Her Secret Shame (Black Hills Brides Book 3)

by Christine Sterling

  Clover looked around, like a cornered animal. “There is nowhere to go, Miss Kelly. Now talk.”

  Misty was fearful, as she searched around the barn for another way out. There weren’t any windows and only one door out of the building. She had never been in here before; she had seen it in the far distance of the estate when she first got here. She didn’t know why they had one when they didn’t have any animals needing one, but she just dismissed the thought. What did she know, since she had never actually been on a ranch? As she looked around the room, she could tell it hadn’t really been used for anything other than a hiding place. They were now standing among the missing cattle.

  Mary was huddled on a bundle of hay, holding her knees and staring off into space, while Samantha was petting Betty. Misty turned to Samantha, sighing. “We have to think of a way to get out of here.”

  “I don’t want to leave her,” Samantha said, looking from the cow back to Misty. “She’s probably scared. She doesn’t really know this place.”

  Misty inwardly groaned and cursed Seth for allowing his wife to get attached to one of their cows. He was such a pushover. “We can always come back for her. She survived this, she can survive a few more hours. We just need to get back to the wagon and get into town.”

  Samantha gave a small pat to Betty’s head, who gave a little grunt in response. “You’re right. But I don’t see any way to get out except for the front door. And we know someone is standing guard outside.”

  Misty turned back to the entrance. When Beatrice found them together, she looked panicked. Misty had tried to explain to her that the ladies were just there to visit, and then they would be on their way. If Samantha had just not mentioned Betty, she probably would have believed them. She was erratic, with crazy eyes, when she called for Henry to come over and take them to the barn. Henry threw them in here and locked the door. She heard Beatrice call out for him to watch the door until she returned to take care of them.

  Misty was thankful that she didn’t have enough sense to tie them up. She looked up to the rafters, trying to see if she could find any loose material. Samantha wandered around the room while she did. “Why are all the missing cattle here?” she asked, looking around at the animals in the room. “These are the ones from the Avery farm, she said, pointing to a few in the back. “They have the Circle A brand on them.”

  Misty saw a glint of metal twinkle in her peripheral vision. She marched over to see that it was the handle of a shovel. She let out a long breath of relief. “I believe Beatrice is behind the cattle rustling.”

  Samantha let out a small gasp. “How could she though? I’ve heard she’s a sickly girl who can’t do much.”

  Misty carried the shovel to the ladies, setting it on the side of a hay barrel. “It’s all an act. I’ve seen the woman do most things without any trouble. And you just saw her as well. Did that girl look sickly to you?”

  Samantha frowned. “No, I suppose you are right. But why would she do something like this? How could she do something like this?”

  “I haven’t figured out the why yet, but I think I know the how. The men that John had hired to help around the ranch, they work for her. Kind of like henchmen. I believe they are the ones that carry out most of the work.”

  “I’ve seen them before,” Mary said, finally speaking. Both women turned to her as she sat still holding her legs on the hay. “They’ve been to the hotel plenty of times, to see Clover. At first, I thought they might be customers, but now it makes sense, seeing that they are involved here. I think that’s how she communicates with Clover and how she runs her business from afar.”

  “So, Beatrice runs the hotel brothel too?” Misty asked. When Mary nodded her head, Misty rolled her eyes. “John is so naive. How can he not see what’s going on under his nose?”

  “It is his sister we are talking about,” Samantha said, before she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at Misty. This was not a good sign. “Speaking of John, I would like to send my best regards to the happy couple. Which begs the question of when you were going to tell me?”

  “Samantha,” Misty said sternly, “this is not the appropriate time to be discussing these matters.”

  Samantha didn’t look deterred. “When will the appropriate time be?”

  “When we aren’t being held against our will.”

  “What better time than…” Samantha started before the door abruptly opened, revealing Henry in the doorway. Quickly, Misty kicked the shovel down, and pulled Samantha to her side so their skirts covered the potential weapon.

  Henry didn’t seem to notice as he walked closer to the ladies, holding a rope. “It’s time to leave ladies,” he said, his lips curving in a grin.

  Mary stood up and grasped Misty’s side. “We aren’t going anywhere,” said Misty, as she quietly maneuvered the shovel under her dress.

  “I had heard you were mouthy. It must be the red hair that gives you such confidence, woman,” he said, creeping closer to them.

  Samantha looked down at Misty trying to get the shovel without being noticed. She took a step forward, blocking Misty with her large belly, allowing her time to complete her task. “Where are you taking us?”

  “I’ve learned with Beatrice not to ask too many questions, and you’ll learn too,” he said, seeming to lose his little patience. “Now, come here so we can leave.”

  BANG. Mary let out a small scream as Henry fell on the floor. Misty dropped the shovel as Samantha went to the man. She kicked his side, and he didn’t stir. “Is he dead?” she asked.

  Misty grabbed Mary and pushed Samantha out of the door into the cold dark night. “I don’t want to wait around to find out.”

  “Beatrice is the one behind the cattle rustling,” Clover said, sitting across the table from John. They had moved into the dining room, now clear after supper services. Clover had dismissed the maids, so it was just the two of them sitting in the clear room.

  He scoffed. “And you expect me to believe that?”

  “You can believe what you want. I am telling the truth. Why lie now?”

  “My sister could not do something like that,” John started to say.

  “Beatrice and Heller were going to run away together,” she said, silencing John. “I don’t know how it happened, but they became close somehow. They were going to run away together, on the day your father died.”

  John didn’t know what to say to that. Christopher Heller was the bandit that had killed his father. He hunted the man down for what he had done. He remembered that day, clear as day. The anger he felt when he finally pulled the trigger. The calm after because he knew he had finally avenged his father’s death.

  “I just don’t understand,” he started to say before Clover interrupted him. She explained to him when she first met Christopher Heller, years ago. It was before he became the infamous bandit John had known him as. He was handsome and charming, and enticed her with a night of wild fun. They would meet regularly after that, and soon through his charming words he had started to convince her to do the same with other men. At that time, she was already working at the hotel as a maid. She didn’t realize what was happening until it was too late. “And I had already fallen in love with him,” she said, a lonely tear falling from her face. “I had believed he loved me too, but I was wrong. But when I realized I couldn’t have his love, I convinced him to at least have me be his right-hand girl. Let me run the business in the hotel. I became the one who found the girls and arranged the dates. And he went on to start stealing from the ranches. That is how he met your sister.”

  “But the cattle? How did she start doing that?”

  Clover took a deep breath before continuing. “I thought when Heller died, the business died with him. It was something that we had talked about before, until he met Beatrice and they both decided to run away together. When he was gone, I didn’t think anything of it. But then I was contacted by your sister. She said because Heller and Beatrice were going to get married, that made her madam of m
y business. The cattle came later, as she grew more and more greedy with the money flow. She made you hire those men, who had been associates of Heller before. And they went out and rustled the cattle. The reason you found my cloth out there is because I had sewed clothes for them and one of those clumsy boys left the cloth.”

  John sat in his chair in the empty dining room of the hotel, trying to process the information he had just received from Clover. He looked over to her, seeing the relief in her face, as if she had finally unloaded a secret that had plagued her for ages. “Your sister, she is dangerous,” she continued, hiding her eyes. “She’s becoming more erratic in these past few weeks. I don’t know what her plan is.”

  “Beatrice, she,” he tried to explain in words. He couldn’t believe that she was the one behind the cattle rustling.

  “She’s still sick with grief. It consumed her. When Heller died, she just shut down.”

  John remembered that time; he had thought she was grieving their father, but it turns out she was grieving his murderer.

  There were footsteps to their right and John turned to see Elizabeth, holding Madeline. Seth was stumbling behind, with Tom in tow. “Sheriff, Samantha is gone, and I can’t find Mary.”

  Tom walked over to John and handed him a sliver of paper. “Samantha left this in her room,” he said, before he walked back to Seth, who looked white as a sheet.

  John looked down at the note. It was written in Samantha’s curly handwriting, saying that she was going to go to the Henderson Ranch to go get Misty, and to not worry. John looked up at the three standing before him. “When did she leave?”

  “I’ve sadly been gone most of the day; but when I came back to the room, I found Seth here. He had the note. I told him not to worry, but that was a few hours ago. It’s dark now; she can’t manage a wagon out by herself at night, not with those cattle bandits out.”

  “I’m going out to find her,” Seth said, breaking away from the group.

  Tom grabbed him from behind. “No, you shouldn’t. It’s too dangerous.”

  Seth rounded on his friend, his face masked in anger and worry. “And you’re telling me that you wouldn’t be the first one out the door if it was Elizabeth?!? She’s my wife, Tom! She’s carrying our child. I can’t let her be out there all alone. What if something has happened? What if she needs me right now?”

  John came over, putting his hand on Seth’s arm. “And going out there blindly is not going to solve anything. If she’s in trouble, we need to go in smart,” he said, looking at the three.

  “If they are anywhere, she would take them to the old barn on the Henderson ranch,” Clover said. They all turned to her direction, as she started to shrivel in her seat. “I’m sorry for getting anyone involved. Samantha may not have been my favorite person, but I would never wish harm on your family, Seth.”

  Tom seemed confused, but Seth stepped forward with anger brewing in his face. “What do you know?” he asked, his voice seething.

  “Now is not the time to explain,” John said, as he grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, slinging it on. “Elizabeth will stay here with Clover while Tom, Seth, and I go to the ranch.” He turned towards Clover, pointing a finger in her direction. “I’m not through with you. Think twice about leaving.”

  Clover put her hands up. “I have nowhere to go and I’m tired of running.”

  John turned to the two gentlemen, motioning to the door. “Let’s get going, we don’t have much time.”

  Chapter 16

  The air was cold, and it was hard for Misty to see two feet in front of her, but the three women had managed to put some distance between them and the barn. She was holding Mary by the arm and Samantha was at her side. She was shivering from the cold and Misty wanted nothing more than to give her a blanket. She saw the Henderson house in the distance, illuminated against the black night.

  She knew it wasn’t in her best interest to go back to the house. But with no real direction on where to go, she didn’t think she or the girls could survive the night out in the wilderness. She motioned to the house. “We need to go there and hide out.”

  “But what if Beatrice is in the house?” Mary squeaked.

  “We can’t stay out here all night. It’s too cold. We’ll have to take our chances,” she said, as she grabbed Mary and crept to the house. Samantha followed, as they crawled up to the hill. Misty looked up into the windows, seeing that the lights were on in the living room, but not in the kitchen in the back. She could feel the fear wafting from Mary. Even though she could feel her own, she knew she had to keep it down in order to appear fearless for the sake of her sister. Beatrice had terrorized her the last few days and she would not allow herself to become consumed with fright.

  Misty crept behind the house, with the two following up to the door. She pushed it open, slowly. The door creaked open, slightly. She paused at the sound, waiting for Beatrice to come rushing into the room. But when that didn’t happen, she pushed the door open and shuffled in. Samantha came next followed by a whimpering Mary.

  The kitchen was warmer than the rest of the house, but it still held a draft. It would be better if they could make it to her room at the end of the long hallway. Then they could barricade themselves in the back of the house until there was enough light out for them to make their way back to the town. But how to get there was going to prove difficult. She tiptoed to the end of the room, slowly opening the door that led into the main room. It was lit, so she assumed that Beatrice was in there and searched for movement, any type of movement. When she saw nothing, she turned and motioned to the girls to follow her out into the room.

  When the walked into the room, Misty noticed the movement from the chair to the side, the side of the room she didn’t really look at too closely. There, sitting, was Beatrice. She looked frazzled, with angry eyes. Her mouth was in a thin line at the bottom of her face and her eyes were almost black with rage. “I see I can’t trust anyone to do anything. I have to do things myself, if I want to get them done.” She stood up and walked towards Misty. She brandished a gun and pointed it at her.

  Mary yelped in fear, but Misty knew now was not the time to panic. She shuffled Mary and Samantha behind her and faced the deranged woman. “These woman, they have nothing do with what’s going on. Let them go. Just keep me. You can do whatever you want with me.”

  Beatrice shook her head. “No, they know too much.”

  “I actually don’t really know what’s going on,” started Samantha before Misty turned to silence her. It was a wonder how Samantha was handling herself in such a situation, especially as pregnant as she was. Misty felt that Samantha was still in shock. She acted the same way when her husband had died years ago, not really showing any emotion. It was her defense in such situations.

  “Samantha is pregnant. You don’t want to have that on your conscience, taking the life of a mother-to-be and her child. You aren’t that callous.”

  Beatrice shook her head again, anger filling her motions. “You won’t escape.”

  Misty quickly changed tactics. “You know you can’t get away with this. It’s only a matter of time before John figures out what’s going on. And then what will you do? You should just leave, and never come back. Escape while you have a chance.”

  Beatrice stopped in her tracks and then started to laugh. She laughed long, turning her head up to the roof in a hearty laugh that left Misty cold inside. “My brother? You believe my brother is the one that will figure this out? My brother is an idiot. He doesn’t know anything. If he did, he would have figured out that Christopher Heller was not the one who killed our father. I was the one who did it.”

  Samantha gasped behind Misty. Misty had only heard the story a few times. Christopher Heller was the name of the bandit that John had killed years ago, to avenge his father. He was terrorizing the town, and went from farm to farm, stealing anything and everything he could get. When his petty thieving didn’t return enough money, he went into town to try and steal from the
town bank. Only, Henderson senior had thwarted his plan, which led them to the outskirts of town. John had found his father dead in that place, but as he had gone alone, it was always assumed that Heller was the one that killed him.

  “You didn’t, you couldn’t have,” Misty cried, trying to make sense of a story she only knew in passing.

  She laughed again, sneering. “Of course I did. My father, he gets painted like this saint. Hardworking family man, who cared about the law above everything else. He was a savior to this town, just as my brother is now. But he was no savior to me. My mother was devoted to him, but he left her alone when she was having me. When she died, I was a constant reminder of that.”

  “But your brother…”

  “My brother is daft. He doesn’t see anything clearly. And he didn’t care to know. My father was a saint? My father couldn’t keep his eyes from wandering anywhere. And even after my mother was gone, he still couldn’t stop his ways. And while my dad was out saving everyone but his own family, and my brother was wading in his self-obsessed pool of pity after our mother’s death, I was here at this ranch alone. And that’s when I met Christopher.”

  “I was at the well, getting water for the house. He came up on his horse, alone. He was the most handsome man I had ever seen. He asked for some water and I gave it to him. I didn’t know who he was at the time, and even when I did, it didn’t mean anything to me. He smiled at me with such a warm smile and we talked. He said he would meet me again there again the next day. I didn’t believe he would, but I came back anyway, just to see if he would. And he did. We met again every day for weeks. It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with him.”