Redeeming Lies

by Samantha St. Claire

  Maddie faced him, unflinching. "Who are you?"

  "What does that matter now? Just idle curiosity?"

  "You knew too much about my father."

  Cummings laughed. "Yes, I did."

  "Were you an agent that just got greedy?"

  "No. Good guess, but, no. Try again?"

  He seemed to be enjoying this. Maddie frowned. Her hands refused to remain still. They balled up into useless fists and then clutched at the folds of her skirt. "I'd rather not play the game."

  "A shame." He stepped from behind the crate and into an open space. Her eyes flickered to the gun in his hand. He must have seen the movement and glanced down at the gun. A look of bemusement creased his stained face. "Thank you for this." He wiggled the handgun. “Your friend, Ely, left it inside. That was nice of him. I was only after the money. The gun was a bonus."

  "How did you know so much if you weren't a Pinkerton and you weren't with the Sicilians?"

  He shrugged. "As you said. I knew your father." He tipped his head, grinning. "And in a way, I knew you too."

  "How?"

  "Did you ever wonder how your father, a two-bit confidence man, ever managed to make a score like this one?" Cummings laughed. "Now, don’t get offended. He was, nearly an amateur in the game. He really didn’t have the stomach for the big scams until this last one."

  Maddie had wondered at that, but never really gave it serious consideration. She'd just assumed he'd become better at his craft or he'd simply had a bit of luck.

  "Did you ever wonder why you didn't know I was lying?" His gaze bore through her, disturbingly intense.

  Of all the questions, this one bothered her the most. How did she not see through his facade? Maybe she wanted the running to be over so badly that she needed to believe he was who he pretended to be. She believed that she could confess and it would all be over, the lies, the deception.

  A faint sound overhead brought her back into the moment. She managed to restrain her eyes from flickering up to the ceiling. Perhaps she could keep the man talking. “You are not an amateur, I presume.”

  "Ten years ago, before you were sent off to that posh boarding school, I met up with your father. He was dead broke, and I took him on. It was a little like taking on an apprentice." He seemed to be warming to his topic, eager to brag.

  The sound came again, a little farther behind Cummings now. Surely, he’d hear it too. In a voice louder than necessary, she asked, "You taught him?"

  "I did. By default, I taught you, too. So, you see, the master retained an edge over his students. You were good, but not that good." He sneered.

  "I always thought it was a gift," she said. She heard the sound once more coming from the very back of the car.

  Cummings shrugged. "Of sorts. I think you would have been quite good had I taught you myself. In fact, we might have become a good team. Under different circumstances, we still could. But this sum should keep me in funds for some years. I don’t wish to share." He opened the black suitcase with one hand, pulled out a rag and began wiping the makeup from his face.

  It was in that moment, as he looked into the suitcase, that she saw David's face appear at the window of the back door to the car. He grinned at her for a moment before ducking out of sight again. From where she stood, she could make out the door handle moving by slow degrees.

  "So, why didn't you?"

  Cummings scrubbed at his neck and asked, "Why didn't I what?"

  "Teach me yourself."

  Cummings lifted an eyebrow. "Your father had some provincial ideas about childrearing. Seems he was determined not to involve you in his business any more than necessary."

  The train whistle blew an approach signal to the town ahead. David used the distraction to open the door in one movement. Maddie reached up and tore her hat from her hair throwing it at Cummings' face. David raced up behind the man, the ridiculous bag still in his hand. As Cummings turned to the sound of his attacker’s footsteps, David swung the bag back and up squarely into Cummings jaw.

  Maddie heard a sickening snap of bone. She grimaced as Cummings fell backward. He groaned once and grew silent.

  David bent to the man and touched his jaw, becoming the doctor again. He looked up at Maddie, a strange expression on his face, an odd mixture of concern and supreme satisfaction. "I think he'll need to see a doctor about that."

  Maddie shook her head at him. "David, what is in that bag?"

  David opened the bag he'd been hefting and pulled it open for her to see. He grinned. "It was a gift from a fellow physician."

  She peered in at a collection of iron objects. "Horse shoes?"

  "Actually, they're draft horse shoes. Much better for this purpose, I think."

  She counted at least a dozen. "I’m concerned, Dr. Reynolds, that you are enjoying this too much."

  His dimples reappeared, no longer giving him a boyish look, but decidedly rakish.

  Chapter 33

  By the time the train pulled into the station, Cummings was returning to consciousness. From the sagging state of his wounded jaw, Maddie felt certain he'd not be smooth-talking himself out of anything anytime soon. David bound his hands, none too gently, behind his back, while Maddie checked the satchel for the cash. Relieved, she found it still there.

  As they stepped from the car onto the Hailey platform, three men approached them. One need not be exceptional at reading faces or body language to determine that they were lawmen. Aside from the fact that authority emanated from every aspect of their appearance from their broad shoulders to their swaggering gaits, the shiny U.S. Marshall badges pinned on their jackets declared the fact.

  "You must be Miss Jennings." The taller of the three tipped his hat to Maddie.

  The stockier man reached out a hand to David. "Dr. Reynolds. My name's Kendall. This is Jamison and Carmichael." He waved his hand toward each of the officers. "It was a fine job that you and your friends did in Ketchum. We got the call from the sheriff a few minutes after the train pulled out."

  "How did you get here so fast?" Maddie still clutching the leather satchel, wished she weren't. It was like a bad case of flu that just wouldn't be shaken.

  "We've been after those two, tracking them from Chicago where we first picked up their trail." He nodded to Maddie, his eyebrow arched, slipping beneath his hat brim. "Lucky for you, you had a warning about their coming for you."

  Maddie felt the tightness in her chest squeeze her throat. It was more than luck. Her good fortune was that she had friends willing to put their own lives at risk to protect her.

  The man called Jamison, standing apart, his arms folded over his chest, huffed, "There's an officer in Salt Lake that wasn't so lucky. They killed him with two shots to the head when he was brushing down his horse. Hel... Pardon me, ma'am. Heck of a way to go."

  She would have tried to swallow down that bit of news if her mouth hadn't felt like it was lined with cotton.

  David jerked at Cummings' arm. "What can you do with this one? He made an attempt on Miss Jennings' life."

  Cummings made an unintelligible sound, his eyes defiant. David jerked his arm again, harder this time. Cummings moaned.

  "After the same thing as the others I suspect," Kendall said. "I'd like to help, but we're heading up to Ketchum now to take the two men into custody. We don't want to wait for the evening train. I know that the sheriff of yours doesn't want them in his jail any longer than necessary. Can't blame him." He tugged at the gun belt slung low on his hips. "So, we're about to ride on up there."

  "I think I can be of assistance." A woman's voice made Maddie spin around to see the woman from the train standing behind David. She still looked as cool and confident as she had when Maddie had first seen her.

  "Miss Calloway, nice to see you again." Marshall Kendall tipped his head; a look of undisguised admiration lifted his gruff countenance. "Is this someone you're after?" He jerked his head toward Cummings.

  "Yes, Marshall. Just as you have been tracking your prey, I've bee
n pursuing mine for quite some time. He's very slippery." A twitch of a smile softened her features as she reached into her bag and extracted a bundle of folded papers. "We've collected quite a dossier on Mr. Cummings. I also have a warrant here for his arrest." She pulled out a second piece of paper, handing it to the Marshall.

  Kendall scanned it and handed it back into her gloved hand. He turned back to David. "Miss Calloway will take care of your prisoner for you." He chuckled and added, "She always gets her man."

  Maddie knew her own expression had to have been one of incredulity. She asked the woman, "You're a Pinkerton agent?"

  Miss Calloway gave her a curt nod. "Yes, Miss Jennings, the genuine item. I'm surprised that you're surprised, actually."

  David, brows lowered, asked, "I don't mean to be disrespectful, miss, but what proof do we have? This man claimed to be one, too."

  Marshall Kendall roared, "Oh, I can vouch for Miss Calloway. We all can. We could tell you stories, but..." He seemed disappointed that he hadn't the time to elucidate. He glanced back at his men. "If we get goin', we can pick them up and have them back in Hailey jail before nightfall." He threw Cummings a wicked grin. "That means you could have some company tonight."

  Maddie read the terror that turned Cummings’ complexion a sickly hue.

  Miss Calloway pulled from her bag a pair of handcuffs and passed them to David. "Here. I think it might be wise for you to replace that cording with these. We don't want to lose him again, do we?"

  So many questions piled into Maddie's very active imagination, but not one could form itself into an intelligible sentence.

  The agent must have anticipated them. She took Maddie’s arm companionably, starting off across the platform to the station. "I'm sure you have questions, so let me start with the one probably causing you the most distress. I want to assure you that we are not here to take you in. My contract is to retrieve as much of the stolen funds as possible. That much of what Cummings, here, told you was true. So, you mustn't worry about that. We've had you under surveillance for some months. Yes, even when you were in school."

  Maddie opened her mouth to ask, but the woman gave her a mild look of reproof. "You might want to wait until I'm finished with my story first." She took a seat on a bench shaded by the station roof, patting the empty space next to her. "Have a seat, Miss Jennings. You must be exhausted."

  Maddie obeyed and swallowed down the question.

  "The young man who came to your school and spent weeks charming you was one of ours." The agent's brows knit together for a moment. "That was not my idea. I thought it was cruel and unnecessary. Your father thought he was an agent hired by his mark. He was not. We needed to know how much you knew of your father's activities. After those few weeks, our agent reported back to us that you were innocent of complicity." She gave Maddie an apologetic smile. "In fact, he found you not only innocent but quite charming. I think he was genuinely smitten by you."

  Maddie didn't know whether to be flattered, relieved or furious at being so used. Considering her current situation, she chose relief.

  Agent Calloway's chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. "Sometimes this is an unpleasant business." She patted Maddie's hand in a matronly manner. "You've had a bad time of it, haven't you?"

  Sensing this to be a rhetorical question, Maddie didn't answer. For one awful moment, Maddie wondered if the woman were studying her in order to test their informant's information. She stiffened.

  David dragged Cummings in front of them. The doctor looked less David-like than usual, his jacket ripped at the cuff, hair ruffed and falling across his brow, shirt collar unbuttoned. Despite it all, he wore a look of supreme satisfaction. Maddie pondered the possibility that David had a twin who had suddenly made his appearance and locked David safely in his closet. Everything about this day had shown him to her in an entirely different light. Standing there, a viselike grip on Cummings' arm, eyes bright with excitement, he looked like a boy who'd taken down the schoolyard bully.

  "Dr. Reynolds' I must say. You surprised me." There was a clear note of genuine admiration in her tone.

  David reached up a hand, attempting to push his disheveled hair back into place. "How was that, Miss Calloway?"

  "To be blunt. I didn't expect you to be able to handle the Sicilian so handily. You didn't strike me as someone who could deal with a physical threat. I read you incorrectly. My apologies, sir." She chuckled. "That's why I had my partner step in as he did, but it seemed you already had your own plan to protect Miss Jennings."

  Miss Calloway bent forward, her hand on the bag David had been hefting all day. She looked up. "May I?"

  David nodded, a sheepish look coloring his cheeks.

  "I see!" She laughed aloud this time. "I thought you had an exceptionally mean right hook."

  "Wait, a minute." David frowned. "You had a partner?"

  "She has a partner." The scruffy miner from the platform stood behind David, his arms folded across his chest, eyes mere slits.

  "I see." David seemed about to offer his hand, then reconsider. "Sorry about that." He waved vaguely at the man’s whiskered chin.

  The man harrumphed, then took Cummings by the cuffs and marched him in the direction of town.

  David's jubilant mood seemed considerably deflated as he asked, "If you take the cash, what's to keep the Sicilians from coming after Miss Jennings again?" He buttoned his shirt and tugged at his sleeves, looking a little more like the David she knew.

  "Oh yes, the cash." Miss Calloway lifted her brows into a question as she looked at Maddie her hands extended to the satchel. "May I?"

  It was an odd, polite request to make. Maddie handed the satchel to the woman and drew her hands back into her lap. A bubble of air escaped her lungs in a whoosh. Miss Calloway opened the satchel, glanced inside, then closed it.

  "This will make a very nice story that will run in many eastern cities." She gave Maddie a knowing look. "All those cities where our unpleasant crime families do business. It will report that the Sicilians were apprehended with the money in their possession. I’m sure we will be seeing pictures of happy men and women who have had their savings returned to them."

  David pursed his lips. "And no charges will be made against Miss Jennings."

  Miss Calloway reached into her bag, extracting two pieces of paper. She made a show of running her gaze thoughtfully over the pages. "I see no mention of Miss Jennings here." She smiled. "We have our man."

  She rose to her feet, smoothing her skirt as she did. Lifting her chin, she announced, "Well then, I think we are finished here." She reached out a hand and shook with David then Maddie. Holding Maddie’s hand for a moment longer, she said, "I'm glad it turned out so well for you, Miss Jennings."

  Maddie found herself quite speechless and merely said, "Thank you."

  The agent turned, took a step, then said, "Oh, one more thing. If you were to change a few details in your novel concerning the agency, I think you might find some success as a writer. At least, I would read your work." She laughed. "I did, actually."

  "How? When?"

  It's one of the more useful tricks of the trade, but at the same time one of the least glamorous. Sorting through a suspect's trash can yield some surprising information." She slipped a hand into her jacket pocket and pulled out a card. "Take this. Feel free to contact me anytime. Perhaps I can help you get some of those few questions about our operations worked out."

  "Miss Calloway was right. You are full of surprises, Dr. Reynolds." Maddie and David stood at the back of the baggage car with nothing to obstruct their view of the flat lands stretching south to the Snake River, Hailey shrinking into the distance with each length of track. She leaned against the iron railing, face up to the last rays of sunlight, her heart light.

  "And you? You are a very boring person, completely predictable." David's lips twitched as he worked to keep his expression serious.

  "You're such a bad liar." Maddie laughed.

  "Like you."

&nbs
p; David leaned back against the door, his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. Colors of sunset washed over his face, reflecting gold in his dark eyes. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

  Maddie looked at the open spaces, the flat treeless terrain falling away behind them, bordered by distant low hills. Only scattered rough homesteads marked the emptiness. She tipped her head as though looking at the landscape from a different angle might change her impression. At last she said, "I think it could be."

  "That's a strange answer."

  A freshening breeze lifted the hair from her neck. Lifting her arms, she let the cool wind pass through her fingers and ruffle her sleeves against her skin. It could be beautiful here. She realized with a sudden rush of joy that she had time to discover if it could be. No phantoms pursued her any longer. Nothing compelled her to run from here. Yet, something could compel her to stay. She turned again to face him.

  His square jaw seemed set, determined. She wondered at his thoughts, wished she could read him more easily. Perhaps not. Perhaps it was best not to know. Perhaps some surprises were better kept.

  "What are you thinking, Dr. Reynolds?"

  She saw that familiar muscle at work in his jaw, the laugh wrinkles begin at the corners of his eyes.

  "You mean you aren't able to read them?"

  She shook her head, then tipped it to the side to study him from a different angle, as she’d studied the terrain. "No."

  He reached for her hands, drawing her to him. "I am wondering what I will call you now. Should it be Miss Jennings or should it be Miss Alexander?"

  Her skin tingled as he ran his hands up her arms. His gaze steady, he focused on her alone. She found it difficult to speak, her throat tight as though all of Idaho Territory could not provide enough oxygen to fill her lungs. She started, "I think Miss Alexander might suit. . ."

  His lips pressed to hers, at first tender, then insistent. Wrapping his arms about her, hands warm at her back, he pulled her body close. A joy of discovery, of surprise and wonder overwhelmed her. In his embrace, with the angle of her vision tipped just so, she knew the answer to his question. It was beautiful. Life could be beautiful.