"And you said the body was right here?" Braeden asked, holding the lantern up so that he could see Ginny and Kate's faces better.
Ginny couldn't speak. The body disappeared and then vanished. It just didn't make sense.
"Yes, he was right there," Kate said, pointing to the dark bloody puddle.
"He's gone," Ginny muttered, finally able to speak. "He just… just vanished." She rubbed the bridge of her nose as the pine scented hair lifted wisps of her hair up to flutter around her face.
"Are you sure he was dead?"
Kate's head bobbed up and down. "He was dead as a doornail."
"Whoever shot him must have hauled him off," Braeden muttered.
"That means they watched us go get you."
"It's possible. Constable Jones ought to be here soon. I guess we should leave everything to him."
Bug ran toward them from the north woods. Whining, he sniffed the ground where the dead man had lay and looked up at Ginny with curious eyes.
Relieved to see her buddy alive, Ginny dropped to her knees and stroked his fur as he licked her hand. "I thought you were a goner. You did a good job with all that barking."
Braeden's nephew, Tony Campbell, and Constable Jones rounded the dusty road's corner with the sound of pounding horses' hooves.
In a matter of minutes, the gray-haired, wiry constable took a full report of the situation. Then he stared at Ginny, his keen brown eyes full of speculation.
"It's not that I'm tryin' to doubt your word, Miss Ginny, but are you sure this man said his name was Harry Potter?"
Ginny glanced at Braeden in the morning light, then nodded to the constable. "Yes," she said.
"That's the name he said," Braeden agreed.
"Sure is," Kate added, " That's what he said but, well, he sure didn't look like no Potter I ever saw. The Potter's all have green eyes. Every one of them. What with the barn burnin' and him showing up all of a sudden, I didn't think about that till after supper. Then I took a good look at his horse and it has the Potter brand and I just figured…" she gave a tiny shrug.
The constable's brow furrowed. "What's his horse look like?"
"Black," Kate answered, "black as charcoal all over. Except it has one white sock from the knee down."
"You need to see the horse?" Ginny asked.
"Don't think I do," the constable replied. "That white leg… It's the back left one, ain't it?"
Kate nodded slowly.
Ginny's pulse increased. Did Constable Jones know something he wasn't telling?
"What are you getting at?" Braeden asked.
"Well, a man came limping into town about two o' clock this morning. Says his name's Harry Potter. Says he camped out two nights ago with a man named Travis Parker. Harry told him your pa had sent for him. Next thing he knew that Parker fellow jumped on him while he was sleeping. Beat him up real bad before Harry had a chance to wake up real good. When Harry started fighting back, Parker whacked him on the head with an iron skillet. Knocked him right out. When he woke up he was tied to a tree, left for the bears or starvation. Everything but his bundle of clothes was gone. When night fell again, he went back to sleep. When he woke up about midnight or so, somebody had cut the ropes. Can you believe that?"
Is he… is he alright?" Ginny asked, feeling partly responsible because he had come out here for her in the first place. After all, Bill had sent for him.
"He's mighty bruised up. But accordin' to the doc, he'll be fit as a fiddle in a few days time. Whoever cut those ropes were mighty sneaky about it."
Two weeks ago the constable had said the same thing. Whoever stole your cattle were mighty sneaky about it.
"Mind if I look around your place, Miss Ginny?" Constable Jones asked, stroking his gray mustache.
"Go ahead," Ginny said flatly.
"The shots came from the north pasture."
"The men are supposed to be here any time," Ginny said, referring to her four hired hands. "They can help you."
"Maybe the five of you together can find something. I ain't to sure what to think of all this. But I do know…" Braeden glanced at Kate and Constable Jones. "With all due respect I'd like to talk to Miss Ginny alone."
"We can use the parlor," she said, already knowing Braeden was going to say they should go ahead and get married. Perhaps he was right; but for some very good reasons, she had made up her mind a months ago that they should wait until October.
Kate turned to watch Ginny and Braeden walk toward the house as Constable Parker headed toward the north pasture. Braeden placed a hand on the small of Ginny's back and opened the door for her. From the moment Ginny had announced that she was marrying Braeden, Kate had felt uneasy. The two looked downright handsome together, but Kate just couldn't convince herself that they should marry. Ginny had never asked her opinion and Kate didn't feel like she should give it.
Then Kate remembered back to a time when she had a young man of her own, and she suppressed the desire twining it's way through her heart. Nathan, an employee of the Potter's, had stolen her heart.
Constable Jones had said that the real Harry Potter was in town now. Like a young girl in love, Kate's heart skipped a beat. Might he have word of Nathan? Had he ever married, ever had children? Did he still remember and search for her daughter that was taken away from her? If Kate got a chance, she would ask him.
In the parlor, Ginny stood only inches away from Braeden. "Ginny," Braeden said, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I'm worried 'bout your safety. We don't need to put off getting' married till October. I can take care of the details and we can marry by the end of the week."
Ginny stared over Braeden's shoulder and thought about last night, when, during all the uproar, she had wished Braeden was there to protect her.
But last night had shown her something else. After Bill had obviously not trusted her to run the ranch, she wanted to prove her strength to herself and to Bill. If only for two months, she would like to know that she could take care of the ranch.
Well Bill, I do plan to overcome all that's happened, and in two months this ranch will be runnin' as smoothly as it did the day you died.
Then that same doubtful whisper haunted her heart. Did she really want to marry Braeden? Or did she want to wait… take her chances on true love?
"No," she said, for the first time realizing just how strong her desire was to prove herself. "You've got a harvest to finish and so do I. And you know Tony's parents aren't moving here till October. Who'll be there to run the ranch while you're protectin' me? And who'd be here to run my ranch if I moved over to your place?"
Braeden, dropping his arms, clamped his mouth in a straight line. "You ain't changed a bit, Ginny Weasley. In all the years I've known you-"
"Momma Kate would call it common sense," Ginny said, raising her chin a fraction, daring him with her expression to say something else. She did not add that Kate called it stubborn common sense.
"You're hired hands should be here in a minute, Ginny. I'm gonna ask David or one of the others if-"
"I've been thinking on something, Braeden," she said, "Bill wrote Harry's dad to send his son out here to help me. Well he's here. He's in town… and I need help. And… and he's going to need a place to stay until he recovers from that beating."
"I don't like the idea of a complete stranger staying' with the woman I aim to marry!" Braeden argued.
"He won't be staying with me. He'd stay in the barn. And as soon as he gets better, he'll be good protections." Ginny marveled at her own quick plan.
Braeden looked into her eyes as if he were weighing her every word.
"Besides, I can't ask David to stay here. You know his wife just… just recovered from an… encouchment." Ginny's cheeks warmed at the introduction of such a delicate subject as childbirth. "And the other three have wives too. Would you leave you wife alone to go sleep in a barn?"
"Common sense," he muttered in disgust.
"You don't have to say Mr. Potter can stay 'til we meet him. Why, I… I might not even agree to it after we meet him. But it would be a good plan if he's as respectable as Bill thought his father was."
Ginny suspected she had reasoned Braeden into at least considering her idea. However, if he knew the letter Bill had written also included reference to marriage, he would never agree to it. He would also never agree if he suspected what Ginny was reluctant to admit to herself: that she was a tiny bit curious about the real Harry Potter.
"We'll go meet him," Braeden finally said, "Then we'll decide."