Twenty-two
"Going somewhere Miss Russell?" The man asked.
Up close, she could see he was built like an iron bull, all muscle and steel. She didn't let his size intimidate her. "Who are you?"
His voice was friendly too friendly, "The name's Charlie Yeoman." He pointed in the direction of his delivery wagon and repeated the advertising slogan printed below the name of his business, "Meat any fresher and it'd still be on the hoof."
"How do you know me?"
"Just figured it was you. See, I was on my way to pay you a little visit."
She braced her stance, "Why?"
"The street's no place to talk. Come with me."
"No! I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Yes Miss, you are." He took her elbow in his strong grasp and forced her forward.
She resisted. "Wait a minute here, you can't …"
"I can and I am."
"I'll scream."
His voice was low, but she heard every word of what he said, "No, you won't. You care too much what happens to Matt Dillon."
Energy and resistance left her body for a moment, weakening her, and she allowed herself to be guided to the delivery wagon. He assisted her to the seat and jumped up beside her. "We can talk here. The sound of the wheels and the horses will cover up our voices, long as we don't get too loud."
"Say what you have to say … I'm tired of games."
He nodded his head, adjusted the bill of his leather cap and fluffed his beard. He released the break and gave the reins a snap, one horse whinnied and they both began moving. The rattle of the wagon, and the clip-clop of hooves against cobblestone drowning out the sound of his voice, to all but the woman sitting next to him, "Like I said, name is Charlie Yeoman. You might have noticed my advertising card when you moved into that little cottage of yours."
She nodded her head.
"I work for Wilcox and he's got a message for you." He waited a beat for her to react, when she didn't he continued. "He wants you to be real friendly-like with Beaumont Davis. See, Mr. Wilcox has had his eye on the comings and goings out at Summerhaven. You might have already figured out there's more to Mr. Davis than meets the eye. In fact his Uncle is none other than Captain Barger. Word has it things are going to start to happen real quick … I think you know enough of our situation to realize we can't let that come to pass."
"Even if I was willing, what makes you think I can help?"
"Ol' Beau likes you."
She shook her head, "I didn't sign up to be a part of this. You tell Wilcox, Matt isn't getting any better. He owes Matt; he's responsible for what happened to him. I want Wilcox to arrange for Matt and I to get out of this mess. You tell him that!"
Charlie chuckled, "You are one bossy lady. Guess you don't know Mr. Wilcox that well. See, he'll take care of you and Dillon, but first things first - you got to finish the job Matt started, one way or the other."
"If, and that's a mighty big if … I agree, what exactly does he expect of me."
"Simple Miss, spend all the time you can with Davis … keep your ears and eyes open and report all you see and hear to us."
"It won't work."
"Why?"
"I've seen the way he looks at Matt … he knows who he is."
"He might, as far as it goes, hard to say. But one thing's certain, he likes you. He's always been a sucker for moonlight and a pretty gal, who knows how to sweet-talk him. Might say he's a romantic, I`spect, he'd believe anything your pretty lips told him, long as it was accompanied by a kiss or two. Besides, he's not the mastermind of this operation; we're still not sure who is. You're smart. Anyone can see that. We figure you will be able to help us find out. Once we have that information, you and Matt will be off the hook. Wilcox will see to it that you're set up some place safe, with enough money to get you by real comfortable like."
"No. I want out now." Unconsciously, she tightened the hold on her handbag, which contained the letter to Doc.
Her white-knuckled grip aroused his suspicion, "You never did tell mewhere you were heading."
She stared at the road in front of them, "Just a walk, I was taking awalk. No law against that, is there?"
"What are you protecting in that reticule of yours?"
"None of your business."
"Might be it is." He reached over and snatched it from her hand.
She lunged for it, "Give that back." He parried her feint with a thick forearm and at the same time pried open the purse and removed the envelope.
"What have we got here?" he said as he ripped the letter free and examined the contents. He gave a dry smile when he reached the end."Won't work Missy … you gotta play by our rules. There's more at stake here than you and your precious Matt Dillon. There are men out there, bad men, that want to see this country in shambles so's they can take it over and reap all the riches the United States has to offer. Don't you see? Folks like us, we don't matter much in the grand scheme of things, except in times like these, for what little we can do to preserve the Union."
"It's not fair."
His voice was warmer, almost compassionate, "No Miss, it ain't fair, it wasn't fair either that nearly 700,000 men, many not more than boys, were killed or wounded in the War Between the States. They were fighting for something they believed in … both sides, North and South… their sacrifice should mean something to us."
There was a bitter taste in her mouth. She said nothing, turning her head away from him, so he couldn't see the emotions passing over her face. They were almost back to the cottage. Lilly was standing at the front door watching their approach.
Kitty nodded her head in submission, her voice was flat, "Tell me what you want from me."
"Like I said before, be real nice to Beaumont Davis, just keep doing what you've been doing. I'll drop by every few days with a delivery, you can tell me what you've found out. No one will be the wiser."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't for sure … in this game, you can't trust no one … you got to have your wits about you at all times. One thing I can tell you. If you need me, you'll know where to find me."
"Where?"
He chuckled again, "Yeoman Meat Market - any fresher and it'd still be on the hoof!"