by Nancy Howard
SANDERSON'S HILL
BY
NANCY HOWARD
To Frina Art for the fantastic cover that I chose for this novel, it's a perfect fit for my title, and completes my project. Thank you so much!
Also a big shout out to all the folks in customer service at Draft2Digital, for all their help and patience answering my questions whenever I called them, during the publishing process. Thanks guys.
And finally to my editor Ann for all her help, during this long process, proof reading and catching my many mistakes. Without her my task of completing the book would have been a lot longer.
This book is a work of fiction and all people, places, and events are the result of the authors imagination, and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events, or places, and people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Nancy E. Howard
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without written permission of the copyright owner, except for the use of quotations in a book review or magazine. Nor may any part of this book be stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or recording or without written permission of the Copyright owner.
ISBN: 978-1386599876 (ebook)
Cover Art by Frina Art
“ONE DAY SHE
DISCOVERED THAT
SHE WAS FIERCE,
AND STRONG,
AND FULL OF FIRE,
AND THAT NOT EVEN
SHE COULD HOLD
HERSELF BACK
BECAUSE HER
PASSION BURNED
BRIGHTER THAN
HER FEARS.”
Mark Anthony
PROLOGUE
TOM JOHNSON LOOKS UP from his garden, to see five riders stopped and setting just off his property, on the main road. His wife Linda sees them too, from the porch of their house, where she's been watering her flowers. The riders begin to ride toward them and onto their farm. One of the men is dressed in all black with a patch over his left eye, and a beard of several days growth. He seems to be the leader Tom thinks, as he observes them riding toward him. The men are unkempt looking, making Tom very uneasy, he thinks about heading up to the house to grab his rifle, but he's to far away. Linda is walking toward her husband to join him, they're curious as to who the men might be, because they don't get many visitors out here.
The riders come up to them and the man in black says, “howdy folks. Mind if we water our horses.”
Leery about letting them do so Tom says, “help yourself.” And points to the trough next to the corral.
The men ride over to the trough and the horses drink, the Johnsons follow them. Then the man in black suddenly dismounts, he's standing right next to them. He has a look on his face that makes Tom very fearful of him, and he tells Linda to go back to the house, quickly. She turns and begins to run away, then the man in black reaches for a scatter gun in his saddle holster. Tom sees this and quickly runs toward Linda to protect her from being shot. Without cause or provocation the man pulls the trigger on the gun twice, unloading both barrels into the backs of the Johnsons, killing them both, instantly. He looks at his companions and laughs out loud at his dirty crime, then he walks over to them, and takes the butt end of the gun, and bludgeons their dead bodies.
Now Tom and Linda are dead, and their farm is at the mercy of these thugs. The other four men get down off their horses, all laughing at the murders they'd just seen committed. They stand and look around, and decide to ransack and pillage the Johnson farm. They shoot and kill all the livestock, at point blank range, and set fire to the barn. Standing back periodically and laughing at their destructive deed, in an admiring manner
After this they quickly turn their attention to the house, walking up and into it, looking for someone else to kill. They find and see no one, so they break up and destroy everything in the house. Cursing and laughing loudly, at the heinous crimes they're committing against these poor innocent people. After ransacking the house, they went back outside, stood for a second and watched the barn burn, as it was now consumed in flames and smoke.
They start to leave, but don't do that right away, instead they decide to commit one more act of heinous violence against the Johnsons. They walked back out to the corral where their dead bodies are laying, then one by one each man unbuttons his trousers, exposing himself. Then they sexually assault Linda's dead bloody body. Each one of them did this taking his turn, before they finally got back on their horses and rode away, still laughing at what they'd done.
All this time these men were committing these dastardly deeds against the Johnsons, they were unaware of being watched by two sets of eyes, hiding in the tall grass behind the house.
CHAPTER ONE
It's twenty to twenty-five miles into her journey, and getting to be late afternoon. Logan Kincaid is exhausted, as usual. She's been riding since sun up, barely stopping for any reason, except to give Warrior a much needed rest. Not wanting to push him further, she decides she needs look for a place to camp for the night.
It's a hot day and she's thirsty, and wants a drink. She stops Warrior and takes up her canteen, taking a long drink, refreshing herself. Then she removes her hat, and wipes the sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her shirt. Logan puts the canteen back on the saddle horn, and her hat back on her head, securing it with the chin strap. She Looks off in the distance where she could see a barn and a farmhouse, they looked to be about a half a mile away.
She's seen smoke rising in the distance for several miles now, and wasn't sure where it was coming from. She could see from the vantage point she has now, that the smoke seems to be coming from the area of the barn. This piques Logan's curiosity as to what might have happened, causing her to temporarily forget how hot and tired she is. She decides to ride toward the smoke to get a closer look, and investigate what might have happened.
“It could be nothing,” she thinks aloud to herself, but she wants to make sure.
As she approaches and gets closer, Logan could see the barn is still smoldering, and it's completely burned down. There are several dead animals laying everywhere on the ground, in the corral, and near the barn.
Logan also sees two dead bodies lying on the ground next to each other, one is a man the other a woman. Her instincts tell her, that danger is either near, or has just exited the area. Logan stops Warrior and draws her gun, and looks around in all directions, not sure what to expect. She pulls the hammer slowly back on her gun, cocking it, holding it high, in a ready position. Then proceeds; walking Warrior slowly, and deliberately toward the carnage she sees.
She's close enough now, that the stench and pungent odor of blood and death are all around her, permeating her nostrils, making her want to vomit. She pulls her neckerchief up over her face, to shield her nose from the obnoxious smell of rotting and burned flesh.
Riding closer, Logan becomes more leery of the situation she's riding toward. Is she riding into an ambush? She wonders. Are those who perpetrated these diabolical deeds she sees, still out there? Watching her, and her every move. Waiting. Waiting for the right time, the right minute, to pounce on her and kill her, like they did to the two poor souls laying on the ground next to her. Logan looks all around one more time, before she slowly and carefully dismounts.
Standing next to the bodies of the man and woman, she sees they're covered in dried blood. There are pools of dried blood all around them, where they each bled out. She kneels down next to them to feel for a pulse of any kind, knowing that the act is futile. She knows they are dead, and have been for several hours. She stands up and looks around her in all directions again, still trying to spot any danger that might be close by.
“Who did th
is? Renegade Apaches,” she questions? “If it was the work of Indians, they would have taken the livestock, not killed them?” Logan doesn't think this is the work of Indians. The man and woman were executed with a scatter, then their bodies seemed to have been bludgeoned, with some sort of club, postmortem. Indians would have scalped them both after they killed them, or possibly taken the woman hostage.
No who ever committed these heinous murders is just plain mean. It pisses Logan off, and makes her very angry when she sees something like this; good innocent people, murdered for no reason at all.
She looks back again at the smoldering barn, which is nothing now but a pile of burnt out rubble and scorched timbers, lying in a heap on the ground. The whole scene is like a horror story, with vultures and magpies flying around everywhere. It's a smorgasbord for them, as they each hang around waiting their turn at a meal.
The birds are dinning on the dead animals for now, but Logan realizes that she's got to bury the two people soon, before the birds eat their flesh too. But before she does that, she decides that she needs to take a look inside the farmhouse, which is directly behind her, and completely intact. “Why wasn't it burned to the ground too? Just like the barn,” she says, to herself.
Logan walks slowly up to the farm house, with Warrior in toe. She cautiously steps onto the front porch. The front door is wide open, and is swinging wildly back and forth in the wind. Making a loud banging noise, as it slams against the wall. Bang! Bang! Spooking Warrior, causing him to stir restlessly, every time he hears it, and giving Logan goose bumps. She makes her way inside the house, still pointing her gun at everything she sees. Walking carefully and slowly through the front door, not sure what kind of danger might be lurking and waiting for her inside.
Then she hears the floor creak in an adjacent bedroom, where the door is closed. Not sure who's in the room, Logan walks slowly toward it.
“Who's in there,” She calls out, using a forceful tone. Her gun is pointed directly at the door, ready to shoot whoever is in there. Especially if the door were to suddenly open and she would find herself in extreme danger, from someone who bursts out at her, determined to do her harm.
No answer comes back, then Logan hears movement in the room again.
“Whoever you are in there, open the door and come out with your hands up,” she commands.
Still no answer, and no one comes out. She reaches for the door knob and turns it very slowly. She opens the door quickly, shoving it in, until it hits the interior wall of the room, with a bang. Logan quickly steps back, she points her gun directly into the room, ready to shoot.
What she sees inside the room, are two young girls that appear to be in their teens. One is holding a rifle and is pointing it directly at her. Both of the girls are backed into a corner of the room, opposite Logan. Both of them staring wildly at her, as she enters.
Then the one with the rifle, who appears to be the oldest says, “don't you come any closer lady, or I'll shoot you.”
Logan thinks the girl just might do that. Then says, “Whoa, easy. Put the gun down. Nobodies going to shoot anyone. I'm not going to hurt either of you. I want to try and help you, if you'll let me.”
She said all of this using a measured tone, because she still wasn't sure that the girl holding the rifle wouldn't pull the trigger, and shoot her. The last thing she wants to do is spook the girl and get shot by her. Neither did she want to pull the trigger on her pistol in a knee jerk reaction, and shoot the girl. Who is just a child.
The girls were obviously scared to death of her and everyone they see, and every sound they hear. The wild look of fear in their eyes, tells Logan they don't trust her at all. And why should they? Logan is a complete stranger, and is standing in front of them with her gun drawn. She's sure that's doing nothing to calm their fear of her. They are very distraught, and they've probably been in here for several hours, possibly overnight. She couldn't help but feel sorry for them and wants to help them, but first she has to get them to trust her. She has to get them to overcome their fear of her, and right now until she can get the girl to lower the rifle, she thinks that's her biggest task with them.
“Look why don't we start over here. You lower the rifle and I'll put my pistol in it's holster. Fair enough?” They shook their heads yes. “Easy and slow. Okay? Like I said, I don't want to hurt you. I want to find out from you what happened here,” Logan said. Still being careful, making sure she uses the same measured tone in her voice, calming the girls fears of her, in order to gain their trust.
The older girl eventually lowers the rifle, putting it on the floor. Logan put her gun away. Then walks over and picks up the rifle, and leans it against the wall in the corner, where it's out of reach.
“Now can you please tell me what happened here? And what are your names? Mine's Logan Kincaid.”
Then the older girl spoke up and said, “I'm...I'm Libby Johnson, and this here is my younger sister Connie. Are my parents dead,” she asked, fearfully? Trying to hold back a bucket of tears.
Logan paused for a second and looked at the two of them, trying to think of a way to deffer the girl's question, but she couldn't think of a way to do that. So she answers her, “I'm sorry girls, there's nothing that can be done for either of them.”
Upon hearing Logan say this the girls begin screaming in horror, and crying profusely. Then younger girl Connie just covers her face with her hands, and slides down the wall, crying a silent, deep, hurtful cry.
Then the older girl Libby starts to bolt for the door. Logan quickly gets in front of her to stop her. She grabs her and holds onto her, hugging her tight, doing her best to stop her advance. Almost having to fight her to stop her, because she's nearly as big as Logan. The girl is determined to do all she can to go outside. Logan doesn't want to let her do that, and see the bodies of her parents, and the terrible condition they are in. Finally the girl gives in, as she hugs Logan tightly, crying. Logan hugs her back, and after a few seconds holds her at arms length. “You don't want you to go out there. Trust me,” she said. “Now please ladies, tell me what happened here, so I can help you. Were you attacked by Apaches? When did this happen,” She asks them?
Before Libby could answer her, Logan hears a wagon pulling up in front of the house. She put her fingers to her lips as an indication to the girls to be quiet. She whispers to them to stay put in the bedroom. She draws her gun again, suspecting danger. She didn't know who this might be, so she prepares herself for the worst. Logan moves back into the living room area, where she could now hear voices through the open door.
She immediately hears the shrieking and crying, of at least two women.
“My God! My God! What's happened here” One of them exclaimed!
Then the voice of a second woman cries out loudly, “Who did this? Who would do such a vile thing. Oh my God this is awful!”
Then she hears one of the women say, “Wayne who's horse is that? Where are the girls?”
Logan is still quiet and hidden just inside. She hears a man say, “I'm not sure, but we're gonna bye-God find out!”
Logan hunkers down, and from her vantage point in the house, she could see the shadows of the two men, each of them carrying rifles, approaching the front porch. They're aiming their rifles right at the door, as they get closer to it, preparing to shoot at the first thing that moves. Logan isn't sure who this is, and she doesn't want to have to shoot someone who's only trying to help, like she's doing. The men are now right at the door, and one yells inside, “hey you in there. Whoever you are, come out with your hands up, or we're comin' in after you.”
“Not a chance mister, and I wouldn't try that. You and your friend should drop your rifles. And who are you?” She responds, using a demanding tone.
“Who are we? Who the hell are you? And where are Libby and Connie,” his tone is more measured, after he hears that whoever they're dealing with is female.
“They're in here. They're okay,” Logan said.
“Did you do this to the
Johnsons?” One of the men demanded.
“Nope. I stumbled onto all of this, as I was riding by just a little bit ago. I saw the smoke and the buzzards, and decided to ride up and get a closer look.”
“You still ain't told us your name girl,” the other man said.
“It's Logan Kincaid. And you ain't told me yours either,” she said. Logan thinks that using her name would help, that maybe they'd heard of her.
“The bounty hunter Logan Kincaid,” he asked?
“That'd be me. Now please put your rifles down, and I'll put my pistol away, no one needs to get shot here.”
“Agreed,” one of them said
“Fair enough,” the other man said. Then they lowered their rifles, and leaned them against the wall of the house, and rushed in. Logan returned her gun to it's holster.
When they enter the house, they tell Logan their names are Wayne Donaldson and Roger Dillon. The two women, who Logan assumes are their wives rush in after them, as Libby and Connie came out of the bedroom. The two women go over and quickly begin to hover over the two girls, in a protective manner. Logan wasn't sure whether they were protecting themselves as they hugged the girls, or perhaps they wanted to protect the girls from her, for some reason. She couldn't tell.
But the women, looked at Logan with unfriendly looks on their faces. They're also wiping tears from their eyes, from seeing the destruction of the farm outside. The girls are still crying profusely too.
The man named Donaldson tells Logan that they decided to come by and see if the Johnsons were okay. That they hadn't been at church that morning, and they never miss a Sunday.
“You got any idea who might have done this Logan,” Dillon asks?
“Not yet. That's what I was going to ask the girls, when you all showed up.”
“You think it was Renegade Apaches, Logan?”
