“I’m just happy to be sitting here in the saloon, enjoying a drink and getting an alibi, instead of being near Mack and his explosives. I don’t care what he says, he gets it wrong more often than not.”
Emma Jane’s heart seized. Of course Jasper would be with the posse. But for it to all be a trap? How had the bandits been able to put everything together so quickly? They’d only been back in town for a few hours.
Glasses clinked. “You’re telling me. I was there when he blew up the outhouse. How’d you get out of posse duty?”
“At least one deputy has to stay behind in case there’s trouble in town.”
Deputy. Emma Jane could feel her pulse racing as she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. Jasper had been saying that he suspected someone inside the sheriff’s office had ties to the bandits. Now she knew for sure.
But that wasn’t any help to her husband, who was walking blindly into a trap.
The men discussed the plan a few moments longer, but then their conversation moved to admiring one of the serving women. Hopefully, they’d given enough away for Emma Jane to be able to warn Jasper.
Slowly, quietly, Emma Jane made her way back to her room. After leaving a note for Abigail explaining her whereabouts, she went out the back door and ran down the road to the livery.
“Hello, I’m...”
“Mrs. Jackson. What a pleasure to have you here. It’s a little late for a ride, isn’t it?”
“It’s an emergency,” she told him breathlessly, looking about to be sure no one else was around. “I need your fastest horse.”
Wes, the proprietor, scratched his chin. “Well, now. Most of my horses went out with the posse. What’s the trouble? Maybe I can help.”
Emma Jane hesitated, not sure who she could trust. If one of the town’s deputies could be bought, who else might be on the bandits’ side?
“I need to speak to Jasper. It won’t wait. Please. It’s a matter of life and death.”
She hated sounding so melodramatic, but the posse already had a head start on her.
Wes frowned. “Will told me that Mary might try something like this, and I have strict orders not to let her have a mount.”
His desire to protect Mary gave Emma Jane hope that this man could be trusted. “I overheard some of the bandits talking just now. The men are riding into an ambush!”
A long sigh escaped Wes’s lips. “I knew it sounded too good to be true. All the best men went with the posse, but Deputy Jenks said that he’d remain behind. I figured the threat was to the town, not to the posse. We should let him know.”
The back of Emma Jane’s neck tingled. “I don’t know the man’s name, but he said that he was a deputy and deliberately stayed behind so he had an alibi.”
“I should have known.” Wes spat on the ground. “He always was too rough on his horse. Not so much as to hurt him, but just enough for me to question the man’s character.”
He straightened, then looked at Emma Jane. “I’ll come with you. You can ride PB. He’s one of my own, and he’s fast.”
“Thank you.” Emma Jane watched as he got the horses ready, glad that he moved much more swiftly than she would have. Selfishly, she was also glad he’d volunteered to come along.
Will had been right to warn Wes that Mary might try to follow them and right in that Mary had no business being there. Though Emma Jane’s time with the bandits had taught her that some of them were not so bad, their leaders possessed a ruthlessness and cunning that made any dealings with them dangerous.
One more thing Jasper had been right about. She’d acted much more bravely when she’d been in their cabin than she ordinarily would have. Mostly because she was so angry that he seemed to be so... She sighed. He’d been trying to protect her in his own way. But she’d wanted Jasper’s love and protection on her own terms. She could see that now.
Wes helped her onto her horse, and she was too busy focusing on staying on the horse to continue thinking about all her missteps with Jasper. Fortunately, Wes knew what the posse’s plan was, and he also knew a shortcut.
“We can head them off if we cut through Stumptown. The posse didn’t want to go that way in case folks saw them ride through and suspected something was up.”
Emma Jane couldn’t answer for fear of losing her concentration and falling off. Once again, she couldn’t help but be thankful for Wes’s presence.
They rode hard, or at least as hard as the snow on the ground would allow. They finally rounded a bend, and Emma Jane could see the entrance to the canyon that had led to the bandits’ hideout. The posse was gathered there, and from the looks of things, they were too late.
The bandits were in front of the canyon entrance, and the posse appeared to be surrounded.
Wes slowed their horses, but someone had caught sight of their movement. A shout came from the bandits, and some of them turned in Emma Jane’s direction.
The momentary distraction seemed to give the posse the edge they needed, and before Emma Jane knew it, shots rang out. She started to put her hands over her ears, but as soon as she loosened her grip on the reins, PB took off toward the shooting.
Emma Jane grabbed the reins and pulled as hard as she could. Behind her, she could hear Wes yelling instructions, but she couldn’t hear them.
Ahead of her, Emma Jane spied Jasper. He seemed to recognize her instantly, his eyes widening. If there was any cause for his disappointment, it was that she’d promised him not to get involved with the case. He’d told her that was the very foundation of trust
