by Natalie Dean
“Reckon that’s so. But if we’re going to do this, we’ll need more help.”
“I’ve already set that in motion. I’ve asked the mayor to request another deputy. They’re going to send us a young man who’s from Texas. Name of Justin Ward. I heard he’s cocky, but that’s likely the Texan in him. As long as he’s honest and he can shoot straight, I think he’ll work out.”
They were leaving the town and heading toward the outskirts. The silent night amplified every noise; in tandem, Jack and Carson ended their conversation. As they got closer to the stretches of land where families had their spreads, Jack pulled his horse to a stop and dismounted. Carson followed suit. It was safer, if there was trouble ahead, for them to walk the horses rather than ride. Galloping hooves pounded the earth like signal drums and both men knew they needed to be undetected.
As they neared the Graves’ house, they saw Sal, Benjamin’s horse, waiting by a small grove of trees. Tethering their own horses to a tree, both men drew their weapons and began walking in the direction of the house, concerned that Benjamin had encountered trouble he couldn’t handle.
They saw light coming from a room in the house. Everything else was wrapped in the darkness of the night except for wide spans where the moonlight shone. The nocturnal sounds of the country broke the wall of silence, but these weren’t the sounds that aroused alarm. The angry voice coming from inside the house was different, and the men headed toward it, making their way carefully in case the house was under guard.
They were moving toward the sound of the voices when they saw the outline of a tall, broad-shouldered man swathed by the blackness of the night. Jack, his weapon raised, moved forward, but the man whirled around with reflexes that were trained to respond, his own gun raised. Then he lowered the gun.
“About time you two showed up,” Benjamin said. Briefly, in a tone of voice that was lower than a whisper, he detailed the situation. There were men, three, he believed, on the porch, set as guards. Whether they were still awake or not, he didn’t know. Augustus Jameson was in the parlor, quarreling with his brother, Aurelius, over the deeds. Mary-Lee wasn’t there. Benjamin didn’t know where she was, but he was confident that she wasn’t in the hands of any of the Jameson gang, judging by what he’d overheard. “We have to get inside. First, we have to take out the guards. But we have to do it silently or Augustus might make his brother a hostage. He has a gun. Aurelius says he doesn’t. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I don’t want to take that chance.”
“Any way in besides the front door?”
“None.”
Jack was thoughtful. “Best not to kill the ones out front,” he said with cold reason. “We’ll need them to testify. As it stands now, Aurelius Jameson is a hostage. That’s a crime. Judge Drury can act on that.”
“We can lure out one of the guards, but they won’t all leave,” Carson pointed out. “But if there’s three of them, and three of us . . .”
“How are you figuring on us getting to them without being noticed?”
“Where there’s Texans,” Carson said, “there are horses. Find the horses and let them free. One of the guards, maybe two, will set out to get them back.”
As a plan, Jack figured, it had a reasonable chance of success. In any case, there wasn’t a better one. He nodded.
“I’ll go find the horses,” Carson said softly.
He slipped away, a stealthy figure who moved adroitly in the thick shadow of blackness that covered the landscape, finding covering so that moonlight could not expose him. Jack and Benjamin, guns poised if needed, split up. Benjamin went back to the parlor window while Jack positioned himself on the other side of the house, hidden where he could react to a response from the guards on the porch without being immediately detected.
For a time, there was only quiet. Minutes passed, and Jack wondered what was taking Carson so long. Then he heard it, the sounds of horses moving swiftly, gaining speed as if they were seeking something. He saw a horse gallop by alone, but before long, he saw four horses following along, moving with equine urgency behind.
“Done,” Carson said as he slid back into the shadows.
The sound of the horses had stirred the guards. “Hey!” called one man. “How did the horses get loose?”
“You were supposed to tether them so they didn’t get loose,” griped another man as his boots clattered on the porch steps.
“I did tether them!”
“Not tight enough, you fool, or they wouldn’t have gotten loose. Me and Cal will go fetch them; you stay here and stand guard. Don’t let Mr. Jameson know or he’ll have your hide.”
Jack could sense Carson’s mirth although the deputy made no sound.
“I like these odds a little better,” Jack whispered. “I’ll take care of this.” He took off his boots. “Keep an eye on these.”
He eased out from cover of the shadows, peering around the side of the house to locate the remaining guard after the other two men had hurried away to try to retrieve their horses. No wonder they were in a panic; not only their horses, but also Jameson’s mount, had escaped and a fifth horse as well.
The bushes around the house served as excellent concealment for his movements. He could see the guard, his back to Jack, as he scanned the horizon ahead to see whether his comrades had captured the horses. Moving soundlessly in his stockinged feet, Jack quickly climbed the porch steps and crossed the porch. Just as the guard turned, alerted by a sound, Jack’s hand was covering his mouth and his gun was aiming at the man’s temple. “One sound,” Jack whispered, “just one sound is all it’ll take to make me nervous. If I’m nervous, I’ll shoot. You got that?”
Jack could sense the fear in the man. Jameson’s men might fear their boss, but this one feared death more.
Carson, who had been watching, saw that he was needed. He joined Jack on the porch. Together, they were able to bind and gag the man, who was almost limp with dread of what they were going to do. Jack pushed him until he was off the porch and behind one of the bushes, then handcuffed him to the porch railing, tied his feet together with cord that he always carried with him, and gagged him with his own bandana. Carson, at a signal from Jack, delivered a fast, punch to the guard’s face. It would serve their needs better if the man wasn’t conscious, and ultimately, it would be better for him as well if pals could see that he’d been overpowered.
“I think we’ll let Benjamin have the honors of greeting Mr. Augustus Jameson,” Jack said. “He’s family, after all.”
Chapter 22
After midnight, July 8, 1852, Knox Mills, Texas, the Graves’ house
The argument was still going on in the parlor, Augustus Jameson frustrated by his inability to find out where his brother had hidden the deeds.
“You think I won’t shoot you, just because we’re brothers?” he demanded.
“No, I think you won’t shoot me until you find out where the deeds are,” Aurelius returned equably. “After that, I think you’ll shoot me without losing a moment’s peace. We’re brothers in blood, Augustus, but that’s all. Something went bad in you a long time ago. We were raised the same, but you turned another way. You were always crooked as the gait of a drunken sailor leaving a port tavern. Folks like you can’t be helped; it’s how you are. But that doesn’t make it right.”
“Never mind the sermonizing, leave that to the preachers,” his brother said. “If you don’t tell me where the deeds are, you’re forcing my hand.”
“You might want to rethink that.”
The voice came from the window. Augustus was too shrewd to turn his head away from his brother, but his attention had been diverted, nonetheless.
“Who are you?”
Benjamin, hoisting himself up to the window, appeared before them. “Why don’t you put down that gun?” he suggested. “Judge Drury doesn’t need a murder charge on top of everything else he’s got to handle when he gets into town.”
“I can shoot him and you both,” Augustus said. “You can
’t pull the trigger while both your hands are on the windowsill.”
“No, but my hands are free,” Jack Walker, who had entered the front door without making noise, was suddenly in the parlor.
“You—"
Augustus Jameson swore, uncertain of where to aim his gun. When he shifted his aim toward Jack, Benjamin lunged from the open window into the parlor, knocking Augustus to the floor. When he raised his head, he saw that Jack and Benjamin had their guns pointed at him. But what startled him was the sight of the knife in his brother’s hand.
“You were armed the whole time!” he exclaimed
“Of course I was armed,” Aurelius said. “I’m a Texas Ranger. We’re always armed. I tried to tell you that.”
“You’re not the law here,” Augustus said.
“No, but I am,” Jack told him. “And you’re under arrest. But I’m feeling generous tonight. I’m going to give you an option. You can have a private chat with Judge Drury later on today and tell him everything you know before he sets up court. And if you do that, you can ride out of Knox Mills, out of Texas, and head off to whatever swamp you’re best suited to live in. You can even go back to Abilene, if you want to, although a cautious man might think twice about going where he can be found by men who have a score to settle. I’d advise you to head for California; I hear it’s easy for a man to lose himself there. You might even strike it rich and find yourself a gold mine, since that seems to be what you’re looking for.”
“You want me to turn on the Townsends,” Augustus said, giving Jack a glacial stare. “Why would I want to do that?”
“I’m offering you an option, Jameson, and let’s be frank, just now, you don’t have a whole lot of options to choose from. So here’s the deal. If you tell the judge what you know, he’s likely to let you escape, once he has names and evidence, but if you don’t go along with my suggestion, then you’re going to head back into town with me. The jail cell is pretty crowded. You’re on your way to a guilty charge as things stand now, just based on what you’ve done tonight. If the judge wants to dig deeper, he’ll do that. It’s up to you. A hangman’s noose before the day ends today, or you spill your guts and get out of town before the Townsend trial is over. With one thing clear: you don’t ever, ever come back to Texas.”
“Before he makes a decision, I want to know if Mary-Lee is all right,” Benjamin interrupted.
“She’s fine,” Aurelius said calmly. “I figured my brother would be up to something, so I told her to leave. She’s with Mrs. Walker.”
Relieved that his wife was not in danger, Benjamin was able to joke. “You mean that’s possible,” he said. “It’s possible to make Mary-Lee do something she doesn’t want to do?”
Aurelius smiled. “It’s not easy,” he said, “but it’s possible.”
“You’ll have to teach me that trick.”
“It’s simple. She won’t let harm come to anyone she loves,” Aurelius said. “I told her that she needed to leave, or I’d be worried about her and I wouldn’t be able to handle my brother.”
“Speaking of handling your brother,” Jack said, “what’s your decision, Jameson?”
Augustus Jameson swore, using language that, as Benjamin later declared, he’d never even heard before, and he’d heard grown men swear on two continents, but in the end, Augustus submitted to Jack’s ultimatum. He cursed even more when Benjamin tied his hands and feet.
“Looks like we have a houseguest for the night,” Aurelius said. “I can handle him. Why don’t you go and check on Mary-Lee.”
“At this hour?”
“She won’t be sleeping.”
Benjamin looked to Jack, who nodded. “We’ll keep things under control here. Carson is outside. You go on ahead. Tell Piper I’ll be home . . . sometime later.”
Carson was on the front porch, his gun ready for anything. He lowered it when he saw that it was Benjamin coming out of the house. Benjamin filled him in on what had taken place inside.
“You might have to lend a horse to Augustus Jameson,” Carson warned. “I let all their horses loose. And, uh . . . your mare might come back different than when she went out.”
“My mare?”
“The one in the stable.”
“Meg? She’s in season for breeding, she—" Benjamin paused. “That’s how you did it,” he said resignedly. “You knew the stallions couldn’t help but follow a mare in season. Who knows where they are now. Or what condition she’ll be in. I was hoping to breed her to one of the Kennesaw stallions. They have some first-class horseflesh. I guess I’d just better hope that I can get her back.”
“Oh, I reckon that the good people of Texas will be willing to return a horse to a U.S. Deputy,” Carson said cheerfully. “I don’t know if they’ll be quite so helpful for the others. And those guards who left their posts are too afraid of Jameson to come back without his horse, so they’re likely on their way to the border by now. Like I said, if Augustus Jameson is going to be able to make it out of town on a horse, someone will have to provide one for him.”
“We’ll leave that up to Jack,” Benjamin said.
Carson grinned. “He’s the boss; he can make those tough decisions.”
Benjamin grinned back, his spirits lifted as he walked toward the place where Sal was waiting. As Jack was fond of saying, they could only fight their battles one at a time. The corruption that the Townsends had fostered wasn’t cured; the larceny that Augustus Jameson had sponsored wasn’t over. The disruption that their gangs had set in motion awaited the judge’s verdict. But they’d struck a blow against the criminal element that sought to keep Texas lawless. They were lawmen, and they had done their job. And now, he was on his way to his wife.
Despite the lateness of the hour, the women weren’t asleep. They were in the kitchen, cups of tea in front of them. The tea had gone cold, and the women were silent. There was nothing to say; they already knew what the other was thinking, and until they received word that their husbands were safe, words were futile.
But when they heard the knocking on the door, both women jumped in their seats, startled by the sound that suddenly cut into the silence.
“Careful,” Mary-Lee warned as Piper rose. “It could be a trap.”
Piper nodded. “You’d better hide, in case it’s your uncle or his men.”
But Mary-Lee shook her head. “I’m not hiding.”
The knocking came again, louder, a barrage of pounding that indicated urgency.
“Take a carving knife,” Piper whispered. “Hide behind the door.”
Piper went to the front door and waited until Mary-Lee had positioned herself. “Who is it?” she called, her voice somehow calm.
“Benjamin,” came the answer. “I’m here to see—“
Piper unlocked the door, but before she had opened it, Mary-Lee was in front of her, pushing the door wider. She threw herself into Benjamin’s arms, kissing him with the pent-up eagerness of a wife who had feared she would never be able to kiss the man she loved ever again.
“Mary-Lee,” Piper said, “you’d better put that knife down or at the very least, you’re going to give Benjamin a most unattractive haircut.”
Mary-Lee relinquished her grasp of her husband, who gently but carefully eased himself out of her embrace. “That’s quite a greeting,” he said to her. “Now put the knife down and let’s try that kiss again.”
Piper brewed a pot of coffee while Benjamin informed the woman of the night’s activities.
“He’s going to let Augustus go?” Mary-Lee exclaimed. “Why is he doing that?”
“It’s the only way to get the information that he needs on the Townsends,” Benjamin explained. “The Townsends are big in local, state, and federal government. Jack wants to do something about that.”
“But my uncle is a devious, conniving polecat,” Mary-Lee argued.
“No doubt he is. But if he’s on the run, and the dirty dealings of the Townsends are exposed, Texas is better off. Abilene, Kansas, too, if you
think about it. Wherever your uncle goes, he’s going to have to keep looking over his shoulder because the Townsends are going to want revenge. There are a lot of them, and they like the way things are now. If they lose their power, they’re not going to be happy. Jack wants Knox Mills to stay clean.” He told them what he had overheard, and his suspicion that the Townsends had already set their plans in motion to make the mayoral election a fraudulent victory. “We have to start working on that right away. I’ll let Abe Winslow know so that he can get things underway to make sure that the election is clean. Abe wants to win, but he wants to win fair and square. There are enough people in town who feel the same way. We don’t know for sure which council members might be under the control of the Townsends, and we may never know. But if the Townsends don’t wield power, that changes the way things will be run.”
He stood up. “I’ve got to get back,” he said. “I suggest that you ladies get your rest.”
“What about you? How long since you’ve slept?” his wife demanded.
“We’ve had a long night, I won’t argue,” Benjamin said, drawing her close in his arms and holding her tightly, reminding himself of how precious she was to him. “And it’s going to be a long day. But we can rest after the judge hears the cases and issues his sentences.”
“I want to come with you,” Mary-Lee said. “It’s my home. I should be with you.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to sleep knowing that you’re there?” Benjamin asked her, remembering his father-in-law’s advice. “Right now, the important thing is to make sure that your uncle doesn’t escape. Jack, Carson, your father, and I will take turns standing guard. We’ll catch forty winks when we can. If you’re there . . . Mary-Lee, I can’t risk having half my thoughts on your safety and the other half on keeping watch over your uncle. You have to understand that.”