A Simple Deception

XXIII

"Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence." Ovid

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XXIII.

With a lack of any digging tool, Alex was forced to drag the master's body off the road and into the brush, covering it with branches and leaves. Belle stood motionless, still near the buggy as she watched.

Her golden eyes were wide and shocked, and she hadn't said a word. Alex didn't know if she was afraid of him, or afraid for them. For either, he did not blame her. But Alex couldn't let that happen. Not when he had the power to stop it.

The grave was shallow, and would be discovered in a matter of days, hours even, when the man's wife came looking for him. The moment the body was discovered, there would be a hunting party out for both his and Belle's necks. They would be hanged without trial, without even the blink of an eye for the murder of a white man.

It was the very reason why Alex had never fought back, not a day in his life, against the fists of a white man. And had the master come for him, he would have taken it. But not against a woman.

Alex needed to get himself and Belle off of this island, to get to a place where he wouldn't be out of place as a free black man. He needed to get to Haiti. He needed to find his mother and make a plan, find a way to get back to England, to get back what he was owed ... and to find a way back to Susanna.

Lord, what did she think of him? She probably thought he had just vanished, onto his next conquest, after failing with her. It wasn't right, and he couldn't live with the knowledge that Susanna believed him a false man.

Alex walked swiftly back towards the road carrying the coin purse from the master's pocket and quickly untied Belle's bonds. She tentatively rubbed her wrists as she watched Alex with a strange caution. He resisted wincing at her disgust.

"We need to get back to the port," he told her quietly. "We need to bribe our way onto a ship going to Haiti." He motioned for Belle to climb up into the buggy, and he didn't know whether to hold his hand out to help her or not.

Alex was forced to in the end as Belle was not strong enough to pull herself up into the seat. She was too thin, to weak, to manage such a feat on her own.

"Can I help you?" Alex asked.

Belle nodded warily.

Alex pulled himself up into the driver's seat and then held his hand out to Belle. She placed her small, thin hand in his and he effortless lifted her up onto the seat beside him. She self-consciously wrapped her arms around herself, as though she was trying to protect her torso.

Alex urged the horse on, turning the buggy around and heading back in the direction of the town. He would not ride back directly, not in the light of day. They would have to find somewhere to lie low, to hide and observe at the dock, before they made their move. If they were seen, especially after the master's evil corpse was discovered, it would be a deadly mistake.

Alex had never driven a carriage before, and he was much more comfortable on horseback. Looking at the carriage horse made him think of Argent and wonder at what had become of her. Knowing Len, he would have found some way to make money off of her.

He shook off the thought as they came to a mountain ridge that overlooked the port and the ocean. Alex nudged the horse off of the road, not wanting to stay on the path for any longer than was necessary just in case some other part came across them. He directed the horse into the jungle but couldn't take the buggy more than fifty feet inside of it before the ground became too treacherous. No matter, Alex thought. They were concealed enough for now.