Come the Spring (37 page)

Daniel nodded, for he did understand. “What happened then?”

“Jessica was sure that the authorities … you … would apprehend the men and wouldn't need an eyewitness. She desperately wanted to believe that would happen.”

“When she wanted to run … is that when you suggested she go with you?”

“Yes.”

“When did she remember she'd left her bag behind?”

“Not until we heard that one was found under the desk.”

“Why was it empty?”

“When the men came in, she stuffed the money in her dress. She was afraid they'd take it. She didn't realize they were going to…”

“Massacre them?”

“Yes.”

Daniel closed his eyes for a moment. “If Jessica hadn't left her bag behind, Cole and I would never have known she saw it happen.”

“I don't know if she would have eventually come forward or not,” Grace said. “It wasn't her bag, though. It was mine. She borrowed it so she would have something to put the money in to carry it home.”

“It was your bag?” He didn't know why that information infuriated him so, but it did.

“Honest to God, you and Jessica have obstructed this investigation from the very beginning. I ought to lock the two of you in a cell and let you grow old together.”

“Will you please lower your voice? You're going to wake up Marshal Cooper.”

“We want him to wake up,” he roared.

She had had enough of his temper and started for the door. “I won't let you shout at me, Daniel. I know what I did was wrong, and if you want to arrest me, then do so.”

“Grace…”

“I realize I should have tried harder to convince my friend to tell the truth, but I can't change the past.”

“Come back here.”

She was too tired to argue and did as he ordered. “I'd like to go to bed.”

“You're too upset to sleep.”

“How do you know how I feel?”

“I can see it in your face. I know I shouldn't have raised my voice to you, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm damned well not going to apologize for my anger. I lost the only two women I'm ever going to love, and I don't care how scared Jessica was. She and you should have come forward.”

The impact of what he had just said was devastating, and she realized for the very first time just how much his opinion had come to matter to her. He had just told her he could never love again, and, dear God, she was already falling in love with him. She wouldn't let that happen. Only a fool would love a man who couldn't open his heart to her.

“Why did you kiss me?”

The question caught him off guard. “I wanted to.”

She folded her arms across her waist. “Don't ever do it again. Promise me you won't.”

He wouldn't make a promise he had no intention of keeping, and so he said nothing at all, until she pushed him.

“I want your word, Daniel.”

“No.”

“No? Do you mean … after what just happened … you would want to kiss me again?”

“Yeah, I would and I will.”

“Have you figured it all out yet, Daniel?” Cooper's raspy voice intruded.

Daniel jumped to his feet. “You're awake.”

Grace rushed to his side. “How do you feel, Marshal?”

“Like I'm in the middle of a war. What's the matter with you two, fighting with a dying man between you?”

Daniel was so relieved to see his friend awake a huge grin crossed his face.

Grace was teary-eyed. “I'm sorry we disturbed you.”

“You shouldn't shout at a lady,” Cooper told Daniel before turning to Grace. “And you should have told us what you knew. Now, don't cry, darlin'.”

“You're not dying, are you, Cooper?” Daniel asked.

Cooper would have laughed, but he didn't have the stamina. He felt as weak and used up as a hundred-year-old plow horse. “I don't suppose I am,” he said. “I asked you a question,” he reminded him. “Help me sit up, fetch me a glass of water, and then tell me if you've figured it out yet.”

Grace hurried to place two pillows behind the marshal's back while Daniel lifted him up. A moment later, Daniel handed him a glass of water, then pulled his chair closer to the bed.

Grace felt Cooper's brow, smiled because it didn't feel overly warm to her, and then politely excused herself and tried to leave the room so that they would have privacy for their talk.

“Grace, come back here,” Daniel ordered.

When she went back to the chair across from him, Daniel shook his head at her and motioned for her to come to him.

“Are you going to introduce me to the lady?” Cooper asked.

“My name is Grace Winthrop,” she said, and instinctively started to curtsy.

“She's Lady Grace Winthrop,” Daniel told his friend. “She already knows who you are, Cooper.”

He patted the side of the bed next to Daniel. “Sit with me, darlin'.”

“She isn't your darlin'.”

“She isn't?” he asked before taking a long swallow of the cool water.

“No, she isn't,” Daniel replied. “She's mine.”

Grace stumbled and fell on the foot of the bed. She was too astounded by his comment to argue. Did all men make so little sense? Daniel had kissed her, then
shouted at her, and then he said the most ridiculously romantic thing she'd ever heard.

She simply had to get away from him as quickly as possible before he turned her mind into mush.

“Cooper fancies himself a lady's man,” Daniel remarked.

“I am a lady's man,” Cooper corrected.

Daniel settled back in his chair and relaxed. His friend was going to make it. Now it was time to talk about what had happened. He was pretty sure he had it all figured out, but he wanted confirmation.

“So tell me, Cooper, did Rebecca shoot you or was it someone else?”

Grace was so taken aback by the question, she jumped to her feet to protest. “You cannot be serious, Daniel. You can't possibly believe that sweet Rebecca had anything to do with this.” Images of Rebecca cuddling little Caleb flashed in her mind. She remembered how worried and frightened Rebecca had been when she first arrived at Tilly's house after the fire. What would they have done if she hadn't stepped forward to take charge in their time of need? No, Grace thought, Daniel was wrong.

“Rebecca did the shooting,” Cooper said quietly. “I never saw it coming, never once suspected. There was a man there, but I only got a fleeting glance at him before I was blown into the hallway. I was going down when she shot at me again. The last thing I remember is the sound of glass breaking.”

Grace was too stunned to speak.

Cooper told Daniel every detail he could recall, including the fact that Rebecca had been naked. “I opened the door and was so surprised by the sight of her, I think I hesitated before I went for my gun. Those seconds almost cost me my life. I should have been prepared for any eventuality.”

Grace fell back on the bed. “She's one of them?”
she gasped, trying to come to terms with the truth. “The fire,” she cried out. “Did she start the fire? Did she hit me?” By the time she finished her questions, she was shaking.

Daniel nodded. “Most likely,” he said. “Unless one of the other men stayed behind, but I don't think that happened. All Rebecca had to do was sprinkle some kerosene around the house and light a match. She was real sure of herself,” he told Cooper. “She went inside the house—”

Grace jumped to her feet again. “And helped herself to an apple,” she blurted out. “She tried to kill all of us … Tilly and Caleb and Jessica … and she wore black, Daniel. Didn't she? She was dressed all in black.”

Daniel noticed that Cooper grimaced in pain when Grace sat on the bed again. She didn't realize that every time she moved, she was causing him discomfort. Knowing Cooper the way he did, he also knew he wouldn't say anything to her. Daniel gently pulled Grace toward him and deposited her on the arm of his chair.

She barely noticed she'd moved, so caught up was she in the horror of Rebecca's treachery.

“She's a good actress,” Cooper remarked.

Grace tried to stand again, but Daniel put his arm around her waist and held her down. “Yes, she is a good actress,” she agreed. “She was complacent and smug, and I thought she was my friend. Can you believe that, Marshal Cooper? I believed she was my friend.”

Cooper nodded. “I felt sorry for her.”

“Everything was a lie, wasn't it? She pretended to be so worried about Jessica and me, and she kept telling us we had to stick together.”

“When you were locked in the jail together?” Daniel asked.

“Yes,” she answered. “She told us what she was
going to say to you. She went over it again and again until we had all but memorized it.”

“Did she try to find out which one of you was the witness?”

“No, she didn't.”

“She had probably already made up her mind to kill both of you.”

Grace visibly shivered. “She almost succeeded. If you and Cole hadn't come when you did, we all would have died. Jessica would never have left the house without Caleb and Tilly and me, and the smoke would have gotten her.”

“The very first robbery … wasn't the building burned to the ground?”

“Yes,” Daniel answered. “The first thought all of us had was that someone was trying to cover embezzlement. The bank manager swore that the receipts balanced every night. Every penny was accounted for,” he added. “And we ran a thorough check on all the officers and employees. Everyone came up squeaky clean.”

“Marshal, can you ever forgive me?” Grace asked. “If Jessica and I had told Daniel the truth, you wouldn't have been shot. All of this could have been avoided.”

“That's one way to think about it,” Cooper told her. “But there's also another. If you two had told the truth at the beginning, Rebecca wouldn't have said she was the witness. She could have happily gone on her way and let her friends go after Jessica. We might never have known that Rebecca was involved.”

“Then it wasn't terribly wrong of Jessica and me to withhold the truth?”

“Grace, if you're expecting me to thank you, it isn't gonna happen,” Daniel said. “You should have told me the truth.”

His mind was consumed with Rebecca. “I let her slip right through my fingers.”

“I bent over backwards to accommodate the woman,” Cooper admitted. “I even let her … Ah, Daniel, I told her Grace and Jessica were going to meet her in Red Arrow, and I also let her send a telegram. She told me she wanted to let her friends know she wouldn't be joining them, but we now know that was a lie. If you go into Red Arrow, they're going to be waiting for you.”

“What about Cole and Jessica?” Grace whispered. “They'll be walking into a trap.”

Daniel didn't seem very upset by the possibility. A gleam had come into his eyes, and he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

“What are you thinking?” she asked. “Aren't you worried about Cole and Jessica?”

“No, they have to come through here to get to Red Arrow,” he explained. “And they're at least a day behind us. Maybe two.”

“Then you won't go into Red Arrow at all. You'll take a cut through to Blackwater?”

She was nodding over her own conclusion when he contradicted her. “Oh, no, we're going into Red Arrow all right.”

“But they'll be waiting.…”

“God, I hope so.”

Cooper had been listening to the conversation with his eyes closed. He didn't bother to open them when he asked, “You do have a plan in mind, don't you?”

“Yes,” Daniel answered. “But it involves you, Cooper.”

“Daniel, he's been seriously wounded, and his fever only just broke.”

“He won't have to do much,” he promised.

“So what do you want me to do?” Cooper asked.

Daniel smiled. “I want you to die.”

Part Four
 

And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Thirty-Five