Buck stomped away and stormed into the hotel so quickly he walked right past the person he had come to see. Clarice had to call out to him twice to get him to stop.

"Whatever is the matter darling?"

Her voice, normally so calming for him, failed to settle his anger. "We're leaving. Get your things together and we'll ride out now."

Oh Good Lord! Not when they were this close. "Buck, stop. What are you talking about?"

"Tanner just accused me of killing Standish. Can you believe it?"

No, she couldn't. They were supposed to make sure his body wasn't found at least until after the job was done – if ever. She should have known better than to trust those two fools with even the simplest of tasks.

"He's dead? Are you sure?"

He sat heavily in the closest chair. Hearing it said back to him the words hit him more than they had. Ezra was dead. If you'd asked him a just a short time ago Buck would have said he'd be glad to hear it. Now that it was real, he felt a hollowness at the news. Up until two days ago he'd worked with him, played cards with him and actually liked the man. There was a roguishness that he could identify with, especially when dealing with the more moralistic members of their group. Ezra could always be counted on to stir things up enough to keep things from getting dull, and that was a trait Buck could identify with and fully appreciate.

"Yeah." He roused himself from his trance. "All of this is just more reason to get the hell out of here. We're getting on that stage tomorrow."

"No." It was time to pull out all the stops. She had worked to long and sacrificed to much to walk away when success was within her reach. "You aren't running from this. You have to stand up to them Buck. You have to show them you aren't intimidated by their spurious accusations."

For just a second there, she reminded him of Ezra. He shook that off. "I've got nothing to prove."

She softened her tone. "Of course you don't. And that's why you need to stay. Do your job and don't cower away. Goodness gracious Buck. Running from this would make you no better than he was back at the – when you drew down." She had to get herself under control. Almost reminding him of the incident at the village, something she shouldn't know about, was just careless.

Hesitating, he thought on what she was saying. Maybe she was right. He had done nothing wrong but leaving town was sure to make folks think otherwise. And if Vin was going, maybe the accusations would stop as well. He still couldn't believe that anyone would think he was capable of that. He wasn't even being given a chance to defend himself, and what he did say fell on deaf ears. Damn them, they worked together. They should have trusted him. Well, he'd show them!

"Fine. Larabee has a job he needs me for, so I'll stick around for that. But then we're gone. Neither one of us needs this shi – this stuff."

She hoped she knew the answer to what she was about to ask, but needed to confirm it without raising his suspicions.

"A job? It won't be dangerous – will it? I just couldn't bear it if anything happened to you Buck."

How could things be bad when she was on his side? Tension faded from him as he was warmed by her concern. "Nah, it's nothing more than what we're used to. Chris and me will just be meeting up with a private stage. Guy has some hired protection, but for some reason they're only coming as far a Maple Ridge. We'll be meeting up after that. No idea what makes this McHenry guy so special, but I told Chris I'd do it and I ain't running out. I ain't giving them the satisfaction of calling me a shirker on top of everything else." He didn't want to admit, even to himself, that he could never live with himself if anything went wrong because he wasn't there.

Hallelujah! It was happening soon, and she even had the route information. Having the time would be great, but at least now she could let Harlan and Cyrus know where to wait. And hopefully stay out of trouble. The next step was to get word to them, and a message wouldn't do. This had to be face to face so that there were no more mistakes.

"I have one more favour to ask Buck." She turned on all her charm, and as expected, he folded under it.

"Now you know I can't refuse you anything."

"Come with me to the livery. I want to rent a horse. I need to get out of town for a bit. Clear my head of all of this."

That was easy enough. "Sure. We can take a picnic lunch out by the creek."

"No, I need a spot of time to myself. I want to be certain I am making the right choices, and for the right reasons."

He didn't like the idea of her riding off on her own, or that she wanted to think things over. But the look on her face made it evident that there was no stopping her. That kind of pluck was part of what he found so appealing, so without saying another word he stood and offered her his arm and they headed out.

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Finding the spot where her cohorts had camped out was easy. Keeping some kind of control on her temper was far less so.

"It was a simple enough job, but you two still managed to nearly destroy everything we've been working for."

Harlan glared at her. "You wanted him out of the picture, so we took care of it. What's the big deal?"

"Do you have any idea how close we are to having it all blow up in our faces?" She turned her anger to Cyrus. "His body wasn't supposed to be found so quickly."

"So what? So they found him. Ain't like they can tie that to me. Or to us. Hell, they probably figure your boyfriend did it. Sure as hell made him mad enough to."

"That is the problem. I need him to still be trusted enough that Larabee will keep him informed." This rift was certainly making it easier for her to manipulate him, but if he was no longer part of the inner circle there wasn't much point to the whole effort.

Keeping the group off balance was definitely key to their agenda. Divide and conquer. Well, they had certainly succeeded in that. Tanner was leaving town, angrily vowing to come back if he could find a way to prove Buck was responsible for Ezra's death. Chris was headed to the saloon when she left town, apparently feeling the guilt of his actions. Clearly he wasn't going to be at his best anymore. She didn't know whether it was this self imposed quarantine or his own demons that had Josiah was sequestered inside that damn church of his, not leaving the building. JD continued to spend most of his time sulking, and none of it talking to Buck.

As long as the men were arguing amongst themselves there was less chance they would come together in any way that would interfere. McHenry was due any day now to complete his purchase of the ranch lands. And, thanks to his almost delusional superstitious nature, he was bringing the payment in cash. Enough cash to have Annabella and the others set for life.

Mrs. McHenry, who in her maiden days had been a good friend and frequent co-conspirator of Annabella's, had been left behind once her true nature had been discovered. Abandoned, she would have been penniless had she not had the foresight to ensure a significant amount of the McHenry family money had been syphoned into a different account. Seducing bank managers was second nature to her. Vengeance being fundamental to her basic character, she was determined to make sure her husband never had the chance to enjoy his remaining wealth.

That was when she approached her former accomplice with a proposition. Dispose of Walter, making sure of course there was opportunity for her to collect on the insurance, and Annabella was welcome to the money that he had taken with him. She even agreed to fund the venture and pay out the a third of said insurance. It was worth it to make sure he never came back to cause trouble.

The hitch in the plan had been the location of the ranch land. A few months earlier and it would have been a walk in the park for them, but now things had changed. The area was protected now, by of all things, honest men. Well, most of them were. Four Corners was not the easy target it should have been. Learning that Ezra Standish was there had given them the first foot in the door they needed. He had been well schooled over the years, and always kept dear Maude informed of his situation. Annabella quickly tracked down her former mentor and pumped her for information. "Please Maude, I need to find a way to reconnect with Ezra. Life was so much more interesting, more lucrative, when we were together. And from what I understand now, he needs to be saved from the quagmire he has landed in."

Somewhat anxious to see Ezra back using his God-given gifts and not languishing in some wretched one horse town Maude shared what she knew, after securing a small payment and promise of involvement in future operations. The bad news had been that involving Ezra in the plan was definitely too risky a move. His loyalty to anyone was questionable at best, but he did seem to have taken some bizarre interest in trying the straight and narrow path. There wasn't enough time for them to determine the veracity of the act, so they would have to remove him from play. Luring him out of town when the time came should be a simple process. No need to involve Maude any further, lest she start making more demands. A telegram from her would do the trick. Ezra was in that way, perfectly trained.

The information on the others that she had been able to get, sketchy as it was, provided the beginnings of a plan. There was always one in every group she could ply her wiles on. It wasn't hard to figure who it was here. The group leader was out of the question. His nature and history precluded a quick seduction. The youngest and oldest in the squad were eliminated, simply based on the extremes. And there wasn't a person alive who would believe a southern lady would be entranced by a black man. So, that left two. And when a man believed himself to be irresistible to women, he was easy prey.

Ensnaring Buck Wilmington was hardly the worst assignment she'd ever undertaken. Given some of the men she'd slept with for the benefit of a job, this was a very welcomed step up. And, as she expected, the task wasn't difficult. The hardest part had been not falling into bed with him. It might be difficult to explain her lack of purity, which was meant to be part of her appeal after all. This twist of events with Standish had at least removed that obstacle. She'd have to see if she could make time for a bit of fun before this all wrapped up.

The thought brought her back to the present, and the matter at hand.

"We should still be able to pull this off. We just have to be careful. No more meetings. Only communication by message until the time comes. Harlan, did you find some hired guns for us?"

"Men like that come cheap in Purgatory. Got three ready. Paid them some in advance. Promise of five times that will keep them around."

"Be sure to get that back when you kill them. No point in wasting cash." She strolled slowly back to her rented horse. She'd been away from town long enough and getting away at all had been a challenge. Buck's overprotectiveness was driving her to the edge. He had far too much time on his hands since being distanced from the others. The only friend he seemed to have left from the group was Nathan, and he'd been preoccupied by that sick farmer.

Mounting up, she swept a few stray blonde locks from her face. "Cyrus, you should get up to the ridge and keep an eye out, in case we don't get word of timing. Harlan can join you during the day. I'll let you know if there are any updates. Harlan, you need to come back to town as often as you can without anybody seeing you to check in. Watch for the sign in my window. There will be a scarf hanging there if I've left you a message."

"We know the routine. Done it often enough."

"Don't get short with me Cyrus. Now is not the time for that. We all know what happens if we start fighting amongst ourselves. If you don't, just look at what's going on in town."

"Long as there is money to be had I can follow the rules. Once this is done though, I think we might want to review this set up."

Harlan nodded his agreement. "When this bunch figures out what we've done, we're gonna be on every wanted list in the territory. And beyond. We figure going our separate ways might be the best plan."

She had been thinking the same thing herself, although with a twist she didn't imagine the others would be expecting. But a girl had to look after her own best interests, especially out here where things were so unpredictable.

"I can see the advantage to that. And there should be sufficient haul here to keep us all comfortable for some time to come. Particularly when we find a ourselves in safer locations." She pulled at the reins, turning the horse. "Keep an eye on things. This should finish up quickly now."

They watched her ride out, back to the comfortable surrounding of town. "She really think she's fooling us?" Cyrus asked, chuckling.

"Her type always does. Overconfidence. It'll get them every time."

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tbc