by Regina Scott
She shook free. “I have no fear for myself or my reputation in his company.”
Fire sparked in Ike’s eyes and he leaned close. “So I’ve noticed. Lately you have not shown yourself terribly discriminating as to the company you keep, Lola. My workmen, such as they are, aren’t known as being pillars of society, and yet you’re out dining with them.”
Heat flared up her neck. “Mr. Jamison is hardly—”
“If you won’t consider your personal reputation, at least think about your livelihood. I would hate to see your business affected by the town’s opinion of Mr. Jamison.” The smell of mustache wax and cologne assaulted her as he drew closer.
Disquiet fluttered in the pit of her stomach, like a moth caught in a cobweb. Ike’s callous insinuation caused an unsettling mix of worry and aggravation. “My business is none of your concern, nor is my reputation.”
He held his hand up. “But I’m afraid it is, darling,” he said, his tone overly sweet. “Many folks thought something as unseemly as a woman undertaker should not be allowed to operate in Quiver Creek.”
She’d suspected, but to hear the facts pricked her like a needle. “People have need of my services here, and they see now it’s good I kept Papa’s business going.” Her teeth ground at the thought of anything otherwise.
Ike waved both hands as though to calm her. “Forgive me for saying it that way. It’s not my intention to quibble over your rights as a woman to do as you please. I’m trying to show you I’ve changed, Lola. I made an egregious mistake in allowing a trollop like Mattie to sway me from you. I’ve begged your forgiveness many times over.”
Lola crossed her arms about her waist. “And you’ve been forgiven from the first.” For months that truth rested solely on the Lord’s command she do it. But now the sincerity with which she could say it made her realize, somewhere along the way, forgiveness she claimed had freed her to give it honestly. God’s blessings in obedience never ceased to amaze.
“Because you’re a good woman, Lola. But don’t you see? I’ve changed. I’m a businessman worthy of you now. Together, we could own this town!” He slipped closer, drawing a smooth finger against her cheek. “I love you, Lola Martin. Won’t you please take me back?”
Shock drew her gaze to his gleaming eyes. Hadn’t she secretly dreamed of this moment? The one where Ike proclaimed his innate foolishness in having the affair, declared his undying love for her and begged her to come back?
At one time, perhaps. But not in a long while. She weighed him in the balance against the strength and goodness of her carpenter. Bridger had not done one self-serving thing in all the weeks she’d known him. What was more, where Ike stood hollow and empty at the core, something rich and strong and intimately attractive bore Bridger’s life. He was a man who would never treat a woman—or anyone, for that matter—as cruelly as Ike had treated her. She’d been young and naive—and Ike preyed on it.
“I’ve learned a lot over the past year. You’ve taught me much.” His feet slipped closer as she spoke, expectation ripe in his hazel eyes. “But first and foremost, I learned the Lord’s plan is best for me, and He will stop at nothing to see me follow it. He was willing to see my heart broken, if it kept me away from you.”
Ike sucked a breath and drew back as if she’d slapped him. “You can’t think the Lord wouldn’t want us together! Don’t you see how perfect—?”
“No. God protected me from a wrong choice.” She stepped away, taking a deeper breath than she’d felt in ages. “I’m sorry, Ike. I appreciate all you’ve done for me these past months. I truly do. And I hope and pray we can find a way to remain friends even now. But we will never be…what we once were. Do you understand?”
Ike slumped, stepping away with a dropped gaze. Moments passed before he squared his shoulders and faced her. “I don’t blame you, Lola. I only hoped I could prove myself and build something new. But I waited too long.” His lips pulled in a thin, grim line. “I won’t bother you. Out of respect for the fine woman you are, I won’t bring the matter up again.”
“I appreciate that, Ike. I truly do.” Her gaze lingered on his fine form once more, her heart pricked by the dashed hopes of what she thought he was, but stronger somehow for the pain.
“It won’t prevent my hope you’ll return of your own accord, mind you.” His laugh came out shaky and strange. “You may find you have more need of me than you realize.”
“We’ve known each other too long, Ike. I’ll always need your friendship.” He spoke of more, but that would be impossible. She saw it clearly now and prayed he would in time.
Lumbering tread caused the boardwalk to creak, drawing her attention. “We’ll see you at church. All right?” She tilted her head, trying to throw his unfocused stare. “Are we all right?”
Ike smoothed his mustache and puffed his chest. “We will be, Lola. I promise you, we will be.”
*
A thick steak, a thick bar of soap and a thick mattress sounded better than a banker’s wages. Bridger shifted his saddlebag over his shoulder to balance the weight and promised himself all three—as soon as he met with Ike.
His boots echoed against floorboards in the empty saloon as he crossed to Ike’s office. The scent of Mattie’s cheap perfume and good cooking clung to the dusty air. Bridger rapped on the door and walked in. Ike sat at his desk between a pile of receipts and a ledger. Toby waited on a chair in the corner.
“Here’s your take, Mr. Tyler.” Bridger tossed a bag on top of the pile of papers. The heavy thud ended with a metallic jingle.
Ike’s eyes surveyed him. “You made good time, but it shows in your face, boy. You’re running yourself ragged.” He grinned. “I like that.”
Bridger smirked. “I get things done, sir.” He didn’t add growing concern for Frank drove him through the last sleepless night for home.
“Did you get it all?” Toby asked, loosening the straps to pull out the sack of coins and bills.
“Took a bit of convincing now and again,” he said, feeling the bruise on his right cheek. “Some folks wanted to know why it wasn’t Jimmy coming to collect. But after I explained, everyone paid in full for the month.” Well, most of them. He’d used part of his regular wages from Ike to make up the difference for some. One elderly widower and a man with four small children who had missed work to take care of his sick wife couldn’t meet the demand. And Bridger refused any rougher tactics.
“You’ve done well,” Ike said, leaning back in his seat and pulling a cigar from the humidor on his desk. “I might not have guessed you had it in you, Bridger. Looks like I’m a better judge of character than I thought.” He handed another cigar to Toby.
Bridger shrugged, unwilling to pat Ike on the back any more than he did on his own. “You run a mighty attractive game,” he said. But not for much longer….
“I’m glad you see it that way because I have a special client for you.” Ike bit the end off his cigar and struck a match. Smoke puffed above his head like a sinister wreath.
Bridger’s pulse jumped. Could this be the last stone to upset the whole cart? One last bit would give Jake everything he needed to close Ike’s business and return Quiver Creek to a normal town. He fought the excitement from his voice. “Who is it?”
“Lola Martin.”
His gut wrenched, his breath tight. “Lola? Why? I mean, I thought she and—”
“That’s no longer the case. So there’s no reason why she shouldn’t have the same demands I make on any other business owner.” Ike’s lips tugged in a firm line.
His mind raced. “I thought you had some sort of hold on these other folks. Why are you so sure Lola won’t contact the authorities?”
“I do have a claim against her. Who’s been making sure she’s safe out there on the end of town? Who’s sure she has plenty of business coming her way?”
Toby barked a laugh. “She owes you, boss.”
“Not only that.” Ike rolled the cigar in his mouth. “Her father took a loan from me about
a year ago, before his unfortunate demise. I haven’t received payment in seven months. I’m due.”
Even Toby took note, moving closer to the desk. “Why would he do that, boss?”
Ike waved the end of his cigar before flicking ashes into a tray. “He had some notion of sending Lola to medical school. He couldn’t afford it, and no bank in the West would gamble on a lady doctor. He secured financing from me and sent some letters to see about her acceptance. The fool should have done more to convince her to marry me. I’d have seen her settled well before this.”
The information staggered him. How would Lola bear the news? To realize her father’s hope of helping her fulfill her dream would become her downfall? It explained all those payments marked in Mr. Martin’s ledger.
Toby’s slap on the knee drew his attention back to the room. “That’s something, boss. Miss Lady Fancy-Britches will find out her old daddy wasn’t so perfect after all, and if she’d taken you up on your proposal, she could’ve avoided the whole scandal.”
Ike’s slack expression startled him. “That’s neither here nor there, now, is it, gentlemen? The fact is, I offer a service, and she had need of it. It’s time to pay the piper.”
Bridger braced his feet, hands balled into fists in anticipation of Toby’s move. “I won’t do it, Ike. Not…not a woman alone.”
Tyler leaned all the way back, his chair clapping against the wall, and laughed long and low. “Did you hear that, Toby? The kid thinks he’s in charge of picking his clients. Oh, you’ll do it, Jamison.”
“And what if I don’t?”
Ike flew to his feet, gun drawn, chair wobbling in his sudden wake. “You owe me. You’ve been on my payroll a month now. Folks in these parts handed their hard-earned cash over to you, with your unforgettable face. If worse comes to worst, I’ll take my lumps and drag you with me. I’ll testify you took money on your own accord, after I decided to shut down the business.”
Bridger clenched his jaw. “I’ll take my chances.”
Ike never blinked. “If it were only you, I’d believe that. But that brother of yours gives me an advantage, you see. He’d never get along without you, and he’d never survive in the asylum those folks up the trail fondly suggested to you before you hightailed it out of there.”
“He didn’t do anything,” Bridger ground out.
Ike waved him off. “I don’t recollect saying he had. Only that popular opinion didn’t agree with you.”
“Besides, he’s family,” Toby chimed in. “You’d hate to see anything happen to him.”
“Or to Lola. If anyone hears so much as a whisper about your sudden attack of conscience, I may forget our prior relationship completely.” Ike’s eyes glittered with warning.
The muscles in his jaw twitched. Bridger weighed his options in the balance and forced a long, slow breath. His mind spun with responsibilities to Frank and Lola. His promises to Jake and Miss Grace to see justice and his determination to right all the wrong he’d caused pressed over him.
It also left him out of options.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bridger’s horse neighed and skittered, waiting in the stand of trees with about as much patience as he felt. Getting away from Ike and the others had proved more difficult than usual today. He couldn’t be certain, but it likely wasn’t by accident. How much did they suspect?
He hadn’t slept, or eaten, or done much of anything except pace the floor and ride the perimeter of town trying to clear his mind and figure a way out of the mess. He hoped Jake could provide a different point of view because he’d wasted twenty-four hours with no ideas. Lola had to be on the books by Saturday.
A big horse trotted along the creek and Bridger slunk into the tree line until Jake came into view. “Bridger? You there?”
He stepped out of the scrub and threw the satchel in a direct hit to the marshal’s chest. “I’m out.”
Jake almost missed the catch in his surprise. “What do you mean? We’re this close and you’re bailing now? What happened?”
“He wants to hit Lola, start collecting from her.”
Jake flung the satchel over his shoulder and rubbed his beefy hands together. Moonlight reflected from his triumphant grin, giving him the look of some ghoulish avenger. “That’s perfect!”
“What are you talking about? I can’t do that!”
“You’re already collecting from other folks. And she could be the break we need,” Jake insisted.
“She trusts me now, and if I do this—”
“We’ll tell her, spell it all out.” Jake pulled his notebook and jotted something down with the tiny pencil held in its loop. “From everything I’ve seen, Lola could be the perfect witness.”
Bridger jammed fists into his coat pockets and paced. “What if he hurts her? I couldn’t live with that.”
Jake shook his head. “He’s smitten with her. He won’t do that.”
Bridger halted and drove his finger into the lawman’s chest, pressing the hard metal badge hidden beneath his coat. “You didn’t see him. I don’t know what changed things, but there wasn’t one glimmer of feeling in his eyes when he told me to get her on the books. He said he’d hurt her if she ever found out it wasn’t as much my idea as his.”
Jake took a step back. “He threatened Frank, too, didn’t he?”
Bridger nodded. “If it were only me, I’d find a way. You understand that, right? But Frank is all I have, and I need to get out now to protect him. Quiver Creek is on its own.”
“I don’t believe you have it in you to walk away,” Jake said, his voice hard and tight.
Bridger rubbed a hand along his scar. Between little sleep and worry, his whole head throbbed. “I’m tired of hurting people, and I need out before Ike expects me to do more than intimidate and throw a few punches. I hoped to keep the problem from my doorstep, but now I’m thinking I need to find a new doorstep.”
Jake bit his lip. “She’d at least have a measure of protection if it came from you. You leave, there’s no telling which of his goons Ike will send to collect from her.”
He pictured Toby’s greasy smirk, and a bitter taste sickened him at the intimidation tactics he might choose to use against Lola. And Toby probably held more respect for women than all of the other men combined. How could he leave Lola to face them alone? He huffed. How could he endanger his own brother on her behalf?
“So we tell her and I take her and Frank away from here.”
“Whoa, now!” Jake said. “That would tip our hand and we’d lose everything we gained in this investigation.”
“So?”
Jake ran a hand over his face, the bristling of his stubble mingling with the rustling leaves. “He’s not going to let her go that easily, Bridger. He’d likely come after the three of you, anyway, and you’d lose the protection of the town.”
Bridger slumped. He’d exhausted his mind racing through all these scenarios already but had hoped…and prayed…that the marshal held the key to make them workable. If the Lord took any interest in the lives He’d given folks, it provided the only hope he could latch on to. “So what do we do?”
“We tell Lola. Quietly, mind you, and let her decide. I see her as the one person in Quiver Creek strong enough to stand against Ike Tyler.”
Bridger pushed hair from his forehead and crushed the brim of his hat in the other hand. “But what if she’s not?”
“Once other businessmen realize a woman is being pressured, it might make them willing to come forward, band together,” Jake suggested.
“Don’t you think they could’ve done that already if they were willing?”
“Listen, Bridger. My chance to keep this quiet is about up. Tyler keeps close tabs on this town, and if he doesn’t suspect me yet, he soon will.”
Bridger replaced the hat on his head, rocking it back and forth to a proper tilt. “So let him. The town would at least be rid of him.”
“What about people in those other towns?” Jake stepped closer, his voice low
in the shadows. “What about seeing justice for all the people Ike Tyler has hurt and robbed in the name of gaining power and wealth? Good people who tried to get where we are in this case when Ike and his associates killed them? A friend of mine died here, pulling evidence. Mr. Martin was his contact person. I suspect Pete McKenna and Cecil Anthony got too close, as well.”
Bridger groaned. The marshal didn’t fight fair. As bad as he wanted to, he’d never be able to face himself in the mirror if he didn’t do all he could to put Ike behind bars, where he belonged. And Marshal Anderson knew it.
Bridger conceded with a grim nod. “This plan of yours sounds like an awful lot of wishing and hoping to me, and not much else.”
“That’s where my faith comes into play.” Jake had the audacity to smile with a look of victory. “The only way to win this battle is to fight on our knees.”
*
Bridger slumped against a tree and rubbed his head in both hands. “I only have to convince her to give me the money? Do you have any idea what this will do to her, coming from me?” Not to mention what it would do to him delivering the terms of payment.
“I promise you, I’ll be there within the hour to explain everything,” Jake said. “But if we go in together, someone could see us. If I go first and she doesn’t agree to help, you go back to Tyler empty-handed. It’s got to be this way.”
Bridger knew it made more sense than any other idea they’d kicked around. It didn’t mean he had to like it.
Jake jotted some notes. “Be convincing, Bridger. I’ll take Grace along and tell her and Lola both what’s going on. If you and I can keep from crossing paths, Ike may not put it together right away, and that gives us a little time.”
“Unless he already suspects you. Toby’s barely lost sight of my backside since Ike told me to collect from Lola, Jake. I’m telling you, I don’t like this.”
Jake grinned, a little madness gleaming in his eyes. “All the more reason to conclude this case soonest.”
