Chapter 21: Buying Information

Charity, Samantha and I depart for Le Lorrain the next morning. I do my best to put on a brave face, but I doubt my travelling companions believe my bravado for a moment. It doesn’t take us long to reach Le Lorrain. It’s the largest settlement we’ve seen since leaving Saint Pierre, although it is little more than a village in size. There’s no harbour on the wild windswept northeast coast of the island. Ships anchor in one of the bays and conduct their trade from the sandy beach using small boats.

The local population are more approachable than we have so far encountered on our journey. The banana plantations hugging the coast are Le Lorrain’s main source of trade. They differ from plantations like the Ladybird in that these days the local plantations don’t use slaves for the menial labour. Consequently Le Lorrain no longer has a slave market or any business that deals in slaves. Our inquiries about Jacqueline and Angelique produce nothing. We are slightly more fortunate in our hunt for Randolph. A villager recalls Randolph stopping in Le Lorrain a few weeks ago, before heading south.

Following Randolph’s trail south presents us with a problem. In order to return to Saint Pierre we need to double back on our route. The central mountain range blocks any westward travel south of here until we reach a pass that connects the east coast to Fort Royal. We’ve only food and supplies for a few days of travel. While we could reach either Saint Pierre or Fort Royal in that time, we can’t travel too far south if we intend to return to Saint Pierre.

“Where do you think Randolph may have gone?” asks Charity.

It would be easy to dismiss Charity’s question as pointless, since clearly neither Samantha nor I have any more information than Charity about Randolph’s movements. But I have some insight into the way he thinks and acts. He’s looking for Angelique, so he’ll be using what limited information he has about the person who bought her from Henri. Despite Randolph’s tendency to act without any plan, he isn’t completely reckless.

“Randolph is looking for Angelique,” I reply. “All we know is that she was purchased by a merchant called Guillaume about seven years ago, and that he traded along the east coast. Perhaps we should inquire about this Guillaume.”

In the absence of any better suggestions, we repeat our earlier circuit of the residents of Le Lorrain.

“What’s your interest in Guillaume?” asks one of the older fishermen.

I explain that we are looking for Angelique and of her connection to Guillaume.

“I don’t know anything about the girl, but Guillaume signed on as crew of a merchant ship heading for France.”

“When was that?” asks Samantha.

“About three months ago, I reckon,” replies the fisherman.

“Did he have a house or anywhere he called home?” I ask.

“Not to my knowledge,” replies the fisherman. “He used to live in his wagon until it rotted away. He couldn’t afford a replacement, so he sold what he owned and started a new career. You could try asking around Marigot in the next bay south of here.”

We take the fisherman’s advice and make the hour long journey to Marigot. It’s smaller than Le Lorrain, but it boasts a sizeable trading post that Le Lorrain lacks. Unfortunately, the local merchant running the trading post isn’t the sort of man who offers information for free. The sight of three attractive young women soon has him requesting sexual favours for the information we seek. Samantha is becoming an expert at dealing with these sorts of negotiations. She manages to strike a deal that ensures the sexual services we provide are commensurate with the value of the information provided.