“From the looks of these,” he said to Janice, “they appear to have headed off to the south. Did you happen to watch them long enough to see if they continued that way after they got clear of the other buildings and houses?”
Janice shook her head. “No. I’m sorry, I didn’t. I saw them, noticed the things I’ve told you, then went about my business emptying the chamber pot and went back upstairs.” Frowning, the girl’s eyes went from Firestick to Frenchy and then back again. “Am I in trouble for not saying something sooner?”
“Of course not,” said Firestick. “I’m just glad you spoke up when you did.”
“What do you think it means, Marshal? Where do you think those men are going with Cleo and Miss Kate?” asked Frenchy.
“Damned if I know,” Firestick muttered. He stood gazing off to the south, his forehead puckered with concern, not saying anything for several seconds. “If they continue south, it ain’t all that far before they’ll be in Mexico.”
“What does that gain them? What’s in Mexico?”
“What it gains ’em—they might think—is that nobody from this side of the border will follow ’em across because no lawman or posse has legal jurisdiction down there.”
Frenchy looked into his eyes and said, “But that won’t stop you, will it?”
“Not one damn bit,” Firestick grated.
The searchers began re-converging at that point. Their grim expressions, even before any words were spoken, gave Firestick all the answer he really needed. He’d held out little hope that Janice’s identification of Kate was a mistake, but it had been necessary to get confirmation all the same.
“Kate is nowhere to be found. Not anywhere in town,” Beartooth summed up. He and Victoria had returned together and they stood side-by-side now. It crossed Firestick’s mind that there was nothing like tragedy or a sudden twist of trouble to make people get past the petty differences in their lives.
“Nobody’s seen her since she went to take you those sandwiches,” Moosejaw added glumly.
“Somebody saw her,” Firestick said through clenched teeth. “Walkin’ alone after she left the jail—and that’s when they took her.”
“So what do you make of it? Kidnapping?” Frank Moorehouse asked.
“That’d only make sense if whoever took those gals was lookin’ to gain money with a ransom demand.” Firestick wagged his head, the movement barely perceptible. “Kate’s hotel is worth some money, but the only one able to free it up for any kind of payoff is Kate herself. If that’s what those two varmints were after, seems to me they would have just stuck a gun in her face and robbed her. And expectin’ ransom for the girl Cleo . . . well, that’s even a worse fit.”
“Hate to speak poorly of somebody who ain’t here to defend herself,” said Moosejaw, “but you think there’s any chance Cleo might be part of it? Might be in cahoots somehow with the two riders?”
Frenchy and Janice gave him angry looks, but the towering deputy ignored them, keeping his eyes on Firestick.
“If she was, which I find doubtful,” said the marshal, “it would go right back to what would be the point? You got to figure the whole thing is for some kind of gain. If Cleo was part of it, then that would seem to narrow it down to money—and that leads to what I said before about the best one in a position to pay money for Kate is Kate herself.”
“So if Cleo ain’t part of it,” said Beartooth, “what else does that leave?”
Firestick motioned toward the tracks on the ground of the lane they were standing on the edge of. Then he raised his arm, pointing southward. “Sign leads off that way. To the south. Means they’re likely headed for Mexico. It could be they’re figurin’ on stayin’ down there or it could be they’re makin’ a run that way for only a little while, to throw us off because they reckon we won’t chase ’em across the border.”
Moosejaw’s eyes took on a flintiness. “If they reckon that, my reckonin’ is that they’re plumb wrong.”
Firestick nodded. “Goes without sayin’. But here’s the thing. Gettin’ back to the reason for takin’ those gals, I see it as boilin’ down to one of two purposes. Either those two riders took ’em for themselves . . . or they took ’em to sell somewhere down in Mexico.”
Victoria gasped and clutched Beartooth’s arm. Frenchy winced. Janice’s hardened features simply stayed blank.
“You don’t have to go very far down that way to find banditos or slavers who’ll pay a pretty penny for white women,” Firestick went on. “If I was a bettin’ man, unpleasant as it is to think on, that’s how I’d lay my money.”
“Bastards!” hissed Daisy, pressing close against Moosejaw.
“So why are we standin’ here jawin’ about it? Let’s saddle up and get the hell after ’em,” exclaimed Beartooth.
Firestick raised a hand, palm out. “Hold on. You gotta know I want to do that worse than anybody. But they’ve already got a two- or three-hour head start. Another hour or so ain’t gonna make that much difference. What’s more important is to take some time to make the smartest plan and best preparations. Then we go after ’em!”
“What plans and preparations? What have you got in mind?”
Firestick raked his eyes over everyone gathered around him. They came to rest on Frenchy and Janice. “Can’t tell you gals how obliged I am for comin’ forward like you done. If Janice hadn’t seen what she did and been willin’ to speak up about it, this whole thing would be even more puzzlin’ than it is. But you can take your leave now and go on about your own affairs. The rest of us will be headin’ over to the jail and hashin’ out the best way to proceed from here. Oh, and Miss Frenchy? You can gather up Arthur and come fetch Sterling as soon as you’re ready. Forget about the fine. We’ll call it even.”
CHAPTER 33
Josh and Charlie set a steady, moderately brisk pace for their ride away from Buffalo Peak. With the packhorse heavily laden and their mounts carrying double, even though the women were relatively light, they didn’t want to risk wearing out their horses this early on the first day. The sun was already at its peak, blazing white hot in a cloudless sky, meaning the next few hours would grow hotter still.
Charlie figured they’d covered fifteen miles, maybe closer to twenty, when he spotted a stand of scraggly trees along the base of a low, rocky ridge just ahead. He reckoned this looked like a good spot to take a break and signaled to Josh. They slowed their horses and turned them in where the trees threw patches of dappled shade. Each man swung down from his saddle and then reached up to ease down the woman who’d been riding with him.
Both women had their hands tied in front of them with rough twine and were gagged by bandannas jerked tight across their mouths and knotted behind their heads. When Kate’s feet touched the ground, she staggered and weaved a little. Charlie quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her. As soon as Cleo touched down, on the other hand, she seemed quite steady—enough so that she immediately hauled off and kicked Josh in the shins and then followed up with an attempt to drive her knee into his groin.
Josh’s high-topped leather boot absorbed most of the impact from the kick. And he’d been in enough barroom brawls to have learned how to turn his hip against an attempted groin shot. So the most devastating effect of Cleo’s aggression was that she was jarred off balance and ended up falling onto her rump.
Josh lunged forward and leaned over her, clucking with concern. “You got to take it easy or you’ll hurt yourself,” he cautioned. “Are you okay?”
Cleo’s eyes blazed up at him and her throat strained as she loosed what would have been a tirade of angry words if the gag in her mouth hadn’t made them unintelligible.
Looking on, still with his hands on Kate’s shoulders, Charlie chuckled. “It’s a good thing she’s gagged, Josh, elsewise I think you would have just got another workin’ over from her sassy mouth.”
“Well, what do you expect?” said Josh, scowling. “We ain’t took no chance to talk to ’em yet, to explain what this is al
l about. They’re probably scared half to death, thinkin’ the worst. You would be, too, in their position right about now. My Miss Cleo just showed she’s got spirit and is a fighter, that’s all. Ain’t a doggone thing wrong with that.”
“Then there ain’t no time like the present to start pitchin’ our case,” replied Charlie. “We can tell ’em what’s goin’ on while the horses are coolin’ down before we water ’em. This’ll be our chance to water the gals, too, and start showin’ we mean ’em no harm, only comfort and good things. I got to warn everybody right now, though, that if that spitfire of yours—or mine, either, for that matter—takes a notion to try a kick at my stones, I’ll flatten her and it won’t be because she fell off balance that she hits the ground. I don’t cotton to beatin’ women in general, but something like that is crossin’ the line to where a clobberin’ would be called for.”
“That’s fair enough, I reckon,” allowed Josh. “But just steer clear of my spitfire and you won’t have no worry. Won’t be long, though—once these gals understand what we’re about—where there won’t be no need for that kind of stuff to enter into it at all.”
Charlie nodded. “And if we’re gonna get to that part, we might as well start in. Like I said, I’m sure they’d welcome a drink and maybe some grub. So, since we’re well out of range for raisin’ a holler to do ’em any good, we can go ahead and get rid of their gags.” As he said this, Charlie began untying Kate’s bandanna. Glancing over at Josh, he grinned crookedly and added, “Though I’ll wager that one of yours is gonna spit out a good, loud earful all the same.”
A moment later, as soon as the stifling cloth was removed from her mouth, Cleo made Charlie’s prediction come true by unleashing a string of angry curses and threats.
“You lowdown, grubby-pawed bastards! I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but I’ll see your balls cut off and stuffed in my pocket before this is over!”
“Whooee! Such language!” Charlie exclaimed. “Can’t you at least try to tame it down some on account of there bein’ a lady present?” He tugged the gag out of Kate’s mouth and then turned her around to face him. Smiling, he said to her, “You are a lady, ain’t you, darlin’? I could tell right off, from just one look.”
Kate’s gaze met his, her eyes and expression icy. “My mama taught me that a lady is as a lady does,” she said with the same chill in her voice. “But if she knew what I was thinking right about now, I doubt she would find it very ladylike even by that broad interpretation.”
Charlie’s smile stayed in place. “Sounds to me like that was just a classier way of sayin’ you agree with Little Miss Foul-mouth.”
Kate gave no reply, just continued to regard him with her icy stare.
“Well, under the circumstances,” Charlie said with a sigh, “I reckon I can’t blame you too much. But you’ll come around. It’s just a matter of time before both of you gals—providin’ you got good sense—will get it through your heads that me and Josh mean you no harm, only good. Good for you and good for us, too.”
“It’ll be a cold day in hell before I look at the likes of either of you and see anything good!” sneered Cleo.
“Aw, come on now. Don’t be like that. Some things you just need to give a chance,” said Josh. He lifted the canteen from his saddle and held it out to her. “Here. You got to be thirsty after that hard ride. Take yourself a long, cool drink and try to calm down some.”
Cleo glared first at him and then at the canteen. For a minute it looked like she was going to refuse the drink, maybe even knock the canteen away. But then the fact she was hot and thirsty won out. She took the canteen in her two still-bound hands and lifted it to her lips.
Charlie produced his own canteen and held it out to Kate, saying, “Even your hot-tempered friend sees the sense in cooperatin’ at least a little. Here. Have your own self a drink.”
After the women had slaked their thirst, Charlie and Josh took their own turns with the canteens. Then they instructed Kate and Cleo to go sit down in a grassy spot by the trunk of one of the trees while they tended to the horses—watering them out of their hats before hobbling them where they could munch at some of the sparse grass that was available.
Turning back to where the women sat, Josh said, “You gals want anything to eat? We got jerky, some biscuits, airtights of peaches and different things.”
“This will be a short stop and we won’t be makin’ another until we halt for night camp across the border. So if you want anything in your bellies besides some more drinks of water between now and then,” Charlie advised, “you’d better speak up.”
“What we want,” said Cleo, “is to know what this is all about.”
“Where are you taking us—and why?” added Kate.
Following an exchange of glances between him and Josh, Charlie ambled over and squatted near the women. Josh came and stood beside him.
“Okay. The long and the short of it,” said Charlie, “is this: We’ve taken you gals to be our brides.”
Kate and Cleo couldn’t have looked more dumbfounded if he’d sprouted a bushy tail and yipped like a coyote.
“Now we know this ain’t the way such things are generally done,” Charlie went on. “But me and Josh also know we ain’t very polished on, whatyacall, social graces. And we ain’t spring chickens no more, and we don’t fool ourselves that we’re overly handsome. So it shouldn’t be hard to see that the chance for meetin’ and courtin’ gals to become our wives in the regular way has, well, sorta passed us by. But we ain’t ready to just leave it at that. We’re hard workers, basically honest, and we could be good providers for a wife and family. That’s what we want to show you—that we can be decent, dedicated, good husbands. Once we win you over, why, we figure nature will then just take its course.”
“That’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard,” said Kate in a strained, partially hushed whisper.
Josh shook his head. “No, not rightly so. That’s the way it was done long, long ago. A fella would pick his mate, show her he meant business and could take care of her, and that was that. All the fol-der-al about courtin’ and goin’ to dances and meetin’ the family and the rest of that kind of stuff came along later on. Me and Charlie are meanin’ to go back to the old ways, skip over all the clutter, and get right to what matters.”
“And that don’t mean we’re right away lookin’ to violate you or some such, neither,” Charlie was quick to add. “Like I said, that’s where we’re willin’ to let nature take its course. Once you see how we treat you and provide for you, you’ll come around in time.”
“You fools,” said Cleo. “Don’t you know what kind of girl I am? You can have your way with me—play house with me, if that’s what you want to call it—any night of the week and twice on Saturday for just a handful of dollar bills. You don’t have to hogtie me and drag me out into the desert just to—”
“Stop that!” Josh cut her off. “That life is over for you. I don’t want to hear you speak of it no more. When you become my wife, you’re gonna be startin’ from scratch. Startin’ decent. Nothing that came before is gonna matter.”
Cleo regarded him and for a moment, her sassy boldness slipping. It left her looking bewildered and a little frightened. “You are insane.”
“Do insane people plan as careful and thorough as we have?” said Charlie, scowling. He swung his arm, motioning toward the horses. “See that pack animal over there? See all those bundles piled on his back? Those are supplies. There are things in those bundles—utensils, clothes, foofaraws—that any wife in the territory would give her eye teeth to have at her disposal. The place where we’re takin’ you, you’ll get to wear those things and use those things, and you’ll start to get the idea that bein’ the wives of Charlie Gannon and Josh Stallworth ain’t such a bad notion at all.”
“Where is it you’re taking us?” Kate asked.
Charlie smiled smugly. “After we make a little dodge down into Mexico for the sake of throwin’ off any b
usybodies who might come after us, we’ll angle back up to the northwest and re-cross into good ol’ Texas again. Me and Josh got in mind a spot we passed through once durin’ our driftin’ days. Little place where they struck silver a few years back. But then the vein ran out and the town that sprung up and thrived for a while emptied out. Just some old buildings left now. But there’s a few sturdy ones amongst ’em. Places just right for turnin’ into temporary homes where we can take the time to get to know one another with nobody else around to bother us.”
“Place has a right pretty name, too,” said Josh. He smiled at Cleo. “Real promisin’ name for us to start a bright, promisin’ future together. It’s called Bright Rock.”
CHAPTER 34
“Bright Rock,” Keefer Fleming muttered sourly. He lifted the bottle of tequila he held loosely in one hand and took a long, gurgling slug. Lowering it, he passed the back of his free hand across his mouth. His squinted eyes made another hundred-eighty-degree scan of his surroundings, and the expression on his face conveyed the same sourness as his tone. “Bright Rock,” he repeated. “Boy, whoever came up with that name sure as hell saw things different than the way they look to me. What I’m seein’ now is about as bright as a sun-baked old buffalo chip layin’ out on the prairie somewhere.”
To one side of Fleming, leaning against a porch post of the building that at one time had been a hotel, Vic Mason let his own gaze drift down the length of the sand-filled, tumbleweed-strewn street lined on either side by dusty, sagging, empty structures.
“Yeah, the old place is definitely lacking signs of life or luster these days,” he agreed. “But if it was anything like most boom towns at their peak, I bet it was something to see back when.”
“Maybe,” Fleming grunted. “But it’d take a helluva strong imagination to picture it any different now.”
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