For the Love of Suzanne (8 page)

Mika trailed her like a puppy, chattering and
asking questions and helping her immensely. Suzanne knew that Mika
was glad to have a friend and was honored that she had picked her.
When she’d asked Mika how she’d come to live here and at
the saloon, the little girl had merely shrugged and said she didn’t
know and she’d always been there. Her answer made Suzanne
wonder which one of Annalee’s girls was Mika’s mother and
why she’d damned her child to a life like this.

Mika and Suzanne were scrubbing sheets near the
well in the hot afternoon sun while the “working girls”
took naps in preparation for the big night ahead. Suzanne was feeling
dizzy and sat down next to the stone enclosure, wiping the sweat off
her forehead and neck. It was beastly hot and there was no air
conditioning; she felt like puking again.

Mika sat beside her with a worried look on her
dirty face. “Are you sick?”

Suzanne buried her face in her hands. “No. I
just need a break.”

“I’ll get you some water,” she
said and scampered away toward the saloon.

She briefly wondered why she didn’t use the
water in the well. They were right next to it, but didn’t take
the time to wonder anymore than she had to. She was exhausted.

Mika came back with a beer mug full of water and
handed it to Suzanne with a smile. “Here you go.”

She took it and sipped it. “Thank you, Mika.
That was very nice.”

She beamed. “You’re welcome.”

The water was cool and refreshing, but she was
still dizzy and rested her forehead on her knees.

“Afternoon, ladies.”

She looked up at the male voice, shielding her
eyes from the sun with her hand. “Hello,” she said
politely.

“My name is Lieutenant Addison Taylor. At
your service, ma’am,” he said with a touch of arrogance.

She’d seen men act like this in a few
westerns on TV and couldn’t help but smile. “I’m
Suzanne Dillon and this is Mika,” she said, putting her arm
around the child with a proud smile.

He squatted in front of them and shook Mika’s
hand. “Very pleasant to meet you, young lady,” he said
with a smile.

She smiled shyly and burrowed closer to Suzanne.

“Same with you, ma’am,” he told
Suzanne warmly. “It is indeed a pleasure.”

She looked away self-consciously. “Thank
you.”

Addison Taylor was tall, blond, and well-built
with a wide chest, slim waist, and long legs. His hair was past his
shoulders, longer than what most of the men here wore, but it was
clean and looked silky. His eyes were a clear blue and his face was
tanned from exposure to the sun and he had a heavy mustache. He was
wearing a pair of dark blue pants with a broad yellow stripe going
down the sides that were tucked into his worn knee-high boots. His
loose white shirt had a few buttons undone, leaving a small portion
of his chest exposed. He’d taken off his hat when he’d
introduced himself and held it in his hand.

He smiled at Mika. “She’s shy,”
he said lightly, giving Suzanne a subtle wave.

Mika giggled, hiding her mouth with her hand.

He continued to smile at her. “Where did you
get those big brown eyes?” he teased her.

She shrugged and snuggled closer to Suzanne,

“Why, you sure are a pretty thing,” he
declared. “When you get older, all the boys will want to go
dancing with you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Taylor,” she said with
a smile.

“Are you feeling well, Miss Suzanne?”
he asked with concern in his voice.

She nodded, still not looking at him. In her mind,
she was enjoying hearing another person speak to her in a congenial
manner when most men leered at her, teased her, and tried to smack
her on her butt or grab her breasts.

“Suzanne is not well, Mr. Taylor,”
Mika said with some worry in her voice. “She hasn’t been
since the day she got here.”

He gave her a nod of acknowledgment and focused
his attention back on Suzanne. “Do you need to see a doctor? We
have one here.”

She shook her head. “No, thank you,
Lieutenant,” she said humbly. “I’m just a little
overheated. Thank you for your concern.”

“The doctor is right across the street,”
he said as he stood. “Let me help you over there.”

Suzanne had never adapted to the heat. She’d
always had air conditioning wherever she’d gone, but there was
no such thing here. It was ungodly hot and breathing in the heat and
dust was enough to make anybody sick. She just wanted to go home.

“Black Fox left her with Miss Annalee,”
Mika informed the lieutenant as if it was no big deal and, to her, it
wasn’t.

He looked at the little girl. “Is that
right?” he drawled with obvious disapproval in his voice.

“That’s right,” she affirmed.
“Miss Annalee don’t want either one of us so we’re
friends,” she said proudly with a smile on her face.

Addison remembered Cody riding through the fort
with this woman on his horse and before he’d left, Addison had
stopped him and asked him about her. Cody’s response had been
ambiguous; he hadn’t said exactly where he’d found her or
how she’d gotten there, but had told him her husband was still
lost in the desert. Now Addison was doubtful.

“I’m fine,” Suzanne finally told
him. “Thanks for—“

“Excuse me for interrupting,” he said
congenially. “But why were you with Cody? Did he capture you or
steal you? Murder your family?” he asked suspiciously, hoping
her answer agreed with what Cody had told him.

He’d known Cody for a long time; he knew he
was an Indian agent and was trying to ease tension between the
Indians and the white people, but what if the Indian in him had taken
over and he’d turned to murder, marauding, pillaging, and rape
like some of the others? What if he’d joined the renegades, and
had free reign of the fort and was more of a spy? No one would
suspect him because of his status as an Indian agent. He came and
went as he pleased.

Addison couldn’t see his friend doing that.
Cody had an aversion to war and bloodshed and he wasn’t at all
underhanded or nefarious. He was more honest than most of the men at
the fort. Still, every man had a breaking point and to get the
Indians moved to the reservations was a daunting task with which
neither man agreed.

She looked up at him. “No,” she said
at the absurdity of the thought. “He helped me. He found me in
the desert. I would have died if it hadn’t been for him.”

He knelt down again. “Where is your family,
Miss Suzanne?”

“New York. My mother and stepfather are
there along with my stepsisters,” she said honestly.

“Forgive me for my impertinence, but why are
you out here in this godforsaken place when your family is back
East?”

“Addison Taylor!”

All of them looked at Annalee as she came storming
out of the brothel, wearing a pink plume on her head and very low
cut, tight pink dress that accentuated her thick waist and balancing
herself on obscenely high black heels.

“Just what the hell do you think you’re
doin’?” she demanded angrily. “Those girls are
supposed to be workin’.”

He rose to his feet and faced her. “Miss
Annalee. How very nice to see you again,” he said congenially,
successfully masking his contempt for the woman.

She glared at him. “I’m sure,”
she muttered caustically, putting her hands on her hips. “Do
you have business with these girls?”

“No, ma’am. We’re just getting
acquainted,” he said smoothly.

“You know the rules,” she said
sharply, pointing at him. “You either pay or get a move on.”

Suzanne felt Addison Taylor looking at her and
wondered if he was really going to pay Annalee for just talking to
her. The woman was a greedy bitch and demanded money for every little
thing, which was ironic since there was no place to spend it. What
was she going to do with it?

“Miss Annalee, with all due respect, I do
believe that Miss Suzanne and I have some official business to take
care of so if you don’t mind, I’ll just escort her to the
post.”

“Oh, I mind,” she hissed. “I
think you’re lyin’. You just told me you were gettin’
acquainted.”

“We were, but she has aroused my suspicions
about Cody Black Fox. She’ll be back soon,” he assured
her and offered his hand to Suzanne. “Ma’am,” he
said politely.

She took it and let him help her to her feet, then
looked at Mika. “I’ll be right back, honey,” she
told the girl and walked with the lieutenant to another building,
ignoring Annalee’s furious rant.

Addison Taylor took off his hat upon entering the
building and got Suzanne another cup of water. The room was dirty,
like everything else in the desert, but neat. There were two other
men in the room working quietly at different desks.

“Thank you,” she murmured, taking the
tin cup from him.

“You’re welcome. Come this way
please,” he gestured toward a meaty man with greasy black hair
and a heavy black mustache. He was over six feet tall and had to
weigh three hundred pounds, which she suspected was not fat.

“Sir, this is Miss Suzanne—I’m
sorry,” he looked at her. “I don’t remember your
last name.”

“Dillon,” she said nervously,
wondering why she was here.

“Dillon,” he repeated more to himself
than the other man. “Suzanne Dillon. This is Major Richards.
He’s the man in charge of all of this.”

Suzanne looked at the man’s cold dark eyes
and managed a courteous smile, despite his hard stare that made her
want to run and hide.

“She may have some information on Cody Black
Fox, sir,” Addison explained to his superior.

He raised his heavy brows with surprise. “Ah,
you’ve finally decided to cooperate,” he said slowly and
lit a cheroot.

“Cooperate?” she echoed in confusion.

He scrutinized her with scathing contempt as he
put his feet on the desk and blew a smoke ring carelessly into the
air. “It seems that Mr. Black Fox is raising hell in the desert
again,” he muttered nonchalantly.

She could tell from the intensity of his coolness
that he could be vicious and manipulative. “Oh, I wouldn’t
know anything about that,” she said quietly. “I haven’t
seen him since he left me here over a month ago.”

He took a long drag from the cheroot and tapped
the ash onto the floor. “Oh, he’s been here,” he
assured her arrogantly. “He’s been seen in and out of
Miss Annalee’s saloon numerous times in the last month or so. I
think he’s been coming to see you,” he said accusingly,
facing her again.

“I haven’t seen him,” she
insisted. “He dumped me here. Why would he come back?”

“One can never tell about those red-assed
sons a bitches,” he said hatefully. “But you’d
better tell me where he is right now or I’ll throw your pretty
face in the stockade.”

She didn’t know what a stockade was, but
judging from the tone of his voice, it wasn’t good. “I
don’t know, Major Richards. Honest,” she said in fear,
holding up her right hand.

“Miss Dillon, let me ask you something,”
he said in a threatening tone. “Are you and that dirty
half-breed lovers?”

Her mouth dropped open with surprise. “No.
Of course not. He found me in the desert and helped me. That’s
all,” she said, hating the tremor in her voice. She was very
frightened by the abrupt happenings in the last few minutes and
wondered just what Addison Taylor had hoped to gain by bringing her
before this man who had an obvious dislike for Cody and Indians in
general.

“Do you know what happens to white women who
bed down with Injuns?” he asked her coolly, looking at the
glowing tip of the cheroot.

She shook her head. She had a feeling this was not
going to end well.

“No self-respecting white man will ever
touch you again and you’ll end up on Annalee’s payroll,”
he said with some satisfaction in his voice.

She bit her lip and twisted her hands nervously at
her waist. She hadn’t known Cody had been to the fort or that
he was a troublemaker. He’d presented himself as a peacemaker
and now she was wondering if that had been true. She reminded herself
that everybody lied and he was probably no different.

“Major, pardon my interruption,”
Addison said in his smooth southern accent. “Maybe Miss Dillon
doesn’t know where he is. After all, Miss Annalee doesn’t
take too kindly to anyone visiting with any of her girls without
money and we all know Cody Black Fox is as poor as a church mouse.”

The major glowered at who he considered a meager
man. “Lieutenant Taylor,” he bellowed, rising to his feet
in anger. “If you cannot hold your tongue, I will dismiss you
from this interrogation. Mind your place.”

Addison returned the glare. “With all due
respect, sir, you’ve already convicted this young lady of a
crime that she may not have committed,” he said with an edge in
his voice.

“I will decide if there has been a crime.
You are dismissed and placed on gate duty until further notice!”
he yelled, slamming his fist down on the desk with such force that it
toppled the ink jar onto its side.

Addison didn’t back down. “Very well,
sir,” he grumbled. “But we are still Americans and this
woman is innocent until proven guilty.”

Suzanne’s head was spinning. Crime? Innocent
until proven guilty? Convicted? Of what?

“Damn it,” the major roared. “This
is NOT America. This is United States territory and
I
am the law,”
he tapped himself on his broad chest.

She covered her mouth in horror. This really was
territory and not the state of Arizona? She was confused and
silently cursed Cody for bringing her here. How could he do this to
her? Hadn’t he promised he would come back? And if he had come
back, why hadn’t he visited her? Why hadn’t he taken her
back to her car? Why had he lied?

Addison said nothing more and walked out the door,
slamming it loudly.

Major Richards resumed his seat and glared at
Suzanne. “I don’t care how taken my men are by you. You
are still a criminal. I’m charging you with conspiracy to cause a mutiny with the Indians and,” he smiled smugly. “Treason.”