The journey would have been hard enough on its own without the added unpleasantness of Matt Carlton’s presence. For Silver, it was especially trying. She didn’t like the way he watched her. His eyes were full of evil, and at times it seemed that evil reached out to touch her, like tentacles of a sea monster.
Dean cut Carlton a wide berth, but his eyes were full of hate. Silver tried talking to the boy about it, tried to show him that hatred never made things better. But he was only a child. Could he understand? She didn’t know.
Silver began praying for Dean every night, asking God to cut the anger from his heart. She asked God to do the same for Jared. She asked Him to heal the old wounds and make him new. And she prayed that God would keep all of them safe and bring them into a new and brighter place.
It was late in the afternoon of their tenth day on the trail when Carlton’s mount pulled up lame.
“It’s a bad bruise.” Jared lowered the animal’s leg. “We’ll have to take it easy on him for a few days.” He glanced around. “We’ll make camp here.”
Silver breathed a sigh. Their campsite was in a mountain pass with trees and a nearby stream instead of the interminable desert and sage. She knew more desert lay beyond this respite, but she meant to enjoy this spot—and the early stop—while she could.
Jared shot a couple of quail, and Silver roasted the birds over the fire. After they’d eaten supper, she slipped away to bathe for the first time in what seemed ages.
After stripping down to her drawers and chemise, she stepped into the stream. The icy water elicited a shriek of surprise. She hadn’t expected it to be so cold. She forced herself to lie flat on the smooth rocks that lined the bottom so the water almost covered her. But she couldn’t stand the frigid temperature for long. She hurried to scrub herself clean, even soaping her hair twice. Then she washed her clothes before placing them across some large rocks to dry. With any luck, there was enough heat left in the day to do the job. She rubbed her damp, goose-pimpled skin with a blanket, then donned her lone change of clothes, after which she sat on a boulder and brushed her hair.
“Silver.” Jared’s voice came from a short distance away.
She looked behind her but couldn’t see him. “I’m dressed. You can come on.”
“It’ll be dark soon.” He stepped into view.
“I’m nearly finished.” She looked away from him. “The water’s like ice, but it feels good to be clean again.”
Jared sat on another boulder. “We’ll have to go slow tomorrow, give the horses more rest. It’ll add several days to our journey, but it would be worse if we lost one of the horses altogether.”
“I don’t suppose it makes much difference how long it takes.” There. She’d spoken the truth aloud. “Not for my parents anyway. If there is a reward, I doubt it would be paid in time to help them. The banker gave them ninety days. It’s been nearly sixty. By the time we’re back . . .” She let her words drift into silence as she resumed brushing her hair.
“If there was a warrant with his name on it for his arrest, it might have been different. We could have left him in Nevada. But as it is—” He shrugged. “I’ll send a telegram to Mr. Harrison as soon as I can.”
She loved him for trying to offer some hope. Only one of many reasons she loved him, though she continued to keep those words to herself. For now.
If Jared kissed her, he would get lost in her.
His future was uncertain. His past was unpleasant. She thought herself in love with him. He’d seen it in her eyes, time and again. He hadn’t discouraged her the way he should have. And that wasn’t fair to her, and it wasn’t fair to himself.
“I’d better get back to the prisoner.” He pushed up from the boulder. “Don’t stay out here much longer. It’ll be dark soon.”
He followed the trail through the trees to their campsite, stopping when it came into view. The horses, wearing hobbles, stood dozing, their tails swishing in a sleepy rhythm. The fire cast a circle of light into the gathering dusk. Carlton sat on the ground near a sturdy tree. Dean sat on a log opposite him, whittling a piece of wood. The calmness of the scene belied the nature of their journey.
How much longer would it take them to reach Denver now that one horse was lame? Silver said it no longer mattered how quickly they reached her home. It would be too late to make a difference for her parents. She might be right too. Collecting the reward Owen Harrison had offered several years back could be a long time coming, if it came at all, and so much could still go wrong.
He’d failed her, as he should have known he would. The right man, the man she deserved, wouldn’t have failed her.
CHAPTER 35
They traveled slowly, but the injured horse didn’t improve.
“You don’t have any other choice, Jared,” Silver told him late on the second day when they’d stopped for another rest. “We can’t continue with that horse. It will have to be replaced.”
It was hot—too hot to be hungry, too hot to think clearly. Sweat trickled down her back. Her muscles ached. The icy mountain stream where she’d bathed two nights before was a distant memory.
“There has to be a better way than me leaving you and Dean alone with him.” Jared jerked his head toward Matt Carlton.
The prisoner had been secured, as usual, with a strong, narrow chain that went through the cuffs on the prisoner’s wrists and then wrapped around a tree. It was closed with a padlock. The setup allowed Carlton some freedom of movement and a modicum of privacy when necessary but no way of escape.
“There isn’t,” Silver replied.
“I don’t like it.”
“Like it or not, it’s the best option. Unless we want to sit here for a couple of weeks. Otherwise we have to have another horse, and you are the one who has to get it for us.”
She could tell he wanted to protest further. She could also tell the moment when he knew she was right. There was no other way. They had to keep Carlton out of sight until they reached Colorado. That meant Jared would have to go alone to the nearest farm or ranch or town and make a trade for the horse that was lame. Silver couldn’t do it. Even she realized she was safer here than riding alone on the trail. At least here she knew who the enemy was—and he was chained to a tree.
“All right, Silver. But you and Dean keep your distance from him.” Again he motioned with his head toward Carlton. “Don’t remove those handcuffs. Not for any reason. No matter what he says to you. Do you understand me? Not even if a forest fire blazes through here and burns him to a crisp.”
“I won’t remove the handcuffs. I promise. We’ll be fine.”
“You’ve got plenty of water and enough food to see you through until I’m back. By nightfall, if all goes well.”
“We’ll be fine,” she repeated.
Jared’s eyes studied her. So long that she wondered if he might say something more. Something personal. But he didn’t. At last he turned and swung onto the pinto. “Keep the revolver handy.” He turned his horse away, leading the bay behind him.
Silver watched until he’d disappeared from sight—and missed him almost at once. A hot breeze whispered in the treetops. Normally she liked the sound, but not today. Today it sounded lonely, and she felt isolated from the rest of the world.
“He’ll be lucky if he’s able to make a trade today,” Carlton said. “He might not even be back until tomorrow.”
“He’ll be back.” She stiffened her spine. “Jared said he would be back today, and he will be. He’s a man of his word.” She turned toward the prisoner. “I’ll get us some hardtack to eat.”
“Where’s the boy?”
“Trying to catch a fish or two.”
“So it’s just you and me for now.”
“Be quiet.” She opened the flap on the saddlebag and peered inside.
“Afraid of me, aren’t you, Miss Matlock? You should be. I’m not weak the way my brother was. Bob was an idiot. Wouldn’t have taken him along with me to Virginia City, except I needed some traveli
ng money, and he had a way to get it.”
Silver looked at him again, another realization dawning. “You’re the reason Bob robbed my father. He did it for you. Because you told him to do it. You coerced him, didn’t you?”
Carlton shrugged. “He was always afraid of me.”
“Did he know you were a cold-blooded killer?”
One corner of his mouth curled upward in a smirk. “Doubt it. He was never that smart. But he was afraid of me. He always did what I told him to do.”
Dean walked into camp, fishing line empty. Silver was thankful to put an end to the exchange with Matt Carlton.
“No luck?” she asked the boy, although the answer was obvious.
“Nope.”
Carlton continued as if there’d been no interruption. “I’ll get off, you know. The law won’t be able to hold me. There isn’t enough evidence, and I’ll hire the best of attorneys to make sure I go free.”
Dean whirled on the prisoner. “You won’t get off. I know you done it. I know you killed my ma and pa.”
“Did you see me do it, kid?”
Scowling, Dean shook his head.
“Then you don’t know whether I did it or not.”
Would Carlton get off? Would he go free for lack of evidence? The thought sickened Silver.
Jared guided the pinto down the mountain, moving slowly for the sake of the bay. If he remembered correctly, there were several farms outside of a small town in the valley to the north. He should be able to reach the first of them by two o’clock. The bay was a prime piece of horseflesh. The gelding would be as good as new after a week of rest. With any luck, Jared would be able to trade for a sound horse and be back at their camp by suppertime.
He tried not to think about leaving Silver and Dean alone with Carlton, especially not overnight. If anything happened to Silver or that boy . . .
He asked the horses for a little more speed.
CHAPTER 36
After an early supper, Dean joined Silver in the shade of a tall pine tree. He sat cross-legged on the ground amid the dried needles and pungent-smelling pine-cones, a frown drawing his brows close together. “Do you think he’s right?”
“Who?”
He jerked his head toward Carlton. “Him.”
“About what?”
“Is he gonna get off like he says?”
Silver patted his knee. “He’s just trying to convince himself. Shoring up his own confidence. That’s all.” And I’m doing exactly the same thing now.
“I ain’t gonna let that happen. If he gets loose, I’ll shoot him myself. If I have to follow after him like Mr. Newman’s been doin’, even if I have t’ do it the rest of my life, I’ll see that he hangs for what he done to my ma and pa. I swore it when Mr. Newman buried them.”
Tears burned the back of her eyes. She hated seeing the boy in pain. “Don’t let what happened harden your heart, Dean. It is you who will suffer because of it. Matt Carlton doesn’t care what you feel about him. He won’t lose a bit of sleep over it.” She brushed the boy’s hair off his forehead. “And it’s needless to worry about what might happen when we get to Denver. We can’t change it by worrying about it.”
Dean scrambled to his feet. “I wish Mr. Newman had shot him back in Virginia City. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about him goin’ free.”
“Oh, Dean. Don’t say that. Wanting justice is one thing. Wanting to kill is another.”
“Maybe, but it’s what I want anyways.” He turned and walked away.
Jared wasn’t going to make it back before dark. The farmer, a crafty old buzzard, had dickered for what seemed an eternity. Not that the dickering changed the outcome. He’d been willing all along to make a fair trade. But the old man had seemed determined to draw out the process as much as possible. Maybe he’d been lonely and in need of a bit of company. Whatever the reason, Jared still had too much ground to cover before nightfall.
Once he was on his way, he pushed hard. Lather foamed on the horses’ necks and hindquarters. The heat was unmerciful, even at this elevation. Shadows lengthened, the sun riding low behind him.
He didn’t like the idea of Silver and Dean being in camp with Carlton after it grew dark. He’d told Silver to keep away from him, not to take any risks, not to move him for any reason. But he’d learned these past two months that Silver had a mind of her own. She didn’t always do as she was told. He’d even come to appreciate her independent spirit. However, it also gave him cause to worry, and that worry gnawed at him as he pressed toward their campsite.
With a shout, Matt Carlton came to his feet. He shook one leg, then the other. “Ants! I’m crawling with ants!” He swore as he tried to bat at his pant legs with his cuffed hands, the chain rattling. “Get me out of here!”
Revolver in hand, Silver stepped forward. She half expected a trick, but he told the truth. They were the big, biting kind of ants. The insects swarmed around the base of the tree, and Carlton’s boots and legs were covered with them.
“Do something! They’re all over me.”
Silver turned and ran across the camp. She set down the gun and picked up a saddle blanket, then raced back to him. Mindful to keep as much distance as possible between them, she swung the blanket against his legs and feet. Even as she did so, she felt as if the ants were beginning to swarm up her legs as well.
Carlton cursed again. “That’s not doing any good. You’ve got to get me away from them. They’re eating me alive.”
Silver backed away, undecided. Tiny red welts had appeared on Matt Carlton’s hands and forearms. There had to be more of them underneath his trousers and shirtsleeves. She couldn’t just leave him there. It would be inhumane.
Jared’s voice sounded in her head. “Don’t remove those handcuffs. Not for any reason . . . Not even if a forest fire blazes through here and burns him to a crisp.”
But she wouldn’t be removing his handcuffs. He would still be cuffed and chained. All she would do was move his location. Surely she could do that without any risk. She’d observed Jared do it more than once.
“Dean, you’re going to have to help me.” She hurried toward the saddlebags, where she knew Jared kept the spare set of keys to the padlock.
“Mr. Newman said not to let him go, no matter what. You told me so yourself.”
“I can’t leave him where he is. The ants are biting. Even a man like him doesn’t deserve that.”
“Sure he does. He’s done worse. Let ’em eat him.”
Silver turned to look at the boy, the key in her hand. “But we aren’t like him, Dean. We still know how to show another human being mercy. Even someone evil. Right?”
Dean didn’t reply.
“Now help me. I can’t do this alone.”
“Mr. Newman ain’t gonna like it.”
No, Jared wouldn’t like it. Not one bit.
“He’ll know we didn’t have any other choice.” She glanced over her shoulder. Carlton continued to curse as he swatted at the ants. What if it was her in his place? She shuddered at the thought. “We’ll do it like Mr. Newman does it each morning. I’ll keep the gun pointed at him while you slip the chain through the cuffs. Then we’ll walk him to another tree and padlock the chain again.”
It sounded simple enough. There’d never been a bit of trouble when Jared had done it. She had the Colt revolver, after all, and she knew how to use it. Besides, Carlton’s hands would still be cuffed. What possible trouble could he be?
“You stay behind the tree,” she reminded Dean as she picked up the revolver. With the barrel of the gun, she pointed to the opposite side of the camp. “We’ll move him over there.”
Together they walked toward Matt Carlton.
“About time,” he snapped.
“Go on, Dean.”
She leveled a steady gaze at her captive. “We’re going to move you to that tree over there, but if you make any trouble, I’ll shoot. Do you understand me? One wrong move and I’ll shoot you dead.”
He swore again.
>
“Dean.” Silver nodded when the boy looked at her from beyond the tree. “Hurry before the ants get all over you too.” She heard a click. A moment later, she saw the chain slacken. Her heart seemed to stop beating. She raised the revolver and pointed it at Carlton’s chest, her finger on the trigger. “I don’t care if they’re biting you. You stand still until I tell you to move.”
But once the chain was free of the tree, Matt Carlton began to hop and spin and swat and curse, pulling Dean along behind him at the opposite end of the chain.
“Stop, Carlton,” Silver cried. “Stop now. I’ll shoot.” It surprised her when he obeyed. “Now get to that tree over there. To your right.” She motioned with the gun barrel in the general direction she wanted him to go.
Carlton shot her an angry look but again obeyed. Dean followed at the end of the chain.
“Put your wrists against the tree,” Silver told him. “Dean, you know what to do.”
She began to relax. It was almost over. They’d done the merciful thing in moving the prisoner, and the transition had gone without a hitch. Jared would have done the same thing and gotten the same result.
Carlton made a sudden and unexpected move. He jerked the chain toward him, and Dean stumbled forward. Silver pulled the trigger. The force of the shot knocked her off balance. By the time she’d steadied herself, Carlton’s arms were on either side of Dean’s head, and the links connecting the handcuffs were pulled tightly against the boy’s throat.
“Put down the gun, Silver.”
She shook with fear, but she didn’t lower it.
He tightened his hold on the boy’s neck. “Put it down or I’ll kill him where he stands.”
“Next time I won’t miss.”
“But the boy’ll still be dead. You can kill me, but it won’t bring him back.” He jerked on the cuffs. Dean’s fingers came up to his throat, trying to pry himself free from the chain that choked him. The boy’s face turned a bright red, and his eyes bulged. “Do it now or he’s dead.”
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