The Iron Horseman (19 page)

“Thank
you for your time, ma’am.”

“Come
back and visit anytime.” She winked.

Levi
walked up to the stranger and patted him with both hands on the shoulders.

“Come
on, friend. It’s time to go.”

Elvin
looked up at Levi, his eyes red and glassy. “Where we goin’?” he asked, his
tongue and mouth moving in odd directions.

The
man was younger than Levi had expected him to be. They were probably near the
same age and he questioned whether or not the man had any qualifications.
Still, he was the only person who’d even had a hint of experience. Levi placed
the supposed doc’s arm up over his own head and lifted.

“I
think I’ll stay and have another drink.”

“Not
today, I’m afraid. Someone needs you.”

“Well,
why didn’t ya say so?” Elvin’s head bobbed around as he tried to look at Levi.
“You seem like a nice fella.” His eyes squinted as if trying to focus. “You
look awfully familiar. Do I know you?”

“Not
yet.”

“Hang
in there, Daddy. Mr. Redbourne went to get help.”

In
all her life, Cadence had never seen her father look so…weak. Heat emanated
from his body and every time he moved, he groaned in pain. Becoming a Pinkerton
had been her way of helping people, but right now she felt helpless. She knew
how to patch up a cut or two, but this was something completely different. For
the first time in a long time she didn’t know what to do.

“What
in the…” The deputy flung open the door.

Splash.

Cadence
stood up to see what commotion on the street had captured the officer’s
attention. Levi stood next to a barrel filled with water, holding and dunking
the head of an unkempt man. Cadence pushed her way past the stunned deputy.

“Levi,
what are you doing?” she asked, her hand hovering over her heart.

“This,”
Levi pulled the young man up by the hair, “is the only chance your father has.”

She
stared at him, then turned and glanced back into the small little jail cell
where she could still see her father huddled on the bed. She jumped down onto
the street next to them.

“How
is
this
going to give my father a chance?”

“He’s
a doctor.” Levi swung the drunkard around to face him. “There is a man in there
who needs your help, Elvin,” he said hunching down as if trying to get the man
to look him in the eye.

He’s…the
doctor?

The
man ran his shaky hands through his wet, dark hair. “I can’t. Look at me.”

“You
have to. A man’s life depends on it.” Levi helped Elvin up onto the boardwalk
and gave him a little push into the jailhouse. He turned to Cadence. “He’ll
need some supplies. I’ll just be a minute.”

Elvin
took another wobbly step toward the cell and caught himself on the metal bars
of the still open door. “I can do this,” he said as if trying to convince
himself. When he looked at his patient, the look on his face sobered quickly.

“Eamon?
What have you gone and done to yourself?”

Eamon
smiled weakly. “I seem to have gotten myself shot. The other one didn’t make it
out so good.”

“Daddy,
really.” Cadence darted a look at the deputy who didn’t seem to have heard the
comment. She was just grateful that he was allowing this man, Elvin, to at least
look at her father. She stepped closer, the pungent stench of spirits piercing
the air.

Elvin
turned to Cadence. “I’m going to need a bottle of liquor.”

“Mr…Elvin.
I hardly think that now is the time for spirits.”

“Not
for me. For him,” Elvin responded with a gesture toward her father. “For the
wound,” he clarified. “We’re going to have to reopen it.”

“I’ll
get it,” the deputy volunteered, much to Cadence’s surprise.

“Thank
you,” she mouthed to him.

The
three of them sat there in awkward silence until Cadence couldn’t stand it
anymore.

“So,
Elvin, where did you study medicine?”

He
sat up straight and attempted to straighten his askew cravat. “Harvard Medical
School. Back East.”

Cadence
wasn’t sure what she had thought he would say, but that was not it.

“I
graduated top of my class.”

He
didn’t seem much older than she.

“And
when was that exactly.”

Elvin
pulled a gold-crested pocket watch from his vest and clicked it open. He closed
one eye and looked up toward the ceiling. “I’d imagine it’s been a couple a
years now.”

Nothing
like a straight answer.

When
Levi returned with a satchel over his shoulder and a crate of supplies in his
arms, Cadence breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped through the doorway and she
couldn’t help but notice the chiseled cut of his arms. Levi set the crate down
on the floor next to Elvin and pulled the strap of the satchel over his head
and set it on the end of the mattress in the cell. When he opened it, he pulled
out the bottle of the white substance he’d used on her cuts and handed it to
the doc.

“Hey,”
Elvin said holding up Levi’s poultice, “I’ve seen something like this before.”

The
deputy returned holding up a bottle little more than half full. “Will brandy
do?” he asked. He stood behind Cadence and held it out.

Elvin
took it and his hands started to shake. He stared at the bottle, then swiped
the back of his hand across his mouth.

Cadence
placed both of her hands over his and they stopped trembling. “You can do
this.” She looked at her father. “You have to do this.” She pulled her knife
from the strap on her leg and placed it in her palm extending it out to him.

Levi
laid her father down flat on the bed, then stepped from the room to grab the
deputy’s wooden backed chair. He lifted it over their heads and turned it
backward at her father’s feet and straddled it.

The
young doc took a deep breath and gently picked up the blade by the leather
wrapped handle. With a strong exhalation he removed the top from the liquor
bottle and poured a generous amount over Eamon’s abdomen, then handed the drink
up to his patient.

Her
father declined with a slow shake of his head. “Never did care for the stuff.”

He
was getting weaker, his lids now barely able to stay open. Cadence took hold of
his hand and squeezed.

“I
love you, Daddy,” she whispered, fighting to keep the tears that threatened at
bay.

“Hold
tight, Walker. We’ll have you feeling better in no time.” Levi winked at
Cadence and a calm reassurance washed over her.

“Thank
you,” she whispered.

Thank
you.

Levi
awoke to the sun penetrating the bright blue curtains adorning the windows of
his room. It had been a long night, but sleep had eluded him for most of it. It
had taken a while, but he’d finally been able to convince the deputy to allow
him to bring Eamon over to the hotel to sleep in a real bed.

He
glanced over to the older man, at last resting peacefully, then glanced at the
man sleeping in the chair next to the bed. Despite Elvin’s condition, it had
appeared as if he’d done all he could.

Every
muscle in Levi’s body begged for more sleep, but he dragged himself from the
warmth of the patchwork quilt he’d lain beneath and placed his bare feet flat
on the cold floor. The nippy air raised the hairs on his arms. He rubbed his
hands together and shook himself free of the chill.

After
he’d pulled on his trousers and boots, he grabbed his shirt and vest from the
end of the bed and strung his arms through the sleeves. Not wanting to wake the
others, he carefully made his way across the room and opened the door. Cadence
sat with her head leaning up against the frame, a soft snore buzzing against
the otherwise quiet of the morning.

Levi
dropped down onto his haunches. She looked so innocent, so beautiful, lying
there with a peaceful expression on her face. He chuckled a little thinking
about how the feisty woman would respond if he called her innocent or peaceful.

She
was going to wake up with a crick in her neck if she stayed there. He reached
underneath her legs and lifted her up into his arms.

Cadence
stirred.

“Morning,
sunshine,” he said with a smile.

She
turned and looked up at him, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “You can put me
down, Redbourne.”

Levi
dropped his arm holding her feet and they fell to the ground. Her fingers
touched the bare skin of his chest, leaving a tingling sensation in their wake,
and he cursed himself for not having buttoned up his shirt before. Her palm
flattened against him and instinctively he covered her hand with his. She
looked up at him, her eyes filled with the catch lights from the morning rays.

Damn,
she is beautiful.

“Cade,
I…” He bent down to whisper in her ear, what could he say that wouldn’t make
him sound like a fool?

Without
warning, Cadence raised up onto her toes, placed her hand against his cheek,
and kissed him. When she pulled back, her thumb dawdled against his mouth and
she smiled, biting her bottom lip.

“My
father?” she asked quietly.

“Sleeping.”
Levi cleared his throat, fighting the urge to touch his mouth, surprised at the
sensations that lingered there.

Cadence
was quiet for a moment. She folded her lips together.

“Good.
We’ve only got five days before we have to make it to Promontory Summit. I
figure that gives us little more than twenty-four hours to find out what
happened here and why the town wants to hang my father.”

“Maybe
we should get some breakfast before we start pulling apart this already dying
town for clues?”

“But—“

“Come
on. I’ll race you down the stairs.” Levi dodged past her and started to run.

Cadence’s
giggle followed him all the way to the dining room where several other patrons
already sat eating scrambled eggs, biscuits, and salty ham.

The
incredible smells coming from the kitchen triggered Levi’s mouth to water. He
realized it had been nearly twenty-four hours since he or Cadence had had
anything real to eat.

“You
must be hungry,” he said, guilt filling his empty belly.

“Famished,”
she replied. “It smells so good.”

There
was an empty table at the edge of the room just beneath the window.

“Come
on.” He motioned for her to follow him.

When
they reached the window, he pulled out a chair for her, then joined her at the
table.

“Where
is he?” The front door to the dining area of the hotel swung open and two large
men, dressed in heavy canvas slickers, burst into the room, guns drawn.

Guests
scrambled to their feet and backed up against the far wall.

Cadence’s
hand shot to her hip where Levi guessed she had a gun hidden in the folds of
her skirt. They exchanged a glance. She nodded. Her back was to them, but she
had an instinct when it came to trouble.

Levi
stood up from the table. “Can I help you gentlemen?”

They
both turned their guns on him. “You Redbourne?” the man with the long scraggly
hair asked, his eyes squinted as he moved toward them.

“Who’s
asking?”

“Merle
said we’d be able to find you here. Said that you convinced him to let that
scalawag Walker out of his cell.” The man took another step toward them.

Cadence
carefully pulled the gun from her dress and placed it on the table, her fingers
still around the grip and on the trigger.

Levi
moved to the side of the table, his hip at her shoulder. “I did. The man was
dying. It seemed the right thing to do.”

The
man holstered his gun and stepped forward with his hand extended.

“Name’s
Deputy U.S. Marshal Keaton Stevens. I’m a friend of your brother’s.”

Levi
shook the man’s hand. “I thought for a minute there that we were going to have
an issue.” He noted out of the corner of his eye how Cadence quickly returned
her weapon to its hiding place before anyone saw.

The
patrons in the dining room all started moving back to their tables, muttering
amongst themselves.

“My
friend Jake and I came as soon as we got word that the people of this town were
planning on hanging a Pinkerton.”

“Are
you here to stop it?” Cadence ground back her seat against the floor and stood
up next to Levi to face the Marshals.

Both
men removed their hats.

“We’re
here to see that he gets a fair trial,” Marshal Stevens said. “You know him?”

Cadence
looked up at Levi and then back at him. “He’s my father.”

“Ah.”
The Marshal looked down at the hat he twisted in his hands. “Well, I figure we
should go check in on the patient. What room?” he asked Levi.

“Which
brother?” Levi asked. “You said you’re a friend of my brother’s. Which
brother?”

Stevens
laughed loudly. “You’re just like him. Always suspicious. Rafe. I know Rafe
Redbourne. When the deputy across the way told us that the prisoner had been
taken from his cell to sleep in a cozy bed by a big fella named Redbourne, I
knew it couldn’t be a coincidence. It appears respect and…unconventional run in
the family.”

Levi
smiled. “You
do
know my brother.”

Stevens
and Jake both chuckled.

Thank
you, Lord.

“Now,
I don’t know what y’all are doin’ around here, but your scarin’ my guests,” a thin
little dark-haired woman with streaks of gray bustled in between the men.
“Either sit yourselves down and eat something or turn around and get out of my
hotel.”

Levi
had to admit, the woman had guts.

“Excuse
us, ma’am. We’re just here to call on one of your…guests and we’ll be on our
way.”

With
the Marshals in town, Levi saw the light to an otherwise dreary situation. He
doubted that Eamon would be awake enough to talk to them right now, but at
least he would have a fair chance. Levi nodded toward the stairs where he and
Cadence had raced.

“Second
door on the left.”

Cadence
moved to go with them, but Levi stopped her with a hand in the crook of her
arm. “You need to trust them.”

“Trust
them? How do I trust men I just met?” Her chin lifted defiantly.

“You
trusted me.”

Cadence
opened her mouth to respond, but somehow it appeared as if the words had left
her because she shut it again. She jerked her arm from his grasp and marched
out the door the lawmen had come in through.

Guess
we’re not eating.
He dropped his shoulders, closed his eyes briefly, and shook his head with a
slight movement.
Where could she possibly be going?

Levi
threw some coins down on the table and started after her. When he reached the
street, a splash of purple disappeared into the mercantile. He dodged around a
few people and slipped into the store behind a display of fresh goods.

“I’d
like to purchase a hammer,” Cadence told the clerk on the other side of the
counter.

The
man nodded, placing a stub of a pencil behind his ear. He turned around and
pulled the tool from a bin attached to the wall.

“Do
you have anything a little bigger?” she asked when he placed the instrument
down on the bar in front of her.

What
was she doing?

“I
have a sledge. But you, little lady, would have a hard time lifting the thing.”

“I’ll
take it.” She placed a bill on the counter.

Levi
stepped out from behind the display of wooden crates and joined her.

“A
sledge?” he asked with a quiet voice, working to keep a chuckle at bay.

“Somebody’s
got to tear that thing down,” she turned to look at the gallows haunting the
street, “before someone gets hurt.”

Levi
wouldn’t put it past her. He could only imagine the reaction she’d get at the
first blow and determined she would not be purchasing a sledge today.

The
clerk returned with the heavy hammer and set it onto the counter with a thud.

“The
lady’s changed her mind,” Levi said, guiding Cadence away from the weapon.

“No
I haven’t,” she called back over her shoulder. She stopped moving and attempted
to twist away from him.

The
last thing Levi needed was for her to get the townsfolk, who were already
determined to hang her father, all riled up.

“Levi,”
she said, her jaw tight in her resolve, “I’m warning you.”

Her
judgment had obviously been clouded with emotion.

Levi
reached down and scooped her up and over his shoulder. He tipped his hat at the
clerk, whose shoulders raised lightly with a chuckle before pulling his pencil
from his ear and returning to the paper he’d been studying when they’d walked
in.

“Levi
Redbourne! You let me down this instant!”

As
they neared the stables, the liveryman dumped a fresh bucket of water into the
horse’s water trough.

“Don’t you dare,” Cadence cautioned, the slight
quiver in her voice masked with firm resolve.

Levi
fought the urge to a repeat performance. He pulled her from his shoulder and
set her down next to the drinking trench.

Cadence
punched him in the shoulder.

Ow.

“Cadence,”
he lifted her chin to look at him, “do you really think tearing down those
blasted gallows will stop a determined lot from seeing a hanging?” He threw a
hand through his hair. “You’re not going to do your father any favors if the
town sees you as a mad woman on a mission.”

She
looked away, smoothing her skirt.

“You’re
right,” she said with a huff. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I need
to start thinking like a Pinkerton and not like his emotionally distraught
daughter.”

You
said it,
Levi
thought with a smirk. He raised a brow.

“There’s
not much time.” Cadence started walking back toward the hotel. “I still have a
job to do. Let’s get my father taken care of and then I have to get to end of
track. There’s more at stake than we can afford.” She pulled open the door and
disappeared inside.

“She’s
quite the spitfire, isn’t she?”

Levi
spun around to see his brother, Rafe, leaning against the fenced corral, his
booted feet crossed at the ankles and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Rafe?”
Levi said incredulously.

His
brother’s broad grin widened as he pushed himself away from the railing and
made up the two steps between them. They gripped each other in a firm embrace,
then stepped apart.

“What
are you doing here? How did you know where to find me?”

“Honestly,
I had no idea you were here. I thought you were headed out to end of track. I’ve
been following a couple of thugs for a few days now and they led me here.”

Alarm
bells went off in Levi’s head.

“Thugs?”

“There’s
a five hundred dollar bounty on the one impersonating a friend of mine, a
Marshal. And another hundred on his quiet friend.”

Levi
shot a glance at the restaurant door.
Cadence.
Levi spun around and
darted for the hotel door.

“What
is it, Levi?” Rafe called after him.

“Upstairs,”
he said over his shoulder in a gruff whisper. He feared speaking any louder for
fear of backing the men into doing something drastic.