He’d figured, but at least with all of Ben’s other crimes, that testimony wouldn’t matter as much. Will had put his trust in the Lord, and while he didn’t understand why events had happened the way they had, he had to trust in the Lord’s good purpose.
“Is it true Ben killed Mel?”
This question made Will sit up and look at Colt. “What’s it to you?”
“I know what she did for a living, but she was still my girl. Mel was a good woman, and as soon as I had the money, I was gonna set her up real nice.”
“By stealing from other people?”
Colt grunted. “You wouldn’t understand.”
Will jumped up and approached the other man. “You’re right. I don’t understand. Tell me why I’m sitting here in this jail when you know as well as I do that I had nothing to do with that robbery. Tell me how you ended up in possession of my father’s gun, a gun someone who wasn’t me used to kill an innocent man. And then tell me how all that adds up to giving a decent woman like Mel a better life.”
Despite knowing it was wrong to engage Colt, Will couldn’t help it. Mel shouldn’t have had to die.
“You tell me it was Ben, and I’ll give them everything they need to hang him.”
Those words should have brought Will the comfort he needed. One word, and Colt would give the authorities the testimony they needed to end Ben’s reign of terror once and for all. The trouble was, Will wasn’t sure that word was the truth.
Yes, Ben had fired, but he’d claimed it was only to scare Jasper. Ben’s men had also fired their weapons. So, whose bullet had hit Mel? Will couldn’t definitively say. He’d been too busy trying to keep Mary safe.
It hadn’t been right to let Ben die in the fire, just as it wasn’t right to give Colt the answer he sought.
All Will had to say was yes, and everything Will had come to Leadville for would be accomplished. Ben would face justice. Will’s name would be cleared. He could give Mary the honorable life he’d hoped to be able to give a woman someday. But there’d forever be a stain on his soul.
Will looked at the other man, whose face looked more worn than Will had ever remembered seeing it. His grief was real.
“She betrayed you, you know. By helping us.”
Colt nodded slowly, as if he still couldn’t believe Mel would do such a thing. “What’d you have on her?”
“Nothing. She was trying to find out what Ben had done with her sister.” If anything good could come of this conversation, maybe it would be that they’d finally find where Ben’s gang was keeping Daisy.
“I didn’t know she had a sister.” Darkness flitted across Colt’s eyes. “Why wouldn’t she have told me?”
“Because her sister’s the pretty plum Ben used to tempt me in Century City. Mel didn’t know if she could trust you.”
Colt’s face crumbled. Not in the way a pretty girl started to cry, because there were no tears. Just the utter devastation of a man who had nothing more to lose—or gain.
“I wish she’d told me.”
The calmly spoken words were unlike anything Will had ever heard from the other man. He sounded almost...human. Even the cold-blooded killer who’d struck fear into the hearts of many a lawless town had loved another, and loved her deeply.
Could Will play on that love to get the information they needed to find Daisy?
“All Mel wanted was for Daisy to be taken care of. It’s why she took up the life she did. Why she came to Leadville.”
“She’ll be taken care of just fine. Ben’s seen to that.” Colt eyed Will as though he dared him to say otherwise.
“An outlaw’s life is no life for a woman. Mel wanted better for Daisy. If you loved her, you’d grant her dying wish.”
The disgust on Colt’s face was unmistakable. “I ain’t no rat.”
“You’d put your loyalty to Ben over Mel’s dying wish?”
“It’s not Ben I’m protecting. But if he killed her...” Colt turned his head, and Will caught a glimpse of him wiping at his eyes.
Once again, Will wished he could tell Colt what he wanted to hear. Especially when Colt turned to him with red-rimmed eyes. “You’re not going to tell me who killed her, are you?”
Answers. Funny how regardless of which side of the law a person was on, all anyone ever wanted was answers. Not even Will had the ones Colt sought.
“I honestly don’t know. Ben and his men were all shooting, and I was too busy trying to get Mary to safety to see who shot who. All I know is that when the dust settled, Mel was dead.”
He left out the part about her saving Jasper. The last thing Jasper needed was for Colt to decide to hold him responsible. There seemed to be too many vendettas going around these days.
“He deserves to hang, you know.”
Will swallowed. All he’d been able to think about for months was Ben’s body swinging from the gallows. And now... “I suppose that’s for a judge and jury to decide.”
“You know he won’t live long enough for a trial. Folks are already outside clamoring to see Ben’s neck in a noose. I heard tell that he stole from some mighty important people.”
How could Colt discuss the case as though they were sitting in a parlor discussing town gossip over tea? Especially when Colt had been part of it all?
“I guess you’d know more about that than I would.”
Colt snorted. “I suppose you want me to be sorry for what I did. Look, I never stole from no one who couldn’t spare the loss, and I never killed a man who didn’t deserve killing.”
In some ways, Will could relate to Colt. Not so much in the stealing part, but hadn’t Will himself thought Ben worthy of killing? The good Lord had seen fit to remind Will of what was
