Into the Dark (Alexis Carew Book 1) by J.A. Sutherland

Author:J.A. Sutherland [Sutherland, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-11-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Quite a large place,” Caruthers remarked, nodding to the Coalson residence behind the fence they were approaching. The home was three stories high, of red stone and with two large wings to either side. It was fronted by a vast green lawn. They’d landed the boat in a fallow field far from the main house and its manicured gardens.

“Forty or more rooms, my grandfather told me when they were building it,” Alexis said. “The Coalsons and some few others were building alike.” She hesitated for a moment. “He wondered at the expense.”

She wondered why the captain had brought her along on this visit. She’d told him everything she knew about the Coalsons and the three other families, whose lands the smugglers had coordinates for, so she doubted she could provide any value planetside — and given her recent history with the man’s son, she doubted Daviel Coalson would be pleased to see her on his lands.

The three of them, Grantham, Caruthers and Alexis, backed by two marines, left the spacers with the ship’s boat and walked up the lane toward the house. The day was bright and warm, with few clouds, Alexis could smell the heather in the fields bracketing the road. It didn’t seem a day to be talking of smuggling and piracy.

As they neared the gates, they found a group of men waiting for them. Most were burly farmhands, but Daviel Coalson was easy to pick out. He wore jacket well-tailored to his fit form, and his graying hair was slicked back on his head.

“Captain Grantham,” he said, stepping forward to the gate but not opening it.

“Have we met, sir?” Grantham asked, stepping up to the gate as well. He held out his hand to the other man but withdrew it when Coalson gave no sign of responding in kind.

Alexis stood behind Lieutenant Caruthers, doing her best to remain unnoticed. Though she’d never met Daviel Coalson, word of her joining Merlin’s company must surely have spread and there certainly weren’t that many fifteen-year old girls in the Navy that the man would mistake her for someone else.

“There’s only the one Navy ship in-system, sir, and I’ve cause to remember your name. Your last visit to my lands left me several workers shorter.”

“We properly paid you their remaining indentures, Mister Coalson,” Caruthers said. “Left with your foreman at the site and all according to law.”

“With Navy Drafts! I’ve to wait six or more months on for payment while your chandler, that scoundrel Doakes, gets confirmation!”

“I understand your frustration, sir, I do. It’s no more than we have to wrestle with when dealing with the Prize Court and the men’s pay each month.” Grantham smiled. “Why, just last week, we took a prize outside this very system, but once we deliver it to Zariah. it’ll be a year or more, no doubt, before we see the Prize Court’s findings on it.”

“A smuggler, you say?”

“Indeed, bound for Dalthus with pirated goods, no less.”

“I see. What brings you to my lands again, Captain?”

“I’d prefer to discuss it inside, sir, if we may.

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