men who took Duncan.
“When you left, all hell broke loose. Toledo sent everyone but us out to track you down. Then she went into a rage like I never seen in my life. She kept yelling, ‘I got to get her back. I got to get her back.’ It took me and Sarah J a while to figure out that she didn’t care nothing about the ranger, it was the girl she thought she had to have back.”
Em moved up, and to Lewt’s surprise the woman lowered her gun, as if seeing a woman by his side somehow made Lewt not so frightening.
“We have coffee,” Em said, as if she hadn’t noticed the rifle. “You’re welcome to some and the fire.”
It crossed Lewt’s mind that since Em hated him, she might not think it all that unusual for these women to threaten to kill him. With his luck, over coffee they’d form a lynch mob.
When the ladies sat down as if they were at a tea party, Em began, “Duncan told Lewt the girl, Anna, was mistreated by your boss. It’s my understanding that he didn’t take her against her will.”
“That’s no lie,” Rachel whispered. “I’ve seen dogs treated better than that child. We even asked him, if he lived long enough and tried to escape, to take her with him.”
Em continued, “Why would this old woman want her if she only beats her and locks her away?”
Both women shook their heads, but Rachel spoke for them both. “We don’t know, miss. We decided to take our chances and leave when all the trouble started. We hitched our two mules to our wagon, stole all the food and money we could find lying around, and headed here. A few hours ago we got to the river and found Toledo’s guards camped about three miles downriver.”
Sarah J smiled and interrupted. “Rachel offered them some of the fresh bread we brought and told them Toledo, in her rage, had fired us. For a few coins they helped us cross the river. Then we followed the water’s edge, hoping to find a road or a camp that would let us travel with them or at least point us in the right direction.”
“Are Toledo’s men coming after us?” Lewt asked from where he stood in the shadows.
All three women looked up at him as if he were bothering them.
“Not tonight,” Rachel predicted. “They sent a rider back to Three Forks to ask Toledo what they should do. She’s got them all afraid to think for themselves. From what I gathered, they don’t think you’ve crossed yet, but they don’t have enough men to patrol the river. The old witch’s orders were for them to catch you before you crossed. They’ll have to get new orders before they come this way, and that will take another day.”
Sarah J giggled, interrupting again. “After learning we were fired, I think they’re worried about their jobs. We didn’t tell them, but from what we heard the old woman screaming, she plans to go to hell and back to get that girl. The guards are all hired hands with no love or loyalty to Toledo. They may not see a profit in that.”
“And,” Rachel said, with a nod toward her sister, “that Ramon is right behind her. He wants what he considers soon to be his.” She shook her head at Lewt, looking very much like a schoolteacher talking to a wayward student. “Why did you leave that man alive? If I’d just had a few more minutes before they found him, he would have been leaking blood.”
Lewt was starting to believe the story about the cooks being murderers.
Duncan, Sumner, and Wyatt returned. After the surprise of guests at their campfire, they asked a dozen questions. The two little ladies seemed pleased to be the center of attention.
As the fire aged, Anna woke and stepped into the light. She looked very much the frightened child, but Duncan and the ladies had talked of her being older than she appeared. The cooks seemed to think that maybe she’d been beaten so many times she was simple in the mind.
She let the two cooks hug her and make a fuss over her being free, but when she settled down to eat more stew, she sat next to Duncan.
Lewt studied them. Duncan was protective of her and kind, but not like a lover or even a friend. More like a father, even though they were not that many years different in age.