Hugo chuckled in his evil way. “Oh, come now. If you wanted to, you could wind him around your little finger.”
“You’re insane.” She glared at him but kept her voice low so Gerard wouldn’t awaken.
“Then why hasn’t he shown you the bills I gave him to prove you ran away from those debts?”
“You know as well as I do those aren’t my debts.” She wouldn’t mention the note Lucius signed to Hugo’s bank.
“Of course not.” He smirked in his awful way. “Did your dear husband, my dear unlamented cousin, ever tell you about Veronica? No, of course not. Gentlemen never tell their wives about the other special ladies in their lives. Seems Miss Veronica has a taste for fine clothes. When the merchants questioned her right to charge them to Lucius’s account, she signed your name, claiming to be Mrs. Benoit. She’s such a talented little forger. Now Veronica and I are, shall we say, friends, and she turned those bills over to me to take care of. Naturally, I thought they would be a good tool for getting you to see reason.”
“You’re insane,” she repeated.
“Now, now, you must stop these insults.” He leaned close and glared at her through slitted eyes. “You will never be able to prove your innocence. My good friend, Judge Grable, likes to do favors for me because of all the favors I do for him. Once he sends a warrant to your sheriff, good ol’ Justice will have no choice but to see justice is done.” He laughed at the wordplay, sending an icy chill down Evangeline’s spine. How like her first thought when she saw Justice two months ago. “Since he’s seen the evidence against you, I’m sure he’ll help me bring you before the judge. Won’t that be something to see?”
Evangeline shuddered again. So Justice knew all about this. Now she had no choice. “Very well. I’ll go with you, but Gerard and Isabelle are staying here with Nate and Susanna.”
Hugo scoffed. “Do you really think I’ll let my little cousins live on a filthy cattle ranch when they can live in a fine mansion in a big city and have every wish and whim granted? That I’d let them miss out on all the delightful enjoyments I have planned for them? No, my dear, the children will go with us, and we need to leave tomorrow. The weather prognosticators tell me a storm is looming over the northern mountains, and snow is likely to block the eastern pass in another day. I hardly want to be stranded in this shabby little town all winter.” He stood and gathered his hat and cane. “Pack well tonight, my dear. Soon you and your little darlings will be on your way home.”
He strutted out of the library as if the matter were settled. Evangeline felt sick with fear, but she’d never let him take the children. Nate and Susanna would protect them, she was sure of it.
A stirring at the back of the room caught her attention. She turned to see Gerard seated on the floor staring at her, a look on his precious face she’d never seen before. Shock. Horror. Disgust. He must have heard every word that passed between Hugo and her.
Her heart breaking, she held out her arms. “Come here, sweetheart.”
He grabbed his coat and dashed past her and out the door, turning down Center Avenue, a small consolation seeing he hadn’t chosen to follow Hugo up Main Street.
She hurried to the open door. “Gerard, wait.”
She chased him for half a block, but at the corner, she could no longer see him. Where had he gone so quickly? With Nate out at the ranch, who could help her find him? Only one name came to mind.
Justice.
* * *
“There goes Giles now.” Justice moved quickly from the chair in Tolley’s office and motioned for his friend to follow him. “Let’s catch him and get this settled.”
Tolley’s “yee-ha” echoed in Justice’s ears and gave him one more cause to smile.
They grabbed their coats, stepped outside into the icy afternoon wind and strode after their quarry.
“Giles. Hold up a minute,” Justice called.
The dandy turned, a triumphant sneer on his face. “Ah, Sheriff, good to see you. I’d like to get my portfolio from you. As it turns out, Mrs. Benoit has agreed to go with me—”
“Let’s talk about that.” Tolley beckoned to him. “Your papers are in my office.”
At Giles’s hesitation, Justice resisted the urge to grab the man by his collar and drag him back with them.
“Very well.” He narrowed his eyes and glanced back and forth between Justice and Tolley, his distrust obvious. Once in the office, he refused the offered chair. “What is this all about?”
“It’s about Mrs. Benoit and her children, of course.” Tolley sat back in his chair behind the desk.
Mild alarm flitted across Giles’s face. “Look, give me my papers, and I will be out of your little town on tomorrow’s morning train.”
Tolley clicked his tongue. “Can’t do that.”
“What? Now, see here—”
“No, you see here.” Justice stood over the shorter man, causing Giles to drop into the chair after all. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the name Arthur Pettigrew.”
Giles turned pale, and his jaw dropped. “O-of course. He was my uncle, my mother’s brother. What about him?”
Tolley gave Justice a nod, encouraging the sheriff to continue.
“Turns out good old Uncle Arthur had no children, so he left a rather nice bequest to Gerard and Isabelle Benoit, to be managed by a duly appointed guardian until each one comes of age.” The amount of the fortune shocked Justice, but it also explained Giles’s determination to gain custody of the children. He wanted the money for his own undoubtedly evil purposes.
“And,” Tolley said, taking up the story, “since the children already have a competent guardian in their own mother, you won’t have to be burdened with rearing someone else’s children at your young age.”
“Mr. Giles,” Justice said, “I suggest you gather your belongings and take this afternoon’s train out of town.” Still standing over the man, he gave him a deceptively friendly grin. “Do I make myself clear?”
“B-but those other debts. The note to my bank—”
“Tut, tut. How sad for you. Turns out the signatures on the bills are forgeries.” Tolley took the portfolio from his desk drawer and shoved it toward Giles. “I’ve already marked them as such and notarized them. As for your so-called bank, my good friend and fellow attorney in New Orleans informs me it’s an illegal enterprise. That alone makes the note worthless. But even if Lucius Benoit did owe you money lost to you in a card game, according to Louisiana state law, no third party can be held liable for someone else’s gambling debts.”
“Does that clear everything up for you?” Justice adjusted his gun belt, a threatening gesture he’d learned in the Texas Rangers.
It seemed to work. Giles slid out of the chair, snatched up the portfolio and stepped toward the door. “You have not heard the last from me. I will have my friend, a judge in New Orleans—”
Justice grabbed the front of Giles’s coat and lifted him up on his tiptoes. “You can do as you wish, but our circuit judge has already awarded custody of the children to their mother based on Mr. Northam’s and my recommendation. Now, if you don’t get yourself over to the train depot right now, you might be spending the winter in my jail, a situation neither one of us would like.” He gave the man a little shove. “We’ll send your baggage after you.”
Wide-eyed, Giles straightened as if trying to regain his dignity. Justice took a step toward him, and he ran from the room like a scared jackrabbit.
Justice gave Tolley a hearty handshake. “Thanks, my friend. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
“That’s what friends are for. When will you tell Evangeline the good news?”
“No time like the present.” Then he remembered Gerard’s suspension. The boy wouldn’t take kindly to Justice’s sending his hero out of town. “Then again, I think I’ll ride out this ev
ening and tell Nate and Susanna at the same time.”
After a little more friendly banter, Justice walked out into the wind again...and right into Evangeline, who appeared to be coming from his office. He caught her before she fell.
“Oh, Justice, there you are. I don’t know what to do. Gerard is missing. Please, you’ve got to help me find him. I’m afraid he’s run away.”
* * *
Barely able to stand, Evangeline clung to Justice’s strong arms to keep from falling.
“Let’s go inside.” Instead of taking her to the jailhouse, he escorted her into Tolley Northam’s office, from which he’d just emerged. He seated her beside Effie Bean’s reception desk and squatted in front of her, taking hold of her hands.
“What happened? Was he angry about the suspension?” The gentleness in his voice brought her to tears. He drew her close and let her weep into his shoulder.
Effie thrust a handkerchief at Evangeline, and Tolley emerged from the hallway, both repeating Justice’s question.
Through her tears, she choked out a shortened version of her whole sordid story, including Hugo’s threats. “And Gerard heard it all. He ran out of the library without saying a word. Please, before you arrest me, please go find him.”
The puzzled look on Justice’s face surprised her. “Arrest you? Why on earth would I do that?”
“B-because of...” She broke down again.
He stood and addressed Tolley. “Will you and Effie take care of her while I find Gerard before he gets into more trouble?”
“Of course.” Tolley sent Effie for coffee, then beckoned to Evangeline. “Come on back to my office. We need to have a talk.”
Justice frowned. “What are you going to tell her?”
“Trust me. You go find Gerard.”
Evangeline gripped Justice’s hands. “Please.”
“If I can’t locate him, I’ll ring the fire bell and round up some folks to help me.” Justice exited the building.
Within minutes, Effie brought in a jug of hot coffee from the café, and Tolley escorted Evangeline into his back office.
“Evangeline, I have some things to tell you.”
Her heart in her throat, she slowly nodded. What he had to say couldn’t be any worse than having her son run away on a bitter cold day in Colorado.
* * *
Justice went to his office and apprised his deputy of the situation. “Let’s saddle up and start looking.” He exchanged his jacket for his lined duster, gathered some equipment and headed for the livery stable, Sean O’Shea right behind him.
“Hello, Sheriff, Deputy.” Adam Starling sat on a bale of hay oiling a buggy harness. “Need me to saddle your horses?” He set down his work and moved toward the stalls.
“We can do it.” Ordinarily, Justice would let Adam do the job so he could give him a tip. Today he was in too much of a hurry. “Any chance you saw Gerard Benoit in the past hour or so?”
“Yessir.” Adam scratched his head. “He said his cousin, that Giles fellow, wanted him to bring Lulabelle over to the hotel. I saddled her, and he took out headed west. He’s a good little rider for a boy his age.”
As Justice saddled his dappled gray, he considered the situation. From what Evangeline said, he doubted Gerard would seek out Giles. “Did the boy say anything else?”
“No, sir. But he did seem a bit agitated.”
“Can you point out Lulabelle’s hoofprints?”
“Sure. Those smaller ones over there.” Adam pointed to some distinctive prints in the dirt floor. “You gonna track him? Has he done something wrong?”
Justice mounted up. “Yes and yes. Don’t worry. I’ll bring Lulabelle back safe and sound.”
“Yessir. And I know Mr. Russell would want you to make sure the boy is safe and sound first.”
Justice waved an acknowledgment of the sentiment, then he and O’Shea followed the little mare’s trail in the snowy, muddy street. Sure enough, it led to the hotel and beyond. From there, the deeper, blurred prints showed the pace had picked up.
“Looks like he walked through town to avoid suspicion,” O’Shea said, “then took off at a gallop.”
Justice exhaled a cloudy breath. “Foolish boy. Where does he think he can go in this weather?”
“Yep.” O’Shea snorted. “The kid’s wily, but he’s not too smart.”
“I wouldn’t argue with that.” Justice urged Thunder into a canter, keeping an eye on the mare’s hoofprints. They rode west for some time toward Del Norte. Two miles out of Esperanza, the prints left the road and headed north toward the river.
“Uh-oh. Not good.” O’Shea voiced what Justice was thinking.
They hadn’t followed the tracks a hundred yards before Lulabelle came galloping toward them, dragging her reins dangerously between her front legs. One step on the straps and she could go down and break her neck or a leg.
Justice snatched his lasso from his saddle’s pommel, pivoted Thunder around as the mare passed and flung the loop over her head like she was a maverick calf on the run from branding. As Thunder kept pace with the smaller horse, Justice held the rope loose until she got used to it, then gently tugged. The mare slowed and finally stopped.
He snagged her reins and looped them around the pommel before leading her back toward the river. He found O’Shea riding along the frozen edge of the Rio Grande calling for Gerard. Justice tied the mare to a tree and joined his efforts.
The unmistakable screech of a mountain lion split the air, sending chills down Justice’s spine. As he drew his rifle from its sheath, O’Shea called “Cougar!”
“Do you see it?”
“No, sir. The sound came from over there.” He pointed toward a small rise.
“Help!” A child screamed in terror.
“We’re coming, Gerard.” Justice forced his skittish gelding in the direction of the second cat screech. “O’Shea, go back and let the mare loose. She’s a sitting target.”
“Yessir.” The deputy’s horse bucked and twisted, all too willing to get away from the danger of a hungry predator. Nonetheless, O’Shea managed to keep his seat.
Justice crested the rise. The sight meeting his eyes sent another shiver down his spine. Gerard had climbed a bare, spindly cottonwood tree and was hanging on for dear life to some flimsy upper branches. The cougar clung to a branch below the sobbing child and swung lethal claws at his foot. Thunder whinnied in fear and tried to bolt, but Justice held him in check.
“Come on, boy, help me out here,” Justice muttered to the horse.
Keeping a tight hold on the reins while lifting the rifle with his left hand, he took off his right glove, put his hand on the trigger and peered down the sight at the deadly cat. “Lord, make this count.”
He squeezed the trigger. The loud report echoed throughout the aspen, pine and cottonwoods. Thunder jolted. The cougar screamed again as the branch beneath it broke. Eyes wild, mouth open in another screech, the animal turned its attention to Thunder. The horse whinnied in terror and spun. Justice turned him back. He looked down his sights and squeezed the trigger again. This time, the bullet found its target. The magnificent yet dangerous creature fell lifeless in the snow.
Once he’d subdued Thunder and sheathed his rifle, he rode closer to the tree, where Gerard stared down at him through the branches, his eyes wide.
“Can you climb down?” He tried to keep his tone neutral in spite of the hammering in his chest. This had been entirely too close.
Gerard nodded, but as he descended, his coat snagged on a broken branch. When he tugged at it, the material ripped but didn’t come loose. Tugging harder, he sobbed. “Let me go!”
Those were the same words he’d said earlier when Justice had hauled him out of the classroom. But this time his efforts succeeded. The branch released the coat, but th
e action knocked him off balance.
“Help!”
Arms flailing, he plummeted through the branches right into Justice’s arms, smacking one foot into his chest and a hand into his face. With no little difficulty, Justice remained in the saddle and held on to the child, although Thunder stamped the ground and snorted his displeasure. Once Justice reclaimed the wind Gerard had knocked out of him, he righted the weeping, gasping boy and set him in front of him on the saddle.
“Let’s go, Thunder.” He nudged the still skittish horse back toward the trail beside the river’s edge.
Gerard’s sobs began to subside by the time they emerged from the woods, but he continued to shake. O’Shea was waiting for them, the lead rope still around Lulabelle’s neck.
“You want to ride by yourself?” Justice asked the boy.
He shook his head and leaned back into Justice’s chest. Instinctively, Justice tightened his hold. To his surprise, the boy didn’t resist.
“O’Shea, head on back to town. We’ll be right behind you.” This was what he’d been praying for, a chance for a breakthrough with Gerard. Once the deputy rode out of earshot, he said, “You all right?”
Gerard nodded and wiped his nose on his sleeve. Justice pulled a handkerchief from inside his coat and handed it to him.
“Th-thank you.” Finally, a pleasant word from the boy.
“You’re welcome.” He held Thunder to a walk. “You want to tell me where you were headed before you met up with that cougar?”
Sniffing, Gerard shook his head...then started talking. “I hate Hugo.” He hiccuped. “I hate my father.”
From what Evangeline had told Justice, the boy had plenty of reasons for his anger at Giles, but what about Lucius Benoit? “Why do you hate your father?”
“He died and left us.”
“Hmm. I doubt he wanted to do either one. Most people don’t choose when they die.”
Gerard nodded, his bare head bobbing against Justice’s chest. Justice took off the scarf he used as a face cover against bitter winds and wound it over the boy’s head. Gerard shivered as he tugged the woolen garment close.
Cowboy Lawman's Christmas Reunion Page 17