Those who wore hats tipped them politely to her. Others made way for her with a mocking curtsy as she moved up to the oak desk where a burly man sat in fringed buckskins, instead of a uniform.
Colonel Utley brushed papers aside as he gazed up at Stephanie. His narrow lips flickered into a flirting smile. “Now ain’t you a brave miss to be wanderin’ about alone,” he said. He rested his elbows on his desk and placed his fingertips together before him. “Ain’t you afraid of Injuns?”
He looked her up and down. His eyes stopped on her derringer. “Now ain’t that a bad-lookin’ weapon,” he said, chuckling as he looked slowly into her eyes again. “But don’t you know? I doubt that could even kill a snake.”
“I haven’t come here to talk about snakes, or my derringer, and I am most certainly not afraid of Indians,” Stephanie finally had the courage to say. “I’m here for only one reason.”
“And that is?” Colonel Utley said, leaning toward her over the desktop.
“To tell you that you’ve jailed the wrong man,” Stephanie said. Her pulse raced at the thought of being only moments away from condemning her very own stepbrother of the crime that Thunder Hawk had been incarcerated for.
She hoped that Sally wouldn’t hate her. But even if she did, Stephanie had no other choice but to tell the truth as she knew it.
“What’s that you say?” Colonel Utley said, pushing himself up from the leather desk chair. He circled the desk and stood face-to-face with Stephanie, his height being no more than hers. “I’ve more than one man in the holding jail. “Which one have you come to speak for?”
Stephanie swallowed hard. “Thunder Hawk,” she blurted out, flinching when she saw the instant guarded warning in Colonel Utley’s eyes. “He didn’t blow up the train. I absolutely know for certain that he’s innocent.”
“And horses?” Colonel Utley growled out. “Can you say for certain that he didn’t steal horses from Damon Stout?”
She paled at the mention of the horses that he was also accused of stealing. She would never forget finding Runner and the other Navaho that night with all of the horses. Perhaps they were all guilty of horse stealing? Oh, Lord, then what could she do about any of this? She had to keep the focus on the train. Only on the train.
“Can you say that you are certain, sir, of his guilt?” Stephanie said, lifting her chin. “Thunder Hawk is innocent and you know it.”
“Why in hell would you say such a dumb-ass thing as that?” Colonel Utley said, flailing a chubby hand in the air. “He’s as guilty as sin and you know it.”
“You are wrong,” Stephanie said, boldly. “I am right.”
“Proof,” Colonel Utley mumbled, going to sit down at the desk again. He propped his feet up on the desk, crossing his legs at the ankles. “I need proof. Especially from an obvious Injun lover.”
“Proof?” Stephanie said. She leaned her hands on the desk so that her eyes were once again level with Colonel Utley’s. “Would it be proof enough if I said that my very own stepbrother hired someone to blow up the train so that the blame would be cast on the Indians? If you would investigate things more carefully, I am just as certain that my brother is behind double-crossing Thunder Hawk to make him look guilty of horse stealing.”
She sighed and removed her hands from the desk. Her eyes wavered. “I would never put blame on my stepbrother unless I was absolutely certain,” she said, her voice breaking.
“I ain’t never come across anything like this before,” Colonel Utley said, searching Stephanie’s face with squinted eyes. “Tell me. What’s your brother’s name?”
“Adam,” Stephanie said, finding it hard to believe any of this was happening. “Adam Jones. A short while ago, he and I arrived on a train on the private spur. And the man he paid to blow up a train today? I am certain you know him. Damon Stout is his name.”
The colonel’s eyes narrowed. He scooted to the edge of his chair, his knuckles white as he clutched tightly to the arms. “Damon?” he said. “Damon Stout? I sure as hell do know him. He’s here often enough with one complaint or another.”
“And these complaints are generally lodged against the Navaho?” Stephanie said, an angry fire lighting her eyes at the mere thought of the vile, shiftless man. “Aren’t his complaints usually about Sage, Runner, and Thunder Hawk?”
“Sure as hell are,” Colonel Utley said, stuffing his left cheek with a big wad of chewing tobacco. “He’d worn his welcome out here because of it. But now I see that I should’ve paid more attention to what he said. He seemed to know more about the Navaho’s activities than me.”
“How can you say that after what I’ve just told you?” Stephanie asked, her patience running thin. She leaned down toward Colonel Utley’s scruffy face. “You don’t have proof of anything. I do. I heard my brother and Damon laughing about what they did. What proof do you have? Tell me. Do you have absolute proof of Thunder Hawk’s guilt?”
“Not exactly,” Colonel Utley said, shifting his weight nervously in his chair. “But I’ll uncover enough to hang the scalawag Injun.”
“You can’t hold a man behind bars without proof,” Stephanie said, her jaw tight. “I demand that you set Thunder Hawk free.”
“And who made you an expert on the law?” Colonel Utley argued back.
“I know my stepbrother and Damon are responsible for blowing up the train,” she returned sharply. “Why on earth would I say this about my brother if it wasn’t true? I’d do anything on this earth to prove that he couldn’t be that vile and scheming. But I can’t. I heard him and Damon laughing about it. I know that Adam paid him one thousand dollars to do it. Isn’t that enough? I am bringing all of the ugliness of my brother out into the open. Don’t you know that what I am saying is the truth, or I wouldn’t want to put a scar on my family’s reputation?”
“What you say makes a lot of sense,” Colonel Utley said, spitting a stream of tobacco juice into a spittoon beside the desk. “And I do recall someone tellin’ me that a man at the site of the wreck was makin’ a lot of fuss about it bein’ the Indians. It was almost too obvious that he was trying too hard to throw the blame on the Navaho.”
“I was there,” Stephanie said smoothly. “I heard. That was my stepbrother Adam. Now do you believe me? Will you release Thunder Hawk into my care?”
The colonel rose slowly from his chair and went around the desk to gaze eye to eye with Stephanie again. “What’s this Injun to you, anyhow?” he said, smirking. “Is he your fella? Have you bedded up with this redskin?”
Stephanie blanched. She knew that this man was searching for the full truth behind her anxiousness to have Thunder Hawk set free. If he discovered that she was going to marry Thunder Hawk’s brother, then everything that she had argued for today would be for naught. He would think that she was doing this for all of the wrong reasons and never believe anything that she said about Adam, even if it was the truth.
“Well?” Colonel Utley demanded.
Stephanie’s throat was dry as she returned his steady stare. “I most certainly would never bed up with that man,” she said softly. “He is already married.” She leaned closer to him. “And you know that. Sky Dancer, his wife, was with him when you arrested him.”
The colonel shrugged, went back to his chair, and plopped down into it. “I’ve wasted enough of my time with you,” he said, glaring up at her. “Get on outta here.” He raised an eyebrow. “Your name. I need to know your name. I’m going to alert my men to make sure you ain’t allowed on these premises again.”
“My name is Stephanie Helton,” she said in a low hiss. “And, sir, the only way I am leaving today is to be thrown bodily from the fort.” She smiled sweetly down at him. “And I don’t think you want to do that, do you? Brutality toward a woman who has come to speak in defense of an innocent man could get you fired from your post. Don’t you think?”
“He ain’t proved innocent,” Colonel Utley mumbled.
“Before this day is over, he will be free from this jail,”
Stephanie said, stubbornly folding her arms across her chest. “I refuse to budge until you listen to reason.”
The colonel spat another stream of tobacco juice from the corner of his mouth. He opened a journal and began entering figures, ignoring her, as though she wasn’t there.
Stephanie stared down at him with a bitterness never known to her before. She was not sure how long she could stand there with this foul man, but hoped that she could at least outlast him.
Runner glared at Adam’s private car as he and Sage dismounted beside it. Runner grabbed his rifle from the gun boot at the side of his horse, while Sage slipped a knife from a sheath at his waist.
Father and son exchanged glances and nods, then moved stealthily up the steps.
When they reached Adam’s door, Runner slowly turned the knob. Together, he and his father stepped into the semidark car.
But there was enough light through the partially open shades for Runner to see Adam stretched across his bed on his stomach, snores rumbling from deep within him. Runner smelled a strong scent of alcohol, then smiled smugly. Adam had drunk himself into a stupor. The evidence lay in the empty bottle and glass on the floor beside his bed, and how Adam slept so soundly.
“I see it, also,” Sage said, smiling over at Runner. “He has much firewater in him.”
Runner went to Adam and grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him from the bed. He turned Adam and held tightly to his arms as Adam looked back at him fearfully; seeing Runner and Sage quickly sobered him.
“Runner?” Adam said, his eyes wild. “Sage? What are you doing here?” He tried to squirm free of Runner’s grip. “Let me go. Do you hear? I demand it.”
“You make demands of Runner?” Runner said, his teeth clenched. “You want to be let go?”
Runner dropped his hands away, laughing to himself when he saw a smug look come into Adam’s eyes.
“Well, Adam, would you prefer this over being held?” Runner said, doubling up a fist and smashing it into Adam’s face.
He watched Adam fall clumsily to the floor with the impact. Runner placed his fists on his hips as he stood over Adam. “Get up, you double-crossing cheat,” he snarled. “Get up on your own, or I will pick you up and knock you down again.”
Adam’s head was spinning from the blow. He rubbed his jaw, tasting blood as it rolled from his nose and cut lip into his mouth. “Why are you doing this?” he said, pleading up at Runner and Sage with frightened eyes.
“Do not play innocent with us,” Sage said, reaching down and yanking Adam to his feet. “You are responsible for my younger son being behind bars. You will correct that mistake. Now.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Adam said, cowering away from Runner and Sage.
Runner took one wide step toward Adam. He hit him again, this time knocking him halfway across the car.
Then he went and towered over Adam, placing a foot on his chest. “If you value your life, you will go with us to Fort Defiance and back up your sister’s story—that you paid Damon Stout to blow up the train and made it look as though the Navaho people were responsible. You made sure the blame was placed on my brother. You will go now and take that blame away.”
Adam’s thoughts were scrambled, and not only because Runner had hit him twice in a short time. It was what Runner had said about Stephanie. “What do you mean about Stephanie?” he stammered, trying to push Runner’s foot away from him. “About backing up her story?”
“She is at the fort even now telling the truth about what you have done,” Sage said, bending to one knee beside Adam. He grabbed Adam by the hair. “Her alliance is with the Navaho now, not a lying, double-crossing brother.”
“God, no,” Adam whined.
Runner slipped his moccasined foot away from Adam’s chest. He smiled as Sage yanked the white man back to his feet. Runner placed his rifle barrel against Adam’s chest. “You go, or I will shoot,” he said quietly.
“Runner, do you forget so easily the friendship that we had?” Adam pleaded, his eyes glued on the gun.
“That friendship was first forgotten by you,” Runner said, nudging him harder with his rifle.
“I’ll go,” Adam said, sweat pouring from his brow. “Just point that rifle somewhere else.”
Slowly Runner moved the rifle away from Adam’s chest, but he did not turn it totally away from him. “Go out and get on your horse and ride to Fort Defiance,” he said flatly. “And don’t try anything, Adam. This rifle will be leveled at your back the whole way.”
Adam scurried outside and nervously flung himself into his saddle. He gave Sage and Runner glares. “Once at the fort, when your rifle will be taken from you, I’ll laugh in both your faces,” he said, chuckling.
“The last laugh would be on you, if you are set free,” Runner warned. “Never will you be able to ride again in Navaho land. The first time you were alone, you would die quickly. If not by my gun, then by another Navaho’s. Perhaps even your sister might pull the trigger and end your pitiful life.”
Adam paled. He turned his eyes from Sage and Runner and rode off, understanding the warning and knowing that all of his dreams had gone up in smoke the very instant the train had exploded by his own orders.
Tears came to his eyes. And when Stephanie’s face came to his mind’s eye, he felt no scorn for what she was doing against him, only remorse for having caused her to turn her back on him.
Runner and Sage rode behind Adam. When they reached the fort, their rifle alerted the soldiers. One rode up on horseback and grabbed the gun from Runner.
Runner made no move to get it back. It was enough now that Adam was at the fort and knew that he must tell the truth, or die later, alone, never knowing when.
Runner, Sage, and Adam were ushered inside, where Stephanie still stood stubbornly before Colonel Utley’s desk. She turned and her eyes met Adam’s. She was torn by conflicting feelings. She ached for what they had been to one another, yet there was a part of her that felt no pity for him. She shifted her gaze to Runner and smiled.
Runner returned the smile. He and his father had known that she, alone, would not be able to get Thunder Hawk released. They had known that in this man’s world a woman’s word would not be enough. That was why they had ridden separate ways when Stephanie had headed for the fort. They knew that they would have to bring Adam in, themselves, to make a confession.
Stephanie stepped aside as they were ushered to the desk, to stand and be scrutinized by Colonel Utley.
“Sage . . . Runner, don’t tell me,” the colonel said gruffly. “This must be Adam. You’ve brought this man to exchange him for Thunder Hawk.”
“Only because Thunder Hawk is innocent and Adam is guilty,” Runner said, glowering over at Adam.
“Adam, what do you have to say for yourself?” Colonel Utley said, tapping his fingers on the desktop.
“You should release Thunder Hawk,” Adam said, fearing for his own life should he not tell the truth. His voice trembled. “I’m the one who should be behind bars. Me and Damon Stout. We are in this together.”
There was a hushed silence, then the colonel rose from his chair and went around to speak up into Adam’s face. “Do you realize what you’re saying?” he asked. “Are you doing this because you fear for your life? Are you being coerced?”
“I do fear for my life,” Adam said, swallowing hard. “But what I am saying is true. I paid Damon to blow up the train. I was wrong to do it. What else can I say?”
Everything happened quickly then. Adam was marched away, and soon Thunder Hawk was free, his face all smiles as he was first embraced by his father, then Runner, and then Stephanie.
“You are free, my son,” Sage said, and turned to Stephanie. He gently gripped her shoulders. “Because of you my son is free. How can I ever repay you?”
“By accepting me among your family and people as the woman who will soon be your older son’s wife,” Stephanie said, tears pooling in her eyes. “I’m sorry for all of the g
rief my brother caused you. Even that which I caused. I want you to know that I will never again bring a camera among your people. I even plan to destroy all of the photographs that I took of Navaho land. I hope that these things are enough to prove my loyalty to your son, and the People.”
“Proof?” Sage chuckled. “White woman, today was proof enough.”
He drew her into his embrace. “I speak for my family and my people when I say how eagerly I welcome you as part of my son’s life,” he said. “Runner is a lucky man.”
Stephanie returned his embrace, turned to Runner, then grew cold as she watched him step up to the cell in which Adam was incarcerated. She listened and shook inwardly with a guarded fear when she heard what Runner was telling Adam.
“Adam, not only is your sister Stephanie well rid of you, but also my sister, Pure Blossom,” Runner said, speaking to Adam through the bars.
Adam laughed sardonically. “I played the game well with them both, wouldn’t you say?” he said, feeling safe behind the bars.
“As for Pure Blossom, I suckered her from the very beginning into believing that I loved her,” he bragged. “I hoped that it might bring some sort of understanding between me and the Navaho, so that I could feel comfortable building my town on Navaho land. I never loved your sister. Only what I could get from her.”
Beneath Adam’s rough exterior and harsh words, his heart was bleeding for those times when he had found such bliss within the arms of his sweet Pure Blossom. He still loved her. He would never love again.
Anger flaring his nostrils, Runner grabbed Adam by the throat through the bars and yanked him closer. “If you are ever released from jail, for any reason, you had better keep a good watch on your back, because I, personally, will soon seek you out to kill you.”
The sweat of fear beaded Adam’s brow.
Chapter 31
I will love you like the stars, love,
Set in the heavenly blue,
Wild Desire Page 28