Historical Cowboy Romance Two Book Box Set - Mail Order Brides

by Linda Bridey

All of a sudden, a thunderous bang shattered the tranquil night. Violet jumped out of her skin. Another crash rang out, followed by another. A corresponding flash lighted up a window in the house at every bang, and the thud of pounding footsteps scurried through the house.

  Violet started toward the house, but stopped. Should she go in and find out what was going on? Could those be gunshots coming from inside the house? If they were, it might be dangerous to go inside. She turned one way, then another, started across the yard, and stopped again.

  She just started walking a third time when a figure ran down the hill from the Fort House. The person almost ran straight into Violet, and only skidded to a halt when she called out, “Chuck!”

  He peered at her in the moonlight. “Violet! Thank God you’re all right!”

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “I heard shots coming from the house,” he told her. “I thought Cornell might have got you.”

  “Shots?” she asked. “Were those gun shots, do you think?”

  “I’m sure of it,” he replied. “Three of them. Something’s going on in there.”

  “Do you think it’s safe to go in?” Violet asked. “I was going to find out what’s going on, but it might be dangerous. Whoever’s shooting in there could still be shooting people.”

  “Who would be shooting people?” Chuck asked. “Who’s in there? Your sisters, Rita, maybe Cornell. Who would be shooting?”

  Violet glanced toward the house. “I don’t know. But maybe we shouldn’t go in.”

  “You stay here. I’ll go in and see what’s happening.” Chuck turned away.

  “Wait.” She caught his arm. “Don’t leave. If you’re going in there, I’m coming with you.”

  “Like you say,” he replied. “It could be dangerous. You saw the way Cornell lost his head before. Maybe this is the other shoe dropping. He could be shooting the whole place up. He could be killing everyone in sight.”

  “I’m not staying out here alone while you go in there,” Violet snapped. “No way! If anyone’s going in there, we’re going together. We faced Cornell together before, and we’ll face him together now.”

  Chuck stared at her through the gloom. “All right. Come on.” He took her hand and they started toward the house together.

  The house loomed huge and black in the eerie light, and when they stepped up onto the porch, the darkness blocked them in so they clung to each other and groped their way into the front hall. They panted for breath, neither of them willing to take the next step without holding tight to the other.

  Chuck shut the door behind them with a soft click, and they paused in the front hall, listening to their own breathing and the echoing silence all around them.

  “Wait a minute,” Violet whispered.

  She tore her hands away from him and groped her way to the hall table, where she lit a candle. They took each other’s hands again.

  “The shots,” Chuck breathed. “Did you hear where they came from?”

  “I didn’t hear it,” she told him. “But there was a flash of light, three of them, one for each shot, coming from the library. I saw them through the window.”

  “All right,” he replied. “Let’s check in there.”

  “Chuck,” she whispered.

  “Yes?” he asked.

  “The library,” she panted.

  “What about it?” he asked.

  “The library’s Cornell’s office,” she whispered. “He has his desk in there.”

  He stared into her eyes in the candlelight. “Does he have guns in there? Does he keep a gun in his desk?”

  Violet glanced toward the door to the library. “I don’t think so. I never saw him with a gun in my life. He thinks guns are for criminals and working men. He thinks he’s too good for all that.”

  Chuck sneered. “I’ll bet he does. Well, I have my side arms here. We aren’t totally unprotected. Come on.”

  They fumbled their way to the library door and slid it open as silently as they could. The interior of the room spread before them into a bottomless black chasm. Even with their candle extended in front of them, they couldn’t see a thing.

  They tiptoed over the threshold and the candlelight cast a watery outline of Cornell’s desk in the far corner. No one sat behind it. The rest of the room stood empty. Not a whisker stirred in the whole house.

  “Maybe it was nothing,” Violet whispered.

  “Nothing?” Chuck whispered back. “We just heard three gun shots. Someone shot them and they shot them at someone. I’d say that’s something.”

  “Just a moment,” Violet replied. “I’ll light the lamp. Then we can see better. We’ll have to search the rest of the house just to make sure no one’s hurt. I hope Iris and Rose are all right.”

  She went to the desk and stepped behind it to reach for the lamp on the shelf. She almost pitched over onto her face as her foot struck something solid behind the chair. She bent down to remove the obstruction.

  Then she screamed.

  “What’s wrong?” Chuck asked.

  “It’s Cornell!” she gasped.

  “What about him?” Chuck asked.

  “He’s lying on the floor back here.” Violet bent down and took a closer look with her candle. “He’s been shot in the head.” She took a closer look. “And at least once in the chest, too.”

  “Oh, no!” Chuck rushed to her side and they inspected Cornell together. “What are we going to do?”

  Violet stood up. Deep inside her, a window opened that she never knew was there, and a bright vista exposed itself to her view. “There’s nothing to do. He’s dead.”

  Cornell was gone. All these years, he’d taken charge of her life and the lives of her sisters. He’d told them what to wear, what to eat, who to talk to, and even what to think. Cornell decided who Violet Kilburn was. She never had to question who she was or what made her what she was, because Cornell always did that for her. Now he was gone.

  Her parents’ deaths hadn’t affected her much because she was so young. She didn’t even really understand when her parents died. But she always feared Cornell’s death. She worried she wouldn’t know who she was or what she ought to do once he no longer made those decisions for her.

  Now she found out who she was and what she ought to do for the first time in her life. She found out that, with Cornell gone, she was in charge. Everything rested on her shoulders. She saw her future and the future of the ranch laid out before her like a magnificent banquet with herself as the guest of honor. She knew what to do, and she would rise to the challenge.

  Another patter of footsteps resounded through the house, and the library door opened a little further. Iris and Rose put their faces into the halo of candlelight. “Violet?” Iris whispered. “Violet, is that you?”

  “I’m here, Iris,” she replied in a regular voice. “You don’t need to whisper. There’s no danger anymore.”

  “Are you sure?” Iris whispered.

  “I’m sure.” Violet set the candle down on Cornell’s desk and took the glass chimney off the lamp. “You can come in.”

  She lighted the lamp, and the room filled with light. The next minute, Mick and Jake appeared in the doorway. “What’s goin’ on in here?” Mick asked.

  “Cornell’s been shot,” Violet told him.

  “By who?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Violet replied.

  “Well, that’s a fine how do you do,” he exclaimed. “What are we going to do?”

  “I would appreciate it, Mick,” Violet replied, “if you would go out to the bunk house and wake up Pete Kershaw. Please ask him to saddle up and ride down to Butte and bring back the sheriff. There’s nothing else we can do.”

  “The sheriff!” Iris cried. “Shouldn’t we get the doctor?”

  “There’s no need to,” Violet replied. “Cornell’s dead.”

  Iris screamed, but no one paid any attention.

  “Are you sure?” Mick asked.

  “Half of hi
s head is gone,” Violet shot back. “I’m sure he’s dead. Now please go and send Pete for the sheriff. If the sheriff finds out we delayed at all in sending for him, it won’t look good.”

  “I’m goin’.” Mick disappeared.

  “What are we going to do with Cornell?” Iris asked.

  “We can’t do anything with him until the sheriff’s seen him,” Violet replied. “He’ll have to see exactly where the body was found and examine the scene. That’s the way it is when a person is killed.”

  Chuck raised an eyebrow at her. Did he notice the change in her? “You sound like you know from experience.”

  “It only makes sense,” Violet replied. “Ask Jake if you don’t believe me. You can’t go moving a dead body around before the sheriff gives you permission to do so. Once he’s seen Cornell and examined the room and everything else, I’m sure he’ll give us permission to bury him.”

  Iris choked back a cry. “Bury Cornell! I never thought I’d live to see the day!”

  “He wasn’t exactly young, you know,” Violet reminded her.

  Mick came back in. “Pete’s going now. Well, this certainly puts a different spin on the idea of getting rid of him.”

  Violet straightened her shoulders. “I wouldn’t joke about it, Mick, if I was you. I’m sure the sheriff will have some hard questions for all of us.”

  “What do you mean?” Iris asked.

  “It’s very simple, Iris dear.” Violet searched the faces around her. “Someone in this room is a murderer.”

  The End

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