Chapter 10
“Have you been to Casper before,” Darcy asked as the car bounced over rough roads leading to their destination, checking the rearview mirror to see if anyone followed. “It’s not much of a place, but there’s old money in the town.”
Blake grinned, he’d been to Casper many times over the years and knew well what the place was like. Cattle might not be king any more in the wilds of Wyoming, but between cattle, sheep, and wheat production the state held its own in produce. The old families, the early families who had come to Wyoming and had been able to hold onto their homesteads were still able to prosper on the open plains.
“I’ve been here a time or two,” Blake replied, glancing at Darcy who was busy slipping a cigarette into a long black holder. “It’s a busy town. Nothing like Cheyenne, but there’s plenty to be had if you know where to look.”
Darcy shot him a droll look, but said nothing as she lit the cigarette and blew smoke out the partially open window.
They drove on in silence for several more miles as sage brush, and scrub oak whizzed by.
“Pierce promised he’d take me to California,” Darcy’s voice was distant but clear as she gazed out the window. “Said he’d make me a movie star, and I could live in a big house by the sea. I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.”
Blake stole a glance at the young woman next to him in the heavy coat, but didn’t ask any questions. He knew that Darcy was working up to something, he just wasn’t sure what it might be.
“I came from nothing,” the dark-haired beauty continued. “My folks were dirt farmers with not a penny to their name. They were good people, but had no ambition.”
As she grew silent once more Blake wondered where exactly Darcy had come from. She couldn’t have been from the city, if her parents were farmers. How had she met the man who now possessed her very soul? “Where’d you come from?”
“Out there.” Darcy waved her cigarette holder toward the prairie. “I suppose my brothers are still trying to make a go of that mud pit they call a home.”
Blake could hear bitterness in her voice, but from where she had come from or where she had landed, he couldn’t tell.
“I was never content. I don’t know how they could stand to be out there in the middle of nowhere with nothing but back breaking work and nothing to show for it. I hated that life.” Darcy’s words hung there for a long time as the tires of the shiny car kicked up dust in a steady stream.
The young woman had obviously been unhappy in her home, but she didn’t seem any happier now. There were always people who couldn’t be content where they were, but was that what was driving Darcy to make this daring leap and trust Blake.
Only time would tell what the woman’s final objective was, but Blake’s heart hurt for her. To Pierce, Darcy was a possession, a pretty bauble to be flashed in front of guests. The big man dangled her like an accessory, strutting her out to impress other men with his prowess. It wasn’t any kind of life for a woman, yet she had fallen into it willingly.
“You must have hated that place,” Blake finally spoke wondering if she would reply.
Darcy shrugged negligently. “I did at the time. I hated the work, the dust, the emptiness. I hated never knowing if the crop would survive or if we’d spend a frozen winter starving to death. I guess it was the uncertainty more than anything.”
“I don’t think life offers any guarantees.” Blake looked toward her, surprised to find her looking back.
“You don’t look like you had any trouble growin’ up. Have you ever even missed a meal? When’s the last time you had to stuff newspaper into the cracks in your room to try to keep the snow out? Or lived on onion soup for two weeks because there’s nothing else to eat?”
Blake turned his eyes back toward the open road feeling her words in his heart. He had grown up the grandson of a wealthy rancher. The child of parents who knew the value of what they had and weren’t afraid to teach their son how to work for what he wanted. He had never known a day when there wasn’t enough to fill your belly, or fill your days.
“No, I can’t say I have,” he finally spoke. “I’ve been fortunate, and I’m thankful for it. For now though, I’d like to make a difference in this world. I’d like to help insure that wicked men don’t take advantage of those who are less fortunate than they are.”
Darcy’s harsh grunt surprised him and he glanced that way again. “A real do-gooder. Just what the world needs.”
Blake didn’t want to argue with the woman who had offered to help him. He could tell that she was done talking about her past and possibly her future. He hoped that if he could bring down Pierce and the big gang that the world would be a marginally safer place. Perhaps with men like Pierce behind bars, young women like Darcy could find honest work in cities like Cheyenne.
The young lawman’s mind drifted to his cousin Mary and Bar, running the mission where they ministered to the lost men of this age. Men who had given their part in the Great War but hadn’t been able to escape the darkness that they had survived. Someone had to reach out to the lost, to shine a light in the darkness that would lead men to hope.
The world was uncertain at the best of times but if your hope was founded on the solid rock, you had no need of fear, desperation, or lost hope. Blake was only one small cog in the machine of justice. He prayed that
