Indigo Blue (7 page)

“Come on. I don’t bite.”

His white teeth flashed in a teasing grin. The hair on her nape prickled. He looked deliciously handsome sitting there with his black hair wet and wind-tossed and his rain-soaked shirt molded to his shoulders. He was nearly as dark as her father. It would be all too easy to forget he was a white man, something she could ill-afford to do. He might pretend not to notice her skin tone, but a cordial demeanor couldn’t fool her. Not anymore.

Brushing her hand over her hip to be certain her knife still rested there, she moved toward him. She didn’t have to duck as he had. The pine boughs cleared her head by a generous foot.

He didn’t look winded or weary. Had he stopped because he knew how exhausted she was? Pride burned its way up the back of her throat. He’d think her a weakling and ban her from the digs. She just knew it.

“It’s not that much farther,” she said. “We have to get back before dark. Ma’ll be fit to be tied if we don’t.”

He patted the ground again. “I’ll have you home before dark. A five-minute rest won’t hurt. Take pity on an old man.”

He didn’t look old. He looked—Indigo clamped down on the thought and jerked her gaze from his darkly handsome face.

To keep her distance, she sat facing Jake Rand, forgoing the support of the tree against her back. The sharp scent of pine surrounded her. When she shifted on the evergreen needles, she smelled the moldy underlayer of the woodland floor. The network of boughs was thinner above her than where he sat, so more rain trickled through, plunking loudly on her hat.

After telling him how warm leather was, she’d never admit it, but she was becoming chilled. By this time of day, she had usually had a hot bath and was sitting before the hearth, warmed by the fire and Ma’s hot cocoa. She hunched her shoulders, acutely aware that he watched her, his dark eyes warm, yet relentless.

“Your father tells me you know this mine like the back of your hand,” he said.

“Yes.”

“He seems to think someone caused the cave-ins. What’s your feeling?”

Indigo wished her father would learn to be less candid. Judging from the look in Jake Rand’s eyes, she supposed he had been told everything. If so, there was little point in her being evasive. She tried to hide the shudder that coursed through her. “I agree with my father. I’m not positive about the others, but the last collapse was no accident.”

His attention shifted to her shoulders, and she wondered if he could see her shivering. “You sound mighty certain.”

“I am. There were axe marks on the timbers, fresh ones. Someone deliberately weakened them.”

Jake gazed past her at the rain. He didn’t believe in burdening women with men’s concerns, but in this instance, he didn’t see a way around it. “Do you believe someone intended to kill your father?”

The ugly hat concealed her eyes. She pursed her lips. He noticed that a faint trace of blue now outlined them.

“Honey, are you cold?”

Indigo started. Outside of her family, only Shorty ever called her honey. She knew that Jake Rand’s doing so was indicative of his attitude toward her. If she were all white, he would never dream of addressing her in so familiar a way. “Only a little,” she replied. “As to your question, if someone had wanted my father dead, why not just kill him? They had no way of knowing he’d go into that shaft. No one should have but me.”

Jake considered that. “Why no one but you?”

He saw her mouth quiver—whether from the cold or unpleasant memories, he wasn’t certain. She looked so young and defenseless sitting there, shoulders stiff with pride. If he had worn his slicker, he could take it off and drape it around her.

“We planned to dynamite that morning. I’m the powder monkey and should’ve been the one who went in to place the charges.”

Jake tried to conceal his surprise and knew he did a poor job of it. The powder monkey? One mistake, and she’d blow herself and everyone else to kingdom come. It didn’t seem right that a girl should be allowed to take such risks.

“It was one of those freak things,” she went on. “When I was about to go in, I couldn’t find the fuse spool. The night before, I’d asked Shorty to round up everything I’d need from the powder shack and have it ready.”

“And he didn’t?”

“He thought he had.” She waved a hand. “Shorty’s memory’s about an inch long. Anyway, I went up to the powder shack to see if I could find the fuse.”

Her small chin came up a notch. Though Jake sensed how difficult it was for her to continue, he couldn’t help but smile. Somehow she reminded him a little of Mary Beth.

“While I was gone, Father decided Shorty might have taken the spool down the night before to the spot where we planned to blast. He went to check. I had just returned to the main entrance when—” She took a deep breath. “We all heard the cave- in. At first, I didn’t realize my father was in there.” She grew so quiet for a moment that Jake wondered if she meant to continue. “It should have been me down there, you see, so it couldn’t have been an attempt on his life.”

Did she feel guilty because her father had been injured instead of her? He hated to press her further. “How can you be sure it wasn’t an attempt on yours?”

“Who’d want to kill me? For that matter, who’d want to kill my father?”

“Who is this Shorty fellow? Can you trust him?”

“Absolutely.”

“You’re certain he didn’t deliberately forget the fuse spool so your father would go into the mine?”

Indigo bit back an angry retort. Jake Rand had never met Shorty, so he couldn’t know how outlandish a suggestion that was.

As if Jake Rand read her thoughts, his expression softened. “I don’t mean to elbow my way in and start making accusations. It’s just—” He sighed and swiped a wet hank of hair from his forehead. “It’s not too often I take an instant liking to people, but there’s something special about your father.” His mouth quirked at the corners, suggesting a smile. “He has a way of looking at you, a rare honesty. I want to help him if I can.”

He could have said a dozen other things, all of which she might have discarded, but this had a ring of truth. There was something special about her father. She had seen that look herself. Rare honesty seemed as good a way as any to describe it, though Indigo had always thought of it more in terms of goodness. Some of her reserve fell away. Maybe her father was right in trusting this man. She had a bad habit of being too suspicious of strangers.

Still, there was something in Jake Rand’s eyes—a hooded look, as if he was hiding something. That bothered her. Lots of people were a little reserved with strangers, though. She shouldn’t form an impression too quickly.

“Shorty is an old friend. My father trusts him, and so do I. I think whoever was trying to sabotage the mine weakened the timbers, hoping the shaft would collapse when the dynamite discharged. If a powder monkey doesn’t know what he’s doing, he can collapse an entire tunnel. Because I’m a woman, everyone would’ve figured I made a stupid mistake.”

Her assessment of the situation didn’t sit well with Jake. Just as Jeremy had guessed, someone had been in the wrong place at the right time. “So, instead of causing anyone physical harm, you think the intent was to cause damage to shut you down?”

“Some folks don’t like having Indians nearby, and they’re particularly leery of my father because he’s Comanche.” She gave a slight shrug. “I’m sure you’ve heard the tales about us, the most bloodthirsty of the lot. If you turn your back on one of us, you can kiss your scalp goodbye. If something comes up missing, they’re certain we stole it.” Her mouth turned down and deepened the dimple in her cheek. “They don’t want him dead, mind you, just out of here.”

“One thing bothers me. How could anyone have known you planned to blast that particular morning?”

“We don’t make a secret of it. To the contrary, on blasting days, no one’s allowed into the shafts until we’re finished, so we let the miners know in advance that they can come in to work a little later than normal that day.”

“So everybody in town probably knew.”

“Yes. Just as everyone knew nobody would be in the mine.”

Jake focused on her lips. The little hoyden was fibbing about not being that cold. “They knew you’d go in, though. Correct?”

She nodded.

“Then it
is
possible that you were the target.”

“Like I said, who’d want me dead? No, whoever took the axe to the timbers just weakened them too much. They probably had no idea anything would happen until the charge went off. By then, I would’ve been safely outside. Shafts are funny things. If the timbers grow weak, the earth above them can shift. Then the smallest vibration can cause a collapse. It was my father’s misfortune that he went down there and began moving things about, searching for the fuse spool.”

It was Jake’s turn to take a deep breath. He tried to imagine how terrifying it must have been for her when she realized her father was inside the mine.

“Is there anyone in particular you suspect?”

Indigo hesitated. She already had revealed far more than she felt comfortable with. Jake Rand had a way of dragging out answers. She looked into his eyes and could detect only concern.

“You can trust me,” he inserted, once again giving her the unsettling feeling that he had read her thoughts. She was used to it being the other way around. “I need to know everything if I’m going to be of any help.”

“The Henleys, maybe,” she admitted. “It’s just a wild guess, and I wouldn’t want it repeated. It’s not right to accuse people when you haven’t any proof.”

Jake considered that attitude pretty charitable since she had just admitted the same wasn’t true in reverse. “It won’t go beyond me. Why do you suspect them?”

“It’s not a suspicion, exactly. They’re just likely because they have a mine not far from ours, and they don’t cotton much to breeds.”

Breeds
. Jake winced. The word had such an ugly sound.

“Did any of the workers seem reluctant to help dig your father out?”

She gave a bitter little laugh. “All of them. Except for Shorty and Stringbean, of course. They’re like family. The others ran in the opposite direction. When one part of a shaft collapses, the rest might. We all knew that. Many of the men have families who depend on them so I couldn’t blame them.”

Jake went over the story slowly, trying to pick up on anything that didn’t fit. One thought blocked out all else. “You knew another collapse might occur, yet you went in to get your father out and returned to examine the timbers afterward?”

“Naturally, I went in after my father. And I had to know what caused the cave- in. It wasn’t the first, you know. We had already begun to suspect tampering. We have a number of men working for us. If other shafts had been tampered with, their lives could have been at risk. What would you have done?”

Jake shifted his shoulders against the tree trunk. “The same, I suppose. It’s just that—”

“I’m a woman?” she finished. “Understand something, Mr. Rand. I’ve been working with my father since childhood, at both sites. I don’t stand aside while others do the dirty work.”

“I’m sure you don’t. That doesn’t negate the fact that you took a terrible risk.”

She made a fist on the wet leather of one pant leg. “Would it have been less tragic if a man had gone in and died? Besides, what choice did I have? I couldn’t ask Shorty and Stringbean to do what I wouldn’t. I had to either go in or close down.”

Jake couldn’t fault her for lack of courage. He studied her a moment and decided the brief rest had restored her sufficiently to move on. There would be time later for more questions.

Pushing up from the ground, he offered her a hand. She hesitated and then placed her slender fingers across his palm. Jake pulled her to her feet, amazed at how little she weighed. Her hand, small and pliable within the circle of his fingers, felt icy cold. In an attempt to warm it, he held on longer than necessary as he drew her from beneath the tree. He noticed her skin was chapped. Like his mother’s had once been.

“It’s stopped raining,” she said.

Jake hadn’t noticed. He released his grip on her so she could move away, which she did with all speed. He nearly smiled again. She had braved a dangerous mining shaft, but the touch of a man’s hand unnerved her.

 

Fully prepared to give Jake Rand a rundown on her father’s operation, Indigo was perplexed when he bypassed all the things she had hoped to show him and instead insisted on seeing the pile of removed timbers. After examining them at length, he concurred with her that someone had taken an axe to them.

“The weather’s darkened the blade marks, of course,” she explained. “But they were fresh right after the collapse.”

Crouching by the pile of rubble, he glanced up to meet her gaze. “Even though they’ve darkened, I can still tell that they’re recent.”

The touch of his gaze on hers was unsettling. He seemed more troubled by the collapse than a stranger should. She looked away. Dusk was beginning to fall. Deep within the woods, the colorful tangle of myrtle, laurel, and madrone blurred into a black void that seemed to stretch forever. The air smelled of night’s crisp coolness. She should give him a rundown on what he needed to know so they could head home. Why was he examining timbers that had nothing to do with the work scheduled for tomorrow? There wasn’t that much daylight left.

Unlike most parents, hers allowed her to do pretty much as she pleased, but they were strict about some things, especially social mores. One rule they adhered to was that young women didn’t stay out after dark in the company of gentlemen. It simply wasn’t done, no matter how trustworthy the man. Samuel Jones, who owned the general store, had ended up the groom in a shotgun wedding because he had taken Elmira Johnson on a picnic and been delayed in getting her home when his horse broke a foreleg. Indigo didn’t think Jake Rand would like saying “I do” with a gun barrel poked up one nostril.