Mark took a long drink and savored the taste for a moment before nodding at Adam. He swallowed and agreed with the bartender. “It is good. Let’s definitely have one or three before we go see Kenny.”
Adam laughed and shook his head. “Just the one. We’ll tell Sam to make sure there’s some left for us when we come back later. I want to have my wits about me if I’m gonna talk to this guy about Becky.”
They both looked at the door when Andrew came through. He looked to the left and right, spotting the two of them sitting at the table. They nodded at him. He saw Bruce at the bar and quickly made his way to the table.
He slipped into one of the chairs and scooted it closer to the table. He leaned forward and spoke in a low voice.
“I got some news, fellas. I think we know where she might be.”
Mark and Adam leaned forward, too.
“My wife used to help Becky out sometimes. Teach her things, you boys know that.”
They nodded and Andrew continued, “Her brother was out huntin’ for deer in that area around where Bennington Place is and he swears he saw her hangin’ laundry out at some cabin somewhere. He had to backtrack because he realized he wasn’t in the right place anymore. He don’t hunt that close to people.”
“Was it a new cabin?” Mark asked.
Andrew looked at him, confused. “What you mean?”
“If the cabin wasn’t newly placed there, what was your wife’s brother doing hunting unfamiliar land? That only happens when someone either isn’t familiar with the land or someone just put a cabin up.”
“Nah, he didn’t say it looked new,” Andrew shook his head. “And he probably was huntin’ unfamiliar land, knowin’ him. I wouldn’t put it past him to be a poacher to be honest with ya; he’s just never gotten caught.”
The men grumbled about that for a moment before coming back to their conversation. “So you think he’s right? You think he knows what Becky even looks like?”
“Well, he described her pretty well, with her reddish hair and her slender figure. He said she was singing like a songbird and it’s what drew his attention to it. He turned away after that and was glad he’d heard the singing or he might have shot the house up somehow or shot her.”
“She was singing,” Adam murmured. He turned his eyes to Mark. “If that’s Kenny’s place and she was hanging laundry singing, she isn’t being held captive.”
“Should we even do this?”
“Do what? What are you guys talking about?”
“Mark here knows someone who fits… okay, so I’ll start at the beginning,” Adam said. He told Andrew about the events of the day and finished up by saying, “We’re planning to go out to Kenny’s house and see if we can figure out what’s going on.”
“If she’s singing and you don’t think she is being held captive,” Andrew said. “Why not just leave them alone?”
“We have to confirm,” Adam said. “I know personally that my wife would kill me if I didn’t absolutely make sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that Becky is in good hands and is happy. If she is happy, it will probably be for the first time in her life.”
“I think Kenny would make her happy,” Mark said, lifting his hand when Sam glanced at him. Sam nodded with a smile and was soon over with a new beer for Mark, Adam, and one for Andrew.
“You got to taste this beer, Andrew,” Mark said. “It will make your mouth real happy.”
“Oh, it will?” Andrew smiled wide. He took a long swallow and pondered it the same way Mark had. He nodded. “Yep. Best beer I’ve had in a long time.”
“That’s what Sam said!”
“So what makes you think this fella can make her happy, Mark? You must know him really well.”
“Not that well, really. But what I do know of him makes me confident that if she’s out there singing and hangin’ up his and her unmentionables together, she is not being held against her will.”
The three men laughed and then felt guilty for laughing. “We’re talking about a serious crime here. The sheriff won’t let him get away with kidnapping Becky. Even if Becky wanted it that way.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Adam challenged Andrew gently. “Sheriff Anderson is an understanding guy. He’s also a man who knows Bruce and knows what Becky has been through in her life. He ain’t gonna cut Bruce no slack. I think if we find out everything is good where Becky is, we shouldn’t even tell Bruce. And maybe we shouldn’t tell Sheriff Anderson either.”
“That deputy is pretty fired up,” Mark mentioned. “We should probably tell him.”
Adam shook his head. “I don’t know. He seems like the type that will follow through until he gets his man.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Mark said. “Andrew, you want to go see Kenny with us when we leave?”
“I don’t think so. I gotta get back to my wife and kids. I was only out here to find you and tell you that somebody saw a girl in the woods singing as she was hanging laundry, and I thought that had to be Becky and you had to know.”
“Thank you.”
Andrew shook his head and lifted his half-filled beer glass. “No, thank you! You were in here and I am treated to a delicious glass of beer. Maggie won’t mind. She likes you two.”
Adam and Mark laughed. “Yeah, we’re the good guys of Wickenburg. Two of them anyway.”
“I’m glad your wife likes us, Andrew. That must make it easier for you to get out of the house when you want to.”
Again the men laughed.
“You don’t have any trouble getting out of the house either, do you, Adam?” Andrew asked.
“No, Alice is a self-sufficient woman who knows I love her more than anything in the world. She is a good mother to my children and a wonderful wife. I have no worries and neither does she. Well, the only thing I worry about is the possibility of losing her.”
“Of course, you would feel that way, having lost your first wife,” Andrew said in a low voice.
“And me, well, I have no one to answer to. So, I just do as I please.” Mark didn’t sound cheerful about it, though he was smiling.
“You get lonely though, don’t you?” Andrew said.
“Yeah, sometimes,” Mark shrugged. “Nothing I can’t handle. Whenever I feel like I’m too alone, I go find a friend to fill my time with. Or take a ride around Wickenburg. I can always find something to fill my time. Doesn’t have to be a lady. I gotta tell you though; I’m hoping God sends someone my way soon. I am really starting to get old.”
“When it’s time, it’s time, is all I can say,” Andrew said, shaking his head. “I was fortunate enough to meet Maggie when we were young and hadn’t made any real mistakes yet. We fit together really well. She’s my best friend.”
“I want a best friend like that,” Mark laughed.
“She’s bound to come along soon, Mark. I just can’t see you a bachelor the rest of your life.”
“You ain’t that old,” Andrew supplied. “I know you got lots of good years ahead of ya. And who’s to say you gotta be with a woman your age? A younger woman could come around. Ya never know.”
“I don’t want to think about it. I’m gonna enjoy doing what I wanna do for a while. It’s nice to have a companion, but I don’t want to answer to anybody about where I spend my time and what I’m doing.”
“If you were in love, you’d think differently.” Andrew looked at Adam for confirmation. He’d just lifted his glass to his lips and looked at Andrew over the brim of it, realizing he was supposed to be saying something. He nodded, making the beer splash up over his lip and around his cheeks. He set the glass down, sat back in his chair nonchalantly, and wiped the spilled beer from his face. Mark and Andrew laughed loudly.
Bruce came around the pillar and looked down at the men. As soon as they spotted him, the three men stopped laughing and sat up in their chairs.
“Hello, Bruce.”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you out looking for Becky?” Bruce slurred his wo
rds and swayed a bit, catching himself on the pillar. Mark, who was closest to him, slid his chair away from the drunken man but stayed seated. Before they knew it, Sam had come up behind Bruce and was grabbing him.
“Hey Bruce, you need to go back home to bed. I don’t think you’re doing too well.”
“I’m not… I’m just gonna…” Bruce slid from Sam’s grasp and fell into a crumpled heap on the floor. The men jumped up and bent over him. Adam shook his head.
“He’s just unconscious. See, his pulse is beatin’ in his neck and his heart is beatin’, too. Lemme take him up to one of the rooms upstairs.”
“I’ll do it, Adam. This is my place and I should take care of him.”
“He drank a little too much, Sam,” Mark said. “Maybe you should cut him off sooner.”
Sam looked at Mark with confusion in his eyes. “That’s just it, he wasn’t drinkin’ a lot. In fact, he nursed one of his beers for almost an hour. I was keeping track.”
The men all looked confused. Sam bent down and slung Bruce over his shoulders. “I’ll try to keep him here when he wakes up. I’ll tell him you fellas are gonna bring back any news you hear about Becky.”
“Thanks, Sam.”
With a big man slung over one shoulder, Sam ascended the stairs with heavy footed steps. He opened one of the doors on the second level and dropped Bruce down on the bed with a heavy thud. Then he left the room and closed the door behind him.
By the time he was back down to the bottom floor, the three men had left, leaving dollar bills on the table to pay for their tab. He had wanted to ask if they enjoyed his new barrel of beer. It was a refreshing taste considering most of the beer Sam got had more of a heavy-handed taste.
He went back around the corner, not noticing any of his other customers, took out a dishtowel and proceeded to wipe away the dust from the counter top. After a few moments, the saloon door opened and Adam stuck his head in.
“Hey, Sam!” He called out. Sam looked up at him and lifted his chin in acknowledgment.
“That was some mighty fine beer you got in!” Adam yelled, a little louder than he needed to. “Hope there’s enough left for us to share one later on! Take care of yourself, friend!”
Within a few minutes, everyone in the saloon had ordered a beer. As he filled the glasses, Sam realized what Adam had done. Sam sighed.
The man was a saint.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
PAY KENNY A VISIT
PAY KENNY A VISIT
They led the horses slowly up the path that would take them deep through the woods to where Kenny’s cabin was. Mark had been there on two occasions. He was sure Adam would recognize him as soon as he saw him.
“Is he the kind of guy who doesn’t mind people randomly dropping in?” Adam asked.
Mark looked over at him. “Does he really have a choice? He might get mail every now and then, but who is going to send him a letter saying “I will see you in an hour” so that he will get it days later?”
Adam laughed. “I guess he won’t greet us at the door with a pistol in one hand and a rifle in the other?”
“No, I’m sure he won’t be doing that.”
“If he kidnapped Becky, he might.”
Mark shook his head. “The facts as we know it so far don’t point toward him kidnapping her and holding her against her will.”
“I guess so.”
“Well, the singing is one thing. I mean, I can’t imagine her singing if she doesn’t want to be there, doing his laundry.” They chuckled at the thought.
They rode until they could see the small cabin nestled in the deep woods. As they got closer, Adam could tell it was not as small as it seemed. It stretched out wide and seemed to go back deep into the woods. It looked well maintained. The outside was spotless, the windows looked like they had no glass in them, and the porch furniture was not shoddy or worn. There were two horses tied to the post and both whinnied as the men approached the cabin.
Inside, Becky was cleaning off a dish, standing in front of the window beside the front door. She glanced up and saw the two men approaching. She immediately recognized them, as she had spent a few evenings having dinner with Alice and her family. Mark was close to the Collins’, more like a brother than a friend.
She dropped the dish into the water and turned to Kenny, who was working on a piece of wood he was planning to use as a brace for a broken table leg.
“Kenny,” she said, her voice tight. She put both hands on the counter behind her to hold her up. They were coming to take her back to Bruce. They were coming to take her away from Kenny.
Kenny looked up at her. Her face had gone pale and she looked terrified. He was on his feet quickly, racing to her side. “What is it, Becky? Are you all right?”
“They are coming for me,” Becky said breathlessly, her chest rising and falling quickly as she hyperventilated. Kenny looked through the window and breathed a curse word under his breath. He took her by the shoulders, apologizing for cursing, and led her away from the window. “You go in your room and stay there. You don’t come out until you hear them leave. If you think they are going to find you, hide. Or go through your window and hide outside.”
“I don’t want them to take me away, Kenny,” Becky’s voice was shaky and she wanted to cry. A few tears slipped out and she swept them away with one hand. She took comfort from the strength of Kenny’s hands on her shoulders. He pushed her gently into her room and poked his head in the door. “Hide,” he hissed.
He closed the door and Becky looked around the room. She went to her bed and sat down. Where could she possibly hide? If she heard the men say they wanted to search the house, she would have to go in the closet and see if she could become small enough not to be seen. She didn’t want to go through the window. She didn’t think she had the strength to even get it open.
Kenny turned back to the room and began to notice every single thing that indicated two people were living there. Two sets of glasses. Her embroidery work on the corner of the couch. Two stuffed animals on either side of the couch, several of her poems written on small bits of paper spread out on the table between the chairs. He moved as quickly as he could around the room, picking things up and straightening. He tried to make it look like a sloppy single man lived there. However, it hadn’t looked that way in nearly three weeks.
By the time he heard their boots on the porch, he felt satisfied he had hidden all indication Becky was there. He lifted his head and prayed quickly when he heard Adam’s fist banging on the door. He waited a moment before walking slowly to the door. He calmed his beating heart and put on a neutral face as he turned the handle and pulled the door open.
He put a smile on.
“Hello! Mark! I haven’t seen you in so very long! How have you been? Please come on in.”
He wanted to be as friendly as possible without going overboard. The problem was that he didn’t remember having a very close relationship with Mark so being overly-friendly might give him away.
He tried to keep himself as calm as possible. He held out his hand to Adam. “You are Adam Collins, are you not?”
Adam took his hand, a smile covering his face. “I am. How did you know?”
“Oh, you are well known in town. We may have crossed paths a few times, I’m sure. Kenny Abramson. I’m sure Mark has told you. I guess if he didn’t, you wouldn’t be here.” He laughed nervously and then regretted it. “Sit. Can I offer you some coffee? What brought you out my way?”
He went to the kitchen where Becky had started a fresh pot of coffee and it was ready to be poured into cups. Kenny poured three cups, wishing he could take one in to Becky. He could picture her in there, scared to death that she was going to be taken from him.
The fact that she felt that way made Kenny’s heart burn with passion for her. He was right about her all along. She was a bright shining star in a dim field of coal. She was deserving of the moon, the sun, and the earth. Everything he could give to her, he would. He loved her with a
passion he had never felt before in his life. He wanted to go in there and comfort her more than anything else. He became distracted by his thoughts and spent a few seconds too long hovering over the coffee cups.
Mark noticed and questioned him, “Are you all right, Kenny?”
Kenny turned around, smiling at them. “Got lost in thought is all. So… why are you here?”
He handed a cup of coffee to each of them and then went back for his own. They sat in the chairs and he stood, leaning back against the bar counter that separated his kitchen from his sitting room.
“We’ve been on a search, Kenny. We’re looking for a missing girl. Well, she’s a woman, really. Her name is Becky Dupont. Do you know her?”
“Can’t say that I do, no.” Kenny shook his head, taking a sip from his hot coffee. He burned his tongue slightly and thought it was what he deserved for telling lies.
“She lives… that is, lived in the house just across the street from your friends, the Lewinsky’s.”
Adam looked over at Mark. This was a fact that Mark had not previously shared with him. He sat quiet and let Mark take over the questioning of their “suspect”.
“Oh yes, that house,” Kenny feigned sudden remembrance. “I do remember that house and the family. Well, not family, I guess. The brother and sister, right?”
“Yes.”
“I knew the Lewinsky’s, not the Dupont's.”
“But right now the Lewinsky’s are out of town. Haven’t you been taking care of their house?”
Again, this information was news to Adam. He stared at Mark for a moment before suppressing a grin and turning his eyes to Kenny. “I go there every now and then, yes,” Kenny replied, desperate to keep the nervousness out of his voice. “But I’ve not been to the Dupont’s house. I have never been invited there.”
“But you’ve seen Becky surely.”
“I’m sure I have. She’s the one… she’s the one who sings when she hangs laundry. I used to listen to her sometimes,” Kenny lost himself in thought and didn’t realize he was making his friends all the more suspicious of him. “She has such a soft voice, doesn’t she? Easy to listen to.” He was speaking in a wistful tone that gave away his feelings for Becky.
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