by Bobbi Smith
“Yeah. He wasn’t able to find the gang before now, so I doubt he’s wasting much energy still trying to find them.”
As they reined in before the jail, Jack’s prediction proved true. Sheriff Riley was sitting at his desk, studying some wanted posters. He looked up only when they walked in.
“What the . . . ?”
“Afternoon, Sheriff. I tracked down the men who shot Amanda and attempted to rob the stage.”
“But how? Where were they? I took a posse out, but we lost the tracks on the rocks about ten miles away from the scene of the robbery.”
“I had good help,” Jack said, casting an appreciative glance toward Stalking Ghost. “We caught up to them in Del Cuero. They’ve confessed to the robberies and had a few other things to tell me that I think you’ll find interesting.”
“Well, bring them on in and we’ll lock them up right now.” Riley hurried around his desk to get the keys.
They locked Mick and Pete in a jail cell.
“What’s the additional information you said they had?” the lawman asked once they were secure.
“You boys want to tell the good sheriff all you know?” Jack prodded.
They looked resentful and didn’t answer at first, knowing things were going to get real exciting once the truth was out.
“We can try you for murder, you know. I found the money in your possession, and I tracked you the entire distance. What’s it going to be? Do you want to talk to the sheriff or the judge?”
“All right, all right . . . We’ll tell you everything.”
Pete and Mick exchanged looks, and then Pete started talking.
“It’s like we was telling Ranger Logan. We did the robberies, but we didn’t do no killing. The man who hired us is the one who shot Asa Taylor dead and shot Dan Taylor in the back. He would have gotten away with it, too, if they’d both died.”
“Who is he?” Riley demanded, outraged that there was a sinister plot behind all the robberies.
“Ted Carroll. He’s the one who planned it all with his mother. They thought with both Taylor men dead, the stage line would be theirs.”
“And it would have been, if he’d been a better shot,” Jack said. “Thank God, he wasn’t.”
“It was Carroll? All this time, it was him?” Riley was shocked. “But he’s family!”
“That’s right. I’d like to take Ted and Mona Carroll into custody right away. They might try to leave town if they get word that I’m back and that I’ve brought in these two.”
“Of course. I’ll go with you.”
Riley checked his sidearm and grabbed a rifle out of the gun case. He put his deputy in charge of keeping an eye on the prisoners, and they started off to find Ted.
“It’s three o’clock. They should both be at the stage office,” Jack told him.
They made their way across town to the depot. Jack spotted Isaac by the stable and only nodded in response to his surprised wave. He didn’t want to take the chance of alerting Ted to his presence. He saw Isaac frown, and he knew the other man understood that something important was about to happen.
“Jack!” Dan looked up as the door opened. He was thrilled to see Jack enter the office followed by Sheriff Riley. “You’re back already! Did you find them?”
Jack’s gaze swept the office, looking for Ted, but he saw no sign of him. Only Dan was there. “Yes, I found them, and after today, you’re not going to be having any more trouble.”
“Who were they? Where are they?”
“I brought two of them in, and they’re locked up right now over at the jail. Two were killed during the last robbery attempt, and there are two more we’ve come to arrest.”
“Two more?” Dan was shocked.
Jack’s gaze was solemn as he met Dan’s. “Where’s Ted? And Mona? Have you seen them today?”
“Yes, but—why do you want Ted?” Dan was staring at him, trying to come to grips with the implications of Jack’s question.
Jack went to his friend. “The two I brought in are Mick Humes and Pete Martin. They were recruited by Ted, along with two other men, to harass the stage line. He wanted you and Asa dead so he could take over. Ted was the one who shot you in the back. When you lived through the attack, he had to come up with a new plan, so he set up this last robbery as a fake to make himself look good. I guess he realized that Isaac had some doubts about him, and he wanted to come out of it a hero. His plan was to win your confidence and convince you and Amanda to either sell out or give it to him to run. Either way, he and Mona would come out of this with a lot of money.”
“The bastard!” Dan was seething. “He killed his own stepfather.”
“And he tried to kill you. He’s the reason Amanda was wounded.”
“I’m going to kill him—” Dan rose from behind his desk, grabbing for the gun he kept in the top drawer.
“No, Dan.” Jack reached out and stilled his arm. “Leave the gun here. Let the law handle this. Ted will get what’s coming to him.”
“You’re damned right he will!” Dan was still not very strong, and he was shaking from the power of his fury. “And so will Mona!”
“Where is Ted?”
“He’s taken to making regular stops by the house to visit Amanda. He should be there with her right now.”
“Let’s go.”
Dan called out to Isaac to take charge of the office, and the other man hurried inside.
“Is it what we thought?” Isaac asked Jack.
“You were right. It was Ted the whole time.”
“You suspected him?” Dan looked at Isaac in surprise, but with renewed respect.
“It sure seemed strange to me that all this trouble started up right after he got here, and how on that last robbery, he managed to outrun them when you and Asa couldn’t. I know how that man drives, and there’s no way he’s a better driver than you are. I told Jack what I thought before he left to track the gang. Looks like my hunch was right.” He was glad that he’d recognized the danger, but sorry that he hadn’t figured it out sooner.
“We’re going to arrest him now. He won’t be causing any more trouble,” the sheriff said.
“Be careful,” Isaac cautioned. “He’s going to be like a cornered animal. There ain’t no telling what he might try to do.”
“We will.”
The three men left the stage office and hurried to the Taylor home. Dan didn’t hesitate but opened the door and walked in with Jack and Sheriff Riley following behind.
Amanda was in the parlor with Ted, enjoying what had become his ritual afternoon visit. Today, Ted had brought her a small bouquet. She knew he was actively courting her, but even though she would have liked to be able to care for him, it wasn’t to be. No matter how illogical, her heart still belonged to Jack.
“Papa?” she said when Dan came into the parlor. “What are you doing home so early? Aren’t you feeling well?” she asked, rising from the sofa to meet him. She was surprised to find Jack and the sheriff in the front hall, too. “But why are . . . ?”
“Ted?” Dan forged ahead to confront the man responsible for his brother’s death.
“Yes, Dan?” Ted stood up, wondering what he wanted with him. He’d been relaxed, playing the ardent suitor, and he was caught off guard by Jack stepping into the room behind Dan. He struggled to keep his panic from showing. “Jack . . . You’re back. Did you catch up with them? What did you find out?”
“Jack found out exactly who was responsible for all the trouble around here. Jack found out exactly who shot Asa and me during the robbery, and who was responsible for Amanda’s being wounded.”
“That’s wonderful! Who was it? Did you lock them up?”
“You low-life, son of a bitch!” Dan started to swing at him.
Ted was ready. He moved quickly, darting out of his way, and drew the derringer he kept in his pocket. “Stay back—all of you.”
“Ted—what are you doing?” Amanda was staring at him aghast, trying to figure out what was going o
n.
“Amanda, get behind us,” Jack ordered. “Ted here, along with his mother, has been running the gang that’s been robbing the stage line.”
“Ted!” She looked at him and finally saw the evil gleam in his eyes. “This can’t be true!”
“Oh, but it is, my dear. And things would have worked out just fine, if your father had died in the damned robbery! But once he started to recover I had to change my plans to sell the stage line. That’s where you came in.”
“Me?” Amanda repeated.
“Oh, yes. I had planned to pay you off, but once you came back here to live, I decided to marry into the money. I was almost there, too.”
Amanda’s temper was hot as she glared at him. She didn’t care if he was holding a gun or not. He had killed her uncle and seriously wounded her father. He deserved to rot in hell. “You overestimate your attractiveness, Ted. I had no intention of becoming involved with you. I’ve never cared for you other than as a friend.”
“That’s not what your kisses said.”
She laughed at him disparagingly. “I don’t care for you, Ted, and I never would have married you. Not when I love someone else!”
“Someone else?” Her words did the damage she’d hoped they would.
Jack was surprised by Amanda’s declaration. He had thought Ted was the man she loved, but he had no time to worry about it at that moment. “Drop the gun, Ted, and surrender. You’re not going anywhere. There are three of us here who are planning to stop you.”
“Four!” Amanda said.
“I can take some of you with me!” Ted declared.
“Don’t be stupid,” Sheriff Riley told him. “Just put down the gun and come with us.”
Ted was furious. All of his plans, all of his dreams, destroyed . . . He knew then, if he was going to kill one of them, it was going to be Jack. He must be the one Amanda loved. Well, let her go on loving a corpse.
“The hell with all of you!” Ted shouted as he lifted the gun to fire.
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a dining room chair came sliding across the floor toward him, catching him unaware and forcing him to jump back. In that instant, as he lost his balance, Jack made his move. He tackled Ted, throwing him to the floor. The derringer went off, but the shot went wild.
Jack held nothing back as he throttled Ted soundly. The fight was over almost before it had begun. Jack knelt over Ted, ready to hit him, until he realized the man was already unconscious. In disgust, Jack released the hold he had on his shirt and let him drop back to the floor.
“Here’s your man, Sheriff.”
Riley hurried to cuff the prisoner.
Jack slowly got to his feet. He glanced toward the front hall and smiled at Eileen, who was peeking around the corner.
“You just saved our lives. I told you you were an angel,” he said.
“I was so afraid for you.”
“You were wonderful.” Jack went to her and gave her a hug.
Eileen sagged weakly against him. Dan saw her nervous distress and hurried to her side.
“Let me help you sit down.” He put an arm around her waist and led her to a chair nearby.
“Thank you, Dan. I saw that man holding the gun on you, and I knew I had to do something.”
“You were terrific,” Amanda told her. “And you’re getting very good at coming to the rescue—what with Jennings on the boat and now Ted.”
“What happened on the boat?” her father asked. They’d told him the trip was uneventful.
“Oh . . . nothing.” Eileen tried to brush it off as unimportant.
Dan glanced from Jack to Amanda, but they feigned innocent looks. Riley dragged the slowly reviving Ted to his feet and shoved him toward the door.
“Let’s leave him at the jail and go after Mona.”
“I’m coming with you,” Dan declared, and neither man would deny him.
“So am I,” Amanda said, following them.
“Amanda, I don’t think—” her father started, but then he saw the look in her eyes and recognized it as the stubbornness that matched his own. “All right, but be careful and stay with me.” He looked over at Eileen. “Will you be all right here by yourself?”
“Maria is here. I’ll be fine,” she told Dan with a smile.
“We’ll be back,” Dan said.
As Eileen watched him walk out of the room, she suddenly realized what a handsome, vital man he was, and her pulse quickened. She hoped everything went smoothly with Mona, for she was eager for Dan to come back.
They took Ted straight to the jail and locked him in with Mick and Pete.
“He looks damned good behind bars,” Dan said as he stared at the man who’d killed his brother. “I hope he stays there for a long time.”
“He will. Don’t worry,” the sheriff assured him.
They made their way to Mona’s house.
“We’re looking for Mrs. Taylor,” Sheriff Riley told Mona’s maid when she answered the door.
“She’s not here.”
“Do you know when she’ll be back?”
“No, sir.”
Dan had been standing back, trying to control his fury, but this was the last straw. He knew in his gut that Mona was in that house, and he was going to drag her out of it.
“Get out of the way,” he ordered the sheriff. “This is my brother’s home and I’m going to take a look around.”
He and Amanda stalked into the house, sending the maid scurrying.
“I’ll check upstairs,” Amanda said as she started up the steps.
“Wait. I’m going with you.” Jack was immediately by her side. She was unarmed and possibly confronting a desperate woman. He would not let her go alone.
Riley went with Dan as they searched the main floor.
Amanda and Jack entered separate bedrooms, looking under beds and in closets.
Jack had a sense that she was there, close. His instincts were screaming a warning. Pausing in the doorway of the next bedroom, he looked around for some sign that she might be hiding there. The only sign that something might be amiss was the hairbrush on the floor next to the dressing table. He strode across the room and stooped down to pick up the brush.
In that moment, Mona made her move. She’d been caught upstairs when she’d seen them coming toward the house, and she’d called down to her servant to tell them that she wasn’t home. Desperate for a weapon and almost out of time to hide, she grabbed up the small hunting knife that had been Asa’s and hid in the closet in her bedroom. But Jack was in her room now, searching for her and there was no escape unless she attacked.
Opening the closet door quietly while his back was to her, Mona raised the knife and started toward him. If she could kill Jack, it might give her time to slip out the back way and get to a horse.
“Jack!”
Amanda’s call came just as Jack sensed a movement behind him. He turned and faced the horror of his nightmare. Mona was charging at him, a blade gleaming in her hand, a look of crazed hatred in her eyes as she raised her arm to stab him.
He met her attack face-on, grabbing her wrist and violently twisting the knife from her hand.
“Damn you!” Mona shrieked, struggling against him.
Amanda ran in and grabbed up the knife. Mona was powerful in her fury, but Jack finally subdued her just as the others came running into the room.
“Mona!” Dan said in disgust as he came to stand before her.
“I hate you, Dan Taylor!” she snarled at him as she fought against Jack’s dominating hold. “Ted and I had it all figured out. . . . Everything was going to work out perfectly. . . . Asa would be dead and you, too. But damn you! You didn’t die!”
“No, I didn’t,” Dan said without emotion.
“I hope you go to hell!”
His regard was cold. “The feeling is mutual, Mona.” He turned away from the sight of her still struggling to escape from Jack’s iron grip. “Let’s go home, Amanda.”
Amanda rushed to his side, and
together they headed toward home. Their hearts were heavy with the knowledge of the betrayal that had devastated their family.
“Let’s get her to the jail,” Jack said.
He didn’t trust Mona and refused to ease his hold on her for even an instant. She was as deadly and as vicious as any rattler. If he let his guard down for even a moment, he was certain she would find a way to strike out at them. He’d learned his lesson from El Diablo. He would never make the same mistake again.
“You got her?” Riley asked.
“I’ve got her.”
As they left the house, Jack glanced down the street to where Amanda walked with her father. He realized that in all the excitement, he hadn’t had time to thank her for warning him about Mona.
It was nearly an hour later when Jack finally left the sheriff’s office. Riley had everything under control. The circuit judge would be there in two weeks, and the trials would be held then.
Peace reigned once again in San Rafael. It was a good feeling.
Jack stopped at the stage office to fill Isaac in on all that had happened. That done, he debated with himself whether he should go back to his hotel or go check on Dan.
The memory of Amanda’s declaration to Ted that she loved someone else left Jack puzzled. He wondered if she’d really meant it or if it had just been a ruse to make Ted angry so that he’d make a mistake. Jack had to talk to Amanda and find out, for now that the stage line was back in business, he would be leaving soon. He had to find Steve and hunt down the Sheldons before they ambushed him. Before he rode out, though, he would see Amanda. Loving her as he did, he needed to know the truth of her feelings for him.
Eileen saw him coming to the door, and she called out to Dan and Amanda, “Jack’s here!”
She hurried to let him in.
“Are Dan and Amanda all right?” he asked as he entered the house.
“They’re as fine as they can be,” she told him.
Dan had come to the door of the parlor to greet him. “Come on in, Jack. We’re about to have dinner. Will you join us?”
“I really just came over to say good-bye,” he began.
“Good-bye? Where are you going?”
“Now that everything is safe here, I’ve got to head out and see about locating the Sheldons.”
