Lady of the Gun (14 page)

"And if you go out to the Lazy T and ask him if he's a
murderer, and he says no, then what? You just let him go?" Cass demanded. "Do you think he's going to tell you he did it? He might need some persuading.” She rested her right hand over the butt of the gun at her right hip.

“
That kind of persuading can only hurt your cause, not help it." He stepped closer to her. “Listen to me, Cass. If Hunt Tylo is the man you think he is, he’s a lot more dangerous than the others you caught up with.”

"A bullet won't thi
nk so," she stated firmly.

Brett shook his head. "You're not going with me."

Cass glowered defiantly up at him. “If I don’t go with you, Marshal Ryder, I'll go by myself.”

Brett
turned away from her and let his head fall back, raising his arms in an exasperated arch. “Most damned stubborn woman I ever met," he growled to the sky. When he turned back around she was staring hard at him.

“Well?” she asked.

“All right, fine," he groused. “But you listen to me.” He took a threatening stance. "I'm in charge. I ask the questions. You just stand there and listen. And if you hear something you don't like, you wait until we're out of there before you tell me about it. You don't make assumptions, and you don't start shooting. Do you understand me?”

"B
ut… "

"No buts, Cass. If you do anything to hamper this investigation
I’ll throw your pretty ass in jail. You got it?”

Cass clenched her teeth and squinted in anger at him.
Moments passed while she decided whether or not to believe him. The look in his steely eyes gave her the answer. “I've got it," she finally grumbled.

“
Good." Brett stepped over to his horse and swung up into the saddle in one smooth movement. He watched as Cass did the same.

The ride out to the Lazy T gave Cass time to think about
what Brett had said. He was right about one thing. If Hunt Tylo did have her family killed and if he had something to do with Sheriff Jackson's death, as she believed, then he was more dangerous than the others she’d found and dealt with.

The men she'd caught up with had been
common criminals. Too evil or stupid to do anything worthwhile with their lives, they'd turned to crime as a way of life. She'd caught one of them, a man named Slick Henry, outside a small town about three hundred miles north of Twisted Creek. He'd taken up with a whore named Lucy Mae and was pimping for her, an occupation he'd found most appealing as Lucy Mae did all the real work and he kept all her money. Cass remembered the poor woman didn't seem too upset when Slick lay dead on the street. She didn't even blame Cassidy for shooting him. Slick had been a blight on society.

The other three men Cass had hunted down had fallen
into similar categories. One was suspected of robbing a stage. She'd found him out on the range, camped for the night. He'd gone for his gun, and she'd sent him to meet his Maker.

Another of the remaining two had run to Mexico to hide.
She'd called him out in a cantina just over the border. A blink of an eye later, he'd cursed her as he died.

The fourth man had been in jail in Denver. She'd paid
his bail to get him released, then met him in the street in front of the sheriff's office. She'd been arrested that time, the sheriff there thinking Denver was too big and sophisticated a town to allow gunplay in the streets. It didn't matter; the murderer had fallen like his comrades before him, and she'd been released from jail with no charges filed.

It was there the trail had grown cold. Always before, she'd
been able to glean information from the people the murderers had associated with. But at that point she had nothing further.

Realizing she wasn't too far from Twisted Creek, she'd
decided to go home and check on Darby. It was while she traveled homeward that the idea had struck her: there were no further clues to the fifth man's whereabouts because he'd never left the area. He'd been in Twisted Creek all along.

She'd thought about the
arguments she'd overheard between Hunt Tylo and her father. She remembered Tylo's warnings that Farley Wayne would regret his decision to keep Lazy T cows off his land. And she remembered her mother's concern over angering Tylo. She'd said Farley didn't know how cruel the rancher could be.

Now, riding beside Brett to t
he Lazy T, she could hear her mother's voice again. Cass remembered several occasions as a child when she'd seen Hunt Tylo and her father together. They'd been friends of a sort, though Tylo never let her father forget who was the wealthier, more successful of the two. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about how uncomfortable she'd always felt around him. Her mother's words rang once more in her head, and she believed she knew exactly how cruel Hunt Tylo could be. She was determined to prove what he'd done and to see him receive the justice he so richly deserved.

She glanced at Brett's straight back. He rode angrily, ignoring
her. She took in the breadth of his shoulders and the strength of his thighs as he straddled his mount. She mentally measured the growth of the dark whiskers that still covered his chin, and she touched one of the tender spots on her neck where he'd nuzzled her. Feeling a wash of emotion flood through her at the memory, she noticed him shift slightly in the saddle. Cass knew that he doubted Tylo's involvement in the murders. That doubt made him vulnerable. She would have to protect him. She knew she could.

"'We're here. Remember what I told you," Brett warned
as they rode onto Lazy T land.

Cass just nodded, then looked around the ranch
. A few hands were visible on the place. One man was cleaning out the barn. Another was working a horse in a circle in one of the corrals. Still another was sitting in a rocking chair on the huge porch that completely encircled Tylo's two-story home. The men watched them coming, but made no move in their direction.

"So far everything seems no
rmal here," Brett stated quietly.

"Too normal," breathed Cass, seeing Brett raise an eyebrow
at her comment. "Don't worry, I won't shoot first!" she said.

Brett scowled in her direction.

As they neared the house the front door opened and out stepped Hunt Tylo's son, Ramsey.

"Cass, how wonderful to see you," he said, ignoring Brett.
"Please get down and come into the house."

"'We've come to speak to your father, if we may," said
Brett. "Is he at home?"

Ramsey turned
icy eyes toward Brett. "Oh, yes. Hello, Marshal. My father's in his study."

Brett dismounted
and tethered his horse to the rail running parallel to the porch. Cass began to dismount, only to find Ramsey standing below her as she swung herself to the ground.

“
Let me to do that for you, Cass," Ramsey said softly, reaching for the reins.

"All right," she answered, perplexed by his attention.
Scanning him with her eyes, she decided his looks hadn't changed much during the years he'd been gone. He'd always been a thin boy, although quite tall, and she was surprised to see he hadn't filled out much. His body was still youthfully angular, actually looking a little bony. She cringed slightly when he deliberately made contact with her fingers as he took the reins from her. Stepping back from him, she waited while he tethered her horse to the hitching rail.

"Th
ere now, that's done. Let's go into the house, shall we?" Ramsey spoke again, holding out his arm to Cass.

She let her gaz
e fall to his arm. Not wanting to offend him, she placed her hand over his forearm and fought the urge to pull away when he covered her fingers with his own.

"This is such a pleasant surprise," he said, s
miling down at Cass. "And a coincidence too. Father and I were just discussing you this morning."

"You were?" interjected Brett.

Ramsey glanced back at Brett over his shoulder. "Yes, Marshal. There's no law against discussing a beautiful woman, is there?"

"Of course not. Call it professional curiosity that makes
me ask what was said."

Ramsey
laughed out loud. "Really, Marshal, you don't expect me to tell you that in front of the lady, do you?" he gave Cass a provocative grin as he spoke, and gently squeezed her hand.

"You said
nothing to slander the lady, I hope," Brett said in a challenging tone.

Ramsey laughed again.
“Certainly not. Relax, Marshal. I only told my father what a stunning woman Cass had grown into. Surely you can't find fault with that?" He looked at Cass for a moment. "Now we're in danger of the lady getting a swelled head, I think," he teased.

Cass felt awkward with Ramsey flirting so openly with
her, but Brett's scowl and his rude remarks and attitude were causing her to bristle. If this was an example of what he was going to be like from now on she decided he needed a good lesson. He didn't own her just because she'd made love with him. And he had no right to govern her actions just because he thought there was chance, however slight, that she might be pregnant. Turning to Ramsey, she smiled beautifully and tried to look interested. Squeezing his hand, she demurred. "You flatter me."

"Not at all. I only speak the truth," Ramsey assured her,
his pulse taking a leap at her smile. He was going to have more fun with her than he'd hoped. "Shall we find Father?" he asked.

Cass nodded her agreement. The reminder that she and
Brett were here to speak to Hunt Tylo gave Cass a small stab of guilt. She was allowing Ramsey to flirt with her even though she believed that his father was guilty of multiple murders. Looking up into his smiling blue eyes she felt pity for him. A person couldn't be held responsible for the actions of his parent, but he would undoubtedly be terribly hurt when the truth came out.

Bre
tt followed Ramsey and Cass through the house toward the study. He noticed that Cass blushed at something Ramsey had whispered in her ear, and he saw Ramsey grin in return as she spoke softly to him. Brett clenched his jaw and controlled the urge to wipe the stupid grin from Ramsey's face with the heel of his boot.

As the
y neared a pair of ornately carved double doors standing ajar, he heard a booming voice coming from the room they protected. "Cassidy Wayne, as I live and breathe. I'd heard you'd come home. How are you, my dear?" the voice asked.

Cass entered the study at Ra
msey's elbow and looked at the man she suspected of murder. Her blood ran cold, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. "Hello, Mr. Tylo," she said coolly.

"Now, now, You're all grown up, as my son pointed out
to me this morning, so you can call me Hunt."

Brett stepped into the room and let his eyes do a quick
inventory of the man called Hunt Tylo. He could have been Ramsey, only twenty years older and forty or fifty pounds heavier. He stood well over six feet, with a muscular build and a wide smile. His hair was nearly white, showing only the tiniest evidence that he'd once been blond. His skin was tanned and leathery with few lines to give away his age. Then Tylo looked in his direction and their eyes met. Brett suddenly felt a little of what Cass felt. Hunt Tylo had cold, hard eyes. Eyes that didn't match the friendly words he spoke.

"Is this a friend of yours, Cass?" Hunt asked.

Cass glanced quickly to Brett. "This is Marshal Brett Ryder. Brett, Mr. Hunt Tylo."

Brett stepped forward, his hand out.

"Marshal? Cass? Is there a problem I should know about?" he said, shaking Brett's hand, then stepping back. "Are you in trouble, Cass?"

"No, Mr. Tylo.
Brett's here to talk to you."

"Me? What have I done?" he asked, surprised and
innocent.

Brett spoke before Cass got a chance to reply. "
Nothing, sir. At least nothing I'm ready to arrest you for, yet," he said in a teasing way, followed by a slight laugh.

"Well, that's good to hear. You had me going there for
a minute. Please sit down, won't you?" He indicated the two chairs facing his huge mahogany desk. Moving behind the impressive piece of furniture, he sat down his elbows on its surface. "Tell me how I can help you, Marshal."

Brett settled into one of the large leather chairs Tylo had
indicated. He watched Cass do the same. Ramsey leaned on the back of Cass's chair. "Did Sheriff Jackson pay you a visit yesterday?" he asked.

Tylo shook his head a bit. "No, Marshal. I haven't seen
Jackson since the last time I was in town. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Yes, sir, there is. Cass found the sheriff's body out on
the range yesterday."

"No," Tylo breathed. "How horrible."

"Yes. He was on his way to speak to you here at the Lazy T." He paused for a moment. "Apparently he never made it this far."

Tylo shook his head again
. "No, he never showed up here. I'm sorry to hear he's dead. Jackson was a good man.”