"Previously on Crossbones..." "Several times, I saw such maladies treated with an instrument called a trephine." "And what does one do with such an instrument?" "One drills a hole in one's skull." "My letter to the Commodore, it mentions you." "What more do you want?" "There's no more." "This is it." "One word in the right ear, you would hang." "Not if I silenced your tongue." "Rose, is that you?" "James Balfour, jacobite and rebel." "We're enemies, then." "I was something different when I came here." "You were what?" "A King's man." "A spy?" "The surgeon." "What about him?" "He's an assassin." "Mr. Lowe, are you kidnapping me?" "I am." "Just concede you're my accomplice." "Let's go drill a hole in my head and let the demons out." "His pulse has steadied, and the fever has abated somewhat." "Are you giving him water, keeping the windows open?" "It's important that you allow the clean air to blow away the miasma." "I am doing as directed." "Then with luck, he should soon be well." "And without luck?" "He has the luck of the devil." "When did you last eat?" "Not hungry?" "I've heard it said that when a fugitive from justice is finally apprehended, they sleep like a newborn." "It's the relief of it, I suppose." "And yet they tell me that you haven't slept but a moment, that day after day, you sit here, alert and silent." "The discipline of that is really quite breathtaking." "But everything you do takes discipline." "A man doesn't just wake up one morning and find himself a legend, the stuff of ghost stories." "He becomes a legend through force of will." "Everything about you is the product of exertion, even this silence." "When first I heard you had a wife, I was jubilant." "We sailed there to Carolina province." "And, oh, my, how beautiful she is, Antoinette." "And you made her such pretty promises to come home from the sea." "It's the one thing you failed at, Edward, to shrug off this carapace you created for yourself, this blackbeard." "You created the legend to serve you, and you became its slave." "And now you look into the eyes of the man who's going to hang you, who's going to slice open your belly and watch the offal slide out of you." "How can I help?" "A little arsenic to sip with breakfast?" "You could lend me your ear." "That's all you want from me now, my ear?" "I've come to express my contrition." "Oh, for what?" "Well, much as I'd like to imagine the event had passed from your memory... oh, it's not forgotten, Tom." "But you may consider it disregarded." "This is a violent place." "Think no more of it." "Still, it wasn't my intention to add to the sum of that violence, and for that, I beg your forgiveness." "You don't need my forgiveness." "I very much do." "It's not a crab's fault that it must walk sideways or a jackal's that it has a taste for carrion." "Such creatures exist as God created them, as, I suppose, must you." "So it's not a matter of forgiveness, so much as acknowledgment of your nature." "You're correct, of course." "But for what it's worth, I am sorry." "Tom." "You should leave." "No one wants you here." "But that's the price of a secret island:" "You can arrive, but you can never leave." "If the Commodore doesn't live, these people will lynch you." "Do you have a moment?" "Of course." "I am so... so sorry." "So sorry." "I'm s..." "So sorry." "I'm so sorry." "Bitch!" "How long has she been mad?" "When I told her I held you captive and that neither she nor her children would ever set eyes on you again, she railed, and she screamed, and she smashed mirrors, and she cursed you, and she called on the devil." "And when she did, I swear the room went cold, as if a cloud had passed in front of the sun." "And then she said needed to take the children for a walk." "She carried them to the cliffs at the edge of your estate." "She held your son by the hand and your daughter to her breast, and she stared out at the horizon as if waiting for a ship to appear," "I guess as she'd waited many times before." "And then she gave them to the sea, Edward." "Your son screamed." "He screamed and screamed all the way down." "And your daughter, she fell silent as a snowflake." "She gave them to the devil, Edward, to attend her mad curse on your soul." "Out of all the deaths that I pray weigh heavy on your conscience," "I pray that these weigh heaviest of all." "And as I look upon you, I pray there truly is a God, for if there is a God, then there must be a hell for you to burn in." "Close the door." "No one can hear, Miss." "So what's the matter?" "I was just wondering, have you seen Rose?" "Since when?" "A few days ago." "I don't know." " A week?" " A week?" "Or so, yes." "Where could she have gone for a week?" "We thought perhaps someone had chartered her." " Does that happen?" " Once in a while." "She once spent a week with the Commodore, a birthday gift from Mr. Rider." "Oh." "Then I'm sure she'll resurface." "The thing is..." "Be assured there's nothing you cannot say within these four walls." "You're free here from judgment or hazard." "Well, before she evanesced, she spoke of a letter." "What letter?" "She said if she was to come to any harm, this letter should be given to the Commodore." "And what did she mean by "come to any harm"?" "She said there was a person on the island who might wish her ill." "Did she said whom?" "No." "But someone broke into Rose's lodgings last night." "And you think he was hunting for the letter?" "Did he find it?" "He didn't." "How can you be sure?" "Nelly, you're safe here." "She said give it to the Commodore, but the Commodore is indisposed, and the lady of the house won't take visitors." "But it's been so long, and I can't sleep with the anxiety of it." "And then there was last night..." "Damn." " What?" " What?" "It's Nenna." "Nelly, did Nenna see you come to me this morning?" "I don't know." "I didn't notice." "I was watching the men." "I kept my head down." "I was scared." "And not without good reason." "If something has indeed befallen Rose and Nenna is found responsible, then it's the rope for her." "And she won't allow that." "She'll do anything to protect herself, including killing Nelly and her child." "And us." "Indeed." "I can't think of a worse enemy to make on this island than Nenna Ajanlekoko." "She saw you come here." "She knows." "Morning, Tom." "I think you might have something of mine." "I may have something you desire." "That doesn't make it yours." "It does if you're a thief." "So where is it?" "Safe." "Safe where?" "In your pocket, I suppose, or yours" "Well, if I told you that, it wouldn't be safe, would it?" "Perhaps not." "But I'd be in better spirits." "No, you wouldn't." "No?" "And why not?" "Because once you had the letter, you'd be compelled to take the next logical step and kill everyone who knew it had ever existed." "Do you know how many people on this island hate you, Tom?" "Most of them, it would currently appear." "And if I were to kill you right here and now, who would raise their voice in protest?" "Do you think you could do it?" "Kill me here and now?" "I think you're a good fighter." "I think you've got skill and experience." "But I'd win." "Perhaps..." "On a very good day with a fair wind." "But what about Nelly?" "Fletch?" "'Cause you can't kill everyone." "Well, you can't kill everyone and get away with it." "So what do you suggest we do?" "Nothing." "Whatever you did, Nenna, it's none of my business." "And I've no desire to see you hanged." "But I have a duty of care to Nelly and her child." "You have my word that none of us shall ever speak of what you've done." "But if harm should come to Nelly or to her child or to Fletch, that letter will find its way to the Commodore." "I won't be in your debt, Tom." "This isn't a debt." "We're in check." "I don't play chess." "I can teach you." "I didn't say I can't." "I said I don't." "So where does that leave us?" "With you giving me exactly what I want, or I will kill you all right here and now." "And hang for it?" "Let's see." "I thought you kicked that habit." "I kicked the old habit." "You've caught me considering a new one." "It's not easy, is it, having an itch you can't scratch?" "What itch do we mean?" "Not opium, I suspect." "Tom Lowe." "He seems able to do what he wants with whomever he chooses..." "Alain Mersault, Charlie Rider, the Commodore, Kate, you, and now Rose." "What do you mean, Rose?" "I think it's time you and I put a stop to him." "I need an item, something that will be widely recognized as belonging to Rose." "Why?" "To plant in Nenna's home should we need to incriminate her." "But we don't need to lie, not if Nenna really did hurt Rose." "Sometimes a lie can be used to amplify the truth." "Rose gave me this, a gift for my daughter." "Does anyone know?" "It was private." "And it can easily be recognized as belonging to Rose?" "The girls will swear to it." "Excellent." "What are you doing?" "It needs to be placed in such a manner that a reasonable mind will conclude that it was torn away during a struggle." "The two of you should remain in the clear sight of others until I return." "Don't, under any circumstances, allow yourselves to be alone with Nenna." "But if that should occur, don't hesitate to use these." "If the moment should come, then commit to it." "Aim for the head." "Don't hesitate." "A bullet is faster than a person with a knife but not as much faster as you'd think." "If you hesitate to shoot, even for half a second, she'll be upon you, and you'll be dead." "Are we clear?" "Good." "You wanted me?" "Yes." "I was wondering if you knew where Nenna might be." "I don't." "Why?" "Charlie, I can't say." "I swore to her that I wouldn't." "James, is she in trouble?" "Move along." "Move along." "What are we doing here?" "I'm lost." "You got away with killing Alain, but you won't get away with this!" "Mr. Lowe, what happened?" "Come on." "No!" "No!" "No!" "Oi!" "Don't be silly!" "Leave him be!" "He's your lover's servant." " He can't be trusted!" " He's one of us." "He is a dog who will do his master's bidding!" "Then pass him into my custody and I'll keep him free of his master." "Charlie, I have no love for this man." "And you, as much as anyone, must know why." "But Tim's an innocent in all this, and I think you know that too." "Where is she?" "Who?" "That's very good." "That's outstanding." "That's..." "That's commitment." "Show some sense, Charlie." "Do you think I did something to Nenna?" "Nenna's doing this to me." "She's brilliant." "She's using me to conceal that she's leaving the island." "And why should she do that?" "Well, you know her better than I." "Perhaps you have an idea." "There's a letter." "What letter?" "In which Rose accuses Nenna of thieving from you all." "Shut up." "Rose was blackmailing her." "Shut up!" "And Nenna shut Rose's mouth, took her stolen money, and ran!" "Shut it!" "The law requires that any charge against me be proved, Charlie." "If the Commodore wakes to find me dead without good cause, he'll hold you responsible." "And you know he'll punish you accordingly." "Well, the Commodore hasn't woken, has he?" "No." "But he will." "Well, then you'd better pray that he does, Tom." "Because the longer he's in slumber, the closer these people come to rending your flesh off your bones!" "Captain?" "I called his name!" "Azazel..." "Captain..." "Baphomet, Beelzebub, Belial, Samael, poison of God, Iblis, Shaytan," "Leviathan..." "Captain, we must leave." "Iblis!" "Iblis." "Leviathan!" "Captain!" "I heard it screaming as it flew through the sky!" "Let's go!" "Blackbeard!" "Edward!" "On my mother's soul, he didn't do it!" "That's not an oath to be taken lightly." "On my mother's soul and my father's too." "On God's soul." "Well, let's not damn ourselves to hellfire for the sake of a conversation, shall we?" "Are you lying for him?" "I'm not!" "No!" "Would you lie for him?" "A thousand times and without regret nor conscience." "There is no lie I wouldn't tell if it would help him." "But this time, I don't need to lie, because this is madness." "Miss, he's innocent." "Perhaps you're blinded by love for him." "Which is no bad thing in itself." "Indeed, courage and loyalty is something to be proud of." "He didn't do it." "Why would he?" "How can you, of all people, say that?" "You know what he did to me." "He strangled me." "He put his arm around my neck, and then he... and here you are, alive and well." " Yes, but only because..." " What?" "Tim, if we're to help decide a man's fate, we should at least know the truth about him." "And the truth is, you have more reason than most to hate him." "And I accept that." "And I take no sides because it's not my fight." "But that doesn't mean that you know more about him than I do or that your opinion of him is worth more than mine, because it isn't." "And what if I were to prove otherwise?" "You couldn't." "What if I were to tell you that Thomas Lowe was the man that did this to me?" "What do you mean?" "Did what?" "Tom Lowe had me arrested." "Tom Lowe had me tortured." "I was a jacobite, Tim, part of a secret rebellion that sought to depose the King of England and replace him with a true heir." "And you told me a traitor betrayed you to the English." "And so he did." "But that's not the full story." "Then what is?" "The English placed a spy in Scotland." "His mission was to identify and eliminate the Jacobite Shadow Council." "This was Mr. Lowe?" "We knew him only by a nom de guerre," "Beggarman." "It fell to me to identify and eliminate the Beggarman before he could complete his mission." "So I sought out his double agents and informants." "How?" "The usual way..." "Bribery, threats, blackmail, and betrayal and other, more direct means." "One by one, layer by layer, the Beggarman's informants yielded their secrets, and we inched closer to unmasking him, until the day came when we identified the Beggarman as an Edinburgh surgeon by the name of Hannay," "Richard Hannay." "So that's his real name?" "Not by birth, I suspect." "But even as we moved in to apprehend him," "Hannay made his escape." "He was gone, back to England." "It was many months before the Beggarman returned to wreak revenge in the name of his dead agents." "And thus, I was detained." "So you did see his face." "No, nor did I hear his voice." "I was arrested by his men, advised that should I give up the names of the Shadow Council, then I would be a free man." "But you said nothing?" "Because I believed in the cause." "Tim, he's a man without conscience loosed upon the world." "Be that as it may, be he the devil himself, he didn't kill Rose or Nenna neither." "And how do you know that?" "Because there was a letter." "Rose wrote a letter charging Nenna with any misfortune that might befall her." "And did you actually see this letter?" "Clear as I see you now." "And did you read it?" "Did you actually read the words on the page?" "Not as such, no." "Then how do you know the contents?" " Because..." " Tom Lowe told you." "So the only person who's actually read this alleged letter is Tom Lowe?" "I suppose so, yes." "Then what happened to it, the letter?" " It was hid." " To what purpose?" "To keep us safe, me and Nelly and the baby." "Safe from whom?" "Well, Nenna." "I see." "Good-hearted Tom Lowe once again working selflessly for the good of others?" "The letter was real!" "And so you can keep believing, so long as it stays hid." "Then I'll prove it." "Have you been laughing at me behind my back, passing me back and forth like a jug of wine?" "No." "I wasn't sure it was him, not until I heard him say what he said to you." "How could you do nothing, say nothing?" "He made you happy." "And my happiness is so important to you." "Yes." "You swore you'd never lie." "We lie to one another every day, Kate." "I lie by acting as if I really were the noble man you believe you married." "And are you not him?" "Proof." "Is that yours?" "It is." "And how did it come to be in Rose's hand?" "You know how, Charlie." "Nenna placed it there." "And she left poor Rose where she knew she'd be found." "Under the laws of this island, we find sufficient evidence that you killed Rose Dryden, a citizen of this land!" "Consequently, you are sentenced to death!" "Leave him alone!" "Leave him alone!" "Mr. Fletch, run!" " I can't!" " Get to safety!" "You must run!" "You know he's innocent of this." "You read the letter." "You know he's innocent." "You know it." "You did." "There was a letter." "It wasn't real." " It was real!" " What did it say?" "It was a cheap forgery." "It was real, you liar!" "James, what did it say?" "Did he do this?" "Did he do this or not?" "Mr. Lowe is innocent, and he knows it!" "Liar!" "Bastard!" "I trusted you!" "He's innocent of this, perhaps." "Are you really so cruel that you could just stand there and watch this happen?" "Does it please you?" "Does it satisfy you, this?" "James." "Stop!" "He's innocent." "I need to leave without anyone knowing I've gone." "It seems to me if we give them my death and put Lowe in the noose for it, then both our problems are solved." "I'm sure counterfeiting your own death isn't beyond your abilities." "Oh, I can stage a death easy." "So what do you want of me?" "There's a certain letter that needs to be found and destroyed, or Lowe walks free." "James, there are laws." "Whatever your motive, you accused this man without cause and let a murderer walk free." "I did." "I'm sorry, James." "Charlie, don't do this." "You can't." "Kate, we have laws." "To hell with the laws." "You know why he did what he did." "I know very well!" "And you should know that I don't want to do this." "What's the punishment?" "40 lashes." "40 lashes will kill him." "40 lashes would kill most of us." "Stand back, Kate." "Not on your life." "Let him go." "Kate, I bore false witness." "40 lashes for one lie?" "That allowed Nenna to walk free of her crime." " Drop the knife." " No." "Oswald, do you mind?" "I'm sorry, Kate." "Now, Mr. Eisengrim, where were we?" "Stop." "Under your laws, you allow an election of a scapegoat, a willing substitute to take the punishment for a given crime." "And who do you suggest?" "Me." "If James Balfour has done me wrong, it's because I've done him great wrongs in the past." "So here and now, let's wipe the slate clean." "Edward?" "Thank God." "Well, him or the other one." "Charlie, a moment, please." "Mr. Fletch." "You're a splendid surgeon." "So allow yourself now to be that." "Go home and prepare what needs to be prepared." "I want to stay with you." "I know." "But trust me, seeing what's about to come can be of no benefit to you." "Taking action, however, using your skills to help set things to mend, that will come as a great help to both of us." "What will you need?" "Tim, what will you need?" "I'll need bandages." "I'll need rum to irrigate the wounds, a strong needle, and waxed thread." "But first?" "I should soak both needle and thread in the rum." "Good." "Clear that table!" "Charlie!" "He's taken enough." "Why..." "Why did you tell them to stop?" "You're forgiven, Mr. Lowe." "Let it be." "I didn't."