The Marshal's Pursuit

by Micki Miller

  His hair was dirty and mussed. Days of uneven growth patched the dirt on his face. Dust covered his wrinkled clothes. Several snags looped out to mar his fine jacket and a long tear rent the fabric near his waist, leaving a ragged flap hanging. A deep scratch across his forehead had scabbed over, and two smaller ones on his right cheek stood out bright and angry against his fair skin.

  What truly struck her, though, was the furious display of his countenance, the malevolence radiating from his eyes, but above all that, the gun he had pointed right at her chest.

  “Yes, it’s Bentley.” He sneered, his rage barely contained. “Well, at least you remembered my name, if not your place.”

  “What on earth are you doing here? How did you find…Bentley, why are you pointing that gun at me?”

  “Because I’m going to kill you, you little fool.”

  Penny started to ask why, and then it struck with the impact of a vicious slap. She knew why he was going to kill her. She also knew, in that dizzying moment, that Bentley was somehow involved in the death of her father.

  “You were part of the robbery.” She breathed the words. Though she held no doubt it was true, Penny didn’t want to believe the man her father mentored, had trusted with his business, was the one to orchestrate his murder.

  “So you’re not as empty-headed as I’d believed. More’s the pity. Even though the proof is right in front of me, I still can’t believe you charged after him, Penelope. You’re even more out of control than I believed. We all thought you’d gone to stay with a friend from school.”

  “I left a note saying so,” Penny said, speaking from a daze. She just couldn’t reconcile the meek man she knew from back home with the crazed monster now standing before her. “I didn’t want anyone to worry.”

  “I wasn’t worried,” he replied with disdain. “Privileged people like you always land on your feet. I was aggravated that you left without consulting me first.”

  Penny started to ask why he thought she should consult him before she did anything. But of course, it was because Bentley had already begun to live as if they were betrothed.

  “When I saw you a moment ago, dressed like that,” he said, looking at her boy’s outfit with an equal mixture of shock and disgust. “I knew one of us had lost our minds. Fortunately, it was you.”

  “Why, Bentley? How could you do such a thing?”

  Bentley ignored her questions as his gaze hardened, and then climbed back up to her face. “You’ve caused me a lot of trouble, Penelope. It appears my luck is changing, though, coming across you like this. I’ve been riding like the devil, off the trails and through every branch and bramble trying to get to that clod of an outlaw first. No one has any respect for a well-thought out strategy,” he mumbled through his tight, thin lips.

  “No matter,” he continued, focused once again. “I’ll catch up with Cotter, and believe me I’ll deal with that imbecile. Then I’ll stay a night or two in West Bend.” He nodded down the trail. “I deserve a decent hotel after what I’ve been put through. I still can’t believe you remembered such detail about that miscreant. Frankly, I’d expected you, not Neil, to faint as soon as you realized you were in the middle of a robbery.”

  Penny stared at him, too furious to be afraid, too stunned to speak.

  Bentley’s eyes focused on Penny again. “I planned that day right down to the last detail. It was a perfect plan, too, until that idiot Cotter proved just how inept a man could be. Letting his face get exposed,” Bentley muttered. “And then he’s so anxious to kill, he forgets to take the money from the safe! How does somebody so stupid live to adulthood?”

  Looking at him with utter dismay, Penny said, “My father was good to you. He taught you everything he knew about banking.”

  “Your father was a bigger fool than you.”

  Penny gasped.

  “Having more heart than head is no way to run a business. Giving people loans he shouldn’t, granting extensions. Why, I once saw the man accept garden vegetables as payment. No, they didn’t even have the vegetables to hand over yet because it was almost a month before they were ready to harvest!”

  Penny knew about the incident to which Bentley referred. It was yet another action of her father’s that made her so proud of him. That act of kindness was just one example of why the people of Mill’s Creek loved and respected him.

  “The Brewsters were going through a difficult time,” Penny told him, her chin high. “Papa was going to buy their vegetables anyway. He worked it so everybody got what they wanted and needed.”

  “Banking isn’t run on the barter system, Penelope. Frank Wills made a mockery of the business.”

  Penny glared at him. “My father never arranged a marriage between us. He never signed those papers at all. You forged his name.”

  “No, Penelope, your father signed them. It’s all right and legal.” Bentley scoffed then. “He trusted too easily. It was nothing for me to slide the papers I wanted him to sign in with some others. All I had to do was to wait until he was preoccupied,” Bentley said before taking a step toward her.

  “And you.” He spat his fury, only slightly doused with disappointment. “I would have permitted you a fair allowance, though nothing like what your father foolishly lavished upon you. You could have lived out the rest of your days in the house you’ve always known, lived a comfortable life.”

  “As your wife,” she said stiffly.

  “Well you’ve ruined that now.” He sneered, lips peeling back from his teeth for a moment as if he might bite. “Why must I always suffer fools?”

  “You don’t love me any more than I love you. Why would you want to marry me?”

  “Love? Love is for fairy tales. Life is a business. I find your appearance pleasing. You’re well mannered, educated, and your social skills are up to par. We could have had a good life together, Penelope.”

  Bentley paused then, while his gaze made a slow and lascivious voyage over her body. He slipped the gun into his coat pocket and took another step in her direction, stopping within a breath of her. Quick as a snake, he clasped her jaw in his hand, anger radiating from each finger. She jerked back but he firmed his grip, squeezing until she whimpered. An evil grin boasted his pleasure. Penny looked into his eyes and saw the future. Bentley was going to kill her.

  His eyes held not a trace of the dedicated and somewhat shy man she’d known. The man who stood before her now was heartless and brutal; a disciple of evil who had her father murdered. Then the truth of it all hit her with the force of a lightning strike. The Bentley she’d known had been the grand façade. All along, this was the real man.

  “Now we only have today,” Bentley said in a voice that dropped to a low chill.

  Penny twisted from his hold and stumbled. Panting short breaths, Bentley caught her, his fingers digging into her shoulders until she cried out. When he forced his open mouth over hers, Penny wrenched herself back far enough to slap him across the face. Instantly, he reddened with rage. His eyes hardened with violent intent. He drew back his arm and his hand slashed through the air, striking her with enough force to throw her to the ground. Before she could roll away, Bentley was on top of her.

  “No!” she screamed as he tore at her clothes. “No!”

  Her fists pounded anywhere she could hit, and she struggled to get out from beneath him, but his full weight was upon her. Bentley lifted his hips high enough to get a grip on the waist of her trousers. Her fight grew fiercer, more frantic. His chest pressed down hard against her and his legs were on either side of hers, effectively trapping her. Penny screamed at him again, and was sickened at his expression of ecstasy her struggles evoked.

  Then suddenly Bentley’s head jerked back at a sharp angle and he was facing the sky. His mouth gaped and from it burst forth a high shriek of terror and pain. Another sound reverberated through Bentley’s screams. The rolling, vicious growl of an animal arose from the fray like an avenging demon straight from Hell.

  Whatever the thing was
, it dragged Bentley backward and off her.

  His legs kicked, his arms flailed, and his fingers grasped at the air. Then, whatever had him, let go. Bentley curled up in a ball near her feet. It was then Penny saw the dog, skinny, but ferocious, and worked up into a frenzied attack. Its brown and black hair stood on end and it snarled, barked, and growled, snapping bites with its bared teeth, chomping at Bentley as if it meant to chew him to bits.

  The ripping of fabric rent the air. At Bentley’s loud wail, she lifted her head enough to see the dog sink its teeth deep into the man’s thigh. With his free leg, he managed to kick the beast away. Bentley struggled to get to his feet, half-crawling, part leaping in an effort to get away, but the dog jumped up and used its teeth and legs to fling him back down to the ground.

  The dog shoved his head under Bentley’s coat and latched on to another piece of his shirt. Skin, too, she was sure, from the pain in Bentley’s shrill cries. She sat up just as the dog flung its head from side to side, coming away with a scrap of Bentley’s bloodstained shirt in his teeth. It was then that Bentley managed to dig the gun out of his coat pocket. He turned and fired, the shot blasting the air and echoing through the woods.

  The dog let out one terrible cry and stumbled back. Bentley used the opportunity to scramble to his feet and point his gun again, this time taking aim. But the dog lunged at him before he could shoot. In his stumble back, Bentley dropped the gun.

  He kicked at the relentless dog and landed a foot in his furry chest, shoving the animal away long enough for him to jump on his horse. The snarling dog leapt toward him, his teeth piercing Bentley’s calf. Bentley screamed again, trying to jerk his leg away, pounding at the dog’s head with his fist. The dog let go and fell to the ground. It rolled, just barely far enough away so the horse did not trample it in the frenzied escape. Bloodied and terrified, Bentley was screaming still even as he disappeared into the woods.

  Penny sat stone still in the sudden quiet as the animal gained its feet and turned its head toward her. For a moment she was petrified, waiting for it to attack her as it had Bentley. However, it no longer looked like a vicious beast. The dog actually appeared shy as it dropped its head and, panting, limped over to where she sat. She stiffened, but when the dog got to her side, he simply sat before her.

  After a discreet peek, Penny said, in her most placating tone, “Hello, boy.”

  The dog whimpered and she saw a line of red where the bullet had grazed its left hindquarter.

  “Thank you. You saved my life,” she said in her most soothing voice, still gaging the dog’s temper. The animal certainly seemed calm now. In fact, she could hardly believe it was the same animal that just a moment before looked as if it would kill.

  With a tentative hand, Penny gave him a soft pat on his head. She was relieved when the dog pressed its furry face into her palm. It was such a sweet, loving gesture. On top of winning her gratitude, the dog now claimed her heart.

  She leaned over and had a look at his injury. The scratch wasn’t too deep, but it was bleeding. “Don’t worry, boy. If you’ll trust me enough, I’ll clean your wound for you. I have some salve with me that will ease the pain.”

  On shaky legs, Penny managed to stand, and then to walk. She untied one of the bags from Lady Bell and carried it over to the dog. After carefully cleaning the wound, she applied the salve and then wrapped his leg in a cloth. The blessed thing was patient all the way through her ministrations. He didn’t fuss or nip at her, even when she knew her gentle touch hurt.

  “Good boy,” she said when she was finished, scratching him behind the ears. The dog leaned into her hand and gave her a slow blink, a look of bliss on his furry face. Penny giggled. “You like that, huh? What in the world is a good dog like you doing out here all by yourself?”

  She wondered if someone had abandoned the dog. Sometimes people did things like that. The very notion of such cruelty made her furious. It was also possible its owner had died out here somewhere. He’d belonged to someone. The dog wasn’t feral. He didn’t know how to hunt down food for himself. The poor thing looked like he hadn’t had a decent meal in a good while.

  “Are you hungry? I’ll bet you are.” Penny retrieved her other bag from Lady Bell and started opening jars. The dog watched closely, sniffing the air every time she twisted off a lid. He licked his chops, sniffed some more, but waited as if minding his manners. Then Penny and her hero dog sat on the ground and ate a quiet lunch together.

  “You’re the one who’s been following me, aren’t you?” Penny said as she used her fingers to pluck a stewed tomato from a jar. She tore it in half, the larger of which she fed to the dog. Fortunately, he wasn’t a picky eater. The dog licked its chops as she tore a piece off a biscuit and fed it to him. They were getting stale, but he didn’t seem to care.

  “Poor baby, wanting company, but too afraid to approach, is that it? You sure got brave when I needed you. I owe you my life, um, hmm. Well, I can’t call you dog. You’re going to need a proper name.” Penny thought for a moment. “I know. I’ll call you Frank, after my father. He was brave and smart, too. How does that sound?”

  The dog gave her a contented blink of his soft, brown eyes that made her smile. “I’ll take that as a yes. Well, Frank, we’d better get going. I think we’ll ride on instead of going back. From what Bentley said, the town of West Bend probably isn’t too far ahead. We’ll be safer in a town, too. The marshal will find us there. Besides, I would dearly love a decent hotel room for the night. How about you, Frank? I’d like to have a real bath. And, if you don’t mind me saying so, you could use one, too.”

  The dog replied with an airy woof, showing no offence and making Penny smile again. “Well then, that settles it.”

  She secured her bags of supplies to Lady Bell. Then, holding the dog in her arms, Penny managed to climb up on Lulu without jostling the poor, injured animal too much. Frank sat tall and proud in the saddle in front of her, looking as if he was the leader. Penny stroked his furry neck and when he turned his head back, she could swear he winked at her. She giggled and then gave him a scratch behind the ears. Penny got her horses into motion, and with Frank keeping watch in front, started toward the town.

  Chapter 9

  Garrett could not make his brain believe what his eyes were seeing. He squeezed his eyelids shut for a cleansing blink, thinking the sun must be affecting his vision. He already knew his sanity was under attack due to the maddening worry over Penny being out here by herself, with Zeke Cotter somewhere in the area. Making things worse was the cold fear that had washed through him when he’d heard that gunshot a while ago. He’d ridden like the wind trying to catch up to her.

  Yes, between his lust, his fury, and his fear, Garrett was sure Penny had scrambled his brain and it was now playing tricks on him. He certainly couldn’t have seen a dog riding a horse.

  However, when he opened his eyes, Garrett found the same sight he’d rode upon just a minute before. Penny was riding her horse at an easy pace, her packhorse following close behind. The woman he wanted to both hold close to know she was all right and at the same time shake until she swore an oath to never to scare him like that again, was riding along the trail that had opened up to a broad meadow. A dog was sitting in the saddle before her.

  Garrett sat there for a minute or so before riding up to her. For one thing, his horse needed the break. For another, well frankly, so did he. Every nerve ending on his body still felt like needles erupting from his skin. After hearing that gunshot, he pushed his horse as hard as he dared. The whole time his heart pounded a tempo to beat the animal’s hooves as the worst possibilities ran through his mind in vivid detail. After filling his lungs with a few deep breaths, Garrett took his horse at a slow pace toward the woman who’d scared several years of his life right out of him.

  By the time he got close, Garrett did a fair job of reining in his unruly emotions. Whether or not they stayed in place was still yet to be determined. At the sound of an approaching horse, both she
and the dog turned. Penny had her Winchester out at an impressive speed. The dog lowered his head, laid his ears back until they were flat against his head, and growled low in his throat, showing teeth he seemed all too prepared to use.

  “Garrett!” she said, turning partially toward him as she patted the dog, giving him a pleasant smile, as if they’d come across each other at the canned goods section of a mercantile. She slid the rifle back into its holder.

  “Penny,” he replied tightly. He would have shouted, but the dog looked like he’d leap over and tear his throat out if he did. He’d ask about the mutt later. Right now, there were matters of greater importance he had to settle.

  In order to pacify the dog, Garrett kept his voice down, but he gave Penny a glare that had cowed many a rough man. He was too angry to see it had no effect on her. “You must have turned half the hairs on my head gray with that stunt,” he told her, surprised the words could form within his tight jaw.

  Penny lost her smile immediately. Instead of bowing her head for an apology, however, she turned up her nose. “That wasn’t a stunt. I’ve pulled stunts before and I can assure you, that was not one.”

  The dog growled again and Garrett, not knowing what to say to such an absurd response, gave a pointed nod at the dog. “Where did that raggedy beast come from?”

  “He is not a raggedy beast,” she replied, sounding as if he’d given her a personal insult. Running her hand down his furry back, Penny said, “He’s a hero and a fine dog.”

  “Well, tell him to stop growling at me,” he said, expecting her to give a command. What he got was an introduction.

  “Frank, this is Garrett. Garrett, Frank. It’s all right,” she said to the dog, as if Garrett’s presence was the one needing an explanation. “He’s a friend.”