The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,277

his face as the shock of it finally sunk in. She rocked back on her heels, threw back her head, and screamed.

The back door flew open. Alice emerged on the run, took one look at the scene before her and gasped. There was a huge hole in Eulis’ chest. She didn’t have to feel for his pulse to know he was dead. And she knew that, as good a man as Eulis Potter had been, there was nothing more to be done for him. It was Letty who was still in danger.

Alice dashed off the porch, grabbing Letty by the arm.

“Get up, Letty, get up! We’ve got to get inside!”

Letty wouldn’t stop screaming, and she wouldn’t let go.

Alice glanced nervously toward the trees and tightened her grip on Letty’s arm.

“They’ll kill you, too! Let go, let go!”

Unprepared for Alice’s strength, Letty felt herself being pulled backward. Before she knew it, she was on her knees and being dragged toward the porch.

“Stop, oh God… please stop! I can’t leave him there!”

Alice turned, her face twisted into a fierce grimace as she screamed back at the woman who’d saved her life.

“He’s dead! He’s dead just like my baby, and there’s nothing that can be done. Get up, damn it! Don’t make me have to bury the both of you!”

Alice pulled again, and this time Letty went, stumbling and crying as they ran. Once they were inside, Alice slammed the door shut behind them and dragged her into a corner.

“Katie! Come away from the windows,” Alice cried.

The little girl ran to Alice and hid her face against Alice’s breasts.

“Lord, oh Lord,” Alice muttered, as she stood between Letty and the door.

An hour passed while Eulis’ blood ran out of his body, soaking into the dirt beside the back steps.

Letty cried until her throat was so raw she couldn’t swallow. It wasn’t until Alice knelt beside her and put a wet rag on her face that she began to regain a sense of herself. The pain in her chest was so great that it hurt to breathe, but breathe she still did.

“There now, there now,” Alice murmured as she wiped the hot tears from Letty’s face.

Letty shuddered. She couldn’t think, but she could feel. She looked down at her hands, and the front of her clothes. They were stained with Eulis’ blood. A hot, sweeping flush swept through her, from her gut to her head, but it wasn’t pain she was feeling, it was rage. Someone had taken away what had been good and gentle in her life. She shoved Alice’s hands away from her face.

“Help me up.”

Alice did so, but was far more nervous around this Letty than the one who’d been grieving. When Letty strode out of the room and headed upstairs, Alice quickly followed, with Katie at her heels.

“What are you doing?” Alice asked.

“I’m getting the rifle.”

Alice wrung her hands. “You’d better tell the sheriff to—”

Letty’s gaze was cold as she looked at Alice.

“You tell the sheriff whatever you want. I’m going after the man who killed my husband.”

Alice clasped a hand to her heart.

“Letty… dear… you can’t! That’s too dangerous for a woman!”

Letty turned on her then. Her eyes were swimming in tears, but her gaze never wavered.

“He would do it for me. Pack me some food. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Alice’s face crumpled as she began to wail.

“You’ll die! You’ll die, too, and then what will become of Katie and me?”

“I’m not the one who’s going to die next,” she said.

The cold, still tone of Letty’s voice made Alice shudder. She was beginning to understand the true depth of this woman’s strength. She ran downstairs to pack up the uneaten food, and when Letty came down, she handed it to her without a word. Letty carried it outside and packed it into the saddlebags that were on Eulis’ horse.

T-Bone came slinking around the corner of the house, whining his own brand of sorrow.

Letty glanced down.

“You comin’ with me?” she asked.

T-Bone whined, but stood at her side as she checked the rifle. It was loaded. Even though she still wasn’t sure how to load it, she added her extra ammunition to the other saddlebag, and mounted up. Alice was standing on the porch.

“There’s money under my bed to buy food. I’ll be back before you get it eaten up,” Letty said.

“You’d better be,” Alice muttered, then pointed to Eulis.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Bury him,” Letty said, and turned the horse’s head, then rode toward the trees.

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