Desperate Hearts

by Rosanne Bittner

Thirty-two

  Randy came out of the saloon and looked farther down the street at Mitch’s place. The door was standing open. Figuring Mitch must be there, he walked over to check and let him know about the ruckus Boot Tully had started in the Saddleback Saloon—it was something very unusual for Boot, who was known as the town drunk but never as a troublemaker. Randy frowned in puzzlement over why Boot would have suddenly started a row with Bart Hillandale, one of the biggest brawlers and braggers in Alder. While Randy tried to settle things, Boot had begun waving around twenty dollars, offering to buy drinks.

  “Where in hell did Boot get that much money?” Randy wondered. He reached Mitch’s place and went inside, stopping cold when he saw Emma lying on the bed, her face pummeled, her derringer in her hand, and a carpetbag opened with clothes scattered everywhere!

  “Jesus, oh Jesus!” Randy groaned. He ran over to Emma, feeling her neck for a pulse. It was then he noticed the horrible purple color there. Someone had choked her nearly to death! “Emma? Emma, can you talk?”

  She made an odd choking sound. “Emma? Oh, Jesus God, Mitch is gonna string me up for this, and I deserve it!” He scooped Emma up in his arms and carried her out the door, running down the street with her toward Doc Wilson’s. “Please be there, Doc! Please be there!”

  What the hell happened? Who in Alder would do this to Mitch Brady’s wife?

  People began following Randy. “Get Mitch!” he yelled to someone. “He’s at the bathhouse!”

  Randy could barely see for the tears in his eyes. If Emma Brady died, it would be his fault, and he’d rather shoot himself than see the look in Mitch’s eyes if he had to put his wife in the ground. People everywhere were shouting now.

  “Get Mitch!”

  “Somethin’ happened to Emma Brady!”

  “Looks like she might be dead!”

  Randy wondered if this could have something to do with Trudy Wiley and her bunch. Maybe one of them was still out to get Mitch and chose to hurt him by beating up his wife. No matter the reason. The fact remained that Randy had allowed himself to become distracted and take his attention away from keeping an eye on things. As soon as he delivered Emma to Doc Wilson, he intended to have a talk with Boot Tully.

  Others arrived at Doc’s ahead of Randy, and Doc Wilson was already standing ready at the door when Randy got there. Farther down the street he could see Mitch running from the bathhouse, his shirt open, no hat or vest, his hair still wet, and both of his gun belts in one hand. Doc Wilson stepped aside and told Randy to lay Emma on a cot inside. He ordered onlookers to step back and he closed the door, but he’d no sooner bent over Emma to take a look when the door burst open then and the room was filled with Mitch Brady and the fury that came with him.

  “What the hell happened!” he asked, hurrying to Emma’s side.

  Randy stepped back. “I…I don’t know. I found her this way at your place!”

  “Oh, my God, look at her throat!” Mitch shoved Doc out of the way and bent over Emma. “Emma! Emma, who did this?”

  Her eyes fluttered and she made a horrible gagging sound.

  “Jesus, Doc, she can’t breathe! She can’t breathe!”

  “Then get out of my way and let me help her!” Doc told him. He quickly took a scalpel from a tray nearby.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going to cut a hole in her trachea so she can breathe. If she goes much longer like this, she’ll have brain damage.”

  “I won’t let you cut into her!” Mitch roared.

  “Do you want her to die?”

  Mitch turned away, obvious tears in his eyes, a sight none of them had ever seen.

  “You go find out who did this, Mitch!” the doctor told him. “You do your job and let me do mine!”

  Mitch ran a hand through his still-wet hair. “I can’t leave her.”

  “Then go around the other side of the cot and help me!” Doc told him, looking scared himself. “Let’s sit her up a little and help her breathe. Maybe I can avoid a tracheotomy.”

  Mitch wiped at his eyes and knelt down on the other side of the bed.

  “Randy, go get Sarah!” Doc ordered.

  Mitch looked up at Randy.

  “Jesus, I’m so sorry, Mitch. I only left for a few minutes. It’s like somebody planned this. There’s no other way he could have been there right at that time.”

  “Go get Sarah!” Doc ordered again.

  Randy hurried out.

  Emma made an odd gulping sound, and Mitch smoothed back her hair from her bloodied face.

  “I can’t stand for her to hurt, Doc.”

  Both men helped her sit up more as Emma struggled to get air to her lungs. “Someone choked her so hard it nearly collapsed the trachea, but it might be open enough that she can breathe without me having to cut into her.”

  Mitch gently touched her bruised face. “Emma, nod or something. Do you think you can breathe on your own?”

  She managed to nod, grasping his wrist in terror. She tried to talk, but nothing would come out. Doc Wilson gently felt her face and jawline. “I don’t feel any broken bones.” He moved his hands down her body, and Emma jerked back from pain when he touched one spot on her left side. “Lay her back and get her dress off!” Doc ordered Mitch.

  Sarah came inside then. “Oh, my God, what happened!”

  “Some bastard beat the hell out of her!” Mitch seethed. He helped the doctor remove Emma’s dress and camisole. Sarah gasped at how purple Emma’s whole midsection was, and Mitch groaned with pity and a need to kill someone. Doc felt around Emma’s ribs. “She has at least one broken rib, probably more,” he told Mitch. “From the look of this center bruise, someone either punched her a good one right in the middle, or maybe he pressed her down with a knee, something like that.”

  Mitch wilted into a chair beside the cot, putting his head in his hands. Randy came inside then and Doc covered Emma.

  “I don’t understand this,” Sarah exclaimed, her eyes wide with confusion and horror.

  “I failed her,” Mitch answered, his voice raspy with fury and regret. “I failed to keep the one extra promise I made her when we got married. I said no one would ever hurt her again.”

  Sarah tried to soothe him. “Mitch, this isn’t your fault.”

  “Isn’t it?” He looked up at her with tear-filled eyes, but along with the tears was something else, a rage worse than anything Sarah had ever seen. “It’s just like what happened with my mother! When she needed me most, I couldn’t help her!”

  “And you were a helpless little boy then! You’re a man now, Mitch Brady, and you sure as hell can help! You can go out there and find out who did this!”

  Mitch got to his feet, bending over as though in pain. “Look at her! When I left, she was happy and packing our things for Virginia City and—” He stopped, angrily wiping at his eyes. He turned to Randy. “What else happened over there? Did someone go through our bags?”

  A devastated Randy nodded. “There were clothes strewn all over the place.”

  “Shit!” Mitch threw the chair against the wall. “I know who did this! And he’s got the necklace! He’s got the necklace, and he decided to make her suffer for keeping it from him!”

  “Mitch, calm down or get out of my office!” Doc ordered him. “And don’t forget you aren’t completely well yourself yet. You could pass out if you let your anger get the better of you. Your blood will rise to your head and could cause a stroke. Your brain and the inside of your skull are still healing, so calm down and think this through! Emma will need you, but she doesn’t need a roaring grizzly bear at her side. She needs her husband in a calm, reassuring state. And she doesn’t need to come out of this to find out you’re dead!”

  “Mitch, what are you talking about? Who has what necklace?” Sarah asked. “You aren’t making sense.”

  Mitch turn
ed in circles, putting his hands to his head. “How did he get to her?” he asked himself aloud. “How did he know where we were—where we lived?”

  “Who?” Sarah asked.

  Mitch looked at Randy. “Tell me everything that led up to this! Why did you leave your post?”

  Randy swallowed. “You can beat the hell out of me and string me up, Mitch. I deserve it.”

  Mitch closed his eyes. “No, you don’t. This is no one’s fault but my own. I wasn’t as watchful as I should have been. I didn’t tell any of you that uncle of hers might come here looking for her. You had no idea or you might have been more aware. I thought I could handle it myself, because Emma didn’t want anybody to know about…all the facts behind why she came here.” He looked at Randy again. “I’ll explain later. Just tell me what distracted you.”

  Randy explained, looking ashamed and devastated.

  Mitch began buttoning his shirt and tucked it into his pants. “Boot Tully never causes trouble, and he never has money on him. That was a setup, Randy. Someone paid him to start a ruckus and get you over there…someone who’d been watching our movements. He probably saw me go to Lee Wong’s and figured I’d be there a while.” He walked over to pick up his guns from where he’d thrown them onto the floor. He began strapping them on.

  “Who, Mitch?” Randy asked.

  Mitch finished buckling his gun belts while Sarah and Doc Wilson helped soothe Emma, urging her to relax and get as much air into her lungs as possible. Mitch tied the ends of his holsters around his thighs. “His name is Alan Radcliffe,” he seethed. “Emma and I both knew he might come here looking for Emma. I figured he’d stand out in a crowd here because he’s a businessman from New York City who wouldn’t fit in out here. I should have realized strangers, even fancy ones like Radcliffe, come and go in this town every day and wouldn’t draw that much attention. He must have managed to get information out of people who didn’t realize why he was really here…enough information to figure out where Emma and I lived and how to catch Emma alone.”

  “Why would he do this to Emma?” Sarah asked.

  Mitch straightened, pain in his eyes when he glanced at Emma again. “Because she had something he wanted, something very valuable. It’s a necklace, unlike anything you’ve ever set eyes on, believe me. When we have more time, I’ll explain what makes it so valuable.” He looked at Sarah. “I didn’t tell anyone about it because I didn’t want people knowing Emma possessed anything of value. We were going to Virginia City to find a safer place to keep it, but Radcliffe got here before we could do that.”

  “And who is Radcliffe?” Randy asked.

  Mitch felt he might explode with fury. “Her stepfather, who also happens to be her blood uncle. He murdered Emma’s mother and…” He took several deep breaths to keep from ramming his fists into a wall. He told himself not to be angry with Randy. The kid didn’t know the whole of it. “Never mind the rest,” he added. “The point is, Emma is scared to death of him and I let him get to her after promising that would never happen!” His hands balled into fists. “Somehow the sonofabitch figured out where she was and managed to slip into town like some fancy trader or something and avoided running into any of us. I don’t even know myself what he looks like. I only have Emma’s description of him—tall and dark, built a lot like me, but older. We have to find him and show him how in Montana a man pays for something like this!”

  “Mitch, when I found her, her derringer was in her hand and there was blood on the floor,” Randy told him. “I think maybe she managed to shoot and at least wound him. That will slow him down—maybe even leave us a blood trail.”

  Mitch’s jaw twitched with his furious need for revenge. “Then I guess she’s got a bit of vigilante blood in her, doesn’t she?” he tried to joke, but his voice broke as he spoke. He turned away.

  “Mitch, she’s going to be okay,” Doc reassured him. “None of this is life threatening. I’ll take good care of her. You go find this man and hang the sonofabitch!”

  Mitch cleared his throat before turning around. “He’ll head back to New York. That’s where he’s from. He’s got the necklace now and he’ll sell it as fast as he can. He’ll get more money for it from a museum or something like that in a big city.”

  Emma made an odd choking sound then and they all turned. Her eyes were open, and she was trying to say something. Mitch and Doc Wilson went to her side, leaning close.

  “I’m so damn sorry, Emma!” Mitch told her, touching her hair again and leaning closer to kiss her bruised cheeks. “This is all my fault.”

  She shook her head, taking a deep, raspy breath. She opened her mouth, whispering something. Mitch leaned closer and she managed one raggedly whispered word. “California.”

  Mitch frowned, meeting her eyes. “California?”

  Emma managed a nod.

  “Radcliffe is headed for California?”

  She nodded again.

  “Why in hell would he—”

  Emma grasped his forearm and squeezed, signaling she needed to say more. “Running,” she rasped. “He’s…in…trouble…headed…west…not east.”

  Mitch started to rise, but she squeezed his arm again, and he leaned close. “I…shot him,” she managed to say. “Felt…good.”

  Mitch managed a smile. “I bet it did.”

  Emma managed a smile through tears. “Don’t…blame yourself…Mitch.”

  He took her hand and kissed her palm. “I can’t help that part, but I can promise I’ll make up for this, Emma. When we’re done with him, that man won’t be alive to ever bother you again.”

  Emma took several deep, desperate breaths. “Scared…for you. You’re…not well.”

  “Don’t you worry about me,” Mitch told her, fire in his eyes. “I’m well enough for this!” He straightened. “He’s heading west. Emma says he’s in some kind of trouble, and we know he’s wounded. Let’s go! I have to go to the bathhouse and get my hat and vest. Randy, you go get our horses ready and go back to my house and get my carbine. We’ll pick up his trail from there.”

  Both men headed out the door and hurried off in two different directions. Sarah looked at Doc Wilson. “Oh, Doc, pity the man who dared to lay a hand on Emma Brady. It was bad enough what Mitch did to that man who beat me up. I can’t imagine what it will be like for a man who beat on the woman he loves.”

  Doc Wilson scowled “I don’t pity the man at all. I am a little worried about Mitch, though. He’s beside himself with anger and sorrow. That’s not good for him right now.” He walked over to give Emma a better examination for injuries.

  Moments later, someone knocked at the door. “Doc? It’s Len Gray.”

  Doc opened the door and let the man inside.

  “I just rode in and somebody told me something happened to Mitch’s wife.” Len glanced over at the cot. “God Almighty, what happened?”

  “Mitch can explain,” Sarah told him. “He’s gone to get some things he left at Lee Wong’s, and Randy is saddling their horses at the stables. They’re supposed to meet over at Mitch’s place. They’re going after the man who did this to Emma. I would explain more but I don’t understand all of it myself. You should go with them, Len. Doc says he’s worried about Mitch—the mood he’s in and all. He’s awfully worked up, and that’s not good with that fresh head injury. If you go now you can join them before they leave.”

  Len looked at Emma again. “Yeah, I’ll damn well go along.” He made for the door and Emma managed to reach up with one hand.

  “Len,” she said weakly.

  “Emma wants you,” Sarah called out to him.

  Len walked over to the cot, wincing with fury at the sight of Emma’s battered face and neck.

  Emma struggled to speak. “Watch out…for…Mitch.” A tear slipped down the side of her face. “He’s so…angry. He shouldn’t…get into a…fight. He’s not…completely healed.
”

  “Oh, I know what Mitch is like, Emma. Don’t you worry about it. I’ll keep him reined in as best I can, but I have to say, after seeing what’s happened to you, it will be hard for even me and Randy to hold him back.” He took her hand. “You just lay real still and get better. I’ll get Mitch back here safe and sound.”

  She squeezed his hand. “Man…they are after…a good hunter…big game…hunting trips…powerful rifle. He might have…that rifle. Warn Mitch.”

  “I will, sweetheart, I will.” Len patted her hand and turned to go out.

  “Be careful…” Sarah told him.

  “Always am.” He put on his hat, stopping near Sarah as he headed out. “When was the last time this old boy paid you a visit, Sarah?”

  Sarah grinned. “Too long ago.”

  “Well, now, I reckon I’ll have to fix that when I get back.” He looked her over. “Thanks for everything you’ve done, Sarah—for Emma there, and for Mitch when he was hurt.”

  Sarah shrugged. “Some people deserve help and some don’t.”

  He nodded. “That’s a fact.” Len went out and Doc Wilson grinned.

  “Well, now there are three vigilantes after that man,” he commented. “He doesn’t have a chance in hell of making it five miles out of Alder.”

  Thirty-three

  “I sure am sorry, Mitch,” Randy spoke up. “I let you down real bad. I wouldn’t blame you if you found a way to accidentally shoot me while we’re out here.”

  Mitch dismounted and studied the tracks they were following. “You’re too good a man, Randy,” he answered, rising. “I’ve thought of beating you within an inch of your life, but you’re too valuable to the vigilantes to outright shoot you.” He glanced at the young man who sat astride his pinto horse. Randy looked truly worried. “Randy, I’m not serious. I hope you know that.”

  Randy shrugged. “I wasn’t sure. Soon as I saw poor Emma layin’ there all beat up…” He shook his head. “Man, I figured I was done for, and right then I wouldn’t have cared, cuz I never felt so bad in my whole life, and that’s a fact.”