Union didn't want any Confederate currency. Well, Lieutenant, von Heusen
bought up Wiltshire.'
'You're trying to tell me that a Yankee named von Heusen came out here
and shot your wagon train full of arrows?
In broad daylight, just like that?'
' No, not just like that,' she retorted.
'And I doubt that he came out here himself. He had his men all greased
down and painted up like Comanche, just in case someone didn't die.'
'So you did see Comanche attack the wagon.'
'No. That's not what I'm telling you at all. I'm no fool, Lieutenant.
I was born and bred out here and I know a Comanche when I see one. And I
know a fraud when I see it, too.'
'You're saying a group of white men came out here and did this to theft
own kind?'
'Yes, Lieutenant, how wonderfully perceptive of you. Why, you must have
studied at West Point! That's exactly what I'm telling you.' Her lashes
flicked again.
'Von Heusen masterminded this whole thing. You need to arrest him,
Lieutenant. Arrest him for murder.' 'You said yourself, yon Heusen
himself probably wasn't even here.'
Her eyes widened, her fury seemed to deepen, but she kept her voice low
and controlled.
'You're not going to arrest him?'
'I'm not a sheriff to begin with, Miss. Stuart. And if I were, I'd have
to have some kind of proof.'
'I'm your proof!'
'It would be your word against his!'
'He wanted our land!'
'Lots of men try to buy land. It doesn't make them murderers I ' She
looked as if she wanted to scream, or at least gouge out another pound
of his flesh.
'You're a fool!'
'Thank you kindly, ma'am,' he retorted.
She gritted her teeth. Tears stung her eyes again.
'Get the hell off me.'
He realized he was still lying against her, still holding her down.
She wasn't trying to kill him anymore. She just looked as if she wanted
to escape him, the touch of him, the sight of him.
'I can't go bringing in a man for something without some kind of proof!'
he told her furiously.
'And not at the word of a half-crazed girl.'
'Oh!' She raked out at him again. He caught her hand, then he rose to
his feet, dragging her up with him. His jaw twisted hard against the
loathing he saw in her eyes. 'Lady' -- 'Lieutenant!' Charlie called to
him, walking around from the field of corpses.
'Shall I start a burial detail?'
She was staring past Charlie, staring at the white-haired man who had
been hit by the arrow then shot through the heart.
'Oh, God!' she gasped. She stumbled forward, trying to reach the corpse.
The blood fled from her face, and her beautiful features became as ashen
