Whispers on the Wind (21 page)

When they arrived at the
sheriff’s office, they dismounted and Carter pushed her in front of
him as he escorted her into the jailhouse.

As she preceded him, Mary
wondered if he thought she’d really make a run for it with him
wearing a gun. What he didn’t know was that if
she
had a gun she probably would
have made a run for it, because she was pretty damn good with a
gun.

Inside the office it took a
few minutes for Mary’s eyes to adjust from the sunlight to the
darker interior, then she looked around. Sheriff O’Tool was sitting
behind his desk talking to a man who had his back to them. Rick
stood with his arm propped on the window ledge, watching the two
men at the desk.

It was the perfect
humiliation, Mary thought. Not only were the two people she knew
going to see her locked up, but now a perfect stranger, who was
slowly turning her direction, would witness the whole
thing.

Chapter Thirteen

“Thunder!” Mary cried
out.

She ran to him, throwing
her arms around his neck. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“It’s all right, kid, I’m
here now,” Thunder said.

Carter watched as Mary
draped herself all over the stranger who had his damned arms
wrapped around her in a very familiar way. Hank was still seated at
the desk, and Rick was still propped in his favorite spot by the
window. The stranger didn’t seem to be bothering either of them.
Carter’s jaw tightened. “Who the hell are you?”

The man stepped away from
Mary. “You must be Monroe. I heard you were ornery.”

Carter hadn’t moved. “Among
other things,” he said, his tone as cold as ice. “You still haven’t
answered the question.”

“That’s right, I didn’t
introduce myself. I’m Thomas Bradley, but I’m called Thunder.”
Thunder didn’t extend his hand. He could see that Carter definitely
had a burr under his saddle, and somehow he figured Mary was that
burr.

“Strange name,” Carter
said.

“I was raised by the
Cheyenne.”

“Hmmph,” Carter grunted
then asked, “What can I do for you?”

“Mary is Thunder’s
sister,” Rick said.

Carter glanced at Rick,
then back to Mary. “Is that true?”

She nodded.

Carter started toward Mary
but his eyes were on Thunder. “I hate to tell you this, but your
sister is under arrest for murder,” Carter informed her brother. “I
never did hear anything about her family since she pretended to
have amnesia while she was with me.”

Thunder glanced back to
Mary, his brow arched. “Did you do that?”

“Afraid so,” she admitted
with a sheepish smile. Carter unlocked the cell and held the door
open. “It’s time to lock you up.”

Thunder stepped in front of
her. “Before you lock her up, I should advise you that I’m also
Mary’s attorney. As such, I need to talk to her.”

“You’re a lawyer?” Carter
asked in a disbelieving tone.

Thunder did his best to
hold his temper. However, the marshal seemed to be shoving mighty
hard toward a fat lip. “You doubt what I just told you?”

Hank jumped into the
conversation. “I received a telegram from Marshal Forester about an
hour ago saying Mister—I mean, Thunder—might be stopping by. Said
they have been working together to help find the
killer.”

Carter grimaced. “Sounds
like our Mary has an interesting family,” he said, but he
thought,
One that I know nothing
about.
What was she doing working in such
a rough conditions when her brother was a lawyer? Carter motioned
for Mary to enter. “You can talk in here since this is where Mary
will be held until I can take her back to Gregory
Gulch.”

“I don’t suppose you’d
release her into my custody?” Thunder asked.

“You supposed right.”
Carter gave him a smirk. “I don’t know you, mister, so I’m afraid
the trust isn’t there. You’ll have to talk in there,” Carter said
with a nod to his left.

Thunder gave Mary a small
shove forward. She walked right past Carter into the cell and never
once glanced Carter’s way. Thunder followed.

“I’ll need a chair,”
Thunder informed Carter as he passed.

After the chair had been
placed in the cell, Thunder sat down across from Mary, who was
sitting on the bunk.

Hank shoved away from his
desk and looked at Rick. “Let’s go get some grub. I’m
hungry.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rick
said, grabbing his hat off a peg. “How about you,
Carter?”

“I’ll stay here with the
prisoner,” Carter said, then slumped down. “Bring me back a plate
of stew. Better make that two plates. We’ll have to feed the
prisoner.”

Mary cut her eyes
sarcastically toward him.
Now, isn’t that
nice of him
?

She wanted to throw
something at Carter, but then she wondered, what was the use? He
wasn’t going to change, no matter what she did. Or didn’t
do.

Mary watched Carter just as
he watched her.

Trying to look casual,
Carter leaned his chair back against the wall, propped his feet on
the desk, then pushed his Stetson down over his eyes. He didn’t
seem worried about anything, especially her, but then why should,
he? Carter was on the right side of the bars. She
wasn’t.

And Mary knew he would be
listening to everything she and Thunder talked about.

“Well, young lady,”
Thunder said. He sat down in the straight-back chair and folded his
arms across his chest. “This is some mess you’ve gotten yourself
into.”

“It seems that way,” Mary
agreed.

“Can you tell me what
happened?”

Mary shook her head. “I
wish I could. But the truth is ... I really don’t know what
happened.”

“Jesus Christ, Mary,”
Thunder yelled. “There was blood everywhere—how could you not know
what happened?”

“You don’t have to shout,”
Mary informed. “It doesn’t make sense to me, either. Why do you
think I ran?” She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Because I knew no
one would believe I didn’t do it.” She frowned, then added, “I
don’t believe it, and I was there!”

“All right, all right,”
Thunder said, holding his hands up. “Calm down. Let’s start from
the beginning and tell me everything.” He leaned forward and
propped his elbows on his knees. “I heard you and McCoy struck a
rich vein of gold.”

“I’d almost forgotten that
It seems so long ago. I went from being very happy to scared to
death in a matter of a few hours.” She smiled ruefully. “Jim and I
were heading home from the mine when he told me he’d invited his
half brother over to eat with us. He said his brother had just
arrived at camp.”

“What did he look
like?”

“I don’t know,” Mary
admitted with a disgusted shake of her head. “I remember going into
the cabin and poking up the fire so I could start dinner, but I
don’t remember anything else after that until I woke up the next
morning.”

Mary went on to explain how
she’d awakened that morning covered in blood and gripping the
knife. She told Thunder what she’d done that morning before she
left and about her rush to leave town, only to be thrown from her
horse. “And that is how I met Carter and his family.”

“That’s some story,”
Thunder said. “Somehow we’re going to have to get you to remember
what you can’t. There is probably a good reason why you can’t
recall certain facts. We’ll just have to find the answer.” Thunder
grew serious. “I do have one question for you.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you come
home?” Thunder asked. He’d said it in such a quiet way that Mary
felt guilty.

“Because I didn’t want
trouble for our family. I thought I could remember on my own.
However, it hasn’t happened so far.”

“I have a hunch that Jim’s
brother had something to do with this, but why you can’t remember
him is still a puzzle to me,” Thunder said, rubbing his jaw. I’ll
figure it out though.”

Mary relaxed. She could
always count on Thunder. “Well, now that you’re here you can tell
me what’s going on at home. How is everybody doing?” she
asked.

Thunder smiled. “It was a
real battle leaving them behind,” he told her. They all wanted to
come help.”

Feeling better already,
Mary smiled. “Have you heard from Billy?”

“Claire is doing fine and
expecting the baby anytime. Billy did have three more colts born in
the last few weeks. One he declares is going to be a great
racehorse.”

Thunder rose. His powerful,
well-muscled body moved with easy grace. “Guess I’ll go to the
hotel and think about what you’ve told me. I’ll be back in the
morning. Is there anything you need, kid?”

“Yes, another dress to
change into would be nice.”

“I’ll do what I can. See
you tomorrow,” Thunder said. He turned toward where Carter was
still lounging at the desk. “You can let me out now,” Thunder
called.

As he waited for Carter to
unlock the door, Thunder glanced at the marshal as he strode past
him. “I assume my sister will be well protected
tonight.”

“I’ll
stay right here,” Carter assured Thunder. “I assume
you
will be back
tomorrow.”

For some reason, Thunder
found the marshal’s displeasure amazing. “You can bet your life on
it.” He stepped out and closed the door firmly behind
him.

Carter frowned at the door,
then dropped back down into the chair behind the desk. He propped
his chin on his hand and thought He wasn’t sure how he felt about
the story Mary had told her brother. Even though it sounded
far-fetched, it really seemed like the Mary he’d come to know.
Maybe she was telling the truth.

He’d heard the desperation
in her voice, and that made him wonder. But Mary not being able to
remember puzzled
him
. Could someone have drugged her? It was definitely a
possibility, but surely she would have remembered seeing the man
beforehand.

Damn, his head
hurt.

He shoved himself to his
feet and grabbed the coffeepot Coffee. That’s what he needed. He
ducked into the back where the sink was located and pumped some
fresh water for a pot of coffee.

Mary might be charged with
murder, but Carter had a hard time believing she could do anything
to harm anyone. It was just a gut feeling, but he’d need proof,
because he’d learned in the past that looks could be
deceiving.

When Carter returned with
the old tin coffeepot, he placed it on the potbellied stove, then
stoked the fire. The nights still got cool after the sun went down,
and since they would be spending the night here, they might as well
be comfortable.

Carter glanced over at
Mary. She looked much like a child sitting on the crude jail bunk
with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them, watching
him. “Is there anything you need?”

Her eyebrows arched
mischievously as she looked up at him. Her dark blue eyes glistened
like rare jewels. Then she answered him, “A key.”

Carter chuckled. “Nice
try.” No matter how angry he was with her, there was something
about Mary that made him smile. Perhaps it was the defiant little
spark that lay just beneath her alabaster skin or that volatile
nature that dared him to provoke her.

Rick shoved the door open
and marched in, two plates of stew in hand. He slammed the door
shut with his foot “Hank has gone to get the horses, but we didn’t
forget your supper.” Rick placed the tray on the desk and removed
the dishtowels that had been covering the plates. Fragrant steam
wafted up into the air and Carter’s stomach growled.

“It was mighty good
tonight” Rick commented as Carter took a plate of stew. Rick went
over to Mary’s cell and unlocked the door. “You’d better eat while
it’s hot”

“What the hell are you
doing?” Carter snapped. Rick looked at Carter as if he’d lost his
mind. “You didn’t expect her to eat in there.” Rick jerked his head
toward the cell. “Did you?”

“She’s a
prisoner.”

“But she’s a special
prisoner,” Rick said with a smile. He hung the keys on the peg
before addressing Carter. “Now, if you don’t think that you can
handle her, I’ll be glad to stand guard for you. Otherwise, I’m
headed back to the ranch.”

“Get out of here,” Carter
muttered. He rubbed the muscles in the back of his neck.

Mary realized then that
Carter was very tense. And she was sure she was the cause. The
silence lengthened between then, making her uncomfortable. “Look,
if you don’t want to eat with me, I’ll go back into my
cage.”

Carter pointed to the chair
across from him. “Sit down, Mary,” he ground out

He didn’t even wait for her
to do so before he grabbed up his fork and started eating. Then
Mary remembered she wasn’t a guest, but a prisoner. What did she
expect, a tablecloth and candles?