“All right,” Sanders said.
“Reece, that’ll leave you alone with the kids until Whitman gets back. Think you can handle that?”
“Hell, yes, I can handle it. What is there to handlin’ a handful of snot-nosed brats?”
“Just don’t both of you get drunk when Whitman gets back with the whiskey, is all,” Keefer ordered. “Somebody needs to be sober to keep an eye on the kids.”
Leaving the others in the bigger house, Keefer started toward the cabin.
“Mr. Keefer is coming,” Wee said.
“I wonder what he wants,” Burt said. “He don’t normally come over here. It’s always one of the others.”
“Can you see any of the nail holes?” Thad asked anxiously.
“No, they’re well covered,” Lorena replied.
The six gathered in a group, looking toward the door as they heard the lock being opened.
Keefer stepped into the cabin. “What are you all standin’ together like that for?”
“Because we’re all real good friends,” Thad replied.
“You got a smart mouth, you know that, kid?”
“I hope so. I’ve always considered being smart as a virtue,” Thad replied.
Lorena laughed, and Keefer shot her an angry glance.
“Here,” he said, handing a paper and pencil to Thad. “I need you to write a note to your mama so she’ll know you are alive ’n well.”
“No,” Thad said.
“What do you mean, you won’t do it?” Keefer asked. “Your mama is the one who asked for the note.”
“I have a feeling you’ll be using the note for more than just to let her know I’m alive.”
“Write the note, boy,” Keefer demanded,
“No.”
“Thad, don’t you think your mother might want to know that you are all right?” Lorena asked.
“Listen to the girl,” Keefer said. “Remember, your mama is the one who asked for the note in the first place.”
“All right. I’ll do it,” Thad said after a moment of consideration. “I guess you are right.”
“Maybe you can put all our names in the note too,” Lorena suggested. “That will let our parents know that we are all right, as well.”
“Yeah, that would be a good idea,” Thad agreed. “I’ll do that.”
“No, you ain’t goin’ to do nothin’ like that,” Keefer said. “Your mama said she wanted to see a note from you. She didn’t say nothin’ ’bout all the other kids we got here.”
“If you expect a note from me, it will also have everybody else’s name on it,” Thad said. “Otherwise, I won’t write it.”
“Mr. Keefer, what will be the harm?” Lorena asked. “I’m sure that all Mrs. Condon wants is to know that Thad is alive and well. This note will tell her that. If you are expecting to collect money for the rest of us, don’t you think our parents should also know that we are all right?”
“Yeah,” Keefer finally agreed. “All right. You can put ever’body else’s name in the note, too.”
Taking the pencil and paper Keefer presented him, Thad began to write.
Ma, I am not hurt. I am worried about Pa. There are five others with me. Will you tell their parents they are all right, too? They are Lorena Coy and Marilyn Grant, those are the girls. The boys are Travis Calhoun, Burt Rowe, and Eddie Blackwell. I love you, Ma.
Sincerely,
Your son,
Thaddeus R. Condon
Thad showed the note to Lorena, who read it, then giggled.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Why did you sign your entire name to the note? Don’t you think your mother knows your name?”
“When we learned how to write letters in school, the teacher said we should always sign our whole name so that the person we are writing to would know who the letter came from.”
Lorena smiled. “I suppose you’re right.” She folded the note in half then ran her finger and thumb along the crease.
“Don’t do that!” Thad said, cringing.
“Don’t do what?” Lorena asked, surprised by Thad’s outburst.
“Don’t rub your fingers on paper!” he said. “I can’t stand to rub my hands on paper, and I can’t stand to watch anyone else do it.”
Lorena laughed. “You’re the strangest boy I’ve ever met.” She handed the note to Keefer.
With the note stuck down in his shirt pocket, Keefer returned to the house, where Sanders had already saddled their horses. Reece was out on the front porch, watching.
“Reece, you keep an eye on the kids,” Keefer said as he swung into the saddle. “I hate to leave only one person here—we’ve never done that before—but I’m goin’ to have to. I’ll be needin’ Sanders with me when I go into town to get the money from the Condon woman.”
“Don’t you be worryin’ none about me. I’ll be just fine,” Reece said. “Just go get the money.”
“If she gives us the money, are we going to come back here and get the kid and take him to her?” Sanders asked.
“It depends on what the boss says,” Keefer replied.
Reece stayed out on the front porch, watching them ride off. Once they were out of sight, he looked over toward the little cabin and unconsciously rubbed himself as he thought of the oldest girl. “Guess what, little girl,” he said quietly. “Now that the others are gone, me ’n you are goin’ to have us a little fun.”
Mule Gap
“When are we going?” Pearlie asked.
“We aren’t going. Only I am.”
“You mean I’m not going? According to Fancy, there are four men out there watching the kids. You plan to take on all four of ’em by yourself?”
“Yes,” Smoke said. “Look, Pearlie, you’re still wounded. I’m afraid that if you go, you could open up the wound and start bleeding again.”
“If I do, you can always stick a piece of my dirty shirt in the hole to stop the bleeding,” Pearlie suggested.
Smoke chuckled. “That’s true. I could do that, but I have something else I want you to do. Sara Sue is staying with Mrs. Coy. I want you to keep an eye on both of them today. They also know where the kids are located, and someone might decide that is a problem.”
Pearlie nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I can see how that might be. All right. I’ll watch over them.”
“Thanks. That’ll make my job easier, knowing that you’re looking out for them.”
Astride a rented horse, Smoke started west along French Creek Road, so named because it ran parallel with French Creek, a rapid stream that made gurgling and bubbling sounds as the white water broke over the rocks and swept the smaller pebbles downstream. He was less than two miles out of town when he saw Deputy Plappert and Deputy Slago step into the middle of the road. Both deputies had already drawn their pistols from their holsters.
Plappert held up his hand. “Where do you think you’re a-goin’?”
“Oh, I’m just goin’ for a ride,” Smoke replied.
“Do your ridin’ back toward town,” Plappert ordered.
“Why should I do that? I’ve seen town. I thought I’d just take a ride out in the country.”
“Marshal Bodine don’t trust you. He wants you to stay in town,” Plappert said.
Slowly and unthreateningly, Smoke dismounted and glanced over toward Slago. “Can he talk?”
“Of course he can talk,” Plappert replied.
Smoke was amused by the fact that it was Plappert, not Slago, who had responded.
“Are you planning on collecting that five-thousand-dollar reward that’s been offered for me?”
“Could be,” Plappert replied.
“Who are you planning to collect it from?”
“Seein’ as how you ain’t goin’ to be the one collectin’, that ain’t none of your business,” Plappert said.
Smoke chucked. “I guess you have a point there. But don’t I have to be dead, first, before you can collect it?”
“Yeah, you do, don’t you?” Plappert r
eplied.
During the entire conversation, the two deputies had their guns in their hands. Though he was still holding the gun, Slago had lowered it so that it was no longer pointing at Smoke. Plappert’s gun was pointed toward Smoke, but it wasn’t cocked.
“What was it you said once? That you planned to live right up until the moment you died?” Plappert asked.
“That’s what I said, all right.”
An evil grin spread across Plappert’s face. “This is that moment.”
Smoke started his draw the instant he saw Plappert’s thumb tighten on the hammer of his pistol. He drew and fired before Plappert could even cock his pistol.
“What the hell?” Slago shouted, bringing his pistol up and cocking it. But he was unable to get a shot off before Smoke’s gun roared.
“How about that? Turns out you could speak, after all,” Smoke said.
* * *
At the small cabin, Reece unlocked the door then stepped inside. “You,” he said, pointing to Lorena. “Can you cook?”
“Yes, I can cook,” she replied.
“We got a mess of fish. If you’ll fry’em up, you can have fish for dinner.”
“Oh, goody!” Wee said. “I like fried fish.”
“Why do you want me to cook, all of a sudden?” Lorena asked. “You’ve never asked me to cook before.”
“We’ve never had a mess of fish before,” Reece said. “Besides, ever’one else is gone. I’m the only one here, right now, ’n I don’t plan on doin’ the cookin’. Now, do you want some fried fish or not?”
“All right,” Lorena said. “I’ll go with you.”
Lorena stepped onto the front porch with Reece, and waited as he, again, locked the door.
Thad stood at the window and watched as Reece led Lorena toward the house. He had a funny feeling about the man taking her over to the big house. Thad couldn’t put his finger on just what was making him uneasy . . . but he didn’t feel good about Lorena being alone in the house with Reece.
He stepped back to look at the boards they had been working on. Their efforts over the previous days had removed every nail from six of the floorboards, and it was time to pull them up. “Let’s get these boards pulled up.”
“I thought we weren’t going to do it until tonight when nobody could see us,” Travis said.
“There’s nobody here now but Reece, and he’s in the house with Lorena,” Thad said. “He won’t be paying any attention to us, and he won’t see what’s happening.”
“I don’t want to go and leave Lorena behind,” Wee said.
“I promise you, Wee, we won’t leave her behind,” Thad said. “As a matter of fact, as soon as we get the boards up, I’m going to go check on her.”
“What if Mr. Reece sees you?” Marilyn asked.
“I’ll be very careful,” Thad promised.
They began working on the boards, but it wasn’t as easy to pull them up as he had thought it would be. Even though they were no longer secured, the fit was so tight that they couldn’t get a grip on the first one. Thad tried using a nail to get to the end of it, but that didn’t work.
“Try a bunch of nails,” Marilyn suggested.
Thad took her suggestion and with four nails stuck down between the end of the board and the wall, they were able to lift the end of the board up high enough to get a hand around it. Once they did that, the board came up easily.
They had no trouble with the remaining floorboards. As each board came up, the hole was widened, and it was easy to grab the next. It took but a few minutes to open the hole, and as Thad knelt down over it, he could smell the dirt beneath the cabin, and hear the sound of the flowing creek that was only a few feet away.
“All right,” he said, giving the orders. “I’ll go through first and check on Reece and Lorena. The rest of you wait here until I come back for you.”
“I don’t want to leave Lorena,” Wee said again.
“I told you, Wee, aren’t going to leave her,” Thad promised.
“What if you are seen?” Burt asked.
“I’m just going to have to take that chance,” Thad said. “Remember, wait here until I come back.”
“What if you don’t come back?” Travis asked.
“Then put the boards back over the hole and swear that you don’t know how I got out.” Thad went through the hole, dropped down onto his belly, and wriggled out from under the cabin. Staying on his stomach, he wriggled across the distance that separated the two buildings.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Inside the main house neither Lorena nor Reece were aware that Thad had escaped from the cabin and was crawling toward the house. Busy rolling the fish in cornmeal, Lorena was also unaware of what was going on behind her. Reece had taken off his boots and shirt, removed his gun belt and holster, and was stepping out of his pants. He was staring at Lorena with a wide leering grin.
“I’ll need some grease,” Lorena said, turning back toward Reece. “Do you know where—” Seeing him standing behind her wearing only his underwear, Lorena gasped. “Mr. Reece, what are you doing?”
“I’m goin’ to make a woman out of you, girl,” he said. “’N when we’re through, you’re goin’ to thank me.”
“No! Get away, get away!”
Lorena’s shout alerted Thad, and standing up quickly, he looked through the window. It took only one glance for him to realize what was going on.
Running to the front door, he jerked it open and shouted, “Get away from her, you son of a bitch!”
Reece grabbed a butcher knife lying on the kitchen counter. “How the hell did you get here? I’m going to split you open like gutting a hog!”
Thad felt a surge of fear, then saw Reece’s pistol belt draped over a chair. Moving quickly, he grabbed the gun and turned it toward Reece. “Drop the knife!”
“I will, after I use it on you,” Reece said with a confident grin.
Thad pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. At the last minute, even as Reece was lunging toward him, he remembered to pull the hammer back. He did that and pulled the trigger. There was no danger of him missing the mark. Reece was so close to him the only way he could have missed would be to jerk the gun to one side.
The expression on Reece’s face changed from one of confidence to one of total shock. With his eyes open wide, he took a couple steps back, dropped the knife, and slapped his hands over the bullet hole in his chest. “Why, you little . . .” Reece gasped. His eyes rolled up into his head, then he fell.
“Oh, Thad!” Lorena said. “He was going to . . . he was . . .”
“I know.” Thad dropped down to one knee and made a closer examination of the man he had just shot. “Well, he won’t bother you again. He’ll never bother anyone again.”
“Is he dead?”
“Yeah, he’s dead.” Thad stood up, then he walked over to get the pistol belt and strap it on. “We need to get out of here before the others come back.”
“How did you get out of the cabin?”
“I went down through the hole. Did you see what he did with the key?”
“Yes, it’s hanging on the nail next to the door.”
Thad grabbed the key. “Good. This way, the others won’t have to go through the floor.”
When Thad unlocked the front door to the cabin a moment later, he saw the other four gathered fearfully in the corner. “What are you all doing over there?”
“We heard a shot,” Travis said. “We thought Reece had killed you.”
“No, I killed Reece,” Thad replied, speaking as calmly as if he had just said that the sun was shining. “Come on. Let’s go.”
The others joined him without hesitation, and a moment later all six were below the bank of French Creek. They could stand without breaking the skyline, and even if Keefer and Sanders returned at that very moment, they would not see them.
“Which way?” Travis asked.
“When Wee and I were brought here, we were coming west,” Lorena said.
&nbs
p; “Then we’ll go east,” Thad said.
“It’ll be faster if we go on the road,” Travis suggested.
Thad shook his head. “We can’t do that. We’ll have to stay down here by the creek. Keefer and Sanders were going into Mule Gap to deliver my note. We don’t want to run into either of those bastards.”
“Oh,” Wee said. “You said a bad word.”
“That’s all right, Wee,” Lorena said. “These sons of bitches are bastards.”
The others chuckled.
“I think we’d better get going,” Thad suggested. “I want to be a long way from here before the others come back.”
The six started following the creek bed with Thad in front, then Lorena. Then Wee, and Marilyn, while Travis brought up the rear.
“I’m scared,” Wee said. “Are you scared, Marilyn?”
“Yes.”
“Are you scared, Burt?”
“No, I’m just glad to be out of there.”
“Are you scared, Travis?”
“No, I’m like Burt. I’m just glad to get away from there.”
“Are you afraid, Lorena?”
“No, I’m not afraid.”
“Why aren’t you afraid?”
Lorena looked at Thad and smiled. “As long as Thad is with us, I’m not afraid.”
“Thad?” Wee said.
“What?”
“I think Lorena likes you,” he said with a broad smile.
Welsh’s Boarding House, Mule Gap
“I hope you like apple pie, Mr. Pearlie,” Sandra Coy said. “I baked it last night.”
“I love apple pie,” Pearlie replied with an appreciative grin. “And you can just call me Pearlie. No mister is needed.”
“All right. Pearlie it is,” Sandra said as she cut three pieces of pie while Sara Sue was pouring three cups of coffee.
“Pearlie, do you think Smoke will be able to find the kids and bring them back?” Sandra asked.
“I don’t think he will, I know he will,” Pearlie said as he picked up a fork to dig into the pie.
“But won’t men be there guarding the children?” Sara Sue asked.
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