Whispers on the Wind (23 page)

Grabbing the tin coffeepot,
he went out back and dumped the grounds and old coffee. He felt
lower than a snake, but the fact remained that Mary was accused of
murder and he had a job to do. Whether he liked it or
not!

Carter heard the front door
open as he headed back toward the front. He heard Rick say
cheerfully to Mary, “Good morning. Carter run off and leave
you?”

Thunder followed Rick
inside, carrying a big tray of food.

“No, I didn’t leave her,”
Carter informed him as he entered the room. “I’m making
coffee.”

Rick smiled. “Good, I
brought you both some breakfast. And it sounds like you need some
of that coffee. Fast.”

Thunder strolled over to
the cell. “How did you sleep last night?”

Mary knew her cheeks heated
to a soft pink as she said, “Fine.”

Rick opened the door, and
Thunder removed a plate of biscuits for the three of them, then
took the tray with the remaining plate of hot biscuits and gravy in
to Mary. “Hope you’re hungry.”

“Thank you. I
am.”

Thunder handed her a
package that had been tucked under his arm.

“What’s this?”

“I believe you asked me to
get you a change of clothes.”

“Thank you,” she said, and
kissed him on the cheek. Then she placed the package on the end of
the cot. She wasn’t sure how she was going to change clothes
without any privacy, but that was something she’d worry about
later. Mary sat back on the bunk with her legs pulled up so she
could place the plate on her lap. She buttered her
biscuit.

Thunder dragged a chair
into the cell. “I need to ask you some more questions,” Thunder
told her. “Do you feel up to it this morning?”

Mary nodded since her mouth
was full.

“Good,” Thunder said. He
turned the chair backwards and straddled it “I want you to think
real hard. There had to be somebody else in that cabin. Is there
anything you can remember?”

At first Mary shook her
head, then she remembered the piece of material. She fumbled in the
pocket of her skirt and withdrew the green plaid material. “This.”
She waved it at Thunder.

He took the fabric and
examined it. “This is fine wool, the kind that comes from England
or Ireland. I saw plaids like this when I lived in Boston, but what
does it have to do with Jim’s murder?”

“I don’t know. When I woke
up I found that small piece of material on my bed, and since I’ve
never seen it before I wondered if I might have torn it off of
whoever was there.”

“That’s a good
point”

Mary picked up the linen
cloth and wiped her mouth. “The night I was shot—”

Thunder gripped the back of
the chair. “You were shot?” his voice boomed.

“Right here.” She pointed
to her arm, then went on to explain that she’d been singing and
why. “I saw a man backstage with a green plaid coat That’s what
made me remember the piece of material. He seemed to want my
attention, but when I pointed him out to Carter’s mother, he was
gone. And then I thought I saw him at the back of the theater
before I was shot.”

Thunder smiled. “I think
somebody is trying to kill you, kid, because you know something you
shouldn’t”

“But why can’t I
remember?”

Rick moved over to the
cell. “I’m sorry for listening, but what Mary said sounds like the
same thing several other folks said when I questioned them after
the shooting. They thought they saw someone, but when I asked them
to describe the person, it was as if their memory had been wiped
out”

“That’s interesting,”
Thunder said. “There has to be a clue that we’re missing.” He
turned his attention back to Mary. “Can you remember what the man
looked like?”

Carter had been listening
to the entire conversation. Could it be that someone had framed
Mary? But it still didn’t make sense why she couldn’t remember
anything at all.

Mary placed her empty plate
on the tray. “He was tall, very thin, and he had black
hair.”

“Did you ever see Big
Jim’s brother?” Thunder asked.

“No. Jim mentioned his
brother was supposed to come to camp, but I never saw him,” Mary
replied.

“Well, he told Marshal
Forester that you cooked supper for him, and then you and Jim got
into an argument,” Thunder told her. He watched as her face
paled.

Mary stormed to her feet
“That is not true! I remember cooking supper because he was
supposed to come to eat, but he never showed up, and I don’t
remember anything after that” She looked at Thunder and frowned.
“That doesn’t sound, good, does it?”

Thunder stood. “No, kid. It
doesn’t But we’ll find out what happened.”

Hank, breathing hard,
stormed in through the door. “We got trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”
Carter asked.

“The Carlsons are down at
the saloon. They stopped me on the way in and told me to tell you
they’d meet you on the street in two hours. If you don’t show up,
they’ll start shooting anybody walking down the
sidewalk.”

Mary moved toward the bars.
She could see every muscle in Carter’s body tense. This was what
he’d always wanted—revenge for his sister’s death. “I’ll be there,”
Carter said.

“How many?” Rick
asked.

“Five altogether,” Hank
told them. He reached for the coffeepot “Two Carlsons and three new
guns. However, there could be more that I didn’t see. The last I
heard, the gang had grown to ten.”

“There are three of us. It
shouldn’t be bad,” Rick reasoned.

“Sounds like you boys have
trouble,” Thunder said. He leaned back against the wall. “Who are
the Carlsons?”

Rick spent the next half
hour telling Thunder about the gang while Rick and Carter cleaned
their guns. When Rick had finished, Thunder said, “Let’s make that
an even four.”

“It’s not your fight,
Thunder. You don’t really have to,” Hank said.

Thunder studied the sheriff
for a moment “I think it evens up the numbers.”

Carter looked up from
loading his gun. “Can you shoot?”

Thunder smiled slowly. “I
believe I could hit something if it were big enough.”

Carter looked
skeptical.

Thunder wasn’t surprised.
But he was finding he liked Carter’s surly attitude. He just might
be man enough to handle Mary—and even then it wouldn’t be
easy.

“If you have doubts, why
don’t you just draw on Thunder?” Mary suggested from her cell. She
wore a devious smile that Thunder recognized well.

Carter stood up and
holstered his .44-caliber Remington. “That isn’t a bad idea. I
don’t want to have you getting killed on my conscience just because
you can’t handle a gun.”

“You boys unload your guns
first” Hank told them. ‘Just in case you forget this is
practice.”

They both emptied their
chambers. Thunder leaned casually against the wall. Carter was
across the room. Rick stood in the middle.

“All right on the count of
three, both of you draw. Those guns are empty, aren’t they?” Rick
asked. Both men nodded.

“One. Two. Three,” Rick
shouted. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he said when Carter’s gun had only
half cleared the holster.

Mary smiled as Thunder
said, “You lose.”

“All right,” Carter
agreed, his brow arched. “I guess you can go with us. Where did you
learn to shoot like that
⁵
”

“When you’ve been called a
half-breed all your life, you learn real quick how to handle a
gun.”

“Hell, I want him in front
of me,” Rick said with a chuckle.

As Thunder reloaded his
Colt, he asked, “When do you intend to leave for Gregory
Gulch?”

“Just as soon as I kill
the last two Carlsons,” Carter said nonchalantly.

“Revenge drives many men,”
Thunder commented. “If someone had killed my family, I’m sure I
would probably feel the same way. Just remember, there comes a time
when you have to let the past go and start living.”

“You sound like somebody
who has been there,” Carter said.

“That’s right. I was
driven by my own demons for a long time,” Thunder admitted. Then he
changed the subject. “I will probably catch up with you later. I’d
like to find John McCoy. Supposedly, he’s headed this way. That is,
unless you feel that you need my help in getting Mary safely back
to Gregory Gulch.”

Carter shot him a withering
look. “I think I can manage. Nobody will harm her.”

“Good. Make sure they
don’t, or you’ll answer to me.” Thunder didn’t even pretend to
smile.

Hank finished his coffee.
“I think both of you could stand a strong cup of coffee.” He held
up the coffeepot and motioned to both of them. “Believe I’ll do a
walkabout and warn folks to stay off the streets.”

“Better take someone with
you,” Carter suggested.

“I’ll go,” Rick
volunteered.

Hank placed his hat on his
head. “After seeing Thunder draw, I’d rather have him.”

Thanks a lot,” Rick
grumbled. “Guess I’ll go get more ammo at the hardware
store.”

“No offense, son,” Hank
said.

Hank and Thunder were still
laughing at Rick as they walked out the door. Then there was quiet
Mary wasn’t used to just sitting around, doing nothing, and she
felt restless, like a caged animal. She cast a glance at Carter. It
appeared he was going to be her only source of entertainment, so
she might as well talk to him.

“Couldn’t you just arrest
that gang so no one would get hurt?” she asked.

Carter glanced up at her
with a look of disbelief. “I could issue them an invitation, but I
doubt they’d take it They were brought before a judge once, but
they got off because the evidence presented didn’t hold up in
court”

“I was being serious,”
Mary insisted with a frown. “One of you could be hurt"

Carter moved over so he
could see her through the bars. “You would worry about
me?”

Mary wasn’t going to give
him the satisfaction of hearing she’d be worried sick, so she
simply said, “Of course, I don’t want a stranger to drag me back to
Gregory Gulch. I’m used to you.”

She received a frown from
him that really pleased the ornery side of her. But she managed to
keep a straight face. Then she added the final blow to his ego. “I
was worried about Hank. He isn’t as young as the rest of
you.”

“Hank is pretty fast, so
don’t let that graying hair fool you,” Carter told her. He shifted
and propped his shoulder against the wall as he talked to her.
“Want to hear how Hank got his job?”

Mary went back to the cot
and sat down. Better to keep her distance from him. “Sure. I’ve got
time.”

“I’m not sure I can tell
it the same as Hank, but I’ll give it a shot,” Carter said with a
smile. “Seems like a cowboy came in off the range one day and
proceeded to celebrate at the Golden Lady. As the rotgut began to
take over his body, he began to shoot out the lights. Guess he
needed something to do. He started demanding that people drink with
him and generally making life unpleasant, but that wasn’t
enough—this cowboy started roughing up a couple of patrons. So
Hank, who had been sitting in the corner playing cards, strolled up
to the cowboy and said, ‘I’ll give you five minutes to get out of
town.’”

“Did Hank have a gun?”
Mary asked.

“Nope.”

“So what
happened?”

“The cowboy put up his
gun, walked out of the saloon to where his horse was hitched, and
rode out of town.”

Mary came back over to the
bars and gripped them. She waited to see if Carter was teasing her.
“Just that easy?” she asked.

“Yep. Hank was asked what
he would have done if the cowboy refused to go. And Hank said, ‘I’d
have given him five more minutes.’” Carter chuckled.

Mary laughed. “I like that
story. Thank you.”

Carter shoved away from the
wall and covered her hands on the bars with his. “You’re welcome. I
wish I could let you out of there,” he admitted.

“I do, too.”

“Mary,
if anything should happen
today...”

Ignoring the mocking voice
inside that wondered why she cared for this man, she begged,
“Please don’t do this. Just arrest them.”

“I don’t intend to have a
gunfight if I don’t have to, but it will be hard to arrest that
many men without it. You’ll be safe in here.”

“It’s not me I’m worried
about,” she said in a choked voice. She cleared her throat before
she asked one last time. “Don’t leave me locked up! I promise I
won’t run. Just don’t leave me locked up.”

Carter touched her hand in
a gently caress. “I can’t break the law, Mary. Not even for
you.”

She could only stare at
him. She knew all along that Carter believed in his principles, so
how could she blame him for not breaking them?
Not even for her.
She would hear
those words forever.