middling-upscale. He stuck me there four years ago just to keep it limping along. Like a stupid sh—person, I made it into a bit more than that. I have the money to buy it, but Boss Tom would want to know where I got that much money and I can’t explain that without getting put in the river.”

His grandfather nodded and gestured with his fork for Trey to keep speaking.

“So Boss Tom made me a bet. About a month ago. I could have the speak if I get a particular girl … ” He felt his face flame.

Neither of them was following. Of course they wouldn’t. It was completely outrageous, and now that he cared about this cat’s approval, he was ashamed.

“I had two months to make sure she was in the family way. I have three weeks left.”

His grandmother’s fork clattered on her plate. He could barely look at her, but did just enough to see her wide eyes and hands clapped to her face.

The table was silent.

“Boss Tom wants revenge on her father. I don’t know what for. He made the bet after he saw me watching her to ask her out. I didn’t know her name. I only go with nice girls and I’ve never— Anyway, since I was already interested, he made the condition I was not to marry her first.”

“And you’re doing this,” his grandfather said flatly. Trey barely managed to keep himself from shrinking in shame.

“I am,” he said firmly, finally looking up to see an odd expression on his face. “I like her. She’s sharp, a little tetched in the head I think, but in an interesting way I can’t describe. Probably the way she’s raised.”

“You say that as if you intend to marry her,” his grandmother whispered. “After, I mean.”

Trey thought about it. “Maybe. I don’t know if I like her that much.”

“And what is she going to do if you don’t?” the old man asked tightly.

“Well, sir, probably the same thing every girl of her station does: get sent away to have the baby, give it to some family that wants a baby, then come back like nothing happened.”

“Is her family the type to take her back?”

“Yes,” he said firmly. “Her mother is grooming her to be her caretaker in her old age. She will not let that go. If this cat gets what Boss Tom thinks is due him, they’ll need her.”

“You are going to allow another man to raise your child? My great-grandchild?”

“Ye—” Trey scowled. “Uh … I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Well, think about it,” he snapped. “We might be criminals, but we keep our family together.”

“The same way you kept your family together,” Trey said blithely. To his satisfaction, the old man flushed.

Again the table was silent and Trey knew he’d lost the only family he had, now that he’d gotten warm to the idea that he belonged to someone. He quietly put his napkin by his plate and began to rise. “Ma’am. Sir. Thank you for supper and the fine company and the information. I appreciate it.”

“I didn’t say you could leave the table, young man,” the old man growled.

Trey looked at him, shocked.

“That’s dirtier than I have a taste for, but entirely something a Dunham would do, albeit he wouldn’t allow his baby to be lost in the wind with no thought at all.”

“I realize that,” Trey said warily as he sat, “after what you’ve said.”

“If you do this, and you get that speak, I will personally come to Kansas City to make you marry her. So you better make sure you like her that much before you get the job done.”

Trey’s jaw tightened. “I don’t buckle to force, old man. Bribery works. A fair exchange, definitely, but I can’t go that route. Coercion and extortion don’t work on me, either. Not for you, not for anybody. I’ll go down in flames first.”

“And how do you plan to get this girl in the family way?” he sneered.

“Not rape,” he sneered in return. “I don’t force anybody to do anything.”

“If you fail?”

“I won’t fail. Getting her pregnant was an order. Doing it in two months was the bet. I don’t know what will happen to me if I don’t get it done at all, which means I don’t know what’s going to happen to the speak. If someone else takes over … And there are a lot of folks wanting a piece of me … Anyway, it’d break my heart. So I’m going to get it done to win, because it’s mine already. I’ve worked too hard for that place and I won’t see my hard work go down the shi—drain without a fight. And if you think you can buy it and turn around and sell it to me, think again.

“I don’t know your connection with Boss Tom, but he’ll either torch it or kill me before you can get on a train to rescue me. Probably both. You want to keep me? —Which I don’t know why you would— Stay out of my business. Kansas City is not your town. Even the New York and Chicago outfits stay out. One bootlegger-turned-judge is not going to be able to save my life or my business, especially if Boss Tom put you on the bench.”

Elliott shook his head.

“Well, all right then. I’ll let you know if I need help after I win.”

His grandfather studied him for a long time, but Trey didn’t back down. He had nothing Trey wanted and Trey’s covetousness had already gotten him in hot water.

“Fine,” he finally said with a curt nod. “Do you need a place to stay while you’re in town?”

“No. I’m leaving tonight.”

“What’s her name, Trey?”

He looked at his grandmother, who still wore that pleading, hopeful look. “Marina, Ma’am. Marina Scarritt. Reverend Gil Scarritt’s her father, the one Boss Tom’s after.”

At that, his grandparents stiffened and exchanged a long look. Then his grandfather spoke in a tone that sent shivers down Trey’s spine.

“Do what you have to do.”

20B

If you don’t want to wait 2 years to get to the end, you can buy it here.

Speakeasy staff.