Her Montana Man (26 page)

“There’s a carriage house out back, but no one’s used it since my husband passed. There is room for a

wagon to pull back behind the house, though.” She turned to her friend. “Did you see a wagon, Stella?”

The other woman shook her head. “I had left my pies cooling and was over at the church practicing on

the organ. I wouldn’t have heard a thing.”

“What about the reverend?” the marshal asked. “Did he see anything?”

“He’s out making calls around the county,” Stella replied with a shake of her head. “Don’t expect him till

suppertime.”

Warren nodded patiently. “We’ll go have a look at your place, Mrs. Grover.”

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He turned to Jonas and they exchanged a look.

“Why don’t the two of you go on over and let Bonnie fix you some tea?” Jonas suggested. Tea always

made females feel better.

Their expressions brightened and the two women made their way out the door.

Once they were out of earshot, Jonas turned to Warren. “Same thing that happened to the boys.”

The marshal turned to his young deputy. “Uriah, run down to the livery and saddle up our horses.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Stop at the hotel,” Jonas added. “Don’t leave till you’ve asked everyone if they’ve seen Eliza Jane or

Nadine.”

Uriah nodded and shot out of the office.

They headed out and Jonas ran across the grassy lot to the west to look inside the schoolhouse.

Children’s heads turned and Miss Fletcher, who’d been writing on the blackboard, laid down the chalk.

“Everythin’ good here today?” Jonas asked, keeping a light tone.

Tyler, seated at his desk, smiled and gave him a friendly wave.

“We’re having a good day, thank you,” the teacher replied.

Jonas ducked out and caught up with Warren, headed south. They crossed a brick street and came to

the dressmaker’s.

After a thorough check inside and out, they deduced that Hattie’s account had been right. From the

looks of it, someone had most likely hefted one woman over his shoulder and dragged the other out the

back door and to a wagon that had been waiting behind a row of lilac bushes.

Even if Stella had looked out, she wouldn’t have seen it, and the property to the south held only one

house a quarter of a mile away. Beyond that, someone could’ve headed that wagon across open fields

toward anywhere.

He had a bad feeling about this, but he couldn’t let it influence his thinking. Could be they were back at

the hotel, and all this fright was for nothing.

Uriah rode up leading their horses. “Nobody’s seen ’em.”

Jonas didn’t like the fear that settled in his gut. All along he’d had his suspicions that Dunlap had

something to do with Tyler’s disappearance. It had all been too convenient. Dunlap had made a big show

out of offering the reward and consoling her. He had assured Eliza Jane that he’d take care of everything.

“You two fall back while I look at these wagon tracks,” he told Warren and Uriah.

Wheel tracks and droppings showed that a wagon with two horses had turned around and stopped for a

spell. Then it had headed south on Second Street.

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Jonas followed traces that led out of town and across a field. The marshal and his deputy followed.

A couple of miles from town, the tracks doubled back and led to a rocky gully that paralleled the

foothills.

He signaled to the others. “I lost ’im here. No tellin’ where he went. Could be anywhere.”

“Go back for more men,” Warren said to Uriah. “Get your bearings so you can tell ’em where to start

lookin’.”

Jonas pointed. “That’s Bear Paw Ridge up there.”

Uriah looked around, nodded and headed back at a gallop.

Jonas and Warren discussed where to meet to set up a camp if their search lasted into the night. They

parted to look for signs of the women. Jonas rode until he had to stop to give his horse water.

The connection he couldn’t prove or put his finger on ate at him. It was right there, but he couldn’t see it.

At that moment he felt as helpless as he had the night his mother had been killed. He wasn’t having much

more effect than a frightened, scrawny ten-year-old.

The black drank her fill at a clear water stream, and he let her graze in the nearby shade for a few

minutes before continuing his search. Eventually darkness fell, as did his hopes for finding the women

today. He made his way to the decided spot, where Silas and Warren were already cooking wild turkey

eggs over a fire.

Several others joined them, including Curly Jack and Yale Baxter. Pool rode into the light of the

campfire and slid from his horse. “Got somethin’ you need t’ see, Jonas.”

Jonas got up and took the folded piece of paper.

You won’t find her if I do not want you to. At ten o’clock tomorrow morning leave one thousand dollars

cash in a saddlebag on a good horse. Tie the horse to the tree at the fork in the road that goes to Camas

Creek and ride off. Come back the next day at the same time and your woman will be tied in the same

place safe and sound. If you do not do what I say, you will not see her again.

The men had grown silent. Jonas read the note out loud.

“Is he talkin’ about Miss Sutherland?” Warren asked.

Jonas nodded. Someone who knew he had feelings for Eliza Jane had written this.

“What about Nadine?” Curly Jack asked. “He only talked about one woman.”

Uriah spoke up. “Maybe this fella wrote that note before he did anythin’. He coulda only figured on one

female, but when they were together, he took ’em both.”

“Where’d you get this?” Jonas asked Pool, holding up the note.

“Was tacked on the board outside my door,” he answered. “Ever’body knows I run errands. If

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somebody wants a letter delivered or a chore done, they leave me a note.”

Pool lived above the tailor’s in a room with an outside stairway. No one would notice a person coming

or going from his door because it was a normal event.

“Means he put the note there before he took the women and left town,” Jonas said. “Uriah’s right. Fella

didn’t expect Nadine to be along with Eliza Jane when she went to the dressmaker’s.”

“You gonna leave the money like he says?” Curly Jack asked.

Jonas folded the note and tucked it into his pocket. “If I don’t find ’em first.”

liza’s head throbbed, and her stomach felt queasy. She opened her eyes. In the dim light, cobwebs hung

on a low wood plank ceiling. The walls were wood, too, chinked with dried mud.

She turned her head and spotted Nadine lying a few feet away, her hands and feet bound. Immediately,

Eliza raised her wrists and stared at the strips of rawhide that tied them together. When she moved her

legs, she discovered her ankles painfully bound.

“Nadine?” she called softly. “Nadine, are you all right?”

The other woman didn’t respond. By using her body in a sideways inchworm motion, Eliza scooted until

she was beside Nadine. “Nadine, wake up.”

The young woman frowned, wrinkling her nose, but didn’t open her eyes.

“Wake up!”

Nadine’s eyelids fluttered. Gradually, she opened her eyes and it took her a few minutes to focus on the

ceiling. “Where are we?”

“I don’t know. Does your head hurt?”

“Something awful.”

“It’s the chloroform.”

“Somebody used chloroform on us?” Nadine rolled her head to look at Eliza. “Someone in Hattie’s

pantry? Or did I dream that part?”

“It was real. We went looking for her and got grabbed from behind. I heard and felt you go down

beside me, and then my nose and mouth were covered.”

“Why?”

Without an answer, Eliza managed to tuck her feet to the side, press her tied hands against the floor and

rise to a sitting position. The room swam and her stomach lurched.

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“Don’t sit up too fast,” she warned, closing her eyes against the kaleidoscope of swirling stars in the

room.

“What does someone want with us?” Nadine asked, her eyes filled with fear. “I’ve heard terrible stories

of women sold into slavery for bad things. I’d rather be dead than have that happen to me.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Eliza reassured her.

“How do you know?”

“Well. This is the same way Tyler and Ada’s boys were taken. And they were returned. Maybe

someone is trying to scare us. Or scare Jonas.”

“It’s working.”

Eliza listened for sounds to tell her they were in town or near town, but heard nothing. “When my head

stops swimming, we’ll see if we can get out of these bindings.”

Eliza scooted to lean against a wall. She dozed, and when she woke, her head felt better, but her mouth

and throat were parched. Squinting at the leather strips in the semidark didn’t hurt her eyes so much now,

so she drew her feet as close as she could and tried to work on the knots. From that position, it was

impossible to get a good grasp on the ends.

Giving up, she scooted over to Nadine and started to work on her ankle bindings. Nadine woke and

cried for a few minutes. “I thought the worst times of my life were behind me.”

Eliza scooted so she could look her in the eye. “What do you think Jonas is doing right this minute?”

Nadine seemed to think for only a few seconds before she replied. “Looking for us.”

“Exactly. Do you know anyone you’d rather have taking up for you?”

“No.” She sniffled and brought her wrist up to dab at her nose.

“Well, there you go. Jonas is turning over every stone between Hattie’s and—and wherever we are.

He’s going to find us.”

“Okay.”

“Meanwhile, let’s help ourselves as much as we can. If we can get free, maybe we can make a run for

it.”

Nadine nodded her agreement.

Eliza wished she was as confident as she sounded. She had no doubt that Jonas was looking for them.

The marshal, too. She remembered the day they’d searched for Tyler. Looking didn’t guarantee finding

them, however, and she sure didn’t have any confidence in their captor’s mercy to keep them from harm.

She doubted they’d be able to simply open the door and waltz out once they were free, anyway, but she

needed to do something.

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Eliza’s fingers were numb from the lack of circulation, making it all the more difficult to loosen Nadine’s

bindings. She worked at it for as long as she could, then paused and stretched her fingers awkwardly.

Nadine struggled to a sitting position and went to work on the ties at Eliza’s wrists. Her fingers were

much more nimble, and she got one knot loose and began on another. “Maybe all those sleight-of-hand

card tricks were good for something.”

“Good girl. Keep going.”

They took turns like that, and after about an hour, Eliza’s hands were freed. It felt so good, she

extended and curled her fingers to get the blood flowing, then set to work on Nadine’s bindings with

renewed purpose.

A distant sound snagged her attention. As it grew louder, she recognized it as hoofbeats. An animal

snorted and what sounded like feet hitting the ground and approaching the door alarmed her.

“Someone’s here,” Nadine whispered.

The door flew open and banged against the wall. The light hurt Eliza’s eyes, and she threw her arm up

over them instinctively.

“Well, well, what have we here?” The tall figure silhouetted against the daylight dropped a lumpy

gunnysack on the floor. “Leaving so soon? Don’t you like the accommodations?”

He kicked the door shut with one foot and stalked forward.

With the light gone, Eliza could see him. “Luther?”

He squatted and peered at her. “Are you surprised?”

“Did Royce put you up to this?”

He frowned as though she’d insulted him. “I’m sick of him calling the shots. Besides, what would he get

outta having you snatched? All he wants is your Sutherland money and the business. If he’d put me up to

anything, it would’ve been a bullet in your head. Then he’d have it all.”

He had a point. So he’d done this on his own? “What do you want?”

“Your big shot intended is a cheap bastard. Five hundred dollars for the kid. You’d think his son would

be worth more than that to him, wouldn’t ya? The reward money didn’t go very far, I can tell you that.”

“Getting Tyler back meant everything to me,” she told him. “Thank you for finding him.”

He laughed. “It didn’t take a whole lot of searchin’, you twit. He was right here the whole time. I didn’t

have to find him. I left him here to start with.”

“
You
kidnapped Tyler?”

“Now Royce
was
behind that one. He promised me the cash if I pulled it off so that it looked like his

reward money had done the trick.” He laughed. “I had everyone fooled.”

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Eliza stared at him, absorbing that information. Royce had paid this man to kidnap Tyler and then return

him. “Why?”

“So he’d look like a hero, of course. His all-important money can make things happen. You were

impressed, weren’t you?”

She shook her head. No wonder Royce hadn’t lifted a finger to look for Tyler or seemed the least