The Bounty Hunter

by Cheryl St. John

  Lily ushered the thin girl into one of the unoccupied bedrooms. The tawdry decorations had been disposed of, the wallpaper replaced and the rooms made to suit the respectable house it was today. Lily was blessed with an abundance of rooms, along with money for food and clothing, and she shared them with anyone who needed help. “You can stay in here for as long as you like.”

  Violet glanced around at the lace curtains, the quilted counterpane and the rugs on the floor. “This is the nicest room I ever saw.”

  Lily pulled down the covers and helped Violet out of her shoes and stockings. “There are nightshifts and extra clothes in the bureau there, you help yourself. Big Saul is going to be down in the kitchen tonight, sort of standing watch. I’ll be back with food and some milk.”

  Violet nodded, and Lily left the room, closing the door behind her. Violet wasn’t the first female who’d come to her for help, but she was definitely the youngest. Most women who sought her out were escaping abusive husbands, or they were soiled doves looking for a fresh start.

  Violet was just a young girl who should have been under her father’s protection rather than a stranger’s. But life wasn’t fair, and women weren’t treated as equals. Oftentimes they were no more than possessions.

  The thought infuriated Lily.

  After preparing a tray and seeing that Violet was comfortable, she assigned Big Saul to a position in the kitchen, instructing him to keep an eye out for strangers and not to let anyone in.

  When Lily returned to the saloon, Helena hurried forward and caught her hand. “He was here!”

  “Who?”

  “The new sheriff. He asked for the owner. Said he’d be back another time. The whole place got quiet when he came in. Lily, he’s a menacing-looking man if I ever saw one.”

  “I had something else to handle.” She explained to Helena about Violet.

  “What will you do?” Helena asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m afraid if I went to the new sheriff, he’d give the girl back to her father, and I won’t let that happen. I think I’ll send a telegram to the governor and ask for his help to protect Violet.”

  The next morning she prepared Violet a bath in the downstairs chamber and waited outside the room while the girl washed her hair and bathed.

  Mollie found a blue dress small enough for Violet’s waist and hemmed the skirt. The area around Violet’s eye was swollen and bruised, despite the ice, but the cut hadn’t required stitches. Mollie and Helena told Lily they had a difficult time looking at the poor girl’s face without crying. Molly made a poultice and applied it while Violet again rested.

  That afternoon Lily sent a telegram to the governor in the state capitol. It could be days before she got a reply.

  Molly’s poultice had taken down much of the swelling by the time Violet came out of her room for supper and stayed to help the women in the kitchen. She was a sweet-natured thing with a soft voice and a willingness to pitch in. Every time Lily looked at her she saw herself, and she was determined that Violet’s abuse would stop now. She stayed with her most of the evening and once again missed the sheriff.

  The next day was Friday, and that evening the saloon was filled with patrons. Lily watched her girls as they accepted coins for dances and helped Old Jess pour drinks. The sheriff would undoubtedly be back, and she didn’t plan to miss him again.

  A man she didn’t recognize pushed his way up to the bar and asked for a bottle of whiskey. Lily took his money and handed him the liquor.

  “Name’s Jack Brand,” he said, and she could tell he’d already been drinking. She’d have to tell Big Saul to keep an eye on this one. “Been doin’ some checkin’ and I think you and me got a problem.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “I got a little girl who’s missin’. I think you know somethin’ about it.”

  Warning bells went off in Lily’s head. Anger rose up inside her. This was the man who had hurt Violet. “Why would I know anything?”

  “I heard tell you take in strays. Women who think they’re too good for their menfolk.”

  “I don’t talk about my private business.”

  He grabbed hold of her wrist. “It’s my business if you got my kid stashed away, lady.”

  When he touched her, another man’s angry face swam into Lily’s vision and made her skin crawl. “Let go of my arm right now.”

  “Hand over my kid.”

  She tried to pull away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re lyin’.”

  Old Jess caught wind of the struggle, and slid a sawed-off shotgun from beneath the bar. “Let go of her, mister.”

  “I ain’t movin’ till I get my kid.”

  The music stopped and the attention of everyone in the room focused on the scene transpiring at the bar.

  “Let’s take this outside,” Lily said calmly. “Jess, put the gun down.”

  Jess lowered the barrel.

  Jack Brand released Lily’s wrist. Infuriated, she rubbed it and walked around the end of the bar. Men who bullied women didn’t deserve to draw air.

  Brand grabbed his bottle by the neck and carried it outside.

  Lily nodded to Jess, and he understood the signal to get Saul.

  “Play something, Isaac!” Lily called and followed Brand outside. Behind her a lively tune resumed on the piano.

  Out on the boardwalk, the man pulled the cork and took a swig of liquor.

  Lily kept her distance. Saul would join them in a moment, and the troublemaker would be on his way.

  “Where’s she at?” Brand asked, taking several steps forward.

  “I don’t know who you mean.”

  “You know damned good and well who I mean. My daughter, Vi’let. You’re hidin’ her.” He gestured up at the windows above the dance hall. “Up there. Vi’let! Vi’let, you come down here right now!”

  From the other end of the street, Lily could hear the Bible thumpers warming up in front of the Big Nugget. The unmistakable sound of their tambourine echoed along the storefronts. She had to get rid of this man before the choir made their way down here.

  Saul came out and stood at Lily’s side. “You need me, Miss Lily?”

  “Only if Mr. Brand here doesn’t move along,” she replied.

  “You can’t keep my daughter,” he said and shook his fist at Lily. “I’m goin’ to the law. You can’t steal children and get away with it.”

  “I didn’t steal anyone.”

  “She’s a runaway and you’re hidin’ her. That’s against the law.”

  The singing grew closer.

  At that moment she wished she was a man. Jack Brand’s face became the face of another. A man she’d stab again if she had the chance. She clenched her fists at her sides. “No law against beating children though, is there?”

  “I knew you had her!” He drew back his fist, but Saul stepped toward him to prevent him from lunging at Lily. Lily scrambled aside.

  Brand used the split second before Saul reached him to howl and heave the bottle of whiskey toward Lily. She didn’t have time to react. It struck her head with a dart of pain and shattered against the wooden post at her side. Whiskey showered her ear, neck and shoulder, and glass lodged in her hair.

  Someone screamed.

  Lily saw stars for a full minute. She reached out blindly and caught the post to hold herself upright.

  Saul had Brand on the ground and restrained him by sitting on his chest.

  The singing had stopped and the women now gathered in a tight cluster, staring in abject horror at the scene before them.

  The doors burst open behind Lily and several men, as well as Helena and Celeste, spilled onto the boardwalk.

  “Lily! Are you all right?” Celeste hurried to her side.

  Lily blinked and tried to focus on Celeste’s face. “I…I think so.”

  Confusion reigned, with the women chattering and more people coming out of the dance hall to join the commotion.

  Celeste
picked shards of glass out of Lily’s curly hair.

  Brand bellowed at the top of his lungs for the big oaf to get off his chest.

  The women quieted, and a hush settled over the gathering as attention focused on a man who’d ridden up and was climbing down from his horse.

  He was a big man, tall and broad-shouldered. He wore a hat and a holstered revolver, and he carried a rifle. When he stepped into the light from the gas lamps, a tin star glistened on his shirt.

  Lily’s head throbbed and the glare from the badge hurt her eyes. She frowned.

  “Trouble here?” he asked.

  “It was a street brawl right before our very eyes,” Meriel Reed said, aghast. “The shame of it!”

  Once again the women burst into mortified chatter.

  The sheriff silenced them with one hand in the air. “Who was fighting?”

  “That man,” Blythe Shaw said, pointing to Brand. “And…and her! Lily Divine. She was screaming like a fishwife.”

  “Did anyone else see what happened?” the sheriff asked.

  “I seen it,” Big Saul said.

  “He’s just a big dummy, don’t listen to his account,” Beatrice Gibbs ordered. “We definitely saw what happened, and she provoked the man.”

  The other women agreed with accusing nods and murmurs.

  Lily’s temperature rose a notch at Beatrice’s cruel dismissal of Saul. None of the Intolerants even knew Jack Brand or what he’d done to his daughter, but they were willing to take his side over hers. She stepped forward unsteadily and lurched toward the gathering of women. “Don’t you witches have something better to do than haunt the streets at night? Go home and warm your husbands’ beds. You’re a bunch of…”

  The vision of the women before her swam, and the throbbing in her head increased. She swayed on her feet.

  “…of puritanical hypocrites.”

  Someone gasped.

  “Just look at her! She’s inebriated!” Meriel said with a disdainful sniff and covered her nose with a hankie as though Lily was a bad smell she could filter.

  The last thing Lily remembered was looking at the sheriff, who scowled at her as though she was a fly in his coffee. Her vision blurred and she slumped to the ground.

  NATE PUSHED ASIDE the gathering of dance hall girls who had rushed to the woman’s aid. He hauled her up by pulling on one arm until he got her upright, and then he threw her over his shoulder.

  “Stop that! Wait!”

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m locking her up,” he said. “Drunk and disorderly on a public street.”

  “She’s not drunk!” a small black-haired woman cried, following close behind.

  Nate ignored her. “Keep him there until I get back,” he told the giant on top of the man on the ground.

  He grabbed his horse’s reins and walked toward the jailhouse, Lily Divine slung over his shoulder, a gaggle of colorful saloon girls following in rustling shiny dresses.

  Nate tied his horse to the hitching post in front of the jail and carried the saloonkeeper who reeked of whiskey inside. Two of the women followed him, objecting all the while. He opened a cell door and unceremoniously dropped the limp woman onto the cot.

  “You can’t lock Miss Lily up!” the Indian woman cried, following him. “She did not break any laws.”

  “Unless you want to be in one of those other cells,” he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, “you can leave me to my job.”

  A pretty woman with crow’s-feet at the corners of her eyes joined them in the cell. She spoke in an accent he didn’t recognize. “Mr. Sheriff, Miss Divine is a respectable business owner. She runs a clean business and breaks no laws.”

  “I guess that’s up to a judge now, isn’t it? Since I say she’s drunk and disorderly and disturbing the peace. Come out of there.”

  “I’m stayin’ until Miss Lily is taken care of.” The Indian woman situated herself on the side of the cot with an obstinate flounce. He had visions of trying to pull these two females out of the cell against their will. His temple throbbed with a dull ache.

  “Miss Lily needs a doctor,” the other woman insisted. “She is injured, otherwise she wouldn’t be unconscious. I’m going for Doc.” She followed Nate out of the cell.

  “Suit yourself.” He swung the iron enclosure shut, locking two women in and one out, and headed back outside. Nate untied his horse and rode it back down the street to where the big man still sat atop his prisoner.

  “I’ll take him now,” he said.

  “Is Miss Lily okay?” the big man asked.

  “She’s sleepin’ it off in a cell.”

  “She’s gonna be mad,” he replied.

  Nate hoisted the other man up by one arm, took the stranger’s revolver and tucked it into his waistband. “What’s your name?”

  “Jack Brand. That saloon woman’s keepin’ my kid. She’s holdin’ her somewhere in there.” He jerked his head toward the dance hall.

  “That so?” Nate asked the other man. “Is there a child in there?”

  The big man shook his head vehemently. “Only little girl is Violet. Miss Lily gave her food and washed her up.”

  “That’s her!” Brand shouted. “That’s my kid! I knew she was in there! Let me go after her.”

  “Not tonight. We’ll get this settled tomorrow when everybody’s sobered up.” Nate handcuffed Brand’s hands behind his back. “Where’s your rig?”

  Brand nodded toward a horse at the hitching rail. “Black nag there.”

  Nate glanced from the horse to the big man. He’d picked up on the fact that he was almost childlike in his speech and actions. “What’s your name?”

  “Big Saul.”

  “Saul, will you take Brand’s horse to the livery and ask Wade Reed to put it up for the night?”

  “Sure thing, Sheriff.”

  Nate hoisted Brand onto the back of his horse and led it toward the jail. He placed the drunk in a cell, well away from the one the dance hall woman and her friend occupied, and locked the door.

  “You ain’t gonna let her get away with this, are you? She can’t just take my kid.”

  Nate met the Indian woman’s eyes, but answered Brand. “We’re not even talkin’ about this till morning, so shut up and get some sleep.”

  “I know my rights.”

  Nate wished Parson was here, but the former sheriff had already gone home for the night.

  The door opened and the pretty foreign woman entered, followed by a man carrying a black bag. “This is Doc Umber. He must see Lily.”

  “Is there somethin’ you can do for imbibing too much whiskey now, Dr. Umber? Advances in medicine and the like?” Nate asked.

  “Never known Miss Lily to tie one on,” the doctor said without a smile. He walked toward the row of cells. “Let me in, please.”

  Nate grabbed the keys and unlocked the iron-barred door. The doctor, with the woman on his heels, entered the cell.

  “Miss Lily?” the doctor said, kneeling beside the cot.

  “She’s out cold,” Nate told him.

  Both women sent him scathing looks.

  “She does reek of whiskey, Mollie,” Doc said softly.

  “There was broken glass in her hair,” Mollie replied.

  Doc examined Lily’s face and head. “There’s a knot here,” he said. “In her hairline near her temple.”

  Mollie’s tears dripped on Lily’s skirt. “Will she be all right?”

  “I’m sure she will,” Doc replied. He took a small squarish bottle from his bag and passed it beneath Lily’s nose.

  Lily’s eyelids fluttered, and she opened them to look at the doctor. She raised a hand to her head. “Holy hell!”

  “Lily!” Mollie cried. She picked up Lily’s hand and pressed it to her cheek.

  Lily blinked in confusion. “Where am I?”

  “You are in jail,” Mollie said. “The new sheriff locked you up. Helena brought the doctor.”

  Lily sat up then, aided by her frie
nds. Her hair was a mass of wild auburn ringlets that had fallen loose and hung down her back. She blinked at the doctor and at Mollie, then turned her gaze to Nate, who stood outside the cell. Her electric-blue gaze narrowed on him, and he experienced a lightninglike jolt of wary surprise.

  “Why am I here?” she asked.

  “Drunk and disorderly conduct.”

  “I’m not drunk, and I was not disorderly. There was a man causing a ruckus in my saloon, and I took him outside to handle it. He attacked me.” She raised a hand to the knot at her temple and winced.

  “It’s your word against mine, lady,” Brand called from the other end of the hall. “I came for my daughter and you refused to give her to me.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied.

  “Saul told me there was a girl you’d fed and cleaned up,” Nate said.

  She turned that blue gaze on him again, and this time Nate couldn’t catch his breath. An ocean of defiance and anger shone in those eyes, and right now the hostility was directed at him. “I’ve sent a telegram to the governor, asking for his help,” she said. “That man belongs in a cell. He beat a child half to death.”

  “Why didn’t you come to me?” Nate asked. “Why wait for the governor?”

  “What would you have done?”

  “Listened. Assessed the situation.”

  “Would you have protected her?”

  “I can’t say. I don’t know the circumstances.”

  “I wasn’t willing to risk that you wouldn’t have,” she replied.

  The doctor stood. “She should have some ice on her head and get some rest.”

  At that moment the door opened and Big Saul entered the office. “I did like you said and got his horse put up.”

  “Thanks.” Nate gestured for him to come closer.

  Saul lumbered toward the cell and spotted Lily awake. “Miss Lily. You’re okay!”

  “You said you saw what happened in the street tonight,” Nate interrupted. “Is that right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What happened between Mr. Brand and Miss Lily?”