Kid was more steamed the closer he got to Samuel's, thinking about the situation and thinking how upset Ruth had been. The small farm wasn't much to look at, but then they'd only been here a year. If it had started out as nothing, it might be impressive start.

Samuel's older brother answered his pounds on the door. He was stockier and shorter than his brother but otherwise they bore a great resemblance to each other.

"Where's Samuel?" Kid asked shortly before the brother even got a chance to ask him what he wanted.

"Not here. He ain't been here all morning. I'm his brother, Adam. What do want with him anyway?" His expression was hard and distrustful.

"I believe your brother has something that doesn't belong to him." Kid wasn't giving the man in front of him much thought though as he answered, thinking about what the absence meant. It was no coincidence that he wasn't at home. It meant he was out there somewhere causing some kind of mischief with Ruth's horse or he was simply being lied to by Adam.

Kid shoved past the 30-something man. He wanted to be sure Samuel wasn't here and see if there was anything that might give him a clue as to where he was.

"What gives you the right to bust into our home?" Adam demanded.

Kid drew his gun. "This gives me the right. You got any other questions?"

He still didn't look too frightened, but recognition filled his eyes. "I've seen you. You're that crazy healer woman's husband."

"Kid Cole's the name, and I better not hear any more cracks like that about my wife or no telling what might happen. My finger could slip on the trigger for example." He was in no mood to deal with the man.

Adam's face went pasty. "I—I've heard of you. I worked on the Mississippi as a boatman for awhile before I came back east with my brother. They say you can draw and hit a body so fast, you don't know what's happened to you till you're standing at the pearly gates."

Kid didn't answer. He was too concerned with tracking down Samuel. He also found that silence spoke louder than anything he could say as a person's imagination did most of the work.

The cabin was two rooms and judging from the clothes in the back corner of the back room that were for a thinner, longer man, he'd found Samuel's space. There wasn't much there. The area was orderly and practically bare, leaving not a hint of who this man was or where he'd gone.

"You got any idea where that brother of yours is?" Kid asked sharply.

"I ain't his nanny. He don't check in with me, but I'm sure he'll be back directly." Then he must have realized his tongue had gotten away from him as it hadn't been the most respectfully worded answer, so he added, "Sir."

"You let me know just as soon as he is. I got a bone to pick with him." Kid doubted he would actually tell him if he did return, but it didn't hurt anything to try.

When he got back, everyone was done with breakfast and were out hunting for signs of the horse.

"Did you find him?" Ruth asked anxiously when she saw him.

"He didn't go back home with her. I didn't really think he would. He'd have to be pretty stupid and clearly he's better at hiding his crimes than that."

She nodded and they split up as he joined in the hunt.

"I found some prints!" Clyde called after a couple minutes.

They all rushed over to where he was standing. In the soft patch of dirt there was a set of hoof prints and a set of man's prints.

"The heel of the left shoe looks a little funny," Robert remarked.

"The heel's about to come off Samuel's shoe," Anna said. "He mentioned it to me when we went out on the sleigh ride together. How he hoped he could afford better for…" she broke off too upset to go on.

That was all the proof they needed.

"I'd already given him the okay," James said, "but I guess I ain't as good a judge of character as I thought."

"Well, he seemed like such a nice young man; he had us all fooled," Mary said. "Course he and his brother ain't from around here. Nobody knows too much about them, I guess."

"I—I'm sure he's got a perfectly good explanation for this," Anna said, trying to hold onto her faith in him, but her worried expression and tone belied her words. She added in a small voice, "If I think about it, he's made some little comments about Ruth that in retrospect might hint he doesn't like her too good, but I don't know why. She ain't done nothing to him."

"What's he up to now? Why is he out in the woods with my horse?" Ruth asked.

"I don't know, but he wasn't taking it to a blacksmith for you," Robert said.

"I think you ladies should go wait up at the house," Kid said. "We'll find him and the horse."

"I suppose that's best," Mary agreed, ushering her grown daughters toward the hill.

"Have your guns loaded and ready," James warned. "We're dealing with a man who's clearly not right in the head. No telling what he's got planned next."

The men went into the woods while the women went up to the house.

James, Kid, Robert, and Clyde followed the broken limbs and other trail markers, but they got the distinct feeling after awhile that they were literally going around in circles on some mad, not so merry chase. They got more cranky, cold, and hungry by the minute.

Meanwhile, the women waited impatiently, listening for gunfire and periodically checking out the windows.

Suppressed sobs broke through the quiet. Anna was doing her best to hold them back. When Ruth, who was closer, looked her way they became louder. "I thought he loved me."

"He probably does, honey, in his own way," Ruth said.

"Well, it don't mean much from someone so twisted up in their thinking and morals," she returned.

Ruth put an arm around her. "I'm sorry. It ain't easy finding out someone you love ain't the person you thought they were."

"I know," Anna said her voice shaky from her crying. "And the worst part is all this really is my fault after all."

"It's not. You ain't responsible for his actions," Ruth said firmly.

She smiled weakly. "Thank you for saying that."

"I'm saying it cause it's true."

Mary had observed them quietly through the exchange and was beyond happy to see they were getting close again. "Well, I don't know about you girls, but I can't stand this sitting around and waiting anymore. I've got to have something for my hands to do."

"Sounds good to me, Momma. The men'll likely be ready to eat when they get back anyway," Ruth said, standing up.

The smell of the cooking food soon saturated the air. When they were done cooking, they were dusted in flour and it was about the lunch hour.

Ruth laughed as she took their appearance in. "I think Danny could stay cleaner doing all this than we could."

"Probably," Anna agreed with a chuckle. "I guess we better go get changed."

"I guess we'd better. We look like haunts," Ruth said. "They'll think we were having a flour fight."

"We're just enthusiastic cooks," Mary said with a smile. "But let's get changed so we can eat. No use holding lunch for them. Hard to tell when they'll be back."

Anna and Mary headed to their rooms. Ruth was right behind them when she spotted Carmel out of the corner of her eye through the window. The horse must've managed to get away from Samuel.

She rushed outside in her eagerness to get to her, but she did move more cautiously as she approached, looking to see if she spotted Samuel anywhere, but she only saw her horse. She hurried to her, wanting the animal safe and out of the way before Samuel chased her down.

Carmel snorted nervously. Obviously she had been through a harrowing experience. She took her reins and spoke soothingly, "It's okay. You're safe now."

Carmel refused to be reassured though. She rose up on her front hooves just as an explosion of pain hit the back of Ruth's head and the world went dark.