Chapter Seventeen
Sep led the horses to the front of the barn and then pulled back the reins so they stopped. He glanced over at Fred, who was sitting beside him on the seat. He really hoped he wasn’t going to do anything stupid that would put either himself or his best friend in danger. At least Angela was safe. He had that one comfort in all of this.
He pulled his Colt .45 out of its hiding place from under the seat. He quickly slipped it into his pocket, hoping the maneuver was fast enough so that the man wouldn’t notice him. That was if the man was watching him at the moment.
He set the brake and then hopped down from the wagon. He urged Fred to follow him, and Fred, being the ever so faithful companion, obeyed without question. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like knowing he was purposely leading the dog into a dangerous situation. But he had a feeling that if he could give Fred a choice in the matter, Fred would choose to go with him because that was the kind of dog Fred was.
There wasn’t much sunlight left. It would be dark soon. Supper ran later than he had expected. This made it more difficult to check the area for fresh footprints, but he managed to find a set in the dirt just in front of the doorway.
With a glance around to make sure no one could see him, Sep glanced at Fred and gestured to the footprints. It was something they often did when hunting for deer. Sep would find a set of tracks and have Fred sniff them, and then Fred would find the deer for him from there. And Fred was good at it, too. Of all the dogs in the world, he thought he would be hard pressed to find a dog who could track something as well as Fred could.
Fred sniffed the footprints. There was only one set. If Sep remembered right, they were the same ones he had seen that day when he and Angela were coming back from the garden. This only confirmed his suspicions. He was dealing with one man. He could still be wrong about that, of course, but in his gut, this all seemed like the work of one person.
He knelt beside Fred and whispered, “Find the man for me.”
Then he straightened up, mindful of the gun in his pocket. From his other pocket, he pulled out the envelope and went into the barn to put it in the bucket. Even if the man hadn’t left town until he did, the man had the advantage of going on horseback. Wagons slowed things down. There was a good chance the man was already somewhere on the property, watching him. Just because Sep didn’t see a strange horse nearby, it didn’t mean the man wasn’t here. There were enough trees and buildings along the way where someone could hide a horse.
Sep was just going to have to go by instinct, and his instinct told him that the man was close by. After the envelope was in the bucket, he put his hand on the handle of his gun. Then he watched Fred as Fred sniffed the inside of the barn. Fred sniffed all the way from the doorway to the bucket to the window in the back and then to the ladder which led up to the loft. Fred glanced over at him expectantly.
That loft hadn’t been used in years. In the past, Sep would hide there to get away from Harvey, but he hadn’t had any need for it since then. Well, it looked like he had a use for it now.
He pulled the gun out of his pocket and looked up the ladder, taking a moment to scan as much as he could of the loft. He mostly saw shadows, of course. He couldn’t make out everything from this angle. It was possible the man was up there. That being the case, he motioned for Fred to get out of the barn. Fred had done his part. He wasn’t willing to put Fred through any more danger than he already had.
After Fred left, Sep quietly made his way up the ladder, straining to hear any noises coming from the loft that would let him know that someone was moving around up there.
But all was silent.
He made it to the top of the ladder, the gun pointed at the shadows in the far left corner where light never seemed to go. That corner had been one of his favorite hiding spots. But now, as he examined it, he saw that no one was there. He did, however, see a rolled up blanket with some food nearby. Everything was neatly pressed up against the wall. So someone had been up here. There was no telling how long he had been here, but he had definitely been up here.
Sep got onto the loft and settled into a spot that gave him the best view of the barn entrance. Good. When the man came, he would be ready for him. He had managed to get back before the man did.
He waited for about ten minutes before Fred started barking. He bolted up and then quickly remembered that he didn’t want the man to see him when he entered the barn. He could only hope Fred would be alright. Hopefully, the man would ignore his dog.
A man’s shadow came to the doorway, and Sep got his gun ready.
“Is anyone in here?” a familiar voice asked.
Sep lowered the gun. He peered over the edge of the loft as Deputy Barnes stepped into the barn.
What was the deputy doing here? He had been careful not to get him or Owen involved in this. He had asked Joel to do the same. But maybe Owen got suspicious when Joel had Jenny ask about the prisoners. Maybe Owen had sent his deputy out just to make sure everything was alright.
“I’m up here,” Sep said and then went to the ladder and started climbing down.
“What are you doing up there?” the deputy asked.
“Someone’s been up here recently.” Sep reached the ground and turned to the deputy, his gun hanging down at his side. He glanced around. “I expect the man to be coming back soon.”
“It’s a good thing I came out then. Do you know who the man is?”
“It’s someone who was involved in Mr. Dodson’s scheme to auction off those three women. Did the sheriff mention anything today about any of those men?”
The deputy shook his head. “I haven’t seen much of the sheriff today. Why? Did you find out something that he should know?”
“I didn’t tell him anything. But I did get a letter from someone who was involved in that auction scheme. He wants $300. He seems to think I owe it to him because I married Angela.”
“Why didn’t you go to Owen or me about this?”
“Because he said if I did, he would take her. I didn’t want to take that chance.”
The deputy rubbed his neck and side. “While I can understand your motives, you put yourself in a lot of danger by not coming to one of us. We’re here to help protect people like you.”
“I know, but I didn’t want to take the risk.”
“Well, I’m here now, and I’m going to help you. Now, has anyone come directly to you about paying $300 for Angela?”
“I only got the letter,” Sep said.
“When did you get the letter?”
“Yesterday.”
“And all the letter told you was to pay $300 for Angela?”
Sep nodded. “I went to the bank today, and I’m hoping he saw me go there.”
“So you are going to give him the money?”
Sep almost replied when it occurred to him that though he could hear Fred barking, Fred wasn’t in the barn. Which meant Fred was probably trying to warn him about something. Since Fred wasn’t coming to him, Fred probably saw a stranger. That stranger, no doubt, was the man he was expecting.
“I have to find out what my dog is trying to tell me,” Sep said and left the barn.
He didn’t see Fred right away, but when he did, he saw that someone had tied him to a tree. Fred stopped barking when he saw Sep. Fred looked over at the barn and growled. Fred had only growled like that twice in the time Sep had been his owner. Once was when the bull had gotten loose on the property and was coming right at Sep. The other time was when they had been hunting, and a rattlesnake was nearby.
Sep turned back to the barn. Was Fred warning him about the deputy? Sep renewed his grip on his gun and cautiously made his way back to the barn. Of all the people he had expected to pose a threat, Deputy Barnes had not been one of them.
But this explained a lot. It explained why he was getting the letter when no one from the jailhouse had escaped. Angela and the other two women had said that Owen had gotten all of the men who were trying to auction them off. The only thing that made sense was that there was another man involved that they had never seen. Or…someone who had arrested the men.
When Sep got into the barn, the deputy was opening the envelope that Sep had put in the bucket. Sep raised his gun and pointed it at the deputy. “How long were you going to let me think you were here to help me?”
The deputy laughed. “I am here to help you. You said there was something in the bucket yesterday. I was just seeing if something else was in it tonight. If this is from the man who wants the money, then I need to know about it. The more information I have, the better I can help you.”
Sep glanced at the deputy’s boots. It was hard to tell from this angle and from the dim light, but he bet if he turned those boots over, they would match the footprints of the man who had been creeping around his property. “Were you going to release Mr. Dodson and those other men, or were you going to keep that $300 for yourself?” Sep asked.
“You’re imagining things. I’m not in cahoots with those men. I have nothing to do with them.” He lifted the envelope. “This is evidence. We need to take this before the judge, along with that letter the man wrote you. Where is it?”
Since the deputy was playing games with him, Sep decided to do the same. “I had Joel give it to Owen earlier today.”
The deputy’s eyebrows furrowed. “But I thought you said you didn’t go to Owen.”
“I didn’t. Joel did it for me.”
“That’s impossible. I didn’t see Joel go to Owen today.”
So it was the deputy. The deputy was the one who had been watching him today. The only way he could know that Joel had no interaction directly with Owen was if he had been watching him and Sep. Sep held the gun steady and took a deep breath.
The deputy was still holding the envelope, but his hand was going to his holster.
Sep wasn’t going to let himself lose his focus. This time, the other man wasn’t going to get the best of him.
“There’s no money in that envelope,” Sep said. “And if you pull out that gun, I’ll shoot your wrist.”
The deputy stared at him as if he was trying to figure out whether or not he should take Sep seriously. To give him an incentive to take his hand away from his gun, Sep pulled back the hammer.
The tactic worked, for the deputy’s hand left the holster and went back to the envelope. “I bet you’re bluffing. I bet there really is money in here.”
“Open it and see for yourself.”
The deputy hesitated but then turned his attention to the envelope, and when he saw there was no money in it, he pulled the gun out of his holster.
The action happened so fast that Sep almost didn’t have time to respond. But since he had kept his focus on the man’s hands the entire time, he was able to detect a sudden movement in time to shoot the deputy’s wrist.
The gun flew out of the deputy’s hand and landed on the barn floor. The deputy called out several curse words as he held his wrist to his chest.
“I warned you,” Sep said as he hurried over to the deputy’s gun. He retrieved it and slipped it into his pocket. “You’re coming with me. We’re going directly to Owen, and I’m telling him everything.”
“There’s no need to take him to me. I’m already here.”
The two men turned to the barn entrance where Joel and Owen were hurrying over to them.
Sep backed away so that Owen could apprehend the deputy.
Joel came over to Sep and scanned him up and down. “Are you alright? We got here as soon as we could.”
Sep nodded and gave Joel the deputy’s gun. “I’m fine. Just shaken up a bit, that’s all.”
“Were you really behind this?” Owen asked the deputy.
When the deputy didn’t answer, Joel said, “You might as well tell him the truth. We heard enough to get you in trouble with the judge.”
The deputy glanced from one man to the other and then gave in. “It was just an easy way to make some money. I had no intention of letting any of those men go. They’re still in jail, and they’ll face the judge this week. I’m not changing any of that.”
“So you were acting alone?” Joel asked.
The deputy nodded. “It was just me. I wasn’t going to hurt Sep, and I had no intention of taking Angela. I just wanted to scare Sep enough so that he would give me the money.”
“He killed two rabbits and put them in my bed,” Sep told Owen. “I don’t believe for a minute he wouldn’t have done something to hurt either me or Angela.”
“Believe it or not, it’s true,” the deputy replied. “The rabbits were meant to scare you. They were supposed to make you take me seriously. And then, after you got the money, I was supposed to step in and help you so that you and Angela would’ve been safe. I wasn’t going to hurt either of you.”
“What were you going to do with the money?” Owen asked.
“I was going to pay off some gambling debts,” the deputy replied.
“Just some?” Owen asked.
“My debts in Missouri are substantial. I came here to get a new start, but one of the men I owed money to back in Missouri tracked me down and demanded I pay up. When the whole thing happened with Mr. Dodson and his men, I saw that as an opportunity to get the money to pay him back. Like I said, I wasn’t going to hurt anyone. I was just going to take the money and tell Sep that I gave it to you. Then I was going to work something out with the banker so that he would forgive Sep’s loan. It was all going to work out.”
“What makes you think you can talk the banker into forgiving the loan?”
“The banker has a mistress. I’m sure his wealthy father-in-law wouldn’t like to hear about it.”
“You mentioned you have a lot of debt,” Owen said. “How much debt do you have altogether?”
The deputy shifted from one foot to the other. “I owe about $900.”
“Then why did you ask him for $300? Why not $900?” Joel asked, gesturing to Sep.
“There was no way he was going to get $900,” the deputy replied. “My plan was to do this to all three men who married the three women we saved from the auction block. It just so happens that the other two women are taking forever to get married.”
“That’s because they both want to marry Mark, and Mark hasn’t made up his mind on which one he’ll take,” Owen said. “But that’s beside the point. You were going to take $300 from Sep, and then you were going to get $300 from Mark and another $300 from Anthony?”
“Yes, that was the plan,” the deputy said. “But like Sep, they weren’t really going to lose anything.”
“That’s a stupid plan,” Joel said. “The whole thing might’ve worked for Sep, but you couldn’t guarantee it would work so well for the other two.”
“There are always ways to give someone their money back,” the deputy replied.
“So far, your plans have worked so well that you’re $900 in debt,” Joel said, not hiding his sarcasm.
“This isn’t the time or place for this, Joel,” Owen interrupted. He turned to the deputy. “As much as I like you, I can’t overlook this. You’re going to have to deal with the things you’ve done.”
“Yes, I know,” the deputy replied in surrender.
As Owen led the deputy out of the barn, Joel gave a firm pat on Sep’s back. “Well done. You did good.”
Now that everything was going to be alright, Sep could relax. “Thanks.”
Smiling, Joel and Sep left the barn to get Fred and then they returned to town to let Angela and April know that everything was alright.