Regaining his composure after having his hat shot off, Jed took careful aim at the side of the wagon that Catalina was crouched behind. He waited a moment for her to raise her head to look for him. He didn’t have to wait long. Catalina had scooted over a foot just to try to throw off her adversary, but when she dared to raise her head, Jed saw her and pulled the trigger. She not only heard but also felt the bullet graze her right ear.
That did it! He had almost scored. She would score on him. She took aim concentrating on her intended target and fired, catching him in his right arm—his shooting arm. The pistol fell from his hand as he dropped to his knees grasping his arm with his other hand, hollering in pain. She took the opportunity to dash across the clearing to where he knelt in the dirt.
Grabbing his uninjured arm, Catalina jerked on him while saying, "Get up, you rattlesnake. I didn't hurt you that bad. I coulda killed you, but that would be too good for you. Come on, stand up. I'm takin' you in. You and your no-account brothers got a whole town of people who are gonna wanna hear what you have to say!" She let go keeping her gun trained on him as he staggered to his feet.
With her free hand, Catalina wiped away the perspiration that seemed to have sheathed her face. No matter how many gunfights she might have been in since she started helping Cassie tangle with the bad men of the West, it was still something one never got used to. A warm feeling did come over her to have once more escaped one relatively unscathed. The feeling only expanded further when she saw Johansen coming around the corner, one arm draped over Signe’s shoulder and the other holding his pistol.
At the sight of the wounded outlaw under Catalina’s control, he holstered his weapon and called out to Catalina to learn if she was okay.
“A lot better than this jasper! He got a taste of my lead for his troubles.” Immediately as the pair approached them, concern flashed in her eyes as she looked at the exhausted younger woman. Her hair was all askew and dark circles drooped below her eyes.
"Signe. My name's Cattie. This man here … did he … did he hurt you in a way only a man can hurt a woman? Cuz if he did, you just say the word and I'll paint the side of this cabin with the shit that passes for his brains!"
“I asked her the same thing, Miss Wilde, and she said no,” Johansen said quietly, but Catalina yearned for more confirmation.
“It’s okay, honey. If that’s really true, you can tell us.”
Signe looked up at her, tears were rimming in the pale blue eyes but she shook her head.
"I pretended to be unconscious the whole time. I heard him talking with his brothers about what he was going to do to me when I woke up. I just had to keep pretending no matter what he did. He … he even burned me with a cigarette but still … I knew I had to keep up the act. It was my only chance." She pulled down the shoulder on her dress for her to see the burn mark.
Catalina swallowed hard, a lump had seemed to form instantly in her throat, and she found herself blinking back tears. How many times had she and her sisters been showered with compliments on their bravery? The accolades had been well earned she knew but this, to her, was bravery on a whole different level.
A smoldering fury made itself be known on her face as she turned her head to see a smirking Jed Naughton.
"Shit, play acting the whole time were you, bitch? I should have just taken you unconscious or not I-"
Suddenly he swung his leg up and knocked the hand Catalina was holding her gun with and it discharged, the bullet burying itself in the wall of the cabin. Free from her grip, he unexpectedly using his good hand he drew a knife he had concealed in his lower back. The knife slashed out and a second later blood was everywhere.
The slash of the knife missed Signe but the same could not be said for the barrage of bullets burrowing into the outlaw. Naughton’s body jerked as the geysers of blood erupted from multiple shots to his chest. Backwards he went, already dead before his body even hit the ground from a heart that had been savaged by at least three different bullets.
Catalina stood there holding her smoking gun and looked over at the mirror image of Signe Torvold who was holding Johansen’s smoking gun she had yanked from his holster the moment Jed had gone for his knife. The two women gave each other a knowing look of solidarity and respect.
Gradually Signe let her arm fall to her side, the gun sliding from her fingers, and as the cabin came awash in the full light of the risen sun, quiet words slipped from her mouth.
“That was for my family.”
***
It had been daylight for more than an hour as the citizens of Halmstad stood gathered around the large flagpole in the center of town that proudly flew the American and Swedish flags. Yarlsson was standing on a raised podium in front of the pole, awaiting support for his raid. He had backpedaled at leading the raid at dawn to show he had been willing to give the envoys extra time to return, he had told the crowd. More townsfolk kept joining those standing before him and Yarlsson waved a hand to get their attention.
"That Mexican half-breed and the two men who went with her are not back yet. They must have been ambushed and murdered by the Yavapai. There ain't a sign of them! We'll probably find their shredded bodies somewhere between here and the Yavapai camp! Now we've waited as long as we can! Now, no one can doubt we gotta wipe out the bloody injuns!" He yelled passionately. "The redskins have murdered for the last time. Now it’s our turn. We’ll drive ‘em off their lands, kill ’em all. Who’s with me?”
“We are!” the crowd cried out in near unison, the voices of dissent easily being drowned out.
“Revenge!” The people were waving their guns in the air, cheering angrily. Some of the women wore long faces, mourning the death of their family members who had gone and were yet to return. Yarlsson smiled grimly, obviously enjoying the power.
“You folks will get your revenge, all right!” a voice said at the same time as a tomahawk flew through the air sinking into the pole next to Yarlsson’s head. The crowd spun around in the direction it came from. A few pointed their guns at Catalina who had just emerged from the corner of Yarlsson’s saloon where she had been listening to the crowd jeering for war. One man cocked his gun and the doctor knocked the gun out of his hand before he could shoot.
“You damn fool, it’s Miss Wilde!” the doctor shouted at the man.
Catalina smiled and nodded at the doctor.
“Thanks, Doc, I may not have thought that bit with the tomahawk through. It was fun though,” she told him with a wink. “But I wanted to get everyone’s attention and now, it seems I have it.”
She dismounted from her horse as she said the last part and crossed over to stand before Yarlsson.
“You damn well have it!” Yarlsson said a bit shakily. “I -- I’m glad to see you are still alive, but what’s the meaning of this?” He said looking flustered and unsure. It was exactly how she wanted the scallywag.
“We’re still alive because we got the murderers before they got us!” she turned to the crowd. “Bring ’em out, boys!”
Bergendahl and Johansen rode around the same corner she’d emerged from earlier with the three men tied up between them on their own horses as well as a body draped over a fourth roan. They moved past the large carved wooden sculpture of a charging reindeer that decorated the front of the saloon at the same time that a young blond woman, with sparkling blue eyes, stepped forward from the crowd.
Boldly, she took a look at the captives.
“But them be white men!” the confusion was clear in her voice.
“That’s damn right, Nanna; and not just any white men, sister!” Bergendahl said.
“He’s right,” Nanna agreed, taking a closer look at the three brothers who were trying futilely to hide their faces from the crowd. “Those be the Naughton brothers from the next valley. Mr. Yarlsson hired them for the addition he’s building on his Reindeer Saloon,” she pointed out to the crowd.
Catalina smiled at the Bergendahl’s sister as the people began to murmur in agreement.
It was the doctor, and he apparently was speaking for many. Heads nodded and the murmurs increased.
“These are the four snakes who slaughtered Nels and his family, and there stands the killer who plotted the whole thing!” Catalina said, pointing at Yarlsson. “When I looked at the ground at Nels’, I knew it wasn’t Indians who did the killing. The raiders’ horses wore shoes, and the Yavapai don’t shoe their horses. Only the white man does that! Also, the weapons of murder were tomahawks and arrows. One look at them told me they weren’t Yavapai weapons. He must have got them from some Apaches somewhere!” Catalina pointed out.
“Shut up, you Mexican whore!” Yarlsson responded angrily, backing away.
She knew that he would try to make a break for it, so she uncoiled her ever-present bullwhip she wore at her side at the ready. As he turned to go, she cracked it smartly and it snapped around his calves. Yanking hard, she had Yarlsson on his butt before he knew what hit him. The rogue rolled to the side and as he tried to get up, she kicked a foot that connected with his jaw. Lijuan had taught her and the other sisters the leg kicking skills. Catalina gave a satisfied grin when she heard his jaw snap. The horrible man collapsed to the ground out cold.
The town folks were watching in amazement, awaiting their explanation. Catalina wasted no time. She went up to the raised podium where Yarlsson had been and pulled out the tomahawk before turning to the crowd.
“How dare you make such accusations against Tomas?” one of Yarlsson’s friends yelled out. “And how do we know for sure these men did the killing?” Catalina saw it was the man from the day before with the Walrus mustache.
"They are gonna confess the whole thing once you round up a marshal because they know they can’t lie their way out of this because we got an eyewitness, asshole!" she shot back at him before casting her gaze at the doctor. "Doc, we just left Signe Torvold, the kidnapped, sole survivor of the massacre at your place with your wife. She's started tendin' her and said she can take care of her until you get back. Says she knows more about medicine than you do!"
"That's my wife for you. I will hurry along after we conclude this. Now, why would Tomas do what you are claiming?"
“I couldn’t figure why anyone in Halmstad would want to wipe out the Yavapai,” she began. “Now I know why,” she said as she returned to the prostrate form of Yarlsson.
She knelt next to Yarlsson and cut off the little bag around his neck with the tomahawk. “But in this pouch is why.”
She poured the contents of the pouch into her hand while she spoke. The crowd murmured in surprise as the sun glinted off a handful of silver.
“Yarlsson’s hired guns confessed it was all his idea,” she explained. “A few months back, he visited the tribe to hire a couple of their wood carvers to make him that there reindeer sculpture over yonder by the saloon. Imagine his surprise when he learned that Bold Eagle’s tribe recently discovered a vein of silver in the canyon wall near their village. Seems he was able to trade for this silver here, but of course, he wanted the whole silver vein for himself. What Tomas here did was try to buy the entire land and when they refused, he decided to run them off it.”
“And he had the Torvolds killed?” the pretty young blond asked.
Catalina liked a smart woman and this one was proving to be smarter than the rest in the village with her observations and intelligent questions.
"All part of the plan, I'm sorry to say. They just happened to be closest to the Yavapai village. It is clear now that Mr. Torvold was trying to spell his killer's name in the dirt. Y and then A is the beginnin’ of Yarlsson, same as Yavapai. The Naughtons admitted to me that they had told Nels why they were killin’ his family while he begged for their lives. Signe will back that up. Dunno if any of you folks noticed, but Yarlsson seemed quick to guess the whole family had been murdered when I brought Nels in. That's because he'd ordered it so!" she said.
The doctor nodded like a bolt of lightning just struck him with a deep revelation.
“It is the truth you speak, ma’am. But you are right, he was quick to make that conclusion when you had said nothing about it prior,” he said and spat on Yarlsson. Catalina tried not to take pleasure in the action as she reigned in a smile.
“The son of a bitch!” the doctor said angrily. “That is why he was also so quick to pull the arrow out. He wanted him dead so he couldn’t talk. Tomas here is going to have a date with the gallows for sure, if for nothing else, but murdering my patient!
“I made it a point that everyone knew our party would be stoppin’ for a rest to give the killers a chance to catch up and try and dispatch us,” Catalina continued. “I knew that there was no way we would be allowed to reach Bold Eagle because we would have found some proof clearin’ him and worse, we might return with a real war party to take out the true murderers.”
The murmurs began to rise to an angry volume as the folks realized that they were fooled by one of their own. A group of young men rushed at Yarlsson, but the doctor stopped them.
“We’ve got to get the law involved, boys. I reckon that you let Yarlsson here face it justice accordingly. Now I have me a patient to attend to,” he said before hurrying off.
Many of them were dissatisfied with the doctor’s words, but Catalina figured that since he was a man of substance in the town, they had to obey him. One part of her, though, wished that Yarlsson be brought to swift justice for his crimes.
Catalina mounted her horse and rode it over to where Nanna was standing next to her brother who was still astride his horse. She sure is pretty, Catalina thought with a happy flush inside. As nice and charming as he was, the young woman was much more fascinating than her brother, she decided on the spot.
“So, you’re Sigurd’s sister, eh?” she smiled down at her and the younger lady nodded. “I understand that you know some of them fancy magic tricks he’s been showin’ me?” she asked her.
Nanna grinned up at her.
“Absolutely. Papa showed me many more than he ever did Sigurd,” she replied and grinned up at her brother.
“Happy to hear that, Miss Nanna. It gives me a reason to head back this way again sometime soon,” Catalina told her.
“You will be more than welcome, Miss Wilde. A little magic show is the least I can do. You helped stop us from committing a tremendous wrong against the innocents we share the valley with.”
Catalina did like the sparkle in her eyes. She was most certainly going to head back to Halmstad soon.
“It was my pleasure to help out and I look forward to the show. Please, you can call me Catalina,” she told the young woman.
"You sure you have to be leaving so soon?" Bergendahl said, looking disappointed to hear that she was leaving. "Can't you at least linger around until lunch? My sister is the best cook in Halmstad and we will fix you a feast as another way to thank you. You can have that show now too if you want."
Catalina met Nanna’s eyes and smiled. Was the woman showing the same interest in Catalina that she was in her. She couldn’t be sure and the temptation to stay and find out was great but her friends were still in trouble.
“I’d like nothin’ better,” she said earnestly, “but I really do need to be getting’ back to Alamieda. I got some friends who need my help in the worst sort of way. Thanks, though, to you and your magic, I’m pretty sure I know what went down now, and I aim to fix it before an innocent man spends the prime of his life in prison.”
She waved at the town folks of Halmstad with a special wink for Nanna.
“Heyahhh!” she cried to her horse and rode off. She charged on down the road as Bergendahl and Johansen pulled Yarlsson to his feet and began tying him up.
CHAPTER 9
* * *
WESTERN TRAILS STAGELINE OFFICES
GILLESPIE
AR
IZONA TERRITORY
Percival Drummond leaned back in his chair. The sketching in his hand had his entire attention, and he could feel himself becoming hard just from staring at it. Ruth Anne was a damned fine woman and his imaginative drawing had done no justice to her. Justice or not, the sketch made him feel like taking her beneath him right this moment.
Soon, Drummond, he told himself. She would be his soon, once that good for nothing lover of hers was behind bars. Then he could lose himself in that wonderful flesh of hers. Yes, soon, he promised himself.
The door opened suddenly and he quickly sat forward, sliding the sketchbook with the naked drawing under a pile of forms and receipts.
I have some bad news, Drummond.” Kincaid said as he shut the door behind him.
“What could be wrong? The trial is about to start.”
Drummond leaned forward over his desk. Nothing could go wrong now.
"We got it fast-tracked like you wanted to, but Judge Morehouse can't make it back in time from Carlyle Springs. His trial is going extra-long. There is only one judge who can take over," Kincaid said.
“You don’t mean?” Drummond asked nervously, knowing where the conversation was going.
“I’m afraid so. Judge Wilde has returned and drawn the case,” Kincaid confirmed.
“Damn it, how can that be? Isn’t it a conflict of interest that Jackson was captured on his own property and harbored by his daughter no less?” Drummond pointed out.
“In a big city, something could be done about it right quick, but not out here. We could delay and try to get a new judge, but I know you are in a hurry to wrap things up, all things considered,” Kincaid advised.
After a moment’s thought, Drummond nodded.
“I guess there is nothing we can do about it. Based on the evidence, even Judge Wilde wouldn’t be able to ignore the facts. He is going to have to convict,” Drummond concluded.
“Then we best get to the courthouse,” Kincaid said.
Together, they left Percival’s office. Everything had been going according to plan. Nothing could go wrong now. Drummond thought.
Silver, Gold And Deception: Catalina Wilde Western Adventure (Half Breed Haven Book 4) Page 11