The Final Vow (Hearts of Hays Series #2)

by Barbara Goss

  “What?” asked Higgins “Who?”

  “That’s what I want to know. Who would take my wife? She hasn’t an enemy in the world.”

  “Hmm,” was all Higgins said.

  “Well, don’t just sit there! Get a posse and find her!” Jesse demanded.

  “I just thought of a possible motive,” Higgins said, while he strapped on his gun belt. “Her money.”

  “I hate that money!” Jesse growled.

  “Where was she last seen?” Higgins asked.

  “At 42 Locust Street, supposedly meeting with some parents.”

  Higgins yelled to his deputy in the back room, “Send a posse to 42 Locust right away!” Then, he followed Jesse to their horses.

  Pushed into a carriage, Laura could not believe who her captors were or why she’d been captured. Was it because of Jesse, or because of her money that they had kidnapped her? When the hand had been removed from her mouth, she said, “Why are you doing this?”

  Newell Grandville laughed. “We won't hurt you,” he turned to his partner, “will we sweetheart?”

  “Not unless we have to,” Elizabeth Healy said.

  It appeared to Laura that this was a leased cab from the livery, and the driver most likely a hired driver. She wondered if she called his attention to her dilemma, he might help her.

  Laura began screaming at the top of her lungs. “Help! Help! I’m being kidnapped! Help!” Elizabeth shoved her handkerchief in Laura’s mouth.

  “Shut up!” she growled. But the carriage stopped, the driver jumped down and yanked the door open.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  “Nothing, the lady has had too much to drink is all.” Newell hid her face by pressing it against his chest. “Poor thing, we’re taking her home.” Newell ordered the driver back to his seat, and the carriage again moved.

  Laura hoped the handkerchief stuffed in her mouth was a laundered one. She wondered where they were taking her. She tried to look out the window, but it was already getting dark outside, so she couldn’t see anything noteworthy.

  They hadn’t ridden too much further when the carriage stopped. Newell jumped out, but Elizabeth stayed with Laura. After a few minutes, Newell returned and scooped Laura up and carried her into what looked like a cave to Laura. Once inside and after Newell lit a lamp, she saw it was a home… of sorts. Not much furniture except a few old chairs and the floor appeared to be patted down dirt. She now recalled Jesse showing her the abandoned dugout about a mile from town. It was a home built into a hill with just a door showing from the outside. There were no windows. It felt damp and dreary. Laura shivered.

  Newell and Elizabeth teamed up to tie Laura to a chair and then blew out the lamp, leaving her alone in the dark. She heard them ride off on horses that they must have hidden earlier. Laura prayed and sang hymns. She had no idea how, but she knew Jesse would find her. She just hoped nothing crawled on her while she waited.

  Higgins and Jesse rode to 42 Locust Street, and Jesse became restless. “Why are we wasting time here? They are gone! We need to find Laura.”

  “I’m looking for clues. Look here, carriage or wagon wheel tracks. By the size of the wheel, I’d say a livery, or a fancy buggy like Healy’s because the farm wagons have much wider wheels.” Higgins continued searching all around the house but found no other clues.

  “Where would they have taken her?” Jesse asked, obviously stressed.

  “Here comes my posse,” Higgins said.

  He greeted the posse of eight and gave them all directions to search. Then, the deputy rode up waving a piece of paper.

  “What’s that?” Higgins asked him. He walked over and grabbed the paper.

  “It was just delivered to your office,” the deputy said.

  Higgins scanned the paper, then handed it to Jesse who stood right behind him looking over his shoulder.

  “They want fifty thousand dollars!” Jesse exclaimed in disbelief. “They can have it all. I just want my wife back. We are to leave the money in a sack and leave it on the church steps at midnight.”

  Higgins scratched his head. “I don’t know anyone in this town who’d do something like this.”

  “Let’s give them the money,” Jesse said.

  “The bank is closed. We'll have to wait until tomorrow,” Higgins told him.

  “No!” he insisted. “Get Healy to open the bank, this is an emergency.”

  They all rode to Healy’s house. Higgins and Jesse pounded on the door. When Joe Healy opened the door himself, Jesse pushed himself inside.

  “You have to open the bank, Joe. Someone has kidnapped Laura, and they want fifty thousand dollars by midnight,” Jesse said all in one breath.

  “Is this a joke?” asked Healy looking at the sheriff.

  Higgins said, “No, it’s real.”

  “I’ll get my keys,” Healy said.

  Within thirty minutes, Jesse held the sack with the money in his hand. He looked at his pocket watch but it was only ten o’clock. “What do we do now?” he asked Higgins.

  “I’m going to visit the livery. Since Joe Healy’s buggy is in his yard, and he claims it’s not been used in two days, I reckon it was a livery carriage that the kidnappers used. Since right now we have only one livery, it should be easy to track down who rented it.”

  “I hadn’t even thought of that,” Jesse said.

  “That’s because you’re upset.”

  When they reached the livery, Jake Hardy stood brushing a horse. “What can I do for you?” he asked.

  Higgins took over, “This is official business, Hardy.”

  Hardy nodded. “What do you need?”

  “We had a kidnapping today, and I think the vehicle they used might have been one of yours.”

  “A kidnapping? Here in Hays?” Jake Hardy started to laugh but stopped when he saw the look of anguish on Jesse’s face. “I’ll help all I can.”

  “Do you keep records of where your drivers pick up clients?”

  “We do. The problem is, we had about five go out this afternoon. Today’s the Masterson’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and we’ve had out-of-town guests renting all day long and most were picked up at the train station. Let me look at my log book.”

  Jesse paced.

  “I had two pickups who weren’t from the train station— one was at the corner of Main and Elm and the other was at the general store on Main.” He closed the logbook. “Does that help?”

  Higgins shook his head. “Not even a little.”

  “Can we talk to your drivers?” Jesse asked anxiously.

  “I have only four on duty right now, and all are out on jobs.”

  Jesse hit the wall with his fist and mumbled a mild curse.

  “Did you hear about anything unusual happening, like the drivers saying something out of the ordinary happened on a pickup or anything?” Higgins said, glancing at the logbook.

  “No, I don’t recall anything.”

  They all turned as one of the livery carriages pulled up. The driver jumped down. Higgins and Jesse were on him like a flash of lightning.

  “Official business,” announced Higgins, “We need to ask you a few questions.”

  “Yes, sir,” the driver answered.

  “Did you pick up someone around four this afternoon?”

  “Yes, I did. It was at the corner of Main and Elm. A man and a woman.”

  Higgins looked disappointed. “I was hoping you picked up someone suspicious. We’re looking for a kidnapper.”

  “They were just a normal couple, but their pick up place and destination were a bit odd,” the driver said scratching his head. “They wanted to be dropped off at the Yeager dugout on Turner Road.”

  “What?” Jessie yelled.

  Higgins put his hand up in Jesse’s face. “I’ll handle this. Calm down.”

  “Did you deliver the couple to 42 Locust Street?” asked Higgins of the driver.

  “Yes sir, they told me to return in twenty minutes.”

/>   “And then what?” prodded Higgins.

  “When I returned there were three passengers: a man, woman, and a drunk woman.”

  “A drunk woman?” asked Higgins. “What did she look like?”

  “I didn’t get a close look, but she was really out of it. She kept yelling that she was being kidnapped. Of all things… here in Hays!”

  Jesse opened his mouth, but Higgins put his hand up, “Let me do my job, Jesse.”

  “Do you recognize any of the passengers?” asked Higgins.

  “I haven’t been in Hays but a month, I don’t know many people.”

  “Where did you take them, then?” Higgins asked calmly.

  “To the old Yeager place, the dugout on Turner Road.”

  “Wasn’t that an odd place to drop off a fare?”

  “I figured they must have bought the place.”

  Before Higgins had time to thank the driver, Jesse rode off on his horse. Higgins followed.

  By now it was pitch black outside, and Jesse had a hard time finding the dugout. He knew he rode close to it, but he couldn’t see it. Since he had to be at the church with the money at midnight, he knew he had to find the dugout fast. Finally, Higgins caught up.

  “I can’t find the dugout,” Jesse said anxiously.

  “That sliver of a moon is no help at all,” Higgins said. “Let’s get off our horses and see if we can find it. I know we’re close.”

  “I’m calling out to her,” Jesse said.

  “No! What if they are with Laura? They might hurt her.” Higgins stumbled over a rock. He looked down. “What’s this?” He held up a white paper that stood out in the darkness. He squinted, “It might be the paper with the Locust Street address on it; that means we’re close.”

  “Look, there!” cried Jesse. “The sky is a shade lighter than the night, and I see a dark mound against the sky… that has to be the dugout.”

  Jesse ran to the dugout, yanked open the door to more darkness.

  He whispered softly, “Laura?”

  “I’m here, Jesse!” she cried loudly.

  Jesse ran toward the voice. He felt for the ropes that tied her. “Don’t worry sweetheart. I’ll free you and take you home.”

  Higgins produced a knife, and Jesse, using his sense of feel rather than sight, cut her free. He held her tightly. “Oh! Thank you, Lord!” he cried. “Who did this to you?” Jesse asked.

  “Newell, I forgot his last name, Geoffrey’s brother from England, and Elizabeth.”

  About to curse, Jesse caught himself. “I never thought she’d stoop that low.”

  “Let’s get out of here! It must be near midnight,” Higgins yelled.

  Jesse led Laura out and lifted her onto his horse. Before he hopped up, he asked. “Do you want to sit behind me or in front of me?”

  “Does it matter?” Laura asked.

  “It does. I want you in front of me, so I can hug you all the way home.”

  16

  When they reached town, the lights from the saloon enabled them to see Jesse’s watch; he realized they still had thirty minutes before midnight.

  “I’m taking Laura home. It's cold and she is shivering,” Jesse told Higgins.

  “Are you coming back for the payoff?”

  “Oh, I’ll be there.”

  “I’ll meet you, I have to think about how we’ll handle this,” Higgins replied.

  Jesse rode home, hugging Laura the whole way. He felt so grateful that he’d found her and she was unharmed. She was quiet though, and that bothered him. “Are you sure you’re all right, sweetheart?”

  “I’m just cold.”

  “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

  “No, but I don’t know why they did this. I’ve never done a thing to either of them… except…” she looked back at Jesse, …fall in love with the man Elizabeth Healy wanted.”

  Jesse kissed the back of her head. “I can honestly say that I never encouraged her. A wink when she smiled? Is that encouragement?”

  “Well,” Laura said thoughtfully, “don’t wink at anyone but me now, all right?”

  “That’s a promise!”

  When they reached the ranch, Cassie and Meg ran out to meet them wanting to know what happened.

  Jesse handed her down and told Meg, “Take her inside, give her some warm milk and put her to bed. She’s had a rough evening, and I’m sure she’ll tell you about it in her own time.”

  Jesse turned and sped back to town.

  “What’s the plan, Higgins?” Jesse asked, putting his feet up on Higgins’ desk.

  Higgins gave Jesse a cup of steaming coffee and set one on the desk for himself. “I sent my deputy and two others about thirty minutes ago to hide near the church but not be seen.”

  “Why? I thought you and I would take care of it.”

  “Just in case this office is being watched, I thought we should make a show of being here and that’s why I have this office lit up like a Christmas tree. If they check, we are here having coffee, and we left the money on the church steps as instructed.”

  “Good thinking,” Jesse sipped his coffee. “Gad this is hot!” He set the cup down and said, “I wonder what’s happening. It’s midnight.”

  “By the way, the money is in my safe,” Higgins said casually.

  “What? I thought you said it was placed on the church steps?”

  “Nah, I made up a fake bundle, just in case they got away with it.”

  “I really don’t care about the money,” Jesse spat. “I never wanted it.”

  “Ha! It’s always those that don’t need it that get it,” he laughed.

  “I suppose I should thank you for saving the money. Laura needs it to improve the conditions of the Orphan Train.”

  “She’s a fine woman, Jesse,” Higgins said sincerely.

  “That she is,” he agreed.

  Three gunshots rang out and then silence.

  “Hmm,” Higgins grinned. “I didn’t notice that Newell fellow carrying a gun, did you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, then those shots are ours. Dang! We got us some criminals. I finally get to use my jail cell for something other than a drunk tank.” Higgins laughed and almost spilled his coffee. He stabilized his cup before adding, “I never locked up a female, and her father will have a stroke.”

  “Shouldn’t we go there?” Jesse asked, impatiently.

  “No, let the deputy and his men earn their pay.”

  It wasn’t long before horses galloped up to the sheriff’s office and three men charged in.

  Higgins and Jesse stood.

  “Well, where are the criminals?” asked Higgins of the men.

  “They got away!” the deputy said. “But I shot the man in the arm, and I think I may have hit the woman in the leg. I saw her fall, and the man picked her up and they ran. They had horses nearby and rode off on the same horse. We followed, but lost their trail as it’s too dark out there.”

  17

  “Where are we going?” Elizabeth asked, grasping her throbbing leg, as they galloped in the dark.

  “For now, my brother’s barn to see to our injuries, then... I don’t know about you, but I’m off. I don’t know where but I’m not sticking around to go to jail.” Newell tried to control the horse with his good arm. “At least we grabbed the money.”

  Newell slid off the horse and helped Elizabeth down. “Can you hobble into the barn quietly?”

  She nodded.

  Once inside, Newell fell into a pile of hay. He gasped in pain. “We’ll see to your leg first.”

  Elizabeth sat beside him in the straw and lifted her riding skirt, revealing a bloody calf.

  “I can’t see a thing… I’m going to take a chance and light a lantern.” He took a lamp from the barn wall, lit it, and then carried it to Elizabeth's leg. “I don’t think the bullet hit the bone.” He removed his shirt and ripped the sleeve off. He wound it around her leg and securely tied the ends.

  Elizabeth took the lamp from him and
inspected his arm. “Oh, dear!”

  “What? What, ‘oh, dear?’” he asked impatiently.

  “I think the bullet has gone right through the fatty tissue; you a have a hole right through your arm.”

  Newell ripped off his other sleeve. “Wrap it.”

  “It’s bloody!” she exclaimed.

  “It’s only going to get bloodier, tie it,” he ordered through clenched teeth.

  “Where’s the money?” Elizabeth asked.

  “In my saddle bag, I’ll get it.” He returned with the bag. “Let’s count it.” He opened the bag and cursed loudly.

  “Shhhh,” reminded Elizabeth. “What’s wrong?”

  “There is no money! Someone cut up shreds of wanted posters and stuffed them into the bag— we’ve been duped.” Newell cursed several times, and threw the bag into the haystack. “Now what?”

  “Do you think they know who we are?” asked Elizabeth.

  “I’m sure they do by now,” he answered.

  “My father will kill me,” Elizabeth mumbled.

  After thinking for several moments, Newell said, “I’m going inside the house and see what I can steal from Geoffrey and then, I’m heading for California.”

  Tears ran down Elizabeth’s face. “If we leave, we can never return…”

  “Suit yourself, I’m out of here!” Newell headed for the house. “Stay here. When I come back, let me know if you are going or staying.”

  Geoffrey and Lydia awoke to a pounding on their front door. “What in the world?” asked a sleepy Geoffrey.

  Lydia groaned, “Your brother forgot his key.”

  Geoffrey opened the door to Sheriff Higgins and Jesse Collins. Still sleepy, he asked, “What’s going on?”

  Higgins asked, “We’re looking for your brother, Newell. Is he here?”

  “I don’t know,” Geoffrey stated while trying to clear his sleepy fog.

  “Can you check?” asked Jesse. “It’s urgent.”

  Geoffrey climbed the stairs and checked Newell’s room, then returned to the front door. “His bed hasn’t been slept in.”