Wilderness Double Edition 22, page 8
“You must take us for fools,” said someone else.
The woman in the plain dress jabbed Lou in the shoulder. “I guess you never heard ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’.”
“What should we do?” a man asked. “Tar and feather him and run him out of Kansas on a rail?”
“I ain’t got any tar,” greasy shirt said, “and foldin’ a rail would take too long.” He smirked. “I’ve got a better idea. I say we beat him with switches until he’s so black and blue, he’ll think twice before he ever steals again.”
“I like that idea,” said the woman.
A man turned to climb up the gully. “I’ll go find the switches. There must be plenty of branches lying about.” He took a step, then stopped. “Say. Who’s that?”
All eyes rose to the top. Lou looked, too, and her plight went from bad to worse. The man in the brown hat had found her. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“This here boy is a thief,” greasy shirt said. “We’re about to make an example of him.”
“Let go of her,” the man in brown commanded.
“Her?” Greasy shirt and the others glanced at Lou. “Are you telling us this here is a girl?”
“Her name is Louisa King. Whatever you are accusing her of, you’re mistaken. Release her and go about your business.”
One of the other men was skeptical. “Wait a minute. How is it you know so much about her? How do we know the two of you aren’t in cahoots? Who the hell are you, anyhow?”
Lou was as surprised as her captors by the answer.
“I’m Major Dan Bannister from Fort Leavenworth.”
“So you claim,” greasy shirt said. “But where’s your uniform? What proof do you have that you are who you say?”
The man in brown opened his jacket and placed his hand on the pepperbox. “I’m not about to bandy words. You will release her, and you will release her this minute, or by the Eternal you will wish you had.”
Bannister’s tone, to say nothing of the threat, convinced the vigilantes to back off, but they weren’t happy about being deprived of their prey.
“I’m going to the fort tomorrow,” greasy shirt said. “I’ll talk to whoever is in charge and find out if you lied.”
“Go right ahead,” Bannister said, descending the slope with lithe ease, his back ramrod straight. “Ask for Colonel Templeton, my superior. He also happens to be the post commander.”
The woman was more observant than her companions. “Maybe this gentleman really is in the army. He sure carries himself like a soldier.”
“Be off with you,” Major Bannister ordered, and when they strayed toward town, he turned. “Are you all right, Mrs. King? Did they hurt you?”
“No,” Lou mumbled. She shook off her confusion and smoothed her buckskin shirt. “I don’t understand, Major. Why have you been following my husband and me? What’s this all about?”
Major Bannister studied the thick woods rimming the gully. “I suggest we talk somewhere else. We’re too vulnerable here.” He took her arm and ushered her up the slope and off through the trees, his other hand never straying from the pepperbox.
“You act as if someone is out to get us,” Lou commented.
“Not us, Mrs. King. You and your husband.” A sound caused Bannister to whirl but it was only a gray squirrel scampering among the branches. “I have reason to suspect the two of you are in grave danger.”
The officer did not say more until they had reached town. They were hurrying along a dusty street and came to a butcher shop. The shop was closed, but there was a bench in front where customers could wait while their orders were filled.
“This will do.”
“I’m listening,” Lou said as she sat. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”
The major was gazing up and down the street. “There’s no sign of him so I guess we’re safe enough for the moment.” He sank down, as tense and wary as a panther.
“No sign of whom?”
Bannister faced her. “I should start at the beginning, with Colonel Templeton.”
“A fine man,” Lou said. The colonel was the only person who treated Zach decently after his arrest. One of the few who hadn’t leaped to judgment, and didn’t have a bigoted bone in his body.
“None finer,” Major Bannister agreed. “He assigned me to keep an eye on the two of you, and to snoop around and find out what else I could.”
“You’ve just begun and already you make no sense.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. King,” Bannister apologized. “It’s been nerve-wracking, always having to watch over my shoulder. Never knowing when I might end up like the rest. I haven’t slept more than two hours a night. I’m tired and worn out and it’s made me careless.”
“I’m still at a loss.”
Bannister leaned on one hand. “What do you know about the Borke brothers?”
“The pair my husband killed? Artemis set up a trading post in the Green River country and tried to start a war between the Shoshones and the Crows so he could line his pockets selling rifles to both. He also sold whiskey, which added to the trouble.” Lou rubbed her arms where greasy shirt had squeezed her. “Phineas came west wanting revenge. He kidnapped me and tried to lure my husband into an ambush, but Zach turned the tables.”
“Did you know they had a sister?”
Lou nodded. “So someone mentioned. She never showed up at the trial, though.”
“Wrong. She was there the whole time. She always sat in the back of the courtroom and never told anyone who she was. Anyone, that is, except Colonel Templeton when she visited the fort.”
“When was this?”
“Right after your husband was brought in. She arrived in town about a week before Phineas left for the mountains, rented a house under an assumed name, and laid low until word came that Phineas had been killed and your husband was in custody. Then she came to see Colonel Templeton and demanded to know what the army was going to do. When the colonel told her it hadn’t been decided yet, she pressured him to have your husband turned over to the civilian authorities to stand trial. In the interests of fairness and justice, she said.”
“Strange. You would think she’d want my husband up before a firing squad. Nearly everyone else does.”
“Colonel Templeton thought it odd, as well. Even more so when he had me do some checking and I found out about her assumed name and where she was staying. Athena Borke is a wealthy woman but she and that servant of hers were staying in a dump.”
“Athena? That’s a pretty name.” Lou sobered. “She’s so rich she has servants?”
“Just one. From what I understand, he travels with her everywhere she goes. His name is Largo. Twice I’ve seen him watching your apartment.” Bannister scanned the street once more. “Colonel Templeton asked me to keep an eye on you and your husband so that you don’t come to harm.”
“And here we thought you were out to hurt us.” Lou laughed in relief.
“The colonel and I believe Athena Borke wants revenge for her brothers and will stop at nothing to get it.”
“Just because she had her servant spy on us?”
“Hardly. The day before last the house she was renting burned down. Five bodies were found in the rubble. So far two have been identified as the jury foreman and one of the jurors who set your husband free. It looks like the other bodies are more missing jurors.”
“Oh my,” Lou said.
“There’s more. A lawyer I saw her servant speaking to died under mysterious circumstances.”
“You’re saying she’s killed six people?”
“Or Largo has. Colonel Templeton thought it time to warn you, which is why I followed you when you left your apartment. Stay on your guard, Mrs. King. Be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Above all, be extremely suspicious of strangers.”
Lou suddenly straightened. “Wait a second. Did you say something about a lawyer?”
“Mortimer Wainwright. A rather shady fellow. He didn’t have the highest of reputations. He was eating at a restaurant when he keeled over. The cause of death has yet to be ascertained.”
“My God,” Lou breathed.
“What’s wrong? You look as if you’re ill.”
In a rush Lou told him about Wainwright’s visit, about the hundred dollars, about the suite at The Armistead reserved by a mysterious benefactor. She even told him about her argument with Zach.
Major Bannister listened with rising interest. “I warrant your husband is right. Whatever Athena Borke is up to, it doesn’t bode well. Stay away from The Armistead. You go there at your peril.”
“Surely she wouldn’t try anything in a hotel full of people?” Lou said, her dream of spending the night in luxury fading like a will-o’-the-wisp.
“I wouldn’t put anything past her,” the major said. “If she’s anything like her brothers, she has no scruples whatsoever.”
“Why hasn’t she been arrested?”
A noise from down the street brought Major Bannister to his feet, but it was only a couple of pigs rooting around. One had bumped over a small barrel. Bannister relaxed and said, “The marshal can’t arrest anyone without proof, and Athena Borke had been most meticulous about covering her tracks.”
“Doesn’t the marshal know about her connection to the jurors and Wainwright?”
“Possible connection,” the officer stressed. “And no. I haven’t told him.”
Lou was flabbergasted. “Why not? What are you waiting for? My husband to be measured for a pine box?”
“I can’t go to Marshal Owen with wild accusations against a woman as rich and powerful as this Borke woman. I don’t have enough to put her behind bars. All the marshal could do is question her.”
“At least she would know we were on to her.”
“Is that wise? Forewarning her would make her doubly careful.”
“Maybe she would give up and go home.”
“I very much doubt that anything will stop her from carrying out her vendetta,” Major Bannister said. “I’ve done some checking, and she isn’t the kind to quit once she sets her mind to something.”
“Where is this Borke woman now?” Lou was not about to twiddle her thumbs while the shrew played cat and mouse with her husband. If she had learned anything from her in-laws, it was that frontiersmen—and frontier women—dealt with trouble head-on.
Major Bannister looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry to say, I don’t know. I assume she rented another house, but I haven’t had time to locate where. Except when reporting to the colonel, I spend every waking minute keeping an eye on you and your husband.” He grew thoughtful. “You know, though—” he said, and stopped.
“What?”
“Nothing. I couldn’t possibly ask it.”
“Ask what?” Lou pressed him.
“This room at The Armistead,” Major Bannister said. “If we’re right, Athena must be behind it. Maybe she intends to have her servant slit your throats in the middle of the night.”
“I’d like to see him try. My husband is the lightest sleeper on the planet. He wakes up at the drop of a feather.”
“You’re missing my point,” Bannister said. “We can use this to our advantage and catch them in the act.”
“Set ourselves up as bait? That’s a great idea.”
“It’s a dangerous idea that could get you and your husband killed.”
“Not him. He refuses to go.” Lou stood up. She had made up her mind. She would save Zach herself. “I’ll be the bait.”
“No.”
“Why not? Borke is out to kill my husband, isn’t she? It’s fitting I handle this woman-to-woman.”
“You’re forgetting her servant, Largo.”
“That’s where you come in. You deal with him, I deal with her, and we end this.” Lou started briskly off toward the center of town, but Bannister caught up and caught hold of her arm.
“Please, Mrs. King. I beg you. Think this through.”
“I already have.”
“You’re being extremely rash and foolhardy.”
Lou faced him. “It would be more foolish to do nothing. The room at The Armistead is our best hope of stopping her. You can come along if you want, or you can go back to the fort and tell Colonel Templeton we thank him kindly, but we don’t need your help.” She marched on, resolved to see it through.
Muttering something about “women,” Major Bannister fell into step beside her.
Eleven
Evelyn King was in heaven. She loved The Armistead. Its luxury dazzled her: the plush carpet, the shimmering chandelier, the mahogany wood paneling, the way everyone waited on them. She would not mind living there the rest of her life.
Evelyn knew her parents weren’t happy about her decision to leave the Rockies one day. They didn’t understand why she was so fond of civilization. Or, as her father put it, why she wanted to give up the freedom of the frontier for prison.
She tried to explain. She tried to make them see that for all its flaws, civilization had a lot to offer. An easier life, for one thing. Instead of spending days curing a hide and cutting and sewing to make buckskins, she could buy clothes right off a store shelf. Instead of spending hours toiling over a hot stove or cook pot, she could buy her meals at any place that served hot food.
Then there was the fear factor. To Evelyn it made no sense to live where grizzlies and mountain lions and hostiles posed a constant threat when she could live where the worst thing that could happen would be stubbing her toe on a boardwalk.
Other points, too, Evelyn brought up with her parents, but they were still against the idea.
Her father was deeply hurt. Evelyn saw it in his eyes when the subject came up. He had been born and raised in New York City but loved the wilderness despite its many dangers. “Out here we can live as we please,”’ he once told her. “In New York I couldn’t.”
Evelyn had been to the States several times and had met scores who came from there. So she replied, “You make it sound like people have no say at all.”
“Many don’t. Slavery is a common practice. Blacks enslaved to whites. Whites lorded over by politicians. Politicians under the control of the rich and the powerful. No one east of the Mississippi River is truly free.”
“There’s nothing to stop me from being a teacher if I want and that’s freedom enough for me.”
Her father had put his hand on her shoulder and led her to a log and sat beside her. “There are other things to consider. Crime is everywhere. Footpads steal everyone blind. Murders are common. Most folks work long hours for little pay and never get ahead.”
“Here I can’t step out the cabin door without having to watch out for rattlers or bears or worse,” Evelyn had brought up. “I can’t go for rides without having to worry about the Bloods or the Piegans or the Sioux.”
“Nowhere in this world is perfectly safe.”
“But some places are more safe than others,” Evelyn ended the debate.
Now here she was, enjoying a taste of luxury, while her father lay back on the trail recuperating from severe wounds inflicted by a black bear. Extra proof, as if any were needed, that the wilderness was a far more perilous—and undesirable—place to live.
Evelyn grinned as she skipped down the stairs to the lobby. Shakespeare and Blue Water Woman were resting before venturing out to find a restaurant, and she had some time to herself. The desk clerk was sorting through letters. Skipping over, she stood with her hands clasped behind her back.
“Yes, young lady?”
“I’m just watching,” Evelyn said.
The clerk was a friendly sort. “I’ve noticed you seem to be enjoying yourself.”
“You have no idea. When I grow up I’m going to live in a town just like this one, or bigger.”
“By the time you grow up this one will be bigger,” the clerk said. “In the last month alone, according to the newspaper, eleven new businesses have opened, one of them a dress shop you might find worth a visit.”
Evelyn looked down at her plain homespun garment. Her mother always wore a buckskin dress and had hinted more than once how pleased she would be if Evelyn did the same. But Evelyn liked the softer feel of homespun. “My ma made this for me.”
“It’s quite fetching,” the clerk said, “but not nearly as fetching as hers.” He was staring toward the stairs.
Descending them was the lovely lady with lustrous black hair. Her black dress had more lace and frills than Evelyn ever saw. Like the clerk, she could not help admiring it.
The lady came over and asked in a low voice that made Evelyn think of the purr of a cat, “Has the bellboy returned yet, Mr. Timms?”
“Not yet, no,” the clerk said. “As soon as he does I’ll send him to your suite.”
“Thank you.” The woman glanced down, and smiled. “What have we here? You’re quite pretty, child.”
“My name is Evelyn.”
“I’m Athena. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“You’re pretty yourself,” Evelyn said by way of a compliment. She would never admit it, but the lady in black was even more gorgeous than her mother, which took some doing.
“Why, aren’t you precious?” Athena said, and squeezed Evelyn’s shoulder. “What would you say if I offered to treat you to ice cream in the hotel dining room?”
“What’s ice cream?” Evelyn asked.
Both the lady and the clerk laughed, and Athena said, “Where have you been keeping yourself all your life, my dear? On the moon? Ice cream is the food of the gods, a culinary ambrosia unlike any other.”
Evelyn loved how the lady talked. “Does it taste good?”
“You can decide for yourself.” Taking Evelyn by the hand, Athena crossed to an arched doorway.
The spacious room beyond was ablaze with color—flowers and paintings and brass fixtures.
A man in a white jacket came scurrying to meet them. “Your usual table, madam?”
“Certainly,” Athena said.
No sooner were they seated in chairs covered with satin than a younger man came running, a waiter who bowed and placed two menus before them. “Would madam care for her usual glass of wine before ordering?”
