The Kissing Stars (31 page)

Gabe nodded slowly.

“Good.” Satisfaction swept across Doc’s face before he continued, “Son, I want you to know that I’ve not left the Big Bend area since my arrival in mid-September. I never broke anyone out of prison. I never set any fires along the railroad spur, and I certainly never pretended to kidnap myself so my loved ones would believe they needed to rescue me.”

He shot a glare at Captain Robards and announced, “But I know who did. What I don’t know is why. How about an answer, Lionel? Why did you do it?”

“Me?” Lionel Robards laughed. “What nonsense is this? We have you dead to rights, Cameron. Bodine named you as his accomplice, and if that isn’t enough the wanted poster out of Huntsville describes you down to the mole on your left cheek.” To Gabe, the Ranger said, “Your gun needs to be aimed at him, Montana. Cover me and I’ll disarm him.”

“Point your weapon at him, Gabe.” Doc’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “He’s the guilty one. I don’t claim to know how you managed it all, Robards, but you are the guilty party.”

“Prove it.”

Doc grimaced “I can’t. But since Will arrived and relayed his story, I have thought the matter through. You are the only logical suspect.”

“Logical suspect” Lionel Robards shook his head. “Give it up, Cameron. You are a fool if you think anyone here will believe you. Even your staunchest supporter can’t deny the truth. Right, Tess?”

She opened her mouth to deny the Ranger, but to her dismay, she couldn’t. After all that transpired, she couldn’t say she didn’t have her doubts about Doc.

Tears pooled in her eyes, then slipped down her cheeks, significant for being the very first tears she’d shed this awful day despite all the trying events. Softly, she informed Gabe, “Bodine said his partner was a scientist who spent all his time studying pictographs in these caves.”

“No, Mama,” Will cried as Doc shook his head. “It’s a lie. You’re wrong. Bodine was lying.”

He rounded on Gabe. Tears flowed freely down the boy’s face as he faced his father and snapped, “You! What is it you’ve been asking me for days? To give you a chance? Well I’m saying you need to give
him
a chance. You give
your father
a chance, and maybe I’ll give you one in return.”

Tess sucked in a quick breath. “Will. Son. You don’t understand.”

“I understand this. If you point your gun at my grandfather, Whip Montana, then I’ll never be your son again!”

CHAPTER 17

“
I’LL NEVER BE YOUR son again.
”

It was like hearing words straight out of the past. Gabe’s gaze went immediately to Monty. Yes, he could see it in his father’s eyes that the older man remembered when his own son screamed the same six words during a violent fit of rage. He’d kept his promise, too. Never forgetting. Never forgiving.

Gabe spoke his first words since entering the cave. “Funny how the apple doesn’t fell far from the tree, even if the tree lives in an entirely different world.”

“Montana!” Robards demanded, “What the hell are you talking about? Hurry up, it’ll be dark soon.” He lifted his gun higher, pointing it right at Monty’s head. “Put down the gun, old man.”

Will sobbed in fear and frustration.

Understanding poured from Monty Cameron’s gaze into Gabe’s for a moment longer, then he shifted his stare to the Ranger. “You need killing, Robards. Go ahead and shoot me, but I’ll get you, too. I’ll go to my grave thinking it a job well done.”

“Me?” the Ranger scoffed. He quit arguing with Monty and spoke to the rest of them. “If anybody needs killing it’s him. He’s the one who has been preying upon and making fools of his own grandson and the other people you care about.” Tempering his voice, he added “I know this is difficult for you, Will, and God knows I didn’t want you and your mother to be here to see it. But son, you know what the evidence says. I’m a lawman. I must do my job.”

“The evidence is wrong!” Will appealed not to Robards, but to Gabe. “Doc figured it out. Robards did it. Robards made it look the way it does.”

“Why?” Tess asked.

“Because he’s sweet on you, Mama.”

“What does that have to do with framing Doc?”

Monty answered. “You’ve been sniffing after Tess for months, Robards. Once her husband turned up, you needed a handy way to get rid of him. Hence his old enemy. Bodine was supposed to kill my son, wasn’t he?”

“That’s the craziest thinking I’ve ever heard old man. Your argument doesn’t hold water. For one thing, if I wanted Montana dead I could have killed him anytime. I wouldn’t have had to go through such an elaborate game to make it happen. But what really shoots holes in your theory is the fact that I’m the one who killed Bodine. If I wanted him to get rid of Montana, why would I have done that?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t ascertained your motives as of yet, although I am certain I will deduce them eventually.”

“You’re not gonna have an eventually if you don’t shut up,” the Ranger snapped in frustration. He fiddled with a clip on his gun belt, then tossed a set of handcuffs toward Gabe.

Gabe didn’t catch them, choosing instead to let them fall to the ground. Despite all the evidence, despite his own long-nursed anger toward his father, he wasn’t quite yet ready to judge him guilty. He needed the answer to one question first.

“Monty, why did you lie to me about knowing where I could find Tess?”

Monty winced, then heaved a heavy sigh and confessed. “I was selfish. When I ran into you that first time after so many years, I could see how much you hated me. I knew Tess still cared for you, and I worried that if you two got back together, you wouldn’t let her and the boy have anything to do with me. I love them and I was afraid of losing them.”

“Oh, Doc,” Tess said sadly.

He brought his free hand up and wiped it across his mouth. “So when you asked me if I knew how you could find Tess, I lied. I knew what I did was wrong, and every so often I’d get to feeling guilty about it. That’s when I’d go visit you again. Every time I’d plan to tell you. Every time I’d take the coward’s way out.” He paused briefly, then added “I wasn’t much of a father to you, was I, son?”

Will’s eyes went round with disillusionment “He asked how to find my mother and you told him you didn’t know? And you were living with us?”

“It was a damned rotten thing to do,” Gabe agreed.

“Which proves my point,” Robards said. “Will, see what kind of man your Doc really is?”

The question hung in the air like a bad smell.

And Gabe made up his mind, shifting the aim of his Colt.

He aimed right at the heart of Captain Lionel Robards of the Texas Rangers.

“I do see what kind of man my father really is, Robards,” Gabe said. “Monty isn’t perfect; he never has been. But then, neither am I. My father is weak, true. But he’s not evil. The acts that have brought us to this place at this time are just that—
evil
. Throw down your gun, Robards. I’m placing you under arrest.”

Robards laughed. “What sort of nonsense is this? You can’t arrest me.”

“I just did.”

“You’re not even a Texas Ranger.”

“Actually, I am. I recently accepted an appointment from Governor Ross and my job is to clean up the ranks of the corps. Guess I’ll start with you.”

Robards’s eyes blazed. “This is ridiculous. You can’t believe what that old man is saying. He’s a liar.”

“Yeah, but he’s my father and I love him. If you love someone, you have to accept the bad along with the good. Now drop your gun, Robards, or I will blow a hole in you.”

Will took a step toward Gabe, his expression filled with wonder and disbelief. “So you really do believe him? You really think my grandpap is innocent?”

“Of these crimes, yes.”

“Wow.” Will’s face lit up and he altered his direction, headed for his grandfather, inadvertently blocking Doc’s aim at the nefarious Ranger.

Robards took advantage of the opportunity. In a flurry of movement he took a shot at Gabe and launched himself toward Will, grabbing the boy back against him. Gabe, having seen the same opening, was already in motion so the bullet only grazed him, cutting a bloody, stinging path across his upper arm. He made a lunge for his son, missed him. Then stopped cold when the outlaw placed the barrel of his gun against the boy’s temple.

“Get back,” Robards shouted, his façade of civility dropping away like whiskers from a razor. “I’ll kill him. I will.”

Gabe heard Tess’s whimper of fear, but he never took his gaze off Robards. “Let him go. Let’s keep this between you and me.”

“You and me? This has never been between you and me. You’re a pawn, not a player, Montana. Yes, I wanted your wife, and using Bodine to get her was an enjoyable part of my strategy. But Tess wasn’t the reason for everything. No woman is worth that much.”

“Then what is?”

“The valley. The Aurora Springs valley. Once the railroad spur is completed and I’m able to transport items in and out of the valley, I’ll have the perfect storage facility for my treasures. I won’t need to make trips down to this armpit of the world.”

“Now it makes sense,” Monty said. “All that stuff in that tunnel is yours.”

“So you found it, did you? Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later if I didn’t either get you away from your Big Bend tunnel explorations or move my riches to a better spot.”

Monty spoke to Gabe. “I found chest after chest of valuables in a tunnel not far from here.”

Pieces of the puzzle were falling into place for Gabe, too, and he used the knowledge in hopes of distracting Robards enough for Gabe to make a jump for Will. “You’re the bandit Mack Hunter is looking for. You’re the fellow who runs the ring of thieves preying upon the railroad and stagecoaches that pass through West Texas.” While he spoke, Gabe slowly moved closer.

Robards nodded as if accepting his due, then began backing away. “I’ve eluded the law for four years now. This time the game failed to play smoothly, but do you honestly think I’ll allow you to ruin it for me?”

Tess spoke up from somewhere behind Gabe on his left. “We won’t ruin anything, Lionel. We won’t say a word to anyone if you’ll only let Will go.”

“Tess, Tess, Tess. I know you won’t say anything to anyone. You won’t have the opportunity. As much as the notion pains me, I’m afraid you’ll be dead.” With that, he took his gun away from Will’s head long enough to fire once again at Gabe. This time, Gabe didn’t get out of the way. This time he didn’t have to.

Because the moment Lionel Robards shifted his Colt, Monty Cameron dove for him. He took the bullet that was meant for his son and fell in a heap at Gabe’s feet.

Oh, God
. Gabe froze at the sight of the bloodstain spreading across Monty Cameron’s side.

In that distracted moment, everything happened at once. Will dropped to his knees beside his grandfather and hollered, “Doc!”

Robards lurched forward and grabbed Tess by the waist. She screamed and Gabe’s head snapped up just as the Ranger dragged her into the yawning darkness at the back of the cave.

Gabe glanced from the spot where she disappeared back to his father. “Go after her,” Monty said, his voice splintering with pain. “There’s an exit to another cave. He’ll take her into the maze of tunnels and well never find her.”

“But I can’t leave you to…”

“It’s a flesh wound. Pressure will stop the bleeding. Go get her and bring her back to take care of me. Nobody nurses like our Tess.”

Gabe blew out a harsh breath. “All right. Will, you stay with your grandfather.”

“No, I’d better go with you. I know the tunnels a little bit. You could get lost.”

“Go, both of you,” Monty said.

And so they did. Pausing only long enough to light a pair of torches, Will led the way deeper into the cave, then through a half-hidden slip into a second cavern. At first they were able to follow the sounds of Tess’s struggle, but as the chase continued, the way ahead grew disturbingly silent and increasingly dark. “Hold on a minute, Will,” he said. “Let’s stop and listen.”

Gabe closed his eyes and listened hard. The air in the cave smelled dank and moldy; the silence deafening. Still nothing. Just as he lifted a foot to take a step, the crack of a gunshot echoed like a nightmare off the tunnel’s stone wall. “Son?” Gabe shouted.

“I’m fine. What about you, Pa?”

Pa
. He wanted to savor the sound, but he didn’t have time. He had to get to Tess.

If only he knew which way to go.

Fear fluttered like a million butterflies in his gut as they searched the tunnels for a good ten minutes until abruptly, they reached a dead end. “Oh, no,” Will moaned. “I thought this was the way out. I got us lost.”

“We’re not lost” Gabe replied. “We just missed a turn somewhere. Let’s retrace our steps. We’ll find it.”

He turned around and led the way back from where they had come, assuming his son followed on his heels.

It proved to be a dangerous assumption. When he spoke to Will a few minutes later, the boy didn’t reply.

Somewhere along the way, his son had disappeared.

THE INSTANT Will emerged from the tunnel onto the dusk-darkened bluff, Tess took advantage of Lionel’s momentary distraction and lunged for the gun.

“You bitch,” he cried as she clawed and bit and kicked during the struggle. Then to her dismay, she felt her son join in the battle.

Lionel wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. He’d proved that a few minutes earlier when she’d jumped him the first time and he’d shot at her, but missed, thank God. Now, terror gave added strength to her movements. She would save her son from this monster if it was the last thing she did.

Will beat at Robards’s back. Tess felt the cold steel of the Colt brush her fingers. The Ranger’s grip on the gun was fierce, but a mother’s protective instincts gave her strength she’d never known before.

She got a grip on the barrel. He landed a close-fisted blow to her face and her head snapped back. But she didn’t let go. He hollered when Will kicked his leg out from under him. All three of them went down.

Then the gun went off. All three of them froze.

Tess felt no pain, but something warm seeped through her blouse onto her skin. She smelled the stink of blood.
Oh, dear Lord, please.
“
Will?
”

“Mama? Are you hit?”

“No. You, Will, what of you?”

“I’m fine.”

Relief gushed over her like water from a barrel. Tess rolled off the bodies beneath her. Will scooted out from underneath the Ranger.

Lionel Robards didn’t move.

“Aw hell, Mama. We killed him.”

For the first time ever, Tess didn’t correct her son for cursing. Two men dead. She looked away, noticing the sun setting in the west. This day couldn’t end soon enough for her. Glancing down, she saw that blood covered her shirtwaist.

Will stood then helped her to her feet. She wanted to hug him, to pull him into her arms and never let him go, but she refrained from doing so. She wouldn’t soil her son with the blood of Lionel Robards.

Getting away from the body, they walked to the edge of the bluff and stood looking down at the Rio Grande that flowed black and fast below them. “Lots of water in the river,” Will observed, breaking the strained silence. “Must be all that rain we’ve been having. Look at it chum through the canyon.”

“That’s not the normal Rio,” Tess agreed, glad to think about anything but the experience they’d just survived. “A person’d risk drowning if they tried to swim it now.”

“Nah, not if they paid attention. I could swim it, I bet. I’m getting much better at swimming. I only had one close call all summer long, remember?”

Gabe’s weary voice sounded from behind them. “Please tell me you’re not going to try. I don’t have another year of life span to waste on being scared. I swear that last gunshot took a full decade off me.”

Apparently unconcerned about the blood, Gabe swept both Tess and Will into his arms and held them so tight that Tess could hardly breathe. She didn’t care. It felt so good to be held. Good to be safe.

How long they stood there, she couldn’t say. Not too long; Doc was on all their minds. All she knew was that one minute she was basking in her family’s love, and the next minute the nightmare had returned.

Maniacal laughter floated past them. They whirled around. Lionel Robards was on his knees, one hand holding his bloody abdomen, the other holding his Colt. “Guess what? I ain’t dead yet. Joke’s on you.”

A spasm of pain flitted across his face, but the gun hand didn’t waver.

“Robards,” Gabe said, starting forward. “Let me help you. Put the gun down.”