Touching the Sky (25 page)

Malcolm took Carissa in hand and searched her for any sign of his papers. “Where are they, wife?”

“I don’t have them, Malcolm,” Carissa said, shaking her head. “And please don’t be so rough with me. Remember my condition.”

“I don’t care about your condition,” he said, shoving her aside. He looked at Laura. “Maybe you’re hiding them. Do I need to tear every stitch off you in order to search them out?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Laura countered.

“Wouldn’t I?” He reached out and yanked her jacket open. The buttons tore from their place and fell to the wood floor.

“Malcolm, stop!” Carissa cried out. “We don’t have them. We sent them away.”

Laura swallowed hard as Malcolm’s expression turned to granite. He turned very slowly, and then delivered a slap across Carissa’s face that sent her backward into the arms of one of the men.

“Where?”

“They’re gone and have been for some time,” Laura said, trying to pull his attention back to her. He would no doubt kill Carissa if given the chance, and she couldn’t allow that to happen. “If you want them, you’ll have to let us go. The papers are safe—for now. But if we don’t return immediately to the house, our father will send soldiers for us.”

Malcolm raised his hand to strike her, but Laura merely stared him down. He held off and drew a deep breath. “It would appear we have a little problem.” He walked back to his desk and sat down. For several very long minutes, he said nothing.

Laura’s heart pounded so hard she felt certain everyone in the room could hear it. She longed to run, but knew the impossibility of it. She prayed that Esther had gotten safely away and that the papers would soon be in Brandon’s hands. She prayed that he would come to their rescue . . . but worried that it wouldn’t be in time.

B
randon arrived at the Marquardt house shortly after noon. Laura had encouraged him to come back for dinner that day, and he was glad to oblige her. But he was greeted with the worst possible news.

“The girls went off this morning to collect Carissa’s things. Esther went with them, and I expect them back most anytime,” Mrs. Marquardt told him.

Brandon was unable to hide his displeasure. “Why would you allow them to do such a thing?” He hadn’t meant to chide her in such a manner. He realized from what Laura had said previously that her parents didn’t know of Malcolm’s violence. “I mean, the luggage would probably be far too heavy for them.”

“Esther has a strong back, and Laura insisted they would be fine. Now, would you like to join me? I was just about to partake of some dinner. Cook has made a wonderful shrimp gumbo. She procured the recipe from her sister in New Orleans, and I must say we all delight in it.”

Brandon didn’t want to upset the woman, but he felt strongly that he should go in search of Laura and her sister. “As delectable as that sounds, I must decline. I only stopped by for a few minutes. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave. Please let Laura know, however, that I will return this evening.”

“Oh, I surely will,” Mrs. Marquardt said. “Do come for supper, Mr. Reid. We will be most happy to have your company.”

He nodded and turned for the door. “I thank you, Mrs. Marquardt.”

Gaston had no sooner closed the door behind him when Brandon spied Tyler Atherton riding toward the house. He wondered if he might convince the man to aid him in searching for the women.

“Atherton, I thought you were to be on a ship bound for Galveston this morning,” Brandon said. He quickly untied his horse and mounted.

Tyler nodded and Brandon rode up to face him. “There were some problems with delivery. The bulls should be here tonight, and I’ll leave in the mornin’.”

“Well, I wonder if you might ride with me just now. I have a problem, and I would like to solicit your help.”

Tyler looked at the house. “I came to see how Mrs. Lowe was feeling, and Laura invited me for the noon meal.”

Brandon tried not to show his irritation. “Look, neither woman is currently here. In fact, they may be in some danger, and I’m wondering if you would assist me in finding them.”

“Danger? From what?”

Considering the situation for a moment, Brandon motioned to the street. “Ride with me and I’ll explain.”

Atherton glanced once more at the house, then nodded. He moved his bay to follow after Brandon’s mount. “What’s this about, Reid?”

“I know you fought for the South, Atherton, but there are problems afoot by some of your former Confederates, and it stands to claim a great many lives. The lives of Laura and Carissa may well be in that count. What I want to know from you is whether you can take a stand against the men you once fought alongside.”

Tyler didn’t hesitate. “If the women are in danger, I’ll fight General Lee himself. Now, what’s this all about?”

Brandon urged his horse to a quick lope and Tyler did likewise. “Carissa’s husband is suspected of having killed Union soldiers.”

“I did that myself,” Tyler admitted. “Don’t like to dwell on it, but it hardly makes me a criminal.”

“You didn’t kill them after the war was over and while they were asleep on their cots—did you?”

“Lowe did that?”

Brandon motioned that they were going to take the road to the right to avoid going directly through town. “He did. We were going to nab him on those counts when we uncovered additional plots that he was involved with. In fact, he’s most likely leading the entire business. Laura overheard something about a plot to blow up Union soldiers. It seemed Lowe had plans to kill as many of the colored troops as possible. We got this information to our superiors and they in turn mustered the troops out of the city. We’d hoped it would put an end to Malcolm’s plans. We thought perhaps he would hesitate to kill white troops, but it didn’t seem to matter. We suspect he’s now planning to kill hundreds—we just can’t be sure of where or when.”

“And you think the girls are somehow involved—in danger?”

“I’m hoping they aren’t, but they went this morning to retrieve Carissa’s clothing and other articles and bring them back to the house. See, Carissa’s husband has a heavy hand, and Laura said her sister has grown quite afraid of him. Apparently Laura convinced Carissa to stay with them at the Marquardt house. They left this morning and still haven’t returned. Mrs. Marquardt felt certain they would have been home in time for dinner.”

“But you think Malcolm has them?” Tyler asked.

“If he came home while they were there, he might well have lost his temper. Malcolm may have returned at any time. Carissa said that much last night when we were riding to the party. You might remember she said that Lowe had been gone for some time, and she thought he would surely be back that evening or the next. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem, but since the girls haven’t made it back, it does bear checking into.”

“I agree,” Tyler said, nodding. “Glad I can help.”

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the Lowes’ house. There wasn’t a sign of anyone. The girls and the Marquardt carriage were nowhere to be found. Tyler knelt on the sandy soil and looked at the tracks while Brandon rushed to the house. He pounded on the front door for some time, then took himself to the back and knocked on it, as well.

When no one answered, Brandon tried the handle and found the door opened easily. He stepped inside. “Laura?”

There was no sound at all. His voice filled the sparsely furnished space of the kitchen. “Laura! Mrs. Lowe! It’s Brandon Reid.”

Still nothing. He decided to go through the house, but upon investigation found that no one was there. He felt his brows furrow. The only road out here was the one they’d come in on. If the girls had returned to town, he and Tyler would have seen them.

He made his way back outside and found Tyler squatting in the middle of the road, thirty yards away. Brandon waved and called to him. “What did you find?”

Tyler straightened and motioned. “What’s down that direction?”

Brandon walked toward Tyler shaking his head. “I don’t know. I would imagine the beach. We aren’t that far from the water.”

“They drove the carriage that way and about five or six horses followed. The tracks are deep enough I’m guessin’ the mounts had riders. At least most of them.”

“There’s no reason for Laura and her sister to do that,” Brandon said, going for his horse. “My guess is that they were forced to go that way. Come on.”

He swung up into the saddle, not even bothering to use the stirrup. “Can you keep tracking them?”

Tyler nodded. “So long as there’s light and a good wind doesn’t blow the sand around too much.” He pulled his horse along. “I’ll stay on foot for now and we’ll see what we can find.” Handing his horse’s reins to Brandon, Tyler smiled. “It’ll be a sight easier for me if you take my mount.”

“Certainly.” Brandon wrapped the reins around his saddle horn and followed slowly behind Tyler as he gave special attention to the ground.

But they’d gone only about half a mile when the road split into not two but three different narrow trails. Worse yet, the carriage was sitting at the side of the main road, and there was no sign of the women.

“Riders went down all three paths,” Tyler declared. “Apparently they were afraid of being followed.”

Brandon urged his horse down one of the paths for a few minutes, but saw nothing. Returning to Atherton he shook his head. “Where could they have gone?”

“I couldn’t say. You probably know this land better than I do.”

Brandon nodded. He’d had some time on Mustang Island, which was just a short distance from this place. Could they be headed there? He didn’t think that was likely, but then again he didn’t know Lowe or his companions. The island might well be the place they were storing their gunpowder and other supplies.

“I think we’re going to need some help. Let’s get back to town so that I can speak with General Russell. If we’re going to capture these men and see the women to safety, we’re going to need the army’s help.”

Laura and Carissa found themselves tied to chairs inside a ramshackle building not far from the water’s edge. It was nearly nightfall, and Laura was starting to worry that Esther had been unable to find Brandon and deliver the papers. Surely if the woman had found him and told him what had happened, Brandon would have come in search of her and Carissa.

Across the room at a small table, Malcolm sat while his men stood gathered round. Laura could hear most of what was being said, but from time to time her brother-in-law would lower his voice enough that she couldn’t make out all the details.

“Laura, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered.

They’d been there now for some time and Laura’s arms hurt from where the ropes bit into them and bound her to the chair. Her hands were tied at the wrist, as were Carissa’s. The place smelled of black powder and other things that Laura couldn’t identify. She wasn’t even sure she would have realized that the kegs they sat amongst were black powder had they not been stamped as such.

“We’ll have to do it tonight,” Malcolm declared. “Since those two decided to stick their pretty little noses into my business, we can’t afford to wait any longer.”

“What’ll we do with them, boss?” one of the men asked.

“I’ve given that some thought,” Malcolm replied and got to his feet. He looked at Laura and then Carissa. “I’ve a feeling that no matter what I do, you two are gonna be bad luck for me.” He looked back at his men. “We’ll have to kill ’em.”

Laura gasped. “You would kill the mother of your unborn child? You’d kill your baby?”

Malcolm rolled his eyes. “Merciful days, woman. You are as daft as you are nosy. I only married your sister in order to get at your father’s money and friends. I don’t care a thing about her or that brat she’s carryin’.”

Laura looked to Carissa just in time to see her sister’s expression change from fear to anger. “I should have known you were incapable of love,” she accused Malcolm. “I should have figured that out a long time ago.”

He laughed. “Yeah, you probably should have, but you were too busy being the little belle of the ball. I’ve never known a woman as stupid as you.”

Carissa winced as if struck, but Laura turned on Malcolm in hatred. “My sister isn’t stupid; she merely has a big heart. It can hardly be her fault that you deceived her and she believed. When a person loves another, they want to believe the very best of them.” She thought of Brandon and his confession to having been involved in Malcolm’s investigation long before she’d mentioned his plans. She wanted to believe only the very best about him.

“It’s easy to fool a fool,” Malcolm countered. He turned back to the men. “We’ll move out tonight and set the explosion to go off around two in the morning. That way the soldiers will be asleep, and they won’t be changin’ the guards for a while.”

“And them?” one of the men asked.

“We’ll take ’em along and put them square in the middle of things. They wanted so much to be a part of it all, so we’ll accommodate them,” Malcolm replied.

Carissa began to cry softly. Laura longed to go to her and hold her close. She gave a desperate search around the room, hoping that she’d overlooked something that might aid them. The men’s attention was on whatever drawing Malcolm had on the table. Laura tried once again to pull her wrist through the tight bindings. It seemed as though she could feel a little give, but not enough.

“Now, get those wagons loaded,” Malcolm instructed, stepping away from the table. “Pack them just like we planned. If you don’t distribute the weight evenly, we’re likely to get stuck in the sand. Get everything set and don’t leave anything to chance. We’ll only have one opportunity to make this work.”

The men grunted their approval and walked from the shack. Malcolm turned to the women once more and dragged his chair over to where they were sitting. Turning the chair, he sat on it backward and leaned against the frame.

For a moment all he did was stare at Laura and Carissa. His penetrating gaze was unnerving, and Laura finally had all she could take. “What are you going to do now?”

He shrugged. “We’re loading the powder,” he said, giving a sweeping motion with first his left and then his right arm. “If I thought I could trust you two, you’d be out there helping.”

“Malcolm, this is a horrible thing you are doing,” Carissa said, looking at her husband. “Please, if I’ve meant anything good to you . . . please let my sister go.”

Giving a brief laugh, Malcolm slapped his thigh. “You do say the most ignorant things. I ain’t gonna take my orders from no woman.”

“I’m your wife, Malcolm. I have your child growing inside me.” She sounded stronger and more self-assured than Laura had thought possible. “I’m begging you to reconsider.”

He cocked his head to one side for a moment. “I did as you asked, and I’m still convinced my way is best.” He laughed again. “Now I’m goin’ to go help my men. The sooner we’re loaded, the sooner we can get out of here.”