“I only wanted Genevieve, nothing more.”

  “The man who danced with her could be the devil’s marshal, but every name I’ve come across that’s connected to the train raid and Derrick’s death is now dead or locked up in a cell. So that leaves you, the one constant in all this and the only man connected to everything.”

  Kyle opened and closed his mouth several times until he settled for a murmured reply.

  “You made more sense when you were chasing ghosts.”

  Brodie grabbed Kyle’s collar and raised him up. “I know Derrick’s specter hasn’t returned, but I’m not the only one who knows that, am I?”

  Kyle gulped and when he spoke, his voice was barely audible.

  “Maybe the man who took Genevieve doesn’t have to be Derrick’s specter.”

  Brodie shook him, but Kyle said no more and in disgust he threw him aside. Kyle stumbled into his desk where he leaned over it breathing deeply.

  “Do you mean Derrick feigned his own death and now he’s back?” Brodie said.

  Kyle stood tall and, with his back to Brodie, faced the door.

  “I’ll answer your question, but only when I know for sure.”

  With that, he set off. His steps were uncertain until he reached the door, where he held on to it for a moment. Then, with a shrug of the shoulders, he adopted a more determined gait and set off outside, leaving Brodie to turn to Erskine.

  “I’m still not certain that Phineas isn’t involved in this,” he said. “So stay here and guard our prisoner, and if Genevieve or Lucinda turn up, protect them.”

  Erskine nodded, leaving Brodie to follow Kyle outside. He didn’t question Kyle as he scurried along the boardwalk, keeping out of the way of the people who were now filling the street.

  It soon became apparent where Kyle was going, making Brodie think for the first time that he’d get answers, even if he balked at the way he’d get them. Kyle made a detour to his house to collect a spade and a lamp before he headed out of town to the cemetery.

  As Brodie expected, Kyle went straight to a grave marked for Derrick Shelby where he turned to Brodie, who nodded. When Kyle started digging, Brodie took the light and he leaned on the picket fence that surrounded the site to await the result.

  Kyle attacked the ground with vigor, slicing the spade down into the ground and hurling the earth aside. He had burrowed down to his knees when a crunching sound made Kyle stop. Kyle turned to Brodie for help and Brodie edged forward, holding the lamp high while averting his face until he knew what Kyle had found inside. When the light fell on the grave, Kyle curled his upper lip.

  “I guess that answers one question,” Kyle said.

  Brodie turned, finding that the broken coffin lid revealed a body beneath. His encounters with the devil’s marshal had prepared him for the grave being empty so he wasn’t sure what he felt after discovering that it wasn’t.

  “Are you sure it’s him?” he asked.

  Kyle grinned, confirming he’d had the same expectations about what they’d find as Brodie had.

  “Before Derrick became a marshal here, he got a broken rib from being shot.”

  Kyle took a deep breath and then went to his knees to rummage in the coffin making Brodie, again, avert his face. When Kyle muttered under his breath and then clambered out of the grave, he turned back.

  Kyle was clutching a short bone, presumably a rib, and fingering the broken end. His dejected posture removed any doubt that he had lied about the way he could identify Derrick.

  “So Marshal Derrick Shelby’s dead, after all,” Brodie said using a matter-of-fact tone, “which means the only possibility is that his specter has returned.”

  Kyle mustered a supportive snort of laughter and then threw the bone back into the grave before he started to refill it. Brodie didn’t press him for the explanation he’d promised, as he presumed Kyle was losing himself in the work while he collected his thoughts. When Kyle had covered up the coffin, he paused for breath and faced Brodie.

  “The men who testified against your sister,” he said with a defeated air, “killed Derrick because he was close to proving they’d raided the train themselves.”

  Brodie scowled. “Yet you were Derrick’s deputy and you let them get away with it.”

  Kyle shoveled more earth into the grave before holding out the spade for Brodie to take over. Brodie passed over the lamp and moved earth for another minute before Kyle spoke again.

  “Levander told me they planned to get rid of Derrick, which suited me as I wanted Genevieve, but I made him promise that they wouldn’t kill him. Levander accepted my demand without a pause so I reckoned he already had a plan in mind. He did, and it was a gruesome one that only technically kept the promise.”

  Brodie hurled the last few lumps of earth over the grave and then leaned on the spade.

  “You said Derrick was shot.”

  “I lied. I led him to the old depot where the others overcame him and took him away. By the time I’d found out what they’d done, it was too late. If I’d told the truth, I’d have been finished, too.”

  “What did they do?”

  “They trussed him up, cut out his tongue and buried him alive. When everyone attended his funeral, he could have still been alive, trapped down there unable to call out for help until he died from lack of air—”

  Kyle broke off when Brodie’s anger at this revelation brimmed over and he advanced on him with the spade thrust aloft. Kyle dropped to one knee, his only defense a hand raised before his face, leaving Brodie to loom over him.

  Brodie’s hand twitched with a desire to deliver the retribution Kyle expected until, with an angry grunt, he hurled the spade aside, ensuring he threw it over the picket fence to remove the temptation. Then he dragged Kyle to his feet.

  “The only good thing about your story is that the men who conspired to kill Derrick died in the same way: underground, gasping for air and with their tongues sliced out before they were dug up and dumped.” Brodie turned Kyle to the gate and pushed him on. “Now before the same thing happens to Genevieve, take me to the man who killed them.”

  When Kyle reached the gate, he turned to Brodie. “I can’t help you. I don’t know who this specter . . . this devil’s marshal is.”

  “Then think. Someone must know how Derrick died. That person’s kidnapped Genevieve and we have to find him before he silences her.”

  Kyle shook his head before he moved on. “She’s the first person to be kidnapped who had nothing to do with what happened to Derrick, so she must have been taken to punish me.”

  Brodie had no answer to this and he remained silent as they headed back to town. Kyle’s plodding walk showed that he was thinking about alternatives, so Brodie didn’t prompt him as he pondered on who he thought could have taken her.

  He was no nearer to an answer when they reached the main drag, which was now deserted, although he could hear a nearby commotion. Without discussion, they sought out the source of the noise.

  Brodie wasn’t surprised when Kyle got his attention and pointed along the railroad tracks toward the old depot. They hurried out of town and, unlike the previous times Brodie had come here, dozens of people were crowding around the warehouses.

  Many were clutching brands, which they held aloft as they jostled to find out what was ahead. By the time Brodie reached the site it became apparent what was holding their attention. Brodie reckoned only one event could have captured so many people’s interest and, when he edged closer, his worst fears materialized.

  Lucinda had been cornered in the warehouse. Chauncey was standing in front of her, having adopted a protective posture with one hand clutching his gun and the other pointing at his star.

  His action had stopped the mob from moving in, but they had formed a tight semicircle that blocked the trapped people’s route to the door. Their effective noose was tightening.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Brodie had seen how the mob had acted on his first night in town when even a hint that he knew Lucinda had swelled their anger, so he moved forward cautiously.

  “Stay back here,” he said to Kyle, but Kyle slapped a hand on his arm and then drew him back.

  “I wanted your sister to be guilty to stop me facing up to what I did, but I was wrong. Now it’s time for me to make amends.”

  “You don’t need to do that. You’re not a lawman no more.”

  “I know.” Kyle smiled thinly. “Have you ever considered that I gave you the job because I thought you’d uncover the truth? Now stay back while I talk them down.”

  Kyle stayed for long enough to receive a nod from Brodie before he moved on into the mob. Although his presence would make the situation more fraught, he couldn’t let Kyle take all the risks, so he hurried around to the back of the warehouse.

  The four buildings were all split into two rooms so he searched for a way into the unoccupied room. Aided by the light from the other side of the warehouse, he located a broken plank that he was able to lever up before slipping inside.

  Ahead was the doorway into the other room where people were pressed together tightly, but they weren’t facing his way so he edged into the shadows to a position where he could monitor events at the far end of the room. Chauncey had drawn his gun and was standing before Lucinda with it aimed at the nearest man.

  His determined expression promised that he’d shoot the first person to come closer. Thankfully, that person turned out to be Kyle, who worked his way through the mob to reach clear space where he swung around to face everyone.

  “I told you last week that you can’t take the law into your own hands. Disperse people and—”

  “You’re not the law here no more,” someone shouted.

  “I’m not, but Chauncey is.”

  “He was appointed by that woman’s brother and if Brodie hasn’t got the courage to face us, we’re not listening to you.”

  This declaration gathered an enthusiastic cheer and then, despite the guns Chauncey and Kyle held on them, the mob took a determined pace toward them. With neither Chauncey nor Kyle being prepared to shoot into a crowd, they had no choice but to edge away.

  The semicircle around them tightened until the nearest person was only two paces away from being able to lunge for Lucinda. The mob’s taunts had confirmed his presence would only inflame the situation, but Brodie reckoned he had no choice but to get involved.

  He hurried on to the internal wall, all the while keeping in the shadows. Then, with one hand on the wall, he worked his way along it to the doorway. Even his light touch made the wall shake.

  When he reached the doorway, the space around the trapped threesome had reduced. The crowd had their backs to him so, over their heads the tall Chauncey and he were able to face each other.

  Chauncey shook his head and then raised his gun, signifying that he wouldn’t let them take Lucinda without a fight. With everyone packed tightly into the warehouse that was sure to result in a bloodbath.

  Brodie took a firm grip of the side of the doorway, as he prepared to make his presence known, and that action again shook the wall. As Lucinda and her two protectors were standing before the doorway, the precarious state of the wall made him raise their heads.

  The internal wall stopped before the roof and it wasn’t supported. He stepped back for three paces while trying to catch Chauncey’s eye to warn him about what he intended to do, but the nearest person was now only a pace away from him.

  A gunshot ripped out and several people screamed. With only moments before Chauncey was forced into retaliating by shooting his way out of trouble, Brodie thrust his shoulder down and ran at the wall.

  He had taken two paces when another gunshot sounded. Then he slammed into his target. The wall tilted and cracked, sending down a flurry of dust as, on the other side of the wall, the hubbub of noise was silenced in an instant.

  Then footfalls sounded as everyone detected where the danger was coming from, but the wall itself came to rest having adopted only a slight lean. Two rapid gunshots tore out, although the sound of the creaking wall masked the noise and made it appear as if the firing was coming from some distance away.

  Brodie stepped back for four paces and then ran at the wall again. A loud crack sounded as his shoulder slammed into the timbers and his right leg broke through the wall. The resistance from the wood sent him to one knee, but when he tried to extract himself, the wall resolved his problem by tipping over.

  He rocked back on his heels as the wall fell away. Cries of alarm sounded, but he figured that a few bruises and broken limbs were a better result than the mayhem Chauncey could hand out.

  When he gained his feet, the wall had come to rest at an acute angle. One side had been stopped by the outer wall with the far corner four feet off the ground while the other far corner had stopped ten feet from the ground.

  As Brodie had hoped, the tilted over doorway had neatly framed the people he’d hoped to rescue, and they were still standing upright. Scuffling sounded as people scurried to safety beneath the wall while some of those who had been lucky enough to be beneath the doorway dragged others free.

  Chauncey and Kyle didn’t help with the rescue attempt. They drew Lucinda forward to join Brodie, who pointed at the broken plank in the corner through which he’d entered the warehouse.

  “Get her back to town and hole up with Erskine in the law office,” he said to Chauncey. “Kyle and me will sort out this situation without further bloodshed.”

  “Your biggest problem is the person who was doing the shooting,” Chauncey said. “He was at the back of the mob, but I couldn’t see who he was.”

  Chauncey waited until Brodie accepted his explanation with a nod and then moved to drag Lucinda away, but she tore herself free to give Brodie a quick hug.

  “Thank you for everything,” she said, her earnest gaze making Brodie think she didn’t expect to see him again, before she joined Chauncey in hurrying to the corner.

  Chauncey helped Lucinda through the gap. Then Brodie and Kyle looked under the fallen wall. Several people had been trapped, but the rest who had crouched down to avoid the falling wall were making no effort to leave.

  “Keep moving toward the door,” Brodie shouted. “We’ll get the trapped ones out.”

  He hoped his urgent demand would stop anyone from noticing that he had caused the problem and that the subject of their anger had escaped. Sure enough, the faces that turned to him registered only relief.

  “We can’t leave,” a man shouted from the front. “Someone’s shooting at us from out there.”

  Backing up this view, steady gunfire erupted outside. This forced the people in the doorway to scurry backward, but they could move for only for a few paces as they came up against people who were already confined in a small space.

  Their movements knocked the wall, making it shake. Then it slipped down for another foot, causing another ripple of panic to spread through the trapped people.

  “Who would shoot at these people?” Kyle asked before he frowned as he clearly answered his own question.

  “It’d seem that the devil’s marshal has now decided to take revenge on the whole town,” Brodie said with a heavy heart.

  “With everyone trapped, from out there he can pick off everyone with ease,” Kyle said unhappily.

  Brodie nodded as he took hold of the nearest man to him and shoved him into the doorway.

  “Everyone, move this way, and extinguish those torches,” he shouted while moving on to grab the next person.

  Torches were dashed against the ground so Brodie tried to move the next person, but this man resisted. Worse, in the growing darkness, scuffles broke out. Thankfully, nobody resisted when Kyle started maneuvering people away and, after he had dragged several people to safety, others caught on to what they were trying to do and more people started heading for the doorway.

  Their movement opened up space and let the people at the opposite end move out of danger, but that didn’t stop another volley of gunshots ripping out. Someone shouted in pain and people bustled to drag the wounded person to safety.

  “Put out all the lights!” Kyle shouted. “If he can’t see us, he can’t shoot us.”

  Nobody reacted to his demand, however, and the lights at the front of the warehouse continued burning. With there being at least twenty people between him and the source of the light, Brodie couldn’t work out who was at fault. He slapped Kyle on the back.

  “Keep getting people out. Then direct them to leave out the back and hide in the darkness. I’ll go around to the front and deal with the shooter.”

  Then he hurried away to the corner of the building, his action encouraging several others to trail after him now that the escape route was obvious. Outside, he turned toward the town.

  It was dark, but nobody was visible, giving him hope that Chauncey had gotten Lucinda to safety without encountering reprisals. Then he turned his attention to the man whose activities had inadvertently given them their chance to flee.

  He scurried along to the front corner of the warehouse. The light from the remaining brands made the other three warehouses stand out in stark relief along with the lower part of the rise, but the devil’s marshal had gone to ground.

  He assumed that his quarry was on the rise where he’d first assaulted him. This meant he had would have to run over fifty yards of flat ground and then make a steep climb, and along the whole route his progress would be lit up.

  He was about to reinforce Kyle’s earlier demand that the brands be extinguished when he realized why it hadn’t been followed. The area around the door was on fire. Clearly the falling wall had knocked brands from people’s hands and now a fire was burning independently and licking at the underside of the leaning wall.

  Someone was lying in the doorway so he ventured out. He’d covered only two paces when the devil’s marshal picked him out. Splinters kicked from the wall above his head making him duck and a second gunshot cannoned into the ground at his feet.

  Brodie put his head down and sprinted for the door, reaching it before the shooter could fire again. He used the doorframe to swing himself inside and then went to one knee. The shots had been wild and he’d presented an easy target, so he assumed the shooter was some distance away, up on the rise.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11