all home having supper and the not-so-respectable hadn’t started their play. This part of the night belonged to no group. It seemed the twilight between both worlds.
Tonight, the air was cold, the kind of still cold that soaked into your bones before you noticed it. In another month they’d be in full spring, but tonight winter seemed reluctant to leave.
The front of the house faced an empty street. Most of the homes were little more than shacks. Adam had asked around and found that these buildings were built during the time the cavalry called this place home. Most had been constructed in a hurry and were now falling in. The saloon next door had had some repairs but the boardinghouse on the other side of Adam’s office would soon join the crumbling buildings if someone didn’t use a hammer.
Maybe someone would buy it. People were coming to town every day and construction was going on so fast the town was spreading like weeds. There was talk of turning the old parade ground into a town square. Right now the spot was mostly used as a campsite for those passing through. Fort Worth was turning from an abandoned frontier fort to a town before his eyes.
Adam walked to the end of the porch and wished he were somewhere else. But where? He had an itch to pack but nowhere that he wanted to go. He’d left Corydon, realizing there was nothing for him there, but wasn’t sure there was anything for him here either. All he knew for certain was that he was through with fighting, and that he loved doctoring. The past few months had taught him that.
He enjoyed the folks around him, even the nun who never hesitated to tell him his business. But somewhere there had to be more.
“Evening.” A man walked in front of the porch, startling Adam.
“Evening, Russell.” Adam took a step forward. He didn’t particularly like the man, but he might have information. “Any word on the stage robbery?”
Russell made a great show of pulling up his gun belt. “Seems there was a rather heavy strongbox on that load. The line was worried about leaving it in Dallas and that’s why they left with only two passengers. The Comancheros would be after the gold, but not the Comanche. I’ve been around these parts a long time and if it’s Comancheros, there’s nothing we can do but count our losses.”
“Any news of her?” Adam held his breath waiting for the answer.
“On the woman?” Russell shook his head. “If she’s not dead, she will be soon. Whoever robbed the stage went to great lengths to leave no clues to tell the story. If she got away, the weather or the varmints will have her by now. Official word from the stage line is that there was no woman on board. They figure she and the gentleman probably got off somewhere along the way at one of the ranches outside of Dallas. The only two men who know are dead and buried by that hull of a stage.”
Adam didn’t want to think of any woman being alone in this country, especially not Nichole. If she were the woman, she wouldn’t have gotten off. But where was she?
“I’d better turn in.” Adam nodded his farewell at the deputy.
The man returned his nod and walked on down the street. Adam noticed Russell always made his rounds at sunset, never after dark.
Just as Adam reached the door, something moved amid the boxes and scattered chairs. “Terry?” Adam called the dog. “That you, boy?”
A shadow moved slightly, growing before his eyes. A shadow of a man.
“Who’s there?” Adam’s muscles tightened.
The stranger moved again, closer.
“Adam!” someone whispered. “Help me.”
In one blink Adam was by her side. “Nichole?” He shoved the hat from her head and pulled her into the light. “Nichole, how-”
Before he could ask, she raised her hands. “Help me,” she whispered again.
Adam looked down and saw her hands wrapped in olive green strips of cloth. From the way she held them away from her body, he could tell she was in pain.
“Come in here.” He led her through the door and into his office.
Without wasting time asking questions, he lifted her up on the table and began unwrapping her hands. The smell of burned flesh assaulted his senses.
“Nance!” he yelled without slowing. “Nance!”
The boy appeared in the doorway. “Yes, Doc?”
“Get me fresh water from the well. Cold water. And tell Sister to make a pot of coffee.” He glanced up into Nichole’s face. “And bring food, warm and hearty.”
Nance disappeared without questioning. He’d learned over the weeks that the doctor never asked for something unless he needed it fast, and he never requested help unless someone was in pain.
“Relax,” Adam whispered as he pulled the strips of bandage away from burned flesh. “Burns hurt a lot more than most injuries, but they heal.” Blisters on her palms had seeped and dried against the cloth. Flesh pulled away with the cotton strips.
He started with the water in the pitcher though it wasn’t cold enough. Tenderly, he patted at the red, swollen flesh, examining each open wound for infection.
Nichole looked into his face. The pain was already starting to subside, and the chill was leaving her bones one degree at a time. “I found you,” she whispered.
“Thank God.” He didn’t look up at her. “I was about to go crazy with worry. I wasn’t sure, but I had a feeling you were the shipment Wolf would be sending.”
“I’m fine,” she answered. “I only burned my hands trying to pull the drivers from the blazing stage. Then I realized they were dead and it didn’t matter.”
“The robbery? What happened?” He lowered her fingers slowly into cool water.
“I’m not sure. I was by the stream sleeping. There were no gunshots, but the sound of horses woke me. I guess I’ve spent too long on the run to walk into anything without taking a good look first. I climbed up in the branches and watched as men watered their horses before riding off.”
“Did you get a good look at them?”
“Not really, just body types mostly, but I’d know a few of their horses. I think there were only three, which seems odd that the driver and the man riding shotgun didn’t at least get off a shot. The man watering the horses had a belt with conchos the size of silver dollars all around it.” She bit back the pain. “They made a few swings at finding me, but were in too big a hurry to really look. If they had, I’d have been somewhere else.”
“I figured that you’d get away.” He smiled at her. “But you’re not much help on descriptions.” Adam worked as he answered, “A lot of vaqueros come up from Mexico to help with the herds. The belts are common. Are you sure they didn’t see you?”
“I waited until they were out of sight, then I ran to the stage and tried to help the men, but it was too late.” She looked at him directly. “They didn’t see me, but from the way they looked, they knew I was on the stage.”
“What about the other passenger?”
Nichole shook her head. “A young man, about Rafe’s build. He didn’t say two words to me. I don’t remember seeing him with the driver when I left, and I couldn’t find his body.”
She fought back any cry of pain as Adam dried her hands. “I changed into my pants and used my dress for bandages. I walked all night, but with the wind and rain, I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t walking in circles. After sunup, I headed west and by luck passed over stage tracks. About midafternoon I wandered into town. I asked about a doc and found you, but I wanted to make sure you were alone before I came in, so I curled up on the porch.”
“Why? No one knows about the trouble you and Wolf are in. No one is looking for you here.” Adam couldn’t believe she’d waited for hours outside and in pain.
“No one knows about me,” she whispered. “But I saw the men riding away from the stage robbery. They were a dirty lot, men raw with meanness. I know their types. They’ll try their hardest to slit my throat if they find out I saw them.”
Her statement was obvious. Adam’s forehead wrinkled in worry as she continued.
