“He hasn’t calmed down any?” Longarm asked.
“He’s well nigh catatonic. That means-“
“I know what it means,” Longarm said. “He’s so shaken up about something that he’s pulled back into himself and ain’t letting anybody else in.”
“Exactly,” agreed the physician.
“What are the chances of making him talk, Doc?” asked Thorp.
Carson shook his head. “Hard to say. Cases like this where the patient has suffered a great shock are almost impossible to predict.”
“He seemed to be coming around earlier,” Longarm said, until he got reminded again of what happened out there.”
“Then that’s a good sign. With time, he may make a full recovery.” Carson shrugged. “Or maybe not.”
Thorp took a step toward the cellblock door. “Well, he’ll just have to come out of it, because I’ve got to talk to him!”
Carson put a hand out to stop him. “Sorry, Mr. Thorp, but it won’t do you any good to browbeat the man, especially now. I gave him a sedative since he seemed so disturbed. He’s sound asleep by now.”
“Damn it, Carson!” Thorp burst out. “You didn’t have the right-“
“The man is my patient. I had the right to make a medical judgment, and I did so.”
Longarm also wished the doctor hadn’t knocked Rainey out, but it was too late now to do anything about it. He said, “There’s no sense in getting upset, Thorp. Rainey’ll wake up sooner or later, and you and the marshal can talk to him then.”
“Yes, and in the meantime that monster has even more time to put my wife through the tortures of hell!”
“We don’t know that Mrs. Thorp is in any danger,” Burley said. “Maybe the Devil’s just sort of … holding her prisoner.”
The withering look Thorp gave Burley made it clear just how likely the rancher considered that possibility.
As for Longarm, he wondered why the creature—assuming that the Brazos Devil even existed, and that was a mighty big assumption—would carry off a woman when its other encounters with men had proven fatal. There was only one reason Longarm could think of, and it was a horrifying prospect that had no doubt occurred to Thorp, Burley, and everybody else in Cottonwood Springs. Maybe the monster had wanted a mate.
Longarm put that image out of his mind with a little shake of his head. He still had his own job to tend to, and something else had occurred to him. He said, “Mr. Thorp, you reckon I could use the safe in your bank to lock up some valuables overnight?”
“Of course,” Thorp replied with a wave of his hand, obviously distracted and a bit put out by the question.
Longarm put his hand inside his coat. “Unless, that is, one of you gents happens to know who these baubles belong to so that I can get ‘em back to their rightful owner?” He took out the necklace and bracelet he had found in Rainey’s saddlebag.
He should have figured it out sooner, he realized immediately. But all it took was the strangled sound Thorp made, the widening of the man’s eyes, and the heartfelt curse that came from Burley’s lips. “Where did you get those?” the marshal asked hoarsely.
Longarm sat forward, his muscles tense. “You’re saying they belong to-“
“They belong to my wife!” Thorp said in a voice that was almost a wail. “That’s Emmaline’s jewelry!”
Chapter 5
Longarm stared at the man for a second, then asked, “Was she wearing these things when she disappeared?”
Thorp seemed to have aged another year or so in the moment since he had seen the shiny necklace and bracelet in Longarm’s hand. He nodded without saying anything.
“Your wife wore geegaws like this to go horseback riding on a ranch?” Longarm asked with a frown.
“I told you she was raised in Louisiana,” Thorp said. “New Orleans, to be exact. She always liked nice things. She said that.. just because she was living on a ranch was no reason not to … to enjoy her jewelry.”
Thorp appeared to be on the verge of breaking down. Carson moved to his side and said solicitously, “Maybe I ought to give you something too, Mr. Thorp.”
Thorp pulled away from the doctor and shook his head vigorously. “I don’t want anything,” he said. “I have to be able to think clearly.”
It might be a little too late for that, Longarm figured. Thorp seemed about one step away from losing his mind, and Longarm supposed he couldn’t blame the man for that. He himself didn’t want to start believing in monsters, but something had happened to Emmaline Thorp, and the overwhelming odds were that it was bad.
Longarm stood up and handed the jewelry to Thorp. reckon you’d better take care of these,” he said. “Your wife’ll want ‘em when she gets back.”
Thorp nodded numbly. “Where did you get them?”
Longarm inclined his head toward the cellblock door. “Rainey had them in his saddlebags.”
“Then … maybe he and his partner had Emmaline-” Thorp wheeled and lunged toward the cell block. “I’ll kill him!”
Longarm’s hand shot out and clamped down on Thorp’s arm, jerking the rancher to a stop. Burley was already up and moving, putting himself between Thorp and the cell block. “Hold on there!” Longarm said in a hard voice. “I already thought of what you’re thinking, Thorp, and I got to admit you might be right.”
