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THEY WERE HALFWAY to station four when they spotted a rider rapidly approaching. Pete Huggins pulled his horse up short in front of them.
“She’s gone!”
A chill iced Stiles’ blood.
“Who’s gone?” Savage roared.
“Lizzie.” Pete was staring at Stiles, wide-eyed.
“I got back to the ranch and found both those young boys knocked out and tied up in one of the horse stalls. When they finally came to, they said someone had attacked them, but they didn’t see who it was.” Pete’s horse danced in circles as he spoke. He was clearly nervous and the horse sensed it. He glanced at Stiles but looked away quickly.
Stiles was upset, but there was something about the way Pete’s horse was dancing and the rush of Pete’s speech. He knew Pete was infatuated with Lizzie. Right now the man appeared frantic, yet not explaining why.
“You didn’t come from the ranch. That’s the wrong direction, Pete.” Savage’s voice was calm, but there was fire in his eyes.
Pete’s horse reared, then settled. “I went to station three first. Thought maybe you might already be there. You weren’t, so I headed this way.”
“Is anyone searching for Lizzie? Did the boys know what happened to her?” Stiles didn’t care from which direction Pete had come. He only cared about Lizzie. “We have to get back now. Contact the sheriff. Contact someone!”
“Settle down, Stiles. We’ll find her.”
The calmness coming from Savage only agitated Stiles. He knew logically Lizzie could take care of herself. However, his protective side needed to be doing something to find her.
“Were Drew and Gus at station four?” Savage asked Pete, ignoring Stiles’ earlier questions.
“No. They left all the extra hands there to look after the herd, but they weren’t there. I passed more of the herd on my way here too.”
“I’m leaving now!” Stiles needed to get to Lizzie.
THEY RODE THE horses hard, but it was dusk before they reached the ranch. There were no lights on in the main house. As Stiles and Savage dismounted quietly, they realized Pete was not with them.
“Where the hell did Pete go?” Savage asked.
“I have no idea.”
Loud voices coming from the barn distracted Stiles. Savage gave him a signal to be quiet. More shouting followed the sound of bodies clashing together. Savage crossed the yard, with Stiles following close behind him.
“I don’t care what your orders were, Gus, you had no right to kill Larry!” Drew Largo’s voice rang out.
Stiles stopped Savage and stared at him. He mouthed, “Did you hear that?”
Savage nodded, and they crept closer to the ajar barn door. Gus and Drew were throwing each other around the barn, knocking over boxes and barrels as they went.
“It had to be done.” Gus’ fist made contact with Drew’s body. Drew huffed out a load groan in response. “He was going to tell Savage everything.”
Stiles wanted to rush in and find out if this had anything to do with Lizzie being missing; however, Savage shook his head and held him back.
“We need to see what else they say,” he whispered close to Stiles’ ear.
Stiles didn’t like it, but Savage was right.
Drew Largo’s face was slashed in several places and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Gus didn’t look much better. Blue and black splotches covered his left eye, and blood seeped from the other as well. Gus drew back his right arm and punched Drew in the stomach, sending him to the floor holding his middle.
Gus picked up a large wooden crate and crashed it over Drew’s head. Drew fell to his side in a heap on the ground. Gus knelt by him; probably to see if he was still breathing. He pulled out his revolver and took aim at Drew.
Savage roared, “No!” and burst through the barn door, startling Gus and Stiles.
Gus jumped back from Drew, but held the gun in front of him, pointed in Savage’s direction.
“Stay back, Savage,” Gus shouted, then added, “I won’t miss you this time.”
Stiles stood still. “You were the one shooting at us?”
Gus laughed. “Well, I wasn’t exactly aiming at anyone. I was just trying to scare you off. But when Savage took that bullet in the shoulder and the two of you hunkered down behind the shed, I had to come up with another plan. Danged cows should have run all over that lousy shack and the two of you. You two are damned lucky fellows.”
Gus was moving backwards with small steps as he spoke. He still had the gun pointed at Savage.
Savage had been eerily quiet. Stiles could see the color rise in his face and his hands fisted at his side. He stepped toward Gus as he finally spoke.
“The way I see it, we just witnessed you killing Drew Largo.” He took another step forward. “And we overheard you confess to killing Larry too.”
Gus looked nervously around the barn. Stiles saw him eyeing a saddled horse in the stall to his right. The man was going to try and run.
“That’s two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. They’re going to put you away for a very long time.” Savage stopped and drew his gun. “If I don’t kill you first.”
He fired one round and the bullet lodged in the floor next to Gus’ boot. He looked down for a moment at the dust and hay that had kicked up as the bullet landed. Then, giving Savage one last fearful look, he ran to the horse, jumped on it while it was moving, and nearly knocked Stiles and Savage down as he rode from the barn as fast as he could.
Savage ran to his horse and mounted before Stiles could catch up. Turning the horse around to face Stiles, Savage shouted, “Stay with Drew. I don’t think he’s dead. When he comes around, try and get more information out of him.” He turned the horse in the direction Gus had taken. “He might know where Lizzie is.”
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Stiles yelled at Savage’s back.
“I’m going after Gus.”
Stiles watched as Savage’s shadow disappeared into the night and he hoped he didn’t kill Gus when he caught up with him. They still didn’t know who was behind all of this, or who had Lizzie. Returning to the barn, Stiles checked to see if Drew was breathing. There was a steady rhythm to his chest as his breaths grew stronger. A large cut covered the back left side of his head, so Stiles folded a blanket and placed it on the ground beneath Drew to help stop the bleeding.
He wanted to be out looking for Lizzie. This was no time to be sitting in a barn watching over anyone, Stiles thought as he paced around the unconscious man. It was only a few moments until Drew started moving. He groaned loudly and tried to grab the back of his head.
“What the hell did he hit me with?” Drew asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Where is Lizzie Ferguson?” Stiles pulled Drew into a sitting position and stared down at him. “Tell me now or I’ll finish what Gus started.” Stiles needed answers and he knew time was running short.
Stiles pulled his revolver from its holster. Drew’s eyes grew large as he watched. He waved his hands in the air and tried to scoot away from Stiles.
“Whoa! Whoa there!”
Stiles could see Drew wasn’t going anywhere from the look of pain that shot across his face when he tried to move.
“I already know you are involved in what’s going on around here up to your eyeballs.” Stiles slowed his breathing and growled, “Tell me where Lizzie is. Now!”
Stiles could hear voices outside the barn. Someone was headed in their direction. Hands were coming back to the ranch. He was running out of time.
“I took my orders from Gus. I never thought he’d kill Larry. He was just a kid really.” Drew rubbed his hands over his face. Stiles could see the tears leave trails through the dirt and blood.
“It’s my fault he’s dead. I should have never brought him here.”
The next moment Drew was on his feet, but Stiles kept the gun trained on him. He could see anger boiling up and showing on Drew’s face.
“Gus said it was just going to be a simple job. We’d poison one of the wells and let some of the cows die, and Mr. Beare, he’d leave. Or they’d sell the ranch to someone else. We weren’t supposed to kill anybody. Then Gus had to go shoot at the two of you and stampede the cattle. Larry heard us arguing about it. He thought he was protecting me.”
“So, Gus is behind all of this? Why would he take Lizzie? That doesn’t make any sense, Drew.”
“No, I don’t think Gus is the brains. He don’t got any.” Drew laughed sardonically. “He just likes to beat on women and kill simple-minded folks.”
“What about Lizzie!” Stiles shouted.
Drew swallowed and staggered back as he lost his balance for a moment. “I don’t know where she is right now, but Gus said he had to be sure she was at the church at midnight. He was meeting someone there.”