Saffire Read Online Free PDF Page B

it. I expect you to listen to my request with an open mind.”
    I gave a half smile.
    “I think you are working too hard at indifference. Along with revolver, holster, and books, your valise contains a mug, brush, and safety razor, yet here you are unshaven, as if to make a point.”
    He clearly wanted me to know that he had arranged for a search of my belongings during my time on the steamer. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I understood that.
    I shrugged one shoulder.
    “You’ll keep an open mind?” he asked.
    “You have a canal to build. I have a ranch that needs tending. Cows generally begin to calve toward the end of February, and I’m looking at three weeks to make it home. Most of all, I miss my daughter. So, at the end of today, I intend to be on the evening sail out of Colón.”
    Goethals said, “I asked our mutual friend for someone tough and smart and someone outside of Washington circles with good moral character whom we could trust. So far, with the exception of your indulgence in poker, I happen to agree with his opinion of you. However, given your attitude, I now wonder if he sent you simply to appease me.”
    “Or maybe he knew that I needed the bank draft in this envelope to make all the delinquent payments on the mortgage to my ranch, and he was looking for an honorable way to get it to me because of how my father and I helped him on occasion.”
    “That you’re okay with charity like that surprises me,” Goethals said. “I had been starting to form an entirely different opinion of you.”
    “He knows me well enough to know it’s a loan. The sooner I get back to my ranch, the sooner I can begin working in order to return him the money. With interest.”
    “Unless I decide otherwise.” Goethals leaned forward. “With just a couple words, I could ensure you’d spend a year in the Zone penitentiary—located, conveniently enough, here in Culebra—for any one of a list of reasons. You would not be working your ranch.”
    Now it was I who fixed my gaze on him. “I recall you suggested we proceed with this meeting like gentlemen.”
    “The man who sent you also put me in charge of completing this canal at any cost. And he gave me complete and unquestioned authority. Putting you in the Zone penitentiary
is
the act of a gentleman, compared to the alternatives at my disposal.”
    We had now hit a stalemate. “I have discovered the hard way that one of my weaknesses is the unwillingness to be pushed around, no matter the cost. I’d suggest you either call in your assistants to arrange for my prison time or watch me walk out the door.”
    Goethals leaned back and smiled. “Does that weakness of character explain why your nose looks like it’s been busted once or twice?”
    “Just once. One punch. Not that I learned from it.”
    “What if my threat to send you to jail was a test and you just passed?”
    “Do you have anything else you want me to listen to? If not, then I consider I have fulfilled my obligation to the man who sent me.”
    “Our conversation isn’t quite finished, Mr. Holt. Someone else will join us. He’s furious already that I did not allow him here immediately. I expect he’ll be petulant as a result, so don’t take it personally, especially because the petulance seems to suit his character and station in life. And, given his lack of stature, I find it adds an element of amusement when I am forced to deal with him.”
    “I am obligated to listen only to you.”
    “On the other hand, petulance diminishes you. I’m guessing you’re aware of that and already regret it.”
    I sighed. Would I ever be successful at reining in my spitefulness? “My apologies.”
    “Accepted. Let’s be clear on something before he joins us. Only you and I know who arranged for your trip to Panama. I think it would be wise to keep it that way.”
    “Of course.”
    “Thank you. Now let’s bring in Cromwell.”
    I lifted my eyebrows. “William Nelson