“Don’t worry. You’ll still get your share, but I warn you, Lizzie will try to talk you into donating part of it to the innocent victims.”

“I’m sure I can resist her efforts,” Tex said, making Harriet laugh derisively.

Tex frowned, but Jake distracted him by suggesting they go over the plan once more before they left to meet Waterson at his hotel.

Jake escorted Tex to the hotel, and then they took the elevator up to Waterson’s suite. Waterson greeted them enthusiastically and Jake introduced Tex as Roger Coleman. Waterson offered them a drink and the three men sat for a few minutes, making small talk. Waterson asked Tex and Jake how they knew each other.

“Young Miller here is handling my stocks,” Tex said, giving Jake a fond look. “I was skeptical at first, because he’s so young, but he’s done pretty well by me. That’s why I agreed to meet with you, even when he told me it wasn’t a stock deal. He’s never steered me wrong before, and he told me this was something special.”

“What else did he tell you?” Waterson asked, glancing at Jake, who kept his face expressionless.

“Not much, except it was a land deal and confidential and you’d explain why.”

Waterson nodded. “I’m handling the sale of twenty-five thousand acres of oil-rich land in Texas.”

“Oil?” Tex echoed, suitably impressed. “You didn’t say anything about oil,” he reminded Jake.

“I didn’t want you to get too excited and start bragging to your friends,” Jake said with a smile.

Tex turned back to Waterson. “If it’s so valuable, why are the owners selling?”

Waterson exchanged a glance with Jake. “The owners are Germans. They are unable to travel to the United States and they are . . . Well, I don’t suppose I need to explain that they are rather short of funds at the moment.”

“I don’t suppose you do need to explain,” Tex said. “The Germans pretty much bankrupted themselves over that ridiculous war.”

“Yes, well, in any case, my clients can’t travel here to develop the land themselves and they can’t sell the land to the big oil companies because they have refused to do business with them, so they have given me the authority to sell it privately.”

“They must trust you a lot?” Jake observed, making it a question.

Waterson shifted uneasily in his chair. “Yes, well, they are related to me. To my wife, actually.”

Tex nodded knowingly. “I can see why you didn’t mention that before.” Many people of German descent had experienced prejudice and outright violence during the war.

“But that shouldn’t make any difference now. The war is over, and there is no reason you shouldn’t benefit from my wife’s family’s misfortune.”

Tex nodded his agreement. “Then let’s see this map young Miller told me about.”