To Know Her by Name (17 page)

“What is it, Bryan?”

“S-sick,” Pup barely remembered to stutter.

Conway took a step backward. The last thing he wanted was to be ill. Bryan Daniels had turned out to be the perfect bank employee, but right now he looked awful.

“Go home,” he urged the younger man. “Maybe you'll feel better by Monday. Go home, Bryan.”

Pup only nodded and started toward the door. Her brother was long gone, but she could almost feel his presence. Would he have recognized her? Would he have even looked in her direction? And the biggest question of all: Would Nick really do this to her?

“Callie?” Camille said with surprise when Pup stood in the doorway of her dining room. She had come in through the kitchen and passed Miranda, not answering any of her questions.

“Is Nick here?”

“No, of course not. He's at the office. Callie,” she tried again while taking in Pup's white features. “What is it? Are you ill?”

“Tell Nick when he comes home that I'm waiting for him in his office.”

“But it's early, Callie, he won't be home for hours.”

“I'll wait for him.”

With that, Pup moved through the room. Camille's mouth opened and closed but no sound came forth. Pup looked horrible. What in the world had happened? She looked back to see that Miranda had come to the edge of the room and witnessed the scene. The two exchanged a look. Camille knew then that she had to get word to Nick. Even if she had to go herself, she had to let Nick know.

The dull, lifeless eyes that Camille had seen were long gone by the time Nick arrived. After his wife's summons, he let himself quietly into the study to find Pup pacing with irritation before the desk.

“Did you know?” she shot at him even before the door could completely close.

“Did I know what?” Nick asked cautiously as he went to stand behind his desk.

“Did you know he would be at the bank?”

“Who, Pup?”

“
Don't play games with me, Nick!
” her voice was a lash as her hand slammed down on the wood surface. “I saw Jubal! I saw him with my own eyes.
How could you set me up?”

The room was utterly still. Nick had never seen her this way. Carlyle had reported to him that Jubal had been spotted, but with Duncan Phipps nearly on the hook, he had given it little thought.

“I wouldn't do that,” Nick finally said softly. “I can see how it would look that way, Pup, but I swear to you, I would never set you up.”

“I don't believe it, Nick. Even McKay was acting oddly the other night. How could you do this?”

“I didn't,” he spoke firmly now. “With Duncan Phipps so close, I hadn't given Jubal Hackett any thought.”

“You didn't know that Jubal would be at the bank today?” she questioned softly.

“No.”

Pup saw the truth in his eyes, and her own slid shut.

“I just gave him away,” she whispered. “I just gave my brother away to you.”

Pup's hands went to her mouth, and tears slipped out from between her lids. Harsh sobs broke from her throat, and she was barely aware of Nick's hands and the way they gently led her to a chair. The pain was more than she could take. First Govern and now Jubal. They were awful men, but they were her brothers.

She tried to calm down, but it took some time. Nick had not set her up, but the pain of believing that he had had been too much to bear. And then her own stupidity. How could she have barreled in here and given her brother away? She knew that Jubal would be caught someday and probably killed just like Govern, but she could not be the one to do it.

She opened her eyes now and found both Nick and Camille bending over her. She looked into their concerned faces and felt shame. How could she have thought they would ever do anything to hurt her?

“How are you, dear?” Camille whispered.

“I'm okay.”

“I want you to go home, Pup,” Nick said.

“Home?”

“Yes, to Boulder. This assignment is over for you.”

“But we're so close,” she began.

Nick was shaking his head. “It doesn't make any difference. I don't want you this upset, and I don't want to use you to get Jubal. You know I will nail him if ever I have the chance—I'll nail everyone involved in this. Go home, Pup.”

“You'd do that, Nick? You'd let me go in the middle of an assignment that means this much?”

Nick nodded without hesitation. “The work you've already done has been invaluable. No one else could have pulled it off. You've earned a rest. Go home.”

It took a little more talking, but Nick's mind was made up. Pup didn't know what she wanted right now, but she did as she was told. She pitied the people at the bank and at Mrs. Meyer's since they would all be told that Bryan Daniels had met with an unfortunate accident. His things were collected at Mrs. Meyer's that afternoon, but the man who took them could not tell a stunned Mrs. Meyer when the funeral service would be.

As for Pup, she put a hat on her head and lost the flashy vests and stutter. She stayed at the Wallaces' until it was time to leave for the station. Peter Crandall boarded a northbound train for Boulder that very afternoon, having not seen McKay Harrington or anyone else.

That night the men gathered around Mrs. Meyer's dining table were very subdued. Mrs. Meyer had tearfully filled in the other boarders concerning Mr. Daniels, and then tried to make the meal as normal as possible. The men were naturally quiet, but only one tenant was broiling inside. His appetite was affected just like everyone else's, but for an entirely different reason. He knew very well that no one had died, but that was not good enough. He wanted to know where Callie Jennings was, and he wanted to know now. It took great restraint on his part to finish the meal, but he didn't attempt to pretend over dessert. He excused himself as soon as it was possible and headed to Nick Wallace's home.

“Where is she?”

Nick and Camille had dined late that evening, so McKay caught them at the table.

“On her way home,” Nick answered, not worrying about Camille's presence in the room.

“Why?”

“She spotted Jubal at the bank today and thought I set her up. When she realized I hadn't, she fell apart, sure that she'd given him away. I sent her home.”

“All by herself?”

Nick sighed, but he answered patiently.

“Much as it's hard to believe, McKay, Pup is used to taking care of herself. I could have offered to go with her, but she would have refused.”

McKay was clearly not happy with this answer, but Nick felt no guilt. This was not the first time he'd put his love and concern for Pup ahead of a work issue. But holding her hand all the way home was simply not necessary. He would wire her in a few days, and if she didn't answer within several weeks, he'd go and check on her. They'd been doing business this way for over 13 years.

“Did she want to leave?”

“I didn't ask her, but I could tell it was time. It would have given me a stronger case to have more from her, but what she's already supplied will be sufficient. As upset as she was, I felt the only wise thing was to send her home.”

Not accustomed to explaining himself to underlings, Nick wondered at his own words, but something in McKay's face wrung his heart with pity. For the first time he thought about his wife's words.
Could McKay be falling for Pup?
He certainly hoped not. Romance did not mix well with business.

“I'm sorry to have disturbed you, sir,” McKay was now saying, effectively breaking back into Nick's thoughts, “and you, Mrs. Wallace. Goodnight.”

Both husband and wife bid the young treasury agent goodnight and even spent some time talking about Pup and the case. Nick didn't tell Camille everything that was on his mind, but he was not the least bit surprised to learn from Carlyle the next day that McKay had been to see him. Nick wondered if the recently wounded agent had come back on the job too soon; he had requested a few weeks off as soon as he finished his present assignment.

15

Boulder

Nothing ever felt so good to Pup as returning to her cabin. Compared to the elegance at Nick and Camille's, it was like a sod hut. But for Pup it was home. She loved the feel of her own bed and the smell of her own sheets. She arrived home from Denver too late to make the trek all the way up the mountain, and since she'd camped in the woods, she climbed into her bed as soon as she could change into her comfortable nightgown.

She woke sometime early Sunday morning, knowing she'd slept for over 18 hours. Even at that she was in no hurry to get out of bed. She lay there, her eyes on the trees out the window, and thought about Jubal and her own guilt of seeing only what she wanted to see. Her brother was six years younger than she was, which would make him 22 right now. From what she could see of him in the bank, he didn't look that young. It was probably the life he'd lived. They'd had very little contact for years, but word about his activities had come to her from time to time.