She stole a glance at the handsome man. She’d guessed correctly that he’d had some affiliation with the law. He was too strong, too smart, too...
Her face warmed. What was she doing, mulling over the man’s finer qualities like that? Surely if he knew the truth about her, he’d see her as being very much the kind of woman to avoid. Respectable lawmen didn’t involve themselves with women who’d allowed themselves to be so thoroughly taken. Besides, she could hardly prove her innocence.
She’d thought the worst of her crime of silence was how it had hurt her family. But now she could see that so many others were hurt, too. Sure, she’d paid secret restitution, but how had that given them a feeling of safety? Had she given any thought to Ben’s other victims? The good people in town he’d stolen from? The bank that’d lost its money? Will, who had lost his badge? Who else had Ben hurt in the course of his crimes?
No more.
Mary wasn’t going to stand around anymore, waiting for Ben’s next move. That was fine if everyone else wanted to wait until it was safe. But who else would Ben hurt?
She stared hard at Will. “I am not running away from this. It’s time to stand up to Ben and put an end to his hurting others, once and for all.”
Will took her by the arm, pulling her into an alley. “Keep your voice down. No one said anything about running away. But going in there, tempers blazing, is only going to get you killed. If you die, your sister’s share of your family’s wealth gets bigger. Ben has no reason to not harm you.”
The talk of armed guards had frightened Mary to be sure, but to have her death so callously discussed sent a darkness into her heart. Ben had done a lot of things, but to kill her? Over money?
Her throat ached from unshed tears. Though she heeded Will’s caution to not attract attention, she wanted to shout from the rooftops and let everyone know of the grave injustice being done.
“What if he hurts my sister?”
Mary hardly dared speak the words, but if Ben wouldn’t be above killing Mary, what was to keep Rose safe?
Jasper came around the other side of her and gently patted her arm. “They’re not married. She’s worthless to him dead. Until he has his money, your sister is safe.”
His words weren’t as calming as she’d have liked them to be. “Has he asked for money?”
The two men exchanged glances. When would they realize she wasn’t a delicate flower they needed to protect?
“You can’t hide the truth from me for long. I’ll find out eventually, so just tell me.”
“Yes,” Will said, his voice taking a more somber tone. “Ben asked Pastor Lassiter to give them her share of your father’s claim. He told them that only Joseph has that authority and that they’ll have to wait until Joseph returns. Ben wasn’t happy. I don’t know what he’ll do if Joseph isn’t back from his honeymoon soon. He’s not a patient man.”
It would be several more weeks, at least. Not only were Joseph and Annabelle going on their honeymoon, but Joseph had also wanted to take care of some business that would help modernize their mining operations. Plus, Annabelle had mentioned wanting to spend time with her East Coast relatives. When they’d left, both Mary and Frank had assured them that they could take all the time they wanted. Gertie had moved into the Lassiter house with her family to help Mary take care of the children and get everyone settled. Between Gertie, Polly, Mary and Maddie, the housekeeper, no one had foreseen the need for Joseph and Annabelle to hurry home.
A tear rolled down Mary’s cheek before she could stop it. She didn’t want to spoil Joseph’s happiness. Of course, that was what had caused so many of her problems in the first place. Though she’d let Joseph know that things with Aunt Ina weren’t good while he was gone, she’d kept the worst of Aunt Ina’s abuses from him. If Joseph had known that Aunt Ina was forcing the little ones to go without food so that she could have a new dress with the money Joseph sent, he’d have come straight home. And if Joseph had been home, she’d have told him about Ben, and Joseph would have set her straight.
One more thing Mary should have done and didn’t.
She swallowed against the coming tears and focused her attention back on Will. “Does Joseph know about any of this?”
Will shook his head. “Pastor Lassiter said that he was waiting for us to return with news. Joseph and Annabelle are traveling right now, so the soonest he would be able to reach them is Monday.”
Three days. And then the agony of deciding whether they would return. Well, of course they would return. But the journey home would take some time, even if they took the train.
“We can’t wait until Monday to try to rescue Rose.”
“Agreed.” Will glanced at Jasper, then back at Mary. “But we also can’t go charging in. Now that we know what we’re up against, we need a plan.”
Despite being partially shielded by the alley, a spray of water from a too-fast buggy in the street hit Mary, soiling her dress.
“We need to get you to a safer part of town,” Will said, taking her by the arm again.
Mary tugged away. “It’s just muddy water. After all we’ve been through, I can take a little mud.”
She brushed away the worst of it, only then realizing that she should have taken off her gloves to complete the task. She could feel Will’s eyes on her, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
“It’ll wash.” The gloves, anyway. Her new dress was probably ruined. She should have changed out of her wedding clothes and into something more practical, but that would have kept her from following Jasper out the back door and finding Will.
As much as Mary had