Lawman in Disguise

by Laurie Kingery

  “Are we meeting to ride back here at any certain time? You weren’t planning on staying till morning, were you?” Thorn asked.

  Griggs gave a snort. “Have you gone loco, Dawson? Stick around till the town’s stirrin’ and the law is up and about? Ain’t no woman worth that risk, and if you can’t accomplish your aims with your lil’ sweetheart in a few hours...” He snickered suggestively. “Besides, we’re gonna take a couple of the men to stand watch, just in case the law’s out prowlin’ around... I thought we’d head back about midnight. You still got that pocket watch of yore father’s? I can use the one I took off that stage passenger today.”

  Thorn kept his lip from wrinkling in disgust by an effort of will. The stage passenger, a wizened old man, had wept when relieved of the gold heirloom watch, moaning that it had been his father’s. Even if Griggs had no pity, didn’t he realize that keeping the timepiece, with those distinctive initials inscribed on the back, “SRT,” might be enough to convict him someday?

  “All right, we’ll meet up at midnight in front of the church to ride back. Sounds like a fine plan. We’ll leave after supper, and that should put us in Simpson Creek right about when that one-horse town shuts down for the night, except for the saloon.”

  Then Thorn thought of something else. Had Griggs learned from Tilly that Daisy worked at the restaurant, too—that their “sweethearts” knew each other and interacted every day? He wished he knew. If Griggs did know, should he ask the outlaw leader not to mention his visiting Daisy, out of concern for her reputation? But he didn’t want to bring it up if Griggs didn’t know. The outlaw didn’t give two hoots in a hailstorm about a widow’s good name, and was the cruel sort who might find it entertaining to have Daisy embarrassed by a public scandal, especially if it benefited Tilly by getting her Daisy’s higher-paying job. Maybe it was safest to assume that Griggs and Tilly had been too busy with other things when they were together to discuss anyone else.

  Thorn had to wonder how Daisy would receive him. Would she have missed him enough to be glad at the sight of him, or would Tilly have blackened her name with gossip enough that she would view him only as the source of her disgrace, and refuse to speak to him? Either way, though, he had to know how she felt.

  Too bad he didn’t know anything of Griggs’s plans for the next few days; Thorn could have Daisy inform Bishop of them so an ambush could be set up. At least he could tell her of the outlaw leader’s liaison with Tilly, so Bishop could put a watch on where the waitress lived.

  Then he reconsidered. He couldn’t chance putting Daisy in danger by having her inform on Tilly to the sheriff. It was bad enough that Griggs’s men had told their leader where Thorn had been staying. If things backfired and Tilly found out who had squealed on her, Daisy and her son might well suffer the consequences. Even if he and Daisy never had a future, Thorn couldn’t endanger her further in any way.

  * * *

  Daisy’s house was dark by the time Thorn rode up to it. Griggs, accompanied by Bob Pritchard, had ridden away before he got there, turning right after the bank to ride down the alley between the mercantile and the hotel. From Thorn’s exploration of the town before the robbery, he knew the boardinghouse sat just behind the hotel, which probably meant Tilly lived there.

  Zeke had been assigned to stay with Thorn. Griggs said he was there to protect him from the chance of being attacked, but Thorn was fairly certain Zeke’s true purpose was to watch him to make sure he didn’t speak with anyone but Daisy. Either way, he was thankful the man didn’t seem to think he needed to stay right by Thorn’s side.

  “Enjoy yoreself, Dawson,” Zeke called from the street, as Thorn rode up to the barn. “I’ll be out here watchin’ the stars. Give me a whistle if you need any help,” he added with a snicker.

  Thorn wondered how he was going to alert Daisy that he was there. Even if she wasn’t furious with him, she might not want Billy Joe to know he had come. He didn’t know for certain which bedroom was hers, so he couldn’t even throw pebbles against her window like some lovesick boy.

  But he need not have worried. Daisy was sitting on the back steps that led into the kitchen, a light shawl draped around her shoulders, and she rose as he dismounted in front of the barn. Her hair lay in a thick, moonlight-kissed plait that curved around one shoulder.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” she murmured as she drew near. “A few minutes ago, something told me to go outside and get some air—now I see why. Thorn, why are you here? Has the Griggs gang been captured?”

  “Let’s go into the barn,” he said, conscious of Tomlinson sitting on his horse in the shadows in front of Daisy’s house, just a few yards away. “They haven’t been captured yet,” he said softly, when she’d followed him inside. Thorn wished he could have answered in the affirmative. “One of the outlaws had, uh, business here, and I rode along. I just had to see that you were all right, you and Billy Joe.” He let himself drink her in, memorizing her features, especially those deep-set blue eyes. In the silvery moonlight he could see the dark shadows beneath them.

  “Oh, Thorn...” She sighed, looking down, and he sensed she was trying to frame her answer so as to make things sound better than they were. “Yes, I’m all right, and so is Billy Joe. He just misses you, that’s all.”

  The words were out before he could call them back. “And you? Do you miss me, too, Daisy?”

  She met his gaze then, and her heart was in her eyes. “Oh, Thorn—I do. Of course I do. And I worry about you...” And then, without conscious volition, she was in his arms, and he was kissing her, his hands curled into the loose tendrils at her forehead, and nothing had ever felt so good in his entire life.

  “Daisy, I love you,” he said. “And I’m going to do everything I can to come back to you as soon as I can. I want a life with you, Daisy. I want to be a father to Billy Joe.”

  “I love you, too, Thorn. And you’ve already been more of a father to Billy Joe than his real father ever was.”

  She loved him. He couldn’t do more at that moment than contemplate the enormity of her admission. And kiss her again as he thanked God for her, until finally he knew he had to stop kissing her or he’d never be able to let her go.

  “I was seen, wasn’t I, that morning I was up on your barn roof. That’s how the outlaws located me, apparently. Whoever saw me must have told someone, and word spread from there.”

  She nodded ruefully. “Mrs. Donahue next door overslept that day and missed church. She heard the banging, and when she looked out her window, she saw you. She came into town for breakfast and told Tilly—the waitress, remember?—and Tilly tried to cause a scandal and get me fired.” Then, to Thorn’s surprise, Daisy chuckled. “But it didn’t work. Our boss gave me another chance, and no one else who knew me would pay her any mind. The people of Simpson Creek just have better things to do.”

  “It’s a town I’d be proud to live in,” he agreed. He waited a moment, then said, “Should you let Billy Joe know I’m here? It’s up to you, of course, but I can stay for a little while.”

  Daisy stared at him, an agony of indecision painting her features. “I... I don’t think so, Thorn. If he wakes up and finds you here, that’s one thing...but it was too hard on him, when you suddenly had to go that last time. To see that you’re back, but hear that you’ll need to leave before morning would be difficult for him to take. Better to wait, I think, until you can stay.”

  She was probably right. And anyway, with Tomlinson on watch, it was better that Billy Joe not come outside. And as Daisy had said, the boy had had enough experience with significant male figures disappearing from his life.

  But Thorn had a while before he was to meet Griggs at the church, so he might as well treasure the time with the woman he had come to love. After settling themselves on a bale of hay, they shared stories of their lives, with Thorn peeking at his pocket watch every so often so the time didn’t get awa
y from them.

  Daisy told him about Billy Joe’s birth, and how happy she had been to have a baby to love, since she’d learned she couldn’t depend on his father’s affection. She also told him how scared she had been to put an innocent baby in the path of her violent husband. She told him about how her husband had been arrested for kidnapping the teacher, too, and how he had later been killed in a prison riot. Touched by her tragedy, he found himself telling her about his first love, Selena, and how she had been killed in an ambush by the very outlaws he’d been chasing. This had been before, during the war years, when he could still call himself a Texas Ranger. While he was speaking about Selena’s loss, he changed his mind about not telling Daisy about the waitress. If she wasn’t forearmed about that other woman, it might somehow lead her into an ambush, too.

  “Daisy, I want you to be very careful around that Tilly,” he whispered. “She’s dangerous—”

  “Dangerous?” Daisy gave a little laugh. “Thorn, she’s only gossipy and spiteful. Don’t worry, I can handle her.”

  He framed her face between his hands. “No, listen to me, sweetheart. I mean it. She’s dangerous. She’s the one who Griggs is...uh, sparking. He’s with her right now. A woman who’d knowingly ally herself with an outlaw...well, there’s no telling what she might do. She’s already agreed to pass information over to him. She’s the one who told the gang that they could find me here. Be very careful how you deal with her—for your safety and Billy Joe’s.”

  Daisy’s eyes had gone wide in the dim light. “But shouldn’t we tell the sheriff he’s here, this Griggs?” She started to rise. “Thorn, we could tell Bishop and he could capture him—this very night! It’d be over. You wouldn’t have to go back to them—”

  He took hold of her wrists and gently pulled her back down to the bale she’d been sitting on. Then he told her about Tomlinson on watch outside, and she stilled immediately.

  “I should say you shouldn’t have come, especially since you brought an outlaw with you. But since he’s one of the ones who already knows where we live, I don’t suppose it matters,” she said with a shrug. “And I needed to see you,” she declared, a fierce spark shining in her eyes. “So I can’t be sorry. But Thorn, I could let Bishop know about Tilly later. He could set a watch on her—”

  Her voice had been rising from a whisper due to her excitement, and Thorn gently laid a finger over her lips. “I thought about that,” he admitted. “But I think it’s too risky. She’d sic the gang on you and the boy out of pure spite if she found out. And if she managed to get word to Griggs that she was being watched, he’d suspect that I was the one who’d passed the word along to the sheriff. No, I just want you to keep an eye on her. Watch what she does—but don’t go to Bishop unless you have no other choice. Trust me that I will do everything I can to bring these outlaws to justice. And pray,” he said, kissing her forehead.

  “Oh, I do trust you,” she assured him. “And I have been praying. I’ve learned what ‘praying without ceasing’ means, as the Scriptures say we’re supposed to do.”

  All too soon, it was nearing midnight and time to go. Leaving her felt like ripping a part of his heart out and leaving it here. But he knew it would be safe in Daisy’s keeping.

  * * *

  The next afternoon, Tilly was whistling as she came into the kitchen with the latest order.

  “You’re in a good mood,” Daisy observed, forcing herself to smile. Since she knew who was responsible for the other woman’s unwonted cheeriness, she found it almost unbearable.

  “Had a visit from my sweet beau last night,” Tilly said with a wink. “That always boosts my spirits. I highly recommend it—having a beau, that is.” She gave a trilling laugh that stung Daisy’s nerves like sandpaper on an open wound. As if now that Tilly had recommended having a beau, Daisy would immediately start seeking one, as though she had never thought of it before.

  “Do I know your beau?” she asked, wondering what Tilly would say. Thorn wouldn’t want her to toy with the waitress like this, but she found the other woman’s behavior maddening.

  Tilly shrugged. “I don’t think so,” she said. “He lives a ways out of town. But one day he’s going to take me away from all this...” she said, waving her hand at the kitchen with its hot stove and racks of pots, pans and dishes. Her eyes danced with a secret glee.

  Did Tilly think the outlaw was going to ask her to marry him? Then wed her in the church, in front of the whole town, before carrying her off on a big white horse as if she were a fairy princess? If she did, she was living in a dream world. But maybe she didn’t even care if marriage was not a part of the bargain, as long as she had someone to shower her with stolen finery.

  “Well, until that day comes, maybe you’d better take this order out to the customer,” Daisy said, dishing up a slice of roast beef dripping with gravy and mushrooms.

  * * *

  “Boys, I usually don’t talk over plans with y’all very far ahead of time, as you know,” Griggs announced that night by the campfire. “But I got wind of...an opportunity, shall we say, that would require some advance work on our part—and an extra helping of guts to carry it out. But I have to know if you’re up to it.” His dark eyes glittered in the firelight.

  “What is it, boss?” Pritchard asked. “You know we’re up for anything you want to do, especially if there’s a big prize.”

  Thorn took a sip of his coffee. Might this be the opportunity he’d been waiting for, a chance to set a trap for Griggs and his gang?

  Griggs grinned. “The prize is big, all right, but so’s the risk. When I was in town last night, I caught wind of some news. The mayor’s wife is outta town visitin’ in Houston, and she’ll be comin’ back by stage exactly two weeks from yesterday.”

  Now several of the men were leaning forward, their faces avid. “What did you have in mind, boss? Robbing her stagecoach? What if she ain’t carryin’ no big valuables?” one asked.

  Griggs chuckled. “Nothin’ so picayune as that. No, this’d be a bigger escapade than we’ve pulled off in the past, and I gotta know if you’re willin’ to take on the risk before we go any further.”

  He waited until every member of the Griggs gang was staring at him. Thorn thought some of them might be holding their breath.

  “All right. Mayor Gilmore is the richest man in San Saba County. I propose we stop the stage, kidnap his wife as she’s traveling back to Simpson Creek and hold her for ransom. Then, after he pays up, we let her loose and head for the border, where we can live like kings on the ransom money for the rest of our lives. What do you say?”

  “What if he won’t pay, boss? What then?” asked another of the outlaws, across the fire.

  “Oh, he’ll pay, all right. She’s his second wife, and they ain’t been married that long, so it’s well known that he’s powerful sweet on her—sweet enough to part with whatever we ask to get her back safe. No fool like an old fool, as they say,” Griggs added with a guffaw. But then his features hardened. “But we’ve got to be willing to set consequences and stick to ’em if he tries to play fast and loose with us.”

  “What does that mean, boss?” asked Tomlinson, who sat near Thorn.

  “We’ve got to tell him we’ll kill her if he don’t pay up in time—and mean it. Maybe slice off a finger or two to show him we mean business.”

  There were audible gasps around the campfire. “That ain’t no picayune plan, for certain,” someone muttered.

  Griggs shrugged. “As I said, if the idea’s too much for you boys, we can keep robbin’ banks an’ stages. But this is the chance to pull off a huge heist and get away to where we kin live like kings ever after. No more getting’ shot at and dodging posses. I just need to know none of you is gonna go yellow and back out at the last minute.”

  As always, an appeal to the outlaws’ pride got guaranteed results. There was a chorus of
“I’m in” and “let’s do it” and “I always did want to live ’cross the border with my own dark-eyed senorita.”

  “You game, Thorn?” Griggs asked, gazing at him out of the corner of a narrowed eyes.

  “Sure, why not?” he replied, his tone lazy. But his mind was racing. Did this plan have something to do with Griggs’s rendezvous last night? Was Tilly the one who had informed him of Mrs. Gilmore’s travel plans? If so, the waitress was more evil than he had imagined. And if she really had played any sort of role in the plan, then she was an accessory who could go to jail right along with her outlaw lover if it could be proved.

  All that made her more dangerous to Daisy, if the woman ever found out Daisy’s outlaw guest was really a lawman in disguise who wanted to put her beau in jail. For that reason alone Thorn was more determined than ever to bring Griggs and all his allies to justice.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I was thinkin’ about this project of ours—the kidnapping,” Griggs said to Thorn the next afternoon. Most of the outlaws were taking a siesta, having eaten a heavy noon meal of stolen barbecued beef. If the law came to arrest them now, Thorn thought, the only trouble they’d have would be in waking some of them up to take them away.

  “Something I could do to help in the planning?”

  “Yup, as a matter a’ fact, there is. Strikes me that while we know when that mayor’s wife’s coming back, I don’t rightly know the route the stage takes, or the schedule. Do you?”

  Thorn shook his head. “Can’t say as I do.”

  “Then I’d like you to go find out. Go to the stage stop in Simpson Creek and ask about those things. And it’s all right by me if you want to fit in a little visit with yore woman while you’re there.”

  Your woman. While Thorn would never think of Daisy in such a coarse way, the idea that she was his made him want to smile. He’d have to do some hard riding to get to town before the stagecoach manager was gone for the day, yet he could manage it if it meant seeing Daisy. But was his desire to do so getting in the way of clear thinking? Thorn didn’t know if it was safe for him to be seen in Simpson Creek. “I’d be right happy to do that, boss. But...what if someone recognizes me, riding around town in broad daylight?”