Deb held his wrist the whole time he talked. She looked into his deep blue eyes, until it seemed as if they were the only two people in the world. Finally, she said, “Please be careful, Trace. I would miss you terribly if harm came to you. I hate that you’re going alone.” Then she straightened her spine, and her face lit up. “I saw that man. I can recognize him. I should go with you.”
“What? After what you just said about the danger? You can’t go.”
Her hand closed on his wrist once more with a firm grip. “But don’t you see it will make you safer. You’ll be busy protecting me, and because of that, you’ll take far fewer risks.”
Trace looked down at her, his head shaking. “I won’t let you take such a chance.”
“Then I won’t let you take such a chance.”
“You can’t stop me, Deb. But I can stop you. You have no horse, and no man here will share his with you for such a harebrained idea.”
Deb frowned. “You could be standing right next to the killers. They could be sitting at the table in some diner while you ask questions. They’ll know you’re after them, but you won’t realize you’ve warned them. They could lie in wait. They could bushwhack you.”
“I’m not that easy to bushwhack. I’m good in the woods, and you’re right, I don’t know what these men look like. It’s a good reminder, so I’ll be mighty cautious. I promise you, I’ll be careful. And I don’t plan to stay on the hunt for days. I’m going to ride to the nearest towns to the north, on the west side of Lake Tahoe, on the trail those men took. Then I’ll see if any wagon trains are coming through. If so, I’ll warn them and offer an escort. Please, trust me to be careful.”
“I do trust you, Trace. But you should consider letting me come. I’m the only person alive who got a look at those killers, the only one who heard their voices. I could help you. I want them caught just as badly as you do.” She let go and straightened away from him. She hadn’t realized just how close she’d gotten.
“I’ll check with cattle buyers and see if anyone’s tried to sell stock with altered brands. Mostly I’ll ride to the small settlements along the north fork of the trail we were on. That’s the trail you came down before the massacre. If I have to, I’ll ride all the way to Virginia City and Carson City. I won’t get that far today, though, and I hope I don’t need to go that far. I plan to ride hard and check as many places as I can, then come home for the night. I prefer it to sleeping on the trail, and I’m hopeful I can find evidence of these men fast. And checking for new wagon trains will be easy.”
“Well, then, there’ll be food . . .” Her voice faltered, and she lifted her chin. “There’ll be food waiting for you when you get back. Make sure and knock on the door—no matter how late—and we’ll see you’re fed.”
She missed touching him. She was leaving for California and knew that when she traveled on, she’d miss him for the rest of her life.
“I’ll come for the food.”
Deb nodded silently. The silence had an intensity that stirred him.
“Goodbye, Deb.” He turned and left—almost fled. And she was glad because she was suddenly afraid that if he didn’t leave now, she might never want him to . . . ever.
Steaming mad, Raddo stormed out of the Stoney Point Diner, slapping the bag of coins and itching to grab his gun and take every cent that cattle buyer had on him.
“What’sa matter, Raddo?” Meeks asked.
“The buyer just cheated me on the cattle. I couldn’t get him to pay a fair price.” Truth was, Raddo didn’t know what the going price was for the animals he’d driven in. Oxen, draft horses, some cattle. Ten animals in all. But it had to be more than ten dollars a head. Split three ways, this lousy hundred dollars wasn’t even enough for a man to have a good time in the saloon, let alone pay his old gambling debts.
“Lousy, rotten, dirt-poor movers. Shouldn’t have come west if they didn’t have a better stake.” Raddo scowled at the money and hated to share it.
Meeks and Dalt closed in around him, and Raddo handed each an equal share. These two were loyal as long as the cash flowed. Raddo had to respect that, as he felt the same.
“The buyer didn’t ask no questions, did he, Raddo?” Meeks asked.
“Nope, just took a look and made his best offer.” Though Raddo had wondered if that city slicker suspected the herd might’ve been stolen. Raddo had picked him because he had a reputation for not asking blamed-fool questions. But then he didn’t offer top dollar, either.
Meeks looked at the pathetic stack of coins and shook his head. “We need more money, and the wagon trains are done for the winter.”
Dalt made a sound that drew Raddo’s attention. A man was wise to listen carefully when Dalt talked.
Once they were both listening, Dalt said, “I heard there are a couple more. They’re traveling late, but they’re pushing on, trying to make California before the snows close the trail. And the ones coming on are bigger than five wagons.”
“We followed the longer train and decided we couldn’t take ’em,” Meeks said sullenly. “We were lucky that smaller group split off.”
“We couldn’t handle a train with fifty wagons.” Dalt gave him a murderous look. “But these aren’t that big . . . a whole lot bigger’n five, though. No one even got his gun into play on that small train. We can handle a larger group. We have to unless we aim
