Wolver's Gold (The Wolvers) (35 page)

“You’re right, Papa. Mama would be proud of us both.”

It was easier said than done. Long years of indolence and too much whiskey had sapped much of Josephus Kincaid’s former strength and Rachel was no slip of a girl. His knees collapsed or he lost his balance under her weight.

After several failed tries, Rachel suggested they reverse the order. Papa could climb upon her shoulders to make his escape and then bring back help. Long years of moving furniture and hefting fifty pound sacks of flour had given Rachel more strength.

The gentleman in Papa was offended by the notion of a delicate woman saving a man. He insisted they try one more time and this time, he held his knees locked, his legs straight and when she climbed to his shoulders, he braced his hands firmly against the crumbling wall. Rachel managed to get her torso over the top, but with nothing there to grasp to pull herself up over the edge, she thought they were doomed once again to failure.

But Papa performed one last miracle for his dearest daughter. He brought his hands under her feet and shoved. It was enough to hoist her over the edge.

“I love you, Papa,” she called softly once she was safely away from the edge, “And thank you for being my hero when I needed you the most.”

“I love you too, daughter. Now go.
Hurry. You must be far away before Holt comes back.”

On her way out, Rachel picked up several fist sized rocks. It wasn’t much in the way of ammunition, but if she met Holt or one of his men along the way, she wasn’t going down without doing some serious damage.

Her wolf snarled her approval. They were going to find her mate and no one better get in their way.

Chapter 35

The only attack came from Arthur. Placing his paws on her shoulders and slobbering her face with doggy kisses, his whole body wiggled and squirmed with delight. Rachel was
relieved to see him, too, particularly when Eustace came hobbling up behind him.

“Where in tarnation you been?” he asked half in worry, half in anger. “I’ve spent the past two hours or more looking for you and that dang blasted sheriff of yours
. I was beginning to believe the story was true and you took off with him and the schoolmaster for parts unknown.”

“
Rotting away in a hole. What time is it?” Having spent all of thirty seconds in greeting Arthur, Rachel was again on the move. McCall was in danger and she had no more time to waste. The sun had already set and the moon had yet to rise. Where they were in that time frame, she had no idea, but it was important. The Court convened at ten.

“I headed out this way about seven. Must be
half past by now. Wait up a minute!” Eustace called, scrambling to keep up. “There are things you need to know.”

“
Then you’ll have to tell me while we walk, Eustace, because time is of the essence. Mr. McCall’s in trouble.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Tell me what’s happening in town. What are people saying? Tell me quickly, Eustace. I don’t have time for a long winded tale.”

“Moving at the pace we are, I won’t have the wind for it anyway,” he muttered.

Rachel felt badly for him, but she couldn’t slow down. “Eustace, go to Parson’s Claim. Papa’s there in the pit. Tell him help is on the way.”

“No, ma’am.
I’m sticking with you. Your papa will have to wait. Whole town is in an uproar ever since we woke up this morning to find Jack Coogan hanging from the gallows. The Second cut him down right quick, while someone went for the Mayor. By the time he got there, it looked like the whole pack had gathered in the middle of the street.”

“And the Mate?”

“She was there, too, but the Mayor wasn’t happy about it. Neither was the Second. Every time the mayor tried to calm the pack, the Mate glared at him, gritted her teeth, and sent out another wave of unrest. It was like watching a battle with no weapons. The Mayor and Second both had their fists clenched and I thought for a minute one or t’other would hit her. Then Holt says something to the Mayor and the Mayor turns to us.”

“This is indeed a tragic day for Gold Gulch...” Eustace began parroting the Mayor’s speech, amazing Rachel yet again with his total recall. Unfortunately, she didn’t have time.

“Short version, not long.”

Eustace huffed. He was just getting into the tale. “He said we
had crowds coming and it’d be best if we put on our company faces and did our best to make the day a success. He said the Second would investigate. Next thing you know, word’s going around that the Sheriff did it and half a dozen folks started saying they’d heard him threaten the man. Funny thing, that. I could name a couple of dozen who’d threatened Jack Coogan, but they were all pack and you know how it is when someone passes over; the stupid become wise, the miser generous, and the sinner a saint.”

“Mr. McCall didn’t do it.”

“I know that, but it’s pretty hard to explain when Arnold Slocum comes running out of the bank shouting “We’ve been robbed!” Coogan was working late the night before and now McCall and Washington and the money are missing. You are, too, though nobody connected those dots right off. Bertie knew nothing about the whole thing. She’d come in early to help Liddy get breakfast, said she never looked up at the gibbet. Thing gives her the heebie-jeebies and I wonder how many others walked past that body for the same reason, and then she and Liddy were busy in the kitchen. Didn’t know nothing about the sheriff and the schoolmaster until she was serving breakfast. The gents told her Mr. Kincaid took you off to do your grieving in private. Don’t know where they got that from, but that’s what they said and Bertie believed them. Things got hectic after that. Since the sheriff wasn’t there, the Second sent Orly Peters to organize the deputies and let me tell you, that wolver has lost whatever sense he was born with. He had those boys running six ways from Sunday. I told him so, too,” he said with a sharp nod of his head. “Then he took my badge and told me he didn’t need no low-life omega giving him shit.”

“Orly’s in on it,” Rachel told him and proceeded to tell him about her ordeal. “First thing you do when we get to town is send Achilles Marbank out to get
Papa. I don’t know when they’ll be back or how they’re going to explain my disappearance, but I do know Papa is in danger if they find out I’ve escaped. Where was Holt when you left?”

“Out scouring the countryside for the thieves, though why in Sam Hill anyone would believe they’d take off on foot when McCall has a perfectly good truck, I can’t figure. Bertie and I couldn’t figure a lot of things; why McCall took his clothes, but not his truck, why you and your papa never came back
and where were you in the first place. Your rooms would be more private than any place else in town. It was the dog that finally did it. He’d been raising a ruckus all morning and Bertie figured it was because you and McCall were both gone. She finally chained him to the fence post. With the crowds coming, she couldn’t have him running free and she didn’t want him leading Holt to either one of you. When I saw that dog layin’ on his side in the dirt, looking like the world had ended and he was ready to die, I knew there was big trouble brewing. McCall would never leave that dog.”

“He never left Gold Gulch, Eustace. He and Mr. Washington are locked away in the bank’s vault. Arnold Slocum is in on it, too.
” Rachel told him everything she knew.

“I knew it! I knew something wasn’t right over at the bank. First place Arthur went was right to that front door. I kept the chain on and took him with me to look for you. I must have gone in there four or five times. I asked if anyone had seen you, but no one had and finally Mr. Slocum says that dog is scaring the customers and get it out of his bank or he’d see me jailed.”

“We have to get them out, Eustace, but first we have to get me in. Looking like I do, I’m going to draw too much attention, but there’s something I need at the hotel.”

Her clothes were torn and dirty, her hair disheveled. If any of the men involved in Holt’s scheme saw her, McCall and Washington would no doubt be moved
or killed before she had time to tell what she knew. Papa would suffer the same fate and she would become the woman who lost her mind after her horrendous treatment at the hands of the two men who’d deceived them all.

Eustace must have been thinking along the same line, because he grinned at her and said, “We go to Maudie’s. Nobody’s going to be watching the washerwoman and she can get you what you need. I’ll head over to the livery while you clean up. Folks need to see me on the street with Arthur, like I’m still searching for you.”

Hat covering her piled up hair and set low on her forehead, shading her face, Rachel tried to swagger as he’d seen men do. The hat was too large and so were the boots. They belonged to Achilles Marbank. The gray cotton duster, blue striped denim trousers and yellow shirt came from Maudie Cove’s store of clothing to be laundered.

Rachel tried her best to remain inconspicuous as she made her way against the flow of tourists returning to their cars. Keeping her hat low and her head bowed made it difficult to see and she kept bumping into people along the way.

“Mommy, is that man drunk?”

“It would seem so,” the woman said disgustedly. “You’d think they wouldn’t allow that sort of thing,” she complained to the man walking on her other side.

“I
know dear. A child shouldn’t be exposed to something like that,” her companion said. “That hanging was great though, wasn’t it? It looked so real. And the food was great. I’m glad we came.”

Rachel eased up on the swagger and wonder
ed if the man saw the incongruity of his statement. A child shouldn’t be exposed to drunkenness, but watching a hanging was perfectly all right.

Turning her head slightly, she caught sight of Eustace and Arthur walking ahead on the other side of the street. He turned down Schoolhouse Lane and a few seconds later he returned to the corner, giving her a nod to say the coast was clear. She held her breath as she walked right past
Pleasant Samuel, who stared at her for a moment and then went back to sweeping his porch.

“Good heavens, girl, where have you been and what do you think you’re doing in
that getup,” Bertie scolded when she saw her and then she burst into tears, something Rachel had never seen in her entire life. “You had me worried sick, do you hear me? Couldn’t keep my mind on my work and Liddy was in a tizzy.” The tears dried as quickly as they came. “Where’s the mister?” She looked around as if he might be hiding somewhere in the room. “And if you tell me he’s enjoying a glass down at the saloon, I’ll...”

“Papa’s in the pit at Parson’s Claim.”
Rachel gave the frowning woman a quick hug. “Mr. Marbank has gone to get him. He saved our lives, Bertie, but I don’t have time to tell you about it now. McCall and Washington are being held in the bank vault and Eustace and I are going to get them out. They didn’t do it, Bertie.”

“Like you need to tell that to me.
Why do you think I kept him chained?” She curled her lip at Arthur, who’d given her a grumpy growl. “Bad folks could follow him as quick as good ones and I didn’t know where or if they might be hiding. How are you planning to get them out?” she asked, but Rachel had already left the kitchen.

“You’ve got five minutes to tell her, Eustace, so make it quick,” Rachel called over her shoulder.

Once in her room, she dragged the heavy canvas bag from beneath her bed. He’d told her it contained guns, but she’d had no idea what kind or how many until curiosity got the better of her good manners and she peeked one day while cleaning the room. The only ones she was sure of were the pair of six-shooters like the ones carried by a few men in town, one of which McCall wore strapped to his thigh, and two shotguns, one with a short barrel and one long. She found two other hand guns with barrels similar to the six-shooter, found boxes of bullets that fit each one and loaded the pockets of the long duster until it sagged with the weight.

She rolled the legs of the trousers up neatly and adjusted the braces Maudie had fixed with pieces of clothesline to keep the trousers from falling down over her hips. Placing her hat back on her head, Rachel returned to the kitchen.

“Choose your poison,” she said to Eustace who stood staring at the guns she dropped on the table.

“Where on earth did that come from and who you gonna shoot?” Bertie asked, eyeing the arsenal.

“Under my bed. It’s Mr. McCall’s and I will shoot anyone who gets in my way.” Rachel loaded the remaining pistols back into her pockets and tucked the short shotgun under her arm. “Come on, Eustace. We have a bank to rob.”

“You ever use one of those things?”
Eustace asked as the left the yard.

“No, but I imagine it isn’t that hard. Point and pull the trigger. How hard can it be?”

“And aim low. Them things got a kick,” he warned and then said worriedly, “This ain’t like firing blanks in a shootout for the tourists, Miss Rachel.”

“I’m well aware of that, Eustace, and I have no plans to shoot anyone, but I will if I have to. At any rate, I doubt anyone will question my intent when I show them this.” She lifted the sawed off shotgun from beneath her coat.

“Jesus, Lord ’o Mercy,” Eustace cried, stepping out of the line of fire. “Don’t point that thing at anybody you don’t plan to shoot.”

“Oops,
I beg your pardon.” She tucked the gun away and stepped out of the way. “Now, off you go and good luck.”

“I’m thinking I ain’t the one who needs it,” Eustace said as he passed her. “Come on, Arthur. As usual you and
me got to use the back door.”

This time, Rachel crossed the street without hesitation. There were a few stragglers on the street, but most of the tourists had gone. Cleanup had already begun and she hoped Banker Slocum had yet to lock his doors.

She was in luck. The door was open and the last bank employee was kind enough to hold it for her as he exited.

“Thanks,” she said in a low raspy voice she hoped mimicked a man’s.
“Gotta see the boss about somethin’.”

Mr. Slocum was alone in his office
. His eyes widened in surprise when she lifted her head to reveal her face. “I...I have nothing to say to you. Herman!”

Rachel was so
nervous, she couldn’t speak. Her hands were shaking so badly she wasn’t sure she could hit him if she pulled the trigger, though that, she supposed, was the advantage of a scattergun. One only had to point in the general direction. The thought made her smile and gave her confidence.

“Herman isn’t here, Mr. Slocum. He just left and we have business to attend to.
Private business.”

The rest was remarkably easy
and all she had to do to get his serious attention was to point the scattergun in his general direction. Her wolf, however, wanted more.

“
Bite him! I want my mate!”

Slocum’s
eyes widened in surprise and Rachel wondered if he saw her wolf in her eyes. She hoped so.