Sinclair Shipping Offices and Shipyard
“Miss Sinclair!” Donald Treeman shouted as he jumped up from his desk in surprise as Cheyenne and Haa’estahetane entered the offices of Sinclair Shipping bright and early the next morning. “It’s good to see you again. Your uncle isn’t in the office yet this morning.”
“It’s good to see you again, too, Mr. Treeman,” Cheyenne told him. “The reason my uncle is not here is he is no longer employed by this company. Please bring all the records pertaining to the company into my father’s old office as soon as possible. I also want everyone employed by the company who is presently here in town in the meeting room after lunch. I think that should give you enough time to notify everyone.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Treeman answered as Cheyenne’s other cousin Ma’xehetane Collins entered the building.
“It was just as we thought once your uncle knew you were in town he came here and I politely informed him he was no longer allowed inside the shipyard or office building. I took his keys from him before he left,” Ma’xehetane informed her as he handed her the keys. “He was a very unhappy man when he departed.”
“He gave you no trouble?” Cheyenne asked her cousin. Ma’xehetane Collins was as large a man as his brother was but at five and twenty, he was five years younger than Haa’estahetane was. Just their size alone was intimidating and that they looked full-blooded Indian, which they were not. Their mother was full-blooded Cheyenne Indian and niece to her grandmother, their father was Irish.
“No he was rather dumbfounded to find me here. I gathered he thought you would return alone,” her cousin replied with a large grin on his face. “No one has taken anything from here since you arrived in town. With our arrival after dark and unannounced as we did, it took them by surprise.”
“Why don’t you go to the house and get some rest,” she told him “We have a dinner engagement tonight at the Duchess of Warrick’s house. I told Amanda we would be there around six.”
“I’m not sure you should leave this place unguarded,” Haa’estahetane told her. “What if your uncle returns tonight or sends some men to disrupt things.”
“I intend to hire new guards to add to those we already have for the office building and shipyards,” she informed them. “Mr. Treeman do you have a problem working for me and giving me your loyalty?”
“No, ma’am,” he answered her. “I want to work for you and you have my complete loyalty. Could we speak in your office in private after I accomplish what you requested me to do? There are some things you should be appraised of before you meet with everyone.”
“Yes, we will speak once you have completed the other tasks,” Cheyenne told him before she and her cousins left for her father’s old office.
Once inside they shut the door for privacy.
“I wonder what he wants to inform you of. Do you think he is trustworthy?” Haa’estahetane asked her.
“We will have wait and see. I’m not trusting anyone until they prove themselves,” she answered him as she unpinned her hat and removed it. Along with her reticule, gloves and hat she placed the items on a credenza along one wall of the office. She was dressed today in a high-necked long sleeved dark green dress with lace trimmings. Her hair done in an intricate array of twists at the back of her head secured with beautiful pearl combs. Cheyenne hated dressing up because she had to wear a corset and attach her knife to her thigh but she felt today that she needed to be in a dress and not her buckskins she dearly loved since her move west.
Before she sat behind her father’s desk, she looked around at a room she never anticipated ever seeing again. Last night the house brought back to many memories of unhappy times there and here was no different. Driving through the gates she almost expected to see her father and half brothers in the shipyard. How many times had she wished for any sign of love or approval from her father? She never received any from Grantham Sinclair and neither had her mother.
Naheso Sinclair made up for all the love and affection her husband never gave their daughter and Cheyenne still missed her after four years. Her father lived less than one year after her mother’s death having died in the bed of his favorite mistress.
“Memories?” Haa’estahetane asked her as she sat behind the desk.
“Yes, to many memories,” she replied, “but I don’t have time to dwell on them. I’m meeting with Amanda tonight for several reasons. One is I asked her to purchase Sinclair Shipping or to form a partnership with me and take over the operations of this company and then we will be able to return home. The other reason is if she decides not to purchase it, I am thinking about asking Captain Avery Murphy to run the company or purchase all or part of it. Amanda mentioned last night that she is moving her shipping company to England and I know for a fact Captain Murphy never wants to return there. Which would mean he will want something to do here unless he decides to stay at sea instead?”
“If the Duchess is moving her company to England and she purchased this one would she close it down and move it along with hers? If she did, cousin, what will happen to all the people here that have worked for Sinclair Shipping since your father founded the company almost thirty years ago?” Ma'xehetane asked her.
“I thought about giving them two years wages,” she replied. “I know some will have a difficult time finding work with both Herrington and Sinclair Shipping no longer here in the city. They may have to move to other towns to find the kind of work they do now but whatever happens I will make sure they are looked after. Right now, this is to be kept between the three of us. I do not want to stay here any longer than I have to.”
All three heads turned when they heard a knock at the door and Cheyenne bid whoever knocked to enter.
Mr. Treeman opened the door and entered carrying an armload of ledgers along with another man whose arms also contained more ledgers.
“Miss Sinclair, this is Mr. Perkins, one of the company’s accountants. I’m not sure if you remember him or not. He’s been with the company for over ten years now,” Mr. Treeman told her. “He is also someone else you will be able to count on their loyalty.”
“Yes, I remember Mr. Perkins,” Cheyenne replied smiling at the gentleman.
“Miss Sinclair,” Mr. Perkins said. “Mr. Treeman told me as of today you have taken over the company. I have known for sometime you were now the owner and was wondering when you would arrive to take the helm. The ledgers show what is in the company bank accounts as well as our clients who have purchased ships from us in the past or clients we are presently building new ships for. The ledgers I have here,” he put his arm load on her desk, “are what each of Sinclair Shipping cargo's, past, present, and future were. Have you been to the bank to be sure the money in the accounts is still there and no one has closed them today?”
“By no one I assume you mean my uncle?” she asked him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mr. Perkins replied. “I overheard him telling Mr. Stillings that you had inherited the company. Mr. Sinclair was not happy and he hoped you would not return but leave him in charge. Mr. Stilling told your uncle that he should start making sure he got what he wanted from the company before you arrived. That was about ten days ago.”
“Mr. Perkins told me what he overheard a few minutes ago and I told him to tell you everything,” Mr. Treeman informed her. “Mr. Stillings is not someone you will be able to count on, Miss Sinclair.”
“Thank you…both,” she told the men. “How much money should be in the bank accounts?”
“There are three accounts in the bank. One account is for the building of the ships, one for the operations of our own ships and their return profits. The third account is for payrolls,” Mr. Perkins informed her. “The ledgers show what should be in those accounts at the present time.’ He put three ledgers in front of her and Cheyenne opened the first one and thumbed through it until she came to the last entry and finding a piece of paper in the drawer and a pen she wrote down the balance and account number. She put that ledger aside and did the same with the other two ledgers and once she was finished, she totaled the amounts.
“Is my addition is correct there should be almost one million in the accounts. I saw where money was deposited in the payroll account a few days ago to meet the payroll for the end of the month,” she told Mr. Perkins.
“Yes, ma’am, your figures are correct,” he answered her looking at them on her desk. “If Mr. Sinclair was not able to get in here last night he maybe waiting for the bank to open in about an hour from now. If you noticed in the payroll ledger Mr. Sinclair paid himself over a year’s salary a few days ago.”
“Cheyenne, I think you should go to the bank to be sure nothing happens to the money in your accounts,” Ma’xehetane told her. “I’ll stay here with the ledgers and go over them since that is the reason you had me come along with you. I think Mr. Perkins along with my brother should go with you to the bank this morning. If need be we can postpone your meeting with the others until later.”
“Yes, I guess I should visit the bank. Mr. Treeman how many of the guards do you think we will be able to trust to not allow my uncle or anyone else he would send into the shipyards and this office after hours?”
“I know some of them,” he answered her. “Mr.Connors, Mr. Flynn and Mr. Shaughnessy seem dependable. The most of others come at night after we have gone for the day. I wish I could be of more help.” He turned to look at Mr. Perkins. “Do you know of any more?”
“Those you mentioned and along with Mr. Malloy and Mr. Baxter,” Perkins answered him.
“How did you get in here for the night?” Mr. Treeman asked Ma’xehetane.
“I told the three guards who I was and that my cousin had inherited the company and we arrived in town a few hours ago. I went on to explain that Mr. Sinclair would no longer be with the company and he was not to be allowed to enter the shipyards or the office. When Cheyenne’s uncle arrived, I was in the front guardhouse with Mr. Shaughnessy and informed Mr. Sinclair he would not be allowed in and had him return the keys. Mr. Shaughnessy seemed amused by the situation and how flustered Mr. Sinclair was. I think too, he is one you can trust, Cheyenne.”
“Miss Sinclair.” All heads turned toward the doorway when Cheyenne heard a deep voice say her name.
Cheyenne looked up to see at a tall slender attractive gray-haired man.
“Miss Sinclair, I am Gordon Abbott. I sent you the wire informing you of your inheritance. I left word with the butler at your brother’s house to notify me when you arrived. I overheard what you were discussing a few minutes ago and let me assure you that your uncle cannot take any money from the accounts and neither can you until we sit down and discuss the terms of your late father’s will if your brothers died without heirs, which they did,” Mr. Abbott informed her.
“According to Mr. Perkins my uncle was issued a check for a year’s salary a few days ago. I think we should make sure no more checks that large are cashed,” Cheyenne told him. “That was the purpose of our trip to the bank.”
“Yes I agree,” he replied and turned around to talk to someone standing outside the door she was not able to see. “Morris, get in touch with Mr. Leary at the bank and inform him about that check and find out if it has been cashed. If not make sure it isn’t and any others similar to that one are not cashed. Tell him to allow only the regular payroll checks.”
“I have no problem with my uncle cashing that check,” Cheyenne informed the attorney. “I will consider it a severance check I just do not want him or anyone else cashing anymore unusually large checks.”
“You heard Miss Sinclair,” Mr. Abbott told his man. “Take care of it.”
“Yes, sir, right away,” they heard a reply and Mr. Abbott turned in the doorway once more to face Cheyenne. “I would like to talk with you in private, Miss Sinclair.”
Mr. Treeman and Mr. Perkins nodded at Cheyenne and left the room.
“These are my cousins, Haa’estahetane and Ma’xehetane Collins” Cheyenne stated, “and whatever you have to say to me you can say it in front of them. They came east with me to help me decided what to do with the company.”
“Very well, then, I did not inform you of a certain clause in your father’s will when I wired you,” he said as he closed the door. “I know how you felt about your father and half-brothers and if I had informed you about the clause you would never have returned here.”
“Don’t tell me my father is reaching out from the grave to try to control my life,” Cheyenne retorted as she watched Mr. Abbott take papers from his leather briefcase.
“This clause was never read after your father died, Miss Sinclair,” he told her. “It was to be used only in the event both of your half-brothers died without issue, which happened to be the case.” He handed her a copy of the will. “You will inherit Sinclair Shipping along with the monies in the bank and the house if…if you are married or marry within six months from the time of your brother’s deaths. Since they died almost four weeks ago that leaves you with about five months left and I understand you are still single.”
The bastard! Cheyenne swore to herself. She would never marry any of the men he put forth to her. The majority of them older business acquaintances of his that he wanted to align himself with so now he was having his retribution for her not marrying any of them. She’d long ago told him what she thought of marriage.
“You’re right about my not returning here if I had known, Mr. Abbott,” Cheyenne informed him. “I have no intention of marrying anyone to inherit the company my father built. Haa’estahetane, Ma’xehetane I am sorry I dragged you here for no reason. We shall return home in the morning.”
“Who will inherit if my cousin does not marry?” Haa’estahetane wanted to know.
“Wilber Sinclair, her uncle,” Abbott replied.
“What is to keep him from trying to harm my cousin so she cannot marry?” Ma’xehetane asked him.
“No matter what happens to Miss Sinclair if she does not marry the company is his but he is not aware of this clause.”
“Seems to me Cheyenne’s father set her up for harm. Her uncle, if he finds out, will find a way to make sure she isn’t around long enough to marry,” Haa’estahetane told Abbott.
“We are the only four that know about the clause,” Abbott replied. “I have no intention of telling Mr. Sinclair about it.”
“How do we know for sure no one knows about it or her father didn’t tell his brother what was in his will without your knowledge. I am surprised Cheyenne’s father did not tell his brother or leave the company to his brother. Why did he put this clause in his will?” Haa’estahetane asked him. “Did her half-brothers know about the clause?”
“As far as I know no one knows about it but the four of us,” Abbott answered him. “But that doesn’t mean Grantham Sinclair kept this to himself. As to why I have no idea. I tried to persuade him not to write this clause but this is how he wanted it written.”
“I ran into my uncle last night at Amanda Herrington’s house and he was there trying to sell her Sinclair Shipping. If he knew I was to inherit, why would he have been there.” Cheyenne said thinking aloud. “But I would not put it past him to have paid a man in your office to see all of his brother’s will. I know he was upset when he wasn’t included when the will was read right after father died.” She remembered the letter Amanda had written after her father's death about just her half-brothers inheriting the shipping company. She chose not to return to Bridgeport upon his death.
“One other thing, you cannot leave here for the six months. You are to run the company until the time period it up or you marry,” he told her.
“I do not have to stay because my father decrees it from the grave, Mr. Abbott. I will go home tomorrow.”
“If you leave there will be no one to run the company and look after the people employed here. This company will be shut down until the time allotted is up, all of the employees will be let go, all ships ordered to the nearest ports, and the sailors along with the captains will be told to leave their ships. That was your father’s orders and stated in his will.”
“What!” all three cousins’ exclaimed at the same time.
“I am sorry Miss Sinclair but that is how your father wanted it. As I said before I tried to persuade him against this clause but he felt that was the only way to be assured you will manage Sinclair Shipping. I felt he wanted you and your children to carry on with the company he built and not his brother.”
Cheyenne walked to the windows and look out at the shipyard and all the men working there that would be without work and income if she walked away. “So I am damned if I do and damned if I don’t,” she told him and watched his eyes widen at her language. “If it wasn’t for the people and their jobs I would walk away in a heartbeat and he knew that.”
Four heads turned as the door burst open and Mr. Treeman entered as two men in guard’s uniforms forced another man into the room. “He was in the closet next to this room listening in on your conversation,” Mr. Treeman exclaimed a little breathless. “I got two of the guards to bring him to you.”
“Well, so much for the clause staying between us,” Haa’estahetane retorted then a mischievous smile came on his face. “Shall we scalp him now or later, cousin?”
“What!” the man yelled. “You wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me you heathen!”
Ma’xehetane pulled his knife from his belt and went toward the man. Everyone watched as he turned white at the sight of the huge knife and Cheyenne thought he might faint.
“Who is he, Mr. Treeman?” Ma’xehetane asked as he advanced on the man.
“This is Mr. Stillings,” Treeman replied. “He is the one we informed you about earlier, Miss Sinclair.”
“Ah, yes, the one that told my uncle he should get what he could out of here before I showed up to take over the company.”
Cheyenne saw the look of surprise come to Mr. Stillings face as he realized someone had overheard his conversation with her uncle. “Yes ma’am.”
“You’re not going to let that heathen touch me with that knife are you?” Mr. Stillings asked looking wide-eyed toward Mr. Abbott.
“You sure have a big mouth for someone in your position,” Ma’xehetane told the man. “I would keep it closed before you make me really lose my temper and do more than take your scalp white man.”
Cheyenne repressed a smile as she watched Mr. Stillings become whiter still. “So you overheard what we were discussing here,” Cheyenne asked him as she started toward him. “And of course you are going to tell my uncle what was discussed.”
“Yes, we don’t want any heathen woman running this company and telling us what to do,” he told her as he puffed up like some proud peacock.
* * *
Later that day at Wilbur Sinclair’s residence.
“What are you doing here, Stillings,” Sinclair asked the man upon entering the study after his butler informed him of Stillings arrival.
“I was fired today,” Stillings informed him. “But not before I learned of an interesting clause in your late brother’s will.”
As Sinclair waited for Stilling to continue with is story he wondering what clause his brother added to his will that he knew nothing about. He was already upset over the company going to his niece and being fired then denied admittance to the company offices last night. “Well?” he queried when Stillings didn’t continue.
“I thought with the information I have to give you would offer me a drink,” Stillings replied.
“Will brandy suit you?” Sinclair asked the little man he felt only contempt for. He would make sure it wasn’t one of his best brandy’s.
“Yes,” Stillings replied.
Sinclair went to the table where different decanters were placed and poured two glasses and returned to hand Stilling’s one to find the man had seated himself in a chair near the fireplace. He handed the man his glass and watched as Stillings took a swallow from the glass.
“Well?” Sinclair said after several long seconds ticked by.
“Your brother’s will states that if Miss Sinclair is not married at the time of her brother’s deaths that she has to marry within six months or the company will belong to you.”
“What? Are you sure of this?” Sinclair asked the man as he took a large swallow from his brandy glass.
“Yes. I hid in the closet next to your late brother’s office and listened as the attorney Abbott informed your niece of the clause. She wanted to leave but Mr. Abbott told her if she didn’t stay and run the company it would be shut down and the workers dismissed.”
“Well…well…well.” Sinclair raised the glass once more to his mouth as he thought over all that Stillings had told him.
“What are you going to do?” Stillings inquired.
“Sit back and wait for the six months to be up,” Sinclair answered him. “I know my niece very well. She will never marry just because my brother decreed it in his will. If anything she will be stubborn enough not to follow my brother’s wishes.”
“But…but what if she does? Suppose she has already met someone she wishes to marry? What will you do then?”
“I will decide what to do if that does happen, Stillings.” Sinclair said smiling before he finished drinking the brandy in his glass.