White Deception

by Susan Edwards

  Mattie felt better at taking part in the search. The last thing she’d wanted to do was be stuck in her own home where she couldn’t move. Nor did she want the looks she knew would be thrown her way or the soft whispers as everyone talked about the kidnapping.

  No, this was her place, where she belonged. Sighted or not.

  “Hey, wait for us,” Kealan called out.

  Mattie grinned when she heard him ride up beside her. The length of leg that brushed against her told her Matthew was there, too. She called out, “Got your feather, Kea?”

  She wasn’t the least bit surprised that both brothers were here. After all, they were family, and they were all in this together.

  “Yep. In my medicine bag. Matthew gave me his, too, so I have lots of good medicine now.”

  “Bye, Mattie.” They rode off to join a different search party.

  Reed dropped back to ride at her side. “Some family you’ve got, Mrs. O’Leary.”

  “Yes. It’s a wonderful family.” She turned her gaze to him. “Some family we are going to have someday, Reed.” She added Robertson silently. He’d told her that until he cleared his father’s name, and his own, he would not use the name he’d once cherished. He refused to bring further dishonor to the name of a man he loved, but had been too stubborn to say the words that might have prevented a lot of heartache.

  Reed listened as Renny made suggestions as to where their group should search. They split into twos and threes, then arranged a time and place to meet when they were all done.

  Staring around him, Reed knew it would be a daunting task.

  * * *

  Riding away from the O’Briens’ cabin, Mac was worried. Things were not going as planned. He glanced at the men around him, at the men spreading out over the land like ants leaving their nest.

  Damn. What was he going to do? He didn’t dare ride over to where the kids were hidden. It was too risky. Yet if he left the kids where they were stashed, he’d lose his chance of getting the O’Briens off the land. He frowned. Right now, he needed his young hostages alive. If anything happened to them, the rest wouldn’t have any reason to vacate the land. But if the kids were returned as he intended, the O’Briens would leave; they’d move to town where it was safer.

  No, he didn’t need or want the ransom money. There was far more than that hidden. He just needed time to find it. Time, and no one around to catch him searching.

  He’d been assigned to check the eastern border for the kids, where a long, narrow ridge rose high above the prairie. It would take a bit of time to reach it, search the base, then climb up. Even going around it would take a bit of time, but when they did, his party would find Leo, Daire and Caitie.

  Glancing north, he saw other riders approaching the same ridge. It looked like the sheriff and Reed were concentrating there.

  He tightened his lips. After all this hubbub over the kidnapping was over, he was going to have to lay low for a while. The money would have to wait.

  Which left Leo to deal with. He whistled to the men around him, indicating that he planned to hit the area at the south end of the bluff where the property narrowed. Two young men rode over to him. “Going to go around from here,” he told them.

  “We’ll go with you.”

  “No. Start here, work your way south. Search every bush and outcropping of rock. When you reach the end of the ridge, head for the river, follow it to the mill, then search the other side back up to here.”

  The boys nodded and hurried off, keeping them away and giving him time to do what he needed to do. A plan was forming in his mind. There might be a way to come out of this with none the wiser.

  Riding hard, Mac followed the bluff, keeping an eye out to be sure no one was around. He reached the other side then stopped. From one of his saddlebags, he pulled out his wig and beard and old hat and scarf and put them on.

  He smiled as he started at the saddlebags. They were old, as he’d borrowed one of the O’Brien horses. There was nothing on this horse that would tie it to him.

  Keeping his pace even, he approached the boulders where the kids were hidden. He spotted Leo sitting on a fallen tree, out in the open. As soon as the bank robber spotted him, he jumped to his feet. Once more, they were each pointing a gun at the other.

  “Got the money?” Leo asked, spreading his feet wide.

  “It’s not going to work,” Mac said. “They’re searching right now. On the other side of the bluff. They’ll find us.”

  “Then we take the brats elsewhere,” Leo said.

  “Can’t. They got most of the town out searching. We’re going to have to back off and wait. They’ll give up the land now. If they get them kids back safe.”

  Leo spat on the ground. “I ain’t gonna wait. I want my money now.”

  “Listen, you fool, we can’t get it until the kids are gone! If we try to dig and find the money before, it’ll raise questions. If someone sees us, or finds the spots we’ve dug… I already tried. The kids buried their parents in that area. Renny goes there almost every day.”

  “Then I say we kill them. All of them.” He moved toward the rocky prison where Daire stood holding Caitie.

  “If what he says is true, if they are searching, they’ll hear your shots,” the O’Brien boy said. He set Caitie down and shoved her behind him. The girl clutched his leg.

  Mac met the boy’s eyes. They were wide, scared, but he put on a brave front. Like Laura. She’d had blue eyes too, and soft brown hair. She’d been afraid. So afraid and in pain. But she’d never cried. Never whined. She’d been brave all right during her illness, during his own moments of despair and even in death; she’d met the end without a tear or complaint. She’d simply said she loved him and asked him not to forget her.

  Mac’s eyes blurred. He’d never forgotten her. Or the fact that her death could have been avoided if only he’d had money to take her to the best doctors, the best hospitals for treatment.

  Instead, she’d died in the flea-bitten tenement building where they’d lived.

  Leo’s bark of laughter broke the spell of the boy’s eyes.

  “Then let ’em come. We’ll be long gone by then,” he sneered. He pulled out a small revolver, cocked it and pointed it at Daire.

  * * *

  Reed rode toward the bluffs with the rest of Mattie’s family. The other searchers were already spreading out along the base. He led the group to the north end.

  Kealan spoke up. “Reed, I know the way up,” he said. “I go up there all the time. It’s my thinkin’ place. I could go up there to look around.”

  Matthew smacked him in the head. “You aren’t allowed up there without us, brat.”

  Reed grinned. He liked the boy’s spunk.

  “Can I go?” the kid repeated.

  “No!” The answer came from all the adults.

  Kealan sulked.

  Reed felt a growing love for the boy, and he hoped that his own son would be so quick to love and accept him back into his life. “We all stay together,” he said, to soften the blow to the boy’s pride.

  “Yeah.” Kea glanced around, as though making sure no one had sneaked off without him.

  The boy chattered away while they searched. Reed suspected that Kealan truly could not understand the dire circumstances his siblings were in; he had childish faith in those he loved. He could accept no other outcome than their finding Daire and Caitie, and that everything would be right with his world again.

  Reed wasn’t so sure. From the grim set on the faces around him, he knew the others also feared the worst.

  “What are we going to do if we don’t find them?” Mattie asked. She was riding beside Reed.

  “We pay what they want,” Renny said fiercely. “I’d pay double to get them back.”

  Reed shot a look at Kealan, who was o
ut of earshot. “It’s a wonder they didn’t get him. Probably meant to take all three of the kids. Would have made it six thousand.”

  “I’m glad Kealan was being Kealan that day,” Renny said. “Otherwise, they would have.”

  “Just better hope they weren’t angry that they only got two instead of three,” Tyler said. He stopped, a frown darkening his face. “Wait a minute. Just wait a minute.”

  Reed clucked and made his horse back up. “What’s wrong?”

  Sheriff Tyler looked at each of them. “They only got two.”

  Renny rolled her eyes. “That was just established. A bit slow today, aren’t you?”

  For once, Tyler didn’t fight back. “When I read the note, I assumed all three had been kidnapped. No one knew that Kealan was safe.”

  “Your point? We’re wasting time—”

  Reed held up his hand. He recognized the fury building in Tyler’s gray eyes. In the space of a second they’d gone stormy. “What do you have, Sheriff?”

  “I think I know who is behind this. But it can’t be.”

  Mattie shifted. “Tyler, tell us. Please.”

  “Patrick O’Leary came over the day I found the note. He read it. Said he didn’t know where you kids would get four thousand dollars.”

  “It can’t be Paddy,” Mattie said. “He’s been like a father to us. Why would he take the children?”

  “Don’t know, Mattie, but he knows something.”

  “He’s also our neighbor, and he knows us well. Even the children. Who else had the access to poison the cattle?” Renny shifted restlessly in her saddle.

  “Could have been anyone,” Mattie argued, but she sounded doubtful.

  Renny glanced at both Reed and Tyler. “Yeah, but Paddy especially would know how Mattie would react to a blackbird tossed through the window.”

  Reed went to Mattie and took her hand. It was cold. Ice cold. “How long has Patrick lived here?”

  Mattie bit her lower lip. “He moved here a couple of months after our parents were killed.” Shocked silence fell over the group.

  “He’s the one, isn’t he?” She gripped Reed’s hand tightly. “He’s the one who killed Anne. And our parents. Our mother and father died for the money he stole, didn’t they?”

  Reed was sure that he’d found Malcolm Clemmings, but he said, “I hope not, Mattie.” For her, he hoped it wasn’t. The man was her father-in-law, and a man she admired greatly.

  “But makes sense now,” Mattie went on. “He pushed me and Collin together. Like me and Gil. It didn’t matter to him that Katherine hated us.”

  Reed nodded. “Sounds like. But why not just come back and get the money at night? You’d never know.” Reed and Mattie had told everyone everything their first night back. Why had Paddy felt he had to drive the O’Briens off their land?

  Renny looked at Reed. “If he is the one who killed our parents, that means they probably found him burying the money in the first place. Right?”

  “Makes sense,” Reed said.

  “Well, we buried our parents in a place I go almost every day.” She sounded excited. “Then we had that fire. It wiped out everything. Even the cross we put up.” She looked at Reed and Tyler. “We buried them like we normally do. The Indians wouldn’t do that. So Mattie and Matthew never went there.” She glanced around. “We never put a new cross up. But I know where it is.”

  Reed whirled around. “Patrick was taking the other side of the bluff. If the kids are there, he’ll get to them first.”

  Renny whipped her horse around as well. “Not if I can help it.”

  But just as she took off, a shot rang out in the distance. A second shot followed.

  For a moment, no one moved. They were waiting for the next series of three shots that might mean Caitie and Daire had been found. But there weren’t any more shots, so Reed reached out and pulled Mattie onto his horse in front of him.

  “Hold on,” he ordered, and he kicked the horse into a gallop.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mattie’s heart was in her throat. Something had happened. Something terrible. She closed her eyes.

  Come, she invited. Tell me. Show me. She waited for a vision to come to her. She didn’t see anything.

  “Hang on, Mattie. We’ll find them,” Reed whispered.

  Tears squeezed past her eyelids and ran down the side of her face. Giving up on trying to call forth a vision, she opened her eyes. Reed was pushing them fast, rounding the bluff. The thunder of hooves told her everyone was riding together.

  A slight squeeze around her middle from Reed’s arm gave some comfort. He was here, with her. No matter what they found, she had Reed.

  Above her head, she heard a distant rumble. The air had grown cold, and the wind was whipping around them. She smelled rain. As they rode, the rumble of thunder grew louder. Soon, a storm would be above them.

  When the rain started, Mattie felt all hope die. As far as omens went, it was not good. She so desperately needed to believe that her siblings were alive and unhurt. But…

  “Don’t give up, love,” Reed said. “I have a feeling that they are fine.”

  “Seems impossible,” she said, holding on to his arm tightly. “It’s so dark and stormy.”

  “But I see something you don’t. I see sun.”

  Mattie turned her head slightly. “Where?”

  “Ahead. A small patch breaking through the clouds. The light is shining down there. That is our hope, Mattie.”

  “It might not mean anything,” Mattie argued. What if he believed it was a sign and was wrong? Would he choose not to believe again? Would he go back to believing only what he saw? What would that mean for them?

  No, he couldn’t. Which meant she had to believe as well.

  “Let us hope, Reed,” she said. “Ride toward the light.”

  The closer they got, the harder her heart pounded. Her mouth was dry, her lips cracking. Even her eyes were stinging from the force of the wind and the salt of her tears.

  Without her eyesight, the passing of time could be marked only by her thoughts. To her, the ride went on forever. She wished she could see the land go past, see where they were headed, see the gap closing.

  The worry and fear and suspense were too much. Without warning, the air was filled with shots. Two. Then three. Over and over. The wind carried with it wild screams.

  Mattie sat as high as she could. “What’s happening. Reed? Who’s screaming?”

  Reed let out his own whoop. “Everybody, Mattie. From the top of the bluff. They are there. Coming toward us!”

  “What? How?”

  Reed kissed her on the cheek with his lips, making a loud smacking sound. “I was right! The light was the way! That’s where Daire and Caitie were. They’re riding toward us!”

  Mattie cried, “I need to see them.”

  “Hang on, we’re almost there.”

  Around her, she heard her sister yelling, her brother whooping, Kea’s higher-pitched imitation, and even Tyler was shouting.

  Then they were stopping so fast, Mattie would have gone flying had Reed not had his arm around her. He slid off with her in his arms.

  “Put me down.”

  “Hang on. The ground’s rocky here. It’s faster this way.”

  Then Reed was setting her down, and someone handed her Caitie. Mattie hugged her sister. When a second pair of arms went around her, she knew it was Daire. Suddenly she was in the midst of a joyous reunion. She didn’t know which arms belonged to whom as everyone was hugging, laughing and crying. All she knew as she felt one body, then another, heard the voices of her siblings, and even smelled the overwhelming smell of body and sweat, was that it was the most wonderful sight of all.

  * * *

  Mattie spent the afternoon with Ca
itie clinging to her. The little girl, aside from not allowing Mattie out of her reach, seemed no worse for the ordeal; Daire had apparently taken good care of her.

  Sitting on a blanket spread out on the ground, Mattie heard a large group of boys walk past. Since arriving back at their home, both Daire and Kealan—to Kea’s surprise and pleasure—had been the center of attention. Even most of the girls demanded firsthand accounts of their adventures.

  The O’Brien house was still filled with people. Searchers were still arriving back, hungry and tired, but as soon as they learned the children had been found, celebrations started all over again.

  Mattie sighed. There was one family not here to celebrate. The bodies of both Leo and Patrick had been found. Daire had also told them about another man that Leo had shot. The rest of the mystery had quickly unraveled. Katherine O’Leary had been taken home. She was inconsolable, accusing everyone of lying. Gil and Brenna had gone with her.

  Mattie sighed. Four more deaths. Hearing the firm footfall of someone’s approach, she turned her head. As much as she appreciated all the love and support shown to her and her siblings, she really longed for time with only her family around. So much had happened; they needed time to rebuild a cocoon of security. Especially her young sister. She stroked a finger over Caitie’s brow.

  “Hey. We’re back.”

  Mattie smiled up at Reed’s voice. “You sound tired.” She patted the spot on the blanket beside her. It didn’t matter that they were in view of most of the town. She and Reed belonged together now.

  He sat. “Hell of a day.” Gently, he tucked a strand of hair back behind her ear. “For you as well.”

  “It’s over, Reed. For all of us.” She still had a hard time believing that Patrick could have wished them harm. Her heart went out to Gil and his family. They had known Patrick for three years. He’d married Katherine and adopted her children. All as part of his plan, it seemed. He’d betrayed all of their love for a plan of revenge.

  He’d had not one child who loved him, but three. And he’d never seen that Gil and Brenna would hurt for a long time. Mattie was more determined than ever to make sure Reed got his children back.