Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (21 page)

She lowered her eyes, unable to face him. “We talked about it. Me and the parson and the marshal and the doctors at the hospital. There was nothing you could do, Travis. Believe me when I say that everything possible was done to try to find her. There was simply nothing left to do. So we decided that since John was loved and well cared for with me, there was no sense in sending for you and getting you all upset.” She added in a bare whisper, “As you are now.”

He gave her an incredulous glare, then ran his fingers through his hair and began to pace the room.
“I’ll
find her. I swear to God, I’ll find her.” He felt hot tears of fury burning his eyes.

There was silence for a moment, and then Mattie cleared her throat. She stood up and touched his shoulder gently. “Travis, I hate to put my thoughts and everyone else’s into words, but Kitty may be…dead.”

He gazed straight through her. “Dead? Oh, no. Not dead.” He shook his head. “I need time to think. No, I need to get to town and find the marshal.”

“You need to rest,” she interrupted. “You need something to eat. Nothing can be done tonight.”

Travis protested that he could eat nothing, but Mattie went to the little kitchen that was connected to the house by a porch running along the outside.

Alone, he slumped to the sofa once more, covering his face with his hands. Kitty could not be dead. No. Something had happened. Something terrible. He could feel it in his bones. But she was not dead.

He reached for the bottle of wine once more. Hell, yes, he would find her. Someone, somewhere knew something. He just had to find that someone.

When Mattie returned with a plate of cold chicken and collards, she found him slumped over, the empty wine bottle propped between his legs. She laid the plate of food aside and took the knitted afghan from the back of the sofa and spread it across him. Then she tiptoed from the room, blowing out the lanterns as she went.

Total darkness consumed the house, just as it had so quickly consumed Travis Coltrane’s life.

He awoke to the smell of hot, fresh coffee, and for a moment stared groggily around the room, wondering where he was. Then it all came flooding back, and he sat up rigidly, reaching for the coffee Mattie was offering.

“Travis, do you feel any better? It was such a terrible shock last night.”

The morning sun streamed in through the windows, dancing across the polished hardwood floor. It should be raining, he thought wearily, head aching. Raining, with thunder and lightning and wind and hail. How could the sun be shining? Birds even dared to sing and he cursed them.

“Daddy.”

John toddled into the room, grinning widely, and hurried to his arms. Travis pulled him up on his lap and held him close. “He seems well,” he said to Mattie by way of thanks.

“Yes, he’s doing fine,” she said quickly. “For a while, he cried a lot, but then he settled down. Children have such a marvelous way of adjusting. Much better than we grown-ups do. He certainly hasn’t forgotten you.”

“He hasn’t forgotten her, either, and neither have I. I’ll find her. I swear it.”

She managed a wan smile. “I’ve fixed you some breakfast and don’t argue with me about it. I know you need to eat. Then you can ride into town and do whatever it is you feel you must do. And don’t worry about John. You know he’s fine right here, and I’ll take care of him as long as you want me to.”

“Thank you, Mattie,” he said sincerely, also managing a smile. “At least I won’t have to worry about my son.” He gave him a fierce hug.

John touched his face with a soft, chubby hand, and Travis looked down into his eyes. They were gray, like his own, but there was also a touch of lavender, so like his mother’s.

“I’m going to find her, boy,” he said gruffly, resting his chin on the little head gently. “For you and for me, I’m going to find her. And God help anybody who stands in my way.”

The little boy looked up at his father with rounded eyes. There was a feeling of fear, but as he continued to stare at the man who held him, the fear went away and was replaced by a different emotion. He knew only that he had no need to be afraid as long as these strong arms held him.

The child had no way of knowing that his mother knew that emotion well, could have explained it to him, knew that no one need fear anything or anyone as long as Travis Coltrane held them dear.

Travis rode into town and returned the horse to the livery stable. The old man was there, still watching him in that strange way. Travis snapped, “You knew, didn’t you? That’s why you acted so strange last night. You knew about my wife, didn’t you?”

The old man ducked his head, staring at the straw-littered floor. “Yeah, I knew, and I didn’t want to be the one to tell you. I’m sorry.”

“Not half as sorry as the sonofabitch responsible for this is going to be.”

The old man jerked his head up to stare at him in wonder. “You think somebody did away with her? Is that what you think? The marshal, he said she probably drowned. We had a bad storm that night. Everybody remembers it. The, creeks swoll up, and we near ’bout had a flood. The marshal said she and her horse probably stumbled and fell in a creek and got swept away.”

“Kitty was a damn good rider,” Travis said. “She would not have taken any chances if the creeks were flooded. She would have known what she was doing.”

“But they never found her body.”

Travis withered him with a look and then walked on out. He headed toward the marshal’s office, walking purposefully, eyes straight head.

“Well, I do declare!”

Travis glanced to his right. Nancy Danton stood in the open doorway of her husband’s office. He noticed her surreptitious smile and glittering eyes. She looked—what? Triumphant? Of course, she would be happy that anything bad had happened to either him or Kitty, but especially Kitty.

“Travis Coltrane,” she cooed. “You just keep on getting handsomer.”

He tipped his hat, begrudging her even that, and started on by, but she called out, “Are you lonely since your wife left you, Travis? Would you like to come have dinner with my husband and me some night?”

He stopped. “What?”

“I said,” she giggled softly, “that you could come and have dinner with me and—”

“No.” He gestured. “Before that. About my wife.”

She twirled the blue parasol above her head, eyes dancing with glee. “I asked if you were lonely since your wife left you.”

“What makes you think she left me, Nancy?”

“Well, she’s
gone,
isn’t she?” came the haughty reply. “She sure didn’t hang around long after you left.”

“Kitty has disappeared,” he said tightly. “I have no reason to think she left of her own free will, particularly since our son remains with Mrs. Glass. So watch that sharp tongue. You’ve done enough to hurt Kitty in the past. Stay out of this.”

She snapped her parasol shut in an angry gesture. Placing her hands on her hips, she stared up at him and sputtered, “Just who do you think you are talking to? Plenty of people think your wife ran away. Heaven knows, the little trollop was always chasing after men. First it was my Nathan. Then even you, a despicable Yankee.

“Did you really think she would sit by and wait for you? And as for your little boy, did you really think she would give him a second thought if she had herself set on running away with some man?”

“If you were a man,” Travis growled, “I would beat the hell out of you, Nancy. You lying little slut! You dare talk about Kitty that way, when you are one of the filthiest, most conniving little whores I’ve ever known?”

Enraged, Nancy raised the parasol to strike him across his face, but Travis saw the movement and grabbed her wrist, squeezing so tightly that she screamed in pain, dropping her weapon.

Her cries brought Jerome Danton running from his office. He looked from his screaming wife to the agitated expression on Travis’ face. “What’s going on here? Coltrane, unhand my wife.”

Travis slung her toward Jerome and the two collided and stumbled. “Take her,” he dusted his hands on his shirt sleeves. “Damned if I want her.”

“Do something, Jerome.” Nancy righted herself and turned to her husband. “He was assaulting me. Are you going to let him get away with it?”

Travis smiled at Jerome. “Well,
are
you going to let me get away with it, Danton? Have you anything to settle with me?”

“No, no,” Jerome shook his head nervously, then gave Nancy a push toward the open door. “Go inside. I’ll discuss this with him and see what’s wrong.”

Nancy jerked away from him. “I’ll tell you what is wrong! I’m not going anywhere! He assaulted me because I told him how everyone is talking about that trashy wife of his running off with another man. He had the nerve to call me a horrid name.” She looked from him to Travis as she stamped her foot. “Don’t you let him get away with this, Jerome! He has disgraced my good name.”

“You never had a good name,” Travis laughed. “And your husband knows that well enough. Just keep your mouth shut about Kitty, or you will answer to me, Nancy.”

She shrieked again, whirling about to beat at Jerome with her fists. “Don’t you let him get away with this, damn you. He’s threatening me!”

Jerome’s eyes locked with Travis’ as Jerome grabbed Nancy’s wrists and wrestled her into the office. He despised the man and always had, but he knew that Nancy deserved the insults.

With one last look at Travis, he kicked the door shut and flung Nancy into a nearby chair. “Don’t you get up!” He pointed his finger, towering over her. “What are you trying to do, you crazy woman? Get me killed? That man has the reputation of being as deadly with his fists as he is with his gun. Why did you have to goad him?”

Her upper lip turned back in a snarl as she hissed the words, “Because I hate him! Because I want to hurt him as he hurt me!” Her gaze moved up and down his body, mirroring the disgust that was rippling through her. “You call yourself a man! You’re nothing but a sniveling coward. The idea of you letting that bastard stand there and say such things about me!”

Jerome limped back to his desk, not wanting the scene to continue. He knew from years of agonizing experience that when she was having one of her tantrums it was best just to ignore her, for there was no reasoning with Nancy.

“Look at you!” she cried shrilly, pointing to his leg. “You limp because of Kitty Wright! She put a bullet in your leg and made a cripple of you, yet you defend her and let her husband stand in the street and insult
me,
your wife.”

“You deserved it.” He sat down behind his desk and began to resume working on the weekly payroll for his lumber mill.

“I deserved it?” She snatched up a sheaf of papers and flung them in his face. “How dare you say such a thing to me! How dare you!”

He got to his feet, clutching the edge of the desk as he fought to keep from slamming his fist into her twisted, shrieking face. “Hell, yes, you deserved it, you shrew! You are wicked, Nancy.
I
know what happened to Kitty. Remember? I was there. I know a lot of other things, too, how you went to bed with Travis Coltrane once, and he scorned you, and you’ve hated him ever since.”

“That’s…not true,” she stammered, stepping back, her hand fluttering to her throat. “I never…”

“Oh, hell, yes, you did!” He ground out the words as he began to straighten the papers. “I knew all about it, but I didn’t give a damn. I still don’t. You can bed any man you choose. You can go to hell, for all I care. Just get out of here and give me some peace.”

“You…you can’t speak to me that way.”

“The hell I can’t. And don’t threaten me, the way you did the night you found me with Kitty. If I go to jail, what would happen to you? No other man would have you, and you like the life I have provided for you.”

She tilted her head to one side, lips twisted in a gloating smirk. “Then why didn’t you say so that night? Why did you turn tail and run? You really are a coward, Jerome.”

“Maybe I am,” he sighed wearily. “If being tired of fighting makes me a coward, then I am a coward.”

“You let me deal with Kitty. She couldn’t have meant so much to you.”

He looked up at her, eyes unwavering. “She meant a great deal to me. I loved her more than any woman I have ever known. But she made it plain too many times that she did not want me. Perhaps I let you deal with her that night because I was angry, angry with her for her continuous rejection of me, and angry with myself for being so foolish as to keep chasing her. Perhaps I felt it was just a relief to have her out of my life.”

They had never before discussed that night, and just then, suddenly, she had to know his thoughts. Quietly she asked, “Do you think I killed her? Do you think I shot her after you left, and hid her body?”

“I don’t think about it, Nancy. Now will you get out of here and let me get back to work? It takes a great deal of money to support you.”

She clutched the edge of the desk and threw her head back to laugh, then smiled down at him as she whispered, “Yes, I suppose it does, you bastard, just as it takes a great deal of money to support your mistress in Raleigh. Did you think I didn’t know about her? I know a lot of things about you.”

To her surprise, he laughed. “Yes, yes, I imagine you do, and I know much about you, too, darling. So we each realize that the other is totally without scruples and a wretched person.”