Hale is taking me out to the Harding ranch where they can't find me. Have you found the boys?"
"Ben's helping me look. Don't you worry. We'll take care of them. Is there anything we can do?"
"Just tell the boys something unexciting. Tell them I've gone to see an old friend or something. Mr. Harding can tell the school board that I've been called away. Tomorrow was the last day of the term anyway. The children were expecting a party. Maybe you could see that they got one."
"Miss Howell, we must hurry. The sheriff could be back any minute." Hale tugged on her arm.
Daniel stared at this use of Evie's real name, but before he could comment, Evie hurried off. Daniel turned back toward the livery at a whistle from inside. He'd thought he was supposed to be the one to whistle. What was he supposed to do now?
Chapter 37
With a gun at his back, Tyler could do little more than offer his enemy a sardonic grin. "Well, well, Dorset, did you miss me so much you had to come find me?"
Dorset's face was a little more lined than when he had seen him last, and the glitter in his eyes wasn't amusement. Tyler thought the other man looked like he'd been rode hard and put up wet. As a gambling man, he knew when his opponent had reached the point of desperation. He'd say Dorset had reached it and gone past.
"I don't know what you do with card cheats and thieves in this town, Sheriff, but I want the book thrown at him." Dorset signed the remaining paper on the desk with a flourish. "He's probably still carrying that watch he stole from me in his pocket. Pretty little thing, it is, with a picture of my mama in a fancy pink gown inside. I'd like it back, Sheriff."
Powell pulled the watch from Tyler's vest pocket and snapped it open. The picture was just as the man had said. He prodded Tyler with a gun. "And I bet you told your poor wife this was your mother, didn't you? Damn, but you almost had me believing you. Get in there." He shoved him toward the cell.
"It is my mother, Powell." Tyler didn't budge. His younger self would have been sweating with desperation about now, ready to unleash the beast that crawled in his guts, but he was cooler and calmer than he'd ever been in his life. He wouldn't let Evie be branded a thief or the wife of one. He wouldn't bring shame to the small family under his protection. He was damned well going to do something right for once in his life.
Without warning, he turned and snatched the gun from the sheriff's hand. Powell tended to be a little slow on the uptake.
Emptying the bullets from the gun, Tyler gave it back to the furious man behind the badge. "Telegraph the sheriff in Natchez. Make inquiries about both of us. See which one of us has the longer record. Dorset there is one of those Yankee carpetbaggers who came down to nab every ripe plum on the market. He swiped my family's plantation and everything in it, including that watch. There's plenty back in Natchez who will tell you the story."
Dorset stood up and rested his fists against the desk. "I bought that plantation fair and square. You're the cheat who stole the money I needed to run it." He turned to the sheriff. "You ever tried to plant cotton or run a plantation without cash, Sheriff? Those damned niggers don't work for nothin' no more. I want Monteigne and his shill locked up until they're old and gray. And I want my money back."
Powell gave both men a look of disgust, but he reserved his worst epithets for the stranger. "I'm from Texas, mister. If I'd known what you were when you walked in here, I would have bounced you out before I listened to your sorry tale. I've seen enough of your kind to last me a lifetime and then some. You come whining when you get treated the same way you treated us."
The sheriff gave Tyler a shrewd look as he reloaded his gun. "Tom over at the saloon's been complainin' about you, too. Maybe we ought to settle this the Texas way. I'll send those telegrams right enough, but I think we all ought to mosey over to the Red Eye. A good game of cards ought to answer the question without having