Lady Deception

by Bobbi Smith

  "You Luke Majors?"

  "I am," he answered, facing the Ranger captain unflinchingly. "I need to see Jack Logan, but they said he'd been injured."

  "He was. We've got him bedded down over at the hotel. What do you say we go see him together?"

  Luke had expected trouble. Luke had expected the man to tell him he was going to rot in the cell until Jack recovered. His startled look brought a low chuckle from Steve.

  "Jack told me about you working for him. Let's get you out of here. I think you've probably had enough of this jail to last you a lifetime."

  Luke couldn't describe the feeling of joy and relief that swept through him at the discovery that this man knew the truth. "You're right. I have."

  Steve smiled at him and went into the outer office, where Fred was getting the keys. He returned to unlock the door.

  "Thanks," Luke said with heartfelt emotion as he stepped clear of the jail cell.

  The deputies looked shocked by this action.

  "What are you doing? That's Luke Majors! You can't let him out! He's one of them!"

  Fred turned to his men. "Luke Majors was working undercover for us the whole time. He was never involved with the gang and had no part in any of their criminal activities. He was hired by Logan to find out the identity of El Diablo and the location of the gang's hideout."

  The deputies were even more surprised by this news. They watched as Luke strapped on his gun, which Cody had left with the lawmen. They looked on in amazement as the gunfighter got ready to walk from the jail with the Ranger captain, a free man.

  "I don't believe it!"

  "Believe it," Fred insisted. "He's been working for us the entire time."

  "What are you going to do about the people outside?" one of the deputies asked, seeing the men milling around in the street before the office.

  Fred looked at Steve. "You want to handle this one?"

  "My pleasure." Steve strode through the door to face the townspeople. "You can all go on about your own business now. Luke Majors has been brought in, and he is being released as a free man."

  "What are you talking about?" one of the men yelled in outrage. "He killed Sam and Davis, and wounded Harris."

  "No, he didn't. Majors has been working undercover with the gang for the Rangers. He's one of us, and I won't tolerate anyone saying otherwise. He is not guilty of any crime."

  "But he did it! Harris said so!"

  "Harris was wrong. Majors is on our side. Now go on home. I don't want any trouble, and that's exactly what you'll get if you don't do as I say."

  The men gathered there turned away. Their mood was disgruntled, but no longer openly hostile. One paused to look back.

  "He really was working for the Rangers?"

  "He was. You tell everybody so they know."

  The man nodded and went on.

  Steve hoped the word would spread around town quickly so Luke wouldn't be in any danger of some hothead coming after him. He'd wire neighboring towns later with the news that the bounty had been withdrawn.

  "You ready to go see Jack?" Steve asked Luke.

  "More than ready!"

  "Fred, you want to come with us?"

  "No, I'll stay here with the boys just in case there might be some trouble. Let me know how Jack is doing."

  Steve and Luke headed for the hotel.

  "Jack will be glad to know you're back. He's been worrying about you. How was it with the gang?"

  "Not pretty. I can give you and Jack the location of their hideout, and the towns where they go after each job."

  "And El Diablo? What did you find out?"

  "I'll tell you when we get to Jack. He's the one who hired me."

  They didn't say any more until they reached the hotel room and were admitted by the nurse. Luke stared in shock at the sight of Cody sitting next to the bed talking to Jack.

  She looked up and was surprised by the sight of him. "What are you doing here?"

  "I'd ask you the same thing, but I know why you're here. It's all about money with you, isn't it, Jameson?" Luke's tone was sneering and derogatory.

  "Luke..." Jack managed from where he lay, growing more and more tired with each passing minute.

  Luke looked down at his friend and realized how seriously he'd been wounded. "What happened to you?"

  "El Diablo."

  "It's a woman, Jack. I don't know her name, but her brother Hadley runs the gang for her and she sends him the information."

  Jack smiled thinly. "You did good work for me, Luke. But I found out El Diablo's identity the hard way."

  "Who is it?"

  "Elizabeth Harris, the banker's wife."

  Luke was as shocked as Cody.

  "Where is she now?"

  "No one knows," Steve put in. "We were just checking with her husband. He heard her talking to her brother last night, and then they rode out of town this morning. I'm getting two more Rangers to ride with me, and I'm going after them. Luke says he knows exactly where the hideout is and which towns they lay low in."

  "I do," Luke said, and then told them what he knew.

  "Incredible," Steve said. "I'll be leaving as soon as I wire two Rangers and arrange to meet them on the way."

  "I want to ride with you," Luke stated with determination. This woman was vicious. She'd savagely killed Sam Gregory and had tried to kill Jack. He wanted revenge.

  "No. This is Rangers' business now." He dismissed Luke's offer, then turned to Jack. "Jack, I'll check in with you when I get back; until then you take care." He left the room.

  Jack stared at the door his boss had just walked through. He was furious. He wanted to be the one going after Elizabeth. He wanted to be the one to bring her in. He had made a fool out of himself, and he was lucky to be alive. He was not a man to forgive or forget.

  Cody finally spoke up when Steve had gone. She was baffled by what had just transpired. "Wait a minute. There's something I don't understand."

  Logan looked at her innocently. "What?"

  "You just said Luke did good work for you. What are you talking about?" she demanded.

  "tube was working undercover for me. Then when things got bad and the town put the big bounty out on him, I got worried. That's why I hired you to bring him in to me alive."

  "And you didn't tell me the truth about him." She was outraged.

  "I couldn't put him at risk. You needed to believe he was a bad man; otherwise you might have treated him differently and aroused suspicion."

  "So you sent me off to find him, deliberately letting me think he was a murderer and a thief." She was furious, and then she turned on Luke. "Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

  "Don't talk to me about telling the truth, Sister Mary," Luke retorted. "You wouldn't know it if it introduced itself to you."

  "It's my job to deceive."

  "And it was my job to be undercover. Before you act so outraged, why didn't you tell me that Jack had hired you?"

  "You were the enemy."

  "I was alone in the middle of the El Diablo gang. I had to watch everything I said and did. I couldn't trust anybody."

  "Luke, we need to talk," Jack interrupted.

  Luke looked at Cody as if to dismiss her, but Jack spoke again.

  "She stays."

  Cody had been ready to leave these two alone and was surprised by his pronouncement.

  "Luke, I want you to go after El Diablo. I want you to bring her in."

  "But the Rangers...."

  "You can do it. You and Cody know the gang. You know how they think, where they go, what they do." There was a fever in Jack's eyes as he looked between the two of them. "I want you two to track her down"-he swung his gaze to Codyand "I want her brought back in alive."

  "I work alone," Luke declared. The last thing he wanted was any further involvement with the bounty hunter who'd betrayed him at every turn.

  "Luke, you owe me."

  It seemed to Luke that it was the other way around, but he wasn't going to argue the point. He w
anted El Diablo stopped as much as Jack did. He would see his friend avenged.

  "Jameson is damned good. She brought you in, didn't she?" Jack pointed out. "I want Elizabeth alive, and Jameson, here, is the one who can do it."

  Luke was trapped and he knew it. He wanted El Diablo. He wanted to avenge what had been done to Jack. "What about the Rangers?"

  "They're good, but together, the two of you are better. If anyone can find El Diablo, it's you two. Get her for me. Bring her in." A fire burned in his eyes as he spoke.

  "What's the reward?" Luke deliberately looked at Cody as he asked.

  "We've upped it to two thousand dollars."

  "Well, Jameson?" Luke asked, wanting to see if the money was enough to tempt her to travel and work with him. "Is the money enough to make you go back out after the gang again?"

  Cody stared at him, her gaze cold upon him. "I'll go after El Diablo, but it won't be for the money."

  "Then you'll do it?" Jack pressed.

  "We'll do it," they answered, but suspicion haunted them both.

  Cody left Jack's room first. She had a lot to do before she could even think about taking off after El Diablo with Luke. She registered downstairs at the front desk for a room of her own, then sought out Stalking Ghost to tell him what was happening. She found him near the stables tending to their horses.

  "As soon as I get the bounty for bringing in Majors, I want you to take it home for me."

  "What are you going to be doing?"

  Cody quickly explained to him all that she'd learned about Luke and his connection to Logan. Stalking Ghost was surprised to find that Luke was no longer a wanted man.

  "Now Ranger Logan wants me to ride with Majors to find El Diablo."

  "Aren't the Rangers already searching?"

  "Yes, but Logan believes Majors and I will find her more quickly."

  "And you do not want me to ride with you?" He was skeptical of her plan.

  "It will be better if you take the reward money home. I know it's needed there as soon as possible."

  "I'll do it, but I wonder if you'll be safe working with this man."

  "I'll be fine. First I have to do my homework, though. I need to find out everything I can about Elizabeth Harris and her brother."

  "I will check, too, and see what I can learn before I leave."

  "Thanks. You are a dear friend. I don't know what I'd do without you."

  "I hope you do not find out soon."

  And with that remark, she left him to start making her inquiries. Her first stop was at Elizabeth's home. A woman Fred had found to take care of Jonathan let Cody in, and Cody was allowed to speak with the banker as he sat in his wheelchair in the front parlor.

  "My name is Cody Jameson, and Ranger Logan has asked me to look into your wife's background to see if there are any clues there to where she might have gone."

  Jonathan eyed her skeptically for a moment, then decided to answer. He'd tell anybody anything, if it would get Elizabeth back in his hands faster. "What do you want to know?"

  "First, where did she grow up? What's her background?"

  "Elizabeth and her brother were born and raised in New Orleans. They only came to Texas after the war."

  "Do they still have any family there?"

  "No. None to speak of."

  "Does your wife have any close friends?"

  "Sarah Gregory was her best friend. They spent a lot of time together. We had a lot of acquaintances." He quickly listed all the women he knew she'd occasionally socialized with.

  "Thank you. And knowing your wife as you do"

  Jonathan interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh. "Know her? I never knew her."

  "I understand," Cody sympathized. "But can you think of one place where she'd go if she were trying to hide?"

  He gave a weary shake of his head. "I wish I could say I did, but other than New Orleans, she never talked much about traveling and such."

  "I appreciate your taking the time to see me," Cody thanked him. "If you think of anything else that might be of help, anything at all, let me know."

  "If you want to take a look through her personal items before you leave, go right ahead. I was going to have them taken out and burned, but feel free to rummage through her things there in our bedroom. Take whatever you want."

  "That's very generous of you."

  "Not generous," he said savagely, no longer able to contain the hatred he felt for his deceitful, mur derous wife. "I want you to catch her. I want you to bring her back here, so I can look in her eyes when they take her to the hangman. I want to spit on her and tell her what a slut she is."

  Cody nodded, understanding what he was feeling. "Do you want to come with me to go through these things? Maybe you can offer me some insight."

  Jonathan wheeled his way toward the bedroom with Cody following. Over an hour passed before they finished.

  "I'll let you know what happens, Mr. Harris."

  "You do that, Miss Jameson. I'll be waiting to hear. Revenge is what's keeping me going right now."

  Cody heard the threat in his tone and knew he wouldn't rest until Elizabeth was locked up. She left him then, taking with her several pictures of Elizabeth, including one from her wedding day. Jonathan had no longer wanted it in the house.

  The next person Cody needed to talk to was Sarah Gregory, Elizabeth's best friend.

  "What can I do for you?" Sarah asked as she answered the door.

  "Mrs. Gregory, I'm Cody Jameson. I'm working with Ranger Logan and we're following up on clues to El Diablo's whereabouts."

  "El Diablo? They know something new?" A fire lighted her eyes as she looked at Cody.

  "You haven't heard what's happened?"

  "No. You mean they've discovered something?" At Cody's answering nod, Sarah held the door wide for her. "Please come in. I want to know everything about this man who killed my Sam."

  Once Cody was seated in the parlor with her, she folded her hands in her lap, wondering how she was going to tell Sarah that her best friend had cold-bloodedly murdered her husband. She decided straight out was the best way.

  "Mrs. Gregory, there have been quite a few developments in the last twenty-four hours," Cody began. Seeing that she had Sarah's complete and undivided attention, she went on to tell her about the attack on Jack, about bringing in Luke and how he'd been working for the Rangers the whole time. "Majors learned that the outlaw leader did not run with the gang. In fact, the entire time he was riding with them, trying to learn El Diablo's identity, El Diablo never came into camp. Then while Ranger Logan was doing his investigating here in town, he discovered a link between Harris and the robberies. He thought it was Jonathan. He was wrong."

  "Are you saying...?" Sarah's hand went to her throat and she paled.

  "There was a connection to Harris, through his wife. It was Elizabeth. Elizabeth Harris is El Diablo."

  "No..."

  "I'm afraid it's true. The night she disappeared, Jonathan overheard her plotting the attack on Ranger Logan, and then when Majors came into town today, he corroborated his finding, for he had learned that El Diablo was a female."

  "It was Elizabeth? Elizabeth killed Sam?"

  "It appears that way. Luke Majors has sworn that Sam was alive when the gang was broken out of jail. Sam knew about Luke being undercover, and they were working together. There was no reason for Luke to harm him."

  "So Elizabeth went in there after the jailbreak and shot him ...just like that?"

  Cody was silent.

  Sarah lifted tear-filled eyes to Cody. "I thought Elizabeth was my friend. We met and talked just a short time ago, commiserating about what had happened to our husbands." She shook her head in disbelief. "I was telling her how lucky she was that Jonathan was still alive, but now I realize she probably had planned his death, too, and somehow her plan went wrong."

  "I think you're probably right. From what I've learned of the woman in the last few hours, she's vicious and completely without conscience."

 
; "How can I help you? What can I do to help you find her? I want to face her again. I want to look Elizabeth in the eye and tell her what I think of her." She was earnest in her desire to help.

  "I need you to tell me everything she's ever said to you about her past."

  "Well, let me see. I know her family was from Louisiana, and she often talked of how much she missed living there. She used to say it was much more `civilized' in New Orleans." Sarah paused and looked up at Cody, the look in her eyes almost dead as she was facing the truth about a woman she'd considered to be a close friend. "For all her talk, though, what does she know about civilization? Civilized people don't hurt one another. Civ ilized people don't rob and steal from one another. Civilized people don't kill."

  "I'm going to do everything in my power to bring her in, Mrs. Gregory. I promise you that. This woman has wreaked untold pain and suffering on a lot of good people, and I want to see her pay for her crimes."

  "Think of poor Jonathan." Sarah sighed. "If I'm feeling betrayed, imagine what he must be feeling."

  Cody remained silent in sympathy.

  "Is there anything else I can tell you? Anything else I can help you with?"

  "Just one last question. Did she ever mention any place where she'd like to go to get away? Was there any town in particular that she favored?"

  "New Orleans, of course. She spoke of it often. She used to tell me that she couldn't wait to travel there again. Why? Do you think she's headed there?"

  "I'm not sure where she's headed. That's why I like to check on people's background. The Rangers are already covering the area to the south. I'm just wondering if Elizabeth, as smart as she is, wouldn't head in the opposite direction to what was expected of her."

  "She's conniving, all right. It's not going to be easy for you to catch her, but I want you to get her, Miss Jameson. Bring her in. Please don't let her get away with killing my Sam and then lying to me all those times we were together." Sarah's spirit was back.

  "I'm going to try. If you think of anything else she might have said that could help me, I'll be staying at the hotel for another day yet."

  "Don't worry. I'll probably be awake all night trying to remember every word of every conversation we ever had. If I think of anything, anything at all, I'll let you know right away."