Head nods and murmurs of assent filled the room.
“Good,” Mal said. “Because I need your help. There’s only one way to ensure Emma’s safety, and that’s to shift the bargaining power in our favor. I don’t trust this outlaw to keep his word. Emma can identify him, which means as soon as she outlives her usefulness, he has no reason to keep her alive. Our best chance is to find what he wants before morning and force him to negotiate a trade.”
“But we don’t know what he wants,” Henry cried.
“Yes, we do,” a timid voice said from the rear of the church.
Everyone twisted around in their pews to see Maybelle propping up a battered Flora. The woman’s right eye was swollen shut, her face covered with bruises, her arm still wrapped protectively around her side, but she held herself with dignity, purpose, and determination.
Gripping the doorpost, Flora braced her feet and stood a little straighter. “He wants his gold.”
34
Mal hurried down the aisle and swept Flora into his arms.
“Careful,” Maybelle cautioned. “I think her ribs are broken. Fool woman should be curled up on a cot in the clinic, but she insisted on coming. Said she had to do all she could to help Emma.”
Mal cradled the brave woman gently, giving her a nod of approval. “You’re a strong lady, Flora,” he said, meeting her gaze squarely as he recalled her earlier words about being weak when it came to standing up to her husband. “Don’t let anyone ever tell you different. I’m glad to have your help.”
Henry and Bertie, seated on the front pew, immediately scooted down to make room. “Set her here, Malachi,” Bertie instructed. “Maybelle and I will see to her comfort as you continue.”
Mal complied and lowered Flora softly to the pew. Maybelle slid onto the bench beside her.
Retaking his place at the podium, Mal faced the group. “Word has probably spread by now, but I think everyone needs to know the facts. Flora’s husband, Angus, is the outlaw who’s been harassing Harper’s Station. He’s been in prison the last five years for robbing an army payroll convoy. Apparently, he stashed the gold somewhere here in Harper’s Station before Emma purchased the property. Now that he’s been released, he’s set on retrieving the stolen gold. He’s forced his young son, Ned—a lad of only fifteen—to work alongside him. He is the second outlaw. Fearing for Ned’s safety, Flora has gone along with Angus’s plan, trying to convince all of us to leave, in order to prevent her boy from being caught in any crossfire that might occur. Unfortunately, Angus has run out of patience. Which leaves the boy vulnerable, and Emma directly in harm’s way.”
Mal’s fingers closed around the edge of the podium. The wooden corners dug painfully into his hands, and he struggled to tame the urge to run out of the church, jump on Ulysses, and race into the woods. To take down Angus and rescue the woman he loved. But this was no dime novel. He had no guarantee of a happy ending. Not in this world. He’d seen too many evil men in power and too many broken lives left in their wake to believe that good always won out over evil.
So he had to use every weapon at his disposal. And right now, the best weapons available were not the rifles and revolvers in this room but the knowledge and intelligence of the women who carried them.
Looking to the ladies seated in the front row, Mal started building his arsenal. “Flora, did Angus tell you where the gold was hidden?”
She shook her head.
Of course not. That would be too easy. But Mal was used to doing things the hard way. He’d been making do with scraps since the day he was born. A boy could make a right fine meal out of scraps with a little persistence and creativity. If the restaurant door was locked, he’d just have to go around back and start digging through the trash.
“He didn’t trust me,” Flora said. “Feared I’d steal it from him. The only clue I ever got from him was when I asked how he could be sure it was still there. ‘It’s secured in stone,’ he said.” Flora shrugged. “I searched for it myself, when no one was around. Dug under rocks in the fields, checked hearths in several of the town buildings for loose stones. I even climbed onto the roof of the café one night before we set up the watch and tried to look down the chimney by lantern light. I thought if I could just give him what he wanted, he’d give up this fool quest, and I could take my son home. But I never found even a hint of that money.”