by Lori Wilde
“That’s right. A very gentle young woman named Emma.”
His visitor looked puzzled. “That doesn’t sound like Mac. He’s a Southerner who respects women. His sister was raped, and it’s always haunted him. I can’t imagine him purposely hurting a woman, much less killing one. He never patronized my girls at the saloon, but treated them all like ladies. They adored him.”
Damn, did everyone think MacDonald was some kind of saint? “There were witnesses,” Jared said.
“When was this robbery?”
The day was burned into Jared’s memory. “The fourteenth of January, 1866.”
“You are wrong, then, Evans.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I know so. I was with him then, and neither of us was killing anyone.”
He said it with such utter confidence that it made Jared doubt himself for the first time. “How do you remember one day a decade ago?”
“Ask Sam when her mother died.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s one date I’ll always remember. We were all there. Archie. Mac and myself. It was unusual. We weren’t friends, but we knew each other. Mac rode in and out. Archie brought supplies back and forth and I had a part ownership in the saloon. We all helped Mary build a boardinghouse. She already fed half the town with an outdoor restaurant. She was a good investment as well as a very pretty woman.”
Jared was silent. He knew liars. He didn’t doubt that Reese had been one at times, but the emotion in his voice told him he wasn’t lying now.
Reese stared at him thoughtfully, then continued. “We had an early snowstorm. Mary was caught in it. She was taking a meal to a sick miner who lived down on the creek. Apparently she got lost on the way back. The snow was blinding, and she’d walked off the trail.
“When we found her she was nearly dead. She caught pneumonia and died five days later on January twelfth, two days before your sister-in-law was killed. Mac was there when she asked us to take care of Sam. There was no one else, she said. She didn’t want her daughter to go to a work farm or to strangers.
“We all agreed. Mac was the closest to Mary, although I tried like Lucifer to replace him. We both courted her, along with every single man in Gideon’s Hope, but she loved Mac. After she died, he pretty much stayed put here and looked after Sam.”
Nothing could have surprised Jared more. He mulled over what Reese had told him, then asked, “Why should I believe you about the date?”
“Mary was buried in the graveyard not far from here. Gideon’s Hope was a thriving town then, and we had a stone-mason. He made the marker. Flowers are growing there. Not newly planted flowers. The date of her death is carved on the stone. I think you will find those numbers have been there for a while.”
“That doesn’t prove MacDonald…Thornton…was here,” Jared said.
“As I said, Gideon’s Hope wasn’t a ghost town then. There will be any number of people who attended her funeral two days later. Some of those who left went to Central City. Others to Denver. I’m sure I could find more than a few willing to swear that Mac was here.”
“One of the outlaws swore Thornton killed a woman during the stagecoach robbery. A witness said he mentioned his name.”
“You will have to ask the robber about that. I do know that some of the men who rode with him were not happy he left them. It might have been their revenge.” He glanced down at the book on the bed. “Les Misérables,” he said. “Learn anything from that?”
“You’ve read it?”
“Oh, yes. I found it very…intriguing. A rigid, joyless man, the policeman.”
Jared knew he was being baited, and it didn’t help that he’d felt a twinge or two while reading the book. He hadn’t reached the ending yet but he suspected from Reese’s words that he wouldn’t like the implied comparison.
He changed the subject. “Why stay here after everyone left?”
Reese shrugged. “These mountains were home to Archie. They were convenient to me. And as the miners left, Mac felt safe here. He knew there were posters out on him. I knew he had a past. I didn’t ask about it, and he didn’t tell me, but I know he was here on that particular day. As for moving, hell, I’d put everything I had into the saloon. Couldn’t very well take it with us and there weren’t many buyers. Mac had lost everything in the war. Archie never had much. The compromise was to stay in Gideon’s Hope where we could all look after Sam until we could save enough money to start a ranch.”
“But what about Sam? No children to play with. No school.”
“And your interest is what?” Reese asked sharply. “Why should you care? I understand she shot you.”
Jared shrugged. “She could have killed me. She didn’t. She helped Smith do what they could to save my leg.”
“You could arrest her.”
“I could, but I won’t.”
“Why?”
“I admire loyalty.”
“Nothing more?”
“What more could there be?”
“Come, Evans. You’re not a dolt. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I am. Man. Woman. She’s been alone here with three old men for a long time.”
Old or not, Reese was a fine-looking man. At least Jared thought women would think so. He would have called him a dandy if there hadn’t been a deadly glint in his eyes. Again, he was confounded by the relationships. Was it really as simple as this man said? And if so, how would they view what happened last night?
“You might have noticed, I can’t do much of anything,” he said. “Smith made sure of that.” He decided to stop being defensive. “Reese what?” he asked.
“Reese Hamilton at your service,” he said with mock humility.
Jared had more questions. “You didn’t say why you kept her here even after you ‘buried’ Thornton.”
“Kept her? You don’t keep Sam from doing anything. We wanted to send her to school. She wouldn’t go. Threatened to run away and come back. And she would have. Both Mac and I have good educations. We both taught her. Our goal, particularly as Sam grew older, was to buy land in Montana. I’ve been there, and the grasslands are perfect for cattle. We decided that I would raise what I could gaming, Mac and Sam would pan for any gold that was left. Snow and flash floods constantly wash dust down the stream. Not enough to sustain a town, but over time we accumulated a good bit.”
“Why didn’t you leave then?”
“It was never enough, mainly. But I think it was really because none of us wanted to leave.”
Jared studied him. He still had no idea why this man was answering all his questions. There had to be a reason. A really damned good reason.
“I saw how Sam looked when she talked about you,” Reese said, as if he’d read Jared’s mind. “I know how guilty she feels. She’d never shot so much as a rabbit before. That should tell you something about how she feels about Mac. I also know your reputation. You’re a hard man, they say, but honest. And,” he added slowly, “we may need your help.”
Nothing could have startled Jared more.
Reese stared at him for a long time, then said softly, “There’s fifteen or twenty top gun hands headed this way. They have a bloody good tracker with them. They were slowed while waiting out the storm, but they will be here soon. And Sam won’t give Mac up. She’ll die for him.”
Jared swore to himself. He hadn’t expected that many, and he’d still hoped to convince her to leave.
“I’d heard a rancher was raising gun hands. Your MacDonald killed his son. I tried to warn Samantha, but she thought I was trying to scare her.”
“I was in Central City when I heard. I’ve been riding day and night since. We have a day, maybe two. Not much more.”
“Can you make her leave?”
“She can’t. She won’t.” Reese hesitated, then added, “Mac is upstairs. He’s too injured to leave now, and even if he could we would most likely run into them.”
Upstairs. Damn. So the noise he’d heard several days ago was MacDonald. Not Archie.
“Aye, and Sam for shooting you.” It was a dare.
Jared wondered whether the newcomer had heard or seen something in him to say those words.
“What do you want?” Jared asked.
“Basically we’re trapped,” Reese said. “We can’t move Mac yet. The pass is one of two ways out. The other is down the creek—more of a river now—but that would be dangerous, too. The canyon walls are high and the water swift with the runoff from these storms. When those…bounty hunters arrive, they won’t care who they kill. Or rape. I thought that might matter to you.”
It did. Too much. Jared tried to absorb everything Reese had said, but what struck him deeper and more painfully was his last comment about Sam. And it was true.
Reese was a gambler, yet what he said had the ring of truth. “You could force her to leave.”
“I could, but she would never forgive me, or worse, she’d never forgive herself for letting me do it.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know yet. I wanted to take your measure first.”
“I’ve been hunting MacDonald a long time,” Jared said slowly, “and not only for the murder. There’s a long list of robberies. But no one will take a prisoner from me.”
“With a five-thousand-dollar reward on his head? They will kill you, then all of us, and claim Mac did it.”
Probably true. “Who all is here?” Jared said.
“Mac. His gun hand is smashed and he’s still feverish from other wounds. Archie, who can’t see across the room. Burley, who couldn’t aim straight if he wanted to. Sam. Then there’s Jake and Ike. They’re both old mountain men and loyal to the bone. Good shots. They’re watching the pass now.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Reese replied.
“Have you talked to the others?”
“No. I wanted to speak with you first.”
“And…?”
“I’m withholding judgment.” He walked to the door, then turned. “Can’t decide yet whether you’re a blessing or a curse.”
SAM HAD WAITED impatiently just outside the door. She jumped when it opened and Reese came out, closing and locking it behind him. He strode to the stove and lifted off the big pot of water.
“What happened?” she asked anxiously. Fear had settled deep inside her.
“You care about him, don’t you?” he said, answering her question with one of his own.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
He gave her his cocky gambler’s grin and kissed the top of her head. “I suspect you do know, but first I’m going to take that bath and eat something, then we’ll have a council of war. Jake will let us know if anyone is coming.”
She didn’t want to wait, but she knew a bath wouldn’t take him long, and she figured he needed time to think. He looked tired.
“The bacon’s ready,” she said. She quickly filled the biscuits with jam and loaded a plate with bacon and biscuits and canned fruit. “I’ll take it up to your room.”
She followed him upstairs to the largest and fanciest room in the saloon. He poured the water into the hip bath, then took the plate from her, picking up a slice of bacon.
“You’ve been with him several times,” he said, as if their conversation had never ended. “Do you think he can be trusted?”
“In what way?”
“All ways.”
“I…want to think so. He’s just so determined to take Mac in.”
“Maybe not so much now.” He told her about his conversation with Jared. “Mac couldn’t have killed that woman. That was the year—the week—your mother died.”
She remembered that week. How horrible it was. She’d been eleven, and her world collapsed.
“Did you tell him that?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“I’m not sure he believed me, but he’s thinking about it.”
“What are you thinking?”
“A lot of things, but I have to talk to Mac and Archie. Now get out of here and take Mac some breakfast. He’ll need it.”
She wanted to demand answers but she knew Reese better than to ask. He wouldn’t reply to her questions until he’d solved every problem in his mind, but for the first time she had hope.
Maybe the marshal, maybe Reese would tell her what they’d talked about.
She hurriedly put together a plate for Mac and placed it, along with two coffee cups, on a tray, then went up to Mac’s room. She wasn’t surprised to see Archie there.
Dawg greeted her and whined, complaining at being confined with Mac. She leaned down and scratched his ears. “I’ll take you out. Promise.”
Mac was awake and sitting up. His color was better, but there was still fresh blood on his bandages.
“What’s eating at Reese?” he asked, his blue eyes darkening. “He was in here and said damned little. Something’s going on. Has been for days, and I damn well want to know what it is.”
She wanted to tell him everything. There was no sense in hiding it any longer.
But she would have to leave out one part.
16
FEAR, IMPATIENCE and frustration grew in Jared after Reese Hamilton’s visit. It wasn’t fear for himself but for Samantha.
Hamilton’s words echoed in his head. She wouldn’t leave MacDonald. And from what Hamilton said, their only defense against paid killers was a few wounded or aged protectors.
He wasn’t much better. He wouldn’t be able to move fast with his leg.
Damn those handcuffs. He twisted around so he could stand. Test the leg. He put two feet on the floor, then used the bedpost for support. Shards of pain shot through him, but the leg didn’t give way.
The door opened and he turned toward it.
Samantha stood there. Her hair was mussed and she looked tired and worried. Something inside melted at the way her eyes lit when he looked at her.
She had to get out of the valley, even if he had to tie her up and carry her.
He held out his free arm, and she came to him. She rested her head against his shoulder as if she belonged there. Next to him. His arm tightened around her, and he held her closer. There was no regret, no hesitation. He struggled with an uncertainty that was new to him. Her trust against his lack of trust. Her belief in Mac, in him, when he no longer knew the meaning of the word.
Or maybe he was learning. He damn well wasn’t going to lose her now.
“What did Reese say?” she asked after a moment of holding tight.
“That Benson’s gunfighters aren’t far behind him.”
“And?”
“That I was wrong about your MacDonald.”
She glanced up at him with hopeful eyes. “Do you believe him?”
“Let’s say I’m considering it,” he said. It was a lie. He did believe Reese Hamilton. The gambler wouldn’t have lied about her mother’s death or the grave. It could be too easily disproved.
He felt her release a breath.
“There’s still other charges,” he warned.
“But not murder,” she said quickly.
“He’s been accused of numerous robberies in the past ten years.” He’d been thinking about this since Hamilton left. “But there’s no real proof other than loose descriptions and hearsay. Except for the theft of military payrolls. He didn’t bother trying to hide his identity.”
She started to ask about that one, but a voice came from the doorway. “Now ain’t this cozy?”
She spun around, but he didn’t drop his arm. Archie Smith stood in the doorway. Reese was behind him. A third man, leaning heavily on Reese, was at his side. Jared recognized him from the posters, though his face was older. Dawg stood protectively next to the wounded man.
Jared lowered his arm then, but Samantha didn’t move away.
Smith’s face was red with anger. Reese Hamilton’s expression hadn’t
changed since earlier, and Jared’s quarry, Thornton/MacDonald, swayed unsteadily, supported by Reese. Jared was only too aware that the outlaw’s gaze was taking in everything.
“Doesn’t appear too injured,” Reese commented.
“I think we should kill him now,” Smith interjected.
“No,” MacDonald said. “Reese, help me to the chair, then you and Archie pack up and get ready to leave.”
His voice was surprisingly strong, although his arm was cradled in a sling and he seemed barely able to stand. Without comment, Reese helped him over to the one chair, and he sat.
“I would ask Sam to leave, but I don’t think she’s going to do it,” the outlaw said.
Sam didn’t move away from Jared. “No.”
“Go, Archie,” MacDonald said. “You and Reese gather all the ammunition we have.”
Archie reluctantly left, and Reese gave MacDonald a searching look, then followed.
“Sit down,” MacDonald ordered.
Jared obeyed. He didn’t have a choice.
“You can sit at the end of the bed,” MacDonald said pointedly to Samantha. Dawg looked from MacDonald to Sam, then padded over to her.
“You came for me,” MacDonald said, his gaze meeting Jared’s. “Reese told me about it. Not all, I suspect, but enough that I know what I want to do.”
His voice was level, although Jared sensed the effort it took him to speak.
“First of all, I’ve…never killed a woman,” Mac said. “I’ve committed some robberies, most of them army payrolls, and I’m ready to go back with you. I’ve been hiding long enough. I won’t put Sam in danger ever again for something I did.”
“There’s the kid you killed a week or so ago,” Jared pointed out.
“Kid, hell. Grown men. And they ambushed me. Three of them. I was protecting myself and the gold that Archie and Sam have been panning for nigh onto six years.”
Jared had figured that quick enough. The men had not been deputized. They obviously wanted the reward, and the gold. He couldn’t quarrel with a man protecting himself. He was beginning to understand why everyone was so protective of Mac. The man could barely sit up, and yet he was making the decisions and ready to go to a rope if it would save Sam. He was a far cry from what Jared had expected.