EIGHTEEN

Leading the horse by the reins, Caitlyn was halfway through the gate when a monstrous figure rose from a low set of bushes just outside the fence. She took a half step backward and nearly lost her grip on the reins.

“You’ll have to turn the horse back into the livery. It’s past curfew.” The voice speaking to her was male. He sounded young—and apologetic.

She had no idea who he was or of his intent. But anyone out after curfew was disobeying the law. She knew she should feel terrified, but so much had already happened, she felt numb. She had to trust her instincts.

She wasn’t an expert rider but had spent enough time in a saddle to ride comfortably. She calculated about ten steps between her and the stranger. She turned the horse slightly to put him between her and the man for protection, then stepped into the stirrup with her good leg, ignoring the pain in her injured foot, and swung up quickly into the saddle.

The man had already lunged toward her. Much quicker than she expected for someone of his bulk. Before she could urge the horse toward the opening in the brush, he took the reins from her.

“I think the sheriff is looking for you,” the voice said. “If not, you’re still breaking curfew. And stealing a horse.”

Caitlyn thought of jumping down and trying to sprint, even with her sore ankle. Theo was back in the trees. Maybe she could warn him as she fled.

But with his other massive hand, the man reached up and locked one of her wrists in his fingers. “I can squeeze harder,” he said, “but I don’t want to. I don’t like hurting people.”

Instinct told her this man, large as he was, was telling the truth. She didn’t think he wanted to hurt her. Still, fear finally started pumping past her numbness, and she knew she had to escape arrest.

“Then let go of my wrist. You’re holding the horse so I can’t go anywhere.” She rubbed a foot along the ribs. Maybe she could kick the horse hard enough to bolt.

“I think you can. I don’t like being fooled either.”

“Please let go of me,” Caitlyn said. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Horse stealing is wrong. There’s a criminal code for it, but I haven’t learned it yet. Otherwise, I’d officially record this arrest on my vidpod.”

“It’s not what you think,” she said.

“I’m not so good at thinking. That’s Sheriff Carney’s job.”

“My job too,” said another voice. “Don’t know how you got here, but for someone so stupid, you saved me a lot of trouble.”

Caitlyn turned her head. From her elevated perspective on the horse, she saw the man approaching from the livery, maybe twenty paces away. It was too dark to see his features, but she recognized the object cradled in his arm.

A shotgun.

Billy didn’t like to hurry decision making because he always seemed to decide wrong. Like now. After leaving the jail, he’d decided not to directly approach the livery, because whatever Mason Lee had planned against Sheriff Carney couldn’t be good. If Mason was willing to lock Billy up, it wouldn’t be smart to just march into the livery when he knew all about the shotgun and what it felt like to have the barrel pressed into his back.

But when he’d raced around to the gate behind the livery, hoping his escape would make up for what happened with Mrs. Shelton, there’d been this girl, stealing a horse. Billy figured she probably had something to do with why the sheriff wanted him to watch the livery and Mitch in the first place, so she must be important. Even if she wasn’t important, she was breaking curfew and stealing a horse.

Now what?

Mason was right there, outlined by the light of the livery in the background, pointing the shotgun. In a way, Billy felt relieved. Immediate control had been taken away from him. He didn’t have to make a decision.

One handed, Mason flipped the shotgun around and offered the butt of it to Billy. “You going to tell me how you got out of that jail cell?”

“You’re giving me your gun?” Billy was so surprised at the offer of the shotgun that he kept his grip on the girl’s wrist.

“One minute you’re smart and the next you’re stupid. I’m not aiming at myself. ’Course I’m giving it to you…now take it. Watch the girl while I take the reins.”

“What about Sheriff Carney?” Billy asked as he accepted the weight of the gun.

“He’s in the livery,” Mason said. “Now you going to tell me how you got out of jail?”

Mason took the horse’s reins.

What had the doctor called the big ox? Billy. So how had Billy the simpleton escaped the jail cell?

This bothered Mason more than he would let on, as he prided himself on taking care of details. All of them. After locking Billy in the cell, Mason had gone through the sheriff’s office and removed all the firing pins from the weapons. Small as the chance was, with what Mason had in mind, there might come the day that Sheriff Carney had a gun on Mason. It wouldn’t hurt knowing the weapon was useless.

Mason would find out how the simpleton escaped the cell, but more important was getting the girl secured, like Carney and Evans. After using the pitchfork handle to knock the men out, bale twine to tie securely both unconscious men, and Evans’s bandanna to gag them, Mason dragged them into a feed room. He came out of the livery to look for the girl, whom he had seen leading the horse out through the gate. He’d intended to follow her first to learn what he could about her escape plans. Instead, Billy had sprung up out of nowhere.

Instead of seeing Billy’s arrival as a complication, Mason decided that Billy could be of considerable use once they reached the inside of the livery. So before calling out, he’d emptied the shotgun. It hadn’t been easy, cracking it open and dropping the shells into his motionless open hand at the end of the cast. Nor had it been easy keeping the shotgun tucked under his good arm so his other hand could transfer the shells into his pockets—one in each so the shells wouldn’t clink as he walked.

But after the men were tied and the gun was emptied, the rest of Mason’s plans would be easy. They would end with a fire killing Carney and Evans and framing Billy. Mason would be long gone with the canister before anyone figured out what had happened. Long gone, as in free. Outside.

The girl on the horse was silent as Mason turned them both around. She wouldn’t be silent for long, he thought, grinning in the dark. Some pleasures would arrive sooner than others.

With Billy behind him, Mason walked the horse toward the large, open doors of the livery. As he neared the building, he lifted his face into the security lights, making sure the surveillance camera had a good view. According to his plan, the footage would show the girl on the horse’s back and the deputy pointing a shotgun at both of them.

Face toward the camera, Mason clearly mouthed a silent word. Help.