Nora Roberts: Lawless

“Try that again and I’ll leave what’s left of you here for the buzzards, gold or no gold. Your pa tried to get away, too.” The stunned look in her eyes pleased him, gave him the edge he wanted. “You think on what happened to him and take care.” He was breathing quickly, his finger trembling on the trigger. He’d lied when he’d said he wasn’t scared of his brother. If it hadn’t been for the rage Sam would heap on him, Jim would have sent a bullet into her. “Now you’re going to do just like I say, and you’ll stay alive a while longer.”

“Interesting reading.” Barker squinted down at Matt’s journal while he fanned the hot, still air around his face with his hat. “Matt had a fine way of putting words on paper.”

“Fine or not, it’s plain enough.” Jake fidgeted at the window, annoyed with himself for coming to the law with something he could, and should, have handled himself. Sarah’s doing, he thought. He hadn’t even felt the shove.

“It’s plain that Matt thought he’d found gold.”

“He’d found it. Lucius dug through to where Matt was working. It’s there, just the way Matt wrote.” Thoughtful, Barker closed the book and leaned back in his chair. “Poor old Matt. Finally makes the big strike, then gets caught in a cave-in.”

“He was. dead before those beams gave way.”

Taking his time, Barker pushed a cozy plug of tobacco in his cheek. “Well, now, maybe you think so, and maybe I’m doing some pondering on it, but this here journal isn’t proof. It’s not going to be easy to ride out to the Carlson ranch and talk to Sam about murder with no more than a book in my hand. Now hold on,” he added when Jake snatched the book from the desk. “I didn’t say I wasn’t going out, I just said it wasn’t going to be easy.” Still fanning himself with his hat, he sat back in his chair. He wanted to think it through, and think it through carefully. The Carlson family had a long reach. He was more concerned about that than about the quick temper and gun of young Jim.

“Got a question for you, Jake. Why’d you bring me that journal instead of riding on out and putting a hole in the Carlson brothers?”

Jake skimmed his eyes over Barker’s comfortable paunch. “My deep and abiding respect for the law.” After a bark of laughter, the sheriff spit a stream of tobacco juice into the spittoon. “I once knew a woman-before Mrs. Barker-who lied as smooth as that. Couldn’t help but admire her.” With a sigh, he perched his hat on his head. “Whatever your reason, you brought it, so I’m duty-bound to do something about it. Got to tell you, nothing’s more tiring than duty.” He reached unenthusiastically for his gunbelt as the door burst open.

“Sheriff.” Nancy stood, darting glances over her shoulder and tugging restlessly at the shoulder of her hastily donned dress. “I got to talk to you.”

“You’ll just have to hold on to it till I get back. One of them cowboys got a little too enthusiastic over at the Silver Star, I ain’t getting worked up about it.” “You’d better listen.” Nancy stood firm in front of the door. “I’m only doing this ‘cause of Alice.” She glanced at Jake then. “Carlotta’d strip my skin if she found out I come, but I figured Miss Conway done right by Alice, I ought to do right by her.”

“Quit babbling. If you’re hell-bent on talking, say it.”

“It’s Carlotta.” Nancy kept her voice low, as if it might carry back to the Silver Star. “She’s been feeling real mean since yesterday.”

“Carlotta was born feeling mean,” Barker muttered. Then he waved to Nancy to continue.’ ‘All right, finish it out.”

“Last night she took Jim Carlson up. She don’t usually let men stay overnight in her room, but he was still there this morning. My room’s next to hers, and I heard them talking.”

Jake took her arm to draw her farther into the room.

“Why don’t you tell me what you heard?”

“She was talking about how Jim and Donley killed Matt Conway, and how he was supposed to take care of Matt’s girl.” She yelped when Jake’s fingers bit into her arm. “I didn’t have no part in it. I’m telling you what I heard ‘cause she took Alice in after Carlotta near killed her.”

“Looks like I’d better have a talk with Carlotta,” Barker mused, straightening his hat.

“No, you can’t.” Fear for her own skin had her yanking free of Jake. “She’ll kill me. That’s the God’s truth. Anyways, it’s too late for that.”

“Why?” Jake caught her again before she could dash out the door.

She’d gone this far, Nancy thought, dragging the back of her hand over her mouth. She might as well finish. “Carlotta said Jim was to scare Miss Conway good, hurt her. Then, when he had the deed to the mine, he was to kill her. He rode out an hour ago, and I couldn’t get away till now.”

Jake was already through the door and halfway to his horse when Barker caught up with him. “Will and me’ll be right behind you.”

There had been times when killing had come easily to Jake, so easily that after it was done he’d felt nothing.

This time would be different. He knew it, felt it, as he sped down the road toward Sarah’s house. If Jim Carlson was ahead of him and he got within range, he would kill him without question. It would be easy.

And it would be a pleasure.

He heard the horses behind him, but he didn’t look back.

His own mount seemed to sense the urgency and lengthened his strides until his powerful legs were a blur and the dust was a yellow wall behind them. When Jake saw the wagon, the cold rage dropped into his gut and turned into a hot, bubbling fear. He vaulted from the saddle beside the two horses, which stood slack-hipped and drowsy.

Surprisingly agile, Barker slipped down beside him. “Take it easy.” He began to place a hand on Jake’s shoulder, but then he thought better of it. “If he took her off somewhere, we’ll track him.” He held up a hand before any of the men with him could speak. Along with Will were three men from town, including John Cody, who still wore his store apron. “We take care of our own here, Jake. We’ll get her back.” In silence, Jake bent down to pick up the cameo lying facedown in the road. Its slender pin was snapped. There were a few pale blue threads clinging to the broken point. The signs told him she’d struggled, and the picture of her frightened and fighting clawed at him. The signs also told him where she was being taken. With the broach in his pocket, he jumped into the saddle and rode hard for the Carlson ranch.

Her hands were bound together and tied to the saddle horn. If it had been possible, she would have jumped to the ground. Though there was nowhere to run, at least she would have had the satisfaction of making him sweat.

Everything Jake had said was true-about the gold, about her father’s death. Sarah had no doubt that the man responsible for it all was sitting behind her. At first she thought he was taking her into the hills, or to the desert, where he could kill her and leave her body hidden. But she saw, with some confusion, the graceful lines of the Carlson ranch house in the shallow valley below.

It was a peaceful scene, lovely despite the waves of radiant heat rising up from the ground. She heard a dog bark. As they approached, Samuel burst out of the house, hatless and pale, to stare at his brother. “What in God’s name have you done?”

Jim loosened the rope around the saddle horn, then lifted Sarah to the ground. “Brought you a present.” “Sarah, my dear.” His mouth grim, Carlson tugged at her bonds. “I’m speechless. There’s no way I could ever…” He let his words trail off and began to massage the raw skin of her wrists. “He must be drunk.