Carol Finch (16 page)

Gideon purposely ignored the personal question and
fired one of his own. “Tell me why you captured Lori and demanded to know if she could identify the supposed sniper.”

“Because I wanted to know if she
could
identify the sniper,” Reece said reasonably.

“So you don’t think she’s guilty, either,” Gideon speculated.

“No.” Reece’s smile faded. “I’m here to deal with Tony’s killer. The Widow Burgess is paying me to do it. She’s complained regularly about my methods because she’s anxious to wrap up this case.”

“Is she as attractive up close as she is at a distance?” Gideon questioned, scrutinizing Reece carefully.

“Attractive enough, but she plans to sell out and quit this place after losing her husband and foreman. She’s thoroughly convinced Lorelei Russell fired the fatal shot then dashed off. I’ve questioned her, but she’s adamant about what she thought she saw. She doesn’t want Lorelei going free, just because she’s a woman.”

Gideon stared into the distance. “Someone took a shot at me at the bend of the river about an hour before I arrived here. That wasn’t you, was it?”

“Nope. I was here.”

“What about Sylvester Jenkins?”

“He was gone for a while but he returned to feed the horses he’s hitching up to take the coach to the trading post and ferry, and then to the next station in the Pawnee Nation. But I’m not ready to rule him out completely.”

“And the widow?” Gideon inquired.

“She was in the station making stew this morning. Then she returned to the house for a while. I saw her walking out to check on the meal a few minutes ago.”

Gideon frowned pensively. “Whoever took that shot last night and again today has to be lurking around somewhere.
My guess is that he’s trying to discourage me from searching for clues and protecting Lori.”

“Could be another bounty hunter who wants to collect the reward,” Reece suggested. “I’ve encountered several unscrupulous scoundrels in the business over the past year.”

“I’m wondering if whoever killed Tony is trying to prevent Lori from presenting her side of the story in court.”

“I agree,” Reece said.

Gideon’s eyes narrowed on his former cohort. “So tell me again why you’ve decided to give this case your undivided attention. Was Tony a fugitive using an alias? Does he have a criminal past that interests you?”

Reece blew a smoke ring in the air, then stared solemnly at Gideon. “No. He’s my stepbrother and I want his killer to face the consequences. Not like the case that left the woman I loved dead and her killer still running loose.”

While Reece made another thorough sweep of the bushes, hoping to find overlooked clues, Gideon waited for the stagecoach passengers to take their meal then pile into the conveyance that traveled to the trading post. He noticed Widow Burgess cast him several curious glances after she saw his badge, but she went about her duties. No doubt, the shapely chestnut-haired widow was itching to get him alone so she could fire questions about her foreman’s murder at him.

Sure enough, once the stagecoach rolled off, the widow, who looked to be about five or six years older than Lori, marched up to him. She stared deliberately at his badge then narrowed her dark eyes on him.

“I hope you’re here to inform me that Lorelei Russell is under arrest and awaiting trial.”

“No, ma’am, I’m not.”

“The name is Maggie, not ma’am,” she corrected as she rearranged the pile of hair atop her head. “I am not that old yet, Marshal…?” She arched her brow, waiting for him to offer his name.

“Deputy U.S. Marshal Gideon Fox.”

“Then what
are
you here to tell me?” she questioned as she motioned for him to follow her into the house.

His gaze dropped to the feminine sway of her hips, but it didn’t remain there long. When compared to a certain shapely Lori, the widow couldn’t measure up.

Gideon forced himself to focus on business. “There are too many unanswered questions about this case,” he said on his way up the front steps.

“Oh? Such as what? It looked cut-and-dried to me when I found Lorelei standing over Tony’s body, holding a smoking gun.”

“But you didn’t actually
see
her fire the weapon at him, did you?” Gideon probed intently.

Maggie blew out a frustrated breath. She strode over to the stove to pour herself a cup of tea, then offered one to Gideon, which he politely declined. “No, but I heard the shots and witnessed the end result,” she maintained.

“How many shots?” he questioned.

“Two or three, I think.” Maggie sank down in a chair at the dining table. “Everything happened so fast. I became upset when I dashed over to see Tony dead on the ground.”

Gideon frowned. According to Lori, the sniper fired three shots and she fired one. “Two shots or three?” he persisted.

“I don’t recall for sure,” she admitted. “I was on my way from the house to the station to make sure everything was in order to serve passengers on the early-morning stage from Greenleaf Store in the Creek Nation.”

Gideon was familiar with the place since he’d passed through it several times during forays to track outlaws.

“I heard the shots and dashed around the barn to see Lorelei holding Tony’s spare pistol.” Her intent gaze zeroed in on him. “What would you presume if
you
arrived on that unpleasant scene, Marshal Fox?”

“Probably the same thing.” Yet, he’d reached the point that he wanted the woman who intrigued him to be innocent of wrongdoing. “Reece McCree thinks perhaps there was a sniper hiding in the underbrush.”

She sniffed in annoyance. “That arrogant bounty hunter is wasting my time and money with his nonchalant approach to finding Lorelei. I don’t know who else would want to kill Tony, except the woman he’d been seeing for the past three months. I suspect he’d grown tired of her and tried to break off their affair. She must have gone a little mad and decided that if she couldn’t have him then no one could.”

Gideon was sorry to say he’d worked cases exactly like that.

“How do you know Tony was courting Lorelei?”

She shrugged casually. “He told me so, for one. I’ve seen them together on occasion. So have other folks around here.”

Gideon glanced around the expensively furnished home. “John Little Calf mentioned there were at least two other women who showed an interest in Tony.”

“Oh? Who?” Maggie questioned interestedly.

“I’m not sure yet. But a jealous husband or forsaken lover might be involved in this case. Someone could have fired shots from the underbrush and let Lorelei Russell take the blame. Since you can’t
swear
you saw exactly what happened, we have only circumstantial evidence. I doubt it
will hold up in court. Jumping to conclusions doesn’t solve cases.”

He’d done it with Lori and he sorely regretted it.

Maggie slumped back in her chair and stared at him for a long, pensive moment, as if wrestling with some sort of decision. “I suppose you’re right,” she said eventually. “I didn’t know there were other women in the area that might be resentful or jealous of Lori’s connection to Tony. Maybe I assumed too much and let my grief and anger over losing my husband and foreman consume me. I was striking out for revenge and justice to ease my sorrow.”

“Understandable,” Gideon commented. “Nonetheless, I’m taking down the signs you’ve posted and I intend to notify other stage stations to remove the Wanted posters.”

“Do what you must, Marshal Fox.” She sat upright in her chair and leaned her forearms on the table. “I suppose I should pay Clive Russell a visit to pick up supplies and apologize for believing the worst about his daughter. I demanded vigilante justice without gathering all the facts.

“But in my defense,” she added, tilting her chin to a proud angle, “law and order doesn’t always reach across this wide-open territory. My husband served as lawman and judge on several occasions. I suppose I tried to take up where he left off in order to track down Tony’s killer.”

“This case is better left to proper authorities who have legal jurisdiction,” Gideon stated firmly.

He didn’t need a hotheaded, grieving widow resuming her crusade after he rode off today. He wanted her promise that she would give Lori the benefit of the doubt and let him handle the case.

“I agree that you should speak to Clive Russell and make amends,” Gideon said. “You lost a foreman and Clive is
dealing with concern over the charges against his daughter, as well as the damage done to her reputation.”

Maggie nodded her head as she stared into her teacup. “I’ll contact Clive when I have the chance, Marshal Fox.” She glanced up to stare intently at him. “But in my mind, Lorelei is still a prime suspect and should not be discounted.”

Gideon pivoted toward the door. “I hope to wrap up this case soon. Reece informed me that you plan to sell out.”

“Indeed I do,” she said as she followed him outside.

“Have you decided where you’re headed?”

“Anywhere but this uncivilized country and the Louisiana bayous where I grew up,” she remarked. “There has to be a better way of life in big cities like Saint Louis or Kansas City.”

“Thank you for your time,” Gideon said then strode off.

He doubted he could convince the attractive widow to change her story or her thinking, but at least she had admitted there were other possible explanations.

Gideon tore down the Reward posters on his way to retrieve Pirate. He didn’t know how many stage stations Maggie had contacted and asked to circulate the posters, but he suspected there were too damn many.

He wadded up the posters offering a hefty reward for Lori’s capture. Then he tucked them in his saddlebag. It would take time to call off bounty hunters looking to collect the reward on Lori’s head. He made a mental note to post a few notices of his own during his return trip to marshal headquarters and the Fox family ranch.

L
ori paced the confines of her upstairs bedroom until she swore she’d worn a rut in the carpet. Gideon had been gone for hours. All day, in fact, and she was worried about him. Plus, inactivity made her crazy. She couldn’t wait until dark so she could prowl outside and pounce on whoever had tried to blast holes in her last night….

Her frustrated thoughts trailed off when she heard voices and footfalls on the staircase. She ducked behind the partially opened door. When Gideon came into view at the far end of the hall, she veered around the door, eager to greet him. But she froze in her tracks when she saw the shadowed silhouette of the man trailing behind Gideon.

Instant recognition and alarm assailed her. Hurriedly, she tucked herself behind the door. Didn’t Gideon realize the man he’d brought upstairs was the very same one who had attacked her? Her captor certainly wasn’t wearing the metal bracelets Gideon had clamped on
her.

Lori swallowed apprehensively. Dear God, was Gideon
here to arrest her because he’d discovered planted evidence that supposedly proved her guilt?

While her heart pounded like a galloping stallion, Lori darted to the window. Before Gideon reached her room she climbed out, taking the same route she’d used the previous night when she joined him in the river.

Now she was running
away
from him as fast as she could.

“Lori?” Gideon called out softly.

So deceptively soft, unlike his usual tone,
she noted as she grabbed hold of the gutter pipe to scramble hurriedly downward. Something had changed, she realized. He was probably trying to deceive her so she wouldn’t realize he was no longer her ally but rather her antagonist once again.

Feelings of anger and betrayal swamped her as she bounded to the ground then dashed toward the concealment of the trees. She was on her own again. It was up to her to figure out who had lurked in the underbrush to kill Tony that fateful night.

Gideon had never been eager to take her side. Now he was back to being his cynical self and she was hugely disappointed in him.

When Gideon poked his raven head out the window and scowled, a jolt of betrayal shot through her like a lightning bolt—straight to the heart. Then the other man appeared at the window beside Gideon. Lori studied his bronzed face, his shaggy black hair and high cheekbones that indicated Gideon’s new sidekick shared his mixed heritage.

No wonder the stranger reminded her so much of Gideon. Both were ruggedly handsome, handy with weapons and exceptionally skilled as scouts and trackers.

They would test her mettle, but she vowed to remain one step ahead of them.

Lurching around, Lori zigzagged through the copse of cottonwood trees to retrieve her horse before the two men charged after her. She ducked into the back door of the barn then hurriedly stuffed a bit in Drifter’s mouth. She slung the saddle on his back and quickly fastened the girth strap. As an afterthought, she exited the front of the barn to fetch Pirate and the stranger’s skewbald Pinto from the hitching post.

No doubt, Maggie had convinced Gideon and his new friend that Lori was guilty as sin. They’d come to drag her away.

If Gideon—the traitor—and his new cohort planned to chase her down then they’d do it riding horses pinned in the corrals. None of them compared to Pirate and the powerful-looking skewbald pinto she recognized as the one that had belonged to Hub Burgess—another sign Gideon and his sidekick believed Maggie’s version of the deadly incident.

Drawing the two horses into the barn, Lori bounded onto Drifter’s back then ducked out the back door. She led Pirate out of shouting distance of the barn because she knew the stallion responded to Gideon’s piercing whistle. Gouging Drifter in the flanks, she raced off, leading the two horses behind her and cursing Gideon’s betrayal with every breath she took.

“Hell and damn,” Gideon grumbled as he stared out the window.

“This doesn’t say much for your ability to keep a prisoner in custody,” Reece mocked wryly.

“The woman has a mind of her own and an independent streak a mile wide. She must’ve decided to do her own investigating while I wasn’t around to discourage her.”

Gideon pivoted on his heels and strode from the room.
“Damn, if she gets herself shot, I’m going to strangle her!”

Reece chuckled in amusement. “Good idea, Fox. Maybe you can stab and poison her while you’re at it. That’ll show her.”

On his way down the hall, Gideon hurled a glare over his shoulder. “You are no help whatsoever, McCree.”

“Really? I thought I was the very picture of helpfulness. Watching you bungle an investigation and misplace your lovely prisoner is the most fun I’ve had all year.”

“Glad I’m providing entertainment,” Gideon muttered, his voice oozing with sarcasm.

He halted abruptly at the foot of the steps and waited until Clive’s customer exited the trading post. Despite Clive’s glance—one that testified to his dislike—Gideon stalked toward him.

“Did you bother to check on your daughter at all today?” Gideon demanded accusingly.

The former military officer puffed up with so much indignation he nearly burst the seams of his cream-colored shirt. “Of course I checked on her. I took her lunch and supper tray upstairs. Why are you giving me the third degree?” He shot Reece a quick glance, then zeroed in on Gideon. “Did you uncover any evidence whatsoever while you were gone the whole blessed day?”

“I know she didn’t commit the crime,” Gideon declared.

Clive rolled his eyes. “Any idiot knows that.”

Behind Gideon, Reece snickered. Damn the man. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“An hour ago. Why all these questions?”

“Because she’s gone!” Gideon huffed in frustration.

Clive’s hazel eyes nearly popped from their sockets.
“Gone?”
he tweeted. “How can that be?”

“If she didn’t sneak downstairs and out the door while your back was turned then she must have sprouted wings and flown out the damn window.”

Clive scowled. “Why the devil would she leave?”

“I don’t know. I gave her specific orders to stay here and clean my spare pistol…. Oh hell. She’s armed
and
missing.”

On that unsettling thought, Gideon lurched toward the door. Reece was a step behind him. Clive muttered sourly when another customer arrived, forcing him to remain behind.

Good, thought Gideon. He didn’t need Lori’s overprotective father breathing down his neck and criticizing him while he tracked her down, then gave her the good shaking she deserved for defying his orders.

When I catch up with her, I won’t stop with giving her a good shaking
—Gideon didn’t have the chance to finish the spiteful thought. He was halfway to the barn when he realized his horse was gone. So was Reece’s.

Reece chuckled beside him. “That answers the question of
when
she took flight. Clever of her to take the two fastest horses on the place when she left.”

“I told you she wasn’t your average female.”

“Certainly not. Otherwise I wouldn’t have a knot on my head and your mind and body wouldn’t be in constant turmoil.”

“It’s time once again for you to clam up because you
aren’t
helping,” Gideon muttered resentfully.

He charged to the corral to commandeer the first horse he could get his hands on. Within a few minutes, he and Reece had saddled two brown geldings and raced off, following the three sets of fresh tracks he picked up behind the barn. If he didn’t overtake Lori soon, darkness would descend and she would be impossible to find. Especially
since she was skilled at going to ground and exceptionally familiar with the area.

“I’ll follow the tracks as far as I can,” Gideon said to Reece. “You travel perpendicular. Maybe she’ll circle back here, in hopes of keeping watch for our mysterious sniper tonight.”

With an agreeable nod, Reece reined east.

Gideon cursed Lori up one side and down the other. Why in hell had he allowed himself to become mixed up with that independent-minded, high-spirited female who defied his orders every chance she got? Just when he’d decided to put his faith in her, and planned to compensate for his lack of trust and mistreatment, she ran off, making him chase her all over creation.

The next time he became involved with a woman she was going to be meek, mild and domesticated. She was going to be able to knit, too, he decided spitefully. She wasn’t going to thumb her nose at his direct orders, either.

Lori muttered irritably when the two horses trailing behind her kept lurching sideways and tugging on her arm. Pirate was the worst because Gideon’s loud whistle erupted in the distance. Curse it, she didn’t want to release the two horses. Unfortunately, Pirate would yank her arm from its socket if he kept resisting her.

Finally, she stopped to tether the two horses to a tree. That done, she raced off again, hoping to circle the trading post then cover her tracks beside the river. Soon, John Little Calf would dock the ferry for the night. Then she’d lie in wait to see if Gideon and her would-be abductor arrived to capture her. Or shoot her. Whichever came first.

“Damn him,” she muttered when Gideon’s tormenting image floated across her mind. He’d betrayed her in the
worst possible way. He’d turned on her now that she’d fallen in love with him. He’d become the curse of her life—

“Awk!” Lori’s breath gushed out in a pained grunt when a man’s body soared through the air and slammed into her.

She cartwheeled from the saddle, then bolted to her feet. He grabbed her ankle and jerked her sideways, tossing her off balance. Frantic to escape the powerfully built man who’d teamed up with Gideon, she kicked his shoulder with her boot heel.

“Hey, wildcat. I already have a knot on my head, thanks to you. Stop fighting me. I’m on your side!”

“Like hell you are!” she growled, then gouged him again.

“I’m Gideon’s friend,” he said with a pained grunt.

“Then you’re no friend of mine.” She reached for a fallen limb and tried to whack him on the head.

He dodged the oncoming blow then wrenched the makeshift club from her hand. She grabbed another one.

“Will you calm down, wildcat!” he barked at her.

“This is as calm as I’m ever going to get if you don’t let me go!” she snarled in her most intimidating tone.

They were like two swordsmen locked in heated battle. She thrust her club at the man who held her ankle. He parried adeptly. She tried to smack his head again, but he deflected every brain-scrambling strike. When she tried to slam her club against his wrist, he blocked the attack. Then she aimed for his shoulder but he countered that strike, too.

To her surprise and dismay someone sneaked up behind her to yank the tree limb from her hand, just as she reared back to deliver another powerful blow. That someone, no doubt, was the traitor she’d made the disastrous mistake of falling in love with. Left without a makeshift weapon,
she reached for Gideon’s spare Peacemaker she’d tucked in the back band of her breeches.

“Oh, no you don’t, hellion,” Gideon scowled as he clamped his fist in the back of her shirt and yanked her against him to retrieve the pistol before she grabbed hold of it.

He swore foully when she gave him a mule kick in the shins and twisted sideways, attempting to wrest free. But Gideon Fox was no novice at hand-to-hand combat. He swung his leg to take her feet out from under her. Unfortunately, she was ready and waiting. She leaped over his outstretched leg as if she were jumping rope.

“Hell and damn,” Gideon muttered when he nearly spun himself into the ground with his unsuccessful maneuver. “Stop fighting me. What is wrong with you?”

“
You’re
what’s wrong with me,” she railed, as she took full advantage of the fact that Gideon had stumbled off balance.

She jerked her arm from his grasp, but he grabbed hold again—until she bit his fingers.

“Ouch! Damn it, hellion!” he yelled at her.

“Careful, Gid,” Reece said, battling a chuckle, now that he wasn’t engaged in heated battle with Lori. Gideon had heard Reece singing a different tune while she’d tried to knock him silly. “She might have rabies, what with all that growling and frothing at the mouth in fury.”

Lori shrieked when Reece pounced, knocking her facedown in the dirt. She squirmed furiously and struck out in every manner possible when Reece plunked down on top of her. Before she could take another swing at him, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the ground.

“Gee, and it only took two of us to subdue her.” He smirked. “Hand me the cuffs, Gid.”

“I don’t have them with me. They’re in the saddlebags on Pirate. And where the hell is my horse, hellion?”

“I’m not speaking to you for the rest of my life,” she snapped angrily. “Or
your
life. I hope you go first.”

Still holding her down, Reece snickered at her fiery remark then glanced over at Gideon.

Reece was enjoying this too damn much.

“This is not funny, Reece, and you can get off her right now!” Gideon demanded sharply.

“And risk suffering another painful blow? Not a chance,” Reece refused. “Get some rope. Anything to tie her down.”

Gideon stalked around to stare down at her. If he made her say uncle in his unique way, he suspected she’d buck off Reece and go for his throat. So he said, “If you promise to behave I’ll have Reece release you.”

“I’ll behave,” she said all too quickly.

“I don’t believe her,” Reece said. “She’s bristling with bad temper. I’ll lay odds she’ll come up swinging.”

Gideon squatted down in front of her. Her golden eyes flared like flaming arrows and her lips curled in disdain.

“You lied to me, damn you,” she said with an infuriated hiss. “You deceived me.”

He frowned, confused. “What the devil are you talking about? I haven’t talked to you since this morning.”

“Him.”
She jerked her tousled red-gold head toward Reece, who was still sitting on her rump and smiling in amusement. “You joined up with the very man who put a knife to my throat and tried to drag me away last night. And
he
calls
you
friend!”