Bloody Sunday (21 page)

Luke didn't believe that for a second. Despite what Elston said about being above the law, he had broken too many of them just to let his prisoners go.

Glory signing that deed and giving her ranch to Elston would be the same thing as signing their death warrant.

Luke saw that he didn't have to worry about her giving in to threats. She glared defiantly at Elston and shook her head.

“You'll never get your hands on Sam MacCrae's ranch, legally or illegally,” she declared. “Even if I'm dead, my men will fight you. Gabe Pendleton will never let that happen.”

Finn laughed and said, “I reckon you'll find that a bunch of cowboys are no match for me and my men, missy.”

“Enough,” Elston snapped. “I'm not used to begging. If we can't do this the easy way—” He stopped short and nodded to Finn. “Bring in our other guest.”

With a lazy grin, Finn turned and left the room.
Other guest?
Luke looked at Glory, but she just gave a little shake of her head to indicate that she was as confused as he was.

Finn wasn't gone long. He came back into the room, and following him was a tall, handsome, well-dressed man with curly blond hair. He smiled at Glory, who stared at him with wide, horrified eyes.

“Hello, Gloria,” the man drawled, then added mockingly, “Or should I call you Mother?”

Luke knew he was looking at Hugh Jennings.

Glory cried, “No!” She slumped against Luke, evidently almost overcome with fear. He thought for a second that she was shamming, but then he felt her shaking and knew her terror was real.

How evil must Hugh Jennings be to provoke such a reaction in a woman as strong and defiant as Glory?

“It's so wonderful to see you again, my dear,” Jennings went on smoothly, still smiling. “I was afraid we might never be reunited.”

“How . . .” Glory gasped. “How did you—?”

“Find you? It really wasn't that difficult. I can afford to hire the best detectives in the country. I knew it was only a matter of time until they located you.”

This was further proof that what Luke and Glory had discussed earlier was true. If she had stuck to her original plan and remained anonymous in some small settlement, instead of marrying the owner of the biggest ranch in this part of Texas and landing in the middle of a range war, she might have been a lot harder to find.

But it was too late to worry about that now. Hugh Jennings was here. Luke speculated that Jennings had arrived in Painted Post after his detectives informed him where Glory was, discovered that Elston had been trying to get rid of her, and come out here to forge an alliance with the rancher. That would explain why Elston's orders had changed abruptly from killing Glory to capturing her.

Glory seemed to be recovering some from the shock of seeing her murderous stepson. Her voice was stronger and touched with anger as she said, “What do you want, Hugh?”

“What I've always wanted, of course,” Jennings said. “Justice for my father.”

“If you want justice, you'll put a gun to your head and blow your brains out.”

That prompted an arrogant laugh from Jennings.

“Not that old story again,” he said. “The authorities know perfectly well that you killed my father. How can you expect them to believe otherwise when you were caught with his blood all over your hands?”

“He was only bleeding because you killed him.”

“Then why did you point a gun at me and my friends and flee with all that money?”

“I never took any of Alfred's money! That was you. I wasn't going to be railroaded for something I hadn't done!”

Jennings smirked and said, “Those are bold claims from a woman with a history of being a scarlet adventuress and a criminal.”

With a frown, Harry Elston said, “You two can snipe at each other later. Right now I want this business of the MacCrae ranch settled. Mrs. MacCrae, if you sign your ranch over to me like I asked, I'll see to it that you don't have to worry about Jennings taking you back to face the law in Baltimore.”

That blunt statement jolted Jennings right out of his smug, self-satisfied attitude. He looked surprised and said to Elston, “Wait just a minute! That wasn't the agreement we made. You said you'd turn Gloria over to me!”

Singletary shifted his shotgun so that barrels pointed more toward Jennings and growled, “The agreement is whatever the boss says it is, mister.”

“That's right,” Verne Finn added with an edge of steel in his voice.

Elston gave Jennings a hard look as he said, “I don't really care about your problems, Jennings. When you showed up this afternoon and explained who Mrs. MacCrae really is and what she's wanted for back in Baltimore, I figured I could use you to help me get what I want. All that matters to me is her ranch.” Elston shrugged. “If I can persuade her to cooperate, that's the easiest way for me to get what I want. If she won't . . . well, then I guess you can take her back and let the law hang her. I'll buy the MC at auction when the taxes aren't paid. But it's more trouble and more expensive that way, so I hope I can convince her to be reasonable.”

Glory asked, “Do you really think you can force me into selling the ranch to you, Elston, after you had Sam murdered? Sam MacCrae was worth a hundred of you!”

“I had nothing to do with your husband's death, Mrs. MacCrae.”

“Maybe not personally, but you gave the order for him to be bushwhacked!”

Elston shook his head and said, “No, I didn't. That's the truth.”

Oddly enough, Luke thought he believed the former sea captain. After everything else that had happened the past few days, Elston lying about Sam MacCrae's death didn't really serve any purpose now.

“You had your men rustle my cattle,” Glory accused. “You sent them to try to burn down my house. And you've tried to kill Luke and me several times now.”

“You can't prove any of that,” Elston said blandly. “But if you're anxious to go into a court of law—with me knowing what I know about you now—I suppose we can do it that way.”

Glory glared furiously at the rancher, but Luke knew Elston had her between the proverbial rock and hard place. He could hold the threat of Hugh Jennings and that murder charge over her head until she finally gave in and did whatever he wanted her to do.

After a long moment, Glory asked, “What happens if I sign that contract and deed?”

“Then I have what I want and the two of us have no further business. You'll be free to go.”

“How much are you prepared to pay me?”

Elston puffed on his cigar, then said, “One thousand dollars.”

Glory's eyes widened again. She said, “The MC is worth fifty times that!”

“One thousand dollars will buy you a train ticket to anywhere you want to go,” Elston told her, “with enough left over for you to start a new life under a new name. If you stop and think about it, it's not a bad deal for you.”

Jennings was red-faced with anger at what he had to consider a betrayal by Elston. He said, “You can't do that. This woman is wanted for murder!”

“Not in Texas,” Elston said.

“I'll go to the law! I'll go to the Rangers!”

“That wouldn't be a smart thing to do.”

Singletary pointed the shotgun even more toward Jennings and mocked, “Not a smart thing at all.”

“You can't threaten me,” Jennings blustered. “I know my rights.”

“The only rights you have on this ranch are the ones I say you do,” Elston pointed out. “Verne, why don't you take your guest back to his room? Make sure he's comfortable . . . and stays there.”

“Sure, boss,” Finn said with a faint smile. He put his left hand on Jennings's shoulder and his right on the butt of his gun. “Come along, mister.”

“You tricked me,” Jennings said to Elston. “You just wanted to use me as leverage to blackmail Gloria. You won't get away with this!”

Finn's hand tightened on Jennings's shoulder and swung him around. The gunman's eyes were as cold and hard as chunks of agate. Jennings must have read the looming danger in them. He swallowed hard and allowed Finn to steer him toward the doorway.

“This isn't over yet,” Jennings said over his shoulder.

Elston didn't look worried about the veiled threat.

When Finn and Jennings were gone, Elston faced Glory again and said, “What about it, Mrs. MacCrae? You've heard my proposal. What do you say?”

“If I'll sign your damned document, you'll let me go?” Glory asked. “You swear?”

“Of course. It would be in my best interest for you not to be around here anymore.”

“What about Luke?”

Elston shrugged and said, “Jensen doesn't mean anything to me. True, he's been damned annoying since he showed up—looking for you and hoping to collect that bounty, I suppose—and he's cost me a number of good men, but such expenses are necessary sometimes.” A cunning look appeared on Elston's bulldog-like face. “Come to think of it, if you decide to go along with me, you might prefer not to have to worry about Jensen tracking you down again. That can be arranged.”

“No!” Glory said quickly. “That's not what I meant. I don't want him to be harmed.”

“Does that mean you agree to my proposal?”

“I . . . I . . .”

Luke hoped she wasn't foolish enough to go along with what Elston wanted. He didn't trust the rancher for a second. He still believed that he and Glory would be killed as soon as Elston got Glory's name on that paper. He stared at Glory and tried to communicate that to her without saying anything.

“I have to think about it,” she said. “You're asking me to make a big decision here, one that affects the rest of my life. Give me tonight, anyway.”

A look of annoyed impatience flashed across Elston's face. But he puffed angrily on the fat cigar for a second and then jerked his head in a brusque nod. He took the cigar out of his mouth and said, “You have until tomorrow morning to make up your mind. Cooperate with me or you'll go back to Baltimore to hang.” He clamped his teeth on the stogie again and added, “And I'll collect the five grand reward on your head, too.”

Finn came back into the book-lined room. He reported, “Jennings is locked in his room. He won't cause any trouble tonight.”

“Good,” Elston said. “Now you can take Mrs. MacCrae back to her room.”

Singletary motioned toward Luke with the shotgun and asked, “What about Jensen?”

“Back in the smokehouse for now, I suppose.”

“No,” Glory said. “Luke stays in the house with me, or I'll tell you right now that there's no deal.”

Elston grunted and said, “Really? You've gotten softhearted over a man who came here to take you in and collect blood money on you?”

“Luke knows I didn't kill Alfred Jennings.”

“I don't care about that. And like I said, I don't care about Jensen, either. If you want him, you can have him.”

Frowning, Singletary said, “I don't know if that's a good idea—”

Elston stepped toward the crooked deputy, bristling with anger.

“You don't give the orders around here, now do you?” he demanded.

“No, I reckon not,” Singletary replied in a sullen voice. “I just don't trust Jensen.”

“If he's locked in a room with Mrs. MacCrae, there won't be a damned thing he can do to cause us a problem. Just make sure that he
is
locked up, and that there's a guard outside their room at all times.”

Verne Finn nodded and said, “We can do that, boss.”

Singletary still had a surly look on his face, but he didn't say anything else except to order Luke to turn around. Then he planted the shotgun's twin barrels in Luke's back and forced him to follow Glory and Finn out of the room.

Luke couldn't try anything. At this range, the shotgun would blow him in half if Singletary squeezed the triggers. He knew that was exactly what the crooked deputy wanted, too.

Several more of Elston's gunmen waited in the ranch house's main room. They fell in with the others as the group went up to the second floor, then trailed behind while Finn and Singletary escorted Luke and Glory into a bedroom.

Finn went to the window and thrust the curtain back, then turned toward them and said, “There'll be two armed men outside the door all night. Not only that, but you can see that this window commands a view of the bunkhouse. A man with a rifle will be sitting outside watching the window, and he'll have orders to shoot you if you so much as poke your head out, Jensen. So don't start getting any notions about escaping. You can't do it.”

“I'm just glad I'm not going back in that smokehouse,” Luke said.

Finn chuckled.

“There you go,” he said. “Look for the silver lining.”

Finn left the room. As Singletary backed out, still holding the shotgun on them, he said, “If it was up to me, Jensen, you'd be dead already. And I'd have taken my own sweet time killin' you, too. Would've been mighty enjoyable.”

“The only way you'd ever be able to kill me, Whitey, is if I was helpless,” Luke said. “Or if you shot me in the back, the way you tried to after the inquest. The way you bushwhacked Sam MacCrae to curry favor with Elston.”

Singletary grunted. The surprise in his piggish eyes told Luke that his guess was right. It was really the only explanation that made sense, considering Elston's insistence that he hadn't ordered MacCrae's murder. Singletary had come up with the idea on his own.

Apparently, Glory hadn't thought it all through and reached that conclusion yet. Her face flushed, and she stepped toward Singletary, saying in a coldly furious voice, “You—”

Singletary swung the shotgun toward her and snapped, “Stay back, lady. The boss wants you alive, but if I tell him you attacked me—”

“He'll probably kill you himself,” Luke broke in. “At the very least he'll have Finn do it. You think you're a match for him, Whitey?”

“You just shut up! You run your mouth and get me all loco.”

“I imagine that's not very hard to do.”

A step sounded in the hallway. Finn said, “Singletary, are you coming or not?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the deputy muttered. He glared at Luke and added, “I'll settle up with you. Just you wait.”

He stepped out into the corridor and yanked the door shut behind him. The sound of it closing wasn't quite as final as that of a jail cell's door, but almost.

Glory turned to Luke and said, “Do you really think he did that? Bushwhacked Sam? Or were you just trying to get under his skin?”

“I'm as certain as I can be without having seen him do it,” Luke told her.

“Did Sheriff Whittaker know?”

“My guess is that he didn't. Whittaker's quick to give Elston the benefit of the doubt, but I don't believe he's completely crooked. Singletary, on the other hand . . . He probably thought that if he killed your husband, that would put Elston in his debt. I think Whitey's got his eye on being sheriff, once Elston's running everything in the county.”

“What a horrible man,” Glory murmured.

“You won't get any argument from me.” Luke turned so that his back was toward her. “Now, if you think maybe you can untie these ropes . . .”