Cactus Flower (34 page)

      
“Go
away with him?” said Nick.

      
“Yes.
He said he was going to marry her and take her away from the life she
lived. He evidently believed that acting was somehow sinful, and that
Patsy was being forced to work with the company against her will.”

      
“If
all that’s true, he really does sound loco,” Nick observed.

      
“It’s
true, and he is. We went to the police, but they said there wasn’t
anything they could do.” She glanced at each man in turn, and frustration
pushed her to raise her voice. “I know it sounds unbelievable. It
is
unbelievable! But it happened exactly as I’m telling it to
you. Gilbert Blankenship somehow convinced himself that he and Patsy
were in love and that he was supposed to rescue her from the clutches
of her family. Her evil family.”

      
Patsy
shook her head and uttered a low moan. Fuller squeezed her shoulders
and asked softly, “What happened?”

      
Eulalie
suspected Nick anticipated her answer to Fuller’s question, because
his expression softened and his gaze fixed on Patsy’s scarred face.
“He broke into our flat one night.”

      
“He
broke into your flat?” Fuller asked, evidently dumbfounded.

      
Eulalie
nodded. “Yes. He broke in. I’d been feeling poorly and was in bed.
Patsy answered his knock at the door, and he rushed in. He … had a
knife.”

      
“It
was a huge knife,” said Patsy. “The police told us later that it
was one of those big hunting knives that men use to skin deer. A Bowie
knife, one of them called it.”

      
“Jesus,”
whispered Nick.

      
“And
said he was going to kill us both because we’d treated him so badly.
He said he hated me in particular, because I was the one keeping Patsy
from him.”

      
“He
would have killed both of us, starting with me,” Patsy said, her voice
shaking like an aspen leaf in a high wind. “But Eulalie stopped him.”

      
“How’d
you do that?” asked Nick, transferring his gaze to Eulalie.

      
Did
she detect a note of approval in his voice? Probably not. “I heard
him from my bedroom and tiptoed out to see what was wrong. I saw Patsy
turn to run from him, but he caught her and …” she swallowed the
huge lump that always formed in her throat when she remembered that
hellish night. “And he stabbed her. She tried to fight him off, but
he kept slashing at her arms and her face, and he … he stabbed her
in the side and in the stomach.” She had to stop speaking and gather
her nerves before she could continue.

      
“I
picked up a heavy cast-iron skillet from the kitchen stove. By that
time, Patsy was on the floor and he kept stabbing her. Again and again.
I hit him over the head with the skillet. But he’d already cut Patsy
badly. I didn’t get to him in time to save her from that damned knife.”
She was too caught up in the horror of the past to realize she’d used
a bad word before three gentlemen until it was too late. They didn’t
seem to care. “There was … there was so much blood, you see. There
was blood everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was …
it was awful.”

      
Gabriel
Fuller’s arms tightened around Patsy. “My God, the brute!”

      
“That’s
putting it mildly,” said Eulalie, feeling shivery and cold and wishing
Nick would put his arms around her as Fuller was doing with Patsy.

      
“But
didn’t you press charges against him?” Nick asked.

      
“Of
course, we did!” Eulalie frowned at him. “The judge gave him six
months for breaking and entering our apartment and for aggravated battery
against Patsy.”

      
A
trio of masculine voices said in an incredulous chorus, “Six months?”

      
“Six
months. For almost murdering Patsy. And that’s all.”

      
“But
that doesn’t make any sense,” said Nick.

      
“No,”
Eulalie agreed. “It doesn’t.”

      
“But
why so light a sentence?” asked Fuller.

      
Patsy,
her head hanging and her hands squeezed together in her lap, said, “Who
knows?”

      
Eulalie
felt her lips tighten. “
I
know.”

      
Patsy
sighed deeply.

      
“You
do?” Nick lifted an eyebrow in inquiry.

      
“Yes.
The judge saw that Patsy was an actress, and he came to the conclusion
that she’d led that monster on. That she’d encouraged him somehow.”

      
“And
I
didn’t
!” Patsy cried, her voice trembling.

      
“No.
She didn’t. Neither of us had ever seen the man in our lives until
he began … stalking Patsy. Like prey in the forest.” She sucked
in a huge breath and, not for the first or even the hundredth time,
felt as if the injustice of it all would make her explode. Because she
knew that screaming would only annoy the men, she said merely, “The
laws don’t favor women. It’s terribly unfair.”

      
“I
should say not,” muttered Fuller.

      
“And
now he’s here,” whispered Patsy.

      
“And
now he’s here,” Eulalie confirmed. She shut her eyes and wished
Gilbert Blankenship to the devil.

      
“How’d
he find you here in Rio Peñasco?” Nick asked.

      
Eulalie’s
eyes popped open again. She couldn’t escape from her problems that
easily. “I don’t know, but I suspect Mr. Benson.”

      
“Bernie?”
Nick’s brow furrowed. “Why Bernie?”

      
“He’s
been sending copies of his newspaper all over the country and its territories.
I was afraid one of them might get to Gilbert Blankenship. I can’t
imagine how else he could have found us. Everyone in the family knows
better than to have anything to do with him.”

      
“Hmm.”
Nick appeared to mull that over for a moment. “I suppose it’s not
that hard to track somebody if you know where the rest of the family
is. Your family doesn’t keep itself under wraps. If a fellow tried,
he could probably steal mail or whatever.”

      
Patsy’s
face drained of the little color it had heretofore possessed. Eulalie
gazed at Nick, feeling vulnerable and helpless. “I … never thought
of that.” She buried her face in her hands. “Oh, my God, what are
we going to do?”

      
And
then she felt Nick’s arm go around her, and she didn’t feel quite
so alone and defenseless.

      
“I’ll
protect you, Eulalie. You know that.”

      
“But
how?” She lifted her head in time to see a meaningful glance pass
between Nick and Gabriel.

      
“For
one thing, you won’t be alone. Ever. I’ll be by your side every
day.”

      
“And
I’ll be by Patsy’s side every night, while you’re singing at the
Opera House,” declared Fuller. “I’ll see to it.”

      
“Can
you do that?” Patsy asked in a little voice. “What about your duties
at the fort?”

      
Fuller
gave a derisive snort. “What duties? Don’t worry. I’ll be here
every night while Miss Eulalie performs. If I can’t get away, I’ll
be sure to send Nash.”

      
“Do
you think he’d mind?” Patsy asked.

      
“Mind?”
Gabriel looked at her as if she’d gone mad. “He’d love it.”

      
Patsy
blushed a little and said, “How kind.”

      
“And
you’ll watch them during the day?” Gabriel directed the question
at Nick.

      
“Yes.
And so will Junius. They won’t be alone for a second.”

Chapter Fifteen
 

Nick and Junius Taggart and
Gabriel Fuller were as good as their word. Every day, either Nick or
Junius, whichever man could be spared from their smithy, escorted Patsy
and Eulalie wherever they needed to go.

      
And
everywhere they went, they met Gilbert Blankenship. When they went to
the Loveladys’ mercantile store, Gilbert Blankenship was there. When
they went to visit Mrs. Johnson and her children, Gilbert Blankenship
lingered across the street, watching, watching, watching. Eulalie discovered
that constant worrying was an asset to what she had perceived to be
a threatening weight problem. Now that Blankenship had found them, she
was so nervous, it was all she could do to swallow a bite or two of
whatever meal she was supposed to be eating.

      
Nick
spoke to Sheriff Wallace, who spoke to Gilbert Blankenship, but nothing
came of it.

      
“Damn
it, Sheriff, the man’s stalking those two women as if they were a
couple of antelopes and he was a cougar. He shouldn’t be allowed to
do that.”

      
“I
can’t make the law, Nick. You know that.”

      
“Shit.
There are people in the U. S. of A. who say there are no laws in the
damned territory.”

      
“I
know that’s what folks say, but that’s not how I run this town.”

      
“Hell.”

      
So
Nick went to the mayor. Mayor Graveside’s expression matched his name
in the gravity department, but he couldn’t offer much assistance to
the beleaguered Gibb sisters, either. “I’m sorry, Nick. I reckon
I can get a town council meeting together and see if we might could
run the feller out of town. Mebbe even tar and feather him, if it comes
to that.”

      
“Good
idea,” said Nick, sensing a bright spot in the dilemma.

      
“But
you know damned well the feller can just wait until dark and come back
again. Rio Peñasco’s small, but it ain’t that small. There’s
strangers all over the place, especially with the cattle runs starting
up.”

      
Nick
knew it. Nick hated it.

      
“Why
don’t I just gun the bastard down?” he asked Eulalie, Patsy, Junius
and Gabriel Fuller one night as they all sat at the Gibbs’ kitchen
table eating the fine roasted chicken and potatoes Patsy had prepared
for supper. “That would solve our problems.”

      
“I’d
love it if you would,” said Eulalie. “But you’d get into trouble,
Nick. Everyone from the sheriff to the mayor to Mr. Chivers would know
it was you who killed him.”

      
“Hell,
I don’t think I care much,” mumbled Nick around a bite of potatoes.

      
“But
I do,” said Eulalie.

      
He
shot her a speculative look, but didn’t continue along that theme.

      
“I
‘spect the gals will be all right ‘slong as we keep watching them,”
observed Junius. “Blankenship can’t get at ‘em while we’re around.”

      
“True,”
said Fuller. “But …” He glanced at Patsy, obviously troubled.
“But how long can we keep this up? My captain is … well, he’s
getting a little impatient.”

      
“Oh,
dear,” murmured Patsy unhappily.

      
Eulalie
shut her eyes and sent a silent prayer to God, begging Him to solve
this problem for them. “I’m so sorry to have involved all of you
in this mess.”

      
“We
don’t mind,” said Fuller stoutly.

      
“Hell,
no,” said Nick.

      
“Watch
your language before the ladies, Nicky,” warned Junius.

      
Nick
grinned at his uncle. It was the first time Eulalie had noticed even
a hint of humor in his expression since Gilbert Blankenship showed up
in town.

      
“I
have an idea,” said Patsy, startling Eulalie, who was generally the
one with the ideas in the family.

      
“Oh?”
came a chorus of voices around the table.

      
“If
you have to return to your duties at the fort at night, Gabriel, perhaps
I can go with Junius and Nick to the Opera House. That way I’ll be
protected while Eulalie performs.”

      
“But
you need your sleep,” Eulalie protested.

      
“I
don’t mind losing a little sleep if it means staying alive,” Patsy
said dryly.

      
Good
heavens, Eulalie had never heard her sister sound so caustic. Patsy
was the sweetest, dearest of women. Her hatred of Gilbert Blankenship
edged up a notch for causing her sister to lose her prior innocence.

      
Nick
and Junius exchanged a glance, then turned to Fuller. “What do you
think, Lieutenant?” Nick asked in a neutral voice.

      
Frowning,
Fuller said, “I don’t know. I don’t like the thought of her in
there. In the saloon.” Apparently he feared he’d been undiplomatic,
because he hastened to add, “Not that there’s anything wrong with
you performing in the Opera House, Miss Eulalie, especially with the
Taggarts watching over you, but …”

      
“I
understand,” Eulalie assured him. “But if you can’t stay with
her, perhaps it would be better for Patsy to remain with me. She can
stay in my dressing room.”

      
“Better
that she stay with us,” said Nick. “Under the eye of everyone. Nobody
will let Blankenship do anything to her as long as we can see both of
you.”