“I have no reason to fight over Mr. Tynan. He is dead to me. He’s yours.”
Chris ignored the way Pilar lifted one eyebrow and gazed at her archly. “I am a newspaper reporter and I write under the name of Nola Dallas. I went to—”
“The Nola Dallas? The one that gets herself in trouble just so she can write about it?”
“I’m afraid so,” Chris said.
Pilar put out her hand to shake. “I’m glad to meet you. Are we in one of your escapades and someone’s going to show up to rescue us at any minute?”
Chris gave her a weak smile. “I think I better tell you all of it.” She told Pilar everything, from finding Diana and Whitman Eskridge’s bodies to when Tynan said they were going to leave Hamilton’s house.
Pilar sat up, hugging her knees to her chest. “I think Ty found out something. He kept leaving the house in the middle of the night and one night he came back with a big book under his arm. He sat up all night reading it, but in the morning it was gone and I never saw it again.”
“What was it a book of?”
“Numbers. You know, like Red has.”
“Red?” Chris asked. “You mean the woman Tynan knows, in the…”
“Yeah, in the whore house.” She narrowed her eyes at Chris. “The place where I worked.”
“Oh,” was all Chris could say. Of course Tynan would want that kind of woman for his wife, or pretend wife, or whatever she was. She put her mind back on the current subject. “Maybe that’s why we were kidnapped, because Tynan stole a ledger from Hamilton or maybe…Have you ever heard of Del Mathison?”
Pilar gave a little smile. “He’s a little before my time but I’ve heard stories about him. One house threw a wake on the day of his wedding.”
Chris’s mouth became a narrow line. “He’s my father.”
“Sorry,” Pilar said, but she didn’t look sorry. Her head came up sharply. “If you’re Mathison’s daughter, then you must be rich. Maybe you’re being held for ransom.”
“That’s what I thought. My father always had a horror of my being kidnapped. One of the ranch hands said it was because he had so many enemies, but, whatever the reason, it’s something I’ve been prepared for.”
“So why am I here? You think he brought me along to serve as your handmaiden?” Pilar said archly.
“I don’t know, but I hope this kidnapper plans to feed us.”
“And give us some hot water. I have three inches of dirt on me now.”
As Pilar stopped talking, there was a sound at the door and the next moment, the heavy door was thrown open and the two men who’d taken the women were standing in the doorway. Behind them were two women, who looked to be scared to death, bearing trays of food. The men motioned for Chris and Pilar to stand back while the women set the trays on the floor. Next came big ewers of hot water and basins, then two dresses were tossed on the bed. A sewing box was placed by the bed.
One of the women backed against the doorjamb. “You’re to wear the dresses tonight. If they don’t fit, you can alter them.” With that, they were out the door, the men behind them, and Chris could hear the lock being turned.
“Food first or hot water?” Chris asked Pilar when they were alone.
“Both at the same time,” Pilar answered and the women did indeed dive into both at the same time, washing with one hand, eating with the other.
“It is possible that our captor has no idea who I am,” Chris said with her mouth full as she washed her left arm. “Maybe he thinks I’m Diana Eskridge and this all has something to do with Owen Hamilton trying to kill Lionel. Maybe Owen wants time alone to do his dirty work.”
“That still doesn’t explain why I’m here,” Pilar said. “I didn’t know any of what was going on.”
“But whoever took us doesn’t know that. If Tynan was stealing things from the house at night, it would look as if you knew everything since you two spent every night together.” Chris had a difficult time with the last part of that sentence. It wasn’t that she any longer had any feeling for Tynan, he’d killed that the night in the cabin, but she did hate losing.
“If that’s true,” Pilar said thoughtfully, “then he probably took Tynan too. Do you think he’s here with that young man of yours?”
“Asher? I can’t imagine what he’d want with Asher. He only came along because I needed a husband.”
“Whatever has happened, I don’t understand it. I rather think that you’ve been kidnapped for ransom and the men brought me along because…. Truthfully, I don’t know why I’m here. I have nothing anyone would want.”
Pilar was standing in the light, mostly unclothed, her long black hair down her back, her body firm and well rounded, and Chris thought that she had something that any man would want. “I’m here for money and you’re here because our captor probably fell in love with you,” Chris said under her breath, trying not to let her envy and hurt show.
Pilar said nothing but continued to wash.
When at last the women were clean and fed, they looked at the dresses on the bed.
“Not exactly my style,” Chris said, holding a dress up. There wasn’t a whole lot of fabric above the waist.
“Well, don’t look at me, I haven’t worn anything like this in years. Yours is too long and I think it might be too big in a few places.”
Chris sighed because Pilar was right. “Maybe you were brought along because you fit the dress.”
“Come on, let’s get started altering it.”
“The bust alone will take hours,” Chris muttered.
They sewed until the sun went down, then dressed in the moonlight coming in through the windows. They had no candle, no combs to free their hair of tangles, no jewelry, and no idea where they were being taken.
When the oak door was thrown open, they were ready as best they could prepare themselves. Chris wasn’t aware that she was shaking until Pilar slipped her hand in hers, giving her fingers a tight squeeze of confidence.
One of the men pushed Chris forward, Pilar after her, and the two women headed down the stairs.
• • •
“How do you even know which way to go?” Asher was shouting to Tynan as the men rode at full speed.
Tynan didn’t bother to answer as he led them southeast, not stopping until they came to a dirty little patch of ground covered with tents. The place didn’t deserve the name of “town.” The streets were deep in half a foot of mud from the recent rain and, as they rode past a tent with a big sign outside that read simply “women,” there were two men fighting, wrestling about in the mud. Asher’s horse jumped sideways as the fighting men, locked together, lurched toward him. He had to struggle a moment to control the animal and when he could get away, he saw Tynan disappearing into one of the larger tents. Asher dismounted into the mud and followed.
Tynan was at the bar, leaning against it as if he had all the time in the world. There were several tables set up with men gambling. Ty was watching a man who looked clean compared to the rest of the men in the tent, with his gold embroidered vest and two guns with pearl handles.
Asher ordered a beer and had just taken a long drink when the game broke up. Immediately, the gambling man looked up at Tynan.
“I thought you were in jail for some reason or other.”
“I got out for the same reason,” Ty said. “And now I’m coming to you to collect a debt.”
The man gave a curt nod, then walked to stand by Ty at the bar. “Two whiskeys,” he said, then lowered his voice. “What is it you want?”
“Information.”
“That comes high.”
“I’ve already paid,” Tynan said. “Have you ever heard of a man named Beynard Dysan?”
The gambling man choked on his whiskey. When he’d cleared his throat, he looked at Tynan. “Stay away from him. He’s bad, real bad.”
“He has something that belongs to me and I mean to have it back. Where can I find him?”
“Let him have it. Whatever it is, it isn’t
worth it. I all you had to lose to him was your life, you’d be all right, but that man can take more than your life. Stay away from him.”
Tynan didn’t say a word for a moment. “Are you going to answer me or pretend to be my mother?”
“It’s been real nice knowing you, Tynan. I’ll send flowers to your grave. I don’t know much about him at all except what I’ve heard in whispers. He has a place up north of here. There’s a town up there called Sequona, if anybody knows anything about him, someone there will. And you might ask a few questions about him on the way, but you risk a bullet in your head—probably in the back of your head. This man likes to stay private. He doesn’t like anybody looking into his business.”
The man finished his drink. “What’s he got of yours?”
“Del Mathison’s daughter.”
The man gave a low whistle. “Mathison’s power against Dysan’s. That may be a war to end all wars. Tynan, watch your back. Dysan has his hand in everything and he hires people to kill whoever interferes with what he wants. You ought to let Mathison get his own daughter back.”
“He’s hired me. Thanks a lot, Frank. Consider your debt to me cleared.” With that, Ty turned and left the tent, Asher taking a last swallow of his beer and following him.
Tynan paused a moment outside the tent, not looking at Asher. “You heard what Frank said and you can back out now. If you don’t lose your life in this you may not be the same afterward.”
“And lose out on Mathison’s daughter?” Asher said just before a bullet went whizzing past Tynan’s head. Ty fell to the mud, his arm coming out and pulling Asher down with him. Asher, not being prepared for the movement, hit the mud face down. He came up spitting. Another bullet came at them and his face went down again. Behind them was the sound of tables being overturned and men shouting as the two bullets had come into the tent.
Asher looked at Tynan, at the man’s clean face as he held it above the mud and at the pistol in his hand. Behind them came a voice.
“I’d be willing to bet it’s Dysan.”
Asher turned to see the gambler, Frank, crouched in the tent opening, a gun in his hand.
“Hang on and I’ll see if I can help.”
A minute later, Asher could hear the man shout, “They just brought in a load of whores across the street. All of them virgins.”
Tynan shouted at Asher to roll out of the way and Ash was glad he did because within seconds, a stampede of men came charging out of the tent. “Now!” Asher heard Tynan shout and Ash, fighting against the resistance of the mud, moved to the back of the tent. He was a little confused as to what he was to do next when Tynan appeared with the horses. “Let’s ride,” was all Ty said before mounting and leaving the muddy town and what sounded to be a riot behind them.
Tynan led them north, riding so hard that the drying mud began to flake off and fly about them. Toward afternoon, he pulled into the trees, onto a path that Asher didn’t see until they were on it, and led them up a hill. It began to rain and both men pulled their hats low over their faces.
It was almost dark when Tynan stopped and dismounted. “There’s a cave of sorts over there. We’ll spend the night in it,” he shouted over the rain.
A few minutes later, they had a tiny fire going, beans and coffee boiling and their clothes were almost dry on their bodies.
“You think we’ll be able to find her?” Ash asked, poking at the fire with a stick.
“I plan to,” Tynan said. He was leaning back against his saddle, his hat over his face.
“If Dysan just wants money then he surely won’t hurt Chris, will he?”
“Or Pilar.”
“Oh yes,” Ash said. “I remember seeing her in the kitchen. She cleans, doesn’t she?”
Tynan pushed his hat back and after one look at the back of Asher’s head, took the beans from the fire and began dividing them onto plates.
Ash took the plates and a cup of coffee from Ty. “I guess you have a plan in mind, don’t you? I mean, you do have a way to rescue Chris. Her father will be furious if you let anything happen to her.”
“And you’ll lose her money,” Tynan said.
“Chris is a very attractive young lady, perhaps a bit headstrong at times, but attractive nonetheless. And I really don’t see what’s wrong in my taking over the management of her father’s estates. He doesn’t have a son and Chris obviously isn’t interested in finding someone to take over.” He gave Tynan a sharp look. “You aren’t thinking of marrying her yourself, are you? Mathison’s money would be quite a—”
“We’ll get along a lot better if you keep your opinions to yourself. Now, put out that fire and get some sleep. We ride in the morning.”
It wasn’t morning—far from it—when Tynan woke Asher by putting his hand over his mouth. There was warning in Ty’s eyes as he motioned for Asher to follow him out of the shallow cave. They carried their saddles and packs and led the horses, as quietly as possible, down the hill. It was still drizzling rain.
“What time is it?” Asher asked, yawning.
“Our last day on earth if we don’t get out of here. There was someone outside the cave.”
“I didn’t hear anyone.”
“All right, then you stay but I’m leaving.”
Asher took one look about the dark forest, then mounted his horse and followed Tynan.
They rode all day and into the following night, with Asher half asleep in the saddle. When at last Tynan did stop, Asher didn’t even recognize the stable for what it was.
“Unsaddle your horse,” Ty ordered. “Or do you plan to stand there all night?”
Slowly, Asher obeyed him, shoveling hay and oats into the stall with the horse, then blindly following Ty out into the night and up the stairs at the back of a house. He didn’t even ask any questions when Ty levered himself onto the roof, then, crouching low, ran across the roof and jumped onto the next roof. Asher was glad it was dark so he couldn’t see how far it was to the ground. After they’d crossed three roofs, Tynan withdrew a key, opened a trapdoor and went down what was obviously an attic stairs. Once inside the building, he silently walked down a long corridor and opened the third door on the left.
A young woman turned over in the bed and looked up sleepily. “Alice, this is Asher and he needs a place to sleep.”
The woman pulled the covers back then turned over on her side and went back to sleep. Tynan pushed Asher into the room and shut the door behind him. Two doors down, Ty opened another door.
Red was just getting out of bed, pulling a robe around her. “I thought I heard someone.”
“Why is it so quiet?” Ty asked, pouring himself a whiskey.
“Four men rode in and shot the place up. I closed it down after that. Ty, they were lookin’ for you.”
He downed the whiskey in one gulp. “They’ve been on my trail for two days. You have anything to eat?”
Red opened a cabinet and withdrew bread and cheese. “I thought you’d come here, but you can’t stay.” She sat down on the sofa. “Oh, Ty, what have you done now? I thought you’d go straight for a while.”
“They’re not after me, except to keep me from finding Chris,” he said, mouth full.
“Chris!” Red’s head came up. “That two-timing little liar? I trusted her and she went off and left you to rot in jail when you were innocent.”
“Yeah, well, that’s true love for you. Whatever she’s done, it’s my responsibility to get her back to her father.”
“At the risk of your own life?”
Ty just kept eating and didn’t answer her. “You have an extra bed somewhere? I put Prescott in with Alice,” he said after a while.
“You can have my bed,” Red said heavily. “I’ve had all the sleep I’m gonna get tonight. Who do you want? Leora and you seemed to hit it off last time.”
“Just sleep,” Ty said, refilling his glass with whiskey. “No women.”
He wasn’t aware of the way Red just stood there opening and closing her mouth. “
All right,” she said after a moment. “Just give me your clothes and I’ll have ’em washed.”
She stood by silently while he undressed down to his underwear and watched as he slipped into bed. She sat by him, smoothing his hair back while he fell asleep, and when he was asleep, she kissed his forehead and tiptoed from the room.
• • •
“Tynan!” Red called urgently as she ran into the bedroom. “They’ve come for you.”
Ty threw back the covers and put his feet on the floor. “Where the hell are my pants?”
“Wet. You’ve only been asleep three hours, but you’ve got to get out of here. There’re half a dozen men downstairs askin’ about you.”
Tynan ran his hand through his hair. “Three whole hours, huh? Dysan doesn’t leave any stone unturned.”
“Dysan?” Red said. “You’re after Beynard Dysan?”
“I don’t need mothering now but I do need a pair of pants. Get me something to wear.”
“I ought to refuse. I ought to get the sheriff to lock you up and save you from yourself.”
Before Ty could speak, a woman barged into the room. “He’s dead,” she said with disgust in her voice. “I told you he couldn’t take all three of us at once.” She stopped talking, her eyes widening. “Why, Tynan, I didn’t know you were here.”
“And he isn’t gonna be for long,” Red said, pushing the woman out the door and closing it. “Now everyone’ll know you’re here and—” Her eyes brightened. “Sit there. Don’t move. I have an idea.” She left the room immediately while Ty began to search for something to wear.
Minutes later, Red returned with a pile of white leather and fringe over her arm. “That man that just died was from a wild west show and he won’t be needin’ this anymore.” She held up the gaudiest, flashiest garment anyone had ever seen: white leather with three foot beaded fringe hanging from shoulder to wrist. There were also matching pants with silver medallions down the legs and a hat with a band of fake diamonds as big as pennies.