Ruby's Song (Love in the Sierras Book 3) (26 page)

When he opened his eyes again, the daytime sky overhead was dark with thunderclouds and he thought the wetness on his face was rain, but as he scanned the area he soon discovered the moisture came from Indigo’s nose nudging him awake. He reached up to pet his dog, and when he glanced down and saw the bloody bandages on his paws, he sat upright, remembering everything.

Indigo whined and yelped running a short distance away, only to return and whine some more. Dalton struggled to his feet, his body sore and stiff.

“What is it, boy? Did you find them?”

Indigo leapt in three full circles before running off again. Dalton checked his guns to be sure they were all loaded and ready before he climbed onto the horse. He had only followed Indigo ten steps into the forest when he heard a gunshot. Ear-splitting and nearby. Another quickly followed and his heart and stomach clenched in one swift moment. He was too late.  

Chapter 28

Rope bindings sawed through Marlena’s wrists with each bounce of the horse but the gag prevented her from complaining about it. They’d been riding all night and the man behind her in the saddle was the only thing that kept her from sliding off the horse, weary as she was. She glanced over to Sarah and Hazel, each riding in similar condition with other men. Hazel’s face was wet with tears. She’d cried all night.

When the sunrise had burst across the open desert, warm golden rays of light found them through the trees and Marlena had shivered a full hour as it thawed her icy skin. The welcome heat was short lived, though. She’d watched the ring around the moon become a ring around the sun, and the billowing gray clouds confirmed her assessment. A storm was coming.

When they finally stopped the horses, they’d climbed high up into the mountains to camp beside a stream. The clouds had covered the mid-afternoon sun. She was set upon the ground but lacked the strength to stand and so crumpled in a heap. Her throat was dry and felt shriveled and crisp, and she longed for a sip of ice cold water to ease her throat. That longing intensified when she watched the five men pass around a canteen.

The leader saw that she watched them and he lifted the canteen toward her.

“Want some?”

She nodded.

He knelt before her and untied the gag. Her tongue slid out to wet her lips, drawing his gaze to her mouth before he held the canteen to it. A refreshing stream of cool water slid down her throat, extinguishing tiny fires of rawness. She studied the man’s face in the full light of day, his scruffy jaw and leathery skin. There were enough wrinkles around his eyes to make him seem in a perpetual squint. He had the look of a man who smoked enough to freeze his mouth into a purse.

A few even breaths calmed her racy pulse. She’d never forget those bottomless black eyes. They’d met before, in the parlor of Elijah Winthrop more than a year ago. Elijah’s parting threat to Sarah rang loudly in her head.
You haven’t heard the last of me
.

She swished the water around her mouth and swallowed. “Thank you, Chris,” she said and the side of his lips curled in a smirk.

“Glad to see you remember me,” he replied.

“I see Elijah has called upon you again to do his dirty work, but why now? He hasn’t seen us in over a year. What are his plans with Sarah?”

His raspy voice chuckled. “It’s got nothing to do with Elijah or his sister. This time, it’s personal.”

She noticed whose name he’d left out, and she gulped. “What do you want with me?”

A smile spread slowly. “It’s not about you either, puss. But I do need you.
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand
.”

Marlena’s face sagged and a cold shiver rushed through her. Dalton’s reaction to the notes finally made sense. He hadn’t sent them at all. Chris Boon had to settle his score with Dalton. Her stomach knotted in pain.

“You’re Shakespeare,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

He sat back on his heels with a wide eyed expression. “Well, don’t you like to impress? Nice to see my reputation precedes me.”

“Hardly,” she corrected, forcing down the bile climbing up her throat. “I’m just on real good terms with the man who’s going to kill you.”

A bark of laughter burst from his chest. “I know you are. How do you think I found old Dalty boy again? He ran me out of his territory long ago, but imagine my surprise when he turned up in mine…good old Boston, always a good place to rustle up an old grudge.”

She remembered the knowing look in Shakespeare’s eyes that night in Elijah’s parlor, and the realization came to her. “You saw him with me at
The Museum
.”

He nodded slowly. “Couldn’t believe my eyes at first, but a man never forgets the face of the one who has taken everything from him. Now, it’s time to return the gesture.”

She smirked. “You’re a fool if you think you can kill Dalton.”

“The aim is not to kill Dalton. It’s to take from him the thing he loves most.” He stood and sent her a look that made her skin feel alive and crawling. “I expect him to arrive long after we’re wrapped up here.”

He made a slow slicing motion across his throat and her heart pounded against her chest while nausea coiled in her stomach. He must have recognized her fear, for he belted a laugh straight from his gut, and Marlena screamed for help. She’d expected Shakespeare to strike her, but he only guffawed louder.

“Help!” he mocked, screaming even louder than her hoarse voice would allow. “Somebody help me!” He laughed again. “Go ahead and scream all you want. Ain’t nobody out here to hear you, especially Dalton. He can’t track at night and by the time he finds our trail, he won’t know which way to go. We messed the tracks on purpose to buy us time. So, you see, puss, ain’t no point making all that racket. I wouldn’t have untied your gag if there were.”

A solid lump wedged in the back of her throat and her eyes burned with tears. Wracked with shivers, she hugged her arms around her body and rubbed her bare arms. Still in her concert dress, she had no cloak or sleeves to ward off the mountain chill or the impending doom working her stomach into knots.

She closed her eyes and uttered a prayer in her mind.
Please, Dalton. Hurry.

There was no doubt he’d come. He was blazing across the desert toward them right now. She knew it as surely as she knew she loved him, would always love him. What she didn’t know was whether he’d reach her in time, for he was their only hope. She still had his gun strapped to her calf, but there was no way she’d be able to take down all five men before she was killed. The weapon would remain hidden until it was her only hope.

Shakespeare wandered to Sarah and Hazel, releasing their gags to give them water. Sarah took a long swallow and then spat it in his face. Marlena held her breath, waiting for Shakespeare’s response. He knelt quietly, wiped his face and then projected a wad of spit back at her.

“That wasn’t very nice,” he said as Sarah wiped her face on her sleeves. “And all this time I thought you were a lady. You’re much brassier in the west than you were in Denver.”

Marlena frowned.
Denver?
She looked up as Sarah’s worried eyes darted in her direction. There was guilt in the blue-green depths of her gaze, and Marlena’s body sagged with the weight of betrayal. She doubled over, feeling as though a massive fist had lodged in her belly. Her head shook back and forth and she bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming the words on her tongue.

“It’s not what you think,” Sarah called across the open space. “I had no part in this.”

Marlena averted her eyes, unable to look upon Sarah, to comprehend the many ways the woman had come between her and happiness, despite Marlena’s continued good will and support.

“Marlena, please!” she called. “He approached me with the idea of kidnapping you for ransom and then splitting the money. I told him no.”

Shakespeare laughed. “She sure thought about it though. Don’t go saying it didn’t appeal to you.” He pointed at Sarah. “Took you an hour to give me your answer. I was hoping you’d make it easy on me and just hand the girl over. After you and that blond fella talked about how broke you were the entire train ride into Denver, I thought for sure you’d go for the ransom bit. When you said no I thought about killing the Songbird right then and being done with it, but then you said you were going to Virginia City. I couldn’t pass up the chance to torment Dalton with knowing he failed to save his love.”

“Shut up, you filthy snake,” Sarah railed.

Marlena finally faced Sarah, fixing her with a glare. “I can’t believe you.”

Tears streamed down the opera queen’s face and her lips quivered. She met Marlena’s stare.

“I was desperate,” she said. “The money was running out with Elijah cutting me off. You were too new to bring in what I was accustomed to. Why do you think I let you start sewing your own dresses? We couldn’t afford ready-made ones. We’ve been borrowing money from Harrison since Chicago. I didn’t know what else to do. You can’t possibly understand what was going through my mind.
You’ve
had nothing in life before. You know how to survive it. I don’t.”

Shakespeare chuckled at the women before joining his men around a blooming fire. Sarah took a few deep breaths before continuing. “But I couldn’t bring myself to do it, and I wouldn’t have. Please believe me, Marlena. I told him no and thought that was the end of it. I had no idea he and Dalton have a history or that he was following us for that reason. Then, I saw him last night outside of Piper’s and told him I was going to inform the sheriff if he didn’t leave.”

Marlena barked a laugh. “Why didn’t you inform
me
?!”

“I was going to,” she said quickly. “Right before you introduced me to Hazel. Then, my mind went blank and everything after happened too fast.”

The story ran through Marlena’s head a second and third time before questions began pouring from her lips. “So, Harrison knew about this man’s proposition?”

“No,” Sarah shook her head vigorously. “I was alone when he approached me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the money situation? We didn’t have to spend as much.”

“I’ve never had to worry about money before. It took me by surprise how fast it went.”

Marlena studied the ground. “How much do I owe Harrison?”

“Nothing. If the debt belongs to anyone, it’s me.”

A warm pressure expanded behind Marlena’s temples and she winced against the pain. Her head had been tender since Shakespeare’s blow, but this added information exacerbated the ache. She took a deep breath.

“How wrong I was about you, Sarah,” she said, wiping a single tear from her cheek. “I thought you were good and decent beneath all of that pomp.”

In her mind, she saw the faces of those she loved, those who loved her in return. Jess and all of the Kellys, Ellie and Sandy, Juliet…Dalton. The very image of him dragged her shoulders down with guilt. She’d led his greatest enemy right to him.

She looked at Sarah again. “You were wrong about me, Sarah.
I’ve
never had nothing. I’ve had the love of my family. The love of a good man.”

Shakespeare groaned. “For the love of God, shut up already. Your whining is almost as bad as Rosa’s was the night I killed her.” He devoured a piece of dried meat while Marlena gasped.

“You killed Rosa?”

He nodded, then squinted at the sky as if considering an idea as he finished his swallow of jerky. “Although, one might argue that
you
are responsible for her death.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought she was you. I watched her and Dalton through his bedroom window, carrying on like lovers and she had your dress on, the one I’d seen you perform in. Then, they had some sort of quarrel and shouting and she ran off. When I got to her and saw she wasn’t you, but a whore, well…a man will take some tail if he can. All it took was a few pats on the shoulder, a few whispered ‘there, theres’ and she told me all about her and Dalton’s fight. Seems he had a few choice words for her himself when he found out about the letter.”

Marlena’s jaw clenched. “But why did you have to kill her?”

He looked up, as if searching for a reason, and when one didn’t come to him he simply shrugged and grabbed another piece of meat. The men surrounding him laughed with gusto and Marlena couldn’t take any more. She laid down on the ground and shut her eyes.

“No, no, no,” Shakespeare called. “There’ll be plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead. Now’s the time to look lively. What do you say, boys? Anyone ready for some fun?”

A round of excited murmurs filled the air, and Marlena pinched her eyes shut as a shiver rippled through her body. A hand grabbed her hair and dragged her over to Sarah and Hazel, and the three of them sat, trembling and crying while five men towered over them. Shakespeare’s eyes darted to Hazel and he grimaced.

“I’m not one for girl flesh, unless I can sell it off. Anybody else want to have a go?”

A man stepped forward, his lip curled lecherously. “Me, boss.”

“Don’t you dare touch her!” Sarah screamed and Shakespeare sunk the heel of his boot into her stomach, spurs and all.

The man grabbed Hazel by the ankles and began dragging her off. Her tiny voice yelped and screamed as she struggled. Sarah grabbed Hazel’s bound hands, attempting to pull her away from the man. Hazel clutched onto Sarah for dear life while the male onlookers laughed. Marlena lifted her skirt and grabbed the pistol, cocking and firing in one smooth movement.

The man’s trousers had been half undone when the bullet went into his head and he fell over. Shakespeare was closest to Marlena, and he turned on her with a murderous glare. She leaned away from him, cocking and firing again, hitting his arm. He roared and cursed her.

“It’s time we teach you to breathe water.”

He clutched a hand full of her hair and started to drag her until Sarah reached out and grabbed his ankles. Shakespeare didn’t have to kick her off. The other three men were already dragging her away and ripping at her clothes. Marlena felt as though her scalp would rip from her skull, as forcefully as he pulled. She barely had time to suck in a shallow breath before he plunged her entire head beneath the water.