"I will go alone with Herbert, to that farm."
"Oh no you won't," Clementine instantly rebelled. Her niece's life was in danger and she had to be the one leading the search party.
"It could be dangerous," Alexander argued.
"I do not care," Clementine snapped back. "My niece is being held by some strange man, so I am going with you, and that is final."
Herbert stayed out of their argument, which was a smart move. Alexander eyed her as though he wanted to fight some more. Then he took a deep breath pushing fingers through his hair.
"Clementine," he tried again. "You can't," he said in a much calmer tone.
"Alexander, it is not up to you to tell me what I can or cannot do." She couldn't believe he was wasting their time in such a fashion.
"Just listen to me, please. I need your help."
If he needed her help, then why was he preventing her from coming with them? She said as much.
"I need you to do something for me here, please," he insisted, making no sense at all.
Clementine let out a deep breath and he took that as a sign to continue explaining.
"I need you to go home and get that knife Mr. Brewer left for you."
"Why?"
"In case he lied. I need you to take it to the sheriff's department as evidence. And once there, you can tell Sheriff O'Conner about this new development," he said all in one breath.
"Can't we do it later?"
Alexander shook his head. "He could let Brewer go and if it is him all along—"
"We could lose him forever," she finished instead of him.
"Exactly. Also, I am sure the sheriff would want to come to the farm, and you can come with him."
Clementine pondered his words. It all sounded very reasonable. "I still think you are merely trying to get rid of me," Clementine said what was on her mind. He was trying to be a hero and she couldn't let him do that.
"In part, yes," he replied honestly taking her by surprise. "But be reasonable. What if we all go there only to realize we need backup? There's no telling what we'd be walking ourselves into."
Clementine did not want to put Pauline in jeopardize. In additional jeopardy, she corrected herself. That was why she said. "All right. I will do as you instructed."
"Good," he looked genuinely relieved.
"And Alexander?"
"Yes?"
"Promise me that if she's there you will save her and punish the man who did this to her."
His reply was instant and without a thought. "With pleasure."
Chapter Twenty-Six
Clementine ran with all her might toward the house all the while cursing herself for her stupidity. She did not doubt Alexander and trusted he would never put Pauline in danger, but there was still a part of her wishing she was going with him on that farm. Yet here she was, doing as he instructed.
Truth be told she doubted herself. Clementine couldn't help thinking every bad decision of hers led to this tragedy. Even though she could not fathom who this stranger was and what was his grievance with her, she was certain it was all her fault.
If she was alert enough, present enough and not inside her head worrying about money than none of this would have happened. Besides, perhaps Alexander had a point. If Mr. Brewer did lie it was better for her to alert the sheriff, and then something even worse came to mind. What if Herbert lied as well?
Clementine saw the two men conversing at the circus after all. It was more than apparent they were friends even without Mr. Brewer confirming as much, afterwords. What if they planned all of this together to get back at her?
Her fears continued to fuel her paranoia coming up with crazy scenarios every minute. Thinking about possible culprits she couldn't help thinking about Viola's husband as well. Nobody knew where he was. What if he decided to come back and take Pauline?
The last time Viola and Clementine saw him years ago, the sheriff actually had to intervene and banish him since he was causing havoc, so it stood to reason he could come back and seek revenge.
All these thoughts continued to plague her as she finally reached her home. Courtfield never looked bigger than in those moments. Reaching the front door she could not believe her eyes. This time she did curse and used one of Osmond's favorites.
"Unbelievable," she muttered. There was a knife stuck into her front door, again. This time there was a note attached to it.
"What do all these people have against my door?" She talked to herself, her nerves obviously getting the best of her. It was just a regular wooden door that never harmed anybody, and some hooligans kept using it as a noticeboard. If they kept this up, she was going to lose the door completely.
Focus, Clementine, she snapped at herself. Humor was her stress reliever, however, she needed all her wits with her at the moment.
Bracing herself she took the note. It was rather poorly written as though a person writing it was not entirely sure about all the lettering. Despite the bad spelling, Clementine understood it perfectly.
Oh, dear me, please Lord, help us now. It said: "Surrender or else your little brat is dead. Come to Swanson's farm if you want to save her. Come alone."
Even though the note was rather short and self-explanatory, Clementine still felt the need to read it a couple of more times. Where was the rest? She wondered. Usually, when a person got kidnapped, the kidnapper demanded some kind of compensation, a ransom for the safe return of the one taken. This note stated only for her to appear at the said farm, which was strange. Once again she had a strong notion Herbert was involved in this sick game. He mentioned that farm in the first place.
As it turned out, the more she learned the less she knew. Deciding it did not really matter what the true motives of the kidnapper were, or who he was in the first place Clementine instantly turned and started running anew.
She realized there was no time for her to go to the sheriff's department, she needed to get to Pauline immediately. The note said she needed to surrender so that was exactly what she planned on doing. I am coming Pauline, she prayed for her niece to be brave enough just a little bit longer because Clementine was coming to get her back.
The problem that arose almost immediately was a logical one. She could not run all the way to the Swanson's farm. It was true she only had vague notions where it was located but she was sure in one thing though. It was too far away from the city to reach it on time on foot.
Clementine needed a horse. Adjusting her trajectory Clementine practically ran into Mrs. Townsend. Blissfully Clementine avoided smacking into the other woman.
"Clementine, what on earth..." the woman said with a smile. Clementine simply continued running without uttering a word.
She would explain herself some other time. This was an emergency after all so Clementine knew Mrs. Townsend would understand her haste and rudeness.
Busting into the corral she started looking for the stableman. "Excuse me? Mr. Dudd?" Clementine yelled in a rush while looking about. Infuriatingly, there was no reply. Checking the stalls, she found Mr. Dudd passed out drunk in an empty one.
"Typical," she yelled to no one in particular, out of frustration and a great deal of desperation. And the stable boy was nowhere to be seen as well. He would certainly get a spanking from his master for not being here. Once the master got over his drunkenness.
Desperate times required desperate measures, she reminded herself. Seeing no other way Clementine reached into her pocket and took out some money. Throwing it on the stableman's sprawled body, she grabbed the first horse available. After saddling the horse, she galloped out of the city and hopefully toward the farm. Hold on Pauline, I am coming for you. All her thoughts and prayers were focused on that little girl. Clementine couldn't say when was that note left for her so she prayed with all her might she wasn't already too late.
After riding for quite some time Clementine started to doubt in her navigation skills when she spotted two horses tied up to a lonely withered tree. She was certain those horses belong t
o Alexander and Herbert. What would be the odds two other riders happened to be in this deserted area at the same time? Probably zero.
Clementine had no intentions of leaving her horse there as well since her goals were different. She hoped Alexander managed to rescue Pauline by the time she got there. If he didn't, she had plans of her own.
Not so long after passing the horses she spotted the two men as well. She knew Alexander wouldn't approve of her actions, so she didn't plan on asking him to. The men were standing behind the barn, clearly stacking the ranch. To her disappointment, Pauline was not with them.
To Clementine, the place looked utterly abandoned, but the door to the house was closed so she took that as a sign someone was inside. Clementine had no doubts whoever held Pauline knew she was coming just like Alexander and Herbert spotted her.
She did not slow down to inform them what was going on. There was no time, besides, she couldn't say if she was allowed to do such a thing. The note stated she should come alone and clearly that was broken. She just hoped there would be no consequences because of that.
Ignoring the shouts sent her ways she was certain Alexander was going to kill her for doing this, putting herself in danger. She did not care. All she cared about was Pauline, she mattered the most.
Reaching the rickety old house, she jumped off the horse without bothering to tie it down and ran toward the door. Since the person or persons inside already knew she was there and were expecting her after all, Clementine did not bother with knocking simply barged inside without a thought.
"Oh, dear me!"
Diablo looked at the crying girl and smiled. He had done it. It was not that difficult and not easy by any standards yet in the end he won. As far as he was concerned this was game over for Alexander Carson. Diablo had his daughter and that meant he could now do whatever he pleased.
From the moment he learned where Sheriff Carson lived with his loving family, completely by chance, a new plan started to form inside his head. At first, after seeing them in that store, Diablo simply planned on luring the sheriff someplace remote and killing him without much fuss. This was better.
Diablo only wished there was some way he could take the wife as well. At the moment that was impossible. Taking the little girl in broad daylight was risky enough, even more so as it turned out. However, it needed to be done. Diablo saw his opportunity and took it. The sniveling brat fought him the entire time, crying some nonsense to him, luckily, once he threatened he would kill her mother and father she stopped, and Diablo got some quiet time to stop and think about his next move.
"I want my mamma," the little girl cried.
"And I want your father," he snapped back "And be quiet!" he warned.
Diablo could not wait to get rid of this brat. She cried too much. The continuity of it was really starting to get on his nerves. When he was her age, he would get beaten for this kind of unacceptable behavior. Alexander Carson was apparently too lenient with his child.
Diablo checked the time and did a simple calculation inside his head. He shouldn't wait much longer for the other man to arrive. Diablo was certain Carson saw the message he left for him by now. While he waited, he entertained himself with all kinds of notions about their final moments together.
He constantly made rounds inside the house, walking from one window to the next so he could survey his surroundings. Whoever built this house was a genius since there were windows on all sides of the house providing Diablo with a perfect view of the farm and beyond. He felt almost giddy when his plan officially came to be. Saying it differently, when Alexander showed up. He spotted him quite easily. He tried to be inconspicuous, coming on foot. That made no difference at all. Diablo chose this place for a reason.
He frowned realizing Carson had a companion. He did not recognize the other man. Diablo specifically told him to come alone yet he was not worried, nor he cared about that other man. Diablo was just going to have to kill him as well and be done with it.
He smiled. "And now, we wait," Diablo murmured to himself looking at his opponent, waiting for him to make his move. Diablo knew Alexander Carson wouldn't simply barge inside. That was the fun of it all.
Not long after that, another visitor, a lone rider, caught his attention. Who do we have here? He wondered. Diablo's smile grew once he recognized the person who decided to join in on their little party.
This is going to be interesting.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alexander could not believe he was actually trusting this man to help him. Ever since Alexander arrived in this town there was tension between two men to say it mildly, yet here they were. Desperate times made some strange bedfellows, he reminded himself. At any rate, there was nothing he wouldn't do to save Pauline. Accepting help from this man, whom he didn't trust, or particularly liked was nothing.
Alexander would go to the Devil himself and begged for help if it would mean Pauline would be safely returned to them. Herbert told Alexander that the ranch was not easily reached by foot, so they had to make a quick journey to the corral to collect the horses. The stableman was drunk and snoring when they arrived.
"We can just take the horses and pay later, he won't mind," Herbert explained.
"All right."
Truth be told Alexander wouldn't do it any other way since Pauline's life was depending on them reaching that ranch as soon as possible. Still, he was somewhat relieved this was a standard practice since it meant avoiding any future conflicts.
Alexander was tired of all the conflicts and constant battling in his life. He thought he missed his sheriff's vocation, but this right here showed him, he didn't. That was just something familiar, comfortable. However, that did not necessarily mean it was good.
He was more than ready to move on to something peaceful and calm for the remaining part of his life. Clementine's words returned to him. She dreamt about owning a farm, and he realized he liked the sound of that. This was different of course. This was him defending his family. This fight was of a different kind and in his book, there was nothing greater than that.
Speaking of family, he was more than relieved he managed to convince Clementine to stay behind. Even for a little while. Alexander wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done if he was constantly worried about her safety. He was no idiot. He knew he bought himself only a small amount of time before she joined him on the farm with the sheriff.
Alexander was sure that would be enough because it had to be. His plan was simple. To scout the place than rescue Pauline from whoever took her before her aunt came to complicate things further. Simple and effective.
Two men did not speak while riding out of the town which gave Alexander plenty of time to stress about everything. He wished the trend of silence would continue for the entire duration of their journey. Alexander was not that lucky.
Apparently, there was something on Herbert's mind and he shared that with his companion the moment they left the boundaries of the city and were completely alone without any prying ears that could overhear their conversation.
"Do not worry, we will find that sweet girl," Herbert said, all of a sudden, breaking the silence much to Alexanders chagrin. Alexander simply nodded in return. That did not discourage him.
"I just wanted to let you know, no hard feelings."
It was true Alexander had a great deal on his mind, was worried sick about Clementine's niece, sadly, he seemed unable to stop himself from replying. "Excuse me?"
Herbert smiled. "For breaking my nose," then he instantly grew serious once more. "I did cross the line. I deserved it."
Alexander couldn't be more surprised by the other man's words if Herbert told him he actually had a twin brother that caused all the havoc. Also, it was on the tip of his tongue to tell him he was glad Herbert agreed with such an outcome yet remained silent. Alexander did not want to start another argument or encourage further conversation.
No matter what his sentiments were about the other man, Alexander was grateful for his he
lp, and once all of this was over, he would find a way to return the favor.
Herbert misunderstood Alexander’s silence. "I have this problem when I drink too much, my nasty temper flares up."
There was a simple solution to that as far as Alexander was concerned. He could simply stop drinking. Alas, how he chose to live his life was of no concern to Alexander.
"It was a good thing you were there to set me straight," Herbert concluded.
This time Alexander remained silent because he did not know what to reply to that. It was a strange situation to be in. It was clear Herbert had a serious drinking problem. At the same time as Alexander pointed out before that was not his business, as long as Herbert kept his temper in check around Clementine. If not, they would be in that same situation as before and next time Alexander wouldn't be lenient.
A Courageous Bride to Bring Him Hope: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 24
