Much Ado About Marshals (Hearts of Owyhee) (2011) (23 page)

Just as the trail veered off the main road to the cut-off trail to
Silver
City
, she saw dust ahead. Two horses about a half of a mile away, she figured—and another, single horse a couple hundred yards behind them. And a dog!

Under her breath, Daisy cursed her brother with some extremely unladylike words. She’d bet the marshal’s honor that the two horses leading were the Rankin brothers, and the horse trailing was her brother. Why on earth was a ten-year-old boy trailing two hardened criminals by himself?

They were all heading toward her cave! She kicked her mare into a trot. Then, on second thought, she pulled back to a walk. It didn’t make sense for her to give her position away by stirring up as much dust as they were, and anyway, she suspected their destination. Besides, she knew a shortcut, and veered cross-country to the backside of the boulders.

Fifteen minutes later, she smelled burning sagebrush as she quietly dismounted. Daisy’s heart quickened a bit, uneasy lest she be discovered. She still didn’t see a campfire, but she could smell it. And that meant the Rankins were there.

She pushed back the bushes in front of the cave entrance, led Gal into the outer cavern, and tied her to the hitching ring. Daisy went back outside and pinched off a branch of the bush to cover their tracks. Once she finished, she bellied down in the alkali dirt and followed her nose to the campfire.

She’d been right—the Rankins camped not a hundred yards from her cave, just down the hill and to the south. All that separated her cave and the two outlaws was a big boulder and a lot of sagebrush.

She crept back to safe ground, careful not to leave a trail. Honey Beaulieu couldn’t have done any better. But Honey Beaulieu wouldn’t have lost her little brother, either. Daisy decided to go to high ground—the boulders above the cave entrance—to see if Forrest and Winky were still in the area.

Shimmying up boulders with a skirt and three petticoats in the way was a challenge, but she got the job done. The boy and the dog weren’t visible, but at least the Rankins didn’t have them.

Or her. For the first time, it dawned on her that chasing outlaws without a sidearm was foolhardy. Leaving wouldn’t be all that smart, either,
even though she had an old pistol stashed in the cave
. They certainly wouldn’t be handed the chance to capture her on the way out
, pistol or not
.

Daisy fumbled her way into the second cavern, felt for the lantern on her trunk
,
lit it
, and found the pistol
. After
taking
a long, refreshing drink of water from the spring, she filled a bucket, then carried it to the outer cavern. To prevent Gal fron nickering, Daisy patted the mare’s muzzle. Then,
holding the pistol in her apron pocket
, Daisy again crept out of the cave, to the edge of the large boulder.

At a hundred yards, she saw one Rankin brother put a coffeepot on the fire while the other skinned a small animal—probably a hare.

She still saw no trace of her brother or Winky. Could they have hurt him and left him for dead? Or maybe he had the common sense to ride back to Oreana for help. She rolled her eyes. Not likely. But he could have lost interest—that wouldn’t be out of the question at all.

With luck, her little brother was safe and happy, but that thought didn’t still the fear in her heart.

Cole slowly began to feel like his old self again. Ruth Howard’s fried potatoes had done the trick—that, and about three gallons of water.

Anyway, the day hadn’t been completely wasted. He’d filed every single blasted paper in the place, swept the floor and the cobwebs, stripped the beds and remade them, and hauled the dirty sheets and his spare clothes to Cho Lu’s Laundry. It had been the first decent cleaning since he’d taken up residence, and it was about damned time. The best part of it all was that no one had caught him doing womanly chores. He’d gotten away with it Scot-free.

Dusk set in and, tired as he was, he thought it best if the townspeople saw him out and about. Besides, the sooner he caught up with the Rankins, the better. There was no putting it off. He buckled on his gunbelt, put on his Stetson, and set out for the Branded Horse.

A saloon was about the last place he wanted to go given his revulsion to the odor of whiskey at the moment, but the only place to inquire about the brothers’ whereabouts. They sure wouldn’t be at
Gardner
’s Mercantile or Mrs. Howard’s Boarding House.

He strongly doubted they’d loiter around Mardsen’s Confectionery or the bank. If Jonas had seen them at the livery, he’d have said so, and the only place left was the butcher shop and the laundry. Cole was quite sure they hadn’t frequented a laundry for some time, by the smell of them.

He tipped his hat to Daisy’s Aunt Grace and Henry Smith as they passed by. It seemed as if Smith had already made some headway in the courting department. Cole wondered about him, though. The man was a no-account drifter, and Grace could do better. Then again, so could Daisy, and no one knew that better than Cole himself.

“Marshal!”

He turned to see Mrs. Gardner running down the street, waving.

“Is Forrest with you?”

He waited for her to catch up to him. “No, ma’am. I haven’t seen him.”

“Not even this morning?”

“Nope, haven’t seen him since the dance last night.” Seeing the worry in her face, he added, “But I heard him at the livery. Have you talked to Jonas?”

“Yes,” she murmured, shoulders drooping. “He’s nowhere to be found. He was at the store around ten this morning, then Jonas said he helped him saddle his pony right after that, but that’s it. Is Deputy Kunkle around? Maybe he’s seen him.”

“I’ll ask him. Meantime, send your husband to meet me at the livery, then tell Jonas to saddle up our horses.” The shadows were lengthening by the minute, and tracking in the dark was next to impossible. Still, if Bosco didn’t know the whereabouts of the little rapscallion, they’d need to go looking for him.

“And Daisy? Have you seen my daughter?” Mrs. Gardner’s eyes narrowed, almost in accusation. Cole felt guilty as hell, but for other reasons Mrs Gardner didn’t need to know about.

“Haven’t seen her all day.”

She paused, studying him, then nodded once, and hurried down the street.

He found Bosco at Mrs. Courtney’s house, eating. He hadn’t seen either the boy or Miss Daisy, so Cole told him to take care of the town while Cole, Gardner, and Jonas went searching.

Ten minutes later, the three men rode toward the north edge of town. “Got the lanterns?” Cole asked as they passed the mercantile.

“Three of ‘em,”
Gardner
answered. “But I hope we find the little squirt before we need ‘em.” He waved at his wife, who stood on the boardwalk, shoulders hunched. “And who knows where that daughter of mine has gotten herself off to.”

“Let’s assume they’re together.”

Jonas shook his head. “Forrest left a good three hours before Daisy did, although she rode north, too.”

“So neither of them told you where they were going?” Cole asked, mostly to see if Jonas could remember something he hadn’t already told them.

“Nope, but they both headed out this direction. I thought maybe we could pick up some tracks here, although folks have been riding in and out all day.”

It was the best lead they had, albeit feeble.

“I brought water and food, plus Betsy threw in some bandages,”
Gardner
said. The quiver in his voice belied his bravado. “Damned kid, anyway. I’m gonna whoop his ass into next Sunday and back.”

“Paw prints,” Cole said. “If we find the dog, we’ll find the boy.” And hopefully, the girl. He tried not to let his pounding heart interfere with his judgement, but he couldn’t find anything good in this. He wanted her home, safe and sound in his arms.

Jonas nodded. “I’d allow you’re right on that matter. Maybe the girl, too.”

Gardner
’s lips were pressed tight. His silence spoke of his fretting.

Cole could only imagine the worry
Gardner
held for his two children. These parts could be dangerous, especially to a curious boy and a woman who fancied herself a sleuth. “
Gardner
, you stay on the road. Jonas, you ride about twenty feet to the right, and I’ll ride to the left. Holler if you see anything interesting.”

A mile or two down the road, Jonas picked up the trail of the dog. The sun barely peeked over the horizon and the tracking in the dim light was slow. They stopped to light the lanterns, then Cole and Jonas followed the dog’s trail, while
Gardner
rode on the worn path parallel to it. The boy had obviously taken the cut-off to
Silver
City
, but the three men followed the dog’s tracks, just the same.

The lanterns cast the only light—the crescent sliver of the moon was no help. They made slow and tedious progress, both so they wouldn’t lose the paw prints, and also to protect their horses’ legs from ground squirrel holes. Cole prayed that Daisy was with Forrest, and that he’d find them both, safe.

About an hour later, the dog’s tracks led off the trail to the right, away from the cut-off. They followed the tracks to the foothills, where the treacherous rocks were too slippery for loaded horses’ hooves to tread. The men dismounted and continued on, leading the animals.

Another fifteen minutes of searching showed nothing. No dog prints, no pony tracks. Cole was just about to suggest they camp for the night, when a dog’s whine sliced through the air. “Stay here,” Cole ordered, handing Jonas the reins to his gelding. “I’ll be able to hear more if you stay quiet and I go alone.”

Three boulders later, Cole spied the pony, saddled and groundtied, but no boy or dog in sight. “Forrest!”

“Up here, marshal!”

Cole lifted his lantern, but didn’t see a thing except more rocks. “Keep talking, junior deputy. I’ll come and get you.”

“Keep going past the next rock, then climb up here. Winky’s hurt, and I’m hungry.”

Cole scrambled up the boulder. Forrest and the dog huddled in a little dip on the top of it. “Are you all right?” The boy looked fine, much to Cole’s relief, but he wore a worried look.

“Yep, just hungry.”

The dog whimpered and licked his paw. “But a rock fell on Winky’s foot and I think it’s broken. He wanted to go home on three legs, but I wouldn’t let him, and I couldn’t lift him onto my pony. So I made him stay put, just like Daddy always told me. He says to stay in one place because it’s easier to find someone if they do.”

“Your daddy’s right about that.” He stood and hollered for Jonas. He’d need some help getting a hundred-pound dog off a thirty-foot boulder. “What the hell were you doing this far out?”

“Chasing bad men. I saw the Rankin brothers, and I know you want them in jail.”

The boy took his junior deputy status far too seriously. Still, he had to admire the kid’s spunk. “From now on, you tell me or Deputy Kunkle when you see them. You can’t go chasing outlaws on your own—we don’t even do that. A lawman always has a partner for backup. Do you know why?”

“Yes,” the boy answered slowly, “because your dog might get hurt.”

Good enough. “Right. And then the outlaws get away, and everyone has to spend their time looking for you.”

“I won’t never do it again.”

Cole patted him on the shoulder. “I know you won’t.” He heard Jonas scrambling on the rocks down below. “Where’s your sister?”

Forrest shrugged. “Dunno.” He sent Cole a pensive look. “Are you going to marry her? I saw her looking at you with love-eyes.”

Cole would give his soul to marry Miss Daisy, if he had one left to give. “Naw, your sister is a fine woman, but there’s lots better men for her than me. Besides, I’m not the marrying kind.”

The boy scowled and snapped his fingers. “Dang, it’d be great to have a marshal for a brother.”

He listened to Jonas’s progress up the rocks, then turned his attention back to the boy. “Where’d you see the Rankins last?”

“Riding past the face of these rocks. That’s why I climbed up here, ‘cause I thought I could figure out where they was headed. I saw him turn this-a-way,” he gestured with his left hand, “down where that crevice is.”

“Good tracking, son. Just don’t forget to bring a partner next time.” Cole patted Winky. “A human partner.”

Jonas clambered up to them. “Hey, your dad’s got a saddlebag full of food and a canteen of water waiting for you.”

The two men struggled to get the dog off the boulder without killing themselves in the process. Forrest tried to help, but he was more hindrance than anything else. Cole didn’t have the heart to chastise the boy, and apparently, neither did Jonas.

Once the two men got the boy and the dog back to the horses, Cole hoisted Forrest up on his pony.
Gardner
hadn’t said a word. Cole expected he was so damn mad and, at the same time, so damned relieved, he didn’t know what the hell to say—besides still being worried about his daughter. Jonas handed Forrest a couple of biscuits and a canteen, then Cole helped him heave Winky onto Jonas’s horse.