“Why?” Sarah asked.
Larson closed his eyes, and then opened them again.
“For Jamie. Because …I love him.”
Sarah looked at Caleb, confusion in her eyes. In the next instant, she moved closer, giving him her shoulder for support.
She must think I’m going to pass out
. Problem was, that might not be all that far from the truth.
“Jamie? Who the hell is Jamie?” Joshua asked the question they all wanted answered.
“My…Jamie.”
Caleb recognized a death rattle when he heard it. He stepped back from the body, bringing Sarah with him, just as Sheriff Hall reached the top of the stairs.
“So close to knowing,” Sarah whispered. More than a hint of disbelief laced her words. Then she met Caleb’s gaze and tilted her head to the side. “Now what?”
“We’ll talk later,” he said softly.
Hall examined the body, listened while Masterson and Joshua filled him in.
When the Sheriff approached the two of them, he looked Caleb up and down. “You look like you need to see the doc.”
“Nah,” Caleb said at the same time Sarah said “Yes.”
Hall chuckled. “I think I’ll take the lady’s word on things.”
* * * *
Sarah had never been as frightened as she’d been when that shot rang out, and she’d felt Caleb jerk. Now, as he lay on his back on one of the cots in an open jail cell, she began to relax.
“The bullet went in and out again through the fat part of his arm. He should heal just fine, but you need to watch out for fever.”
The doctor thoroughly cleansed Caleb’s wound before stitching him up, something Sarah found interesting. When she asked the middle aged doctor about it, he said, “there’s speculation—here, and in Europe—that infection could be caused by something called microbes. Germs. I don’t know if it is true, but if simple washing can prevent sickness and save lives, I say, wash.”
He bandaged Caleb, and promised to check back in the morning. Joshua went back to the hotel with the Sheriff and Bat Masterson about a half hour before. They came in just as the doctor prepared to leave.
“Fire’s out,” the sheriff announced. “Damage wasn’t as bad as we feared. A lot of smoke because of some of the trash piled up behind the place. Actually, it was mostly that what burned. Bucket brigade got it out, and only a few rooms at the back are ruined. Have to do some work before they can open for business again. Only one casualty,” Sheriff Hall finished up. “Sam Jenkins worked over at the livery. From the looks of things, he set the fire and got shot for his participation.”
“A diversion,” Caleb said. Despite Sarah’s protests, he insisted on sitting up and leaned his back against the wall.
“I agree.” Hall said. “As well, we discovered Larson was a guest at the hotel. Soon as the building is deemed safe to enter, my deputies are going to search his room. Might find something. Never know.”
Sarah figured if Caleb was stubborn enough to sit up, he could answer a few questions. “You said we’d talk later. Well, it’s later. Now what do we do, since we have no idea of who sent that man?”
“Correction, we don’t know who, precisely, but we have a pretty good idea where to find your enemy.”
Sarah knew she looked confused. She turned to Joshua hoping he would clear matters up.
“When we were in Springfield,” Joshua explained, “we had Sheriff MacLean send two telegrams, one to your father, one to your…one to Tyrone Maddox,” Joshua explained. “Each one specified a different town in
“Maddox got the one that said we’d be coming to Denison.” Caleb said.
Sarah closed her eyes in relief. There’d been a tiny part of her that was afraid her father might have been behind this villainy, after all. His sale of her to Maddox had shown she really didn’t know what she could expect from the man who sired her.
“Maddox. Do you think he…”
“We have no proof that he is behind the attempts on your life. We do know that it has to be someone close to him, at the very least. How else to know where we’d be?”
Sarah sighed. “So still no answers.”
“But we’re closer. We have to get to Waco, quietly, without Maddox being any the wiser. Then we’ll send off some more telegrams. We need to have a few more pieces of the puzzle revealed to us, including the details to your inheritance.”
“My inheritance? I don’t get that until I’m twenty-five. Besides, I doubt it’s more than a few thousand dollars. What does that have to do with anything?” Sarah felt totally confused.
“I’ve known men who’ve killed for a lot less,” Bat Masterson said. Then he turned his attention to Caleb.
“I wish I could go with you to Waco, see this thing through to the end.”
Something about the way he said that made Sarah feel that both he and Caleb knew more about the situation than she did.
“I wish you could, too. Have to tell you, I for certain owe you one. Thanks.”
“If you’re planning on settling in the Waco area, I may find my way over there in a few months.”
“You’re always welcome,” Joshua said.
“So what’s next? I’m sorry to sound crabby, but I am awfully darned tired of people trying to kill me.”
“Adam might have an idea how we can proceed,” Caleb told her. “If I know him, and I do, he’s been digging away, finding out information. No one is better at that than he is.”
“So in other words, we have to go to Waco in the morning anyway.”
“You’ll like Waco,” Joshua said. “Trust us.”
She did trust them. Sarah yawned just then and found herself the focus of all four men.
“Sorry. I’m exhausted.”
“Not much left of the night. I reckon you could use a bit more sleep, and maybe some fresh clothes. Only place I figure you can come by both and remain out of sight—in case that Larson had another accomplice—is Cora’s,” Sheriff Hall said.
Sarah wanted to ask who, or what, was Cora’s, but she was entirely too exhausted by the night’s events to care.
The sheriff had one of his deputies fetch a buckboard from the livery, and amidst the dying furor caused by the fire on Main Street, she allowed Joshua to hand her into the wagon after she was assured that Caleb had boarded and been made as comfortable as possible. She wondered at the laughter in the eyes of both the Sheriff and Bat Masterson as she bid them goodnight, almost as much as she wondered why neither Caleb nor Joshua would meet her gaze.
Five minutes later, she decided that she really should have asked about Cora. She shook her head, gave it up, and with the Benedict brothers, entered the whorehouse.
Chapter 18
Joshua wanted to kill Tyrone Maddox. He had no doubt whatsoever that the man was behind the attacks on Sarah.
The clackety-clack of the train wheels against the rails droned on, and since both Sarah and Caleb slept, Joshua was left alone with his thoughts, and all he could think was that he wanted, very badly, to kill Tyrone Maddox.
He didn’t need any more evidence to tell him what this was about. Rich bastard thought he could marry Sarah, then
kill
her and collect her inheritance?
The miles toward Waco disappeared one at a time, and Joshua sincerely hoped it wouldn’t take long to bring this mystery to a close. He was looking forward to beginning a new life, just him and his brother and Sarah. He had no doubt that before long, she would belong to them completely.
He’d come too close to dying during the war to turn his back on love or happiness once he’d found them. For him, those two words had one definition, and that was Sarah.
Joshua knew Caleb felt pretty much the same way, which was one of the reasons, he reckoned, they had no trouble between them, both loving her.
His gaze landed on his brother, arm bound in a sling, an expression of pain on his face even in sleep. He hadn’t spiked a fever so far, thank God.
It took no effort to see again the events of the day before yesterday. Never far from his thoughts was his memory of shielding Sarah alongside his brother, of hearing the impact of lead against flesh and feeling Caleb jerk. He knew his brother had been shot, and for one terrifying moment, he feared the worst.
Beside him, Sarah stirred. She slept with her head against the window. Gently, Joshua eased her toward him.
She sighed softly and snuggled into him.
“Is Caleb all right?” she asked.
“He’s fine, sweetheart. He’s just sleeping.” Joshua kept his voice low, needing to keep their conversation private. Only a handful of travelers shared the rail car at this point, but Joshua didn’t know any of them, which meant he didn’t trust any them.
“Neither one of us got much sleep last night,” she said softly. “Caleb because of his pain and me...well, just because.”
Joshua grinned at the churlish note in Sarah’s voice. Staying at Cora’s was the smartest move they could have made, safety-wise. The only whorehouse on Skiddy Row housed in a solid building, they’d had a sturdy roof over their heads and beds to sleep in.
Cora herself was easily persuaded to keep their presence a secret. They’d stayed the extra night to give Caleb a little more time to heal before traveling.
Of course, the down side of that particular arrangement had been the sounds of Cora’s girls plying their trade all night.
All night and well into the morning.
It really was well passed time to make amends. One thing his mother had taught her sons was when dealing with a lady, apologize quickly and often.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. We never would have taken you to such a place except under the direst of circumstances. Keeping you safe was our only priority. Being in such an establishment must have been extremely offensive to you.”
“No, not so offensive and I do understand. I knew that the first night, when the sheriff’s deputies dropped us off, and I realized where we were. It’s just…” her voice trailed off, and when he looked down at her, color tinged her cheeks.
“It’s just what, Sarah?”
She looked around, checking, he knew, to make sure no one sat so close they could overhear. Even so, Sarah whispered
“After listening to all that activity, I’m afraid the next time we all lay together, I’ll be afraid to make a single sound. I had no idea how…how bizarre it sounded.”
Joshua strangled on his laughter. He bent close and put his lips next to Sarah’s ear. “I promise to do my damndest to make sure you forget all about that the next time I have you naked and under me.”
When his gaze met hers, he read the passion in her eyes. And when she squirmed in her seat, he knew he’d done his job.
The train slowed for another stop. In the seat right across from him, Caleb stirred. When his brother opened his eyes, then sat up, Joshua gave him his complete attention. Sarah moved to sit beside Caleb. He blessed her presence, for she could get away with fussing over his brother in ways Joshua couldn’t.
Sarah felt his forehead, then nodded. “Good. The doctor said if you could make it through today without a fever, you’d probably be safe from one.”
Caleb grunted, which made Joshua smile. His brother had always been a piss-poor patient.
“I’m sore but fine. How long have I slept?” he asked.
“Couple hours. We’ve a few more to go before we get to Waco.”
Sheriff Hall sent a telegram the day before, so Adam would have been busy pursuing their new lead and would also be ready to meet them at the depot. Joshua just hoped Adam would be able to keep word of their arrival quiet. None of them wanted Maddox to know when they arrived in town.
They needed just a little more time to put everything together.
* * * *
Tyrone Maddox looked over his shoulder, the sense that someone watched him a strong one. Since the night before last, he’d been experiencing the strangest sensations.
Even though it was the middle of the day, he decided what he needed was some whiskey and fresh air.
He poured himself a glass then took it outside to the covered verandah he’d so recently constructed on the front of his house.
He hadn’t heard from Liam, and that couldn’t be good.
Maddox had been almost certain Sarah and those gunslingers would have arrived in Denison by now. Would be dead, by now.
Unless those damned Indians had done Liam’s work for him. He didn’t much like that Indians had been given lands to call their own, however ‘civilized’ the tribes were supposed to be. But if they had solved his problem for him by killing Sarah, he might just change his mind.
Maddox looked into his glass of liquor, swirled it, then knocked it back in one gulp.
Something had gone wrong. He felt it, down deep in his soul.
Then slowly, he realized the strange sensation that had been coursing through him for the last couple of days. He felt…afraid.
Maddox went perfectly still, the realization numbing his senses.
Afraid
. How long had it been since he’d
felt
afraid?