Heath took care in grooming the little mare wanting her to shine and do Audra proud when he picked her up at the party. He'd washed the surrey and spent an hour doing the bright work so it shone as well. He figured it would mostly be all dusty by the time he drove the fifteen miles to the Preston's ranch, but he thought he could stop and run a rag over the surrey and the mare just before he got to the ranch. Would only take a minute, didn't want Audra feeling ashamed of the rig when he picked her up.
Once he'd finished he went up to his room and changed into the new shirt Mrs. Barkley had bought him. He'd been saving it for best, wearing his old best shirt around the ranch. The old shirt didn't look very good being all stained with the blood from his gunshot wound. But Silas had mended the hole so you couldn't even see it. Had taken fabric from the bottom of the back and sewed it right over the hole with tiny little stitches finer than his mama could have done. But he'd wanted to wear a shirt with no stains or mended holes and look neat when he picked up his sister. He'd never been to a party but he thought, probably any party Audra went to would be very fancy, so he was glad he had the new shirt to wear, picking her up.
"You still here? Thought you would have gone an hour ago to get Audra?" Nick asked coming up to him in the barn where he was putting the harness on the mare. Nick walked to the off side of the horse and dropped the belly band down for him and did up the breeching while he talked. He admired that about Nick, man saw some place he could help out he put his hand right to it.
"She said to come at five, she was helping take down the decorations."
"More like she wants to go for a stroll with the Walker boy. You get over there Heath and pick her up and get her home," Nick was scowling now.
"Is he a bad sort?"
"Not a bad boy, exactly. Just not good enough for Audra, is all," Nick said after reflecting for a moment.
"So I shouldn't shoot him when I get there, if he's strolling with Audra?"
Nick looked startled. "NO…." then he laughed at Heath. "Come on I'll help you hitch up."
"I got it, Nick. Ain't an invalid."
"Didn't say you were."
Honor satisfied Heath let Nick lead the mare over to the surrey and back her between the shafts. Nick always willing to put his hand to any work needed doing, but if Nick was going to help out, he'd be in charge. Heath didn't mind and followed along behind Nick feeling happy to watch his brother take over his job.
His brother. He smiled. He was still getting used to the brother thing. It kept sneaking up on him at odd moments like this and every time, the feeling of lightness it gave him surprised him, made him want to smile.
"You just going to stand there, grinning like a fool, or you going to go get Audra?" Nick demanded.
"I'm going."
The drive to Preston's wasn't complicated, out to the main Stockton road and then west for ten miles to their ranch road, then three miles on the ranch road. He passed a couple of wagons going toward Stockton and exchanged waves with the drivers. He noticed they both seemed to have girls in pretty dresses in them, figured the party must be over a while ago.
He stopped just as he saw the top of the barn and climbed out to dust off the mare and the surrey. He took a minute to knock the dust off his shirt and hat, although his hat was in pretty sorry shape, was going to take more then knocking a little dust off make it good enough for an Audra Barkley party. He thought, once he got back on his feet and could work again he needed to buy himself a new hat so he'd look like a real Barkley. Still though he thought the surrey and mare looked pretty sharp. He walked the last mile, give the mare a chance to cool down so if she had to stand and wait for Audra wouldn't do her any harm and he could water her before leaving to go home.
When he came up to the house, he saw a wagon waiting out front of the porch, shafts on the ground, no horse. No other horses anywhere else either, so he thought everyone had gone, still no horses anywhere? Strange.
Guessed he was maybe later than Nick would have liked. He stopped the mare and got out of the surrey and led her over to the water and let her have a short drink, then tied her to a corral fence looking about as he stood by the mare. No horses in the corrals, no one coming out on the front porch to see who'd driven in, no horse between the shafts of that wagon in front of the ranch house. Seemed funny, a party and all, and no one about the house.
No one answered his tapping at the door and he wondered, maybe they were in the back, it being such a nice day, maybe it was an outside party. He walked around to the back of the house and that was when he heard the yelling, all muffled and distant. Took him a minute to realize the house had a storm cellar, noise was coming from under the house.
He opened the backdoor to the house and stuck just his head inside and gave a hello. When no one answered he went on in and in a moment found the storm cellar door in the kitchen floor with the cook stove pulled over on top of it. He felt a fool standing there but he didn't reckon he could move the old stove as weak as he'd gotten being sick.
He went out to the barn looking for a lever or something help him with that stove. When he saw the dead cowboy in the middle of the isle he figured he'd not get any help from around the ranch. Man being shot, anyone near enough to hear him yell would have heard the shooting. Figured he needed to move that stove alone and quick.
He walked back to the house as fast as his bad lungs and weak legs would allow carrying a singletree to use as a lever and managed to slide the wood stove off the hatch way a few inches at a time, wheezing like a wind broke mule the whole while. Folks in the cellar had heard him working on the stove and had the hatch up as soon as the stove cleared. The first one up he figured for Mr. Preston, an older man looking grimy and frightened.
"Who are you?" the old man demanded, looking about a bit wild eyed.
"Where's Audra Barkley?" he answered him, "she down there?"
"No they took her. Who are you?"
"Who took her? Where?"