Train From Marietta (6 page)

“Kate has been kidnapped. I got a ransom note today.”

“What?” Lila gasped, setting her glass down on the table. “Oh my God! This is terrible! What did the note say?”

“It said that I was to give them money or they’d kill her.”

“How much do they want?”

“One hundred thousand dollars,” John said, taking a stiff belt of his drink.

“Are you going to pay it?”

“Of course, I’m going to pay it. I don’t have any choice.”

“I knew it. I knew that something like this could happen,” Lila said, pacing across the library floor. “When she told me she was going to California, I knew it was a bad idea. No respectable young woman would make such a wild trip across the country alone.”

John looked at her with eyes as cold as a frosty morning. “You mean my daughter isn’t respectable?”

“Oh John. No. No, I didn’t mean that, and you know it,” Lila said, rushing over to her husband’s side and placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “What are you going to do? Did you contact the authorities?”

For the briefest of moments, John thought about telling his wife of his conversation with Lyle, but in the end thought better of it. There was no point in dragging her more deeply into the whole mess. No, he would carry that burden alone.

“I don’t think that we should,” he answered. “And I don’t want you to say a word about this to anyone. I mean it, Lila, no one. Not even Susie.”

“But Kate’s her sister,” Lila protested.

“I don’t want her to know.”

“I won’t say anything to her if you don’t want me to, but she loves Kate. We both do.” She went to the bureau, inserted a cigarette into a long holder, and lit it with a silver lighter.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” John said.

“I’m sorry, dear. I need something to steady my nerves. This has been quite a shock.”

“I just can’t get used to seeing women puffing on cigarettes.”

“This is 1933, John. Half of the women in this city smoke cigarettes.”

“I don’t give a damn what half the women in the city do. I don’t want my wife smoking.”

“I’m sorry.” Lila pulled the cigarette from the holder and snuffed it out in the ashtray. “I know that this is tearing you apart, but you’ve done all you can do. If you go to the authorities, the kidnappers will hurt poor Kate. We’ll just give them the money and get our daughter back.”

John stared blankly ahead. Lila was right; they’d just have to pay and get Kate home.

“About this party?” he mumbled.

“Don’t you give it a moment’s thought. You stay home, and Susie and I will go. We have to put up a brave front.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

Lila gave her husband a light kiss on the cheek. “Get some rest.”

John was relieved to be alone. He sank wearily down into a reading chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. Before sleep began, he wondered what Kate was doing.

He hoped and prayed that the time would go fast and his little girl would be home soon.

Chapter 5

K
ATE STOOD IN FRONT OF THE DIRTY WINDOW
. Outside, the midday sun beat down on the empty landscape. The only thing she could see was a scattering of scrubby trees and bushes that dotted the rocky hillside.

“Stay away from the window.”

Kate looked over her shoulder to see Squirrelly leaning against the door frame with a mischievous smile plastered across his face. “Why?” she asked. “There’s nothing out there.”

“Because I said so, little Miss High-and-Mighty, and I don’t want to hear no sass.”

“Get out of here,” Kate said, turning to face the man. “Eddy said this was my room and for you to stay out.”

“Well, la-di-da. There’s only two rooms in this cabin, and there’s four of us. I figure that I’ll be stayin’ in here with you before too long.”

“Shut up and get out.”
Oh, how I hate this man!

“Sister, you better wise up to the fact that you can’t depend on sissy little Eddy. I’m the only thing standing between you and ole Scarface out there. He’s one mean son of a bitch. If he decides he wants you, he ain’t gonna let Eddy stand in his way.”

“So who’s going to protect me from you?”

Squirrelly leered as he took a step away from the door and into the room. “I thought maybe you and I could make it out of here together. That is, if you’re nice to me.”

“You can forget that,” Kate said sharply. She pressed her arms across her chest and planted her feet squarely on the floor.
Where is Eddy?!
“I’m not going anywhere with a skunk like you.”

“We’ll see. Either that scar-faced wild man or me is gonna be sharin’ your bed tonight. If I was you, I’d be hopin’ ’twas me.”

The mere thought of touching such a disgusting man turned her stomach. “You make me want to throw up.”

“Oh, you talk big. You keep that up, an’ I’ll be all excited!”

She was bitterly disappointed in Eddy. She hadn’t yet discovered how he happened to be associated with these men. Eddy had to be in on her kidnapping. He had to know that her father would pay any amount to get her back.

“Come on, rich girl,” Squirrelly said, a mad gleam in his eye. “Say somethin’ tough.”

“I’m a lot tougher than you think. I was a nurse in a clinic in the roughest section of New York City. You’re nothing compared to some of the guys I’ve worked on. I’ve sewn up knife wounds, dug out bullets, and stuffed guts back into a man’s belly. I think I can handle a little weasel like you.” Before Squirrelly could utter another insult, the door to the front of the cabin shot open.

“Squirrelly!” Eddy shouted. “I told you to stay away from her.”

Squirrelly shrugged his shoulders, stuck his hands into the pockets of his pants, and backed out of the room. “We was just talkin’. She’s got some pretty tall tales to tell.” He threw a smile over his shoulder and sauntered out of the doorway and into the other room.

“Eddy,” Kate called. “Will you come in here for a minute?”

Eddy came as far as the doorway. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, I’m all right,” she said. “I need to know why you brought me here and how long I have to stay. I want to know what’s going on.”

“Why don’t you tell her?” Squirrelly hollered. “Tell her how we’re waitin’ for old John Tyler to cough up a chunk of money.”

“Is he telling the truth, Eddy?” Kate asked.

Eddy was silent, his gaze leaving her to drift along the floor.

“Are you in on this?”

“I’ll explain it all later, Kate.”

Awkward silence filled the room. Kate knew that it was useless to keep asking Eddy the same questions, so she instead said, “Squirrelly said that either he or that other man would share my bed tonight. I’d kill myself first, and then how would you collect the money?”

“Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s just trying to upset you. You don’t need to worry about Hayden either. He’s had his orders. I gave you my word that you wouldn’t be hurt, and I meant it.”

“Just the same, I want a bar on this door.”

“That’s impossible, Kate, but a promise is a promise. They won’t bother you. I’ll sleep here in front of your door tonight.”

“Hey, little Miss High-and-Mighty” Squirrelly yelled. “Can you cook?”

“I don’t cook for hogs!”

Squirrelly laughed loud and long. “She’s got a mouth on her, ain’t she?”

“Ignore him, Kate,” Eddy said, backing out of the door. “I’ll bring your supper.” He pulled the door shut, and she was alone.

Kate sat down on the side of a bunk that had been built into the wall; her meager surroundings were of little comfort. She looked with disgust at the dirty straw-stuffed pad. The floors in the cabin were made of wide plank. The walls were of the same. She wished that she had something that she could put against the door, but the only items in the room were the bunk and an old cast-iron stove that had been used for heating. There wasn’t even a chair to sit on.

She stood up and made her way back to the window. She’d already tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge; they’d probably nailed it down from the outside. If she tried to break the glass, they’d certainly hear her. She only had one choice.

Wait.

Hayden entered the cabin carrying a bucket of twigs and a few small pieces of wood. He opened the door of the firebox in the cookstove and shoved some of the dry sticks inside. He grabbed an old newspaper from the table, wadded it up, and shoved it into the box, then struck a stick match and lit it. After adjusting the damper, he kicked shut the firebox door.

“I ain’t never seen no fire done like that,” Squirrelly said. “That thing gonna get hot enough to melt butter?”

Hayden shot him a look of disgust and went back outside. He returned with an armload of cut wood, opened the firebox, and shoved it onto the burning sticks.

“Say, that there’s pretty slick. You act like you know what you’re doing.”

Hayden grunted and turned away. He pulled a can of beans off the shelf above the stove.

“How ya gonna open that?”

“Shut up,” Hayden snarled. “I’m about sick a your mouth.”

“I want to see it if you open it with your teeth.” Squirrelly almost choked on his laughter. It was fun to irritate the ugly bastard.

Hayden turned his back on him.

A rap on the window glass caught Squirrelly’s attention. Eddy stood in front of the cabin, an unhappy look on his face. He jerked his head, signaling the other man to join him.

“What’s got you in such a snit?” Squirrelly asked after he’d stepped out of the cabin.

“Don’t rile him,” Eddy said. “You might find yourself on the business end of that knife of his.”

“Well, who told him to come along anyway?” Squirrelly spat, kicked a loose rock and sent a cloud of dust into the warm evening air.

“That’s none of your business.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Eddy old boy. Mr. Jacobs said I was a partner in this deal. I think I got the right to know why it ain’t just the two of us.”

“Hayden knows the territory out here, and we don’t. In case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t New York City. Things work a little differently out here. We might be glad we have him later on.”

“I’d love to have seen old man Tyler’s face when he got that ransom note. Wooey, I bet that was somethin’! How are we gonna know when he’s forked over the money?”

“We’ll know.” The plan was simple. Edwin was to wire his uncle after Kate had been kidnapped; then he’d check for an answering wire, in code, every three days. The station that the message would be wired to was Muddy Creek.

“So what are we gonna do with her after we get the money?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean? She knows who you are. She ain’t gonna go waltzin’ back to Daddy with her trap shut. We’re gonna have to kill her.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Eddy said, turning a vicious look toward the thug. “How we handle that isn’t your affair.”

“She can identify me. That makes it my affair.”

“When she’s safe at home and we have our money, she’ll keep quiet. She isn’t going to want anything to happen to her daddy.”

“What’s to keep him from goin’ to the law?”

“He won’t. Uncle will see to it.”

“Damn, I hope so.” Squirrelly pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “They can give you the chair for kidnappin’. Look what they did to that dumb bastard that took Lindbergh’s kid.”

Eddy looked back toward the cabin. How he hated dealing with Squirrelly! From the very beginning, he’d had to remind himself why he needed to go along with this whole mess. This was his big chance at freedom from his uncle. Eddy knew that the mighty William Jacobs would have no qualms about letting his nephew take all the blame for the embezzlement, but maybe this time he’d outsmarted the old fox. Let the smug bastard get hung with that indictment!

I’m going to make sure that no harm comes to Kate.

Suddenly he remembered that she was in the cabin alone with Hayden, and started back. When he reached the door, he was relieved to see Hayden still at the cookstove. The door to Kate’s room was closed.

“Who’s going to take her to the woods when she’s got to pee?” Squirrelly called after him.

“It won’t be you.” Eddy went inside the cabin. “Hayden, is there anything around here that would serve as a chamber pot for the lady?”

Hayden laughed for the first time. It was more of a dry cackle than a laugh. “There’s a bucket in the shed.” He turned back to the stove and stirred the beans. Eddy went back out the door, and Squirrelly fell in step with him.

“So Miss High-and-Mighty is gonna do her business in a bucket?” There was a pleased grin on Squirrelly’s face.

“You’re the most repulsive man I’ve ever met.”

“That’s what my mama done told me … but I have a hell of a lot of fun!”

Eddy rummaged around in the shed until he found a gray granite bucket. It was dirty, and the inside looked as if a pack rat had made a nest there. He dumped the contents on the ground and headed for the nearby stream. Hurrying because he didn’t want to leave Kate in the house with Hay-den, he washed out the bucket and headed back to the cabin.

Night fell fast in the hills. By the time Hayden slammed three granite plates on the table, it was nearly dark. Eddy dished a couple of spoonfuls of beans onto another plate, carried the food to Kate’s door, and knocked.

“Kate. It’s Eddy. I have something here for you to eat.”

Cautiously Kate opened the door and looked for any sign of Squirrelly. Eddy held out the plate of beans and said, “I’m sorry this is all we have. Hayden says he’ll hunt tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said, snatching the plate from his hands and shutting the door in his face. The sounds of Squirrelly’s cackle of laughter carried from the other side of the cabin.

Kate awoke with a start as the door to her room suddenly opened.

“It’s me, Kate,” Eddy said. “Don’t be afraid.”

“Where are the other varmints?”

“I’ve no idea where Hayden is, but Squirrelly went out into the woods. I tried to find you a chamber pot, but all I could find is this bucket.” He set it inside the door.

“I need a light.”

“I’ll give you a candle and some matches. Use it only when you need to and make sure to keep the light away from the window; otherwise Hayden will come in and take it.”