Between Love and Lies (24 page)

Sadie latched onto the back of his shirt at the same time as he leveled his revolver at the door. Neither of them moved after that. The tension on his shirt told him she wasn’t going to let him rush whoever was outside.

In the following silence, the doorknob rattled. It didn’t open. Their visitor wasn’t getting in without a— Something scraped the lock.
Hellfire and brimstone.
He cocked his revolver and prepared to press the trigger.

Bat burst in. He skidded to a halt with his hands raised. One of them held a ring of keys similar to the one hanging on the wall. Noah’s own hands shook with relief as he lowered his weapon.

The marshal’s gaze followed his gun down and then lower, to the swathe of blue gingham that’d be plainly visible behind Noah. Despite laboring to catch his breath, Bat’s curse rivaled anything he’d heard.

He holstered his weapon. “I was coming to find you. We need your help.”

“Miss Sullivan shouldn’t be here.”

Sadie stepped around Noah, angling for the door. “I’d be happy to leave.”

“No.” Bat barked the word at the same time as Noah.

The marshal slammed shut the door and moved to look out the window. “You’re a bigger pair of fools that I could’ve imagined. Why is she here?”

“She came looking for something she promised Edward she’d find. Do you know what that might be?”

Bat continued staring out the window. “I ain’t inclined to hazard a guess right now.”

“What the hell does that mean?” He rubbed the back of his neck, struggling to ease the frustration building inside him again. “Are you saying you don’t know?”

“I’m saying you need time to cool off. Remember
where
you went last time to do that?”

Bat wanted him to go to Sadie’s farm, to leave— “I’m not abandoning her.”

“Well you can’t take her with you, or stay with her in this jail. Not without making things worse.” Bat spun to face them again. “If you had a secure place for her to hole up in, then things might be different.”

Damn. Bat was right. If he’d finished the roof on Sadie’s house, he could’ve hidden her there.

Sadie hadn’t lifted a foot or a finger since they’d both rejected her offer to leave. But her gaze jumped between them, following their conversation, watching them like a rabbit waiting for something, or someone, to swoop down and swallow her whole.

He wanted to assure her she was safe. Even if he stayed by her side, that’d be a lie. They needed Bat’s assistance, but his entire body rebelled against Bat’s suggestion for helping her. “You go, and I’ll stay and—”

“Shoot someone?” Bat hissed. “Or get yourself shot? Right now, you can help the most by being elsewhere. I’ll keep her safe. You have my word.”

Sadie’s gaze swung back to his, and held. The truth he saw in her eyes deprived him of speech. She wasn’t afraid. She was confused and very determined to change that. Maybe he needed to change as well.

“What if Madam Garrett comes for her while I’m gone?” His throat seized before he could add,
And I lose the one person I love most. Again
.

“I imagine Gertie will send over John first,” Bat replied without a drop of his usual humor. “When she does, I don’t want you so edgy you blast a hole in him. Despite all his faults, John doesn’t deserve that.” His words whipped out, faster and faster. “Go work off some steam. Do something productive. That’s an order.” He paused to haul in a breath. “I promise Miss Sullivan will be here when you return. Jus’ don’t come back until tonight when you can’t lift a pistol or a hammer.”

* * *

A hammer
? Sadie strove to make sense of Noah and the marshal’s conversation. At least they weren’t talking about Edward’s belongings. Or so she hoped. It was hard to tell.

“Time’s a wastin’.” Masterson’s voice was unusually curt, as if he struggled as well. Not for clarity but patience.

Noah continued staring at her. A storm of emotions too complex to define raged in his eyes.

“Deputy,” Masterson’s growl yanked Noah’s attention away from her. “Leave now. Don’t let anyone see you. Use the back door.”

Without a farewell glance in her direction, Noah finally left.

His absence made her lightheaded, like the air had been sucked out of the room with him.

Masterson tossed his ring of keys on his desk as he turned toward the other door, the one leading onto Front Street. “My apologies, Miss Sullivan, for what comes next. Didn’t want anyone killed.”

Killed? Why did he—? A pounding on the front door made her jump.

When the marshal opened it, John stood on the porch. His familiar scowl deepened when he looked over the marshal’s shoulder and spotted her.

“Assume yer here to collect Miss Sullivan.”

John’s reply came fast and hard. “Yes.”

It knocked the remaining air from her lungs, turned her body heavy as lead. She wanted to lie down and never get up. She’d gambled and lost everything. She wouldn’t be completing her search. Noah was gone. Noah—

She drew herself up. Noah was safe. And the marshal had yet to hand her over. He remained in the doorway between her and John.

“Where’s the good madam?” Masterson’s voice had resumed its unhurried drawl.

“You know where.” John huffed out a breath, sounding slightly winded and very disgruntled. “You saw us come out of the Star together. Gertie’ll be giving me an earful for losing our footrace.”

Masterson chuckled. “Inform her that the odds were in my favor. I had a shorter distance to travel. The Star’s close but the hotel’s closer. Now back to the question at hand: where’s the madam—right now?”

“Waiting. On the Star’s veranda.”

“Well, that won’t do.” Masterson beckoned her forward. “Shall we go meet her?”

Disbelief made her lurch away from him. She ended up facing the bedroom, with its trunks, with the four she hadn’t yet searched.

“Whatever yer pondering—” Masterson drawled, “— it can wait.”

With sluggish steps, she followed him onto the porch. Across the street, Gertie’s stout figure stopped pacing the Star’s veranda.

Masterson held up his hand, halting Sadie as well. “No need to go any farther. You neither, John.” He folded his arms and propped his shoulder against a porch post.

John mirrored his pose by the other post. “How long we gonna stand here?”

“That’s entirely up to the madam.”

A stride behind them, Sadie hovered in the doorway, her mind and body buzzing with nerves and questions. Could she dash back inside, bolt the door from within and finish her search?

“Time to stand our ground.” Masterson’s back remained a taut line. His profile shared a similar rigidity as he watched Gertie stomp down the Star’s steps and head in their direction. “Time to look the devil in the eye.”

Gertie crossed the thoroughfare at a determined pace. When she reached the foot of the jail’s stairs, the marshal faced her dead on. Sadie could no longer see his face.

He raised his hand again. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Madam?”

“You know why.” Gertie thrust her finger at Sadie. “I’m here for her. She works for me.”

“That’s why I’m arresting her.”

“What?” Gertie screeched before Sadie could.

“I found
your
employee with
my
employee. Found ’em coming out of my deputy’s bedroom, to put things bluntly.”

Sadie’s face burned with the implication and the truth. In the opinion of many, she was now a fallen woman for real.

Gertie’s narrowed-eyed gaze pierced her. “Tell the marshal that his deputy forced you.”

“He did not! He’d never force me to do anything.” Outrage balled her hands into fists. She sucked in air, trying to steady herself. She’d have to admit she’d broken in to search the jail. “I came here of my own accord. I—”

“Well, there you have it,” Masterson said. “Nailed herself to the counter with her own words, she has. Nothing I can do but arrest her.”

“This is preposterous.” Gertie threw up her hands. “She’s got the pox. The only man who’d bed her is a crazy one.”

“My deputy fits that description at times.”

“If what you’re sayin’ is true—” Gertie growled from between clenched teeth, “—your deputy’s broken the law as much as her.”

“What law?”
What was going on? What was Masterson up to?
She moved to the edge of the porch, so she could better see his face, and read her answers there. But it was John’s expression that claimed her attention.

His glower had vanished. “The law that’s always turned a blind eye to certain activities inside Dodge’s saloons and brothels.”

Masterson nodded. “But when those
activities
spill into my jail I think I’m entitled to break tradition. Especially since on paper, prostitution’s illegal in Dodge.”

“That law’s hogwash,” Gertie shot back. “No one’s ever enforced it.”

“Until now.” Masterson hands moved to rest on his pistols. “Time for you to step off this porch, John.”

A chill rocked Sadie’s body. Had she exchanged one prison for another?

“Your jailbird don’t look so good,” John remarked as he complied.

“Why don’t you go back inside ’n sit down, Miss Sullivan?”

She rubbed the ache building between her brows. “You’re arresting me for being a prostitute? Where were you when I needed you a year ago?”

“Unfortunately on an errand outside of Dodge.”

“And your deputy? Where is he?” Gertie demanded.

“His duties took him out of town as well. Until he returns, Miss Sullivan remains in my custody.”

“For how long?” The madam’s voice had gone deathly quiet.

“Hard to say. Could be a day. Or a week.”

A day or a week, did it matter? She barely stifled her gasp. She couldn’t stop the excitement coursing through her, though. She only needed a few minutes to finish searching the jail.

Masterson took her firmly but gently by the elbow. His other hand never left his pistol, nor did his gaze leave the madam, as he steered her back inside the jail.

At the bottom of the steps, John stood behind Gertie, his stance oddly relaxed.

In contrast, Gertie bristled with rage. “That girl owes me a debt. A growing one. She’d best not forget.” Her words pricked Sadie’s conscience, but the warning that followed cut her to the core. “The moment Mr. Ballantyne sets foot back in Dodge he’ll answer for her folly.”

Masterson closed the door, shutting out the madam but not her threat. It rang in her head. She couldn’t let Noah be harmed because of her.

“Well,” the marshal said on a sigh as he released her and locked the door. “At least we now have some time. Not much, but more than when I found you in here with Noah.” He gestured to the chair by the desk. “Have a seat ’n catch your breath. We’ve lots to discuss before his return.”

She stared at the bedroom. She didn’t want to talk. She wanted to continue her search.

“Did you hear what I said, Miss Sullivan?”

“I don’t feel well,” she lied. Or did she? The throbbing in her head only rivaled her compulsion to complete her search. “I might better concentrate on our conversation if I rested for a few minutes in the other room.”

“You still hunting for what you promised Edward you’d find? Might that be the watch ’n jewelry box that went missing after his suicide?”

She spun to face him. “You said—”

“That I didn’t want to
hazard a guess
. And there were plenty of hazards with John barreling down on the jail, ’n Noah ready to shoot him in yer defense.”

“You lied.”

“I did what was necessary to grease Noah’s departure.”

Noah had been right. Masterson was different. Her respect for the man grew. So did her wariness.

“Marshal Deger—” Masterson’s nose wrinkled like he’d smelled something offensive, “—the witless whale who was too often left in charge of Dodge, including when you came to town ’n when your friend died, blathered on about Edward’s lost treasures.” He gestured to the bedroom. “Did you find what you came looking for in there?”

A blush burned her cheeks. She’d found more than she could’ve ever dreamed of with Noah
in that room. And now Gertie had vowed to hold him accountable for her wanton recklessness. “My search was interrupted.”

“If I let you finish, will you stop wasting yer energy arguing with me?”

Relief robbed her of words. She nodded. Vigorously.

“Good, ’cause I suspect that even though you use yer poor health to get yer way, you ain’t feeling top dollar. You ought to lie down. But when you do, it’ll be on the cot in my jail cell.”

This time her nod was curt. Escaping a cell was a gamble but, same as when Noah had decided to lock her up, she was betting on her hairpins to free her before his return.

Whether she found Edward’s possessions or not, Noah’s wellbeing depended on her reaching Gertie before Noah returned to Dodge.

CHAPTER 15