Soul Catcher (67 page)

^{"I said
now
," Cain repeated. When the man just smiled at him, Cain drew his gun and shoved it in his face.}

^{"Hey, now. Ain't no call for that."}

^{Cain cocked the hammer.}

^{"Awright, awright. Take it easy with that damn cannon," Pettigrew said, getting to his feet. He picked up the lantern and headed over to the front door. He set the lantern down on the floor and grabbed his coat, which hung from a peg near the window. When he picked the lantern up, he did something odd: it almost seemed as if he swung it back and forth in front of the window.}

^{"What're you doing?" Cain asked.}

^"Nothin'."

^{"Get away from there," Cain said. When the man didn't move, Cain walked over to the window and shoved him away from it. Then he wrested the lantern from him.}

^{"The hell you think you're doing?" Pettigrew exclaimed.}

^{"Shut up."}

^{"You can't come in my house and treat me like that."}

^{With that, Pettigrew suddenly reached for something in his pocket, but Cain was able to club him with the barrel of his gun. The force knocked the man to the floor. Cain squatted and searched in his pocket, removing a single-barreled derringer, which he pocketed. Then he blew out the lantern and went back to the window.}

^{Now that the cabin was dark, Cain chanced peering out into the night. Even with the moonlight, at first he saw nothing, but as his eyes slowly adjusted, he was able to make out the shed and the chicken coop, and some twenty yards beyond, the thick lumpy shapes of trees. He scanned the woods, for what, he wasn't sure. The night was still, silent save for the ratcheting sound of the crickets.}

^{"Christ Almighty," Pettigrew moaned, rubbing his head. "You near'bouts broke my skull."}

^{"I told you to shut up," Cain warned him. "Who's out there?"}

^"Nobody."

^{Cain continued to search the woods. He was almost ready to give up when, just to the right and behind the chicken coop, he thought he made out something, a lighter, almost silvery shape that slowly separated itself from the surrounding darkness of the woods. A horse, he thought. And then, next to it, gradually emerged the muted but distinct shape of another, and then another. Cain was able to make out a half dozen horses, all still saddled.}

^{"Those your horses?" Cain demanded.}

^{Pettigrew paused for a moment, rubbing his head. "They are."}

^{"How come they're saddled?" Cain leaned over and shoved the barrel of his gun into the man's nose. "Who's out there?"}

^{"Don't know what you're talkin' 'bout," the man said.}

^{"Who were you waiting for?"}

^{But right then, Cain's attention was drawn to a noise outside. He heard footsteps running through the woods.}

^{"Help," Pettigrew cried. "He's got a gun on me."}

^{Cain was going to strike the man again, but a voice broke from the sheltering darkness of the woods.}

^{"Cain," it called. He sensed he'd heard it before, but for a moment, he couldn't place it. "Come on out and bring the girl with you."}

^{"It's
him
," Rosetta said.}

^{Eberly,
thought Cain.}

^{Then he was returned to the whorehouse in Richmond:
Bring her back,
Eberly was saying once again. And with that, Cain realized, suddenly, eerily, whose horse the silver roan was, the same one he'd seen the night before in town. If he hadn't been so drunk he'd probably have recognized it. Preacher's mount. Cain wondered how they'd found him, but now it didn't really matter.}

^{He squatted down beside Pettigrew. He removed his pocketknife and opened the blade. Grabbing the man by the hair, he pulled his head back and placed the blade to his throat. "How many men does Eberly have with him?"}

^{"I don't know," Pettigrew said. Cain yanked on his hair and the man cried out. "Jesus. Seven, maybe eight."}

^{"How are they armed?"}

^{"One feller had a Jennings. The rest I couldn't say."}

^{"What did you tell Eberly?"}

^"Nothin'."

^{"Did you tell him I was meeting Stone?"}

^"No."

^{"I am going to ask you again and you had better tell me the truth."}

^{"No. I swear to God, I didn't."}

^{Cain thought for a moment. He knew he couldn't let the man go. If he hadn't already told Eberly about his plans for getting Rosetta across the river to Stone, he surely would now. Cain couldn't risk that.}

^{Pettigrew must have caught something in Cain's expression. "You ain't gonna--" Pettigrew began. Yet with a flick of his wrist, Cain had drawn the blade sharply across his throat. Pettigrew tried to cry out, but what emerged from his mouth was only a surprised gurgling sound. He struggled to stand, as if that might somehow help him, but managed only to stagger forward a few steps before collapsing. The man's body continued kicking, scratching the floor, fighting for several seconds until what life remained in him leached out onto the floor, and finally it lay still. Cain didn't feel anything about having killed him. He would've killed ten men, a hundred, a thousand, to keep Rosetta from being taken.}

^{"Cain," the voice said again. "There's no call for anybody getting hurt. You just bring the girl on out and I'll let you go."}

^{He felt Rosetta's presence squatting behind him.}

^{"What we gonna do?" she whispered.}

^{He was silent for a moment, letting the dust of his thoughts settle. He tried to fashion a plan; that was always Cain's way. Finally, he came up with the only thing he could think of. Walking over to the back of the cabin, he rolled the hogshead out of the way and lifted the trapdoor cautiously and, with his Colt at the ready, peered down into the black water. Below, it was dark, yet from the moonlight he could make out a crudely built ladder that led down to the water. A canoe rested there, tethered to a tree. He was sure the thick undergrowth sheltered the ladder and the canoe from those up in front of the cabin. At least he hoped that it did.}

^{Finally, he went back over to Rosetta. "You're going to go out and get in that canoe and head for the other side."}

^{"What about you?" she asked.}

^{"I'll be fine."}

^{She snorted. "How you gone be fine? All those men he got out there."}

^{"Let me worry about that."}

^{"I want to stay with you."}

^{"You can't stay with me," he said.}

^{"Why not?"}

^{"Because you can't."}

^{"And you can't tell me what to do no more," she countered.}

^{"Rosetta, listen to me."}

^{"You listen. You don't own me, Cain. I can do what I want."}

^{"And what you want to do is get in that canoe and leave. While you still have the chance."}

^{"Ain't lettin' you stay on account of me. It's me he wants. I'll give myself up, then."}

^{"Are you mad? After all we went through to get you here."}

^{"Won't be having you on my conscience."}

^{"Even if you give yourself up, you really figure he's just going to let me walk on out of here? After all the trouble I caused him? After what I know?"}

^{"He might."}

^{"You know him better than that. You know he's not going to let me go."}

^{"Ain't gonna leave you, Cain," she said stubbornly. "I'll fight the bastard with you. I don't care what happens to me."}

^{He took her firmly by the shoulders. In the dim light that seeped through the window he stared into her eyes, which were a pale, powdery gray.}

^{"Listen, Rosetta," he said. "If you won't think of yourself, at least think about that child you're carrying."}

^{"I am thinkin' 'bout it."}

^{"I thought you didn't want it born into slavery?"}

^{"I don't."}

^{From outside came Eberly's voice again. "You send the girl out, Cain, and I'll let you go. You have my word as a gentleman."}

^{"See," she said.}

^{"He's lying," Cain told her. "He'll kill me and he'll take you back. You want that? Have him sell off this child, too. Or what if it's a girl child? You want her to be around him? You really want that?"}

^{He knew he was being cruel, but there was no other way. She didn't say anything for a while. Soon he saw the tears running down her cheeks.}

^{"When you get across, look for a big white house down near the river. Ask for a man named Stone. He's expecting you. You need to be there by midnight. You have the gun?"}

^{She nodded.}

^{"Try to be quiet. Use it only if you have to."}

^{Then he took out his billfold and handed it to her. He went over to Pettigrew's body and searched through his pockets until he found the money he'd paid him.}

^{"Take this, too," he said.}

^{"Won't you be needing some?" she asked.}

^{Instead of answering, he said, "You have to go."}

^{Before she did, though, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.}

^{"I love you, Cain," she said.}

^{He brought her over to the trapdoor. "You wait here till I start shooting. Then you hurry down the ladder, get in the canoe, and paddle like hell."}

^"But--"

^{"Don't look back. Keep your eyes on the other side. That's freedom waiting for you over there. For your baby, too."}

^{"But, Cain--"}

^{"No, listen to me," he interjected.}

^{She threw her arms around his neck one more time and clung to him. He finally had to pry her hands off.}

^{"I love you," she said again.}

^{He wanted to tell her he loved her, too, but he felt she had to have her head clear, her thoughts completely focused on getting away, not on him, not on what she was leaving behind. Instead, he leaned toward her and kissed her. "Be careful, Rosetta. Now get ready."}

^{Then he turned and walked over to the fireplace. He located Pettigrew's old fowling piece, then felt around on the mantel until he found his powder horn and canister filled with buckshot. Not knowing he'd need it, he'd left his own ammunition back in his saddlebags. He headed to the front of the cabin and sat down beside the window.}