Between Love and Lies

by Jacqui Nelson

  “I wish I’d spent more time with him. But working the ranch kept me busy. And before long, he was dogging my heels and insisting he share the work.”

  “He sounds stubborn.” A sudden urge to tease him made her say, “Must be a family trait.”

  Noah’s lips parted in surprise before curving into a smile. “He was a determined little cuss.” He stroked her chin. “When you lift this, you remind me of him.”

  “I do not—” She bit back the lie and ended up lifting her chin, which immediately made her laugh.

  His laughter joined hers. Then his gaze locked on her mouth and he drew even closer.

  Finally, he was going to kiss her.

  Behind her, a cough intruded. Then the girl who’d delivered Gertie’s message spoke. “Madam said she wants the room emptied to make ready for the next payin’ customer.”

  The next customer… That truth leeched the happiness from her soul. She let go of Noah and turned to face the door and the saloon beyond.

  “Will you walk me out?” He’d told her last night that the only way he’d leave this room was with her by his side.

  She walked with him to the double doors opening onto Front Street. He didn’t step through them though. He stopped in front of her, halting her as well. The intensity in his gaze stole her breath and filled her with foreboding.

  “The promise that holds you here, the one you mentioned at the rail depot, the one you made to a friend—if you tell me your friend’s name, I’ll be better able to help you both.”

  “You can’t help him,” she blurted. “He’s dead.”

  “He’s—” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’s Edward.”

  Too late, she clamped her palms over her mouth. She’d feared this would happen. She’d said too much.

  “How can you call him your friend?” He kept his head lowered as he rubbed his nose, hiding his gaze, and his mood, from her.

  She let her hands fall to her side. “Because he was.” She refused to lie about such a gift.

  “He bought you and made you—” Crossing his arms, he stared over her head at the room they’d left. “I’m a fine one to talk.”

  “Neither you nor Edward are responsible for giving me a whore’s life. My father and Gertie, plus a string of bad luck, did that. Edward never forced me to…do anything.”

  Jealousy twisted his features. “Then he was indeed a good friend. And a better man than me. I’m glad he was here to help you when I wasn’t.”

  She fought the urge to grab hold of him again, to bind him to her, to tell him the whole truth. “You’re here now.”

  “And I’ll be here tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. I’m stubborn. Remember?” He turned, but stopped short of giving her his back. His profile resembled an impenetrable mask. “I’ll be down the street. If anything happens, come get me.”

  The weight of one promise she might not be able to keep made her reluctant to make any more. She ducked her head. “I can’t promise you—”

  “I know. Only Edward was worthy of your promises.” The saloon’s half doors complained loudly in the sudden void his departure created.

  She seized the swinging panels and held tight. Solid under her hands, the wood gave her no comfort. She pushed up on her toes to peer down the street. Head and shoulders above the crowd, Noah continued to walk away from her. Then the throng swallowed him from view and left her alone.

  Strident laughter echoed in the room behind her, reminding her that she wasn’t completely alone. Cora stood by the piano with the girls who’d helped hasten Noah’s departure. Their laughter faded as they cast hesitant looks from her to Cora.

  Cora remained silent, her gaze fixed on Sadie.

  A bitter taste filled her mouth, not unlike the medicine the woman had pressed upon her. She stormed toward her. “If you truly want to kill me, a bullet would be quicker than poison.”

  The saloon went quiet as a graveyard.

  “Sadie darlin’, you sound distraught. Or has the pox finally pushed you to the point of insanity?”

  A series of gasps followed hot on the heels of Cora’s question.

  “You’re a fine one to cast stones. You’re possessed by an evil nature. Edward would’ve sensed that.” The truth stole her breath. “That’s why he chose me over you.”

  Cora turned to the women hovering behind her. “Leave us.”

  Only when they’d gone, did Cora face her again—with a glare so sharp it could have sliced the tail off a squirrel at fifty paces. “Edward chose you because he needed an obedient lapdog not a bed partner.”

  Sadie’s heart clenched tight as a fist. The odds were high that Cora’s hands would be in the same state.

  “He wanted the world to revolve around him,” Cora continued. “If he’d picked me, Orin’s attention would’ve been split between us.”

  “Your conceit—” she shot back with forced bravado, “—knows no bounds

  “I know you never slept with Edward.”

  “You know nothing. You weren’t there.”

  “But Orin was.” Cora shook with barely restrained anger. “He told me everything.”

  “Ha! You ooze lies. Orin wasn’t the sharing type. He never willingly spoke with me, so don’t expect me to believe he’d tell you one single, solitary thing.”

  “He was my brother.”

  The revelation left Sadie speechless until the truth hit her. “Gertie found you both at an orphanage.” Her voice was no louder than a whisper.

  Cora lowered her voice as well, but hers maintained a cutting edge. “We were inseparable until she sold him to Edward. She assured me we’d be reunited—when Edward could pay her fee. But gamblers are unpredictable with their earnings. When Edward’s luck returned mine disappeared. You came careening into Dodge. You stole my place.”

  “You know I don’t have the syphilis.”

  “Of course I know. Orin told me that whatever woman Edward hired would only exist to create the illusion of sexual goings-on. But it all comes back to this: do you want Gertie to know? She’ll inform all of Dodge that you’re recovered, then sell you to the highest bidder again. That won’t be your cowboy.”

  Fear squeezed the air from her lungs along with one word. “Wardell.”

  “Not if I have my way. An’ I will. His money’s mine. You’ve taken too much from me already.” Cora’s smile resembled the bared teeth of a dog sensing fear and growing bold. “Everyone believes Orin ran off with Edward’s tawdry family trinkets. I know better.”

  She knows Gertie killed Edward. Like a trap sprung, the pressure around her chest squeezed tight.

  “You stole his possessions,” Cora said quietly.

  Shock made her stumble back. Her vision blurred. A distorted world of gray whipped around her. She groped for something solid. Anything. Her fingers found the piano. She couldn’t recall the sound of Edward’s music or the exact color of Noah’s hair. She was alone in her haze.

  “Orin came to me before he fled.” Cora’s voice drew nearer, close to her ear. “He begged me to help him. Suddenly, after months of ignoring me, I had value again. He babbled about murder and vengeance. I told him he was a fool. I’d take care of him again, like I always had. When I turned my back, he took my money and disappeared. He stole everything I’d saved, because he hadn’t been able to reach Edward’s hotel room before the law showed up, gathered everything of value an’ stowed it in the jail. You were the only one in that room between Edward’s suicide an’ the law’s arrival.”

  “I didn’t take—” Her throat closed around the denial, wouldn’t open again.

  “What you did with them afterward is anyone’s guess. All I know for certain is that I lost my brother and every penny I saved. I’ll take Wardell’s wealth in payment, along with your life.”

  The fog circling her thickened. She couldn’t breathe. Only the piano’s solid mass under her hands kept her upright. I need help. I need Noah.

  She lurched in the direction of the door, ready
to run to the jail…or crawl if she had to.

  A familiar hand shackling her wrist halted her. “Tell your cowboy an’ he’ll come barging back in here, brandishing his badge an’ his holier-than-thou attitude. Waste of my time informing him you’re a thief. He won’t believe a word I say. He’ll have to die as well.”

  She shook her head, rejecting Cora’s declaration. “Noah’s too strong, too vigilant, too quick with a gun.”

  “When the time’s right, the mighty fall as fast the scrubs. It’ll be easy taking him down.”

  “He’s not alone. He’s got the law on his side. He’ll throw you in jail.”

  “My challenge is patience. Don’t want to give your Texan his medicine too earlier.”

  “No...” Her world turned black.

  “Oh yes. In fact, when you failed to leave town yesterday, I was sorely tempted to slip a dollop of arsenic from the rat trap into the whiskey bottle delivered to your room. You’d have been responsible for his death.”

  From the darkness she dredged up her last ember of strength and blurted, “Leave Noah alone. This is between you and me.”

  “Finally.” Cora’s sigh, dripping with satisfaction, filled her ear. “I hold your acceptance to the last nail in your coffin. Couldn’t be certain before. Now, I am.” Her words snapped with scorn. “Should’ve known. Love is a weakness, a burden. Never again. Not for me, or for you.”

  The restraint on her wrist fell away. The satisfied click of boot heels retreated, fading into silence.

  She stood alone. Utterly defeated.

  Why couldn’t she have found Edward’s watch and jewelry box? Then she’d be long gone from Dodge. And so would Noah. Now she couldn’t even go to the jail to warn him.

  The jail… What had Cora said about the jail and Edward’s possessions? The jail held the deceased’s property. She sucked in a ragged breath, then another and another until her vision cleared.

  What if Edward’s watch and box were there as well? What if after Gertie stole them, she’d decided to hide them with his other belongings? So they wouldn’t be found at the Star? So she could retrieve them whenever the time was right?

  Sadie had to find them first.

  CHAPTER 13

  When the storm had provided the distraction required to slip from the saloon unseen, Sadie hadn’t hesitated. Now doubt and fear buffeted her along with the rising wind.

  Her absence would not remain unnoticed. This time it would not go unpunished…unless her plan succeeded. Once more she’d gambled everything on leaving the Star.

  Lightning illuminated the world beyond—the boy standing on the jailhouse porch talking to Noah and Marshal Masterson. Then darkness returned. Thunder boomed. And once more Front Street stretched before her, an intimidating expanse of murky ground. But tonight even Dodge’s most notorious throughway seemed inconsequential compared to the hurdles she needed to cross once she reached the other side.

  Get inside the jail, find the watch and box, jump another train for Chicago, run even farther so she wouldn’t be caught and dragged back…all so Noah would be free to leave as well without being involved and held accountable.

  Repay a friend. Protect the man she loved.

  The man now departing the jail alongside the whip-smart lawman…and the messenger she’d sent to make them leave. The boy trotted beside the men, striving to keep up with their long strides. All three moved swiftly down the road in her direction. She turned her face to the wall, hoping to hide her paleness, praying to become another shadow.

  The boy’s voice reached her first. Muffled snatches of words, whipped by the wind. “A disagreement between drovers and railroaders...insulting each other’s profession…. a brawl…at the rail depot.”

  He’d embellished the tale she’d asked him to report, but he’d kept the location. Thank the heavens. The depot was the farthest point from the jail. Distance meant time. She needed all the time she could get.

  His voice faded, then vanished, leaving her alone in the gloom and the growing storm both outside and within. An irrational disappointment that the first part of her plan had succeeded overwhelmed her.

  Noah was no longer near.

  She gritted her teeth and counted to ten before she faced the street. Directly across stood the mercantile and next to it the jail. Both silent and somber. She’d donned her drabbest dress of faded blue, hoping it’d help her blend into the shadows.

  Probably wouldn’t do a lick of good.

  She ran as fast as she could. Behind her, the Star buzzed with its usual music and laughter. When she reached the boardwalk, she flattened her spine against the storefront and struggled to catch her breath. To her right waited the jail with its brick walls and barred windows.

  The wood creaked under her feet. She concentrated on placing her feet carefully. It didn’t help. Finally she stood outside the jail with a pair of hairpins in her hands. The lock opened surprisingly fast. Her recent practice had paid off.

  She slipped inside and secured the door behind her.

  Nothing but shadows greeted her. She crept into them, past a chair by a desk. The bars of a cell made her halt. A black hole of a doorway loomed on her left. She went through it. Her knees bumped something hard and soft. A mattress on an iron frame.

  She ran her hands over the bed to the low table at its head. Her fingers brushed rough metal and smooth glass. She found the lantern’s wick, lit it and turned it down so there was a better chance it wouldn’t be seen from the street.

  Around the bed, and her, loomed a jumble of haphazardly stacked trunks and cases.

  She searched for Edward’s leather-bound and brass-studded steamer trunks. When she found the matching pair, she dropped to her knees and rifled through their contents. She didn’t bother to return the items to their proper order.

  Despair riddled her heart when she reached the bottom of the second trunk. Why hadn’t she found his watch and box? She scanned the room for her answer. Could they have gotten mixed up with the other baggage?

  Too many. Too little time. She raised her chin. No time to lose. She couldn’t leave until she checked every one.

  She scrambled to complete her quest. On and on. Faster and faster. Until her head throbbed and her chest grew tight. She paused to focus on drawing in air. The dizziness would pass. It always did. But tonight she couldn’t wait for it to even recede.

  Hurry. You can’t leave empty-handed.

  She stood to move to the next trunk. Her blood roared in her ears. An inky circle swallowed the edges of her vision, closing in…until all went black.

  * * *

  Noah’s steps dragged as he slogged through the mud. He rubbed his eyes and gave his head a shake. Water sloshed from his hat onto his shoulders and down his back. Adding to the soaking he was receiving from the heavens.

  Lord, he was tired. He hadn’t slept at all last night. It’d been worth it. Every minute Sadie had trusted him to hold her hand and keep her safe, while she slept and regained her strength had been time well spent.

  Tonight’s activities hadn’t been worth a plug nickel. First the false alarm at the depot then, as he and Bat walked back into town, a real fight. This one between two girls at the Crystal Palace over a customer who’d offered his wages to both but only had sufficient for one.

  Now, all he wanted was to collapse on his bed.

  The instant he glimpsed the Northern Star through the downpour, his fatigue faded and his pace quickened. What was Sadie doing? Was she safe? Would she trust him to help her again?

  He halted with one boot on the saloon’s bottom step. The wind picked up, howling around him in rebuke. You can trust me, he’d told her. Trust him to act the jealous idiot…and not ask what she’d promised Edward.

  He bounded up the steps. Why hadn’t he asked? Behind him, a sudden gust roared over his shoulder. The wind hit the saloon doors before he could. They whipped inward and slammed back against his outstretched hand.

  Son-of-a— Pain shot up his arm and spun him sideways
, away from the light blazing within toward a fainter one down the street. Something flickered in the jail’s window.

  His stinging palm went immediately to his revolver. He hadn’t left any lanterns lit.

  Was Bat inside? When they’d parted ways, the marshal claimed he had an errand to run before heading to his own bed at the Dodge House Hotel.

  He squinted through the rain. The illumination wasn’t coming from the jail’s main room. Why would Bat, or anyone, go in the other room? Only thing in there besides his bed and worn trail gear was that god-awful clutter of abandoned baggage.

  With his hand on his revolver, he jogged, and slipped and slid, through the muck to the jail. The door wouldn’t open. Bat never locked it when he was inside.

  He drew his gun first and the brass key ring from his vest pocket second.

  Inside, across an expanse of black, a glow filled the doorway leading to his sleeping quarters. The light flared, fed by the air he’d let in. Careful not to make a sound, he shut the door behind him. He kept his footsteps silent as well. He couldn’t stop the water from dripping off him and pattering on the floor.

  Hopefully whoever was in the other room would only hear the rain drumming on the roof.

  He lunged the last two strides and braced himself in the doorway. His revolver swept the room. Trunks and cases lay open. Their contents strewn on the floor around a heap of faded blue and bright red.

  Dread sucked the air from his lungs as he scrambled through the chaos to reach Sadie. Her face was as white as the daisies blanketing the graveyard he’d followed her to on his second day in town.

  On his knees beside her, he tried to speak. Failed. Tried again. Her name came out no better than a croak. “Sadie?”

  She didn’t answer, didn’t move.

  He shut his eyes against her stillness, rejecting it. His entire body shook as he leaned down to hold his ear over her lips…to feel her breath. Warm. Alive.

  His own breath left him a whoosh, leaving space for questions to form. What had happened at the Star to bring her here? Was she running away again?