“Please, God, make her breathe.” He shook her again, but still nothing happened. “Make her breathe!” He grabbed her under the arms and tried to make her walk, but her lifeless limbs dragged the floor. He dropped her back on the bed and fell down on her body.
A cry of heartrending agony erupted from his throat.
“Why?” he demanded. “Why should she die and that murdering bitch live?”
He brought his fist down upon Victoria’s chest.
“Damn it to hell! Breathe! Don’t give up now. Don’t you let that she-devil beat you.”
He struck her chest again, a sob escaping his throat.
“Breathe, for God’s sake. Don’t leave me here alone. I had to live all those years when I wanted to die. I don’t want to die any more. I want to live, but I can’t do it without you.” He pounded on her chest again and again. “I can’t! I just can’t!”
Trinity fell upon Victoria’s body, his arms wrapped tightly around her, sobs of heartbreaking bitterness and deep anger wrenched from an unwilling throat. Through the swelling tide of his grief, he felt Victoria’s body shudder. Instantly he became dead still.
Victoria’s heart thumped wildly in her chest, her body shuddered once more, then breath rushed into her lungs.
She breathed once, twice, three times. Gradually some of the color began to return to her white face.
Trinity offered a prayer of thanks.
Victoria felt her eyelids flutter two times before they opened. She didn’t recognize the room. She had no idea where she was. At the same moment, she realized she wasn’t alone. She turned her face and found herself looking into Trinity’s eyes.
“You’re back,” she said, surprised she didn’t remember his return or their coming to this room. Neither did she remember feeling so weak. Her voice sounded like a faint whisper. She couldn’t move. Her body felt weighted, tied down to the bed.
“Did you find Chalk Gillet?”
“I not only found him,” Trinity said, a smile slowly erasing the lines on his face, “I got a signed deposition from him saying you didn’t kill Jeb. I also got a judge to give me a stay of execution in case the sheriff failed to stand up to Judge Blazer.”
“I knew you would,” Victoria said, happy her faith in Trinity had been justified, “but I wish you’d woken me up when you got in instead of bringing me here so I could wake up in a fancy hotel room. This is the hotel, isn’t it?”
Trinity nodded.
“It nearly scared me to death waking up in a strange place. For one horrible instant I thought I’d been carried off by Red Beard.”
“What do you remember?”
“I don’t remember feeling so weak.” She tried to sit up and failed. “Have I been sick?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since yesterday”
“Was I very sick?”
“You nearly died.”
Victoria paused to digest the somber expression on Trinity’s face, the gravel in his voice. “You don’t think I got sick naturally?” Trinity shook his head. “You think somebody made me sick?”
“You were in a coma when I got here. Everybody thought you were going to die. They would have given up on you if I hadn’t insisted.”
“You always did have a way of making people do what you wanted” Victoria said, thankful for once that Trinity was so overbearing.
“What’s the very last thing you can remember?”
“I remember …” Victoria paused, puzzled. “I remember eating lunch and lying down for a nap, but I don’t remember anything else. I can’t even remember what I had for supper.”
“That’s because you didn’t have any supper. You were poisoned, probably at lunch. Myra Blazer is Queenie, the woman who killed my father. I recognized her the moment I saw her.”
Victoria gaped at Trinity, her mind unable to equate the elegant, imperious Myra with her vision of a furtive, sinister Queenie. “She can’t be. Myra lived in Ohio until her husband died. He was a banker. His name was Winslow. He was Kirby’s father.”
“I don’t know anything about a banker named Winslow, and I have no idea where she got Kirby, but Myra is Queenie. And she poisoned you.”
“But she has been so good to me. She tried to persuade me to go to the ranch or at least move into the hotel with her. When I wouldn’t, she had a bed moved into my cell and everything she thought I would want brought from the ranch. She even sent for her cook to prepare my meals.”
“So she could poison you,” Trinity said, certain he was right. “She’s Queenie, I tell you. “I’d know her anywhere. I’m certain she’s responsible for Jeb’s death, too. I don’t know how she did it, but I’m sure.”
“I can’t believe that,” Victoria said, hearing Trinity’s words with skepticism. “She always insisted I didn’t kill Jeb.”
“Probably because she knew you’d be convicted no matter what she said. I don’t know what happened. We probably won’t ever know, but promise me you won’t have anything to do with her. She’s the most dangerous woman you’ll ever meet.”
“I probably won’t see her again except to thank her,” Victoria assured Trinity, still unable to believe Myra Blazer could be Queenie.
“If you have to see her, wait until I can be with you. And no matter what you do, don’t eat or drink anything she gives you.”
Victoria promised, but her promise was given more to make Trinity happy than in a belief Myra posed any real danger to her.
“Did anyone notify Uncle Grant?”
“I believe so,” Trinity said, remembering with difficulty. “Some lawyer your uncle hired.”
“Mr. Woolridge. Tell him to send another telegram right away. I can’t bear the thought of Uncle Grant thinking I’m dead.”
Victoria’s recovery progressed rapidly. At the end of three days, she was up and moving about for hours at a time. She felt only slightly tired. Agreeing that Victoria should not be disturbed or moved during her recovery, Myra had taken other rooms at the hotel.
Trinity had demanded and was given the room next to Victoria’s with the connecting door. Victoria had received no answer to her telegram to her uncle. She could only hope he would arrive quickly.
Victoria received visits from Doctor Roundtree, Myra, a clearly uncomfortable Kirby, the sheriff, and David Woolridge. Trinity never left her alone, not for as much as one second. He personally oversaw the preparation of every bite of food and every drop of medicine. He formed a one-man line of protection for Victoria.
Trinity had apologized to Myra for his rudeness, and Myra had graciously accepted his apology, accepting his explanation that it was the consequences of an overwrought mind. However, Victoria noticed Myra was not happy with her new hairstyle. Knowing Myra, Victoria suspected she would forgive Trinity’s rudeness long before she forgave his ruining her hair.
Even though they spent hours in each other’s company, Myra never showed any signs of recognizing Trinity. She was angered by Trinity’s continual rejection of her offers to help with Victoria’s care, but he refused to let anyone help.
“You can’t be at my side forever,” Victoria said, when she couldn’t convince Trinity to relax his vigil. “You’re going to have to let me live a normal life someday.”
“I’ve been dunking about that,” Trinity said. “You’ll never be safe as long as Myra’s alive. The Judge will be home any day now. Once he’s convinced you didn’t kill Jeb, he’s going to start looking about for someone else to suspect. And he’s bound to think of Myra and Kirby. I don’t know if the boy had anything to do with it …”
“He couldn’t have,” Victoria said. “He was too young.”
“… but he looks scared to death of something. I think he suspects his mother has done something, and he’s petrified we’ll find out.”
“Besides, he was inside the house when Jeb was shot.”
That doesn’t matter. Obviously your being alive threatens Myra, if not because of Jeb, then for some other reason.
Myra will always be a danger to you, and I can’t allow that. We’ll have to sell the Demon D and go somewhere else.”
Victoria didn’t know how to respond. She wondered what it would do to Trinity to run away from Myra. Trinity had never run from anything, but now he must, and she was the cause of it. She didn’t know if she could let him do that. She didn’t want him to be constantly looking over her shoulder, but she didn’t want him to feel like a coward.
“Do you have the money to buy a ranch like the Demon D somewhere else?”
“I can sell the herd.”
“Without selling the herd or the horses?”
“We can start with a smaller ranch.”
Victoria searched his face, but she could find no sign of indecision, no hint of regret.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Nothing is more important man your safety—not the ranch, the cows, or the horses.”
“You haven’t said anything about Uncle Grant or my money.”
“I won’t take a penny from your uncle. And your money is your hedge against the future. I wouldn’t let you invest it in something as uncertain as a ranch. The cows could die of thirst or the horses could eat milkweed. We could go broke the first year.”
“I have faith in you. I’ll back you to make a go of anything you set your mind to.”
“You would really trust me with your money?”
“I trusted you with my life, didn’t I?”
“I don’t think I gave you a chance to make an objective decision.”
“Well, I’d trust you with it now. My money’s much less important.”
“Then you don’t mind leaving Bandera?”
“Not if you don’t feel like you’re running away from Queenie. I know how you felt about your father’s death.”
Trinity sat down next to her. “I finally realized what you’d been telling me was true. I wasn’t responsible for my father’s decisions, and I wasn’t responsible for his death. I still feel like I ought to be able to do something about Queenie’s killing him, but your safety is much more important to me. I also realize my being arrested for Queenie’s murder won’t help anybody. I’ve just got to learn to live with the knowledge I can’t do anything about her.”
“Can you?”
“As long as I have you, nothing from the past has the power to bother me.”
“I wish you’d told me you were going to sell them dang cows before I trailed them all the way from New Mexico. I musta swallowed enough dust to make a right good-sized county.”
“You should have asked,” Victoria pointed out.
“Wouldn’t have done no good, ma’am. You done shook him up so much he don’t know what he’s going to do next himself.”
Ben had arrived in Bandera the previous evening. To make up for not being around when she needed him, he’d spent most of the hours since trying to keep Victoria entertained.
“I know the Bible says marriage is a blessed institution, but seems to have done nothing but addle Trinity’s brains.”
“I’m not married yet.”
“You might as well be. You couldn’t have stuck closer to her skirt tails if you’d been her nursemaid.”
Fortunately for the well-being of Ben’s neck, Red chose that moment to burst into the hotel room.
“The clerk downstairs said you nearly died,” he blurted out. He plunged across the room to Victoria, ignoring Trinity and Ben.
“Red!” Victoria exclaimed. She jumped up from the chair and gave the boy an enthusiastic hug. “I’ve been worried sick about you. When did you get here? We would never have left if we hadn’t—”
“Doc Mills told me all about those miners. I warned Mr. Davidge that Trinity couldn’t take care of you. Now I find out he nearly let you die.”
“Trinity had nothing to do with my being sick. In fact, if it hadn’t been for him, I would have died.”
“Who is this fire-eating bantam?” Ben demanded of Trinity. “And why haven’t you shot him for putting his hands on your woman?”
“This is Michael O’Donavan, also known as Red,” Trinity said, amusement dancing in his eyes. “He followed us from Texas to make sure I took good care of Victoria.”
“Has he been reading about Sir Walter Raleigh, too?”
“I doubt it,” Trinity said. “His gallantry comes naturally, not out of a book.”
“Well, of all the ungrateful—”
“Come along. Let’s allow Red to catch Victoria up on what happened to him.”
“I sure didn’t expect you to leave that young hot britches alone with your woman,” Ben said once they were outside in the hall.
“If I have to worry about Red, I don’t deserve Victoria. And stop calling her ‘my woman.’ She beaned Buc with a pole when he said it.”
“You sure you’re up to this marriage stuff?” Ben asked. “She’s pretty enough to knock the sense out of Solomon, but she seems to be followed by a host of trouble.”
“You let me worry about Victoria.”
“Okay, but it’s never wise to turn your back on a carrot-top, even a little one. Heard something you might be interested in,” Ben said, changing the subject.
“What?” Trinity asked.
“About Chalk Gillet.”
“What about him?”
“He’s dead. He got into a knife fight with some Mexican. The guy slit his throat”
“You think he was set up?” Trinity inquired.
“Don’t you?”
“Could be.”
“That doesn’t upset you?”
“Why should it?”
“Because there’s nothing standing between Victoria and the gallows but that piece of paper in your pocket,” Ben pointed out.
“What are you saying?”
“You’ve got to get that to a judge as soon as you can. And I don’t mean Judge Blazer.”
“The nearest judge is in Austin. You can leave in the morning.”
“I’d be happy to take it if I thought I could, but if Chalk was set up, we’re talking a whole different kind of scrape. If Queenie has hired herself a gunhand, I won’t be in his league, and you know it. I can rope a cow at fifty feet, but I can’t hit a tin can at twenty. You’re the one who can slip through a war party of Apache without them knowing. I’d end up getting killed, and you’d lose your only chance to clear Victoria.”
“Sorry. I’ve been so worked up over Queenie’s being right here in the same hotel I wasn’t thinking. I’ll go, I’ll leave tonight, but you’ve got to swear you won’t let Victoria out of your sight while I’m gone, not for as much as a minute.”
A big grin split Ben’s face. “Nothing easier. I can look at her just as long as she’ll let me.” Trinity could tell his smile came as much from relief as pleasure in bedeviling his friend.
“I said look.”
“That woman doesn’t have eyes for anyone but you. I swear I could lay my heart at her feet and she’d walk over it without noticing. Not that you’re any better. I swear you’re going to get yourselves killed some day. You’ll be so busy gawking at each other you won’t see a train or something coming.”
“You’re just jealous.”
“I don’t say I would mind having something like Victoria to look at now and again. It’s just that I wouldn’t enjoy having my wits that addled. I don’t have all that many. Not that you seem to have a whole lot to spare. I never saw a sensible man so muddled. A year ago you’d have put a bullet between that black-haired witch’s eyes and been done with it. Now you’re thinking about selling up and moving away.”
“I have a lot of things to consider now besides what I’d like to do.”
“That’s another thing. Women complicate a man’s life something awful. The pretty ones do it worse. I don’t think I’m up to it.”
“Then it’s a good thing Victoria fell in love with me.”
“Yeah, safer, too.”
“But it’s an invitation from the Judge,” Victoria told Ben. “He wants to see me
, to make amends for some of the unpleasantness over Jeb’s death.”
“If this judge wants to see you so much, why doesn’t he come to town?”
“He’s in poor health. He says the trip from Austin exhausted him so he can’t leave the house for several days yet.”
“What about that Queenie woman?”
“You mean Myra. What can she do to me as long as you’re with me?”
“Trinity said I wasn’t to let you go near her under any circumstances.”
“You won’t have to. You can go with me.”
“I still don’t like it. Why don’t you wait until Trinity gets back. He can go with you.”
“I’d much rather go without him,” Victoria eyed Ben mischievously. “If you won’t go, maybe I’ll ask Red.”
“Don’t you try your tricks on me,” Ben said. “Trinity might not care that scrawny redhead don’t seem to know where to put his hands, but I can tell him so’s he’ll remember. You ain’t going nowhere with him. You take my advice and wait for Trinity.”
“You don’t understand,” Victoria said. “Trinity insists Myra is the Queenie who married his father. He ought to know, but I’m sure he’s mistaken somehow. There’s a lot of tension when they’re together. He doesn’t think much of the Judge either.”
“I guess not, steering his own daughter-in-law to the gallows.”
“You forget it was his only son who was killed.”
“No, I don’t forget,” Ben said, “but a dozen of him weren’t worth one of you.”
“That’s a sweet thing to say, but it doesn’t change anything. It’s just a short visit. We can leave in the morning and be back before dark. Trinity will never know we’ve been gone.”
“Yes, he will,” Ben predicted. “You can swear every person between here and the Oklahoma territory to secrecy, but he’ll know before he’s been back five minutes.”
“Well, it won’t matter. We’ll be back, and nothing will have happened. There’ll be nothing for him to be angry about.”
“I ain’t so sure of that,” Ben said. “I’m going against my instinct to let you go, and I always get in a load of trouble when I do that.”
“I don’t suppose you will believe me, but I’m very sorry for everything I did,” Judge Blazer said to Victoria. “There didn’t seem to be any possibility you weren’t guilty, and I desperately wanted someone to suffer the way I had.”
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