Journey to Yesterday (24 page)

Norland dismounted. Taking up the reins of all three horses,
he led them to the stream to drink.

Alejandro moved upstream, and Shaye followed him. He lowered
himself slowly to the ground and took a drink, then buried his head in the
water.

Shaye quenched her thirst, then laid a hand on his arm. His
skin was hot.

“You’ve got a fever.”

He nodded. “Be careful, Shaye. If you get a chance to make a
run for it, take it.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Shaye…”

“Forget it! I’m not leaving you.”

His expression softened. Lifting his bound hands, he stroked
her cheek. “It damn near killed me when I thought I’d lost you.”

Reaching up, she covered his hand with her own. “I know. I
felt the same. I’ve never prayed so hard in my life.”

His smile, though faint, warmed her clear through. “I did a
little praying of my own.” He shook his head. “You’d probably have been better
off to stay in your own time, darlin’.”

“I know. But you’re here.”

She glanced up as Dawson appeared beside her.

“Let’s go,” he said.

He reached down to grab her arm, but she jerked away. “I
don’t need any help.”

“Suit yourself,” he growled.

She gained her feet, hovered near Alejandro while he stood
up.

A short time later, they were riding south, toward Bodie and
an uncertain future.

She had no idea what time it was when they reached Aurora.
Like Bodie, the town was apparently open all night.

Dawson drew rein in front of a hotel. Shaye slid to the
ground, her legs weary after hours of riding. Alejandro dismounted. He looked a
little unsteady. Going to stand beside him, she slipped her arm around his
waist.

Dawson dismounted and handed his reins to Norland. “Take the
horses down to the livery. I’ll get us a room.”

With a curt nod, Norland headed down the street.

Dawson jerked his chin toward the hotel. “Let’s go.”

Shaye followed Alejandro into the hotel, remaining close to
his side while Dawson asked for a room with twin beds. The clerk looked at
Alejandro, his gaze lingering on his bound hands.

“He’s my prisoner,” Dawson said.

The clerk cleared his throat. “Maybe we’d all rest better if
he spent the night in the jail.”

“Maybe so,” Dawson agreed, “but I’m not letting him out of
my sight.”

The clerk blew out a breath as he pulled a large,
leather-bound register out from under the counter. “Sign here.” He handed
Dawson a room key after Dawson signed the book. “Down the hall, third door on
the left.”

“Obliged,” Dawson said. He tossed the key in the air. “My
partner’ll be along in a few minutes. Name’s Norland. Let him know what room
we’re in.”

“Yes, sir, I surely will.”

Dawson nudged Alejandro. “Let’s go.”

The room was fairly large, with whitewashed walls. Dingy
white curtains hung at the window, faded brown spreads covered the beds. There
was a scarred rocking chair in one corner. She could see the handle of a blue
enamel chamber pot under the bed nearest her.

Alejandro crossed the floor, sank down in the rocking chair,
and closed his eyes.

Going to stand beside the chair, Shaye placed her hand on
his brow. “He needs a doctor.”

“A doctor!” Dawson snorted. “I ain’t shellin’ out no money
for a doctor. Anyway, the reward says dead or alive.”

“Why, you…” The words died in her throat when Alejandro took
hold of her hand.

“Let it go, Shaye.”

He was right. There was no point in arguing with a cretin
like Dawson. Kneeling, she lifted Alejandro’s shirt. Unwrapping the bandage
swathed around his middle, she stared at the ugly hole in his side. The skin
around the wound was red and swollen. “It looks infected,” she murmured.

Dawson shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder as Norland
entered the room and closed the door behind him.

“We can pay for the doctor,” she said firmly.

Dawson shook his head. “Forget it.”

“What’s going on?” Norland asked.

“She wants a doctor for the Injun.”

“At least let me go get something to treat the wound so it
doesn’t get worse.”

Norland snorted. “Why bother? He’s a dead man either way.”

Shaye swallowed her anger and her pride as she glanced up at
Dawson. “Please.”

Dawson jerked his head toward the door. “Go ahead.

“Are you crazy?” Norland said. “Are you forgetting there’s a
reward for her, too. What if she doesn’t come back this time?”

“She’ll be back, won’t ya, sweetheart?”

“If she doesn’t come back, I’m taking fifty bucks outta your
share.”

Dawson grinned. “She’ll be back.”

Norland’s gaze locked on Shaye’s. “He’d better be right,
cause if you’re not back here in twenty minutes, we’ll be collecting that
reward on a dead Injun.”

“I understand.” Shaye reached into Alejandro’s pocket and
withdrew a handful of greenbacks. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised.

“Remember what I told you,” Alejandro said softly.

“I remember,” she replied. Rising, she left the room. “I
remember,” she muttered as she crossed the lobby toward the door. “But if you
think I’m leaving you here like this, you’re sadly mistaken, Mr. Valverde.”

The doctor’s office was located in a small two-story house
at the end of Main Street. Shaye knocked on the door, and when no one answered,
she hammered her fist on the wood. “Damn!” She glanced up and down the street.
Where was the doctor? Well, she didn’t have time to wait for him, or to go
looking for him, either.

Chewing on her lower lip, she turned the doorknob, surprised
when the door swung open. She stuck her head through the opening. “Hello? Is
anyone home?”

No answer.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the foyer. Hard to
believe she had once prided herself on being a law-abiding citizen, she mused
ruefully. Since coming to the past, she had broken a man out of jail and stolen
a horse. Did they still hang people for that? And now she was guilty of
breaking and entering. Well, she amended, maybe just entering, since the door
had been unlocked.

She wished fleetingly for a flashlight as she moved through
the darkness. She grunted softly as her shin hit the corner of a low table. A
moment later, she came to a hallway. The first door opened into a small
bedroom, the next room held four beds. Two were occupied. The next door opened
on what looked like an examination room. A small lamp, turned low, illuminated
the whitewashed room.

Crossing the floor, she went to stand in front of a large
glass-fronted cupboard filled with a variety of jars and bottles.

She read the labels, looking for something that sounded
familiar. She spied a box of powders marked salicylate of sodium. She frowned,
trying to recall where she’d heard the name before. If she wasn’t mistaken,
salicylate of sodium had been a forerunner to aspirin. Opening the cupboard,
she took a couple of the packets and put them in her skirt pocket. She needed
something to fight the infection, but what? Nothing else looked or sounded
familiar. Where the heck was the doctor? She found a roll of bandages and took
that too, then, feeling thoroughly discouraged, she headed for the front door.
Pausing in the foyer, she dropped a couple of dollars on the table beside the
door to ease her conscience, then hurried out of the house.

Dawson and Norland were playing cards when she entered the
room. Alejandro was still sitting in the chair, his eyes closed.

Dawson glanced down at his pocket watch. “Didn’t think you
were coming back.”

“I said I would.”

She poured a glass of water from the pitcher on top of the
dresser, opened the aspirin packet and poured the powder into a glass. She
shook Alejandro’s shoulder gently. “Here, drink this.”

He looked at her through eyes glazed with pain and fever.
“Dammit, Shaye, why didn’t you leave?”

“Just drink this. We can discuss it later. And you know
why.”

A faint smile touched his lips. “Because you’re stubborn?”

“Exactly. Now drink this.”

He took a sip, grimaced, and drained the glass. “Don’t
suppose you brought me any whiskey?”

She shook her head. “Sorry.”

There was a knock at the door. Dawson and Norland exchanged
glances.

“Who do you suppose that is?” Dawson asked.

Norland shrugged. “Answer it and see. We’ve got nothing to
hide.”

The knocking came again, louder this time.

Dawson jerked his chin at Shaye. “See who it is.”

Rising, Shaye opened the door to find a tall, frail,
gray-haired man standing there.

“Yes?”

“Who the devil are you?” the man asked brusquely, “and what
were you doing coming out of my house?”

“Are you the doctor?” Shaye asked.

“Yes, and I saw you leaving my house. I want to know what
you were doing there.”

“Looking for you.” She took a deep breath, her nose
wrinkling at the smell of whiskey. “Guess I should have checked the saloons.”

The doctor glared at her. “Why were you looking for me?
Someone sick?”

Shaye could feel Dawson staring holes in her back, but she
didn’t care. Alejandro needed help and she intended to see he got it. “Yes,”
she said, hoping Dawson wouldn’t get mad and kill them all. “Come in.”

The doctor glanced at Dawson and Norland, nodded, and went
to stand beside Alejandro. “This man’s been shot.”

Dawson nodded. “He’s an escaped prisoner. We’re taking him
back to Bodie for trial.”

“I see. You,” the doctor said, speaking to Alejandro.
“Stretch out on the bed. I need to examine your wound.”

Norland started to object. Shaye could see it in his
expression, but Dawson silenced his partner with a glance.

Alejandro stood up. Shaye slipped her arm around his waist
and helped him to the bed, silently thanking God that the doctor had followed
her.

She stood next to the bed while the doctor examined the
wound. Muttering to himself about bullets and the stupidity of men, he swabbed
the area with carbolic, then probed the wound. A few moments later, he withdrew
a tiny piece of fabric. When he was certain there was no other foreign matter
in the wound, he filled a syringe with carbolic and water and flushed the
wound, then covered it with a compress soaked with carbolic.

“Don’t move him for a day or two,” the doctor ordered as he
snapped his bag shut.

“Thank you, Doctor. How much do I owe you?”

“Five dollars.” He handed her three packets of salicylate of
sodium. “Give him one of those every six hours. If the fever doesn’t go down,
come get me, and I’ll give you a couple more.”

Reaching into her pocket, Shaye withdrew the two packets she
had taken from his office. “I have some.”

He grunted softly. “You steal those from my office?”

“Yes. I left two dollars on a table.” She reached into her
pocket, counted out three dollars, and handed them to the doctor.

“Well, I guess that makes us square. Call me if you need
me.”

“Thank you.”

With a nod, he patted her shoulder. “He’ll be all right,
don’t worry.”

Shaye saw him out the door, then went to sit on the bed
beside Alejandro. “How do you feel? Can I get you anything?”

“I could use something to drink.”

She poured him a drink of water, lifted his head while he
drank. Setting the glass aside, she brushed a lock of hair from his brow. “Get
some sleep.”

“Just a damn minute!” Dawson said. “He can sleep on the
floor.”

She whirled on Dawson like a mother bear defending her
young. “He’s hurt. And you’re the one who hurt him.
You
sleep on the
floor.”

“The hell I will.”

Shaye glared at him, her hands fisted on her hips.

Norland chuckled. “Let him have the bed, Dawson. It’s only
one night. You take the other bed, and I’ll sleep in the chair.”

Dawson gave Shaye a push and she stumbled backward, sitting
down hard on the edge of the mattress. She looked up at him, suddenly
frightened, as he pulled a strip of leather out of his back pocket.

“Lie down,” he said curtly.

“Why?”

“Dammit, just do it!” he said, and then proceeded to tie her
hands to the brass headboard.

Moving to the other side of the bed, he jerked Alejandro’s
arms over his head and secured his hands to the headboard, as well.

“Is that necessary?” Shaye asked.

“Damn right. Now, go to sleep, both of you. We’re leaving
first thing in the morning.”

Norland extinguished the lamp, plunging the room into
darkness.

Shaye listened to the two men settle down for the night,
then scooted over, getting as close to Alejandro as possible. “Are you all
right?” she whispered.

“Sure. Dammit, I’m sorry about all this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“Shut the hell up, you two,” Dawson said irritably. “Or I’ll
plug ya both.”

* * * * *

Shaye woke slowly, wondering why her shoulders and wrists
hurt, and then she remembered the night before. She turned toward Alejandro,
and found him watching her.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Better.” His gaze moved over her, warm and filled with
love. “Don’t worry, darlin’. I’ll get you out of this.”

“I’m not worried.”

He grinned at her. “No need for you to be. I’m worrying
enough for both of us.”

She couldn’t help it. She smiled back at him.

She heard a distant clock chimed the hour…five…six…seven. A
short time later, Dawson entered the room carrying a covered tray. He set it on
the rickety table beside the bed. He untied Shaye’s hands, then drew his gun.
“Untie him,” he said, “and don’t try anything stupid. He’s wanted dead or
alive. I got no problem killing him here and now.”

She didn’t doubt him for a minute.

The knot was stubborn but she finally managed to get it
untied. Alejandro sat up slowly and rubbed his wrists. “Where’s Norland?”

“Getting the horses.”

Shaye uncovered the tray, revealing two plates of ham,
scrambled eggs, baking powder biscuits, and two cups of coffee, black.

She carried the tray to the bed and sat down, the tray
between herself and Alejandro.

“Hurry it up,” Norland said.

“The doctor said he shouldn’t be moved for a day or two.”

“Tough.”

“He needs to rest.”

Dawson snorted derisively. “I ain’t wasting my time
mollycoddling him. Ain’t no point in it anyways. He don’t have to be healthy to
face the hangman. Just alive.”

She stalled as long as she could. She took small bites,
chewed each one carefully. When she finished eating, she informed Dawson that
she needed to use the privy.

“Go ahead on,” he said.

She took as long as she dared in the privy, and when she
returned to the hotel, Norland was there.

She could hear Norland and Dawson arguing even before she
went inside. “What the hell’s taking so long?”

“That damn woman,” Dawson replied. “She’s more trouble than
she’s worth.”

She opened the door, putting an end to the argument. She
insisted on giving Alejandro another dose of salicylate of sodium before they
left; then tucked the remaining packets in her skirt pocket.

“You ready now?” Dawson growled.

She nodded, unable to think of any plausible excuse to delay
their departure. Norland tied Alejandro’s hands and they left the hotel. Their
horses were waiting outside.