Wicked Wyoming Nights (49 page)

“You’re not going back. I need you here. With Sam gone and Iris getting above herself, we don’t have anyone to attract customers these days.”

“I’m not very strong yet. I wouldn’t have come this far if those people hadn’t scared me half out of my wits. Cord said you had more business than ever.” She hadn’t meant to mention his name, but he was a natural part of her thinking and it just slipped out.

“So you’ve been seeing him again, have you?” Ira exploded. “You’re too weak to help your own kin, but you’re strong enough to chase after that cocky pair of britches.”

“He came by to see how I was doing.” Eliza was going to have to tell her uncle sometime she had changed her mind and was going to marry Cord, but she didn’t feel up to it now.

“You swore you’d never see him again.”

“Can’t you forget your hatred for one minute?” she demanded angrily. “I was nearly killed, yet all that upsets you is Cord Stedman coming by to thank me for saving his life.”

“You brought it on yourself.”

“You brought it on me, you and your blind, unreasoning certainty that Cord is behind everything bad that happens in Johnson County.”

“He is!’

“Even if he were and I never wanted to see him again, I’d have done exactly as I did.”

“You only did it because you can’t stop thinking about him.”

“I couldn’t let any man die unfairly, especially not at the hands of my own uncle,” she added wearily. “Not after he’d made a fool of himself before the whole town.”

“Nobody calls me a fool,” Ira said, straightening his thin body and adjusting his fancy domes. “I’ve grown too rich.”

“Nobody cares about your money. It’ll disappear as fast as it came if you continue to make yourself a laughing-stock.”

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that, girl,” he shouted. “People in this town look up to me.”

“Then why did Croley order you not to show your face in the saloon?”

“There are plenty of people who listen to me now, especially since Stedman tried to save those killers.”

“What for? Trying to kill a man who’d been shot in the back and tied up while he was unconscious? When did it become a praiseworthy act to blow up a helpless person?”

“They’re listening now that Stedman says he’s taking his cows to Montana. I know it’s a cover for turning tail and running like the rest of his kind,” Ira continued, ignoring her questions. “Now everybody knows him for the miserable informer he’s been all along.”

“He’s doing it so he can watch the rest of his herd more carefully. You’re making a big mistake if you think he’s running away.”

“You’re afraid he won’t come back. Then everybody will know what a shameless spectacle you made of yourself over him.”

“I’m not afraid anymore, not of you or anybody else. I’m going to marry Cord and never sing in this saloon again,” she added with increasing earnestness. “I hate it. Even after I stopped shaking every time I got up from the dinner table, I only did it because you needed me. There were times when I was so frightened it made me sick, but you never saw that, and you never saw how the men stared at me, thinking things I didn’t dare let myself imagine. And when Cord defended me, you insisted he was costing you money, even after Croley told you it brought in even more customers. All you’ve been able to think about since you came to Buffalo is the saloon and your hatred for Cord. You never thought of me, certainly not of what I wanted or what was good for me. And everything that interfered with what you wanted was either proof of Cord’s diabolical nature or evidence of my degenerate character.

“I’ve always known you didn’t love me,” Eliza said, swallowing an involuntary sob. “I knew I could never take the place of Aunt Sarah or Grant, but all those years when I was growing up, I thought if I worked hard you would learn to like me. But nothing I did ever satisfied you, and you never made me feel like anything except a burden to you. When we came here and Cord Stedman fell in love with me, my whole life changed. For the first time since Aunt Sarah died I knew what it was like to have someone want to take care of me, to be concerned for my happiness. I found friends and made a place for myself with the school. I
was
somebody, not just a nameless shadow who cooked and cleaned and then vanished until needed again.

“I tried to stick with you, but you wouldn’t let me. This
thing
you have against Cord has made you so sick in your mind you strike out at everybody around you. I think you’ve taken to hating me almost as much as you hate him. When you lit that dynamite, you forced me to choose, something I probably never would have done if it hadn’t happened so fast. But I chose Cord, and I’m moving in with Ella until we can be married. I’m never coming back here again. I hope you will visit us, but not if you mean to disparage Cord. I won’t let you run down my husband.”

Listening to the longest speech Eliza had made in her entire life in stunned silence, Ira realized she meant every word she said. In his mind’s eye, he could see Cord laughing at him, and with every word Eliza spoke, Cord laughed harder until Ira couldn’t stand it.

“There won’t be any ranch or rich cowboy for you to marry,” he jeered in a kind of half-crazy triumph. “While Stedman and his crew are away, we’re going to run off every head of cattle he has left. He’ll be a pauper.” He glared defiantly at Eliza, not even remembering Croley had threatened to break his neck if he said a word about their plans.

“Do you mean after failing twice, you’re going to make a fool of yourself again?” demanded Eliza, thunderstruck.

“Croley’s gathered a crew that’s double the size of Stedman’s,”

Ira announced furiously between grinding teeth. “And they won’t shy away from putting a bullet into anyone who gets in their way.”

“What crew?” Eliza stammered. “Even Croley wouldn’t dare to hire the outlaws who have been running loose lately. They’re the same madmen who shot that poor foreman before he reached town.”

“He was shot by his own men.”

Eliza gave him a blank look.

“It’s an Association ranch. The owners paid one of their cowboys to shoot him so they could blame it on us. Then the governor would bring in the Army.”

“You’re mad,” Eliza said, putting into words what others had felt for some time. “Your hatred has completely destroyed your common sense.”

“Where are you going? Ira demanded sharply as she turned toward the door.

“I’m going to tell the sheriff of this extremely foolish plot before anybody else gets hurt.”

“You mean you’re going to warn Cord’s men,” Ira accused, grabbing her by the arm.

“I doubt I could ride that far, even in a buckboard,” Eliza said, jerking and twisting her arm, but failing to free it from Ira’s surprisingly strong grasp. “This is the sheriff’s job.”

“You’re not going to the sheriff or anybody else,” Ira said, half desperate, wholly furious. “You’re going to stay right here.”

“No I’m not,” contradicted Eliza. Unable to free herself, Eliza jabbed the heel of her shoe into Ira’s toes. Ira loosened his grip long enough for her to make a dash for the door, but he grabbed her from behind and slung her so hard toward the center of the room she stumbled over the rug and tumbled onto the sofa. Before she could get to her feet, he was on her, dragging her to her feet and shouting in her face.

“I’ll beat you senseless before I let you spoil this plan. Stedman’s fooled everybody for years, but at last he’s going to pay.”

“You’ll have to hold me here yourself, because if you don’t, I’m going to tell everybody I see my uncle is a thief, a shameless scoundrel. I’ll shout it to every person on the street.”

Ira struck Eliza hard, knocking her to the floor. She looked at him in unbelieving surprise, but when she put her hand to her mouth and saw the blood, her mind cleared and her bewilderment quickly vanished.

“You have just released me from my vow and any remaining loyalty I might have felt. From now on I’m going to treat you like any other senseless murderer.”

“You won’t do a damned thing” Ira swore, dragging her to her feet and pulling her, half walking and half stumbling after him, in the direction of her room. “I’m going to lock you up until I get back.” He shoved Eliza through the doorway, intending to lock the door on her, but before he could find the key she was at the window. Ira yanked her back and slammed the window down so hard one of the panes cracked.

“Have it your way,” he said roughly, and dragging her over to the bed, threw her down on it, and tied her hands behind her back through the brass tubes of the bedstead.

“You’ll never get away with it,” Eliza spat at him. “Cord is smarter than all of you put together.” Ira took a handkerchief out of his pocket and gagged her.

“His smartness won’t help him if he’s in Montana. And now you can’t either. I’ll untie you when I tell you how many cows
we
took to Montana, cows bearing the Matador brand.” He slammed the door behind him and Eliza heard the key turn in the lock. He moved about in the parlor for the next few minutes, men left, locking the door to the apartment as well.

Eliza felt like kicking herself. Why hadn’t she had the sense to keep quiet instead of announcing her intentions and giving him the opportunity to stop her. Her struggles caused her shoulders to ache unbearably, but every time she thought of quitting she remembered it was Cord who would suffer the most. However, she soon exhausted her limited strength and was forced to abandon the struggle. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of Cord being robbed of all he had worked so hard to gain while she remained helpless.

Eliza had no idea how much time had passed when she was startled by a thunderous knocking at the door to their rooms. The gag prevented her from calling for help. She heard Ella Baylis’s voice, soon joined by Iris’s, calling her name, and all she could do was sit there, powerless, knowing the help she so desperately needed was just a few feet away. The voices stopped, and Eliza supposed Ella and Iris had decided to look elsewhere. How long would she have to wait until someone found her? Would it be too late to help Cord? She looked out the window; she couldn’t see the sun from where she lay, but it must be getting on to midafternoon at least. It was doubtful anyone would come back before evening, if then, and by that time it might be too late to do anything at all.

Not many minutes had gone by when she again heard sounds at the door, but this time there was the turning of a key and several people entered the parlor.

There’s nobody here,” said Ella, worried and clearly disappointed.

“But somebody’s been here,” Lucy declared. That’s Miss Eliza’s jacket, and she’s not in the habit of leaving her things on the floor.” She looked around suspiciously. “Something else is not right either. I just feel it.”

“Let’s check the bedroom,” suggested Iris. She was surprised to find the door locked.

“Whatever for?” wondered Lucy.

“Where’s the key?” demanded Ella, whose suspicions were immediately aroused.

“I don’t think there is one. Leastways, I never saw it.”

“There’s got to be one. The door’s locked, isn’t it?” That was undeniable. “Shush!” Ella said imperatively. “I think I hear something.” Eliza was trying as hard as she could to throw her body about on the bed to make the springs or the bed frame squeak.

“She’s in there,” Ella stated. “That poor child is locked in her own room.”

“But why?” asked Iris.

“There’ll be time enough to ask that when we get her out. If there’s no key, we’ll have to break the door down.”

“Don’t you look at me like that,” Lucy said, her voice rising in excitement. “I’m not throwing my old body against that door and breaking something that’s not likely to ever get put right again.”

“There must be some way we can bash it in.”

“Wait,” said Iris, struck by a thought. “If you never saw a key, maybe there wasn’t one.”

The girl got too much sun riding back and forth to that fort,” Ella said with a groan.

“I mean maybe the same key fits both doors.”

“What did you do with your key?” Ella demanded, as Lucy took the key out of her pocket and put it in the lock. It turned effortlessly, and the three women stampeded into the room only to be brought up short by the sight of an exhausted and tearful Eliza gagged and bound to the bed.

“The beast!” exclaimed Iris as Lucy and Ella hurried to release Eliza.

“Find the sheriff at once,” Eliza said as soon as the gag was out of her mourn. “Croley plans to run off Cord’s herd while he’s in Montana. I think they mean to try for tonight.”

“Cord pays his men a good wage to look after his property,” said Ella, untying the last bond on Eliza’s wrists. “You let them worry about rustlers. I’m going to get you home and between sheets before you collapse of a brain fever.”

“I can’t, not until I’ve talked to the sheriff. Nobody at the Matador suspects anything, much less that it may come tonight. And Uncle Ira says they have twice as many men as Cord.”

“You might as well see if you can find that worthless sheriff, Iris” Ella sniffed. “Though what good you think he can do is beyond me.”

Eliza couldn’t sit still or keep her mind on anything during the wait for the sheriff, but long before the reluctant steps of Sheriff Hooker could be heard following the more eager ones of Iris up the hall, Ella and Lucy had dragged everything belonging to Eliza from its closet, drawer, or wardrobe, packed it up, and sent it off to Ella’s house.