chapter Nine
As Jinx raced down into the ranch yard, she saw Dawson flinch at the crack of the rifle. He reached for his own rifle but even as he did, she knew he was hit. A dark crimson splotch bloomed on his left shoulder.
“Get down!” he yelled as he dived from his horse.
Jinx felt as if everything was moving too fast. She bailed off her horse, diving behind the crumbling rock of the old well as another shot rang out. She couldn’t see Dawson, could hardly hear with her heart in her throat and her pulse a war drum.
Another shot, then another. She and Dawson should have expected an ambush, been ready for it. But the ranch yard had seemed so deserted with the cattle gone.
She blamed herself. She knew Rafe had been leery of letting her ride with them from the first. When he hadn’t been able to find her, he’d left someone to make sure she didn’t turn up—just as Dawson had said.
She thought of her father. She’d been so hell-bent on vengeance, but Dawson was right. Her father wouldn’t have wanted this.
“Let God settle the debt in his own time,” her father used to say. “Don’t think he isn’t keeping track.”
Tears welled in her eyes and her chest ached with regret and grief. If she’d gotten Dawson killed…
Suddenly she was aware of the eerie quiet again. Not a breath of air moved. She could see the calves down at the creek but they, too, had fallen silent. Somewhere in the distance she heard the song of a meadowlark, then everything fell silent again.
Jinx stayed down, afraid to move, afraid to breathe. If only Dawson had given her back her gun.
She heard the crunch of a boot sole on the dirt, then another. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. There was nothing.
A shadow fell over her. With dread, she looked up to see Rafe standing above her, his gun barrel pointed at her head.
OVER HOMEMADE TAMALES, beans and rice, Alonzo told Zane about Emma.
“I was the one who found her,” he said proudly.
“Found her?”
He nodded. “It was the middle of the night. I’d been down to the bar at the Salton Sea marina and was coming home. It is a miracle that I saw her.” He crossed himself. “La voluntad de Dios. It was truly God’s will,” he translated. “I was driving along and boom! I blew a tire.”
Zane was wondering when he was going to get to Emma. So far he couldn’t imagine what about a night of drinking, then a flat tire, could be a miracle or had to do with Emma.
“I get out of my truck and realize my spare tire is flat,” Alonzo said. “I was thinking what a terrible night it had been.” He leaned toward Zane confidentially. “You see, I knew that when I got home Maria was going to be very upset with me. Maria was my wife of fifty-five wonderful years.” He crossed himself again and said what Zane took to be a silent prayer.
“Emma,” Zane reminded the man.
Alonzo laughed and passed him more tamales. Clearly this was a story he had told many times and with obvious relish.
“So I leave the truck and start to walk and all of a sudden—” his dark eyes lit up and a huge smile formed in his wrinkled face “—I heard what sounded like a kitten. The closer I got, though, I realized it was a baby cooing softly.”
“Emma?” Zane said, with apparently enough surprise to please Alonzo.
The man clapped his hands. “Someone had left her beside the road wrapped in a dirty towel.” He shook his head in disbelief even after all these years.
Zane was still in shock. “What did you do with her?”
“I brought her home, what else? I am no fool.” He chuckled and gave his guest a wink. “I knew this little bundle of joy would keep Maria from being so upset with me.”
“You raised her as your own?”
“We had always wanted children,” he said with a shrug. “This one came from God. Try to explain that to Social Services. Much easier for us to let everyone think Maria had given birth at home. Maria named her Emma after a character in a book she liked. The moment I saw her red hair I told Maria we’d have to give her a name that goes with that hair.”
“So that’s where the McDougal came from,” Zane guessed.
“Emma McDougal Alvarez. Never was there a more cheerful child or a more mischievous one,” he said with obvious affection. “She grew up here, making our lives blessed. We wanted her to go to college, but then Maria died.” He shook his head. “Emma didn’t want to leave me here alone, so she stayed for a while until I made her leave.” A sadness came into his eyes.
“Something happened to her?” Zane asked, remembering what the people she’d worked with at the hotel in Denver had said. They had sensed some tragedy in her, perhaps the death of a husband or husband and child.
“She met a man. A bad man.”
RAFE GRABBED JINX and dragged her to her feet. She told herself not to fight him, but as he pulled her up, she saw his men dragging Dawson’s limp body behind the cabin.
“No,” she cried and fought to get away. “You killed him?”
“Who is he?” Rafe demanded, shaking her into submission. “Who is your accomplice?”
When she didn’t answer, he shook her harder.
“His name is Dawson Chisholm.”
Rafe swore. “This is why you wanted to hit this ranch? You’ve been working with him all along?”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said and realized at once that was the wrong thing to say to a man like Rafe.
He backhanded her across the mouth.
She wiped her bleeding lip and glared at him. “He came up here to check his cattle and caught me. I’ve been his prisoner ever since.”
Rafe gave her a scathing look. “You really do think I’m stupid, don’t you? I saw the two of you ride in here together. You thought you could double-cross me?”
Jinx felt too sick to answer. She wanted to curl up and die. They’d killed Dawson. She started to slump back to the ground, but Rafe slammed her against the stone well, holding her up by a fistful of her jacket in his beefy hand. “How many others are there?”
She shook her head. “There aren’t any others.” She could tell he didn’t believe her. “But when his five brothers find out what you’ve done…”
Rafe swore and shoved her toward her horse. “You try to make a run for it and I will personally shoot you,” he said as his men came around the side of the house.
What had they done with Dawson’s body? Her heart ached. She’d warned herself not to fall for him. But she had. And she’d gotten him killed. If the rustlers had hit any other ranch but Chisholm Cattle Company… Jinx knew that any rancher could have caught one of them and ended up like her father and Dawson, but still it wasn’t any rancher who’d gotten killed. It was Dawson.
“Let’s get these calves down to the rest of the herd,” Rafe ordered.
Jinx realized that the dust she’d seen on the horizon hadn’t been the rustlers at all. Dawson must have seen it and thought the same thing. No wonder they both hadn’t been suspicious of an ambush.
But Rafe hadn’t driven the cattle any farther than just over the hill into a lush meadow. She saw the dark Angus cattle, heard the mothers begin to respond to the sounds of their bawling calves and move toward them.
Past the cattle, she saw the second abandoned ranch house set back against a hill with some out-buildings around it.
“She’s going with us?” one of the rustlers demanded. They hadn’t moved toward their horses.
Rafe laid his hand over the six-gun on his hip. “She’s going with us as far as the trucks in case any more Chisholms show up. She is now our hostage.”
The men looked as if they would have preferred Rafe kill her and leave her here with Chisholm, but they didn’t put up an argument. Jinx knew that any one of them would gladly shoot her. They’d killed twice now. What was another body to get rid of out here in the middle of nowhere?
Jinx glanced toward the old cabin as Rafe led her horse and her toward the waiting cattle and the small ranch house. Now that he wasn’t looking, she let the tears come.
I’m so sorry, Dawson. So sorry. Forgive me.
But she knew she would never forgive herself.
AGGIE BROUGHT EMMA DINNER—another sandwich, an apple and more coffee.
Emma wasn’t one to complain. She poured herself a cup of coffee and took a drink, needing the warmth. She couldn’t help but think of Hoyt in jail, both of them prisoners.
“I’ll bring you an extra sandwich in the morning,” Aggie said.
“Why?” Emma asked, instantly suspicious.
“There is something I need to do, but don’t worry, I’ll be back later in the day.”
She put down the coffee, having suddenly lost her appetite. “Don’t hurt my family.”
Aggie cocked a brow at her. “Your family?”
“I mean it. Do whatever you want with me, but leave the boys alone.”
Aggie laughed. “The boys seem to be out of control over at the house. They got into a huge fight after the sheriff stopped by to talk to them this morning.”
Emma felt sick. Her stepsons needed her more than ever with their father in jail. “You have to let me go to them. What is the point of keeping me here anyway?”
“Do you have any idea what evidence the sheriff might have wanted to show them?”
She shook her head. “Don’t you? You hear everything that is going on at that house. Aggie, this is crazy, surely you realize that? What is it you hope to hear over there?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” Emma said, although she suspected Aggie was right.
“I told you. Your life is in danger and someone is trying to frame your husband for murder. I’m just trying to prove it.”
Emma shook her head and laughed. “You’re the one who is trying to frame Hoyt for even your murder. You’re the one who drugged me and now has me locked up here.”
Aggie shook her head. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me any more than the sheriff would if I took my story to her. There’s more going on here than you know,” she said mysteriously.
Emma groaned as Aggie moved to the door.
“You’re just going to have to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
Good luck with that, Emma thought but wisely didn’t say as the woman left, locking the door behind her.
THE THUNDERSTORM that had been brewing on the horizon moved in so quickly, it seemed to take them all by surprise. They moved the calves down to the meadow, turning them out to find their mothers. The noise from the cows and their bawling calves at first hid the sound of thunder on the horizon.
Jinx noticed the wind first. It picked up, bending the tall tops of the pines and sending dust devils whirling across the patch of dirt in front of the old ranch house.
She squinted as dust filled the air. The clouds snuffed out the last of the light as they moved in. It felt as if someone had dropped a dark blanket over them.
Jinx felt nothing. A numbness had settled into her bones. She sat on her horse knowing that the rustlers were watching her, almost daring her to take advantage of the storm to make a run for it.
She knew if she made an abrupt move, one of them would shoot her and take their chances with Rafe. She saw him ride away for a moment to talk to his men, but she knew he was watching her out of the corner of his eye.
Any other time she might have taken her chances, spurred her horse and tried to make the top of the hill behind the old ranch house. She could see the deep eroded gullies around it and a part of her knew if she could reach one of them, she would get away.
But all the fight had gone out of her. Dawson was dead. She’d gotten him killed.
Lightning splintered the dark sky, followed only moments later by a burst of thunder that boomed as if right over their heads. The first drops of rain were hard and cold and made her stir as if she’d been in a daze.
Rafe grabbed her reins again and rode her over to the house. “Take care of the horses,” he yelled to one of his men as he dragged her from her mount and shoved her toward the front door.
The huge drops of rain slanted down, stinging as they struck, the wall of rain obliterating everything around them. In a flash of lightning, Rafe threw open the front door and shoved her inside the dark cold house. Thunder rumbled around them.
She heard Rafe turn the skeleton key in the lock. Not that he probably needed to. She suspected he’d told his men not to come near the house no matter what they heard.
Jinx turned toward him, realizing what he had planned. She could barely see him in the darkness except when lightning flashed through the windows. She shivered, suddenly aware of the cold and her wet clothing that now stuck to her skin.
He let out a soft chuckle. “Now it’s just you and me, Miss Brittany Bo ‘Jinx’ Clarke.”
She felt the numbness leave her. He knew who she was. So he also knew why she was here. She thought she’d feel more fear knowing what this meant. Instead, her anger and need for justice rushed through her with a renewed fire.
“The boss really wants to see you.”
“Oh yeah? I really want to see him,” she said. She knew now why he hadn’t killed her. He was taking her to the boss. Isn’t that what she’d always wanted?
She tried not to let herself think about the cost.
“By the way, who is the boss?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Not so fast, sweetheart.”
Jinx stepped to Rafe, catching him off guard as she pressed her palms to his chest. “Why don’t we go meet him right now? Or did you have something else in mind?”
In a burst of lightning, she saw him grin as he pressed his body to hers. “And here I thought I was going to have to force you.”
She smiled up at him. “I’ve played enough poker to know when to throw in my hand.”
Rafe chuckled. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”
“Me, too.” Jinx pulled his gun quickly, but Rafe surprised her with the speed with which he reacted. He grabbed for the pistol as she stepped back, his hand clamping down on her wrist.
She struggled to free herself as his other hand shot out to grab a handful of her hair.
“I was hoping you’d put up a fight,” Rafe said, anger making his voice sound like sandpaper as he jerked her against him, both of them still struggling for the weapon. “You’re going to regret this.”
Jinx already regretted it. Her plan had been to walk him out of here at gunpoint. Force him to take her to his boss. End this once and for all.
Rafe was twisting her wrist and she could feel the weapon slipping from her fingers. Once he had the gun—
The gunshot boomed inside the empty old house like the blast of a cannon. It echoed around her, the surprise of the sound making her freeze.
Rafe released his grip on her as he grabbed his chest. In a flash of lightning, he dropped to his knees in front of her. Thunder rumbled, rattling the windows.
“He’ll kill you,” Rafe said through gritted teeth.
“Tell me who you’re working for,” she said, dropping beside him.
He looked at her dumbly. She could see pain and shock in his eyes.
“Tell me,” she pleaded.
He opened his mouth. A bubble of blood appeared at the corner of his lips. As another bolt of lightning splintered the sky outside, he fell face-first onto the dirty wooden floor.
Jinx stumbled back, her heart in her throat. “No!” For a moment she was too shocked and upset to think clearly.
At a sound beyond the broken window, she spun around, realizing the men might have heard the gun blast over the storm and would be busting down the door any moment. Thunder cracked overhead. Lightning illuminated the two of them in flickering flashes, followed by another crack of thunder that seemed to shake the floor under her as she stood, trembling, the gun dangling at her side.
What was she going to do now?