“John, you can’t go around breaking into people’s homes and businesses. This is no fit job for a man of honor.”
“I am a man of honor.” Fury broke over him in waves.
Even as he snapped at Penny, he knew he wasn’t upset about his honor. His gut twisted with pure guilt. He whirled away from her. “That man’s dead because of me.”
His chest heaved as the knowledge swept over him. “I thought I did a good job of slipping questions in about Hessian boots. I thought I was so blasted sly and subtle. But I have to face the fact that something I said tipped someone off tonight. It’s my fault that the shopkeeper was killed.”
“Stop that.” Penny turned and clapped her hands on his shoulders. “You know the fault lies with the man who slid a knife into a defenseless man’s back.”
John had to swallow hard twice to make his voice work. “I set the killer off. And think of this. If a murderer killed that man tonight just because he didn’t like the way I was asking about boots, then he’s a monster. And he won’t hesitate for a second to kill again—including to kill us.”
“He had to be in that dining room tonight, didn’t he?” Penny asked. “Your few questions about boots weren’t something one of those men would comment on. The killer had to’ve heard it.” Then Penny’s eyes got wide. “No, he didn’t have to pick that detail out, not if he was our kidnapper. He recognized us. That’s why he’d understand what our questions meant.”
John’s jaw tightened until he could barely speak. “And he knows exactly what we’re here for. We have to stop him.”
Penny hesitated, glanced at the book John had stolen. “I know we do.”
“I’m gathering information on the sly, and not many lawmen would listen to my excuses about investigating a crime if they caught me in the act in that shop. But I believe whoever kidnapped us had every intention of murdering us right then and there. And after tonight he’s got to be getting desperate. He’ll have to kill us to silence us, and he’ll very likely go after your brother and the rest of the folks who know about him. This is a wealthy, powerful man with a lot to lose, and he has no scruples about keeping his secrets. I won’t apologize for hunting him down and bringing him to justice.”
He nudged Penny to get her going, and she came along quietly. No fists in sight.
“I know we have to stop this man,” Penny said. “If for no other reason than I’m sure you’re right. He’ll be hunting us now—as if he wasn’t already. So, chasing him is going to give us a better chance of survival than if we wait for him to sneak up behind us. But there can’t be a good reason to break the law. If that’s what your job requires of you, maybe you need to rethink your job.”
“I’ve been a Pinkerton agent since before the war, since before Allan Pinkerton renamed the agency after himself. Even when I enlisted, because it was known that I’d done some detective work, the navy used me for some spying and other sneaky tactics. I guess I feel like if the government can ask me to do these things, I’m not quite sure why they want to call it lawbreaking now.”
He held up a hand. “But they do. I know they do.” He was quiet for a stretch as they walked quickly toward their boardinghouse. The neighborhood deteriorated as they left the fancier part of town behind.
John hadn’t caught sight of the night watch yet, and he was relieved. He didn’t look forward to explaining why he and his wife had chosen the predawn hours for a stroll.
And if he wondered how he could come up with another reason to drag her into a shadowy doorway for a kiss, he shoved it from his mind.
The night was going to be long enough as it was as John strategized about how to best the man who recognized them at the restaurant tonight. Someone had to’ve. And he’d be intent on killing them. He might even try it tonight.
John had watched carefully on their way to the boardinghouse from the restaurant, and they hadn’t been followed. But they were on borrowed time. Borrowed from a man who didn’t lend anyone anything.
“Wake up!” Cam Scott slammed his fist into the side of Trace’s door. “Trace, it’s Cam. Get out here.”
There was a pause, and Cam heard the crack of a rifle being cocked.
“Cam?”
“Yep, hurry up. I’ve got trouble back at my place.”
The door inched open. Trace stood behind the deadly muzzle of his rifle.
In the black of midnight, it was lighter inside than out. Trace was quiet for a few seconds, and Cam gave him the time. A nighttime visit like this could mean someone was forcing Cam to speak. But Maddie Sue was asleep in his arms, so Trace probably figured it wasn’t big trouble.
Of course, he was wrong about that.
The door swung wide. “Get in here. What’s going on?”
“We’re being watched. I can’t leave Gwen and the youngsters in our cabin while I tail them.”
A lantern light behind Trace and Cam showed Deb, Cam’s sister-in-law, in her nightgown. She asked, “Is Gwen with you?”
These two had spent more than a week helping Cam build his cabin, and they planned to come back and help Penny finish building hers. But add in that Trace had helped take Raddo to town, then he and Cam had spent days trying to find Penny and John. It’d been time for Trace to get back to his own ranch for a spell. And now here was Cam needing help again. But trouble for one of them was trouble for all. Or at least it had been so far. Trace had to get involved.
“Gwen and the kids are here with me.” He turned to usher Gwen in with Ronnie asleep in her arms.
Everyone was on edge and worried about Penny, but there was no way to even know where she was to get her a warning. That edge was part of why he’d noticed the man in the woods by his cabin. Cam quickly told Trace what he’d already learned about the men who watched his cabin.
“The man ghosting around in my woods headed home for the night. He was alone.”
“You’re sure?”
Cam knew Trace was better in the woods than he was, but Cam was mighty good. “Yep, I’m sure.”
Cam saw Utah and Adam coming toward the cabin. They’d read Cam’s urgency just right. “I saw him leave for the night. Once he cleared out, we headed over. There might be someone watching here, too.”
Trace’s eyes narrowed at that.
“I want the women safe, and I need to be able to track. I’m leaving them here with you.”
“I’ll saddle up.”
Trace’s older cowpoke reached the door. “What’s going on, boss?”
“Cam’s got trouble. You and Adam stay here.”
Utah frowned. Adam, just a step behind, clenched his jaw. Cam knew they both wanted to come. And he knew they understood why they couldn’t.
Cam didn’t bother telling Trace to stay home. Cam didn’t mind admitting he needed someone to back him, and Trace was a knowing man. Having his help, with Utah and Adam on guard here, was the best they could arrange.
“You think it’s got something to do with Penny?” Deb plucked Maddie Sue out of Cam’s arms and led the way to a room for Gwen, the two women whispering. They’d grown to think of Penny as another sister.
“I wish we could just get settled,” Cam said, regretting he had to worry the women. “Frontier life is just one thing after another.”
Trace had a bedroll together and a satchel. He strapped on his gun belt and was heading for the barn. Wolf, his dog, or maybe his wolf . . . there was definitely some dog in him, but it was a mystery just how much . . . tagged along at his heels.
“Let us know if you need help, Cam,” Utah said. “We’ve been keeping a close eye and have seen no one around here. Do your best to get back to your cabin without your watcher noticing you’ve been gone.”
Nodding, Cam strode to where Gwen was heading into the back of the house. He caught up to her and gave her a hug, then he kissed sleeping Ronnie and the top of Maddie Sue’s head, already resting against Deb’s shoulder.
“You be careful, Cameron Scott.” Gwen hugged him a second time. “And remember, if y
ou run into trouble and need help, Deb and I are here for you.”
“You’ve been gettin’ a lot tougher, honey.” Cam grinned, surprised he had a smile in him. “I’ve got a gunslinging wife. That’s mighty handy.”
He kissed her, then left the cabin and mounted up. Trace came out of the barn. He bent and spoke to Wolf, and though there was some whining, the critter romped over to the cabin and sat by the front door as if standing guard.
Trace talked quietly to Adam for a few seconds. Adam nodded and clapped Trace on the back and headed for the cabin. A lot like Wolf had.
Then Cam and Trace were on the trail, tearing toward his homestead.
CHAPTER
19
One room. One bed. Two people. Married.
Somewhat married.
Penny pushed those worries aside and almost ran to keep up with John as he rushed them toward the boardinghouse and off the streets. And while she ran, she prayed God could untangle her life somehow. She’d always done what she thought God would have her do.
Well, mostly.
She suspected God frowned on her inclination to punch her brothers.
But mostly.
Until these last few days. And just one thing after another had come at her and given her precious little choice in any matter.
And now she hustled toward her honeymoon-ish bed with a man who was a stranger. A man she didn’t choose. A man she’d kissed with undue enthusiasm several times now.
Prayer was called for and plenty of it.
John hadn’t talked about the sleeping arrangements as he hurried her along, his grip on her arm just short of painful. She didn’t try to slow him down.
Then they hurried up the steps to their room. As Penny rehearsed what she’d say, John closed and locked the door and, without turning up the lamp, stepped away from her. She could barely see his shadowy outline moving fast around the room. He was . . . “You’re packing?”
“Yes. I don’t trust the man who killed the haberdasher. I was careful not to be followed. But a ruthless man like that might well have informants all over town. Just because he didn’t see where we’re staying, doesn’t mean he won’t find out if he’s of a mind to.”
“Where will we go?”
John kept moving. Faster with every step. They didn’t have much unpacked, and it didn’t take him long. He’d brought her new silk dress in a gunnysack and he took a second to carefully roll the dress up, unlike the rest of his packing, which was wadding, stuffing, and rushing.
“I’ve got an idea. Something one of the men said tonight. But we need to move fast, quiet, and before sunrise.” He grabbed Penny’s bag that she’d taken with her since the beginning, and thrust it at her. Then he picked up the other things and guided her outside.
“No other way down than these steps.” His hushed voice barely reached her ears. “We’re going out the back way. Quiet, now.”
The stairs creaked—in an old wooden building there was no avoiding it—but no one stuck their head out of a room to see who was moving around, just as they hadn’t when Penny and John had come in.
John towed her along with that same unshakable grip. She’d’ve been bruised tomorrow if she hadn’t hustled to keep up with him. Lucky for her, she never for a second considered not hustling.
They went through the kitchen and straight to a door. In the darkened room, it occurred to Penny that John had planned for a quick exit before they’d even left the building tonight, probably before they’d even gone out for supper.
A Pinkerton agent probably had to make a run for it with some regularity.
She’d ask him later.
He grabbed a key off a nail beside the door, unlocked and opened the door, hung the key back up and eased open the door, and poked his head out just a bit. She could see outside over his shoulder, and she studied the shadows of the backs of other buildings and the alleys between them. John tugged, and Penny trusted him to be better at seeing into shadows than she was.
He moved along in the dark between the backs of two rows of buildings, laden down with his excessive baggage. She wondered about their horses and the plans they’d made to visit wealthy people in town. They needed to ask about that man they’d seen, to find a name and address.
They walked along, keeping to the shadows. Penny burned with unanswered questions. It was so close to dawn that the moon had set and the stars had faded as they often did just before the sun pushed another day over the land.
It was the darkest hour of the night.
Even in this wide-open town, in this unsafe neighborhood, everyone had gone to sleep.
Penny gave herself over completely to John. She just moved as he guided her and did her best to walk silently. The closely built buildings gave way to houses with yards around them. The houses grew smaller and tighter together, then even the houses were gone. And on and on they walked. Climbing, Penny realized. The path John led her along had a steep incline. She knew what the town had looked like, built down the slope of what she’d heard was called Mount Davidson. Apparently, they were climbing that slope.
She had no idea why. They came to a stretch without any buildings, and John now moved faster, almost at a run. Glancing back, Penny expected pursuit. She found it. They were being chased by the sunrise.
Precious time passed. Her breathing was labored. She did her best to be silent, but she hoped no one was too close. The pitch-black of night was giving way to the gray of dawn. The mountain they climbed was stripped of trees, no doubt all used for construction, so they were completely exposed. John changed directions and skirted a rocky stretch. His headlong rush had ended, and Penny realized by the slight lessening of his grip, the slower speed, that John didn’t know exactly where he was going.
He zigzagged up and up. Then she heard him gasp with relief and looked ahead to see a building. In the faint light of encroaching dawn, all she could make out was a small mass, a jagged roof. The building looked ramshackle and abandoned.
They came up beside it, and John turned toward her. His eyes were intense. That’s when she realized how well she could see him now. He touched his finger to his lips and urged her to the back of the small cabin. He pressed down gently, and she got the message. She crouched low behind the structure.
He dropped the baggage beside her and vanished.
She almost yelped. But from surprise, not from fear that he’d abandoned her. She trusted him completely to take care of her . . . realizing that was startling because Penny had some pride in how well she took care of herself.
But just being left alone, with the feeling of someone in that town hunting them—a man with wealth and power and so paranoid he murdered someone over a few overheard words—made her feel unnerved. It was a loneliness so profound it pressed against her belly, crushed her heart. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.
She turned a bit and realized scrub brush had grown up against the little shack. Shifting to tuck herself between the bushes and the cabin, she felt like prey. Like an animal being hunted. Now in this little niche she could convince herself that she was hiding from the big, bad wolf.
Silence was complete. Not a bird chirped, not a bug buzzed nearby.
It all caught up with her.
Not just being up all night, but the long time lost in the woods after the kidnapping. The emotional upheaval of finding herself forced into marriage. Cam’s anger and worry, coupled with the worry that her whole family was probably in danger. That man who kidnapped them would have killed them. He would have gone after her whole family.
The sickening sight of that poor, murdered man.
It had been nearly two weeks since it all began with Raddo attacking their camp, and it seemed like she’d been on a forced march ever since.
Now, wrapped in exhaustion, loneliness, and worry, and surrounded by a silence so complete it pressed on her soul, she rested her head on her knees and slept.
Penny was gone!
He’d left her, wanting to save tim
e, knowing he had to do some serious scouting and do it fast to find what he was looking for.
But she wouldn’t leave.
Had he gone to the wrong building? Heaven knew there were a lot of them up here. But no. Absolutely not. He’d left her right here behind this abandoned cabin, and she was gone.
“Penny.”
Silence. He had to risk a little noise, he was running out of time.
“Penny, are you here?”
“Shhh . . .”
The hiss was more like he’d awakened a snake. But then, that was his wife for you. “Penny, where are you? We’ve got to go fast. We’ve lost the cover of darkness.”
Penny moved, and he could finally spot her, tucked back in the bushes. Great hiding place. He’d compliment her on it as soon as his heart quit trying to pound out of his chest. Being afraid he’d lost the woman he was supposed to protect was bad enough, but this level of deep-seated panic could only be explained by his caring about her. And he didn’t have time to care about anyone right now.
She stood and began picking up his bags. He got his share, then caught her hand and tugged. He’d been dragging the poor woman around for the entire night.
“I found us an abandoned cabin. It’s not much. A lot like this one.”
He saw her glance at the tumbled-down hovel, and she came along willingly. This wasn’t a woman who’d fuss over rough accommodations. He admired that.
“Why not this one?” she whispered, and there was no complaint in it, just interest.
“I found one less visible from the town. The one I left you at is about the lowest one, and we’re going to stay a lot higher and in a hut facing sideways, so we can come and go a bit without being exposed. There’s even some furniture in it.”
The Unexpected Champion Page 14