"I realize you don't know what it means to pay the price of
your actions. I also realize that you've never had to earn anything in your life. But you should've remembered how little you liked being tied when you broke your word yesterday. You've got a few hard lessons to learn, Devina. The first one is that you're not your daddy's little darling in this cabin. The second is that I don't make empty threats. You're going to have to earn your freedom, Devina. It might be an unpleasant lesson, but it'll be a valuable one. Almost as valuable as the lesson your father taught me." Ross paused. In answer to her silent question, he responded harshly, "Don't ask what that lesson was. You don't want to know."
Ross looked down at his helpless captive for a moment longer before walking away from the bunk. In a few long strides he was through the doorway of the cabin and had turned out of sight in the brilliant sunlight beyond.
Chapter XV
The thundering
hoofbeats
around him slowed to a moderate pace as the town of Tombstone came into view. Harvey reined his laboring sorrel to a matching gait and glanced at the leader of the small posse with a low grunt of disgust. Sheriff Bond. Damn the man for the inept, blundering fool that he was!
Harvey ignored the dust-laden air and the heavy residue of grit that coated his face and riding attire. Frustrated as he was, he cared little for his appearance or for his discomfort.
It had been a week since Devina was abducted, and he had received no word from the bastard who had taken her, nor had he found a single clue to her whereabouts. He had tried everything. He had hired Sam Sharpe to follow Charles Carter every time he left town. That effort had turned up nothing more than the names of a few patients who had been too ill to come to his office. Harvey had even employed Wally Smith to keep an eye on Camille
DuPree
, but that effort had been just as unproductive. Finally having given up on those approaches, he had pressed Sheriff Bond all the harder.
The silent group of men around him turned their horses toward Dexter's Livery. It was obvious that they had had enough. That same feeling was only too evident on Chester Bond's narrow, lined face. But Harvey Dale had not had enough, and if Bond thought he was going to give up, Bond was sadly mistaken. The damned fool had been in his pocket for years. He had never done more to earn his money than to lend his lawful presence when it was needed at Till-Dale Enterprises.
The men of the posse dismounted and began to drift away in a disorganized manner that symbolized in Harvey's mind the ineffectiveness of the group. Saddle tramps and trail bums, most of them, willing to spend a day riding around in the wilderness at Sheriff Bond's direction if it would put a few extra dollars in their pockets. The few extra dollars had been supplied by Till-Dale Enterprises.
Ignoring the ache in his bones resulting from his unaccustomed activity, Harvey regarded Sheriff Bond coldly as he dismounted.
"Another long day riding in the sun, Sheriff. Am I to assume that is the most I can expect from you, three or four hours of riding in circles? Who in hell did you think you were fooling? You have no idea where Morrison is holding my daughter, do you?"
Sheriff Bond's mustache twitched as he shot a quick glance toward the curious stares of the men around them. His narrow face stiffened.
"I'm
thinkin
' this
ain't
the proper time or place to discuss the matter, Mr. Dale."
"And I'm thinking there's no better place than this, in full view of your constituents. I do think the people who put you in office should be aware of your performance. And your performance is nil, Sheriff, nil!"
Chester Bond's wiry frame stiffened. "You're upset, Mr. Dale, and I can understand that. I can understand that it might bedevil a man that somebody can just kidnap his daughter and disappear off the face of the earth with her like that
fella
Morrison did. But we caught him once before, Mr. Dale, and we'll catch him again… you wait and see."
"I'm tired of waiting, Sheriff." Harvey Dale's aristocratic face began to flood with color at the sheriff's placating assurances. "You have no idea where that swine took my daughter!"
"You're right there, Mr. Dale."
"I'm right! That's little consolation, indeed. What do you intend to do about this whole damned thing?"
Chester Bond took another quick, surveying glance around them. Curious onlookers were beginning to cluster around, and his discomfort increased.
"Like I said, Mr. Dale, this
ain't
no place to discuss what I intend
doin
' about this situation."
"You don't want to discuss your plans to find my daughter, Sheriff, because you haven't formulated a plan, isn't that right? Admit it,
dammit
!"
"Mr. Dale…" His squinting gaze assessing the purple tint coloring Harvey Dale's face, Sheriff Bond shook his head. "I
ain't
discussin
'
nothin
' with you right now. You're out of your head with grief and worry, and I can understand that. If you wasn't, you'd realize that Morrison didn't take your daughter without a reason. I'm
thinkin
' that reason is money, and if it is, you'll be
hearin
' from him soon. I know this
scoutin
' we've been
doin
' in the last week don't stand
nothin
' more than an outside chance of
turnin
' up
anythin
', but I figured it was a chance you'd want to take. If I was wrong, we'll just forget the whole thing and wait until"
"Fool, damned stupid fool! He's outsmarted you, hasn't he? A jailbird, an ex-convict straight from Yuma Prison has you running in circles!"
Pausing, Chester Bond fixed his squinting stare on Harvey Dale's enraged expression. "Seems to me that jailbird has outsmarted you, too, Mr. Dale. Else, you'd be
leadin
' this posse straight to where he's
holdin
' your daughter."
Harvey went pale but said nothing.
Growing bolder, Sheriff Bond pressed on in his nasal tone, "
Ain't
that right, Mr. Dale?"
Harvey Dale stared into Sheriff Bond's unrelenting gaze for a few seconds longer before turning abruptly on his heel and striding away.
Harvey was still walking in a brisk, driven stride when he realized he had no idea where he was heading. It came to him then that he had been floundering without a sense of direction from the first moment he had realized that Devina was gone.
Charles paused, his eyes flicking between Harvey Dale and Sheriff Bond in contemplation of the scene being enacted for the curious eyes of Tombstone. It was his feeling that, as well staged as it was, it was entirely impromptu, stimulated by the exhaustion, fear, and despair of Harvey Dale. But somehow, Charles could not feel pity.
It occurred to Charles that Harvey Dale was not the man he had been before Devina disappeared. Certainly that Harvey Dale would never have appeared in public with such a casual disregard for his appearance. Were it not for his posture, his air of privilege, Dale could have been mistaken for any cowboy on the street in his dust-covered trousers and open-neck cotton shirt. Charles was well aware that Dale had been seen this way more often than not during the week Devina had been gone. Dale had participated in almost daily searches in the hope of finding her. The long rides had obviously taken their toll.
As Charles watched, Dale straightened in reaction to something Sheriff Bond had said, then walked away. The man was shaken, badly so. The sheriff and he had been all but shouting, but Charles had been unable to hear their words over the din of the street traffic.
A cold knot of fear clenched tightly in Charles's stomach. Oh, God, it could not be Devina! Dale could not have learned something tragic…
Uncertain whether the rapid pounding of his heart was the result of fear for his brother or anxiety about Devina, Charles followed Harvey Dale. His rapid step soon brought him up beside Dale. He halted, startled by Dale's vacant stare as the older man walked past him without recognition. Charles placed a staying hand on his arm. "Harvey… "
The aristocratic gray head swung in his direction; the light eyes focused with considerable effort, widening at the moment of recognition. "Get out of my way, Carter!"
"I want to talk to you a moment."
"I have nothing to say to you. You, with your pretended innocence. I know you're in league with that criminal brother of yours. Damn you, I can see the villainous gleam in your eyes! I wonder that I was so blind to it before."
"Perhaps you were blind to that gleam, Harvey, because it wasn't there. Perhaps that gleam you see now is just a product of your imagination and your nervous exhaustion."
"Don't tell me what I see! You're a criminal, just like your brother. Are you gloating, now that you see how ineffective the law is in finding him and my Devina? Do you laugh when you report back to him that we ride out every day and come back empty-handed?"
"You know I've had no contact with my brother, Harvey."
"How would I know that?"
"Because you've had me followed." Charles smiled at Harvey's startled reaction to his statement. "I'm not the fool I was three years ago, Harvey. I watch my back now."
"You were in on this whole thing with your brother right from the start! You think you have this town fooled, but you don't. When I'm done with you, there'll be no place for you in Tombstone, or anywhere else in the West."
"I didn't stop you to listen to your threats, Harvey. I want to know if you've found out anything more about Devina. I'm just as anxious to see her returned as you are."
"Liar! Hypocrite! Don't pretend to me, Carter. I'm not taken in by your acting skills. And don't think you'll escape unscathed, either. You think you're untouchable, don't you? The good and noble doctor. But you're not as untouchable as you think."
Charles assessed Harvey Dale with a professional eye. His complexion was mottled and purplish. This conversation was doing the man no good.
"Harvey, it is not to your advantage to allow yourself to become so agitated."
"Damn you! You've taken my daughter! She's gone, and I don't dare think what that criminal brother of yours has done to her! But I tell you here and now, Carter. If you or your brother has harmed one hair on Devina's head, I'll make you pay. If it takes me to my dying day, I'll make you pay!"
Realizing it was senseless to respond, Charles turned without another word and walked back to his office, leaving Harvey staring at his retreating back.
Jake lifted his glass to his lips and took a deep swallow, but he tasted nothing. His mind was intent on the confrontation taking place outside the saloon.
It had been real considerate of Charles Carter to stop the hard-nosed Harvey Dale right out in front of the saloon door, so that Jake could hear their conversation. It didn't take much to see that Dale was at his wits' end with worry about his precious daughter.
Jake lifted his glass to his lips and took a deep swallow, and then another. He drained the glass and turned toward the back table where Mack and Harry were amusing themselves with a game of poker. The time was ripe. He'd talk to those two boys and turn them loose, and tonight he'd start back toward the cabin. But first, before he took on that long ride, he'd see to it that he went back in a far better frame of mind than he'd been in for the last few days. It had been tough being so close to Lai Hua and staying away from her. Ross didn't know how much he owed him for that.
His hand slipping into his pocket to touch the red ribbon he had toyed with all week long, Jake turned toward the table where Mack and Harry were bickering in their familiar way. His step quickened at the thought of the night to come.
The Count paused in the shadows of the hallway and raised his eyes to the staircase to follow the slow descent of the voluptuous red-haired woman. He carefully appraised the expression on her open, sober face, and his graying brows furrowed into a frown.
Hearing a sound in the foyer he turned to see Marie open the front door to a short, well-dressed gentleman. Marie's pretty features relaxed into a smile of greeting, which faded as the fellow responded almost absentmindedly, his eyes on the staircase. Removing his hat, he handed it to Marie.
"Camille, I was hoping I'd find you available this afternoon." With an embarrassed laugh the fellow proceeded to the foot of the staircase. "It is a bit early in the day for me to visit. I wasn't sure…"
Pierre's eyes narrowed as he looked back to Camille. The change in her expression was immediate; her smile was forced as she greeted the anxious gentleman.
"Ah, Monsieur Collier… William. How nice to see you. You have not visited for so very long. I thought you had abandoned me."
Reaching up to take her hand, the fellow smiled more earnestly. "Never, never, Camille."
Pierre was amused to see that Camille stood almost an inch taller than her client. The fellow's spare frame seem to shrink in comparison to her well-fleshed proportions. But it was also obvious that her formidable stature in no way intimidated the tense banker. He appeared to relax immeasurably as he took her hand and raised it to his lips.