Chapter 21
Sheriff Dean rose from the table. “I’ll ride with you partway home, Wade. Abby can show me where she thought she…uh… smelled…someone.”
“You should bring more riders.” It made Abby furious to see how the man doubted her.
Her fingers itched to reach for her knife, but that was getting to be a bad habit.
At least the sheriff was going to check.
“You’ll find tracks and maybe catch these murderers before they harm more of my people or steal more of your cows.
” It sickened her to think of these brutes running free while her Flathead family lay dead.
Wade came to her side, and his hand rested whisper-soft on her lower back. Was he showing his support and offering her comfort…or blocking her from getting to her knife?
“Tell me, Sheriff, what are you really hunting for, rustlers or murderers? Would you even stir yourself from your chair if there weren’t cows missing?”
“Now, miss”—the sheriff’s brow beetled, and he pulled his hat from his poor wounded head—“I didn’t know about the village massacre. Someone has to report a crime before I can arrest someone for it.”
True enough. And from the look of his bloody bandage, the lawman had his own reasons to want these men caught. It wasn’t all about cows.
“You and Wade didn’t even bother to ride into town and tell me about it.” The sheriff shifted his gaze to Wade. “I saw you in town, Sawyer. You’ve ridden in at least once since you’ve been back. You didn’t say a word about murder.”
“You don’t go out to the countryside, Sheriff. And Abby’s village was located at least two days’ ride away from town. I didn’t even consider telling you about it.”
“I reckon you’re right. I wouldn’t have gone out to try and catch an outlaw that far from Divide.
” The sheriff sighed and rubbed his head.
“I’m sorry to admit that’s true, Miss Linscott.
But I don’t really have jurisdiction in the countryside.
I don’t worry about trouble unless it comes into my town. ”
It burned Abby to hear him say it, but she had to admire the man for looking her in the eye and admitting the truth. How was she ever going to find her place in this white world? Abby’s eyes went to Tom Linscott. “You really are my brother, aren’t you?”
“I do believe I am, Abby girl.” Tom turned to Wade. “I’ll be riding out to your ranch with you, Sawyer. I want to spend some time with my sister. Meanwhile, I’ve told my men to start building a cabin.”
“She’s working for me, Tom.” Wade got that fierce look in his eye.
Insulting. Yet it softened Abby’s heart to have two men wanting to take care of her. She didn’t need them for protection, but maybe she wanted them to care just a little.
“Come on out, though. We’d love to have you.” Wade’s hand stayed on her back, more firmly pressed against her spine now. Definitely support, since Wade likely wouldn’t mind one bit if she pulled her blade on Tom.
Abby marveled at finding a brother—even an arrogant, unpleasant one. Couldn’t she have found a better family than him? Wade would have made a better brother to her. But thinking of Wade as a brother wasn’t comfortable. She didn’t care to examine why.
“Come in to services on Sunday morning.” Cassie gave Abby a huge hug.
Abby found herself nose to nose with the little redheaded boy on Cassie’s back while receiving her hug. The boy blew a spit bubble at her and smiled. Abby smiled back.
After the prolonged hug from Cassie, which Abby rather enjoyed, she mounted her horse, and they headed for the M Bar S. Wade, Tom, the sheriff, and five others from town rode along.
“This is the place.” Abby pressed her knees into the sides of her pinto and turned the horse to the wooded area by the trail. “Judging by the stench, I’d say there were three of them.”
Tom shook his head a bit hard. Abby had seen dogs around the Flathead village shake themselves that way when they’d come out of the river, and yet Tom was bone dry. White men made no sense.
At the edge of the woods, the tracks of three men coming out of the forest onto the trail became clear. A trail that had been trod heavily by the cattle Wade’s cowhands had driven home. Tom and the sheriff and his men all swung down and began studying the tracks.
“They could have shot us dead. We had some riders with us, but we’d have been sitting ducks.
” Wade rode up to her side, examining the ground.
Then he looked sideways at Abby and spoke softly, his words only for her.
“If these are the men who kidnapped you after the massacre and attacked us at the ranch, why did they pass up a chance to finish things this morning?”
Abby looked from Wade to the tracks and back again.
“Cowards, I’d say. They could probably have killed us all shooting from cover and not gotten a scratch, but they didn’t want to take that chance.
These men have proven themselves to be cowards with every move they’ve made.
Attacking defenseless women and children, kidnapping a lone woman. ”
“You weren’t exactly defenseless.” Wade smiled at her. “I’m glad you fought them. I’m glad you hurt the man who put his hands on you.”
“Are you glad you put a bullet into one of them?”
Wade’s smile shrank to something grim. “It had to be done. That’s not the same as being glad.”
“Then that’s a difference between us, Sawyer. Because my only regret is that he wasn’t hurt worse and that he was gone this morning and I didn’t get my hands on him in that jail cell.”
“We’ll never follow tracks in this rocky soil.” The sheriff rubbed the white bandage on his head.
Elders had been respected in Abby’s tribe, and she had to force herself to mind the sheriff. Men had pride. But he wasn’t up to chasing outlaws, and that was a fact.
“Let’s follow the trail back toward Divide. Study it, see if we can get a feel for their horses,” the sheriff suggested.
“You don’t even know it’s the right men.” Wade raised his Stetson and ran one hand through his hair before putting his hat back on.
“No, and that’s the plain truth.” The sheriff stared at the tracks. “But why sit in the woods and watch you go by? It’s suspicious behavior, enough to make me wonder. I’ll follow the trail back into the woods, see where it leads.”
The sheriff and his men left Wade, Tom, and Abby together.
Wade nudged his horse forward, and the three of them rode abreast. “I didn’t go into details yet, Tom, because we just haven’t had time, but someone tried to kill Abby after she came to the M Bar S. He shot an arrow at her, tried to make it look like an Indian attack.”
Wade and Tom exchanged a long look that excluded her, as if they were in charge of her protection.
As if she couldn’t protect herself well enough.
As if, when things got bad as they were sure to do with murderers on the loose, she wouldn’t probably have to save herself and both of them too.
It made Abby want to bang their heads together.
“So does this have to do with the massacre or the rustlers?” Tom looked at Abby as if he was counting all the reasons someone would want to kill her.
Wade shrugged. “I don’t know. I brought her to town with me today mainly because I don’t like her being alone out there, even with Gertie.
I think someone tried to kill Pa and make it look like an accident.
I’ve been trying to never let her go anywhere alone.
That’s another good reason she should stay with me.
With the house, she’s got some protection.
At your place, she’d be out in the open all the time. ”
“She could stay inside at my place.” Cranky Tom was not a woman’s dream of a brother.
“Your house is a falling-down shack.” Wade sounded as bristly as a porcupine. “She’d go crazy in there before the first day was over and be outside doing something.”
“Don’t talk about me as if I’m not here.” Abby was tempted to smack them both in the back of the head.
“I’ve already told my men to start leveling ground for a bigger house.”
“Good for you. About time. I hope you’ll be very happy living there alone.”
“Shut up, Sawyer. It’s for Abby. And I can afford to make it real nice.”
“Better make it a tepee, or she’ll start insulting you just like she does my pa.” Wade smiled at Abby, and she shook her head. Why did her insults to his father cheer him up?
“It won’t be a big dumb house like the one you built.”
“My pa built it, not me.”
“But it’ll have plenty of room. I’ve just never bothered when it was only me and my cowpokes.
” Tom turned and studied Abby with eyes that surprised her.
Kind eyes. They didn’t go with the gruff man.
“I want to talk to you about our life. I’ll help you remember everything.
Leastways, everything I know about. And that falling-down shack I’m in is where you lived.
It’s the house Pa built before he died. I—I… ”
What couldn’t he say? He’d shown no shortage of words up until now. “You what?”
“I love you, baby sister.” The strained look on Tom’s face hinted that the man didn’t talk much about feelings. In that way, he was far more like Wild Eagle than Wade.
Abby stared, trying to absorb the words. “I remember you so slightly and all in bits and pieces. I know I loved my white family. I imagine that includes you. I would love to talk with you about the early days of my life.”
Tom jerked his chin in a satisfied nod. “Good. I told my men I might be a couple days coming home, so we can really spend some time together.”
“Well, have fun,” Wade said. “I’m going to be busy with roundup.”
Tom did a poor job of covering a laugh.
Wade kicked his horse into a ground-eating gallop, leaving Abby and Tom in his dust.