Wildest Dreams - By Rosanne Bittner Page 0,164

Joe asked.

Luke handed the note to Joe. There was anger and murder in his eyes, but also a terrible fear. Lettie knew what that fear was—that he would lose another child, that maybe Lettie would blame him for this one, too. After all, he had been the one who first chased Zack Walker off his land.

"'Got your girl,'" Joe read aloud, "'the tall one that's nearly a woman now. If you want her back, bring ten thousand dollars to Pine Creek, where you hanged my sons. Come alone, day after tomorrow. If you ain't alone—'" Joe stopped to look at the others. "He puts 'ain't' right in the letter—spelled most of these words wrong, too, the ignorant bastard!" He sighed with concern for Luke, then finished the letter. "'If you ain't alone, we'll hang your girl. Makes no difference to us that she's female.'" He shook his head. "It's signed Zack W."

Lettie closed her eyes and breathed deeply for strength. She pressed a sobbing Robbie's shoulders tightly. "What happened out there, Robbie?"

The boy shuddered and wiped at his eyes and nose with his shirtsleeve. "Katie... came out to find me. I was looking at that... that horse we saw earlier outside... the one that looked like something was wrong with its leg. I was going to see if I could find out whose it was... tell them they shouldn't ride it home because it was hurt." He shivered before continuing. "I told Katie I'd be right in, and she left. I thought... I thought I heard some man say something like... like... 'Can you help me a minute, little girl?' When I turned to look, it was too dark to see anything. I heard... horses riding off... and some man came up and gave me the note... like he was in a big hurry. I didn't even see him good. He just said 'Give this to your pa, and tell him he better do what it says... or he won't see his girl again.' Then he rode off real fast. I... looked for Katie... called for her... but she didn't answer."

Luke's jaw flexed in rage. He looked down at Robbie. "If you had come right in with your sister instead of worrying about that lame horse—"

"Luke!" Lettie interrupted. "Don't you dare say it! This is not Robbie's fault. And if he had come back with her, Zack Walker might have taken Katie and Robbie!" Did he realize how much harder this was on her, thinking what such ignorant, evil men might do to her daughter? The emotional scars of her own rape had never quite left her. The thought of such a horror happening to Katie... and she was so young! For a moment she thought she might pass out, but she knew she had to be strong now, not just for Luke and the family, but so that she could be there for Katie when they got her back... and they would get her back! Luke Fontaine would make sure of it, maybe even die in the effort.

"What do you want us to do, Luke?" An aging Sheriff Tracy stepped closer. "I can get a posse together."

Luke took the note back from Joe, read it again, while the room hung silent. "No," he answered. "He said to come alone, and that's what I'll do."

"How are you going to get your hands on that much money that quick?" Henry Kline asked him.

"I know how," Lucy Kline answered, moving to put an arm around Lettie. "We can everybody in this town temporarily withdraw our savings from the bank. It won't create a run, because Bill Richards over at the bank knows Luke is good for it. Right, Bill?"

Richards stepped out of the crowd and nodded. "Luke and Lettie and my own family have become close. I've got no worries Luke would pay it back."

Alice Richards was glad her father could help. She felt like crying, imagining what it would be like to be stolen away by bad men. Poor Ty! Awful things could happen to his sister!

Luke crumpled the note in his hand. "You, uh, you all know I'm worth a hell of a lot more than ten thousand dollars, but what a man is worth and getting that much in cash within a few hours are two different things. I've got money in a bank in Denver, but it would take too long to get it, and withdrawing that much from the local bank without taking it from all of