Morgan put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, honey, nothing is going to happen.”
“What I wouldn’t give to hear that conversation between Frank and the judge,” Sheriff Trent said.
“I wonder if he found the judge’s girlfriend,” Emma said, staring across the room at her eldest brother. She still had a difficult time believing he was an outlaw. After what Rose and Granny told her about the crimes he had committed, she couldn’t understand why he wasn’t in prison.
“I think it’s time we call it a night,” Morgan said.
Jack leaned to Morgan’s ear and whispered, “You think we can get out of here without Frank seeing us?”
Morgan shrugged. “If Frank says anything, he’d best keep it civil.”
They made their way to the lobby and were almost to the staircase when they heard a voice behind them. “Well, well, if it isn’t Morgan LeMasters with my family,” Frank remarked.
Morgan turned around to face him. Jack, Clay, Sheriff Trent, and Marshal Holt moved to stand beside him.
Frank looked at the one face he didn’t immediately recognize. Clay Hunt. “I think I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
“I almost witnessed your hanging that morning in Kansas a few months back. Fortunately for you, Rose happened along on that stagecoach.”
Frank grinned. “Oh, yeah, you’re that man who didn’t carry a gun. Things might have turned out different that day if you did.”
“A gun is not the answer, Frank,” Clay said.
“No? I was mighty glad that other fellow traveling on that stagecoach had that derringer.” Frank smirked at Morgan. He knew it had to gall Morgan that he’d been able to get the drop on him with that passenger’s derringer.
“You will be held to account for your actions that day. You left your own sister while she was unconscious and in bad shape,” Clay said.
Frank threw his head back and laughed. “In case you haven’t heard, the judge has dropped all charges against me.”
“I’m not talking about the law holding you accountable. You’ll receive another kind of judgment when your days on Earth are done,” Clay countered.
Frank stared hard at Clay. “I get it, you’re a Bible thumper. I was raised by a bunch of Bible thumpers, and I’ve had my fill of your ways.” His eyes slid to Granny. “Preacher was always spouting words from the Bible, and I ask you, where did that get him?” His gaze darted past Morgan. “Do I see my famous sister behind you?” He made a move to step around Morgan, but Morgan blocked his path. “I guess you’ve turned her against me too, haven’t you, LeMasters?”
“I don’t have to turn anyone against you, Frank. You’ve done that all by yourself.”
Emma stepped forward until she was nose to nose with Frank. “What do you want, Frank?”
“I just wanted to say hello to my famous sister.”
“You’ve said it, now we’ll say good night.” Emma started to turn around, but Frank wrapped his hand around her arm, holding her firmly her in place.
Almost as fast, Clay grabbed Frank’s arm. “Let her go.”
“Back off, Bible thumper. I just want to talk to my sister for a minute.”
Clay didn’t release his arm, and Sweetie darted to Emma’s side and started growling at Frank.
Emma wasn’t intimidated by Frank; she stared him in the eye. “I have nothing to say to you, Frank. After what you’ve done to our family, I’m surprised you’d show your face around us.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear about me.” He glanced from Emma to Morgan. “Someone has been telling you lies about me.”
“My family wouldn’t lie to me about you,” Emma countered.
Frank laughed. “You don’t see me in jail, do you?”
“You should be in jail,” Emma replied. “And if you don’t release my arm, Sweetie will gladly remove yours at my command.”
Frank glanced down at the snarling dog, and seeing his teeth were bared, he released Emma’s arm.
Only then did Clay release his hold on Frank’s arm.
“Maybe I’ll hear you sing another time.” Frank turned around and walked back into the restaurant.
“It’s hard for me to believe that after all he’s done, he is still walking around a free man,” Clay said.
“There’s not a thing we can do about it. The judge dismissed every charge against him,” Sheriff Trent said.
“Our only hope is to be able to find his gang and see if they will implicate him on the bank robbery. We’ve sent wanted posters to every sheriff from Montana to Mexico.” Marshal Holt reached inside his pocket and pulled out three posters and handed them to Jack. “Here you go. I’m sure you recognize these men.”
Jack unfolded the posters and looked at them before he handed them to Morgan. “Yep, we know them.”
“These are the same men we were going to hang along with Frank after trailing them from my ranch,” Morgan said.
“The bank president and the clerks can identify them. The marshal came up with the idea to send these posters out hoping when Frank’s gang sees them they’ll figure out they are going to be charged with all of the crimes. They weren’t granted a pardon along with Frank. We all know Frank may not have been in the bank during that robbery, but he was involved,” Sheriff Trent said.
“Divide and conquer,” Clay said.
Marshal Holt smiled. “Yeah. Maybe if we work a deal with them, they’ll sing like birds, and give us some new ammunition to charge Frank with something.”
“But Frank is as thick as thieves with Judge Stevens. He’s not hanging around here for no reason, and I can’t see the judge changing his mind,” Morgan said.
“I worry more about how close he is to the judge’s sister, Ruth. She’s the richest woman in Denver, and I hear Frank is going to work for her,” Sheriff Trent said.
“Work for her?” Emma asked.
“She owns the gold mine in Black Hawk,” Sheriff Trent answered.
“That’s less than a day’s ride from Whispering Pines,” Rose said.
Morgan heard the fear in his wife’s voice. “Honey, don’t worry about Frank. I think he’s forgotten about killing me.” Morgan didn’t believe a word he’d just said to his wife, but he didn’t want her worrying.
Emma saw the look between Jack and Granny. No one was buying what Morgan was saying, but she kept that thought to herself. Considering Rose’s condition, Emma thought Morgan was just looking out for her welfare.
“I got a lead on Taggart and Culpepper, so Sheriff Trent and I are taking off in the morning,” Marshal Holt said.
“Where are they?” Jack asked.
“I got a telegram saying they were spotted near Purgatory Canyon.” Marshal Holt pulled a playing card from his pocket and held it in the air for the men to see. It was an ace of spades with a bullet hole in the center. “This was found on a rancher lying dead on his front porch near Purgatory Canyon. This is the calling card of those two killers. We’ve found these on dead bodies from Kansas to Colorado.”
Clay reached for the card and examined it closely. He’d carried a card just like it in his pocket for several years. “These are the men you’ve been chasing?” He remembered Morgan and Jack had told him the marshal was chasing two outlaws when he arrived in Denver, but he hadn’t realized it was Culpepper and Taggart. Those two names were carved on his very soul.
“Yeah, Joe Culpepper and Win Taggart. Did you ever run into them?” Marshal Holt asked.
Just hearing the names Culpepper and Taggart brought back such painful memories that Clay could barely hide his emotions. “I know of them.”
Morgan noticed the hard edge in Clay’s voice, and he glanced at Jack. Jack’s expression said he’d noticed the same thing. They were aware that Clay had trailed these two killers before he became a pastor.
“They’ve done a lot of killing.” Clay didn’t mention he’d chased Culpepper and Taggart for a long time, but lost their trail in Deadwood. It was Culpepper and Taggart, two men
of the murderous group who had been on his ranch that fateful day. They were the remaining two who had evaded him. He’d caught up with Jonas’s cousin, Harper Ellis, and he told him the names of the killers that left their custom-made calling card each time they murdered someone. “Be careful, Marshal. Their reputation precedes them.”
“So does yours, Pastor Hunt,” Marshal Holt said.
Everyone grew quiet. Morgan and Jack exchanged another fleeting look. They’d known about Clay’s past, but they hadn’t discussed his affairs with anyone.
The marshal and Sheriff Trent were friends of Morgan and Jack, but Clay didn’t think they’d discussed his business with them. Clay looked the marshal in the eye. If the marshal thought he was going to spill his guts about his past, he was in for a long wait. He’d sought his forgiveness, and it wasn’t from Marshal Holt.
Marshal Holt clapped Clay on the back and said, “I hear about your sermons from all over the territory. Next time I’m in Whispering Pines I plan to visit your church. I was laid up with a bullet hole last time I was there.”
“I’d like to see you in church. There’s no better place to find peace, or at least, as much peace as one can find in this world.” Clay wondered if he’d ever find peace over losing his wife and child in such a senseless, brutal murder. Sometimes he thought he’d finally found it, but then there were times, like tonight, when he heard the names Culpepper and Taggart, that the past caught up with him all over again.
Granny thought they needed to end the evening on a lighter note. Something had dampened Clay’s spirits, and she wanted the night to be a happy one for all. “He’s the only pastor that I’ve heard who can hold a candle to my dear husband. We are truly blessed to have him.”
Clay smiled at Granny. “I’m the one who was blessed to find such a welcoming community.” He’d been thankful to find a home like Whispering Pines, but now he questioned if he was the right man for the job. As soon as he heard the names Culpepper and Taggart, the memories he’d tried to bury surfaced without warning.
“We’ll see you when you return. Be careful. There all sorts of varmints hiding out in Purgatory Canyon,” Morgan said.
The marshal shook Clay’s hand. “I’ll see you when I come through Whispering Pines.”
“I must admit I’m tempted to go with you to Purgatory Canyon, but I have a different calling now,” Clay replied. Though it had been a long time since he’d ridden away from the graves of his wife and son, at that moment, it felt like it was only yesterday. He’d repented of his sins, and turned his life around, but he couldn’t deny he had an urge to strap on his guns and hunt those men down. God help him. It seemed to be a constant struggle to be a better man when the past kept rearing its ugly head. He didn’t know if it was a test of his faith, or if it was his lot in life not to be able to put the past behind him.
“If what I’ve heard is true, I can understand.” Marshal Holt was aware Clay Hunt had a reputation, but no one had ever seen him commit murder. Bystanders always said he killed in self-defense, and that wasn’t a crime. Knowing that Morgan LeMasters and Sheriff Roper were in Clay Hunt’s corner went a long way with him. As far as he was concerned, Morgan and Jack were two of the finest men he’d ever met, and if they thought Clay was a good man, he wouldn’t question their word. The entire family had done nothing but sing the pastor’s praises when he was recovering at Morgan’s ranch.
Chapter Three
“You have no idea where Leigh went?” Judge Stevens asked Frank.
“No, sir, I lost her trail in St. Louis. If she took a train east, she didn’t travel under her given name.” Frank was such an accomplished liar that he was confident the judge would never figure out that his girlfriend, Leigh King, was actually living with him in Black Hawk. The judge had no idea his own sister, Ruth, was an accomplice in Frank’s scheme. Ruth had convinced Frank into managing her gold mine in Black Hawk, and she’d wanted to get Leigh far away from the judge, so together they hatched the plan. Even Frank had to admit that Ruth was even more ruthless than any outlaw he’d ever seen when she was determined to have her way, and he admired her for that. The way he saw it, they made the perfect team. Frank had no reason to complain about life at the moment; he was making a killing pocketing gold nuggets in addition to the sizable salary Ruth was paying him. He prided himself on creating his own fortune. After all, if he hadn’t had the foresight to marry the judge’s daughter, his future would not have been as promising. He wasn’t going to mess up a good thing, and he was determined to stay on Ruth’s good side.
Ruth was the wealthiest person in Denver, perhaps in all of Colorado, and she had no children to inherit her money. Now that her only niece was dead, Frank felt certain Ruth would make him a wealthy man one day. It didn’t matter to him that she’d had only taken him under her wing because of her niece. Once Charlotte was killed, Ruth had turned to him. Like Charlotte, Ruth believed all of his lies, and she’d used her influence with the judge to have all charges against him dropped. When Ruth guessed the true nature of his relationship with Leigh, she hadn’t turned against him. She merely said her own dear husband hadn’t been faithful, but as long as he was discreet, she had tolerated his transgressions. Ruth was a pragmatic woman, and she was willing to overlook a man’s peccadilloes, as she called them, as long as she had everything she wanted. Indeed, Ruth had everything she wanted, and Frank wanted some of what she had. She’d even given Frank ten thousand dollars in gold to pay Leigh off when the time came for him to send her on her way. Naturally Ruth had one stipulation: Leigh had to agree to stay away from the judge forever. There was no way Ruth would allow her brother to embarrass the family name by marrying a much younger woman of no social standing.
“I don’t know where we go from here,” the judge said.
“I think this is a dead end, Judge.” Frank wanted to encourage the judge to go back to Colorado City and forget about searching for Leigh. “Maybe it’s time to forget about this.”
The judge dropped his head in his hands. “I just can’t. I can’t forget her. I survived that heart attack just thinking about Leigh and how wonderful our reunion would be. She never forgave me for not telling my daughter about our relationship. I know that’s the reason she left.” He looked up at Frank. “My sister said you had no indication that Leigh was unhappy, or that she wanted to leave town. Is that right?”
“No, sir, I had no reason to believe she was going to leave. I went to visit her that day in the hotel and she was gone. She didn’t leave anything behind. At first, I figured she missed you and decided to catch a stage to Colorado City.” Frank almost laughed aloud at his own lie. Truth was, Leigh was afraid the judge would return before they left Denver.
“I’m going to St. Louis and see what I can find out. I’ve already contracted a Pinkerton detective, and thanks to you, we will know where to start. I’ll have him meet me in St. Louis.”
Frank didn’t like the sound of a Pinkerton detective on the chase for Leigh, but at least the detective would start looking many miles from where she was living. It didn’t seem likely that anyone would find her in Black Hawk. When he and Leigh first arrived in Black Hawk, he’d insisted she not reveal her real name to anyone. Everyone at the mine thought her name was Ellen, and since the judge had never been to Black Hawk, Frank felt they were reasonably safe. “Judge, I hate to say this, but it’s possible she met up with another man. Have you considered that might be the case?”
The judge shook his head. “I refuse to believe that. We were happy together. I do admit that Ruth has said the same thing to me. But as you know, Ruth disapproved of my relationship with Leigh from the start. She would say anything to turn me against Leigh. All that matters to Ruth is keeping up appearances for the family name. The blasted woman has never been in love. She loved her husband’s money, not the man.” He shook his head. “If she loved someone as I love Leigh, perhaps she would understand.”
“If Leigh did meet up with someone, perhaps she is using his name.” Frank
didn’t want to overplay his hand. When the judge didn’t respond to his speculation about another man, he added, “I’m real sorry I didn’t have better luck, Judge.”
“Frank, you’ve done more than any other man would have done. I appreciate that you were on her trail so quickly once you found out she’d left. I think the information you provided will help the Pinkerton man find her. No one has done more for me, and I won’t ever forget your loyalty.”
“I didn’t tell you before, but I did try to soften Ruth’s opinion of Leigh. I told her Leigh was a nice woman, and that you deserved some happiness in life,” Frank said.
“Ruth is too set in her opinions. She doesn’t understand it is quite common for older men to court much younger women.” The judge didn’t care one way or the other if Ruth accepted Leigh or not, it just made his life easier if he didn’t have to hear her harp about it incessantly.
“Maybe we should find Ruth a younger man,” Frank said. Truth was, Frank was only half joking. He’d often thought Ruth was a very attractive older woman. She was educated and worldly. Frank enjoyed teasing her, even flirting with her. He imagined many a younger man might show an interest if they knew the possibilities of unimaginable wealth.
“That’ll be the day.” The judge laughed, and dismissed the thought entirely. “Ruth tells me you’ve agreed to work at the mine?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be heading there in a few days.”
“Good. I hope you don’t mind if I contact you there if I need you.”
“Not at all. I’ll do anything I can to help. Just send me a telegram at the mine.”
“I guess you’ll be staying with Ruth tonight. But in the future, you can stay with me at the ranch now that the house is complete.” After his daughter married Frank, the judge had planned on marrying Leigh and living on his new ranch. He’d planned on retiring in a year, and he’d looked forward to taking Leigh on a European tour.
“I’d love to see your place. Since you are leaving for St. Louis soon, I’ll stay with you the next time I come to Denver.” Frank planned to stay in Denver as long as Ruth wanted him to stay. Now that the judge was leaving town, he hoped his stay was a long one. The more time he could spend with Ruth, the better.
Christmas in Whispering Pines Page 4