Chapter 9
Returning to Unity was an easy ride. There was no sign of El Aguila’s men at all, which meant there was plenty of time to talk.
Although Lucy was keen to speak to Robert the whole way, he was often drawn off to speak to the newly hired men.
They had a lot of questions, which Robert and Michael were doing their best to answer.
This left Lucy on her own.
Some of the gunmen struck up conversations with her from time to time. They seemed to be confused as to why a woman would have come along to conduct the interviews.
“So, where are you from?” Christopher asked as they rode along.
“Unity.” She really didn’t want to talk about herself. Wasn’t she supposed to be keeping a low profile?
“I meant originally,” Christopher said with a chuckle.
Lucy hesitated.
“Oh, see, now you’ve gone and made the young lady uncomfortable,” Ben Dyer said. He was a large man, tall and muscled. Lucy thought he must be six foot eight at least.
“Why would that make her feel uncomfortable?” Christopher asked, frowning. “It’s a perfectly normal question.”
“I’m from back east,” Lucy said, not to be rude but also not to be too specific. “But then, I suppose most of us can say that, right?”
“Oh, sure,” Ben said with a chuckle that was deep and resonant. “I’m from Maine.”
“Delaware,” Christopher chimed in.
Out of the two gunmen, Lucy preferred Ben. Perhaps it was his size, but he came across as a gentle giant. She had really liked him in his interview, finding that he was levelheaded, sharp, and capable.
Christopher was an enigma. She didn’t think she had heard too much of the truth from him, which made her wonder what secrets he was keeping … and why.
“So, what brought you out to Texas?” Lucy asked Ben.
“The army, first, and then I stayed because I found work and a wonderful lady who likes me,” he said, beaming.
“And you?” she asked Christopher.
Christopher shrugged. “Work. It’s funny, but there aren’t a great many positions open for a man with my skills. I have to move around to where the work currently is.”
Lucy nodded. That rang true, like few of the answers that Christopher had given her in the interview. Some had been on the border, and that made it difficult to know if he was lying or just leaving something out.
“I tried to get into the Pinkertons, but they said I wasn’t educated enough,” Christopher said.
That didn’t ring entirely true to Lucy. She looked over at Ben, who frowned.
“Is that so?” he asked.
“Yeah, I needed to go to college to get in with them,” Christopher said. “I wanted to be a detective. I thought that would be great fun.”
“I think it would be hard work,” Lucy said.
“And taxing,” Ben said. “If you make a mistake …”
“Yes, if you get it wrong …” Lucy agreed.
They nodded, both understanding the implications of the whole situation.
“And it’s dangerous,” Ben added.
Lucy nodded. She knew firsthand. Hadn’t Simon died in pursuit of the truth? Sighing, she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat.
Luckily, at that moment they crested the rise that allowed them to look down into the valley where Unity lay. And there it was, surrounded by the wall, gleaming in the sunshine.
“It looks kind of like a town from a storybook,” Ben said with a grin.
“It is something,” Lucy agreed. She looked over at Robert, who had ridden close, and he grinned.
She knew the grin was just for her because the moment Christopher looked his way, Robert’s expression became somber again.
“Come on,” he said, urging his horse on. “We need to get you all settled.”
They followed Robert down the slope and across the open grassland. They passed copses of trees and rode for a while beside the swiftly flowing creek before stopping in front of the bottom gate they had left through a few days earlier.
“When you’re riding with the copper shipments, you’ll use the top gate,” Robert explained. “This one is mostly for the town’s daily activities.”
“I’ll show you around,” Michael promised. He seemed perfectly happy to have left the interview process to Robert and Lucy while he handled other business. It must have gone well, whatever he was doing, because he was all smiles.
With a rumble, the gate began to glide open.
Lucy was relieved.
There was something wonderful about coming home and having the gate open for you on sight. It made her feel welcome.
When they and the four hired gunmen rolled into town, they were met with some wary looks.
Perhaps some of the inhabitants didn’t like the idea of men in town whose sole purpose was to sling shooting iron. It was understandable, and as the looks followed them from the gate into town, Lucy began to wonder if Michael and Robert had spoken to the people of Unity about their plan.
She suspected they had not.
Mrs. Odenkirk opened her doors to all of the hired men without hesitation.
“You are all welcome so long as you behave like gentlemen when you’re here,” the old lady said sternly.
“Thank you,” Ben said with a smile.
Lucy sighed inwardly. Now, she would be living in a house with a cantankerous old woman and four unfamiliar men.
Wonderful.
Things in Unity settled down quickly, and soon, folks considered the hired gunmen to be just other citizens of the growing town.
After visiting Lucy at work one afternoon, Ben made friends with Timothy instantly. He found Critter fascinating, and he and Timothy spent a lot of time teaching him tricks.
Duncan Holt, who was around forty years old and quiet, spent his time between shipments wandering around town with a book and a pencil. Lucy saw him on occasion, sitting on a stump or a porch step and sketching something. He never showed anyone what he drew, but he seemed quite intent on it.
Alistair spent his time with Kyle at the farm. He seemed drawn to the animals like a moth to the flame. Lucy wondered if they somehow soothed him after the pain he’d suffered when his marriage ended.
Then there was Christopher. He seemed to use the time between shipments to follow Lucy around. It was beginning to get on her nerves, and she longed for the mine to produce enough copper to send Christopher away for a while.
“He likes you,” Robert said one afternoon, treating her to one of his smiles. “I can understand his fascination.”
“But it makes me feel very uncomfortable,” Lucy said as they sat eating lunch together on the sheriff’s office’s porch steps. She had brought them sandwiches and enjoyed the few moments with Robert she could coax out of a day. “He’s always hovering.”
“He’s not now,” Robert pointed out.
“Only because you’re here,” Lucy said. “Please, Robert, have a word with him. I’ve tried, but I think he thinks I’m playing hard to get.”
Robert grew sober. “It won’t do to have him thinking there’s a chance for him when there really isn’t. There isn’t, is there?”
Lucy was shocked. She reeled backward in surprise. “You’re really asking me that?”
Robert chuckled and shook his head. “I guess not.” He took her hand in his and held it, sending a warmth through her that made her feel that everything would always be all right so long as she was with him.
“Don’t worry,” Robert said. “I’ll talk to Christopher. And tomorrow, they will all head off to San Antonio with the copper. They’ll be gone at least for the day, if not a little more. Warren and Dorothy have some business to take care of in town, and they’ll be traveling with the shipment.”
Lucy was relieved. “Oh, that is good news.”
All too soon her lunch break was over, and Lucy went back to work in the general store. She had taken several orders to make new garments for folks, and that was at least keeping her busy when there were no customers.
“What are you making?” Christopher asked.
He moved so silently that she hadn’t heard him approach and jumped. “Oh, Christopher.” Lucy strove for patience. “You startled me.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s the last thing I wanted to do.
” He smiled. There was something about him, something very familiar, as though he reminded her of someone she had known in a previous life.
It was odd. It was just his smile that did it.
The way it curled up to the right as though in half a sneer.
Lucy dismissed it. It had to be her imagination. She was good with faces and names, and she had never seen this man before he came in for the interview.
“It’s okay,” she said. “What brings you by?”
If he says it’s to visit me, I might be forced to throw something at him.
“I was wondering if I could enlist your services?” he asked. “I need a new shirt.”
As though to prove the validity of his words, he held up a shirt he had taken from a bag slung across his body. “It ripped right down the back,” he said, showing her the threadbare garment.
Lucy inspected it. The shirt was cotton, but it had been washed and worn so many times that the fibers couldn’t hold together any longer. Just handling the shirt made more holes in it.
“I’ll have to make you another,” she said. “This one is beyond repair.”
“I thought as much,” Christopher said sadly.
Lucy quickly took his measurements with a tape measure and then went with him to speak to Mr. Di Aventura at the front counter.
“You’ll have to pay a deposit,” Mr. Di Aventura said. “The rest will be due on completion of the shirt.”
“Sounds perfect,” Christopher agreed and paid.
He should have left then, but he didn’t. As Lucy made her way back to her section, she could still hear Christopher talking to her boss. What more could he possibly have to say?
She took a seat on her high stool beside the work table and began to sift through the patterns she had on hand to get out the one for shirts.
There was a creak behind her. On edge because Christopher was still there, she turned. He hadn’t come creeping up behind her again, had he?
There was nothing there but the rack of fabric.
She turned back to her work. Where is that pattern? It was here a moment ago.
The basket of patterns was full, and she had a time trying to sift through it without taking them all out. Oh, how she didn’t want to take out each envelope, but it seemed that would be the only way.
There was another creak behind her, and this time, it was louder, more like a crack. Turning, Lucy watched in horror as the rack holding the bolts of fabric buckled and a torrent of material and wood came cascading down toward her.
Sandwiched between the table and the rack, all Lucy could do was slide off her stool. The stool fell to the ground with a bang as she slid under the wooden table.
With thuds, clanks, and a strangely silken sound, bolt after bolt of fabric came tumbling down on top of the table. The wooden rack also came free, and its pieces thudded and boomed on the table, the stool she had toppled over, and the floor.
Rolls of fabric fetched up against the table legs. They pushed the stool under the table, rolling it toward her in a strangely colorful landslide that didn’t seem like it would ever end.
Lucy could only stare, inching backward on her hands and backside under the table.
And then it all came to an abrupt end. The fabric stopped rolling, the roar in her ears ended, and the thuds and clunks went silent.
Lucy sat frozen in place, not daring to move in case she somehow set it all in motion again. Working with her father on investigations, she’d sometimes thought she might die at the end of a suspect’s gun barrel, but death by fabric was a novelty she’d never considered.
“Lucy!”
Mr. Di Aventura sounded panicked.
“I’m here!” Lucy called from under the table. Only now, as her heart began to beat more normally, did she realize just how fast it had been beating.
“Where are you?” Mr. Di Aventura demanded.
“Under the table,” she said, crawling out.
“Oh, thank goodness!”
This was a different voice, one far less welcome. It was Christopher’s.
Mr. Di Aventura offered her a hand and helped her up. Lucy found that she was shaking, and she had broken out in a cold sweat. Her knees seemed to have been replaced with jelly, and she was unable to stand.
“What happened?” Mr. Di Aventura asked, draping an arm around her shoulders and escorting Lucy to a nearby stool that hadn’t gone crashing to the floor along with everything else.
“I don’t know,” Lucy admitted.
For once, Christopher was silent, staring at the mess of fabric. “You could have been hurt! How did you escape?”
“Well, she clearly had the presence of mind to slip under the table,” Mr. Di Aventura said sharply. “I just don’t understand it.”
“What?” Christopher asked. “Wasn’t it just an accident? Perhaps there was too much weight on the rack.”
Mr. Di Aventura shook his head. “I bolted those racks in place myself. I don’t think they would just come off the wall like that. It doesn’t make sense.”
Yes, Lucy would like some explanation.
The bell over the door jangled, and Mr. Di Aventura went to see who it was. Male voices sounded, and Lucy’s heart leaped in her chest.
Christopher was saying something to her, but she couldn’t hear him.
The moment Robert appeared between the shelves, Lucy rushed toward him and threw herself into his arms.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, pressing her cheek into his chest.
After a moment of surprised hesitation, Robert wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. As a feeling of security washed over her, Lucy closed her eyes and held onto the man whom, she realized at that moment, she loved.