“Jed says Wendell killed his sister Martha,” Betsy told her. “He thinks Wendell also killed his father Frank. That’s why he confronted Wendell, and the confrontation led to the shoot-out.”
“I’m not surprised,” Catherine replied. “The Wilcoxes always stood up to the Foxes. The Wilcoxes were always one element in this town the Foxes couldn’t control. It was only a matter of time before they came to loggerheads. Wendell killed a lot of people in this town to solidify his father’s hold on the place.”
“Do you know anything about the story of treasure hidden on a ranch outside of town?” Betsy asked.
“Sure, everybody knows about that.”
“Have you heard about the curse put on it?” Betsy asked. “I heard there are supposed to be ghosts guarding it. Some people think they send bad luck on anybody that goes near it.”
“It’s not ghosts that send bad luck,” Catherine shot back, “and there’s nothing mysterious about it. Merrill Fox is bent on getting his greedy hands on that treasure, and anybody that goes after it winds up dead.”
Betsy found herself twisting her fingers together so hard they ached. She shook out her hands. “I think I better go. I meant what I said earlier. I’d like to invite you both over to the forge for tea sometime.”
“I’ll come,” Catherine replied. “I can come anytime.”
“Wonderful,” Betsy told her. “I’ll see you both again soon. I have a feeling we’re going to be friends.”
She left the laundry, and she was never so happy to get out into the fresh air. She turned her steps toward home. When she got there, she put her basket of shopping on the kitchen table while she took off her bonnet and hung up her shawl.
Just then, Jed came in from the forge. “You’re causing a big stir in town, Ma’am.”
“I am?” she asked. “I just went shopping.”
“Perkins is out there telling all and sundry that I got married.”
“I guess that’s the storekeeper,” Betsy remarked.
“The very same. I’ve had five people march over here just so they could confront me about it and hear the news from my own lips, since they didn’t believe it when they heard it.”
Betsy turned away. “I never meant to cause a scandal.”
He drew close to her and put his arms around her. “You must have known this was bound to happen. Just ride it out, and it’ll all blow over. In a week or so, they’ll have something else to talk about.”
“It’ll happen sooner than that,” she replied. “I just had a conversation with Catherine Marsden. I’m afraid the news of Wendell’s demise will spread even faster.”
He scratched his chin. “I was afraid of that, too. I haven’t heard anything about it, but it’s only a matter of time, and then the cat’ll be out of the bag.”
“Catherine said a lot of people in this town had a beef against Wendell, including her. She also said Merrill Fox has been after the treasure for years. That could explain why Wendell was looking for it. He could have been looking for his father.”
“Maybe.” Jed sat down at the table and started eating a slice of buttered bread Betsy put in front of him.
“Catherine says Wendell killed anybody that went looking for the treasure,” Betsy went on. “She says the only bad luck ghosts surrounding the treasure were the Foxes.”
“If Catherine said so, it must be true,” Jed replied. “She knows more about this town than anybody. She even knows more than the Foxes. I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows where the treasure is buried.”
“Is it possible Wendell killed Martha for going near the treasure?” Betsy asked.
“I don’t see how,” he replied. “Martha couldn’t have known anything about the treasure—beyond the local legends, that is. Wendell wanted her—nothing else. He never backed down on anything he wanted, and when she resisted, he killed her. It’s as simple as that.”
“I’m not so sure,” Betsy countered. “What was Martha doing in the days and weeks leading up to her death? Did she deviate from her routine at all?”
“No, she never deviated from her routine,” Jed replied. “Besides, she was killed in town, not on any ranch.”
“Maybe the treasure isn’t on the ranch at all,” Betsy suggested. “Maybe the Foxes circulated that rumor to throw everybody off the trail.”
Jed shook his head. “Now you’re making things up. You’re seeing connections that aren’t there. Martha was a sweet, pretty girl who attracted the attentions of the wrong man. That’s what got her killed.”
“How do you know?” she asked. “Martha grew up in this town. Catherine has been here ten years, and Martha was a lot older than that when she died. Both of you lived in this town a lot longer than Catherine. Maybe Martha found something out, and Wendell…”
He let his arm bang on the table to cut her off. “Martha did not know anything about the treasure.”
Betsy jumped at the noise. She spun around to find him glaring at her with flashing eyes. Her hand flew to her heart. “You scared me!”
He hung his head. “I’m sorry. I’m just kind of sensitive on the subject of Martha. I loved that girl, and we used to tell each other all our secrets. If she found out anything about the treasure, she would have told me. I’m certain of that.”
“Okay,” Betsy stammered. “I believe you.”
He bent over his food. “Do me a favor, will you? Don’t go poking your nose in this treasure business. The last thing we need to do is antagonize Merrill Fox more than I already have. I would hate to see anything happen to you because of it.”
“All right,” Betsy replied. “I won’t.”
Chapter 9
Betsy worked around the house the next morning, but Jed did such a good job getting the place ready for her that she soon ran out of chores to do. In the end, she got out her mending basket and settled down to work in the kitchen until lunchtime.
At midday, Jed came in from the forge. “Would you run down to the General Store for me, darlin’? I shattered my ball peen hammer, and I need a new one. I don’t have time to stop work now, and I need it.”
“Of course,” she replied. “You finish your lunch, and I’ll go get it.”
She tied on her bonnet and threw her shawl around her shoulders. She took her basket just in case and strode away toward town. She got the hammer from the Store, but on her way back, she spotted the Sheriff coming out of the Jail. Instead of walking into town, he turned down the alley leading to Abigail’s laundry.
Betsy stopped at the head of the alley. She looked down it just long enough to see the Sheriff go into the laundry. That was strange. What could Sheriff Rupert want with either Abigail or Catherine?
Betsy’s mind started turning. When the laundry door opened a second time, she ducked behind the building where the Sheriff wouldn’t see her. She waited until the Sheriff left. Then she made a dash for the door herself.
She waded through the steam to Abigail’s wash tub. “What was Sheriff Rupert doing here?”
Catherine greeted her from the same chair. “Good morning to you, too, honeybunch. He was in here asking about a bunch of shirts he gave Abigail to wash. What other reason could he have to come down here?”
Betsy’s shoulders slumped. “None, I guess. I better go. I’m letting my imagination run away with me.”
Catherine laughed. “Don’t borrow trouble when you’ve got enough of your own, child.”
Betsy nodded and turned away. “That’s what Jed told me, too.”
She opened the door and walked outside. She paused to pull the door closed behind her. At the moment she turned around, the world went black. Her hand flew to her face, and she felt a cloth bag covering her head.
She didn’t have time to do anything else before powerful arms swept her feet off the ground. She started to kick and scream, but the arms strapped around her body and limbs. They pinned her hands to her sides so she couldn’t fight back. A hand clamped over her mouth to muffle her screams.
She fel
t herself being carried through space. Where were they taking her? Her brain screamed out, Jed! but no one heard that. Her mind started whirling. Jed said he needed that hammer right away. He would check to see where she went. How long would it take before he realized something was wrong?
He would go to the Store and find out she’d been there and didn’t come home. Then what? Would he think to check with Catherine that she went to the laundry to ask about the Sheriff’s visit?
She could only hope and pray to God he realized what was going on. Until then, she had to submit to these hands holding her down against all her power to break free. In no time, something tight cinched around her body to hold her. The hands tied something around her mouth to keep her quiet.
The next thing she knew, the jolt of a wagon jerked her forward. The sounds of the town went on as usual all around her. No one knew what was happening to her, and she couldn’t scream to signal for help.
The wagon traveled a long way—at least, it seemed like a long way to Betsy. The hard boards under her jabbed her bones. The incessant vibration chaffed her skin. Would this horrible trip never end?
After what seemed an eternity, the wagon stopped. Someone picked her up and carried her somewhere. This time, when they put her down, they did it gently. They laid her on a cold stone floor in utter silence and left her alone.
A door closed, and Betsy immediately started wriggling as hard as she could. She couldn’t budge the ropes tying her hands and ankles together, but she managed to loosen the mask and gag from her face. By rubbing them on the floor, she worked them off.
Her heart and soul told her to scream for help, but when she looked around, she stopped. She was in a basement full of dusty shelves. A few tiny windows high above the floor let daylight into the murky gloom.
Betsy’s thoughts raced. She had to find a way out of here, but she couldn’t move with her wrists and ankles tied. She had to find a way to cut the ropes. She scanned her surroundings for anything sharp, but she didn’t see anything that would help her.
Just then, muffled voices drifted through the walls to her ear. She detected two distinct male voices, but she couldn’t distinguish the words. By humping herself along the floor, she scooted close to the door. She leaned her back against the wall and held her breath to listen.
“You shouldn’t have brought her here,” one voice said. “If someone found her here, it could turn against us.”
“No one will find her here,” the other voice replied. “That’s why I brought her here. No one will come looking for her here. It’s perfectly safe.”
“That’s what you said about the other matter, and look how that turned out,” his companion countered. “Move her somewhere else. That’s an order.”
“There is nowhere else,” the second man argued. “Can you think of one place in this town where she’ll be better hidden?”
“You’re a fool,” the first voice snapped. “I never wanted any part of this scheme of yours, and now you’re going to destroy us both.”
“No one will be destroyed,” the second voice replied.
“No one but Wendell, you mean,” the first voice shot back.
Now that she got a chance to listen with a clear head, Betsy recognized Sheriff Rupert’s voice as the second man. She still didn’t know who the first man was. “Wendell got what he deserved,” the Sheriff replied. “He messed with the wrong person one too many times, and he got what was coming to him.”
“How dare you speak about my son that way?” the first man cried.
So the first man must be Merrill Fox. They kidnapped her, probably to get back at Jed.
“You can’t go wiping out an entire family,” the Sheriff told him. “Just be thankful everybody thinks Wendell killed that girl out of lust gone wild and not for the real reason. If people found out she stumbled on the treasure and you ordered Wendell to kill her to keep her quiet, this whole town would be in an uproar. Be thankful you’ve got nothing more than an upstart blacksmith to deal with and nothing more.”
“I should have known you would turn against me in the end,” Merrill snarled. “I never should have trusted you.”
Sheriff Rupert lowered his voice to a rumble. “If I haven’t proven my loyalty to you a thousand times, then nothing will. I’m all you’ve got left in this town, now that Wendell is dead. I’m the only one corrupt enough to do your bidding. Thanks to you, Wendell turned everyone in this town against us. You killed too many people to protect your precious secrets. It was only ever a matter of time before someone stood up to you that Wendell couldn’t handle, and now you know who it is. You misjudged Jed Wilcox exactly the way I said you had, and now you’re paying for it with Wendell’s life, so don’t come crying to me about me turning against you.”
Betsy listened with a pounding heart. So it was all true! Martha stumbled on the treasure, and Wendell killed her to keep her quiet. Martha’s death never had anything to do with Wendell lusting after her.
“I don’t care what you have to do,” Merrill Fox fired back. “Get that woman out of here. She’s a liability to both of us.”
“She’s Jed Wilcox’s only weakness,” Sheriff Rupert replied. “If you want to control him, you need her, so I suggest you get comfortable with the idea of having her around. There’s nowhere else in town we can keep her. She’s staying here. Otherwise, you can find another hiding place and move her yourself. I won’t run the risk of taking her back out into the open.”
Footsteps banged off in both directions. Betsy slithered back into the middle of the floor where Sheriff Rupert left her. She couldn’t let them know she found out what they were up to. If they did, they would kill her for certain.
Now that peace descended over the basement, she measured her surroundings with a critical eye. She couldn’t get to the high windows. She still had to find a way to cut these ropes binding her, and she had to do it before nightfall. Once darkness fell, she would never be able to see to get out of here.
Still, she didn’t find anything she could use to cut the ropes. She was stuck. She worked all over the room and ruined her dress squirming in the dirt until she finally gave up in hopeless despair.
Dusk darkened the light coming through the window. Betsy couldn’t see well enough to keep searching, and there was nothing left to search for. She lay down on the cold floor and closed her eyes.
The blissful hours she spent with Jed in their house behind the forge floated before her eyes. Warmth and light filled the place. Useful work brought joy to all her days. The ring of Jed’s hammer filled the house from breakfast ‘til supper. She never had to worry about where he was or what he was doing with that constant reminder. As long as that hammer kept pounding, everything was all right.
The resounding beat joined the rhythm of her heart beating inside her. That steady pulse connected them, no matter where they were. She would get back to him one day. She would hear that ringing blow one more time. It would fill her life with its pleasant certainty, like the endless ticking of the clock.
That sound put her to sleep. It sheltered her from cold and fear and discomfort. It swaddled her in blissful tranquility she never knew before in her life. She dreamed about Jed’s face resting on the pillow in their bedroom. His dark hair tumbled around his face, and her fingers traced the lines of muscle on his chest and shoulders.
She rocked in his kiss, and his embrace protected her from everything.
Chapter 10
Betsy woke to fresh daylight streaming through the windows. Those windows must face east. The sun shone straight down them into the basement, but not even that could make the place cheery or inviting.
Betsy struggled to sit up. Every limb ached from sleeping on that hard stone floor. Her shoulders throbbed from lying with her arms tied behind her back, and she couldn’t stretch her legs.
She looked around her, but that only depressed her even more. She had nothing to do and nowhere to go. A life spent in meaningful work ended like this. The boredom of sitting still and
doing nothing rankled her worse than anything.
Somewhere outside this basement, Abigail was heating up water for her wash tub. Jed would be firing up the forge and pumping the bellows to ignite the coals. What was Betsy doing? Sitting here with her hands tied behind her back.
She made up her mind to get working on her escape. There must be something in this basement she overlooked yesterday. She looked around when a shadow fell across one of the windows. She looked up, but the rays of sunshine stabbed her in the eyes when the shadow moved away.
The next instant, the other window darkened, and Betsy found herself staring up into a familiar face. She opened her mouth to scream out, “Jed!” but he laid his finger against his lips to silence her.
Her heart exploded into her throat. He was here! He came for her after all. She couldn’t keep still a second longer. She floundered all over the floor for a way to get to her feet, but when she did, she only fell over and hurt herself.
Jed disappeared, and her spirit crashed into her shoes. She couldn’t bear another second here alone. A moment later, he reappeared. He scraped and tapped against the window until it popped open. In no time, he slipped through it and landed on the floor in front of her.
Betsy would have thrown her arms around him if she had her arms free to do it. In any event, he threw his arms around her and kissed her. Tears streamed down Betsy’s cheeks. “Oh, you found me! I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Thank heaven you’re all right,” he exclaimed. “I’ve been worried sick. I’ve been searching for you all night. I thought for certain you were dead.”
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“Hold on,” he breathed. “Let me get these untied.”
He went to work on the ropes, and in a minute, he freed her. Now she really did throw her arms around him. She couldn’t stop kissing him until he pushed her off. “Take it easy, darlin’. Everything’s gonna be all right, but we have to get you out of here. You’re in Merrill Fox’s basement.”
The Blacksmith's Bride (Brides 0f Brimstone Book 1) Page 6
