The Gallant South- Part Two

Chapter XVI- July 14-25, 1913

        The twenty-fifth couldn't come quick enough. It was only a day later, eleven days until showtime, and Cora hadn't been able to stop shaking since Bettirose and Millie debuted their plan to everyone. They were really and truly going to kill Colby. Finally.
        But what if something goes wrong? Cora kept thinking. What if he kills one of us? What if we end up in a shootout and we're outnumbered? There are so many things that could go wrong.
        Cora never told any of the others about the plan. They couldn't risk anyone finding out about it. Not even Alice. Especially not Alice.

        Because Amelia understood the importance of their plan, she had commanded Renee's factory to only work on their opera gowns, so that they'd be ready to go by the twenty-fifth. It had been risky to let Amelia in on the plan, but once they did, they were glad. Kit had gone to meet with Amelia immediately after their meeting, and Cora and Theo had gone with her. They'd all sat down with Amelia in Renee's old office, which she'd taken over, working with Jacques and Olivia, who had moved into Renee's house and taken over her business, along with Amelia.
        "Can we share with you a very important secret?" Kit asked. Amelia nodded.
        "You're aware of a certain Colby Whitbaker, yes? The one who murdered Renee?"
        "Of course," Amelia replied. "He wanted us to make him a suit for this opera coming up and we turned him down. That piece o' rubbish had the audacity to even show 'is face 'ere," she drawled in a Cockney accent.
        "Well," Cora said. "What if you had a role in killing him?"
        Amelia raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Go on," she said.
        "He's going to this opera on the twenty-fifth," Kit began. "We have a plan to kill him, and we need your help. We need you and all your girls to make each of us ladies an opera gown, but we have some requirements. They need to be elegant but light, and they need to be shorter than usual, but no hobble skirts. Basically, dresses we can run in. Can you do that?"
        Amelia sucked in her breath. "You want us to make five opera gowns in less than two weeks?" she asked. Kit nodded. "Can you do it?"
        Amelia grinned. "Follow me, won't you? There's something I need to show ye lot," she said, and led the three of them into a small room filled with dress designs and fabric scraps. There was a safe at the bottom of a shelf that Amelia pulled out a key to unlock. Inside was a folder full of papers with clothing designs on them. Amelia took it out and laid it on a large wooden drawing table.
        "What are these?" Cora asked.
        "Renee's drawings," Amelia said, opening the folder. Cora picked up a couple. Evening gowns, day dresses, pants and vests and mobile outfits, and there were six of each. Each was labeled with a name, either Renee Lambert, Mildred Henry, Eveline Mallahan, Cora Heiler, Bettirose Carter, or Kit Anders.
        "She knew that one day you'd do something like this. 'Cept, she thought she'd be alive for it. So she made different outfits for different events, all outfits you can run in, jump, shoot, climb and such. She'd been preparing for this day for years."
        Cora picked through more of the drawings and saw that they were all color-coded. All of Renee's were red, Millie's were orange, Eveline's were yellow, Cora's were blue, Kit's were purple, and Bettirose's were pink.
        "Even from Heaven, she's still helping us," Kit whispered.
        "And I'd be willing to help too," Amelia said. "I'm assuming you're all gonna be usin' guns?"
        Eveline nodded.
        Amelia smiled. "We'll I'm a terrible shot, but I'm as good as can be wit' a knife."
        Cora raised her eyebrows. "Really? How so?"
        "Between workin' on dresses for fifteen years and cooking for me parents and son, I'd say I've picked up quite a couple o' skills. And besides, ye've got to have some variety in yer plan. What if guns don't work? Knives are much more clandestine."
        "She's got a point," Eveline murmured.
        "So you'll help?" Cora asked. Amelia nodded. "For Renee."

        That night, Theo, Oliver, and Millie left for Macon, and they arrived back on Estelle just after lunch the next day with boxes of guns and ten days until showtime. They all went over to Millie's, as Thomas was gone again, and Millie handed everyone a box. Cora opened hers and found a Colt M1911, just as Millie had promised. Everyone's contained the same, except for Millie's sniper rifle. Next, Millie opened a large box and gave everyone a metallic-looking gray cylinder. Cora assumed these were the silencers. They were, and Millie showed everyone how to attach them to the guns. Finally, Theo passed out boxes of ammunition, and everyone went out into the mountains for Millie to teach them how to shoot. They made a plan to practice every day.


        Colby knew about Mildred Henry's plan to kill him. He'd known forever. And so, with less than two weeks to prepare, he began concocting a plan. He didn't know how they were going to do it, only that they were, so it was a bit difficult to plan.
        On the fourteenth, he got together with all of his friends that would be going and told them what was going to happen.
        "Now, we can't let them think that we know anything is wrong. So we've all got to act like we're clueless. One of you, whoever is the best shot, will have a rifle aimed at Millie, who'll likely be the one shooting me, since she's the best shot in the city. Once we find her, whichever one of you is the best shot will take her out. From there, I assume we'll get into a shootout with the others. I followed Mildred and the Harrelsons to Macon yesterday to go to the gun shop, and saw them leaving with guns and silencers, so I bought some as well. Because obviously, no one in the audience can find out about this, or we'll all be done for. So if there's a shootout, it'll be above the stage. Understood?" he asked, and everyone nodded. Colby glared at Alice, who nodded quietly. She wanted to warn Cora and the others, but Colby wouldn't let her leave the house, because he knew she would.