There was a flash in Wyatt’s eyes. “I tore it out when I saw him shoot Arlen. Took a few hard twists to get it off, but it wasn’t no different than pulling a drumstick off a roast chicken. I thought I killed him last night, after what he did to Hank. But he came back.”
Joe thought: the blood on the wall and ceiling upstairs.
“Wyatt,” Joe said, trying to keep his voice calm but failing in his effort, so as not to upset the big man and cause him to clam up, “Did Monroe have my girls with him?”
Wyatt nodded sincerely. “And Julie too. But not anymore.”
“Where are they?”
“They’re safe,” Wyatt said. “They’re in my shack. Bill told Arlen he was going to hurt them if he didn’t give him money. Julie’s mom is there too.”
Joe felt a surge of blistering relief, although he wondered where Keeley was.
Nate asked, “Why are your brothers down here, Wyatt?”
Wyatt clenched his eyes, shaking his head from side to side. He looked like he was about to explode.
“Nate,” Joe cautioned.
Nate pressed, “Why did you bring them down here?”
Wyatt whispered, “To preserve them. So I could preserve my family. We’re very important here. And I loved them so much, even though they didn’t love each other.”
“Like you preserved your mother,” Nate said.
Wyatt nodded, then looked up eagerly. “Did you see how I made her smile? Not many people knew how she could smile. They know now.”
Joe turned and shouldered past Nate toward the stairs.
“Please stay with him,” Joe said. “I’m going to get my girls.”
HE RAN ACROSS the ranch yard and down the road on legs that felt as if they could go out on him at any time. The scene in the cellar had scorched his soul, and Wyatt had broken his heart.
J. W. Keeley was still out there, as far as Joe knew. As he ran, he held his gun in front of him with two hands and searched for movement of any kind in the dark trees near the ranch buildings. How far could a man go with a wound like that? he wondered. He’d seen deer and elk travel for miles with legs blown off by careless hunters. But a man?
Then a horrible thought struck him as he ran: Maybe Keeley had found the girls.
SHERIDAN’S EARS WERE numb from the drumming of the heavy rain on top of the tin roof of the shack. So numb, that when she heard a cry outside she doubted herself. Just like earlier, when she thought she had heard gunshots outside and even the unholy scream of a man. In both instances, she couldn’t be sure that her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. This time, though, she heard the cry again.
“Is someone coming?” Lucy asked from where she was huddled in the corner of Wyatt’s shack.
“Yes,” Sheridan said, summoning all her courage to approach the window and brush aside the curtains. The glass outside was still streaked with running rain, and the view undulated with the water. A form appeared in the murk outside, a man running toward the shack, crouching, looking around as if he expected someone to jump out at him. She recognized the form.
She stepped back from the window and turned to Lucy, beaming. Everything was suddenly right with the world.
“Dad’s here,” she said.
LIGHTS WERE ON in Wyatt’s shack. Joe called out again for his girls.
He heard, “Dad!” in response. Sheridan. A squeal from Lucy.
The door was locked. He jerked on it and pushed it but it was solid.
“Just a minute,” Doris Scarlett said from inside.
He heard a bolt tumble and the door opened inward. Sheridan, Lucy, and Julie Scarlett were inside, behind Doris. Lucy ran across the floor and bear-hugged Joe around the waist.
Sheridan said, “Boy, are we glad to see you.”
Joe closed the door behind him and pulled both of his daughters to him.
Lucy said, “You’re really wet, Dad.”
Joe sat them down on a couch with Julie. He said, “Tell me what happened.”
Sheridan told the story about Bill Monroe taking over the bus, turning it around, and getting it stuck as they tried to cross the river. Monroe made them get out and wade to the shore, and they all walked through the mud to the ranch. When they got to the ranch yard, Wyatt came out of the cellar and yelled at Bill Monroe to go away. When he wouldn’t, Wyatt charged him and hit him in the head. Monroe ran, cursing, toward the house where Arlen now stood on the front porch. Monroe went inside and Arlen closed the door. Wyatt told Doris and the girls to go to his shack and lock the door and not let anyone in unless it was he.
That’s all they knew, and Joe was relieved. They hadn’t seen what happened inside.
“Have you seen Keeley since?” Joe asked, “I mean Bill Monroe,” he said, to avoid confusion.
“Keeley?” Sheridan asked. “Like April? The same name?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Sheridan and Lucy exchanged glances. “I told you his face was familiar. He has April’s eyes,” Sheridan said to Lucy, referring to her stepsister.
