Chapter Twenty-Eight
Rachel yawned as she stretched out, her whole body feeling sore. Had she slept in a weird position? The bed was normally quite comfortable.
Then she opened her eyes and realized she was on the settee. She’d fallen asleep in Nate’s arms in front of the fire. She noticed it was burning well, making her feel warm and comfortable despite the stiffness in her body.
But there was no sign of Nate.
Where had he gone? He seemed to go about his business without telling her anything. Surely, he couldn’t do that anymore. Not with everything going on.
A movement behind her made her look around, her heart leaping into her mouth, and she saw Daisy in the doorway, her hair looking like she’d been dragged through a hedge. She gave Rachel a tiny smile.
“Morning.”
“Morning.” Rachel managed to stand without wobbling. Her legs felt like they had no strength. “How did you sleep?”
“Better than I’ve slept in a long, long time. Thank you.”
“Very welcome.” Rachel smoothed her hair down. “I’ll fix some coffee. Do you want some?”
“Yes, please. Is Nate around?”
“He’s gone to work.” That was likely to be true, although Rachel didn’t quite believe it. “He’ll be back soon.”
She started heading toward the kitchen when someone knocked on the front door.
Daisy cried out and rushed to Rachel, hugging her tightly as she trembled and whimpered.
Rachel’s heart was beating hard in her chest, and she was starting to panic at the thought that Daisy had already been found and they were coming for her.
But how would they know she was there? Unless someone followed her closely, but that seemed unlikely.
She could feel Daisy clutching her tighter, to the point that Rachel couldn’t breathe.
“Rachel?” A familiar voice reached her ears. It was Isabelle. “Are you there? Rachel?”
Rachel sagged in relief and managed to untangle herself from Daisy, who collapsed into a chair with another whimper.
“It’s all right. It’s my sister-in-law. She’s not going to hurt us.” Rachel hurried to the front door and opened it, feeling the relief flood through her again when she saw Isabelle on the porch.
“Nate told me to come over to make sure you and your… friend were safe.” Isabelle stepped inside, shaking snow off her before taking off her coat. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“In a moment. Let me get some coffee sorted for us.” Rachel paused. “Do you know where Nate’s gone?”
“I think he’s at his office. With Jack.” Isabelle gave her a comforting smile. “You don’t have to worry about anything. Nate knows what he’s doing.”
“I hope he does,” Rachel muttered. “Although it would be nice if he would just tell me what he was doing. Especially when things are getting more personal.”
Isabelle frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll make the coffee and tell you.”
It took well over an hour, and two cups of coffee for each of them, but when Rachel and Daisy finished their story, Isabelle was staring at them in mute amazement.
“You… you believe… you think… Rachel’s mother…”
“We just need to talk to Olive, and she can confirm it,” Daisy insisted, cupping her hands around her steaming mug. “She knows most of the girls who have come through in the last twenty-five years. She’s got to have an intimate insight into everything.”
“Do you think we can trust her, though? She’s been at the Silver Lantern for so long that she could be spinning a yarn to get you drawn in and have your trust.” Isabelle held up a hand as Daisy and Rachel started to protest. “It’s just a possibility.”
Rachel had to admit that Isabelle was right.
Things were unpredictable, and they didn’t have any hard proof.
Not yet anyway. But she knew, deep down, that her mother had been one of the girls at the Silver Lantern, and she’d been brave to get her daughter out of there before those men did anything wrong to her.
Maybe Miriam would tell her the truth now.
“Hopefully, Nate and Jack will have found something that can help,” Isabelle went on, giving Rachel a nervous look. “Nate’s not going to let this go, I know that much.”
“I hope so,” Daisy said quietly.
Rachel rested a hand on Daisy’s arm.
“You don’t have to worry. Nate’s a good man. He’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Daisy nodded, biting her lip. She looked far younger than her nineteen years.
The sound of the front door opening got her attention, and Rachel put her mug down, jumping to her feet as Nate and Jack entered the room. Her concern for Daisy’s welfare melted into annoyance as she recalled how Nate had left without a word. She put her hands on her hips.
“When were you going to tell me that you were going off on your own?” she demanded.
“And it’s nice to see you too,” Nate said wryly, taking off his Stetson and brushing snow off the brim.
“This isn’t funny, Nate. This is personal now. You can’t leave me out of what you’re doing. I want to know what you’re up to.” Rachel held up a hand. “And I won’t take you brushing it off and saying I don’t need to be aware of anything. I need to know.”
Sighing, Nate shrugged out of his coat, laying that and the Stetson on the back of the settee.
Then he sat in a chair across from Rachel, Jack settling on the settee beside Isabelle, who leaned into him when he put an arm around her shoulders.
Daisy was still sitting on the floor beside the fire, watching the scene nervously.
“I didn’t want to tell you until I’d confirmed my suspicions.”
“And what did you find?”
Rachel listened as Nate and Jack told her what they’d found in the previous marshal’s books.
They were grim-faced the whole time, having found out that several girls, more than a dozen, had gone missing in the last twenty-five years.
They were from homes where nobody would’ve missed them, and they were all of similar ages.
“There’s a possibility that there are grown women as well who have been taken,” Nate finished. “Married women who have probably been thought of as running away from their husbands or something. Briggs makes a note of them, and while he’s concerned, he doesn’t seem to think they’re connected.”
“But you think they might be?” Isabelle prompted.
“It’s a possibility.”
Daisy nodded.
“Married women are also made targets. They target those who look like they’re in unhappy marriages and want something new to get them away from the turmoil they’re going through.
It’s not until they get to a Silver Lantern business that they realize they’ve been tricked, but they can’t get out of it. ”
“Everyone has to pay their price, plus interest, before they can leave,” Isabelle said faintly. She shuddered. “I can’t believe that’s happening so close to us. This is ridiculous.”
“Some people don’t even leave after that,” Daisy said miserably. “I know of at least two women who said they paid off their debts years ago, but they were told that they couldn’t leave. They were going to be stuck there whether they liked it or not.”
Rachel took a steadying breath.
“So it doesn’t matter if they’ve paid the debt or not; they’re trapped.”
“Yes. It would’ve likely happened to me if I hadn’t run away.” Daisy sipped her coffee. “And this Sandra you talked about? She’s at the Silver Lantern where I was.”
Nate sat up. So did Jack.
“What?”
“She was the woman I shared a room with. Talked about her life further up the mountain, but it’s her.”
Nate sat forward.
“So Sandra was there? I didn’t see her.”
“She’s normally working with the animals out back. Not many men are interested in women who are closer to thirty.”
Isabelle grimaced.
“Please don’t say that. You’re making me very nervous and nauseous.”
“I’m sorry, but when you become too old, you’re put to another use. It’s not pleasant.”
Daisy let out a low moan. Nate looked at Jack.
“The problem is, this is all speculation. We need something more.”
“And we’re going to need backup,” Jack added wryly. “We can’t exactly go in and demand that they release all the girls. Those men aren’t going to be the kind who will do as strangers want.”
“And you certainly can’t do it without the US Marshals,” Isabelle pointed out. “If they’ve crossed girls over state lines, it’s become their business.”
“I’ll go to the post office and send a telegram to my contact in Denver. He’ll be able to get here in the next few days.” Nate rubbed his hands over his face. “In the meantime, we need to get something to prove what’s going on.”
“And that means going into the Silver Lantern,” Isabelle murmured, staring at her brother.
Rachel stared.
“You mean someone needs to go back in there to find something?”
“We have to make sure we know the layout and the places where they might hide something. And we won’t get surprised when we go after them and they try to destroy evidence.
” Nate looked down at his hands. “I can’t go in.
They already know me, and I’m a lawman, so I wouldn’t be allowed in.
And Daisy is definitely not going back there, not when she tried to escape in the first place… ”
“I can go,” Rachel said.
Everyone looked at her as if she’d gone mad. Almost immediately, Nate shook his head adamantly.
“Absolutely not. You’re not going anywhere near that place.”
“But I want to help. How can I help if you won’t let me?”
Nate grumbled.
“Rachel, you’re going to be more than a big help, but you don’t need to put yourself in danger.”
Rachel wanted to argue, but she knew he was right. It was far too dangerous for her to go in. But she couldn’t sit there twiddling her thumbs. She had to do something.
She bowed her head, trying to fight back the tears. Anything to help her mother, even if it was twenty years too late. She couldn’t hide anymore. Nate had to know that.
She didn’t feel as scared as before, with Nate by her side.