Please see warnings and disclaimers from first chapter. Additional Warning: This chapter contains a very non specific description of a violent murder.

Authors Note: Sorry that this has been so long in coming. I became very ill for a while.

The next day, Torie was subdued. After reliving the night of her mother's murder while she slept, the girl was overcome with guilt. She couldn't believe she had forgotten, even for a few short hours what was her sole purpose in life. Unable to break her promise about staying to see Fury gentled, she determined that at least she was not going to get anymore attached to her father or his friends.

As she scowled at her reflection in the mirror, she vowed that she was going to maintain her independence as well. She would stay, but she would do as she pleased. In fact she was going to start this very morning.

Quietly and carefully she sneaked out of the boarding house.

***

Chapter 8

About mid-morning Torie made her way back to the boarding house. She was hungry, having missed breakfast. The sacrifice was well worth it, however. It was important to send the message that she would come and go as she saw fit and not conform to her father's silly rules.

She was rather surprised that she hadn't seen him yet. Torie had half expected that he would sick his tracker friend on her and drag her right back to the boardinghouse before breakfast was even on the table. At the very least the girl had thought he would pounce on her as soon as she was in sight. Having been sporting for a fight, Torie was almost disappointed.

Heading up the steps the girl tried to decide what to do until lunchtime. She had already practiced with her slingshot and she didn't feel like reading. The only reason she had returned to the boardinghouse was that she had expected Chris to be waiting for her. Entering her room, she was brought out of her reverie by a low, angry voice.

"Where ya been?"

Torie had to fight to keep a grin off of her face. "Out," she replied evenly.

"Little girl, you do not want to get smart with me right, now."

"What? I went out for a morning walk. Is that a crime?" she replied snottily rolling her eyes, inwardly pleased at being able to vent some of her pent up emotions. Her plan for damage control was already set in her mind, once she had pushed as far as she dared.

Unfortunately for Torie, she had miscalculated her father's degree of patience. Sitting there waiting for the girl, Chris had determined that he'd given her enough time to settle in and that it was time to put his foot down about a few things. With a speed she had not anticipated, the blond man crossed the room and bent her over his hip applying ten firm swats to the seat of her trousers. Standing her up, he let his hands rest on her shoulders as he looked into her tear-rimmed green eyes.

"I have had more than enough attitude from you. You are going to start showing a little respect. Now where were you?"

"I went to check on Fury, spent some time up in the hay loft at the livery, then practiced a bit with my slingshot on the edge of town."

"You forget that you're supposed to be in sight of me or one of the boys?" Chris asked ominously.

"I figured since I'd sworn to stay until Fury was gentled…well, I thought it would be okay."

"I trust you to keep your word, Torie, and I didn't believe you had lit out, but that don't make disappearing for a couple hours okay." He held her gaze for a while before he continued. "Your mama might have let you have the run of things, but that's not gonna happen here."

Her eyes narrowed at the mention of her mother, but before she could utter the sharp retort on the tip of her tongue Chris continued. "Guess it's past time for us to go over the rest of the rules for you."

Torie scowled but kept her mouth shut.

"So what are the rules so far?" Chris asked.

"If you don't remember how do you expect me to?"

Chris turned her sideways and smacked her rear four more times. "Care to try that again?" She met his gaze defiantly but when he reached for the buckle on his belt, she capitulated.

"Okay, okay. Don't run away, don't lie, don't hit, kick, or bite anyone, do as you say, um," the girl stopped to think, "Ah, don't cuss, don't touch guns, and don't do dangerous stuff like jumping out of windows."

Curbing a grin Chris nodded. Sometimes Torie sounded so refined and worldly, like Ysebella, but others – like now – she sounded just like a twelve-year-old girl. "You left out stayin' in sight of me or one of the guys, but since we're gonna change that, it's okay. All the other rules stand. Now until Fury's broke, you're free to roam about as long as you tell me or one of the guys where you're going and have been told it's okay. Once Fury's ready for you to ride, it goes back to you staying in my sight unless you're willing to give me your word that you won't try runnin' off."

Chris paused giving his daughter a serious look. Unable to meet his eyes for long she looked back down at her feet. She wasn't ready to make that promise. Moving on, Chris tipped her chin up once again. "You're to be here for all meals and always be in before it gets dark. You understand?"

"Yes, sir," Torie answered reluctantly.

"The other thing we need to talk about is your attitude. I see one more eye roll, young lady, and I'm gonna blister your tail end. And that smart mouth of yours is getting mighty tiresome. You will be respectful to me and to others."

This time when he stopped and stared at her, she answered without verbal prompting, "Yes, sir."

"I guess that's about it then. You can stay up here in your room until lunch time and think about how you're gonna behave from now on," he stated dropping a kiss on her curly head.

He stopped as he got to the door and turned. "Torie?" She looked up at him. "You wanna talk about last night?"

"No, sir."

"Helps sometimes."

She shook her head.

"Okay, I'll see ya at lunch."

At lunch, Josiah reminded Torie that they had a fishing trip planned. The girl cast a furtive glance a Chris, who grinned. "Sounds like fun, next time maybe I'll join you."

Josiah took Torie a ways out of town to a nice quiet spot along the creek. The large man dutifully demonstrated how to bait the hook and cast the line. Torie decided she would be letting Josiah bait all of the hooks. The two sat in comfortable silence for some time.

"Did you enjoy the rest of your evening last night?"

Torie nodded.

"You're quite the dancer."

"Mama taught me."

"Must have made her very happy, watching you last night."

Torie looked sharply at Josiah, but didn't respond.

"Mind if I ask you something?"

Torie shrugged, worrying the fishing pole between her fingers.

"Do you think she'd want you to be trying your best to stay at odds with your Pa?"

"I'm not-" Josiah's earnest look broke off her denial and she just shrugged again. She knew good and well that her mother had wanted her to have a good relationship with Chris. "She'd understand."

Josiah nodded. "Mother's can be very understanding souls."

The two returned to their silence, but somehow Josiah's gentle words had set Torie to thinking.

***

"Chris?" Mary's voice drew the gunman's attention as he unsaddled his horse at the livery.

"Hey, Mary. Watcha doin' out so late?"

"Actually, I've been waiting for you to return."

"Really?" Chris's green eyes pinned her with a look that made her legs feel like jelly.

"I needed to talk with you about Torie," the newspaperwoman clarified quickly.

"She been in some trouble today?" he asked his brow furrowing with concern. Though she had definitely balked at his rules, the girl hadn't given him any difficulty since the night after the dance.

"No, not at all, but I think I need to tell you about an interview we had. I was thinking of doing a small article, welcoming her to town. Just a short biography, nothing too fancy. She suggested a more interesting piece and it would definitely be of great interest, but I would never dream of printing it without talking to you."

As Chris finished up with his horse he looked quizzically at Mary. She moved to take a seat on a hay bale and motioned for him to sit as well. "Torie thought it might give her some closure to recount and document the tragic story of her mother's death."

"She hasn't even been willing to talk about it."

"I know, which one thing that aroused my suspicions."

"One?"

"She made a point of saying, more than once during the interview that although the men had started out masked, before they left she saw their faces. She also said that the men had been hired and that she heard several names."

"Hired?"

"Apparently, her mother had something that they wanted, and would not relinquish whatever this was. Torie says that she has it now and that it is safe, but she would not tell me what it was. I asked her why she hadn't told local law enforcement and she said that she had reason to believe that they had been paid off."

Chris's eyes narrowed. His daughter was trying to play a very dangerous game. "She's trying to get them here, but why would she think an article in a small town newspaper would reach them?"

"She said she heard a lot of names, maybe she knows where to send the newspaper."

"Thanks Mary," Chris said, his eyes full of gratitude.

"You have helped me more times than I can count, Chris Larabee. There is no need to thank me."

"I think otherwise," he said softly as he looked down at the woman.

***

Later that evening Chris sat in the saloon with the six other peacekeepers, explaining to them what he had learned.

"Palo Duro Canyon," Vin commented quietly.

"What's that?"

"Something Torie said to those bounty hunters. Wondered where she had heard of the place. It's in North Texas, not overly far from Tascosa."

"Mr. Larabee, is that land deed not for a property in Northern Texas?"

Chris nodded. "Guess we know where she's been itchin' ta get to."

"Reckon we should make a trip over ta Texas?" Buck asked.

Chris took a sip of whisky, but didn't answer.

"If I might comment," Ezra started. "It seems to me young Torie actually had a fine idea in luring the miscreants here."

"You want to use my little girl as bait?" Chris snapped.

"I assure you Mr. Larabee that is the furthest thing from my mind. However, it occurs to me that if this property was important enough to kill for, they are probably already searching for her or rather for the land deed. I for one would rather meet them on our terms rather than theirs."

"Have ya talked ta Torie on this yet, Chris?" Nathan wanted to know. "Might be we're barking up the wrong tree altogether."

Chris shook his head. "I'll do that in the morning." With this he downed the rest of his drink.

The next morning Torie awoke to find Chris sitting in her room.

"We need to talk."

"Mary told you about the article."

"You think she wouldn't?"

Torie shrugged and looked away.

"I've tried to give you the time you need, but I need to know, Torie, what happened that night?"

Grabbing the pillow and holding it tightly to her chest, Torie bit her lip and looked out the window. After a few moments she started talking in a soft voice, "A man came to visit Mama that night after I had gone to bed, I heard them arguing. He wanted something from her – a land deed. Offered to buy it, but she refused, said it was worth a great deal more and she knew it. I sneaked a peak and saw the man. There were others with him too, wearing masks. The first man left, he told the others not to leave without the deed."

Chris moved to sit beside Torie, but she did not turn to look at him or otherwise acknowledge his presence. "Mama had talked a lot about having investments to carrying us through. I'm guessing the land deed was that investment." The girl paused swallowing hard. "They hit her then, more than a few times, and I ran out to help her. I was so stupid! Why didn't I take time to get a weapon? I didn't even stop to think!"

Trying to offer comfort, Chris put a hand on her arm, but Torie just shook her head. "One of them hit me hard and I hit the wall. Mama screamed. I heard them threatening me and she agreed to give it to them, but claimed she didn't have it there. She would have to go get it. I got up, but he hit me again, and everything went black for a while. When I woke up, they were, they were…doing other things to Mama. One of the men was mad yelling at the man who had hit me. Saying that he had ruined everything. I thought maybe I was really dead. I couldn't move. The blood was dripping into my eyes and my head hurt so bad. I could see them, though. They kept at her and, and then after they just kept hitting her over and over. They beat her to death, but all she would say was 'You killed my baby.'"

Tears were streaming down Torie's face, and Chris pulled the girl into his arms ignoring her stiffness. "So much is a blur, but I remember the faces of at least three of the men. The first man that came to talk to Mama she called Cain. The man that hit me, they called Molson. Another one they called Lefty. I could see that the one doing the yelling was scarred real bad, like he'd been in a fire. A lot of things are blurry. I'm not sure where it fit in but I know I remembered them talking about a ranch in Texas, near Palo Duro Canyon. I couldn't move. Couldn't so much as lift a finger. I couldn't look away."

Torie broke down into sobs, burying her head into Chris's chest and he held her tight, his heart breaking for his little girl.

TBC...