Ransom on the River: Deep River Inn

by Bettie Jane

  A young man, probably in his early twenties—just a bit younger than Sadie—came in the room. “The horses are saddled. I packed extra feed for them in case you need it.”

  “Thanks, Max,” Sam said. His kind, helpful demeanor had returned leaving no trace of the irritation she saw when they’d spoken of Oscar.

  “Yes, thank you.” Sadie nodded at Sam and the stablehand. She wiped her mouth with a napkin as she pushed her chair back from the table and stood up. “Times wasting. We should get going. Mr. Redmond?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” She threw him a playful dirty look and he called it back. “I mean, Sadie. Let’s get to it.”

  “Thank you again for your hospitality, Mr. Ostervold. Er, Sam. We’ll return your horses just as soon as we can.”

  He walked them out to the stables where two chestnut brown mares stood under the pole light waiting for them.

  “Oh, one more thing. Wait just a second please.” Sam jogged back into the house and returned quickly with a leather bag he attached to the horses saddlebags. “Sandwiches for the rest of the men. Don’t hesitate to stop by here again if you need anything. I’m happy to help. Please consider my resources your resources.”

  Sadie, having plenty of experience on a horse, hopped up onto the smaller horses back and took the reins in her hands. “One last thing? I know you don’t get into town often, but you seem like you might be the type that notices details.”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know anyone in town with a new Rolls Royce?”

  “Ha. Pete Phillips. Got a little too big for his britches working for Brix. Thought he could keep up with the Birnie family money. He’s the only one in town that has, or would even want, a Rolls Royce.”

  Sadie’s blood ran cold in her veins and it had nothing to do with the blanket of snow falling around them.”

  Thank you, Sam.”

  She nudged the horse with her heel and followed Enoch down the snowy drive, lit only by the lanterns on the horses and out toward the road that would lead them to the bridge that crossed the Elochoman. Her mind was racing. She fought to keep her thoughts in order.

  “Enoch, we need to talk about what Same just said about Pete, but first, what do you know of the obvious rift between Oscar and Sam?”

  “Ah, I wonder if you’d picked up on that.”

  “I’d have to be daft not too. Sam clearly doesn’t think very highly of Oscar.”

  “Henrietta and Sam were quite an item back in the day. Nobody really knows what went on between the three of them, but when Henrietta married Oscar, quite out of the blue, instead of Sam, everyone was quite shocked. That was when Sam retreated into the woods. Some say the house here was built for Henrietta, before she married Oscar. I don’t think Sam and Oscar ever got over their spite. They were once the best of friends.”

  “These sorts of things usually have a woman at the center of them, don’t they?”

  Enoch nodded.

  “You don’t suppose Sam would have had something to do with the kidnapping of the boys? Some sort of delayed revenge?”

  Enoch shook his head. “Sam has a good heart, even if it never did recover from Henrietta’s leaving. I couldn’t imagine him putting Jemmie and Joel—or Henrietta— through that. He was never angry with her, only Oscar.”

  “Was Sam close with the boys?”

  “Oh, no. Sam so rarely comes to town. I’m certain Oscar would never have allowed his boys to have any sort of relationship with Henrietta’s former beau. Not with the intensity of their rivalry.”

  “Nobody mentioned Sam when I asked if there was anyone with issues with the family.”

  “It’s such an old grudge, I’m sure it didn’t occur to anyone.”

  Sadie decided to switch gears.

  “What about Pete Phillip. When I spoke with Oscar just now, he mentioned that he’d recently fired Pete over a dereliction of duties.”

  Enoch’s eyebrows raised. “No kidding? I had no idea. I’m not all that close to Pete, but this news surprises me.”

  They rode in silence.

  Enoch spoke again. “So that was Pete’s abandoned car at the mill, wasn’t it?”

  Sadie nodded and started thinking out loud. “And the same car that was outside Olga’s house when we were there earlier. If it was actually Pete’s car, how was he home when we went there directly from Olga’s?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Sadie continued. “He already looked a bit suspicious to me because his car was at the mill. Now that we know Pete was recently fired by Oscar, the coincidences are starting to feel a bit more like a pattern.”

  “I agree.”

  “After we are finished at the Stewart homestead, I’d like to pay Pete and Olga another visit. There is definitely something fishy in Swedetown, wouldn’t you say, Mr. Redmond?”

  “I’ll be happy to drive you out after we check out this next farm.”

  “If we weren’t already saddled up and headed towards the Stewart’s, I’d go straight to Pete’s.”

  10

  It only took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the meeting point where they met up with William and Gus.

  “Glad you were able to get horses. The bridge is definitely out. Your truck would have been no use. As it is, we are going to have to cross the river with the horses. They aren’t going to like it. Waters high. And rough.”

  William’s report was not unexpected. When they’d mentioned the old bridge as the crossing point to get to the Stewart homestead, she figured luck wouldn’t be on their side.

  Gus made eye contact with Sadie. “Are you comfortable fording this river? If not, I can tow your horse across and you can ride with me or William.”

  “Thanks Gus, I appreciate you thinking of me. My father would roll over in his grave if all those years of horse training I received came to naught in this moment. I’ve forded many rivers on horseback. I’m certainly not looking forward to doing it in frigid waters in the middle of February, but here we are. Let’s get moving. Someone who is more familiar with this particular spot in the river should take the lead. I’ll bring up the rear. By the way, where’s Raven? I was hoping to meet her. I’ve heard she’s an incredible tracker. I would love to see her in action.”

  She went home. We aren’t operating on tracking anymore. Far too much snow for that. No reason for her to be out in the cold too.”

  “I see. Let’s get across this river then.”

  Yes, Ma’am.”

  She pretended to be angry. “Call me ma’am again, Gus, I dare you.”

  The men laughed at her and she could see respect in their eyes. She silently thanked her father for insisting that no daughter of his would skip learning how to ride a horse. And well.

  “Oh, boys, one thing before you cross.” She took the sandwiches out of the satchel from Sam and tossed them each a sandwich. “You should eat these before we cross. No telling if we’ll be able to keep them dry and Enoch and I were able to grab a quick bite at Sam’s place.”

  They all caught their sandwiches and issued a quick thank you.

  Enoch spoke. “That Ostervold. He doesn’t take no for answer. Not that I tried overly hard to turn down his offering.”

  It only took the men three or four minutes to wolf down the sandwiches and then they were off, filing single file into the river on horseback and making their way across. The snow had stopped, finally, and they had a bit of a moon to offer some light which would make the crossing a bit easier. Something else to be grateful for.

  Sadie watched all of them enter the river and noticed that they were all very stoic about the temperature of the water. She didn’t manage to be quite so reserved. When her legs first touched the water, she gasped audibly. She was embarrassed, but it was truly an automatic reaction. It must not have been as loud of a gasp as she’d thought because nobody looked back over their shoulder to check on her.

  One by one, they crossed the river and came out onto the other bank, dripping and shivering. She was nearly to t
he bank herself, bringing up the rear when she heard someone call out from the shore.

  “Log!”

  She looked to her left just in time to see what looked like an enormous fir tree coming right toward her and her horse.

  She gripped her reins even tighter, urged her horse forward with words and some extra prods with her heels, while keeping an eye on the tree that the rapids were sending right for her.

  More men’s shouts from the bank, but she couldn’t make the horse go any faster. The tree was in her peripheral vision and up ahead she could see William trudging into the water, reaching out for her horse’s reins.

  Time was slowing down even as the water and wind were kicking up and the tree was close enough now that she could see the individual needles on the branches. The horse was wiggling under her, bucking and kicking under her control.

  She knew the noise of the river and the chaos of the men’s shouts were overwhelming him.

  She had time for one last press before the tree collided with them.

  With barely a thought, she kicked one leg over to the other side of the horse so that she was effectively riding side saddle. She held on to the reins with all the strength she could muster, bent her legs and just as the tree was about to make contact with the horses belly, she pressed both feet into the log and kicked outward. Her hope was that it would slow the impact of the tree just enough that the horses front legs would make contact with the river bank and he could drag them both out of the water.

  It mostly worked. The log, instead of bouncing of her feet as she’d hoped, was only barely slowed by her. The press of the raging water was just stronger than her legs alone could counter. When the log connected with her feet, it bumped her up and over her saddle. The branches of the tree pressed over the top of her and swept her off the horse so that the only part of her that was making contact with the horse was her hands still gripping the reins. Cold water under and a giant tree on top of her, threatening to push her under.

  This day was definitely going from bad to worse.

  William was almost within arms reach of her, but he might as well have been five miles away for the amount of help he could give her, try as he might. She was making eye contact with him when the river enveloped her and pulled her under.

  She went completely under water and lost her visual orientation completely. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the leather of the reins digging into her palm. She felt her shoulder twinge sharply and wondered for a brief moment if she should let go of the reins.

  She never got a chance to make that decision. Her face came up out of the water and when she opened her eyes, she saw a branch coming right for her face.

  Instinctively, she threw her free hand up over her face and squeezed the reins tighter with her remaining hand.

  She saw Henrietta’s face in her mind’s eye and felt sadness that she’d not be able to find Jemmie. She knew Gus and William would continue the search. One last fleeting thought for the safety of her horse and flash of Daniel in her mind’s eye and then she went underwater again.

  The last thing she heard before her world went black was the water-muffled sound of her horse screaming in the cold night air.

  11

  Sadie’s next awareness was of desperate cold and teeth chattering so hard she was certain she would break a tooth.

  “Mrs. Sheriff!”

  Her head throbbed and shooting pains stabbed at her hands and feet.

  She risked opening her eyes and saw that she was on the bank of the Elochoman.

  So she hadn’t died. She suspected that she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

  She realized she’d made an unintended pun, being stuck in the woods and all, and began to laugh maniacally.

  Closing her eyes again, she struggled to calm her laughter.

  “Mrs. Sheriff. We pulled you from the river. Can you hear me?”

  Was that Gus? She thought it might be. His identity was confirmed when she felt and tasted the warm bourbon on her lips.

  “Drink this. It will warm you.”

  After a couple of sips, she risked opening her eyes. The light was still blinding but she was expecting it this time.

  The memory of her horse screaming in pain flashed through her mind,.

  “My horse?”

  “He’ll be okay. Thanks to your grip on his reins. Even totally unconscious you didn’t let go. Saved both your lives, I’d say. He’s a bit cut up from one of the branches, but the bulk of the tree missed him.”

  Sadie was fully alert now, painfully aware of how cold she was.

  “Let’s get to the Stewart homestead. How much further from here?”

  “Should only be about a ten minute ride from here, but we need to get you out of those wet clothes. In this cold, they’ll freeze to you.”

  Gus’s adamant face was adorable and not very effective.

  “Ah, it’s okay, Gus. Thanks for your concern, but I’ll worry about that once we get to the Stewarts. If Jemmie is there, we can’t afford to delay. And if he’s not there, we certainly can’t afford the delay. Would you help me onto my horse, though? My legs are a little wooden at the moment, I’m afraid. Do you think the horse can stand a rider after his run in with the tree?”

  He nodded. “Horse seems no worse for the wear.” He gave her a boost up and she settled on the horse who was delightfully, surprisingly warm under her freezing body. She knew she couldn’t stay in the wet clothes for long out here, but ten minutes would be fine.

  They took a relatively hard pace to the Stewart homestead, but their efforts were for naught. There was no sign in any of the outbuildings or what was left of the main house to indicate Jemmie had been here.

  “Damn,” she muttered when the last of the men reported back. She felt foolish for wasting time. Before they’d crossed the river, she’d known that a conversation with both Pete and Olga were necessary. They shouldn’t have bothered coming here. It was a wild goose chase.

  “We’ve ruled this place out, if nothing else. Let’s get back across the river. Enoch, I’ll need to stop by my house and change into dry clothes and then I fear we’ll need to visit Olga and Pete. Again.”

  In her current state of soaked and freezing, she was beginning to feel irritable and ineffective. However, she didn’t want the men to see and start losing faith. They’d been excellent so far at following her lead, and she meant to keep their respect. Standing around and bemoaning her current discomfort would do nothing to keep the men inspired and the search needed to continue.

  “The rest of you, check out the other nearby farms and see if anyone saw Pete’s car or anything else that might help us determine where Jemmie might be or where Carl was actually killed.”

  “That was Pete’s car?” William asked, surprised.

  She nodded.

  “Ostervold told us.”

  Without another word, she wheeled her horse around and begrudgingly trotted as fast as she dared under the dim moonlight and through the snow toward the river.

  She hoped this time the crossing would be much smoother.

  Without looking, she could sense that the rest of the men followed her out. She berated herself the entire way back to the river, and by the time she reached the river she was so furious with the unnecessary delay that had been the Stewart homestead that she deftly navigated the river without a single thought about the tree that nearly killed her less than an hour before.

  Her and Enoch went back to the Ostervold cabin to drop the horses and pick up the truck and the rest of the search party turned north to follow the Elochoman River further upstream.

  She and Enoch didn’t speak much on the way to the cabin and by the time the truck was taking them back to town, she’d decided on her next move.

  First a change of clothes and a check-in with Olivia to be be certain of Daniel’s condition, then she was going to have a stern conversation with Olga Svenson. Whatever that woman knew, and Sadie was convinced that she knew something, would no longer be a secret by t
he time Sadie was done with her.

  She was freezing, which gave her an all too accurate empathy for Jemmie’s condition. The time for tolerating side steps from involved parties was done.

  Sadie practically cut her teeth on bar room justice and Olga was about to get a taste of it.

  “From the set of your face, you seem mighty furious, Mrs. Sheriff.”

  Enoch interrupted her thoughts.

  “Oh, yes. I suppose the dunk in the river didn’t do anything for my disposition. After I change and check on the Sheriff, I mean to go back to Olga’s and get some information from her. I’m certain she knows more than she’s telling. We’ve wasted too much time already on wild goose chases. Whatever she knows, I’ll also know by the time I’m finished with her. Then Pete Phillips is getting a visit from me. I need a good explanation for why his car was at Olga’s and the scene of a murder.”

  “Remind me not to cross you.” He chuckled a bit of a nervous laugh.

  “At least not when I’m freezing and a child is missing. Neither of those things do much for my mood.”

  “Are you worried for your husband, Sadie?”

  She nodded. “I am, but I’ve only got so much room for worry and Daniel is being cared for. I cannot say the same thing for little Jemmie.”

  “Wait here,” Sadie said when they pulled up to her house. “I’ll only be a minute.”

  The sign advertising the presence of Flu was still tacked to the door as she’d expected it to be. She raced up the stairs to her room calling out for Daniel and Olivia.

  “Hello? How’s my patient and his nurse?”

  She turned the corner to her bedroom and was greeted with a nerve-wracking silence and an empty bed.

  A letter lay across the pillow.

  Sadie started pulling off her wet clothes as she crossed the room to read.

  A note from Olivia.

  “Daniel’s condition worsening. Dr. Walker advised making the trek to the hospital in Astoria. Found a willing ferry driver to navigate the river at night. Not as sick as Mama, yet, but wanted to take all precautions.”