I do, I do, I do (42 page)

A Canadian named Dilly Dame offered the use of his cabin for Clara's recuperation. Mrs. Eddington and her husband took Bear in with them. Clara and Bear were seriously but not critically wounded; both had lost a lot of blood and suffered minor frostbite before the men found them. Had the fire not been spotted leaping above the trees, and a group of men hadn't rushed up the mountainside to offer assistance, Clara and Bear would have frozen or bled to death.

Zoe leaned back in the chair beside Clara's bed and closed her eyes, wondering if there was anything she had overlooked. Tom had removed the bullet in Clara's shoulder. The bullet that struck Clara's side and the bullet in Bear's shoulder had both passed through, leaving ragged exit wounds. Those were the injuries that worried Zoe most.

Zoe had cleaned Clara's wounds with alcohol and packed them with surgeon's lint. She and Mrs. Eddington gave their patients regular doses of tincture of aconite to fight inflammation. They soaked the blistered frostbitten areas in kerosene oil. They insisted that their patients wear slings so as not to jostle healing shoulders. Zoe reminded herself that Clara and Bear were strong and healthy, and in fact, five days after the event, both were on the mend.

"I'm ready to be up and about," Clara stubbornly insisted. But less than a minute later she covered a yawn and her lashes fluttered sleepily.

Zoe helped her sit up and offered a tin cup of water. "Rest is what you need now."

"The fever's gone, and I'm fine. Just tired. How is Bear doing?"

"Very well," Zoe assured her. "But Mrs. Eddington says he's a terrible patient. She doesn't think she can keep him inside another day. She says she's wearing herself to a nub trotting over here four times a day, but if she doesn't get reports about you, Bear starts putting on his coat to come himself."

Clara eased back to her pillow, favoring the side where she'd been shot. "Now I know why you and Juliette cry at night," she said softly, closing her eyes. "Oh, Zoe, I love him so much, but it's hopeless. What are we going to do?"

Zoe asked herself the same question a dozen times a day. Every time Tom said something that indicated he assumed they would marry, she shriveled a little more inside, liked herself a little less. "I wish we'd told the truth from the beginning," she said finally. "Maybe we'd have become laughingstocks and a favorite target for gossip. And maybe Tom and Ben and Bear would not have come courting." She blinked hard at the log ceiling. "But we wouldn't feel deceitful and dishonest every time they look at us. Maybe we'd have a little self-respect." When she lowered her head, she discovered she was talking to herself. Clara had fallen asleep.

Clara was still sleeping when Juliette returned from checking on Bear and popped her head into the bedroom. She examined Clara, then beckoned to Zoe.

"We need to talk," Juliette said quietly, heading for Mr. Dame's small kitchen.

"It must be important if it can't wait until you take off your coat and mittens."

Making a face, Juliette tossed her hat and mittens on the sideboard, then poured them each a cup of strong coffee before she removed her coat and sat at the table.

"First, Bear's still weak and mad as a wet hen about it. But he's sitting up most of the day now."

"Clara was up for several hours, too." She studied Juliette's angry gray eyes. "Now tell me what's troubling you."

"It's Jake Horvath. He's bragging all over camp that he brought down the mighty Bear Barrett and his whore." Juliette winced. "He says he shot Bear because he believes Bear cheated him out of the Bare Bear, and he shot Clara because he wanted Bear to know how it felt to lose something he valued."

Zoe frowned. "He's bragging?"

Juliette came to her feet and paced in front of the table. "That's not all. He swears he's going to finish the job. He's going to kill them both! Mr. Eddington heard him say this. I told Ben about the threats, but Ben already knew. He said they've sent someone to the Mounties' new headquarters at Fort Herchmer. But that's near Dawson, at least five weeks from here and five weeks back. Assuming the Mounties leave at once and encounter no bad weather, it will be close to three months before they come to arrest Horvath. If they come at all! And they may not." She looked at Zoe. "Ben says there are only about two hundred Mounties to police the entire Yukon territory, and they undoubtedly have more serious crimes to follow up than an ambush and attempted murder."

"Horvath threatened to 'finish the job'?" Zoe's heart sank. She'd wondered if Horvath would be satisfied with almost killing Bear and Clara or if he'd make another attempt.

Juliette nodded. Sitting down, she pounded a fist on the table. "And no one is doing anything to stop him!"

"Tom explained there's a group talking hard against vigilantism. They're saying no one was killed. They're saying this is between Bear and Horvath." She knew Tom felt pulled between going after Horvath and agreeing that vigilantism was wrong. The same conflict circled in her own mind.

"Zoe." Juliette cupped her hands around the coffee mug and leaned forward. "Horvath is going to kill Clara and Bear. And no one intends to do anything about it. We can't let that happen. Clara is… She's our sister. And Bear is our friend."

Bear was a better friend than Zoe had dreamed. Finally Tom had told her that it was Bear who had paid almost half of their passage to Dawson. Bear. She never would have guessed.

"On a different subject," she said, clearing her throat. "I know I've said this a dozen times in the last few days, but Juliette, I'm so sorry for the nasty things I said to you when I believed you'd paid the extra to pack us to Dawson. I'll always regret it. I've been so wrong about a lot of things."

Juliette waved the apology aside. "Zoe, please. If we don't do something, Clara and Bear are going to get killed."

Slowly, Zoe nodded. Juliette wasn't saying anything that Zoe hadn't already considered. "What would you suggest?"

"I think we should make a citizen's arrest and confine Jake Horvath to his tent until the Mounties get here. If no one else will do it, then you and I can take turns guarding him."

"Us? You and me?" She hadn't expected this sort of suggestion. Her impulse was to laugh, but Juliette's serious nod kept any smile from her lips. "What makes you think Horvath will allow us to confine him to his tent?"

"If he refuses, then you shoot him."

"What?"

"You came up here to shoot a man, didn't you? Well, shoot this one. Zoe, if Bear kills Horvath, then the Mounties will come after
him
because it would be a revenge killing. If we shoot Horvath, we can say that we had to do it because he resisted arrest. You know Bear won't try to arrest him. Bear will just walk up and kill him. He won't have a strong defense, but we will. Especially if Horvath threatens us."

"I think you can count on a few threats," Zoe said dryly. Then she narrowed her gaze. "You keep saying 'we.' Do you plan to shoot Horvath, too?"

"Of course not, I don't know how to shoot a gun. But I'm willing to be an accessory by coming along to support you. I don't care if I get arrested. It's better that you and I get arrested than that Clara gets killed. And Zoe, we don't know when Horvath will strike, but I believe we can agree it will be soon. If you were Horvath, would you wait until Bear is strong and well again?"

Zoe stared. Juliette's argument was making sense: the situation was dire.

"For all we know, Horvath is creeping around outside right now. He's probably planning to go after the easiest prey first, and that's Clara!"

Alarmed and worried, Zoe stood and peered out the ice-block window. The ice was so thick that all she could see was a smear of greens, whites, and browns.

"Before we go after Horvath, there are a couple of things we have to talk about." She drew a breath. "Suppose for a minute that Horvath won't agree to be arrested. Suppose he threatens us, and suppose I have to shoot him. Then suppose the Mounties arrive and arrest me for killing Horvath and they arrest you for being part of it."

"Yes?" Juliette drummed her fingers impatiently.

"Who's going to shoot Jean Jacques if I'm arrested?"

"That's easy. You give Clara your rifle, then she continues on to Dawson and she shoots him."

"She's like you. She's never shot a weapon."

"So she can learn. Or she can poison him. Or she can hire someone to do the deed." Juliette shrugged.

"Sometimes you amaze me." It was hard to believe that she had once dismissed Juliette as a prissy simpering creature with no backbone.

"Clara will take care of Jean Jacques. She's resourceful, and she'll work it out. We don't have to worry about him."

"One more thing. I don't know what the Canadian Mounties do to murderesses. Maybe they'll hang us, or maybe they'll stand us in front of a firing squad. But Juliette, we can't kill a man in cold blood without paying serious consequences."

"What are you saying? We can't possibly walk up and shoot him in cold blood. That would be unforgivably rude! The polite thing would be to warn him first and explain why we have to kill him."

Zoe blinked. On the other hand, maybe Juliette hadn't changed as much as she had thought. "He's going to say, 'No, I won't let you arrest me,' and then you're going to say, 'Please stand right there because we're going to kill you, and by the way we're doing it because you're trying to murder our friends.' "

"That's the gist of it. But I'd better warn you. I'm too angry to be completely correct and polite. I can't agree to shoot him in cold blood, but I do predict rude words will be spoken."

"You know, on second thought it might be better if you stayed here with Clara while I take care of Horvath."

"That wouldn't be fair. I suggested this, and I should be arrested too if that's how it ends."

"It won't be just an arrest. Do you feel strongly enough about killing Horvath that you're willing to hang for it?"

They stared at each other across the tabletop.

Finally, Juliette frowned at her coffee cup. "None of us are going to have the future we want, Zoe. So what does it matter what happens to us?" She looked up. "I've thought about this. And I think it would be easier to hang than to live knowing I did nothing and let that crazy man kill two people I love. If we have to kill Horvath, then yes, I'm willing to pay the penalty. I believe Clara would do the same for us."

"Yes, she would." Zoe felt exactly as Juliette did. She turned her head to stare at the ice-block window. Had a shadow just crossed by? Juliette's most compelling argument was that Horvath would act soon. In her bones, Zoe agreed. "We'll have to find someone to sit with Clara." "I don't think Mrs. Weber would mind." Zoe pushed up from the table. "You fetch Mrs. Weber while I load my rifle." That son of a bitch was not going to kill Clara and Bear. She and Juliette would see that he didn't.

"Excuse me, sir. Where might we find Mr. Horvath?" Juliette inquired pleasantly.

Horvath's crony stood outside his tent, leaning on the handle of an ax. He looked the two women up and down, a smirk on his lips. "He'd be up yonder on the mountain," he said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder. "Working on the cabin he's building hisself. What you want with him?"

"Thank you, sir." Juliette nudged Zoe, and they walked down a snowpacked lane between rows and rows of tents.

Zoe was half disappointed that they wouldn't pass Tom's or Ben's tents. Part of her wanted someone to talk them out of this. She had no idea if she really could kill a man. But maybe she didn't have to. Maybe it would serve just to shoot Jake Horvath in the privates. Do enough damage to lay him low long enough for the Mounties to arrive and for the rest of them to continue on to Dawson. But the Mounties might not come, and then Horvath would eventually turn up in Dawson. He had publicly stated he would "finish the job." Either he followed through or he'd be labeled a coward and he'd never hear the end of it.

"Can you tell that I'm carrying a rifle under my coat?" she asked Juliette, speaking out of the side of her mouth.

"Just don't drop it, for heaven's sake." Juliette slid her a glance. "Are you nervous?"

"A little. I've never shot anything except a squirrel."

"This should be easy, then. Horvath is bigger and more loathsome."

"I think I see his cabin through the pines." As they climbed a steep snowy path, more of Horvath's place became visible. The walls were up, and a stone chimney chase, but no roof yet. Zoe heard sounds of a hammer and cursing, but no other voices. He was alone then. Good. "Let me do the talking." Carefully, they picked their way up the boulder-strewn path. "Mr. Horvath? Mr. Jake Horvath!"

He came out of the cabin and walked a few steps toward them before he halted. "Well, lookee what we got here."

Juliette drew herself up, angry enough that the frozen feather on her hat quivered. "We've come to arrest you for the dastardly deed of ambushing Mr. Bear Barrett and Miss Clara Klaus. Shame on you, Mr. Horvath!"

"I'll do the talking," Zoe snapped. Anticipating the worst, she looked around, then stepped behind a boulder that reached as high as her elbows. She could remove the rifle from her coat without being seen, and she could lean against the boulder to steady her aim.

"
I
know you two," Horvath stated, squinting at them. "You're the stupid skirt who walked out on the thin ice." His gaze swung to Zoe. "And you're the bitch who broke my nose."

"Juliette, fall back a couple of steps and get behind that big rock." She had the rifle out now, hidden from sight behind the boulder. "Mr. Horvath, this will go easier for everyone if you'll return with us to your tent. We intend to place you under house arrest until the Canadian Mounties arrive."

First he looked flabbergasted and then amused. "Now, why would I agree to let you two doxies arrest me?"

"Partly for your own protection," Zoe called. "You have to know that when Bear is strong enough he'll come gunning for you. He isn't going to let you burn down his cabin and shoot his lady without repercussions."

"I got reasons for what I done," Horvath snarled. He tightened his grip around the hammer in his hand. "That son of a bitch cheated me, and he's going to die for it."