Robert stomped through the forest, finding the homestead just past sunset. The trees only heightened the darkness hovering around him, but he was too determined to pay any mind to it. He came for the money, and he was going to get the money, no matter what he had to do to get it.
Entering the clearing with his gun drawn, he scanned the buildings, wondering which of the unfit shacks could be the cabin. If not for the light coming from inside one of them, he might have missed it.
His grip tightened on the gun. He hoped Prudence was in there, believing she was safe, that she had succeeded in outwitting him a second time. A smile crossed his face.
He was going to get an immense amount of pleasure out of torturing her before he killed her. He’d make her suffer greatly for her deception. Like a fool, he’d believed she was so dumb that she had been frightened and would be willing to help him get the money.
But after finding Wilson dead, his throat slit and lying in a pool of his own blood, he knew she had played him for a fool. His fist clenched at his other side. When he was done with her, she’d curse the day she was born. She would beg him to end her.
With a glance around the property, he was assured that the only thing outside besides him were animals, and those were in the barn or fenced in.
He made his way to the cabin and peeked into the window. A lit kerosene lamp was on the table, but he saw no signs of her.
His eyebrows furrowed then his gaze went to the staircase. She had to be up there. Maybe she was even with one of the outlaws, or maybe all of them. Who knew what perversions people out here practiced? There were no restraints here like there were back East. Such an uncivilized group of people.
With another glance behind him, he was confident no one was around and opened the door. He shut the door and listened for any sounds that would tell him someone was upstairs but only heard the crackling of the fire and a neighing from the barn.
His footsteps fell silent on the floor as he crossed the room. He waited but still didn’t hear anything. She must be asleep. He climbed the steps, and it took his eyes a moment to adjust to the dark room. The bed was empty. No one was there. That was strange. Why would a fire be on or a lamp be lit if someone wasn’t here?
“Never mind,” he muttered.
It only meant he had to work fast. They could return at any moment. He stepped into the loft and shoved aside the curtains to let the moonlight in. Good. Now he could see better. And there was Prudence’s trunk. He put the gun in his holster and rushed over to it. He lifted the lid and saw Prudence’s things folded neatly.
A light tap came from downstairs so he paused and waited. Nothing. He turned his attention back to the clothes and rummaged through them, lifting them out and shaking them. But nothing. No coins or greenbacks. No certificates or anything else.
Cursing he threw them out of the trunk. The money had to be somewhere. Maybe it was under the clothes. He ripped the lining of the trunk and searched through it but still, nothing.
Nothing. Nothing! He roared and kicked the trunk several times. He didn’t come all the way out here and go through all the aggravation that shrew put him through for nothing. The little… He restrained himself before he gave thought to the word he wanted to call her.
He took several deep breaths to clear his head. She paid someone who looked like her brother to get her money from the bank before she left Virginia. The only thing she took was this trunk. So if the money wasn’t in the trunk, it had to be somewhere in this room.
He glanced around the area, jumping at the sound of a shutter banging against a window downstairs. He wiped sweat from his forehead and thought some fresh air would be nice right about now. Maybe it would help him focus. He went to the window and opened it, expecting the wind to come through, but there was no wind. There wasn’t even a breeze.
Eyebrows furrowed, he went halfway down the stairs and scanned the room. He didn’t see anyone, and it wasn’t like there was anyone who could hide here. Turning around, he went back up the stairs and to the window. He searched the yard and saw no one. But that didn’t mean someone wasn’t out there. He closed the window and turned to the other trunks. If he was going to find the money, he had to act fast.
He lifted the lid of the first trunk and ripped through the curtains, blankets and clothes. Then he went through the other trunks, each one only upsetting him more as he was unable to find a single coin or certificate or greenback. Where did she put it? He kicked the trunks, splitting one in two in his rage.
An earsplitting whistle sliced through the silence. Robert paused and waited. A couple seconds later, the whistle came again. It came from outside. He wiggled his foot out of the trunk and headed for the window, ignoring the pain in his leg. Looking down, he saw a man staring up at him, his clothes covered in dried mud and blood.
He narrowed his eyes. If the man thought he was going to intimidate him, he had another thing coming. Glancing down at his holster, he pulled out the gun and lifted it to the window, ready to kill the bastard. But when he looked down at the yard, the man was gone.
Stupid! How he could have been stupid enough to look away? Well, no matter. He’d take care of the man soon enough. Then he’d come back in and search for the money. It had to be somewhere in the house. Maybe it wasn’t even upstairs. Maybe it was downstairs. As he made his way down the stairs, he scanned the room. Granted, Prudence was smarter than he gave her credit for, but there were only so many hiding places in the cabin, and if he had to, he’d tear down the whole thing to find the money due to him.
He slowed as he went to the door. It was the only way out. Undoubtedly, the man would be waiting for him right outside. He went to the kerosene lamp and turned down the wick, engulfing the entire cabin in darkness.
Now, what he needed was a distraction, something to give him an advantage because right now, he was no better than a mouse trapped in a hole.
“Time to throw the cat off the trail,” he muttered.
He retrieved the lamp and a match then huddled behind the door. Outside was nothing but silence. No doubt the man was waiting on the other side of the door, ready to put a bullet through his brain. If he was going to do this, he had to be quick. He glanced at the window and didn’t see anyone there. He lit the wick but kept it dim so as not to alert the man outside that it was on. He slowly rose to his feet and got his gun ready. Then he opened the door ever so slightly, pointing the gun at anyone who might enter.
Nothing. The only sound from outside was the mooing of a cow and buzzing of some insects.
He opened the door a little more and still nothing happened. He proceeded to do this in increments, waiting for someone to jump in, shoot…anything. But nothing happened.
He clenched his jaw. Whoever was out there was more clever than Daniel or Wilson. With a grimace, he finally resorted to his last plan. If he didn’t want the money so badly, he’d torch the whole place and burn it down. But without it, he would never ensure the monopoly he needed to take over his town. He cursed Prudence for being so difficult. Had he known one woman could cause so many problems, he would have looked for a different way to obtain $10,000.
Quickly, he turned the wick as high as it would go and threw the lamp out the door. The metal clanked and oil leaked out. A river of fire spread across the yard. He searched for the man, determined to find him before he got out of the cabin. Grabbing a coat from a hook by the door, he flung it out, figuring the man would fire as soon as he saw something come out of the cabin. Then, before the coat landed on the ground, Robert appeared in the doorway and swung the gun, glancing in all directions for the man. But nothing happened. The only advantage he had was the fact that everything was dark, so the man wouldn’t be able to see any more than him.
He waited for any sound to indicate someone was walking his direction but it was quiet. He gritted his teeth. The man was out there, hiding in the shadows, possibly around the side of the cabin or behind a tree. Across the yard, Robert saw a clear path to his horse which remained undisturbed. But he knew going directly to it would make him an open target. Mentally cursing the predicament he was in, he inched along the cabin wall, mindful to keep an eye out for any movements.
What he needed was a better vantage point. And as long as he stayed at the cabin, he wasn’t going to get it. He needed to get to one of the trees. His gaze went to the trees closest to him. It would be a risk to get there, but he didn’t really have a choice unless he wanted to get back in the cabin. But the cabin had no real hiding places. He shook his head in aggravation. Whether he liked it or not, his best chance was in the trees.
His grip tightened on the gun as he made his way to the corner of the cabin. The grass rustled and he pointed his gun in the direction of the sound, his heartbeat picking up. A deer shifted its head to look at him then scurried back into the trees. Robert released his breath and lowered the gun. He didn’t like this. He wasn’t usually spooked.
It was the endless silence that was bothering him. Most people would come right out and attack, but the man gauging his movements had an irritatingly huge amount of patience. And if he wasn’t careful, his need to kill the bastard was going to be his undoing.
Renewing his grip on the gun, he scanned the area again then proceeded to the edge of the cabin. With a glance behind him to make sure the man wasn’t behind him, he swung the gun to the other side and peered in that direction.
No one was there.
He had no choice. He had to run. He couldn’t keep edging around the cabin all night. If he wanted to get to a better hiding place and wait for the man to expose himself, he only had one chance.
He bolted for the trees closest to him. He made it and scanned the cabin and yard but still didn’t see the man. Waiting until his breathing slowed, he continued his watch. The moonlight did little to show him what he needed, and shadows hovered all around him in the trees. He clenched his jaw, resisting the urge to pound the tree with the butt of his gun. He was still the mouse in this pursuit. He had gained no real advantage by leaving the cabin.
Just what was he supposed to do? Wait until sunrise and ride the horse out of here? Even then, the man would still be lurking somewhere nearby.
Who was the man and why did he care that he wanted to get the trunk? Prudence wouldn’t tell a group of outlaws about $10,000, would she? He couldn’t believe she’d do something so foolish. Unless maybe they got a hold of the wanted poster and she offered them $2,000 not to turn her in?
He scoffed at the idea. He recalled how she reacted to Wilson as he hauled her off into the trees. The woman might have been pretending she didn’t know her way through the forest, but there was no way she could pretend being afraid of what Wilson was going to do to her. She wouldn’t play whore to a group of bandits.
But maybe the bandits went through her trunk and found the money. In that case, the money could be anywhere. He clenched his jaw again, fighting another urge to yell. Men would kill for $10,000, and these outlaws would be no different.
Curse Prudence for running away from Virginia to begin with. He hoped she got lost and rotted out in these woods. Or even better, was mauled by an animal. It would serve her right.
Now there might be no getting to that $10,000, and it wasn’t like Albert was still alive to make good on his debts. He took a deep breath and released it. Killing the moron had been a lapse in judgment because now he wouldn’t do him any good at all.
He stood by the tree and continued to stare at the cabin and lawn surrounding it. He had two options. Either he could stay here and wait until he killed the man so he could go back in the cabin where the bandits might or might not have hidden the money, or he could leave the cabin and return to Virginia. Going to Virginia, of course, meant he’d have to give up most of his plans, though he’d still have significant influence. But even if he headed back, he’d located the outlaws’ hideout. He doubted the man would let him out of this alive.
And that meant he couldn’t do anything until he got rid of the man. It wasn’t something he wanted to do since it was an inconvenience, but he didn’t get this far by letting inconveniences stand in his way. Keeping an eye on the cabin then glancing around the shadows nearby, he dug out three bullets and filled his chamber.
When he was ready, he glanced around the trees. Not seeing anyone, he wove his way around them, his strides slow and purposeful as he made his way toward the back of the cabin. He grunted. Of course. The man wasn’t there. This was going to be a long night. How he wished Charles’ men were better able to wipe out their enemies.
He took in his surroundings, thinking he saw something in the shadows of the trees and almost shot when he realized there was nothing there. That was close. He almost gave his position away. He moved forward, gun raised in front of him when a gunshot erupted from his left and pain flared through his arm. His gun flew out of his grasp and landed somewhere out of view.
“You must be Robert.”
Robert turned to the man who looked to have been dragged through the mud and splashed with blood, though by the looks of it, the dirt and blood weren’t from a recent scuffle.
Holding his wounded arm, he asked, “And you would be?”
“The man whose house you ransacked.”
“Well, I’m the man you stole money from. $10,000 to be exact. I’ll clean up my mess if you hand over the money you owe me.”
“$10,000? That’s a lot of money. But even if she’d given it to me, I wouldn’t give it to you.”
“She? Do you know who ‘she’ is?”
The man smiled. “Do you?”
Of course. The man would be an unreasonable sort, given that he was an outlaw. Robert rolled his eyes but chuckled as he scanned the ground for the gun. It had to be around here somewhere. “Fine. You want to play, let’s play. How much of it do you want?”
“Was it always about the money?”
“As opposed to what?”
“The woman? She never meant anything to you, did she?”
“Is that what you want? Her? Her brother owed me that money. It’s my due. You can have her.” If he could have figured out a way to get his hands on $10,000 without her, he would have done it in a heartbeat. If that was all this man wanted, then he was welcome to her.
He laughed, drawing a long, wicked knife from its sheath. “She’s not yours to give. You can’t have her money. And your life was forfeit the second you let Wilson touch her.”
Robert’s gaze traveled the length of the knife. “Interesting. So you two were in this together, just waiting until I was in your territory before you struck. I suppose you were giving her pointers on where to go so she had us all going in circles.” He found his gun and snorted. “I should have known she could never be that smart.”
“She’s smarter than you give her credit for. She left a trail for me to follow and had you walking around in circles for hours. She got away from you...twice? Three times? Smart woman.”
“And yet, she’d needed help from a man each time. Doesn’t seem so smart to me.”
“Did she?” The man took a step forward. “She didn’t need me to slit Wilson’s throat. I did that to silence his bellyaching.”
Robert got within inches of his gun. “I don’t care what she’s like. You want to believe she’s smart? Go ahead and believe she’s smart. I don’t care what you do to her. Quite frankly, she’s not worth the effort.”
At this point, he wished he’d killed her so Albert could have just handed him the money, but her brother had insisted he do right by her and marry her in order to get the money. And now it was proving to be a thorn in his side.
“All I want is the money. Now,” Robert swiped down, grabbed his gun, cocked it and pointed it at the man, “where is it?”
The man no longer stood where he’d been. His knife rested on Robert’s throat, his hand around his wrist, keeping him from pointing the gun at him. “Nowhere you or I will ever find it. My wife’s smart that way.” The cool metal bit deep.
Despite the pain in his neck, he laughed. He didn’t know how Prudence got an outlaw’s loyalty, but he had to admit it was an impressive feat. “Your wife? Oh, that’s just splendid. Men out in this area are so desperate for a woman they’ll take anyone who comes along.”
“Men back East don’t know a good woman when they have one.”
That reply only made him laugh harder. He was going to die. He knew it. The only thing keeping him alive was the blade embedded in his throat slowing the bleeding. His body was already beginning to go numb and cold. As soon as it was out, he was dead. But unlike all the people he killed who fought the inevitable, he decided he’d take it like a man and embrace it. “Tell her that her brother was crying on his hands and knees like a woman before I shot him.”
The knife slid through his skin as the man pulled it from him, releasing the blood flow. “I’ll tell her you said goodbye.”