CHAPTER 35

They traveled slowly, but the injured horse didn’t improve.

“You don’t have any other choice, Jared,” Silver told him late on the second day when they’d stopped for another rest. “We can’t continue with that horse. It will have to be replaced.”

It was hot—too hot to be hungry, too hot to think clearly. Sweat trickled down her back. Her muscles ached. The icy mountain stream where she’d bathed two nights before was a distant memory.

“There has to be a better way than me leaving you and Dean alone with him.” Jared jerked his head toward Matt Carlton.

The prisoner had been secured, as usual, with a strong, narrow chain that went through the cuffs on the prisoner’s wrists and then wrapped around a tree. It was closed with a padlock. The setup allowed Carlton some freedom of movement and a modicum of privacy when necessary but no way of escape.

“There isn’t,” Silver replied.

“I don’t like it.”

“Like it or not, it’s the best option. Unless we want to sit here for a couple of weeks. Otherwise we have to have another horse, and you are the one who has to get it for us.”

She could tell he wanted to protest further. She could also tell the moment when he knew she was right. There was no other way. They had to keep Carlton out of sight until they reached Colorado. That meant Jared would have to go alone to the nearest farm or ranch or town and make a trade for the horse that was lame. Silver couldn’t do it. Even she realized she was safer here than riding alone on the trail. At least here she knew who the enemy was—and he was chained to a tree.

“All right, Silver. But you and Dean keep your distance from him.” Again he motioned with his head toward Carlton. “Don’t remove those handcuffs. Not for any reason. No matter what he says to you. Do you understand me? Not even if a forest fire blazes through here and burns him to a crisp.”

“I won’t remove the handcuffs. I promise. We’ll be fine.”

“You’ve got plenty of water and enough food to see you through until I’m back. By nightfall, if all goes well.”

“We’ll be fine,” she repeated.

Jared’s eyes studied her. So long that she wondered if he might say something more. Something personal. But he didn’t. At last he turned and swung onto the pinto. “Keep the revolver handy.” He turned his horse away, leading the bay behind him.

Silver watched until he’d disappeared from sight—and missed him almost at once. A hot breeze whispered in the treetops. Normally she liked the sound, but not today. Today it sounded lonely, and she felt isolated from the rest of the world.

“He’ll be lucky if he’s able to make a trade today,” Carlton said. “He might not even be back until tomorrow.”

“He’ll be back.” She stiffened her spine. “Jared said he would be back today, and he will be. He’s a man of his word.” She turned toward the prisoner. “I’ll get us some hardtack to eat.”

“Where’s the boy?”

“Trying to catch a fish or two.”

“So it’s just you and me for now.”

“Be quiet.” She opened the flap on the saddlebag and peered inside.

“Afraid of me, aren’t you, Miss Matlock? You should be. I’m not weak the way my brother was. Bob was an idiot. Wouldn’t have taken him along with me to Virginia City, except I needed some traveling money, and he had a way to get it.”

Silver looked at him again, another realization dawning. “You’re the reason Bob robbed my father. He did it for you. Because you told him to do it. You coerced him, didn’t you?”

Carlton shrugged. “He was always afraid of me.”

“Did he know you were a cold-blooded killer?”

One corner of his mouth curled upward in a smirk. “Doubt it. He was never that smart. But he was afraid of me. He always did what I told him to do.”

Dean walked into camp, fishing line empty. Silver was thankful to put an end to the exchange with Matt Carlton.

“No luck?” she asked the boy, although the answer was obvious.

“Nope.”

Carlton continued as if there’d been no interruption. “I’ll get off, you know. The law won’t be able to hold me. There isn’t enough evidence, and I’ll hire the best of attorneys to make sure I go free.”

Dean whirled on the prisoner. “You won’t get off. I know you done it. I know you killed my ma and pa.”

“Did you see me do it, kid?”

Scowling, Dean shook his head.

“Then you don’t know whether I did it or not.”

Would Carlton get off? Would he go free for lack of evidence? The thought sickened Silver.

Jared guided the pinto down the mountain, moving slowly for the sake of the bay. If he remembered correctly, there were several farms outside of a small town in the valley to the north. He should be able to reach the first of them by two o’clock. The bay was a prime piece of horseflesh. The gelding would be as good as new after a week of rest. With any luck, Jared would be able to trade for a sound horse and be back at their camp by suppertime.

He tried not to think about leaving Silver and Dean alone with Carlton, especially not overnight. If anything happened to Silver or that boy . . .

He asked the horses for a little more speed.