…some work in progress from the Cazique of Poyais story…

Gustavus was much obliging when Jose asked him for some petty cash to keep the group in lodgings and fed, quickly shoving over the equivalent of a few pounds to tide them over, but with the express instruction on where to find him should they need more.  They had bought themselves about a week or two.  It was the long game that mattered though — get all the money that MacGregor thought was his.  Most of it at least.

To that end they now had to find a front.  It was a particularly hard task as they either wanted some one in on it who wouldn’t get harmed or a swindler and scoundrel much like MacGregor who could take the fall.  There was a man they had in mind, who they fortunately met on their journey, though it wasn’t clear which camp he was in.  Everyone hoped for the latter as it felt a much easier task.

“Where did that man say he was from?” Asked Jose, straining to even remember the man’s name.

“Lehuby, wasn’t it?” Said Emma.

“It was,” responded Noemi, “though didn’t he say he was based in Le Havre?  Or was that where the company was?”

“That part I do remember,” said Jose, “it was where the company is.  Le Havre is a harbour town.  I think our man was a bit too stuck up to live there full time, so he’s bound to have apartments here in Paris.”

Pondering the whereabouts of Lehuby, they wandered along the Champs Elysee, staring at the wonderful buildings and the beauty of the city they were in.  No doubt there were parts far more unseemly, though they weren’t anywhere in sight.  Their task of finding a man in a city of men was somewhat helped this time by having far more information.  There must be a number of places where shipping types hang around in order to secure mandates.  It was just the small matter of figuring that out or finding a Paris address for the company.

“What was the name of his company, perhaps we could look it up?” Said Jose

“It was ‘Compagnie de la’ something,” said Noemi ever so slightly unhelpfully, as she knew.

“Yes, very good sister, we know it’s a company of something.”

“We’re never going to remember it when we are trying so hard.  Let’s go in search of the shipping owners’ hangouts and see if we can find him there.  I remember exactly what he looks like.”

A redness cane over Jose’s face.  Though he and Emma had spent many tender moments together over the course of their travels from London to Paris, there was such a tension about their plan and future that they had not shared another kiss.  The mention of her clearly remembering another man filled him with unwanted jealously.  Deep down he knew that it was just a comment.  People can recall strangers without it having romantic implications.  Still, the body reacted even where the logical mind disagreed.