own.
“Oh, T-Bone, what am I going to do without him?”
Then she put her arms around the pup’s neck and started to cry.
T-Bone whined softly.
Letty patted him on the head and then pushed herself upright. She swayed shakily, then seemed to get her bearings and began digging through Mellin’s things. After nosing around, she picked up a large cloth sack and turned it upside down. The food and cookware that he’d stolen from the old man tumbled out into the dirt.
Robert Lee heard the commotion and turned around just in time to see Letty move toward the fire. He stood abruptly, and started toward her.
“Letty!”
She didn’t stop until she reached the ashes. To his horror, she began digging the bones out of the ashes and putting them in the sack. It was just as he feared—she’d finally lost her mind. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
“Letty! What the hell are you doing?”
She shrugged out of his grasp and picked up the skull.
“I’m taking Eulis’ killer to the sheriff.”
Surely she didn’t believe this man was still breathing. This was worse than he feared.
“Letty! He’s dead, I tell you. He’s dead.”
She looked at him as if he’d suddenly become simple.
“We’ve already been through this, Robert Lee. I know that. But, for God’s sake, it doesn’t change what he did to Eulis, or for that matter, to that old man he robbed. I intend for the people of Denver City to know that this killer paid for what he did.”
Robert Lee was so relieved to know her wits were still about her that he took the sack from her hands and then held it open.
Letty exhaled slowly. For the first time since his arrival last night, she became fully aware of what he’d done. Despite all the hours that passed and the miles she’d traveled, Robert Lee had found her.
She looked down at his hands—at the long, slender fingers holding the old flour sack—remembering how quick he was on the draw, and how steady they were now. His eyes were narrowed with determination, and there was a jut to his jaw that she’d seen only once before—the day he’d stepped between her and the sheriff after she’d taken a whip to Alice’s husband.
She took a slow, deep breath, and then met his steady gaze.
“I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m right glad you happened along.”
Robert Lee gritted his teeth to stop himself from saying what was on his heart, and just nodded.
T-Bone barked.
They turned to look at what had set him off, and were just in time to see a raccoon waddling from the water back toward the trees.
“Leave him be,” Letty said, and the dog sat back down at her feet.
Without another word between them, Letty piled what was left of George’s bones into the sack. Then together, they saddled up and began the long journey home.
It was just after daybreak of the next day when Letty Potter rode into Denver City. Several noticed her arrival, as well as the tall, dark-haired man riding behind her. Her dog was trotting beside her horse with his head up and his tongue dangling out the side of his mouth.
Her hair was pulled back from her face and fastened at the nape of her neck with a piece of rawhide. The long, dark strands were uneven where the lengths had burned. Her skin was scratched and raw, and the old bloodstains on her clothes added to the drama of her appearance. Everyone knew that her husband had been killed and she’d disappeared soon after. Some claimed she’d thrown herself off a cliff from the grief. Others swore she’d surely been done in by her husband’s killer.
Her re-appearance in town put rest to the gossip of her demise, but they could tell that something big was amiss. The lack of expression on her face sent tongues to wagging, and by the time she had ridden through town and dismounted in front of the sheriff’s office, a small crowd was gathering behind her.
Sheriff Hamm came out to see what was happening just as Letty was tying up her horse. Like those gathering in the street, he’d supposed they’d never see her again—certainly not alive—yet here she was.
He’d learned of Potter’s murder from Alice Mellin, and had followed a trail of tracks away from the murder sight all the way down the backside of the mountain to where they’d found the old man.
By the time they’d carried his body back to Denver City, it was