Gathering her feet under her, she swarmed up and fired several times to keep the outlaw honest. Then she stopped and stared. The buggy stood forlornly in the middle of the road. Its horse had been unyoked and was nowhere to be seen.
Neither was the outlaw nor Abigail. While she had been circling, trying to get the drop on the robber, he had been hard at work unhooking the horse, getting Abigail on it and then hightailing it into the night.
Kate was still standing beside the buggy swearing a blue streak when J.D. came galloping up to her rescue. He joined her trying to find the most inventive curse when he realized they had lost Abigail and the third bank robber.
Chapter Eleven
"I came on the double when I heard the gunfire." J.D. holstered his six-gun and looked around, fixing on the horseless buggy. "At least you're still standing. But why isn't somebody face down in the dirt?"
"It was the deputy. The one we thought was Deputy Davis." Kate told the sorry story as she paced. "How could I have been so careless to let him get away using Abigail as a shield? He has what he wants now."
"Only if she knows where Morrisey hid the gold."
"It's worse if she doesn't. He'll kill her out of hand to eliminate a witness. She probably knows his name, if Morrisey ever mentioned it to her in person or in a letter. That must have been part of a letter to her from Morrisey that the real deputy found. We've got to find them, J.D. Find them and let me have another chance at bringing him down."
He saw how hard she took being outgunned. He didn't blame her. Losing a fugitive was one thing, but being outshot was something else. The only consolation he took, and one she barely shared, was that the fake deputy hadn't cut her down. As he walked around the buggy, looking at the faint tracks in what starlight there was on a moonless night, he began to seethe. Davis couldn't get away with trying to kill Kate Blaze! Added to this insult, they weren't likely to see any money for their trouble.
The fake lawman had sent them on the chase after Zeke Morrisey, promising a big reward that likely didn't exist. The Fort Worth marshal wasn't inclined to pay anything for the two bodies they had left on his doorstep. Of all the possible endings that might net them some money for their time and trouble, finding the stolen bank loot and returning it for a reward gave the best chance of success. Only they had lost the only one who could lead them to the gold.
"They rode that way." J.D. lifted his eyes to the distant, dark horizon across the open prairie. "Davis would have to ride for miles before crossing a road. That means they'll leave a decent trail for us."
"In the dark?"
"He followed us because we were careless. He won't expect us to be any better tracking than we were letting an owlhoot like him sneak around on our back trail. Our earlier sloppiness will benefit us now."
Kate came and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight.
"You're good, J.D., but are you that good?"
"We're going to find out. More than the gold, we can't let him kill the girl. That's what he will do when he finds out she either doesn't know where Morrisey stashed the gold or actually does show him."
"You're a good man. That's why I married you."
"Really? The only reason?"
"I didn't say what you were good at. There can be more than one thing, you know."
"Tell me."
"You don't snore. Much."
"I don't snore at all. It's you."
As they continued their argument, they led their horses across the grassland, looking for hoofprints and other signs of recent passage. On foot, staying close to the ground to see under the light of the Milky Way, slowed them but losing the trail meant certain death for Abigail.
"Why do you think they called her Big-hearted Abby?"
"If she wasn't a complete harlot, that might qualify," he said. They trooped to the top of a low rise and looked ahead. "Then again, why didn't they call her Smart Abby?"
Kate saw what he already had. If the fake deputy had ridden as hard as possible, they would never have caught up. Abigail slowed them down probably because she would be riding bareback. Now and again came glints of starlight off metal. Straining, J.D. made out two riders making their way slowly across the prairie.
"She might be holding him back on purpose, knowing we'll come after her," he said. "Or it might be she can't find where Morrisey hid the gold in the dark. It's got to bog her down as much as it did us."
"Not much in the way of landmarks visible, even during the day. This part of Texas is too flat for anything but grazing cattle. I prefer the mountains," she said.
"We'll take our reward and spend a week or two in Manitou Springs. We can both use a soak in the sulfur springs, and the hotels there make the El Paso look like a hovel."
"It has been a while since we stayed there. First, though, we have to get to the gold."
J.D. pursued his lips and thought on the matter. He pieced together their direction of travel, where Zeke Morrisey might have ridden from, the location of Fort Worth and the orphanage, everything. He came to a decision.
"Morrisey stole the gold up Wichita Falls way. He rode southeast, knowing Abigail was in Hell's Half Acre. He hid the money out here where it was easy to fetch once they hooked up."
"He wouldn't want to take that much money into Hell's Half Acre, that's for certain," Kate said. "He was a greenhorn when it came to robbery and would have been easy pickings for the buzzards there. Find the girl, leave, recover the gold. Then what?"
J.D. looked over his shoulder in the direction of the orphanage now hidden by darkness and distance.
"Reckon we'll have to ask Abigail that."
"They're veering off to the north, toward Wichita Falls. You figured it all out, J.D."
"There's a dark line on the horizon. It might be the rim of a stock pond. That's about the only landmark I see in all this flatness. What do you bet that Morrisey thought the same thing when he saw it, riding along with all that gold?"
He looked sharply at her when she made the bet. A slow smile came to his lips. "That's a bet I'll take. Win or lose, we both are winners."
"That's what you say now. Tell me that after a week."
"A week? No mortal man could—"
"You will, if you lose. I'll see to it, even if I wear you down to a nubbin."
"You've never thought it was a nubbin before, and you won't now. Even a week of—"
"They stopped, J.D. We have to get there pronto!"
Throwing caution to the winds, they galloped most of the way to the stock pond. When they were within a hundred yards, both drew rein and strained to make out what was being said ahead. Abigail's voice came shrill, high-pitched and tinged with fear. Davis spoke too low to understand the words, but the tone was menacing.
They kicked free and dropped to the ground. Both slid their Winchesters from saddle scabbards and advanced. They moved as a team, as a single entity, Kate going to a spot to the left as J.D. pushed straight ahead. The slippery bank of the earthen stock pond defeated him for a moment, then he dug in his toes and climbed the side to flop over the tip. His rifle lowered and centered on Davis' back. He hesitated taking the shot because Abigail knelt at his feet. In the dark if the bullet sank even a few inches he might hit the girl. A sideways glance showed that Kate didn't have a clean shot, either.
"It's got to be here somewhere. Honest!"
"You have to the count of ten," Davis told the girl. "I think you're leading me on a wild goose chase."
"No, no, this is where Zeke told me. I've never been here, but he described it real good. See? The four rocks stacked on top of each other. That's his marker. He said the gold was next to it."
Abigail dug like a badger, dirt flying everywhere. J.D. took careful aim, going for a head shot if Davis decided she was leading him on. Then he relaxed when he heard fingernails scraping cloth. The girl raised up and held her hands lifted over her head as if in prayer.
"See? This is it. It's got to be. I hit canvas."
"Canvas bags?" Davis shov
ed her out of the way and dropped to his knees. He scooped away some of the mud, then rocked back. "Dig it out. All of it."
J.D. rolled over and over and came to rest beside his wife. He had a plan.
"It's too dangerous shooting that varmint unless Abigail moves away. He's not going to let her. Let's see what happens when he gets the gold."
"What if it's not the gold?" she asked.
"Then, darling Kate, we'll have another bet as to which of us can nail the bastard first."
"Dibs on his right eye. You can take his left."
J.D. pressed closer to her, reassured by the feel of her leg against his. With such motivation they both would hit the target, and Davis would never know what hit him.
Abigail dug faster, sending mud flying in all directions. Then she swung around and braced her feet on the muddy slope leading into the water. Both hands gripping whatever was in the hole, she straightened, putting her back and legs into pulling the sack up. She flopped back when the mud gave up its load with a loud sucking noise.
"This is it. It's got to be. What else would be this heavy and buried here?"
Davis knelt and wiped away the mud, then laughed. When he did, J.D. prepared for the killing shot. There wasn't any reason for the outlaw to keep the girl alive any longer. But he held pulling back on the trigger when he heard Davis' words.
"This is gonna make me rich. Put with the rest of the boodle, I can retire down in Mexico on a big hacienda with pretty señoritas doin' whatever I ask."
"The rest? There's more?" Kate whispered the question burning at J.D.
"He must have stashed money from other robberies somewhere."
"More?" Kate chewed on her lower lip. "We can't let him kill the girl, but it's a downright shame to leave more than the gold from the bank robbery somewhere out on the prairie for some critter to dig up."
"Or some cowboy to find and waste on a Saturday night bender." J.D. turned back to the drama playing out near the water's edge.
"I did what you wanted. You got the gold. You said you'd let me go." Abigail stood on the slippery bank.
"Never said nary a thing like that, missy. I'd ask you to share this and the rest with me but you ain't my kind. I prefer my women to have some meat on their bones, not be skinny little wisps like you."
Both J.D. and Kate got ready to take their shots, but Abigail struck first. She flung a double handful of mud at the outlaw. It hit him in the face and caused him to jerk away. His feet slipped in the mud, he sat and then slid the few feet into the water. Thrashing around, he called out how he couldn't swim, but then he didn't have to. He pulled himself up on the bank back toward the sacks of gold. A few quick swipes got the mud from his eyes. He rubbed his six-gun off against his wet, dirty shirt and saw this didn't clean the mechanism.
He was a sitting duck, but J.D. held off firing.
"Go after the girl," he whispered to Kate. "I'll see where he goes."
"I'll keep her safe."
"He won't go after her. She lit out on foot. He needs both horses to carry the gold and to get away."
Kate gave him a quick kiss, then slithered back down the embankment. In seconds the night swallowed her. J.D. settled his rifle and took a bead on the outlaw, but Davis wasn't going to chase after the girl when he had three heavy sacks of gold coins to deal with. He disappeared over the rim of the stock pond, then led back both horses through a cut in the dirt wall.
It took him the better part of a half hour to hoist the bags onto the horse that had drawn Abigail's buggy, then tie it down. Broke for harness, the horse didn't take kindly to being used as a pack animal. Davis eventually slung the bags so the horse wasn't off balance. When he finished, he stripped off his gun belt, coat, vest and shirt and dunked himself in the pond water. He shook like a dog, rinsed off his clothing, then swung them about to dry them.
Davis shivered when he put them on. Not only didn't his shirt and coat dry very well, a night wind had picked up, chilling him to the bone. He mounted, caught the pack horse's reins, and rode off.
J.D. eased back down the side of the stock pond, then ran to where his horse cropped at the dry autumn forage. He swung into the saddle and went after Davis, who headed due north. It might be a long night in the saddle, but at least he wasn't drenched like the outlaw.
That and knowing he was going to take all of the outlaw's ill gotten gain kept J.D. Blaze alert and on the trail until noon the next day.
Chapter Twelve
Kate dropped down and paused, waiting to see where J.D. went. When he stayed atop the dirt embankment, she made her way carefully around the base hunting for any footprints that would put her on Abigail's trail. In the dark, even with the bright starlight, she failed to find the trail. Keeping one eye peeled for Davis to come boiling over the top hunting for the errant girl, Kate circled the stock pond until she was opposite to where J.D. and she had watched the gold being recovered.
She knelt to keep a low profile, then cocked her head to one side, listening hard. Night sounds came to her, in addition to the gentle lapping of waves in the pond as the wind kicked up. Pivoting slowly, she studied the land for any likely spot where Abigail would have sought refuge. The only place that suggested itself was a stand of trees a hundred yards away. If the girl had reached them in such a short time, she had to be the world's fastest runner. Without a better location, Kate began walking toward the trees, careful not to step in some varmint's burrow or to annoy a prairie rattler out hunting for a decent meal.
As she approached the trees, growing in a semicircle around a muddy spot that must have been used as a watering hole before the pond was built, she heard someone gasping for breath. She touched the butt of her Colt, then relaxed. It had to be Abigail. Davis couldn't have beaten her to the trees on foot. She hadn't spotted where the outlaw had staked his and Abigail's horses, so he hadn't ridden here.
Pressing a rough barked tree against her back, she called out softly, "Abigail? I'm Kate Blaze. I want to help. I can get you back home safely."
A rustling amid fallen leaves to her right put her on guard. She touched her six-shooter again and once more relaxed.
"You live at the orphanage, don't you?"
"I know you. You were in the cathouse the night Zeke was killed. You and the good looking, drunk cowboy. You were there."
"That was my husband," she said, a bit miffed. The whore thought her husband was handsome. "We were after Three-fingers Frank Bell. I'm sorry Zeke got shot."
"You took him to the marshal for the bounty."
"He robbed a bank in Wichita Falls. Him, Bell and the man who kidnapped you. What's his name?"
"The man back at the stock pond? I don't know for certain sure. Zeke mentioned a man named Nesbitt, but I don't know if that's the same one. He must be a sheriff or marshal or Ranger or something. He's got a star pinned on his chest." Her words came faster now, rushed, as if she readied for another escape. This put Kate on guard—in time to avoid getting beaned by a big rock.
She caught Abigail's wrist and twisted hard until the girl dropped the rock. Shifting her weight, she knocked Abigail to the ground and stood over her.
"I meant it. I'm not here to hurt you or turn you over to the law."
"I didn't do anything!"
"Tell me about you and Zeke." She helped Abigail to her feet. They went to a fallen log and sat side by side. Kate made sure her holster with the six-gun in it was away from the girl, in case she made a grab for the weapon.
"There's nothing to tell."
"You said you weren't lovers. Were you brother and sister?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I saw the two of you together. You cared for him. A lot."
"He, we, we were orphans together. Six years back this past summer there was a twister that came rippin' through. Destroyed both our families' houses and tore up the crops something fierce. Killed everyone in both families, 'cept me and him. We grew up together. Might as well have been brother and sister. He looked after me, and I tried to do
what I could to keep him from getting into too much trouble."
"You didn't like it at the orphanage? Did they mistreat you?"
"Oh, nothing like that. It's just that Zeke, he got restless. He always was a handful. There wasn't anything to keep a sixteen-year-old occupied other than chores he hated. Me, I started liking looking after the younger kids."
"You worked there?"
"They paid me a few dollars, plus room and board. They did the same for Zeke, but the money was running low."
"Yours?"
"Mr. Pertwee and his wife, they took in too many orphans after the floods last year. They wouldn't turn them out, but there's no money to keep the place open."
A light dawned. Kate shifted a bit more toward the girl. "So you tried working in the brothel?"
Abigail nodded.
"I wasn't too good at it. There wasn't anything else I could do that made money to help out. And I...I stole from Miss Purdy."
"For the orphanage?"
"I told myself that, but I gave a lot of it to the other girls. It was a dumb thing to do since they spent it on laudanum and booze, but they all had a hard time facing work every night. All those men..."
"Zeke tried something different. He joined up with Three-fingers Frank Bell and the man who killed the deputy—"
"Is that how he got that badge? Glory be. I knew he was a bad man, but I never thought he was that kind of killer, too." Abigail sniffled a bit, then wiped her nose on a muddy sleeve. This turned her face into a mud pie.
"I reckon we'll find his real name, but he's been going by the deputy marshal he murdered, name of Henry Davis. He duped us into tracking down his two partners, especially Zeke because he stole the gold they had taken from the bank."
Abigail nodded numbly.
Blaze! Hell's Half Acre Page 9