Silver Creek - G.L. Snodgrass Page 0,76

through her gag as she demanded to know more. Maybe if he told her enough she could use it against him.

He scoffed. “Surveyors had it all mapped out. I seen it. That’s when I found Travers. Gave him the money to buy the place from your uncle. It was all … honest. We just didn’t tell your uncle what was happening. Nothing wrong with that. A man has to use information if he has it.”

Rebecca nodded as if she agreed with him. Tuthill seemed to take her affirmation as justification for his rightness and therefore, as a reason to continue.

“But then,” Tuthill continued, “Reed was saying how your uncle could go back on the sale if he didn’t want it.” Here the man paused for a moment as he stared at the ground. “He … your uncle … I couldn’t have that. If he found out the truth, I’d never get the land.”

“You killed him,” Rebecca said through her gag.

Tuthill nodded slightly. “Then Travers. He goes and sells it to the Feltons. He was supposed to bring the bill of sale to me. I paid for it. He must have told them about the railroad. Joshua Felton isn’t a fool. But Travers got twice what we paid your uncle. He thought he’d get away with it.”

Here Tuthill laughed to himself with an evil chuckle. “The fool thought I wasn’t nothing but a banker. A civilized man.” Tuthill smiled as he lifted his gun. “He never saw it coming.”

“Killed Travers,” she mumbled.

Again, Tuthill grumbled under his breath. “I won’t be cheated.”

A long silence fell over the room. “I put in a claim on the other side of the creek. And I’ll get the land from the Feltons. Just you wait and see. Felton won’t want to run a town. Oh, it’ll cost me, but I’ll get it.”

Rebecca’s heart fell when she realized just how desperate the man was. If he didn’t kill Luke, he would be hung. But deep inside, she believed the man would be more upset at having failed in his grand scheme.

Her heart ached with the thought of Luke walking through the door. Of watching him die before her eyes. His life draining away.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. They were to live happily ever after. They were to raise children together. Build a life, a home, do something that gave life meaning. Not be killed before they could even start. It was so unfair, she thought with a deep bitterness. They had been through so much and to finally find each other again only to have it torn from them.

A sadness filled her as she realized just how hopeless it was. And as the day drug on the hopelessness only grew.

Rebecca felt her eyes droop as she fought to stay awake. Her body ached with tension and her parched throat drove her thirst.

“Please,” she begged through her gag.

Tuthill turned and looked at her then shook his head. Suddenly she realized why he didn’t care. He was going to kill her anyway. He didn’t fear being judged by her. He didn’t worry about what people would think. In his mind, no one would ever know, so there was no need to keep up appearances. No need to take any risk.

Sighing to herself, she let her shoulders slump as once more a wave of depression washed over her. The room grew silent. The only sound, the faint wind outside and the occasional call of a morning dove.

She smiled to herself sadly, as a memory flowed into her. The three of them, Luke, Jacob, and herself sitting around the fire in the early morning listening to the distant dove calls. They had each tried to mimic the call. Only Luke had been able to capture the unique tone.

He had always been so good at everything he tried, she thought. God, how she loved him. Her hero. Her friend. Her soul mate.

Sighing, she closed her eyes as she thought back to that day on the trail and so many others just as special.

Once again, the morning dove called. She sighed, wondering if it would be the last sound she ever heard.

Then, suddenly, she realized it was not morning. But well past noon. The birds should be hiding from the sun.

Her brow furrowed with confusion as she tried to understand. Then it hit her. Luke. He was here. She knew it with every fiber of her being.

Suddenly that constant fear jumped to fill her. Desperate, she pulled against her ropes. She