Thank you once again for your patience in waiting for an update. Life is a bit full-on at the moment and this chapter arm-wrestled me the entire way. I hope you enjoy it more than they are.
Chapter Seven
Hoss leaned against his saddle and swilled the last of the coffee around his mug. It had been a quiet return trip to the Ponderosa after delivering the herd of cattle to Sacramento. It had taken some fast talking from his pa to get enough men for the job and Hoss knew he'd had to make some arrangements that he wouldn't have usually tolerated, but this wasn't the usual way of anything. Normally, they would all get some downtime to enjoy themselves and spend some of their pay before heading for home and normally, Hoss would have been in the thick of it with his brothers and father. Instead, the three of them had set off for home the day after the contracts were signed and the money was in the bank. Hoss would have ridden home alone if need be, but was relieved that Hank had chosen to come with him. It didn't surprise him that Clay had also left early as he had no reason to stay in Sacramento and every reason to get back. After all, he'd been angry enough that he had been expected to go along in the first place. It was Adam who had talked some sense into him when Ben couldn't and told him that they needed to go and bring Joe home and sort the mess out before throwing him in another spin with a new brother.
Clay stared into his own mug and saw nothing but blackness in the coffee dregs. It wasn't at all what he had hoped for as he made the trek from New Orleans and it wasn't the first time he had wondered if he should have just left well enough alone and stayed away. If he hadn't come, would Angelique have set out to destroy his brother and the whole Cartwright family? There was no way to know for sure what his cousin had been thinking when she had headed for Nevada, but he couldn't shake the sense that his poorly thought out run-in months earlier with his supposed family had somehow started something that had become unstoppable. He knew enough of the de Marignys to know that Angelique was unlikely to quit until she got whatever it was she was after. That was the part that left him shaken each time he dwelled on it since he wasn't entirely sure what that was.
"We should be back in Virginia City by nightfall tomorrow if we ride hard."
Clay's head jolted upright at Hank's comment and he quickly looked across at Hoss.
"You up for that?"
It had been clear that Clay was not used to such long hours in the saddle, but he'd held his own so far without too much complaint. Of course, his bow-legged gait when he climbed down off his horse at the end of each day had given away his discomfort, but he'd stayed with them all the same.
"Sure!" Clay nodded, drawing on his best poker face.
"Let's hope Pa 'n' Adam have got some news for us when we get there."
Neither man commented on the fact there had been no much-anticipated telegraph when they reached Sacramento and no reply when Hoss had wired to say he was on the way home.
"Yeah. We need to get some sleep if we're gonna make that ride tomorrow." Hank slid down into his bedroll and stopped himself from looking across at Clay. He had to give the man some credit. He'd kept up with his first trail ride and done a decent job of it. Under other circumstances, they all would have been poking some fun at the greenhorn, but there had been little cause for laughter along the way and certainly none on the hurried ride for home.
As Clay eased himself into his own bedroll, he wondered if he would ever walk straight again. His whole body ached and he had bruises on bruises and aches that seemed to have permanently settled into his bones. It only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep and he could have sworn only a few more minutes had passed before he heard Hoss making coffee and throwing beans in a pot to warm through.
Katie had worked in the hotel kitchen and taking care of the guest rooms for the better part of a year and most days she enjoyed the work. Clara was a hard taskmaster with high expectations, but she was fair and worked harder than any of those she employed. It had earned her a level of respect among the hotel staff as well as the regulars, but it also meant that nobody dared to slack off. So Katie found herself with a dilemma, as she knew that Clara would be looking for her and yet she dared not move. If only she hadn't been stupid enough to think she could slip into the room without being caught.
It was all Mitch Devlin's fault. If he hadn't sweet-talked her into doing some snooping, she never would have been so stupid. She'd heard all the gossip that had circled the town in a heartbeat and she had shared some of it as she stood at the sink and prepared vegetables or washed supper plates. Everybody knew who the Cartwrights were and the town seemed divided right down the middle about the accusations. There were those who said Ben had raised his boys to respect ladies and there was no way that Little Joe could have done what the beautiful stranger accused him of. Then there were those who were all too keen to pull out the long-buried, but never forgotten gossip about his mother and just what kind of wanton woman that Ben Cartwright had brought home from New Orleans. Those were the ones who were only too happy to say they had told everybody so and that the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
Katie found herself with a foot in both camps as she had seen for herself what a flirt Little Joe was when he was at school, but then she had never seen him cross the line. Of course, the fact that she was far too plain and too painfully shy to catch his eye meant that he had never had the chance to prove that theory wrong with her. It wasn't for lack of wishing on her part that the handsome young man would look past her drab clothes and lank hair and see inside. She had no time or money for pretty ribbons and curling rags and her hands were rubbed raw from carrying the bulk of the chores in her home since her mother had passed. It was the reason she had left school and gone to work at just fourteen to help put food on the family's table.
But then, Little Joe had never been cruel to her either, as others had. He had never teased her for her lack and he had never called her names. He just hadn't paid her much mind at all. It would have been easy to ignore the words she was hearing and head back to the kitchen and just keep peeling her mountain of potatoes. It would have been smarter too. The likes of her would never be believed over the two fine ladies who sat on the balcony and sipped their tea. It would have been better if she just slipped back through the outer door of the suite and pretended she knew nothing.
But her mama had raised her better than that.
And Mitch was waiting outside the kitchen door for any news she could give him to help save his friend from a prison sentence.
Hetty sat and watched the main street as horses and carriages traipsed back and forth. Beside her, Angelique still looked pale and tired and she smiled at the girl's ability with face powder and khol. It had proven very helpful at times and was especially helpful now to keep up the façade of the injured party. She had not missed the sympathetic looks of other women as Angelique had finally ventured out to take short walks on the boardwalk before heading back to the hotel to rest each day.
"I do hope this doesn't take much longer." Hetty frowned at her tea that had grown cold as she pondered the scenery.
"It is growing tiresome, I agree, but we are almost done. That stupid boy can't have gone far and his father is rather determined to find him and bring him back. We will soon get that day in court and then we will be able to air all of Ben Cartwright's dirty laundry, including his son's unprovoked attack."
Hetty smiled as she thought on how that would play out in a very public forum. She could sense the anticipation in the town of those who would love nothing more than a scandal-laden courtroom drama to wring their hands over.
"You will so enjoy being able to replay all the details for the judge. It was a most heinous attack to be certain and I am looking forward to your performance as I'm sure it will one of your finest."
"Second only to that day in the Cartwright's barn. Little Joe had no idea what hit him." Angelique smiled across at her chaperone who had done so much more than publicly protect her virtue over the years. Hetty had been instrumental in teaching her how to use her feminine charms on gullible fools to gain whatever she wanted. It was often said that it was a man's world, but beautiful young women had extraordinary power when they chose to wield it. She twisted a lock of her hair around her finger as she smiled at the memory. "The poor child thought he was a man. He looked more liked a stunned rabbit than any man I would choose to bed."
"It's such a pity you couldn't get Adam across that line as it would have added so much more fuel to the fire."
Angelique's lips curled again into a twisted smile as she recalled how very close she had dragged the fool. "If only Clay hadn't shown up and almost spoiled things, I'm sure I could have gotten him there. It would have been so much easier to carry out our first plan to ensnare Adam, but then, this way has been fun too."
The conversation drifted into a lull as both women considered how easily it all could have fallen apart.
"At least this way we didn't need to worry about paying those two witnesses to my, ahh … deflowering." Angelique fluttered a hand across her face as if she were about to faint.
"That is true, since we never got Adam into your bed, but they have become something of a nuisance."
Angelique shifted in her seat and frowned at the comment. "How so?"
Hetty reached a hand across to pat her hand and smiled. "Oh, don't let it worry you, my dear. I just had one of them accost me in the street yesterday, saying he wanted his money and I told him that he had been paid all he was going to earn and if he had a problem with that, perhaps he should take it up with the sheriff."
"He what?"
"Well what is he going to say when he files his complaint? That he didn't get paid to be a false witness to a crime that didn't happen?"
Angelique stood up and drew aside the window curtain and looked down into the street.
"I suppose not. But you must be careful as I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you while we were stuck here."
Hetty felt her anger rising up as she considered the men they had paid already to appear in court. "They were well compensated already in preparation for their testimony and now they are not needed. They will soon tire of this backwater town and move on. Don't worry about it any further."
Katie held her breath as she eased the inner door closed between the two rooms and prayed that neither of the women had heard her. Mitch had simply asked her to snoop as she cleaned the room and she had been reluctant to do so, but when the women began to talk, she had been too scared to move away from the door. She scurried across the room and slipped out into the hallway before almost bounding down the stairs towards the kitchen. Never again would she listen to anything Mitch had to say as her heart pounded wildly in her chest.
It was all she could do to calm herself to a respectable pace lest she attract any undue attention and she was grateful that Clara was nowhere to be seen as she pulled a potato from the sack and reached for a knife to begin peeling it. She almost jumped from her own skin as she felt a hand on her arm. She whirled around with the knife in her hand as Mitch jumped backwards.
"Easy! I ain't gonna hurt you!" Mitch raised both hands in defence as Katie dropped onto a nearby stool.
"You scared the daylights out of me!"
"Sorry. Just wanted to know if you found anything."
Katie frowned at the boy in front of her. "Meet me at the back of the hotel after my shift. I should be done by seven and I'll tell you then."
"But, I …"
"Go! Before I get into any more trouble."
Mitch reluctantly headed for the door and Katie rubbed the back of her hand across her face before looking at her fingers. They were trembling and she clenched them tighter around the knife and set to work on the potatoes.
Mitch paced the alleyway, half expecting that Katie would give him the slip after his earlier run in with her. She had seemed frightened out of her wits and he wondered what could have happened to scare her so badly. As he was about to head over to the door and knock on it, he noted it slowly open. The slip of a girl stepped out into the alley and closed the door behind her. She still looked frightened and he hurried towards her in case she ran away.
"Not here!" Katie motioned towards the far end of the alley and hurried away as Mitch was forced to scramble after her. Finally, she pushed aside the back door of the livery and waved him inside. He followed along and waited impatiently as she began to pace up and down against the length of the nearest stall.
"Well?"
"That is the last time I am doing anything for you or Little Joe. You hear me?"
Mitch nodded as he noted the girl's frightened features.
"If I had been caught, I would have lost my job and Papa doesn't earn enough. I need my job!"
"I get that. And I'm real grateful. But Little Joe could go to prison for somethin' that I just know he didn't do!"
Katie stopped pacing and sat down on a bale of hay. "I know that. And that's why I said I would help."
"So, what's got you so rattled? What did you find out?"
Katie looked up at the young man who looked so very scared. Much like herself really. "Those two paid somebody to testify in the court, against Adam."
"Adam? But they haven't accused him of anything!"
Katie blushed scarlet as she thought on the conversation she had overheard. "No … but I think they were setting a trap for him. I think Miss Angelique was going to … well … you know … and then get somebody to say they saw Adam."
"Saw Adam doin' what?"
Katie ran her hands over her face as she tried to find the words. The two women had talked so openly about things and she had been shocked at how brazen they were and yet she couldn't bring herself to voice the words to a boy.
"They were going to say they saw Adam in her … well … in her suite."
Mitch frowned at the words. It wasn't considered proper for Adam to be in his fiancée's suite unless her chaperone was there, but then, why would ….
"Oh! You mean in her bedchamber?"
"Yes!" Katie had worked in the hotel long enough that she wasn't entirely naïve, but describing what she had heard was embarrassing enough without having to draw it out in detail.
"She said they planned to trap Adam and since the plan changed when somebody called Clay messed things up, they went for Little Joe instead."
Mitch frowned at the comment as he had no idea who Clay was. "Do you think you could tell this to Sheriff Coffee?"
"No! I can't be involved in this! I can't testify in the court!" Katie looked horrified as she leapt to her feet and began to edge towards the door. "Nobody will believe me and I will lose my job for eavesdropping on guests."
"Hold up! I need something that the sheriff can use to help Joe. They lied about him and we need to prove it."
"Then get Sheriff Coffee to talk to the man who has been harassing Miss Hetty. I think he's trying to get money from them."
"Wait! What man?"
Before he got an answer, Katie had fled through the door and Mitch was staring at an empty stall. It was slim, but it was all he had and he reluctantly made his way across the street towards the sheriff's office. He just hoped the man would hear him out and not dismiss him again as a boy trying to do a man's job.