An Agent for Darcy

by Laura Beers

  Adam stared at her, his eyes filled with pain and regret. “It was because of me that Amanda is dead and four of my employees… my friends.” He scoffed. “For what? A piece of land?”

  “You did nothing wrong. This is not your fault.”

  He dropped his head in his hands. “What have I done?”

  “Don’t give up. You owe that to Amanda,” Darcy replied reassuringly as she leaned closer. “You must fight through the grief and the guilt.”

  “Why?” he asked, lifting his head.

  Compassion grew inside of her since she understood exactly what he was going through. “Fight for yourself, because it will get better. Trust me.”

  He watched her, his expression hopeful. “How is that possible when I don’t have Amanda with me?”

  Darcy gave him an understanding smile. “When you truly love someone, they will always be a part of you.”

  “Do you honestly believe that?” he murmured earnestly.

  “I do, wholeheartedly.”

  The kitchen door slammed closed and Porter’s deep voice rang out. “Pardon me. Did I interrupt something just now?” he asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.

  Darcy straightened and stood up. “Nope. Supper is ready.” She smiled over at Porter. “How was your afternoon?”

  Porter tore his narrowed gaze away from Adam, and his eyes softened when they landed on her. “It went well. I spent some time calf roping.”

  She grabbed two plates and filled them with generous helpings of beef, potatoes and vegetables. She walked over and placed them in front of the men. “Eat up. I found preserved vegetables. I assume your wife canned them. Am I right?”

  Adam reached for his fork. “You are correct.”

  After she filled her plate, she sat down next to Porter. She hadn’t even taken her first bite when he said, “I’ve decided that we need to set a trap.”

  Chapter 9

  Porter watched as Darcy gave him her full attention. “As much as I enjoy being a cowhand, it’s time we set a trap for the murderer.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” Darcy asked.

  He pointed his fork at Adam. “You are going to assign me to go mend the fence in the valley. If all goes well, we can lure out the murderer and arrest him before supper tomorrow.”

  “But why would I send you and not Dustin, who is the acting foreman?” Adam questioned.

  Porter shrugged. “You’re the boss. Think of a reason.”

  “What happens after you lure the criminal into the valley?” Darcy inquired.

  After he swallowed his food, he replied, “I’ll be waiting for him.”

  Darcy looked expectantly at him. “And where do I fit into this plan?”

  “You will stay behind,” Porter replied, his tone brooking no argument.

  “Absolutely not,” she declared, her voice rising. “I’m going with you.”

  Since he expected her outburst, he was unperturbed. “It won’t be safe for you.”

  “Fine,” she replied quickly. Much too quickly.

  Porter had not expected that. He had anticipated more of a fight. He eyed her suspiciously. It was clear that she was up to something, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

  Seeming oblivious to his scrutiny, Darcy smiled sweetly at Adam. “How was your day today?”

  He wiped his mouth with his napkin and answered, “It was…”

  Porter spun in his chair to face Darcy and spoke over Adam. “I am serious. You cannot come with me.”

  With a mischievous glint in her eye, she acknowledged, “I understand.” She turned her gaze back to Adam for him to finish.

  Adam’s eyes darted between them. “Um… as I was saying…”

  “Fine. You can come!” he exclaimed, pointing his finger at her. “But you will stay hidden.”

  Her lips twitched but the rest of her face was expressionless. “I don’t accept your terms.” She lifted her brow at Adam. “Please continue.”

  Adam leaned back in his seat with amusement on his features. “Why don’t I wait until you two finish…” he paused, smirking, “whatever this is?”

  “Darcy,” Porter said, “you must understand that we are trying to trap a murderer.”

  “I understand. That is why I signed up to be a Lady Pinkerton.”

  As a seasoned agent, he had learned to read people with remarkable accuracy. However, Darcy was different. Sometimes he could read her like an open book, and other times she hid her emotions behind a mask. It was maddening. His instincts were telling him that he would not win this argument with his wife.

  “What do you propose?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  She pressed her brow together in concentration. “I propose that we leave immediately and tour that cave. With any luck, it will give us a clue to why someone is willing to kill to keep it hidden.”

  Drats! That was actually a good idea. “All right,” he agreed, wiping his mouth with his linen napkin and tossing it onto the table. “Let’s ride.”

  Adam rose from his seat. “Would you like me to join you?”

  “No,” Porter responded, a little too quickly, “I want my wife all to myself.” He stopped, realizing what he had just revealed. It was true. He wanted to spend time alone with Darcy, and he doubted he would ever tire of her smile, or their banter.

  “Fair enough,” Adam said. “I’ll go prepare your horses and bring them around back.”

  “I’ll get two lanterns,” Darcy informed them as she walked out of the room.

  Porter glanced over his shoulder before lowering his voice. “If I don’t make it back for work tomorrow…” His words died off, hoping that Adam caught his meaning.

  Adam nodded. “Be safe. For your wife’s sake.”

  Darcy walked back into the room holding two black lanterns. “You ready?”

  Unable to help himself, he walked up to her and kissed her on the right cheek. “Are you ready to see the glamorous life of an agent?”

  He was pleased to see a blush staining her cheeks. “Haven’t I already seen it?” she bantered back.

  “You haven’t seen anything yet, wife.”

  The sun was starting to dip low in the sky when they reined their horses in before entering the mountain pass. Shadows lined the trail as Porter shifted the reins to his left hand and pulled out his revolver.

  He gave Darcy a pointed look before he urged his horse forward. She understood his unspoken command; ‘Be on your guard’.

  Darcy followed his lead and pulled her derringer out of the pocket in her dress. After they arrived at the valley, Porter put up his hand as he halted his horse. His alert eyes scanned the wide valley, but his eyes narrowed at the far tip near the cave.

  He pointed his revolver towards the cluster of trees that lined the mountain wall. Darcy tried to see what he was pointing at when something moved in the trees. It was the back end of a horse.

  Porter dismounted, and she did the same. They hid their horses behind a large bush and cautiously approached the location where the horse was stashed. Porter stopped and put his fist up. He turned back towards her and whispered, “Stay here.”

  Before she could even respond, Porter crouched down low and ran towards where the lone horse was hidden. Darcy watched as he looked through the saddlebag and as his hand traced along the saddle. He seemed satisfied, because he quickly ran back over. “It is a horse from McCoy’s ranch, but that saddle is recycled through the cowhands. I had hoped it was engraved with our suspect’s initials.”

  “That would have been too convenient,” she teased.

  He gave her a disapproving look. “Agents do not make jokes while tracking a suspect.”

  “I must have missed that in basic training.” To irk him even more, she smiled widely.

  He sighed despairingly. “You are going to be the death of me, Mrs. Shaw.”

  My, that had a nice ring to it, she thought.

  “It is too much of a coincidence that someone from McCoy’s cattle ranch is up here at
this hour,” Porter said in a hushed voice. “We must assume that this is our suspect and proceed with caution.” He stepped closer to her and brought his hand up to trail his knuckles along her right cheekbone. “Please be careful.”

  “I’m ready,” she replied earnestly.

  “I am serious,” he insisted. “If shooting starts, I want you to stay hidden.” She opened her mouth to protest when he placed his calloused finger over her lips. “I won’t be able to be an effective agent if I am worried about you.”

  Darcy met his gaze and saw his face was full of worry. For her. She didn’t want to discount his feelings, but she needed to stand up for herself. She was a Lady Pinkerton. She brought up her hand and lowered his finger from her lips. “You need to learn to trust me as your partner.”

  He leaned closer until his forehead was touching hers. “I do trust you, but I can’t lose you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she murmured.

  Porter swallowed slowly, as if he was trying to bury his emotions. “Follow me,” he ordered in a hoarse voice. He spun around and kept himself low to the ground as they walked up the path towards the cave. Stopping short, he said, “You will have to lead, because I don’t know where the cave is.”

  She moved in front of him and started walking up the rocky terrain. Once they arrived at the cave, they pushed aside the bushes and saw the boulder had been rolled to the side, revealing the dark entrance. They lit their lanterns, drew their weapons, and crept further into the narrow cave until they could hear the distinctive clang of metal hitting rock.

  Darcy held up the lantern towards the wall and saw water trickling down the rocks. The hint of gold flecks reflected off the light. She placed her derringer in her pocket and ran her fingers along the cold stone. They’d found the motive. Gold. And from the looks of it, this cave was full of it.

  “Porter,” she whispered. “Look at all this gold.”

  Porter held up his lantern and let out a low whistle. “You found a gold mine.”

  The sound of someone repeatedly hitting the stone surface continued to echo throughout the cave.

  “Let’s go see who is making all that racket, shall we?”

  As they moved closer to the noise, the cave opened to reveal a stream running down the middle and rock formations hanging from the ceiling.

  “This is beautiful and…” Her words stilled when a putrid smell assaulted her senses. She placed her hand in front of her nose to ward off the smell. “Do you smell that?”

  “I do,” Porter confirmed, moving his lantern in different directions. “It smells like death.”

  “That is what I was thinking.”

  They both spread out, attempting to find the source of that horrific smell. As Darcy turned the corner, she tripped over something. She turned her lantern towards the ground and saw a leg sticking out from an alcove. “Porter,” she said in a hushed voice.

  Porter walked towards her with an expectant look on his face. “Did you find something?” She pointed towards the boot, and he nodded. “Stay here,” he ordered.

  He headed back towards the alcove and she intentionally diverted her gaze. Decaying bodies were not something she wanted to see.

  “I counted four dead bodies,” Porter informed her, “and they are in all stages of decomposition.”

  “Those poor men,” she murmured.

  Porter gave her an understanding look. “Don’t worry. We’ll get justice for those men and their families.” He held his lantern up towards the repetitious noise of metal hitting rock. “We have dallied long enough. Let’s go catch ourselves a murderer.”

  They moved until they saw a dimly lit area and the back of a man wielding a pickax. A candle was jammed into the wall, but it did not provide enough light to identify him. The man straightened and stretched his back. From this new angle, she could see that he was wearing a cap low on his head, a red handkerchief over his nose, and his clothes were so filthy that she had no idea what the color they were supposed to be.

  Porter placed his hand back to corral her behind him. When she didn’t comply immediately, he shot her a warning look. She realized that this was not the place to be disobeying his orders, so she stepped behind him. Unfortunately, she didn’t move as quietly as she intended, and her boot slid against the gravel on the ground.

  In a quick motion, the suspect tossed the pickax in their direction and it came barreling towards them. Porter shoved her out of the way before he jumped to the side. The suspect immediately blew out his candle and ran deeper into the cave. To her surprise, Porter extinguished his candle then rushed over to do the same to hers. Now they were all cloaked in darkness.

  “The light makes us sitting ducks,” he whispered as his left hand grabbed her hand. “Whatever happens, do not let go of my hand.”

  They pressed themselves up against the wall, waiting for the suspect to pass by them, but they felt no indication that he had done so. After waiting for what seemed like hours, Porter lit his lantern and started leading her back towards the entrance of the cave.

  Unfortunately, they discovered the boulder had been shoved in front of the opening, allowing only a tiny finger of light to filter in. “Once we push this boulder out of the way, be prepared to shoot our way out of here,” he warned.

  They both pushed the boulder to the side but were met with only the sounds of nature. An owl hooted, and frogs croaked in the distance.

  Porter kept low and charged out of the cave. He ran towards the cover of an outcropping of rocks about twenty yards away. He kept his pistol aimed in front of him, and his eyes roamed the mountain side. He let out a frustrated sigh. “The horse is gone,” he shouted over at her.

  Darcy looked back into the cave. “The suspect must have fled out of another entrance.”

  A hardened look came to Porter’s eyes, one that she had not seen before. “We have narrowed down the suspect pool. It should be easy to figure out which cowhands were not in the bunkhouse tonight.”

  “Should we head back?”

  “Not for a while,” he replied. “We don’t know if anyone is laying in wait for us past the mountain pass.”

  That seemed logical. “What should we do while we wait?”

  Porter pulled out a deck of cards from his vest pocket. “We play cards.”

  Chapter 10

  Porter was frying bacon when a yawning Darcy walked into the kitchen, wearing her white nightgown. He grabbed a cup, poured some milk into it and handed it to her. “You look exhausted,” he said as he held out a chair for her.

  “Good morning to you, as well,” she replied, her tone grouchy.

  Porter placed his left hand on the table and his right hand on the back of her chair. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Apparently, my wife becomes grumpy with lack of sleep.”

  Darcy took a sip of her milk before saying, “And my husband is unusually cheerful for someone who only got three hours of sleep last night.”

  “Pinkerton agents never sleep. That’s our motto,” he reminded her with a wink.

  She yawned again. “I’m not a fan.”

  He chuckled as he straightened and walked back over to the pan. “Regardless, you have signed up for this exciting life.”

  “Exciting?” she repeated. “Did I miss something?”

  After flipping the bacon, he turned back towards her. “We played cards for hours,” he pointed out.

  “True,” she replied with a half-smile, “it was fun beating you so soundly.”

  He grinned. “I recalled last night much differently.”

  There was a knock at the door and Darcy jumped up, sliding her hand into the pocket of her nightgown. She walked over to the door and asked, “Who is it?”

  “Adam,” came the muffled reply.

  Darcy removed her hand from her pocket then opened the door. “Good morning, Mr. McCoy.”

  “I believe I have asked you to call me Adam on multiple occasions,” he reminded her as he walked into the kitchen. “You both are a sight for
sore eyes.”

  “Why is that?” Darcy asked as she sat back down at the table.

  Adam tugged on his brown vest. “Last night before I went to bed, I came to check on you, but you weren’t home. I ended up tossing and turning all night.”

  “Sorry about that. We were forced to hole up in the cave for a few hours until we were sure the coast was clear.” Porter transferred the bacon onto a plate and placed it in the center of the table. “Eat up. I am making pancakes next. Trust me, you will need your strength for what we are about to tell you.

  Lifting his brow, Adam asked Darcy, “Is he always this cheerful in the morning?”

  “Apparently, so,” she confirmed. “I need some time to adjust, but he is like a ray of sunshine.”

  “I wonder if we could bottle his enthusiasm and pass it along to the other cowhands,” Adam jested.

  Porter started mixing the pancake ingredients, ignoring their fun at his expense. “I am glad that you stopped by. When we searched the cave, we found the suspect inside, and he was mining for gold.”

  Adam groaned. “Ever since gold was found in Pike’s Peak, everyone has had gold fever. Almost every stream gets panned, and every cave gets scrutinized.”

  Porter poured pancake batter into the sizzling pan. “This cave is a gold mine. Literally. It was filled with gold flecks.”

  Shooting up in his seat, Adam’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?”

  Darcy nodded. “The gold reflected off the lantern.”

  “I’ll be darned,” Adam replied thoughtfully. “So, someone was willing to kill to keep us out of the valley.”

  As he flipped the pancakes, Porter revealed, “The suspect rode in on a horse from your ranch, but we were unable to identify him. Which cowhands weren’t in the bunkhouse last night?”

  Adam’s voice grew hard as he said, “So it was one of my men that betrayed us all.”

  “It was,” Darcy responded with sympathy in her voice. “We assumed that was the case since your wife was murdered in your house, but we had no proof.”