Miracle Jones (33 page)

“You miserable old goat,” Miracle snorted.
Most often his little lapses with the bottle didn’t bother her, but tonight she was really upset.
He could have seriously injured himself.
He’d kept her from going after Harrison.
He’d forced her to pace the floor and worry herself sick over Harrison, Brody, and Blue.

Her hair was still wet from when she scrubbed herself down to get rid of the mud.
Miracle pulled it off her neck impatiently.
She’d tossed on her muslin nightgown and thrown her cloak over it for warmth, intending to dress again should it be necessary.
Now she wrapped her hair in a towel and scrubbed her scalp.
God knew what would happen when Harrison returned.
If
he returned.

Uncle Horace kept on snoring, and Miracle gathered up a wool skirt, a cotton blouse, a pair of drawers, and dry boots.
And she headed back downstairs.
She was at the sharp curve of the stairway when she sensed she wasn’t alone.
Dropping her clothes, she reached automatically for her knife.
It wasn’t there!
She’d forgotten to strap it onto her leg after the bath.

Hard arms then grabbed her, and a man’s heavy hands slapped over her face.
“Don’t fight me, Miracle.
I don’t have a lot of patience,” Blue said angrily.

She kicked and writhed anyway.
He grabbed her pounding fist, wrenching her arm behind her back until it was numb.
She was sure he would break it off.

“That’s better,” he said when she stopped struggling.

Miracle was silent, her mind turning feverishly, more determined than afraid.
“What do you want?” she demanded in a surprisingly normal voice when he removed his fingers from her lips to allow her to speak.

“We’ve got to make a deal, little sister.” The way he said that made her skin crawl.
“I’ve got to have your silence.
Leastwise for a few more days.”

“Why?
What do you intend to do?”

“Get far away from Rock Springs.
But if you tell on me, I’ll make sure that boyfriend of yours dies a very painful death.”

Miracle’s heart leaped.
Blue clearly hadn’t caught up with Harrison yet.
“So Harrison’s still alive.
I suppose I should be grateful.”

He laughed at her sarcastic tone, then dragged her back up the stairs.
Miracle could feel cold evening air swirling up behind them.
Blue had obviously broken his way into the shop and hadn’t latched the door.

Miracle began struggling again.
She didn’t know what he had in mind, but she certainly didn’t want to be trapped upstairs with him.

“I asked you politely not to fight me,” he reminded her, his tone low and fierce in her ear.
“I’m not going to hurt you.
I just want to talk.”

Miracle ceased fighting.
Maybe she could stall him, Harrison and Sheriff Raynor would return.

“I don’t believe you’re really Blue,” she told him coldly, more to get a reaction then because it was anywhere near the truth.

He yanked her hair back, hurting her, staring down into her face with black eyes.
“Didn’t your precious Aunt Emily write and tell you I’ve been looking for you?”

“Yes, but how do I know you’re Blue?”

With one swift movement he ripped the front of her muslin nightgown, exposing the upper swells of her breasts and the tiny crescent-moon-shaped scar.
“I did this to you,” he said softly.
“I actually had a few regrets about it, but it’s come in handy as a means of identification, don’t you think?”

Miracle tried to hide the shudder that swept over her.
They were at the top step, and she was going no farther.
Oh, God, please let him be telling the truth in saying Harrison is alive and well.
Her heart nearly stopped.
At least she’d assumed that’s what he’d said, she realized helplessly.
He hadn’t really said anything at all!

“You work with Brody, don’t you?”

“We’re acquainted.”

“Why did you – tell me about him that day you came in the shop?” Miracle asked.
“I’d think you’d want to protect him.”

“Well, y’see, Brody’s been lying to me.
He said no one could recognize him.
That he was safe coming to Rock Springs.
But you got a good look at him that night he dragged you out of the wagon, didn’t you?”

Miracle just stared at him.
That day…when he’d walked in the shop…it had been a test.
And she’d failed.
As soon as Blue had realized she could finger Brody, her fate, and possibly his, was sealed.

“Garrett knew Brody, too,” Blue went on, oblivious to Miracle’s belated realization, “but Garrett’s smart enough to keep his mouth shut, given the proper encouragement.
You, little sister, are a wild card.” He ran his fingers down the curve of her cheek.
“And the noteworthy Dr.
Danner has been as unshakable as a tracking wolf.”

Miracle’s mouth was dry.
She felt nothing but revulsion for this man who was supposed to be her brother.
“Harrison doesn’t know anything.”

He laughed.
“Oh, yes, he does.
And you sent him after Brody tonight, so don’t get me sore by lying again.”

Throat dry, Miracle said, “I swear, Harrison doesn’t know anything about you.
He only knows about Brody.”

“You’re going to make sure of that, aren’t you?”

Miracle nodded vigorously.
Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she would have said anything to reassure him.

She remembered, then, that Jeb and Bushy Eyebrows and Brody had talked about the chief the night they’d kidnapped her.
She’d assumed the chief was merely the ringleader.
But now she realized
Chief
was Blue’s name because he was half-Indian, like herself.
Lord, but at this moment he looked full-blooded .
His features were mean and sharp, not like the more rounded Chinooks.
Aunt Emily had said he was a proper little hellion.
Well, the little hellion had grown into a wicked, evil, conscienceless man.

“You killed those women, didn’t you?” she said quietly.
“You used them and killed them.”

“Ah, Miracle.
That was Brody.
I’ve just been involved in a little thieving, that’s all.”

“You’re part of the gang of highwaymen,” she realized.

“I linked up with them by mistake, while I was looking for you.
But they’re all dead now anyway.
Except Brody,” he added quickly.

He was lying.
She could almost smell it.
He was shifting the blame to Brody.
It was a coward’s way out, and only a coward would abuse and murder women the way Blue and Brody had.

What prevented him from killing her?
she wondered.
Blood ties would mean precious little to a man like Blue.
But her fear was for Harrison.
Because of Harrison’s luckless association with her, he’d become an obstacle in Blue’s path.
His very life could depend on how Miracle handled Blue.

“What you want me to do?” she asked calmly.

Blue grinned.
He was handsome, she realized, her chest tightening.
His face lacked character, however.
As if the lines of strain and conscience couldn’t etch into such a cold, cruel visage.

“Keep Harrison Danner away from me.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“Why, I’m going to help you, Miracle.
You’ve been looking for your father, and I think it’s time you had some help from your brother.
By the way, is Jace Garrett’s father really your father, too?”

Miracle couldn’t hold back her gasp.
The only way he could know that is if he’d seen Harrison!
“You lied to me!
You’ve hurt Harrison!
So help me, I’ll
kill
you if you –”

His grip tightened so hard around her that tears sprang to the corner of her eyes.
“Now, hold on.
I just overheard your boyfriend and Garrett discussing it.”

“Harrison… and Jace?”

“Seems Garrett wasn’t too powerful interested in believing his daddy was yours, too.”

“Let me go, Blue!” she spat.
Damn and hellfire!
Why didn’t Uncle Horace wake up and help her?

For a moment Blue’s cruel hands tightened and Miracle fought back a groan of agony.
She’d lost all feeling in her arm.
“I’ve been waiting a helluva long time for you.
I’m not letting you go now.
You and your drunken uncle took your own blasted time getting here.
I’ve been waiting too long!”

Through a haze of pain Miracle realized Blue had given himself away.
He was the man who’d murdered those women on the road between Rock Springs and Malone.
The first girl had been found in the Clackamas River in early summer, the second in late July.
Blue had met with Aunt Emily in the spring; Aunt Emily’s first letter had been postmarked sometime in June.
He could have gotten to Rock Springs way ahead of Miracle and Uncle Horace, who’d dallied in several other towns on their way.
Blue had found a terrible way to pass the time, she realized sickly.

She had to tell Harrison!

As if reading her mind, Blue brought one hand around her throat.
“Say a word to anyone and Harrison Danner dies.
I have my ways, Miracle.
Just you understand that.”

Miracle nodded.
She understood perfectly.

“Now, tomorrow, I want you to be ready to leave.”

“To leave?” she choked out.

“I’m going to help you take care of the Garretts, and you’re going to help me escape.”

“You can go now.
No one knows you’re here.
You can –”

He cut her off by squeezing on her windpipe.

“Didn’t I just say I was going to help you?
If Jace Garrett’s father owes you something, Miracle, it’s time we collected.”

“No, Blue!
I don’t want to cause any trouble.”

“We’re going to get what’s owed you, little sister.
And then…”

He left the sentence unfinished, but the way he looked at her made her blood freeze in her veins.
While she stared into his hellish black eyes, she heard the pounding of hoofbeats outside and the rattle of wagon wheels.
Harrison!

Blue flung her against the floor.
Miracle knocked her chin and saw stars.
She staggered to her feet, clattering and slipping down the stairs after him.
She was too late; he was already disappearing through the door and into the dense fog.

She tried to shout, but the wind had been knocked from her lungs and she could barely stand.
Her throat burned.
She stumbled to the front door.
Bobbing lantern lights and shouts could be seen and heard, but that was about it.
Dragging her cloak more tightly around her, she headed barefooted in the direction of the noise.

The wagon had passed on, toward the infirmary.
Miracle’s breath caught painfully.
Outside the jail, the deputy stood facing in the direction the wagon had gone.
“Excuse me,” Miracle said breathlessly.
“Who was in the wagon?”

“Jace Garrett, ma’am,” he answered, after realizing who she was.

“What about Harrison Danner?”

“No, ma’am.
He ain’t returned yet.”

Miracle felt faint.
“And Sheriff Raynor?”

“They’s still lookin’ for that woman killer.
Lost in the fog, I reckon.
Won’t find him tonight.”

Cold, pelting rain landed on her head, and she shivered.
At least it might wash away the fog.
“How bad is Jace?” Miracle asked, her ears straining to the sounds of men unloading the wagon at the infirmary.

“Don’t rightly know.
But he was shot, as I hear it.
They brought him straight in.”

Miracle ran back to the shop.
She would go to the infirmary as soon as she was dressed.
Jace would at least know what had happened to Harrison.
If there’d been some kind of shootout, then Brody might have been injured.
Hopefully both Harrison and Sheriff Raynor were chasing him.

Her bare feet sounded light and fast on the stairs as she headed to her bedroom.
She tried to close her mind.
Under no circumstances would she allow herself to think Harrison might have been injured, too.
Injured, or worse…