The train jerked, preparing to start, as gunfire thundered from the direction of the jail.
Bailee glanced at Samuel. The old man with his poor hearing hadn’t noticed the sound. He turned and headed back toward the mercantile.
TWENTY-SIX
“
W
AS THAT A SHOT?” LACY WHISPERED FROM JUST behind Bailee. “Thank the Lord we made it on the train.” She looked inside at the almost empty car, expecting trouble to come charging down on them at any time.
Piper and the Texas Ranger were picking out seats, a few older women had already settled in to talk, and a gambler slept on the last bench.
The train shifted beneath them. There was no time to hesitate. “Lacy?” Bailee leaned close to her friend. “I have to go back to Carter.”
Bailee moved past Lacy and ran to Piper. Kneeling beside the little girl, Bailee waited until Piper looked at her before speaking. “I have to stay with Carter.” Bailee said the words slowly. “You’ll be all right with the ranger and Lacy.”
Tears welled in the child’s eyes.
“You’ll be safe soon.” Bailee fought back her own tears. “But I have to make sure Carter is safe now.”
Piper nodded.
“Want me to stay in town and help?” Two Bits leaned around the ranger. “I can shoot.”
Bailee smiled at Two Bits. “I need you to see after Lacy and Piper now, but when this is all over, you will come back to dinner.”
Suddenly Two Bits caught the teary-eye disease that seemed to be spreading. “I’ll think about it. You’d better hurry if you’re leaving.”
Bailee kissed Piper’s cheek, then ran back to the platform where Lacy still waited.
“You can’t go!” Lacy grabbed Bailee’s arm trying to hold Bailee on the train. “You have to stay with us. You have to be safe. Carter said so.”
“I can’t,” Bailee whispered, moving away. “I know you and the ranger will take care of Piper. Get her to her father, then wait until I send word. You’ll be safe from Zeb. I have to find Carter. He may need me.”
Lacy understood. She forced her fingers to let go of Bailee’s arm.
Bailee jumped off the step just as the train rolled.
She lifted her skirt and ran toward the jail. Several other people were ahead of her. When she reached the entrance of Riley’s office, the first thing she saw, over the heads of several people, was the jail cell door standing wide open.
Pushing her way past the onlookers, she rushed inside the office. Ludlow lay facedown in a puddle of his own blood, one hand gripping his gun, still in its holster. The only sign of Carter was his torn shirt tossed in a comer of the cell.
“What happened!” Deputy Wheeler yelled as he bombarded his way into the office. He rushed too fast and stepped into the blood before he looked down. Swearing, he wiped his boot on a crumpled newspaper.
No one answered Wheeler’s question. A man in a barber’s coat knelt beside Ludlow and poked at him with one finger.
“Someone get help!” Wheeler shouted at no one in particular. “We got a man bleeding.” He seemed more concerned with getting bloody newspaper off his boot than with his friend.
“I’m the nearest this town’s got to a doc,” the barber answered. “And I say someone get the undertaker.”
Wheeler turned on the man. “You ain’t no good at anything but pulling teeth and shaving. What makes you think you’re suddenly a doc?”
“It don’t take schooling to know a man’s got a bullet plumb through the center of his chest.” The barber rolled Ludlow’s body over.
Bailee stepped back, not wanting to see the wound.
Wheeler looked as if he might explode with anger. He searched the crowd until he found a wide target. “Ray! I thought you were supposed to be here at dawn. What’s going on? Why was Ludlow still at the office?”
Ray had the good sense to look ternfied. “I must have overslept.”
Bailee slipped behind two men as Wheeler stormed around the room. “Did anyone see anything?”
Everyone in the room shook their head. This was a town steeped in a tradition of nobody ever seeing anything as far as gunplay was concerned.
She moved closer to the door behind the crowd. She held her breath, hoping to become invisible.
Ray must have figured he was already fired, because he spoke. “Carter McKoy was in the cell. He must’ve escaped and kilt Ludlow.”
Wheeler looked as if he might slap Ray. “How does a man with no weapon, who’s locked in a cell, escape?”
“Maybe he had help?” Ray spoke up, proud of his reasoning powers.
Bailee was out the door before anyone noticed her. She’d heard enough. If she stayed a moment longer, she’d be the one Wheeler questioned next. She ran down the alley and glanced across the road to where Mrs. Abernathy’s shack stood.
After pounding on the door several times, she realized the woman either wasn’t home or was refusing to help. Bailee wouldn’t blame her for not helping. She didn’t owe Bailee anything. But if Carter ran this way, she would have helped him, and, if he were inside, he’d let Bailee in.
Bailee tried one more time. Hoping.
Panic threatened to overtake her. Shouts echoed from the direction of the jail. She darted behind the old woman’s house and headed through first one alley, then another to the mercantile. She didn’t allow herself even to breathe until she saw Carter’s work wagon parked behind the store. The boxes of peaches had already been unloaded and the tarp thrown in the back behind the bench seat.
Bailee scrambled beneath the tarp a moment before Samuel stepped from the back of the store with a load of supplies. She slowly scooted to the far side beneath the wagon’s seat and peaked through the cracks in the side boards.
“I don’t know about you picking up Carter’s supplies!” Mr. Willard shouted at Samuel. “I ain’t never let no one sign for him before, except his wife.”
Samuel offered the box back.
Willard quickly stepped away, afraid he might miss a sale. “No. No. I’m sure it’s fine. I was just talking. After all, you did bring in his load of peaches, so it must be all right. You been doing work for Carter McKoy for years.”
Samuel nodded and shoved the crate in the back of the wagon. As he pushed it to the front, Bailee’s hand slipped from beneath the covering.
She froze, knowing he had to have seen it.
To her surprise, Samuel pulled the tarp over her fingers and tied the box down as though having a body in his wagon was nothing new.
“I’ll be back with more peaches in a few days,” Samuel said calmly. “You can settle up with Carter when he gets out of jail, but I’m keeping a count of the number of crates.”
Willard agreed, but he wasn’t really listening. He was staring down the street at what appeared to be a mob flooding toward them. “Wonder what’s going on?” he said to himself. “Thought I heard a shot a while back. You reckon there’s trouble?”
Samuel didn’t bother to look. “I’ve no interest in what folks do in this town or any other. I got work to finish back at Carter’s place.”
Willard waved him off without even looking in his direction.
Bailee heard the crowd moving closer, but from her hiding place she couldn’t see them. She guessed Wheeler was leading them.
Slapping the horses into motion, Samuel maneuvered the wagon down the street toward home. Bailee heard the shouts of men fading behind her.
They traveled for half an hour at a slow steady pace before Samuel said, “You can come out now. Ain’t no one around.”
She crawled from beneath the sweaty tarp and climbed over the bench. “Are you sure I’m safe?”
The old carpenter nodded. “Where’s Carter? I half expected him to be under there with you.”
“I don’t know. He was in the jail, but now he’s gone and Ludlow has been shot. The town is all looking for him. They think he killed Ludlow.”
Samuel only seemed mildly interested in her ranting. “What do you think?”
Bailee froze. She wouldn’t doubt Carter again. She wouldn’t! “I don’t think he did. But if he shot Ludlow, he had good reason.”
Samuel nodded. “I think the same.”
They didn’t say another word until they reached the ranch. For several minutes all was quiet, then the Gypsies came from every direction to greet her.
Old Papa Farrow took both her hands and welcomed her back. They all wanted to know if Piper got on the train safely and if the deputy had decided to let Carter come back home.
Bailee told them all about Piper and the ranger, but collapsed in tears when she tried to talk of Carter. She had no idea where he was; he might even be lost. All she knew for sure was that the entire town seemed to be gunning for him. She stayed behind to help him, and she’d run before she found him.
“You’re safe here,” Samuel said. “None of us will tell a soul you’re on the place. I’ll even tell Old Man Willard at the store that I’m worried about you disappearing. If I know him, he’ll tell the rest of the town.”
Everyone agreed. Bailee’s safety depended on it.
She wasn’t sure how she got to bed, but Bailee curled beneath the covers and cried herself to sleep thinking that somehow she’d let Carter down again. Wherever he was, she should be with him.
That thought hadn’t crossed Carter’s mind as he stood in Mrs. Abernathy’s tiny kitchen and strapped on a holster with double Colts.
“Do you even know how to use handguns?” Mrs. Abernathy asked as she poured him a cup of hot coffee.
Carter grinned. “I’ve been learning a lot of new things lately.” He lifted the coffee cup. “I’m a fair shot, but don’t know about drawing a weapon. Most of the time, when a gun was necessary, a rifle would do the job around the place. I don’t know if I can hit anything with these.”
“Then go in shooting.” Mrs. Abernathy laughed. “That’ll confuse ’em.”
“Are you sure you saw my wife get on the train?”
The old woman raised her hand, palm up. “I was heading home from delivering your shirt. So I was pretty far away, but I swear I saw her step on the train with that girl Lacy. Then I heard that gunshot and started running toward the jail. When I looked back, the train was gone.”
Carter closed his eyes, remembering how he’d run from the jail when Ludlow and Zeb started fighting. He’d almost turned back when he heard the shot, but suddenly the old woman ran toward him like a guardian angel. She’d pulled him out of sight and down into a gully, then sneaked him back to her house after the mob passed.
“You saved my life today,” he said, not knowing how he could ever thank her.
“Course I did, but don’t you worry about it. That’s what friends do for each other.” She shoved back a tear. “But I didn’t do it so you could go off getting yourself shot running after Zeb Whitaker.”
“I have to settle it once and for all,” Carter answered. “I can’t have Bailee living in fear that he’ll come get her any day. And since I’m the only one who knows he was in the jail with Ludlow this morning, he has to come after me as well.”
The widow shook her head. “He ain’t no easy man to kill.”
“Neither am I,” Carter answered, remembering how Zeb stormed in the sheriff’s office and demanded to know if Carter stole his money. He ordered Ludlow to open the cell so he could have a talk with Carter.
Ludlow tried to tell his friend that they were already handling the problem of Carter and only expected a small share for their trouble. Maybe half.
All at once Zeb and Ludlow were arguing.
Ludlow opened the door to the cell just as Zeb pulled his gun. It happened so fast. Ludlow demanded his share. Carter darted out the door. Zeb must have fired. Carter heard the man swearing he’d get Carter before the sun set.
“Well, if you’re going,” the widow interrupted Carter’s thoughts, “I’ll pack your supplies. You’ll need food and warm clothes.”
“No peaches,” Carter said as he finished his coffee.
“No peaches.” Mrs. Abernathy laughed. “I can find you a horse over at the stable. Mosely bought a bunch from the army the other day, but he’s been too drunk to count them.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
O
CTOBER AIR ARRIVED PACKED IN A CHILLY DAMPNESS, but Carter paid no mind as he listened just beyond the light shining from Fat Alice’s window.
“You want to go upstairs, Ranger Jacob? It might feel real good to get out of this cold. There ain’t no outlaw going to come crashing into this place this late. Winter’s coming on, and a bed’s a warm place to be on a night like this.”
Carter heard Nellie Jean from where he stood in the shadows of the porch.
“No, thanks,” a low voice answered. “I’m waiting to marry you, remember. I don’t want you going upstairs with no one including me before then, you hear.”
Nellie Jean sighed. “Oh, all right. I was just a-hoping you were ready. Fat Alice says I won’t be grown for at least another two years. That’s a long time to wait downstairs.”
Carter heard Nellie Jean go inside, slamming the door behind her.
Jacob laughed, then lit a cigar and said in a low, calm voice. “You still there, Stranger?”
Carter didn’t answer. How could the ranger know he was standing at the corner of the porch? It was a moonless night. He’d been standing in the same spot for an hour waiting for the young ranger to came outside.
“I figure you’re not out to do me harm, or you would have already been shooting.” The ranger turned toward Carter. “So you might as well show yourself and say what you come to say.”
Carter took a step forward. He didn’t waste time with introductions. “I’m going into Hell’s Lookout after Zeb Whitaker tomorrow. I talked to Riley last night, and he thought you might want to come along.”
The ranger relaxed against the post on Fat Alice’s boardinghouse porch. “I might. Now that Piper is safe back with her father, there’s a strong chance I’ll find my train robbers the same place you’ll find Zeb Whitaker. A federal marshal wired me that they want to question Whitaker for a robbery and murder of a rancher near Santa Fe. He’d be mighty obliged if I showed up with the man.”