CHAPTER 35

Sammons was there even earlier than promised, bringing good horses, rifles, and the news that he’d just spent an hour praying for their mission. He was confident God would give them the victory … but he wasn’t sure it would be a bloodless one.

“I can assure you it probably will not be, if we actually encounter Kevington,” Gunnison said, out of earshot of his wife. “He will fight to the death before he’ll let Kenton take away the woman he sees as his.”

“She was a stolen woman, you said?” Sammons had been filled in by Gunnison the day before, but it had been a lot to absorb and he still didn’t seem fully cognizant of it all.

“She was stolen, and hidden away in England for years, with Kenton believing she was dead.”

“That’s a great sin indeed. And this is a righteous battle.”

“I can only hope it isn’t a battle already completed. If Kevington found them…”

“Have faith, my friend. I believe we’ll find them safe and sound.”

“Why are you doing this?” Gunnison asked the preacher.

“Because I’m able to. I’m a good fighter, Mr. Gunnison. There was a time when I used that fighting skill in the wrong ways. I hurt people, hurt them bad. I’ve even killed men, sir. It was always what folks called ‘fair fights,’ but I can tell you that I’d have killed them all the same, fair fight or not. I regret all that. So now, I’m going to fight the good fight.”

“Even for a stranger?”

“Brady Kenton a stranger? Everybody in the land knows and loves Brady Kenton.”

Gunnison said good-bye to his wife and to Rachel, who without the help of a physician now seemed to be mending fast. They did not linger on their farewell or allow themselves to discuss the darker possibilities that lay ahead.

As Gunnison and Sammons rode out of town, Roxanne felt bitterly guilty for the thought that flashed without bidding through her mind: If it is destined for Kevington to find Kenton and Victoria, I hope it’s already happened. I want my husband to come back safe.

She watched them ride away, their shadows stretching long in the light of the rising sun.

*   *   *

When the rising of the sun was a fading memory of an expired morning, Dr. David Kevington, exhausted, hungry, and frustrated, plopped down on the edge of a rotting boardwalk and shook his head. Graham was near, probably as hungry and perhaps as frustrated, but he seldom let his feelings show.

On down the street, Evaline and Brown were searching through empty buildings. They’d been complaining for the last hour, declaring that Kenton obviously was not in this town. Time to move on. The man had escaped and taken his woman with him, and Kevington would just have to accept it.

Kevington was not about to accept it. He would search this ghost town until every possible hiding place was ferreted out. If Brown and Evaline wished to be relieved of their duty, he’d be glad to oblige them with two quick shots to their heads. Right now it would be cathartic to do it.

Graham brought out his pipe and loaded it slowly. “Let me ask you something, Doc,” he said. “Just to make sure I have my facts straight. You and Brady Kenton’s wife were on a train together, and it crashed. Many years ago.”

“I was on the same train. We were not together.”

“Coincidence?”

“Not coincidence. I was following her.”

“I see.” He lit the pipe. “Following the wife of another man.”

“She was his wife in the legal sense. But in the eyes of heaven she has always been my wife. She was meant for me.”

“But she married another.”

“She said words before a clergyman. I attach no significance to it.”

“But Kenton obviously did. When he found out she was alive, he came all the way across the ocean to get her.”

“What is your point, Graham?”

“I must say I admire Kenton for what he did. He showed a husband’s true devotion, just as my father showed to my mother, may God rest them.”

“A husband’s true devotion, Mr. Graham, is what you see being carried out before your eyes at this moment. Do you think what Kenton did was remarkable? Look at what I’ve done! It was I who dared to claim the woman who was intended for me! It was I who saved her life and gave her a home, and love, and care, for so many years. Now I’ve followed her across an ocean again, and hired an army of men to find her and rescue her from her kidnapper.”

“So it’s Kenton who is the kidnapper.”

Kevington studied Graham a few moments, then said, “This conversation will end. Now.”

At that moment, three shots blasted from down the street, and they heard Brown scream in a remarkably high-pitched voice.

Kevington came to his feet and Graham knocked the ashes from his pipe. They picked up their rifles and trotted down the street in the direction from which the gunfire had come.

*   *   *

Unseen by them and at the far edge of Caylee, Alex Gunnison and Joe Sammons reined their tired horses to a halt and looked at each other.

“Gunfire, three shots,” Gunnison said.

Two more shots rang out; it seemed they could hear a man screaming.

“Ride in or on foot?” Gunnison asked.

Sammons thought for a moment. “Ride into that barn there and leave the horses. On foot the rest of the way. We don’t know what we’re getting into.”