So outright murdering the sheriff in broad daylight is off the table, more’s the pity. But there’s a hundred ways a man can end up dead without any kind of real knowing who did it.
I’m working through a couple of scenarios, one of them involving rat poison and soup, even though poison is a cowardly way to murder a man, when I stop short. A few feet away, decked out like the belle of the ball, is Katherine, surrounded by a few of the drovers. That ain’t at all unusual, since from what I’ve seen there ain’t many unattached ladies in Summerland, and those that ain’t spoken for make a living on their backs.
But what ain’t normal is the look of sheer panic on Katherine’s face.
I duck my head and make a beeline to the group. “All right, fellas, move it along.” I make a shooing motion with my hands, falling right back into my Attendant training.
A couple turn to look back at me, but no one steps away from Katherine. They’re like bees on a particularly sweet flower, stubborn and focused. Good thing I know how to handle bees.
I draw my sword and smack the nearest suitor across the back of his head with the flat of my blade. “Hey, what’s the big—” His eyes go wide when he realizes my blade is now only a few inches from his eye.
“Move. Now.”
He scampers off, along with a few other fellows, the lot of them muttering curses but too cowardly to do anything more than that. Their departure clears enough of a path that I can grab Katherine’s arm and wrench her away from the rest of her suitors without any further violence. The men say nothing, not even a single swear, and I take that to be because they’re still trying to put their best foot forward with the mysterious Katherine Deveraux, fine lady from the east.
“Thank goodness you got here when you did. I was about to wield my parasol,” Katherine says, scowling.
“I would think a Miss Preston’s girl would know better than to let herself get so hopelessly outnumbered.”
“I’m a lady, Jane. I would never turn my hand to violence; that is what my Attendant is for. Besides, as long as I am trapped in this godforsaken place I will have to do all my dealings in the currency of besotted idiots. What would you have me do, alienate the entire town? It is not as though I have a fortune at my disposal. I must be charming no matter the predicament.” She snaps open her parasol and gives me a haughty look over her shoulder. I can’t decide if she’s brilliant or utterly insane. She’s playing the role of debutante so well that I’m wondering if maybe Katherine ain’t really the daughter of some long-lost princess. It would explain quite a bit.
She sniffs, and gestures toward the boardwalk. “Now, let us go call upon the sheriff. I believe he might have something for us. Try to look contrite, would you?”
I give Katherine my best puppy-dog look, but she only rolls her eyes heavenward before marching out smartly across the dusty lane.
I have to run to open the door for Katherine, she’s set such a frightful pace. She sails into the sheriff’s office unannounced, like she owns the place. The bastard sheriff and his boys are guffawing at something, and an ugly emotion rises up in my chest—part rage, part indignation, mostly bloodlust. What he did to me, what he’s most likely done to others before me . . . My vision goes dark as I imagine taking my fists to the sheriff’s face, pounding away until it loses shape and resembles nothing more than a mound of meat. I blink quickly, clearing the savage vision, a sick feeling settling in my middle.
There is nothing I want more right now than to kill Sheriff Snyder. Not my freedom, not to return to Rose Hill, nothing. Just the sheriff, on the ground, his lifeblood seeping into the boards.
The strength of my rage is terrifying. It’s all I can do to swallow my fear and anger as the men jump to their feet at Katherine’s presence, as if they have some sense of civility.
“Miss Deveraux,” the sheriff says, tipping his hat. His gaze barely flickers over me, and I keep my eyes downcast so he won’t see how much I’d like to stab him in the heart with my rusty cavalry sword.
“Sheriff, I have a request to make of you.”
“Well now, I reckon you been doing a lot of that lately.” There’s bemusement and affection in the sheriff’s voice but no anger, and I’m relieved to know that I didn’t misread his fondness for Katherine. It’s a sad thing, but there are few men that can’t be softened by a pretty face. For the first time I can remember I’m thankful that Katherine is fetching enough for two girls.
“My girl needs a better weapon than this woeful sword, something more befitting an Attendant. I was hoping we could have your leave to procure some proper weapons for her.”
The sheriff strokes his yellow mustache as he thinks, and I fight to keep the excitement from my face. A genuine weapon would be more than I’ve been hoping for. Not that I couldn’t kill the sheriff properly with my cavalry sword, or my bare hands if it came to it.
“You want me to give your darkie a gun?” the sheriff says with a smirk. His gaze is heavy on me, waiting for a reaction, a flash of indignation or anger. But I am playing the role of a faithful Attendant, so I school my expression to blankness. Luckily his eyes are on me, so he misses the anger that flashes across Katherine’s
