Deborah Camp (35 page)

“All I know is that a man is lying dead out there.”

“He deserves to be dead,” Sally spoke up, her tone lifeless.

“Mrs. Baldridge, isn’t it?” the sheriff asked, removing his hat and clutching it to his chest as he approached her. His sticky blond hair swirled in a messy cowlick at the back of his head. “I’m sorry for your loss. I know you and Mr. Terrapin were—”

“He shot a woman in cold blood,” Sally interrupted him, turning her dull, tear-washed eyes on him.

“Who did?” the sheriff asked, glaring accusingly at Reno.

“Not him. Taylor,” Sally said. Then she raised her head higher and drew in a deep breath. “If it weren’t for Reno Gold, we’d all be dead.”

“If you want to arrest someone, arrest Buck Wilhite,” Adele suggested.

“Wilhite? Where is he?” The sheriff spun around, nearly lost his balance, and had to grab onto a chair to keep from falling.

Adele sighed and marched to the door. “He’s out here in the street. Are you blind?” But the street was empty except for Terrapin’s body. “Well, I never!”
Adele turned back to the others. “He’s gone.”

Reno chuckled. “Like any no-good coyote, he knows when to make tracks.” He lifted his glass to the sheriff. “You might learn from his example there, son. Terrapin is dead, which means your days as a lawman in this town are numbered.”

Marcus Short’s mouth worked, but no words came out. Mutely he stomped toward the double doors. By the time he had crossed the threshold, he’d recovered his voice. He turned back to them, his face pink, his nose red and veined.

“This body must be removed from the street,” he announced.

Adele shook her head, pitying the uselessness of him. “Brilliant deduction,” she allowed. “See to it.” Resolutely she closed the doors, shutting him out.

“So that’s the sheriff,” Reno drawled. “Hell, he’s barely out of knickers.”

“I didn’t know you hadn’t met him.”

“I’ve heard about him. He spends most of his time across the street at the Black Knight, where he gets his whores free because he’s under Terrapin’s thumb.”

“
Was
under Terrapin’s thumb,” Adele amended. Her legs suddenly wobbled. She had enough steam left to stumble to a chair and sit beside Sally. She massaged her pounding temples and groaned. “Is it over? Is it really over? He’s dead and we’re all still breathing?”

“Was there ever a doubt about the outcome?” Reno asked, striding forward to plunk down two shot glasses full of whiskey before her and Sally. “Drink
up before you pass out cold. You ladies are looking right peaked.”

The whiskey sloshed through Adele with all the finesse of buckshot. She coughed and felt alive again.

“I never knew him, I suppose,” Sally said suddenly. Her eyes were almost swollen shut. “He wasn’t the man I thought he was.”

Looking at Reno, Adele struggled with equal portions of pride and betrayal. She wondered if he loved her or could love her. She wanted to ask him if he thought they could forgive each other and start over, but he turned away and leaned on the bar. One of his shirtsleeves was stiff with blood. Adele winced, ashamed to be rehashing a lover’s quarrel when he stood before her, bleeding.

She braced her hands on the edge of the table and pushed herself up. Her knees locked, much to her relief.

“Where are you going?” Sally asked.

“To see about Reno.”

Reno frowned. “I’m okay. Why don’t you go check on Mrs. McDonald?”

“Let me help clean the wound.”

“I’ll pour some of this whiskey on it. I’ll be fine.” He jerked away when she lifted a hand to touch him. “Go on now to the doctor’s. I can take care of myself.”

Stung by his sudden iciness toward her, Adele retreated, staring at his imposing back. She wanted to put her arms around him and lay her head on his blood-soaked shoulder and thank him for saving them. But at the same time she wanted him to beg her to forgive him for lying, for marrying her to teach her
a lesson, for making her fall in love with him only to break her heart.

“Are you going now?” Sally asked. She stood and swayed for a moment before finding her balance.

“Yes,” Adele said, hesitating, so as to give Reno a chance to change his mind and ask her to wait for him. He glanced over his shoulder at her, a frown creasing his brow. “Are you sure I can’t do something for you?”

“I need to be alone, Dellie. I just killed a man.” He turned away from her and ran a hand through his hair.

“You saved lives,” she said.

“Yes, but I took one, too.” He poured himself another drink. “Just leave me be for a spell.”

Sally touched her arm and glanced pointedly to the doorway. Adele knew she was right. Reno wanted to be alone with his thoughts. But still she hesitated. Finally she laid a hand on his back, barely touching him, then went outside with Sally.

“I wish he’d let me help him,” Adele said.

“You can help him later when he’s got himself on a firm footing again.” Sally winced, watching the sheriff and Hector, the Black Knight bartender, lift Terrapin’s body and carry it in the direction of the undertaker’s. Making a choking sound, she averted her gaze. Adele placed an arm around her shoulders and walked quickly with her in the opposite direction.

“He hates me,” Sally said.

“Who?”

“Reno.”

Adele sighed. “I doubt that.”

“He’s always hated me.”

“No, he hasn’t.”

“You’ve been right about everything.”

“Not about everything.”

Sally wiped tears from her cheeks with her damp handkerchief. “I can’t believe it. Taylor was going to shoot me! He would have killed me and not batted an eye in remorse or regret. He couldn’t have loved me at all. Not at all.” Her mouth twisted out of shape and she swallowed hard to keep from sobbing.

“Sally, you knew he was ruthless.”

“But I never thought he’d hurt me. Never me. He told me I was a great lady. He worshiped me.”

“Men say lots of things to get what they want.” Adele wasn’t proud of the bitter quality in her tone and was glad they’d reached the doctor’s office, because she was beginning to see something about herself that she didn’t like.

Sally hung back. “Maybe I shouldn’t go in. After all, I was never … Well, I could have been more cordial to Mrs. McDonald.”

Adele placed her hands on Sally’s shoulders and turned her toward the door. “It’s never too late to change, Sally, or to mend our ways.” The words echoed back to her, shaming her. Sally went into the doctor’s office and Adele followed, but her heart was suddenly heavy with hypocrisy.

Reno hadn’t been truthful with her, but she hadn’t been truthful with him either, she admitted to herself. She hadn’t intended actually to marry him, but had been shamed and bullied into it. And she hadn’t been forthright about her feelings for him. She hadn’t told him that she’d fallen in love with him and didn’t care if he were rich or poor, ambitious or lazy.

Was it too late now to correct those omissions?

She realized she was standing in the outer office. Sally had been conferring with Doc Martin and was now speaking to her.

“… so we’ll go in and sit with her while the doctor is down at the Lucky Strike, tending to Reno. How does that sound?”

“Will she pull through?” Adele asked.

“The doctor seems to think so,” Sally said, taking her by the arm. “He wants one of us to sit with her until she comes to again.”

“Okay.” But Adele wished she could go back to the Lucky Strike and be with Reno. Once again they seemed to be at odds, with her wanting desperately for his company and him wanting to be shed of hers.

Doc Martin came out of an examination room, his black medical bag clutched in one hand. “I’ll go see about Gold now. If Mrs. McDonald wakes up, just make her keep still.”

Adele reached out to detain him. “Tell Reno that I—” She clamped her teeth shut. No. She needed to tell him
that
face to face. “Never mind, but Doctor, he didn’t want to kill Terrapin. He had to, or he’d be the dead one right now. Make him understand that.”

Doc Martin nodded, laying a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “I imagine he knows that, but I’ll mention it to him anyway.”

“He seems troubled.”

“Killing never goes down easy,” Doc Martin said. “And it never should.”

After he left, Adele sat with Sally at Mrs. McDonald’s bedside, but her thoughts were on Reno and what he’d done, not only for her, but for the entire
town. She decided that Whistle Stop should honor him.

When Terrapin was buried and the taint of blood was gone from the air, she’d open the restaurant doors and invite the whole town in to pay their respects to Reno Gold.

And afterward, when she was alone with him, she’d add her own special thank-you. She’d show him that she’d changed and that all was forgiven.

T
he next day dawned gray and rainy. Taylor Terrapin was buried in a downpour. The funeral was not well attended. In fact, finding enough pallbearers was a problem. As soon as he was placed in the muddy ground, the sun came out. Most people thought that was more than coincidental.

“Sally was there,” Adele told Mrs. McDonald at her bedside later that afternoon at Doc Martin’s. “And I went to his funeral because Sally needed me.”

“You and Sally are friends again?”

“Yes, but … Well, I don’t think we’ll ever be as close again.”

“Give it time.”

Adele nodded. “Perhaps.” Her doubts outweighed her faith. “Reno was there, too.”

“He was? Why did he go?”

“He said he thought he should, since he was the one who shot Terrapin.” The memory of his drawn expression, his bleak eyes, tore at Adele’s heart. She’d told him that she needed to see him that evening at the restaurant, and he had promised to come by at
eight. “He doesn’t know about the celebration tonight. I just asked him to come by so that we could talk. I neglected to mention that most of the town will be there with me. I hope they keep their mouths shut and don’t ruin the surprise. And I hope I’m doing the right thing. Reno seems so … depressed.”

“He’ll snap out of it,” Mrs. McDonald said, her voice weak, but her eyes bright. Her color had almost returned to normal. The doctor said she had a strong constitution, otherwise she would surely have died from her injuries.

“You’re one lucky lady,” Adele told her. “Doc Martin told me that the bullet would have found your heart if not for your corset. One of the bone stays deflected it.”

“Guess corsets are good for something after all,” she said drolly. “How’s Little Nugget? She didn’t go to that rat’s funeral, did she?”

“No. She’s doing better, but her back is too tender for her to wear anything fitting or binding. A nightgown is about all she can manage for now. I wish you two were well enough to come to the surprise party tonight. Reno thinks so much of both of you.”

“You give him our love tonight. Hey, was Buck at the funeral?”

“Nobody has seen Buck Wilhite since yesterday. Some folks are saying he’s gone to Texas.”

“Let Texas have him. He’ll fit right in with the bandits and rattlesnakes and tumbleweeds.”

“I saw Little Nugget before I came over here. Reno wasn’t there. Little Nugget said he’d gone to the telegraph office and then to the bank.” Adele plucked fretfully at the bedsheet covering Mrs. McDonald.

“What’s wrong, hon?”

“Oh, it’s just that … Little Nugget is talking about leaving Whistle Stop once she’s well enough.”

“That’s probably for the best. She got a destination in mind?”

Adele stared at her in surprise. “I thought you’d be upset. I thought you’d want her to stay here with us.”

“Well, sure, I’ll miss her, but I’m thinking about what will be best for her, not for me. The whole town knows her for a whore, so what kind of future can she have here?”

Adele frowned. “That’s what she said, but I told her you’d done well for yourself.”

“With me it’s different. I’ve had me a husband and I’m older. I’m not looking for a man to marry. Little Nugget is young and she’s got a chance at landing herself a good husband, having herself a family.”

“That’s what she said, but I think she might meet a nice gentleman here.”

“You didn’t. Had to advertise for Mr. Reno. Any man who would take up with Little Nugget would have to be a saint, and Whistle Stop has a shortage of those. Your average man couldn’t put up with the whole town snickering behind his back about what his wife used to do to make money.” She shifted in the bed as if she was uncomfortable, but shook her head when Adele sat forward in concern. “I’m fine.”

“I should leave.”

“No.” Mrs. McDonald clutched one of Adele’s hands. “Stay awhile longer. Tell me about Mr. Reno. How bad was he hurt?”

“His arm is in a sling, but he told me at the funeral that he isn’t in any pain. One of the bullets grazed his
shoulder and another one skipped across the top of his hand. Flesh wounds, he called them. He said his muscles were stiff and sore but his wounds were healing fast.”

“He’s a tough one.”

“Yes.” But he had seemed vulnerable at the funeral, she thought, remembering the sadness in his eyes and voice when he’d spoken to her. “He’s weary, as though he can barely put one foot in front of the other.”

“Taking somebody’s life, even if that somebody is a sorry soul like Terrapin, is a heavy burden to bear, I reckon.”

“I hope tonight’s surprise cheers him up.”

“It should. Wish I could be there.”

“We’ll throw another party for you when you’re up and about again.”

Mrs. McDonald smiled and patted her hand. “I’ll hold you to that. You’ve been so good to me, Mrs. Adele, I don’t rightly know how to thank you.”

“You don’t have to, Mrs. McDonald. Your friendship is enough. You know, I’ve never had many friends and I treasure them as other people would gold.”

“Is that why you held fast to Mrs. Baldridge, even when she was downright hateful?”

Adele nodded. “Sally was my first real girlfriend. I wanted her to be like a sister to me. I have a lot to learn about friendships, I guess.”

“All you’ve got to know is that you can’t ask more of people than they’re willing to give. And friends, real friends, are hard to come by. If you have two, you’re wealthy beyond measure.”