In the Paths of Righteousness (Psalm 23 Mysteries) (19 page)

“I only had half of my bottle. I think that’s what allowed me to wake up when I heard the commotion. If you had a full bottle, though, how come you’re awake now?” Jeremiah asked.

Zack laughed grimly. “I defy anyone to sleep through that no matter how knocked out they are or by what. That stampede could have woken the dead.”

“So, I take it the others are finally awake?”

“Getting there. Some more than others.”

“Have you seen Cindy?” Jeremiah asked.

Zack thought for a moment and then shook his head. “You know, I can’t say that I have. I’m still pretty out of it, though.”

Fear flooded back through him again. He took a calming breath. Just because Zack couldn’t remember seeing her didn’t mean that something had happened to her. He would just have to get back to camp and figure out what was going on. For all he knew she could have been in the wagon when everything happened.

Jeremiah heard footsteps and he turned to see who was approaching.

“You killed my partner,” Curly snarled.

Curly was holding a gun and it was aimed right at Jeremiah’s heart.

“Curly, don’t be a fool. This man didn’t kill anyone. In fact, he just saved all of us,” Zack said.

“Put the gun down,” Jeremiah said softly, in as soothing a voice as he could manage. He was calculating how long it would take him to grab Zack’s gun out of its holster if he had to. Mark’s gun which he had borrowed was empty now.

Curly was shaking like a leaf, rage mixing badly with the drugs in his system and together they made him unpredictable and dangerous.

“Settle down, Curly, we can figure all of this out,” Zack said.

Jeremiah could tell Curly was beyond reason at that point.

“I’m going to give you one last chance to put that gun down,” Zack said, his voice hushed. It got Jeremiah’s attention. There was something dangerous in the way he said it. The doctor was getting ready to do something and Jeremiah realized it might be best to let him make his move.

“No, I won’t, he kill-”

Zack’s hand flashed downward and a moment later there was a boom as he fired his gun. Curly’s gun went flying and the cowboy grabbed his hand in agony.

Jeremiah retrieved the gun and reluctantly handed it to Zack. Zack reholstered his own weapon and then tucked
Curly’s into the gunbelt.

“That was some fast draw,” Jeremiah commented.

“When you’re the great-great-grandson of a gunfighter it kind of comes naturally. At least, it does in my family,” Zack said. He then addressed Curly. “Let’s get you back to camp and get that hand bandaged.”

All the fight had gone out of Curly and he nodded meekly.

“We can do a headcount there and then worry about rounding up the horses,” Zack said to Jeremiah as he handed him back the horse’s reins.

Jeremiah nodded, worried about Cindy.

Together the three walked back, Jeremiah leading the horse and Curly still clutching his injured hand.

Back at the camp Wayne and Junior were standing over the dead steer that had nearly killed them, both bleary eyed and in shock. Hank and Mark were both pacing back and forth, clearly trying to wake themselves up. Traci, Norman, and Kyle were all sitting on their sleeping bags with both Traci and Norman swaying slightly. It made sense. Whoever had drugged everyone had done so equally and with the least body mass Traci and Norman should have been the most heavily affected. Of course, this poked serious holes in his theory that Norman was the killer.

Zack headed straight for the wagon, presumably to get his medical kit.

“Where’s Cindy?” Jeremiah called anxiously to the others when they got close.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen her,” Mark said at last as Jeremiah handed him back his gun. The detective took it without comment.

Warning bells went off in Jeremiah’s mind. “What about Liz?” he asked, naming the one other person who wasn’t present.

“Haven’t seen her since dinner,” Hank spoke up.

Since dinner. Jeremiah closed his eyes and forced himself to remember dinner, particularly what he could about Cindy and Liz. He could remember feeling drowsier and drowsier as he ate, watching everyone who had been out in the sun and the dust down their water bottles in seconds.

Except for Cindy who hadn’t touched hers and Liz who had been drinking some sort of juice instead.

“Liz is the killer,” he said. “She tried to drug everyone with the water, but Cindy didn’t touch hers.”

Norman had turned white as a sheet. “That’s a lie,” he said through lips that trembled. “Liz would never hurt anyone.”

In a moment everything fell into place. He remembered the way Liz had put her hand on Norman’s shoulder that second morning when he had discovered the film footage was destroyed and the way he had looked at her. Norman had had a love letter in his pocket and Liz had had a pen and paper in hers. Kyle wasn’t Liz’s type. Nice, unassuming Norman was his exact opposite. This was supposed to have been Norman’s show. The whole thing had been his idea and in the end he wasn’t even going to get to be the cinematographer on it.

“You and Liz are a couple,” Jeremiah said.

Norman flushed, but nodded.

“And she knew this show was your idea, that it meant everything to you. She knew that it had been taken away from you.”

Realization dawned on Norman’s face and it was painful to behold the look of horror that crept in.

“She was so angry,” he said, sounding stunned. “I’d never seen her like that. I mean, she’s always passionate, intense, but that...I told her to let it go, that there was nothing that could be done about it. She told me to have faith; that it would all work out in the end. When they called me to tell me that Martin had had a heart attack and that they needed me to take over, I felt awful. At the same time, though, I thought maybe it was fate, I was supposed to work on the show after all. I thought the universe was making things right.”

“But it was actually Liz killing a man to get you on this show,” Mark chimed in.

“I never knew.”

“But you suspected,” Jeremiah guessed from the sudden look of guilt that flashed across his face.

“No, but I should have,” he whispered. “When I got here I told her how excited I was to be the cinematographer for the show. She told me that she thought I was going to end up being the host. I just laughed and told her Kyle would never step aside. I never dreamed...”

Zack arrived back from the wagon, his medical bag in his hands and a grim look on his face. “Whoever drugged us raided my bag to do it,” he said grimly.

“It was Liz,” Traci informed him. “Jeremiah just figured that out.”

“So now, the question is, where are she and Cindy?” Mark asked.

“If Cindy figured it out, Liz would be trying to kill her,” Jeremiah said. “Cindy must have taken off.”

Zack shook his head. “Where? We weren’t out long enough for them to have gotten that far.”

“Not on foot. When I came to and grabbed a horse I didn’t pay much attention to the others, but I know I didn’t see Silver,” Jeremiah said.

“And thanks to the stampede we have no idea how many horses are actually missing,” Zack said.

“Cindy had to be in imminent danger to get on a horse,” Mark muttered.

“She is, and Liz is chasing her,” Jeremiah said. He swung up into the saddle.

“She wouldn’t possibly head for town. It’s too far, she doesn’t know the way, and I don’t see Cindy thinking she can outrace Liz for that long,” Traci said.

“She’d look for someplace to hide,” Jeremiah said.

“I know where she’s heading!” Zack exclaimed. He tossed his medical bag to Mark.

Jeremiah leaned down and grasped the other man’s hand and pulled him up behind him onto the horse. Hopefully along the way they’d find a second mount, but he had no time to waste looking for one now.

“That way,” Zack said, pointing toward one of the nearby mountains.

Jeremiah urged the horse forward and they were soon galloping toward the mountain. “How do you know where she’s heading?” Jeremiah shouted.

“I told her about an outlaw hideout my ancestors used that’s right over there. It’s the perfect place to hide,” Zack shouted back.

Just ahead and to the left Jeremiah spotted a shape moving toward them. It was one of the horses that had scattered because of the stampede, a palomino that he believed was Zack’s preferred mount. Jeremiah angled the grey toward the other horse and slowed slightly as Zack emitted a high pitched whistle.

They reached the other horse and the palomino turned and began running next to them. Jeremiah felt Zack tense up and then the cowboy leaped onto the other horse. He slid sideways in the saddle for a moment but then quickly regained his balance. “Good girl, Princess,” he heard him shout.

Zack and Princess surged ahead, leading the way, and Jeremiah kept the grey just behind them.

Hold on, Cindy, I’m coming.

The sun was beginning to set and it was casting long shadows across the valley. Cindy had tied Silver’s reins to a rickety looking rail on the side porch of the cabin. The stairs creaked as she mounted them and she gazed anxiously at the worn boards on the porch as she crossed it. The door opened with only a little shove and she closed it behind her more out of habit than anything else. The floors inside groaned beneath her weight and everything was coated with a thick layer of dust. She cast her gaze about, searching for anything she could use as a weapon even as she prayed that Liz would get lost in the cave and never make it this far.

She ventured farther in. There were a couple of old chairs, one with dark stains on it that she suspected might be blood. There was an ancient wood burning stove in front of them. She could see a couple of doors on the back wall that she suspected led to bedrooms.

Some rusty, cast iron cookware hung on nails on another wall. She walked over, took down a skillet and hefted it experimentally. It was heavy and she wondered if she hit Liz in the head with it if it would be enough to knock her out. She would think so.

She explored the rest of the cabin, even poking her head into the bedrooms, but didn’t find anything that resembled a weapon.

Then she heard the sound she’d been dreading. The stairs outside creaked. She moved swiftly to the side of the door and held her breath, waiting for it to open. Her hands were sweating and she struggled to hold onto the skillet. It had grown very dark in the cabin while she was searching and she hoped she’d be able to find her way back to the camp once she knocked out Liz.

The door flew open, a figure stepped in, and Cindy swung for all she was worth. The skillet bounced off a shoulder before hitting her target’s head. There was a grunt before the body hit the ground. She leaped over the legs and ran across the porch and down the steps. She took a half dozen steps toward Silver when something rushed out from behind the horse and tackled her.

Cindy screamed and thrashed on the ground. Hands wrapped around her throat and she kicked out as hard as she could. She tried to jab her fingers upward, aiming for the eyes, but her attacker was moving her head back and forth.

Her
head. In a flash she realized that it was Liz on top of her. Who had she hit then in the cabin?

“That’s enough!” a stentorian voice shouted.

Cindy twisted her head to the side and in the fading light saw Jeremiah leaping off his horse.

Liz grabbed her hair and hauled her to her feet. Before Cindy could move something cold and sharp pressed against her throat. She realized it was Liz’s knife.

She stared at Jeremiah, willing him to tell her what to do.

“It’s over, Liz,” Jeremiah said, hoping to keep her eyes focused on him. “We know you killed all those people trying to make sure Norman could be the host of the show.”

“He deserved it! Do you know how many years he has worked and slaved for an opportunity like this? He comes up with the perfect show, the network loves it, and then they take it away from him! I couldn’t just stand by and let that happen.”

“So, was Martin an accident or were you trying to hurt Kyle then, too?” Jeremiah asked.

“I was just trying to knock Martin out,” she sobbed. “I figured if he was hurt enough they’d bring in Norman.”

“And then if you could kill Kyle-”

“I just wanted to hurt him. It should have been him riding that horse, not Cindy.”

“And when your plans kept failing you realized you had to up the ante,” he said. “You didn’t know how much poison to put in his salt because you didn’t know how much he would eat and you couldn’t risk him just being a little sick.”

“And then Brent ruined everything,” Liz sobbed. “He hates that stupid truffle salt. Everyone knows that. I never dreamed he’d taste the food after he put it in there.”

“But Roddy suspected you.”

“Apparently he saw me when I was messing with the salt. He went running off for the doctor and he ran into Tex and told him that Brent had been poisoned and that he thought I’d done it.”

“And Tex was working with you?” Jeremiah asked.

“No. He killed Roddy, though, and told me to meet him out past the bathrooms and what time. He rode out supposedly for town and then circled back. I pretended to go to the bathroom and I met him. He wanted to blackmail me. He said I’d never be able to prove that Roddy hadn’t just been trampled by the cattle, but that he could prove I killed the others.”

“And you stabbed him,” Jeremiah filled in.

Liz nodded. “He didn’t think I was strong enough to do something like that.”

“But you haul that heavy makeup kit all the time in and out of trucks and wagons and you’re very strong.”

“Very strong,” she echoed.

She was losing it, falling apart at the seams. The only question was, when she finally came completely unhinged would she collapse or go berserk?

Cindy was staring intently at him and he could practically read her mind. She wanted to know what she should do. The last time they’d been in a situation even remotely like this he had been armed. He wasn’t this time and even though Zack had gotten up and was slowly creeping into position behind Liz he didn’t want to risk Cindy’s life one moment longer than he had to.