The Buyer
1 October – the new girl arrived. Slim, bony, the kind of eyes you have to watch for—intelligent, shifting, hypnotic. I’ll give her to Jacob for the training term. She’ll be a challenge, and we’ll see now if he’s up to the task. There are already bruises on her arms. I must talk to the Captain about those thugs who transport my wares to me.
He folds the journal at its spine, opens the bottom desk draw and carefully places the leather-bound book on top of the others. He shuts the draw, turns the lock and deposits the key behind a loose stone in the wall behind him. The chair beneath him creaks as he rises, not from the strain of his weight—he hardly weighs more than the fence posts that surround his ranch. It creaks because it’s old, the leather cracked and the joints dry.
