CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Travis grinned at the people assembled before him, nachos and drinks forgotten. Ever since Val had sent word of her impending visit, something had been niggling at the back of his mind. Especially when he discovered that Richard was responsible for Val’s sudden interest in Promise and the ghost town.
Nell shared his suspicions, but it wasn’t until after they’d run into Jeannie and Adam at Bitter End that everything had started to come together. Travis wasn’t sure even now if his conclusions were correct, but he certainly had everyone’s attention. Either he was about to be labeled a hero a second time—or a world-class fool.
“You know something about that gold?” the sheriff asked, studying him from the other end of the booth.
“As soon as I heard about Richard’s interest in the town, I suspected it had to be for one of two reasons. He left something of value in Promise or he found something he doesn’t want anyone else to know about. Otherwise he wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn about Bitter End.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, except Val, who gave an unladylike snicker. “I sincerely doubt that.”
“So you think Richard found the gold?” Jeannie asked. “What gave you that idea?”
“When you told us the story of One-Eyed Jack, I decided to do a bit of research.”
“Hold on,” Val, said, raising both hands. “As far as I’m concerned, this is utterly ridiculous.”
“If you’d hear me out—”
“You people are so quick to blame Richard Weston for every crime that’s ever been committed around here, you’re willing to charge him with a robbery that happened well over a century ago?” She rolled her eyes.
“No,” Travis said patiently. “I’m just saying I believe Richard found the stash when he was rooting around the town—and that’s what he wants now. It’s why he sent you to snoop, Val.”
“Oh, for…” she sputtered. “This is so ridiculous.”
“You don’t know Richard,” Grady insisted, his voice dark.
“If this wasn’t so crazy, it’d be sad,” Val said under her breath.
“Is anyone interested in hearing what I found out?”
“I am,” Jeannie told him.
“Me, too,” Adam said.
“Okay,” Travis began. “Do you know if anyone ever learned the name of the man who hanged the preacher’s son?”
“The preacher’s what?” Val demanded.
“That’s what the mystery was all about,” Jeannie explained. “At one time Bitter End had a thriving population, and then a group of rowdy drunken men hanged the preacher’s son because he defended a saloon girl. When his father returned and found his son murdered, he stood at the end of the street by the church, opened his Bible and swore that God would bring vengeance upon the town.”
“After that,” Travis said, “Bitter End was cursed with a variety of plagues.”
Val was laughing at them. “In Biblical proportions, no doubt. Cecil B. DeMille all over again, right?”
“Whatever happened—and why—we can’t say for sure,” Grady told her, undaunted by Val’s sarcasm. “We do know that shortly afterward, grasshoppers came through the area and destroyed the crops.”
“Something happened to the water supply, as well,” Travis said. “We know all of this from pieces of a story quilt that several of Promise’s founding families passed down from one generation to the next.”
“It was Travis and Nell who managed to figure out what those quilt squares meant.”
Val turned to him. “You’re basing all this on a quilt?” She sounded incredulous. “Travis, your imagination is more creative than I’d realized.”
He ignored her insulting words. “It was what Nell and I discovered in the graveyard that made everything clear,” he said.
“And what, pray tell, was that?” Val asked in a long-suffering tone.
“The grave markers revealed that a number of children had all died within a short time span. Whether or not the curse was real, we’re not here to say, but the citizens of Bitter End began to believe they were cursed. They’d remained in the town, withstood one hardship after another. Hung on no matter what until…”
“Until what?” Val asked.
“Until the children started to die,” Jeannie said quietly.
“This is all extremely interesting, but I still don’t know how it’s supposed to tie in with Richard.” Val folded her arms defensively. “I realize he hid from the law up in Bitter End, but this seems a stretch even for you, Travis. You haven’t established a link between the town and that stolen gold shipment, let alone between Richard and the gold.”
“Tell us what you found out,” Jeannie said.
“I will in a moment,” Travis replied without emotion, “but I’ll repeat my earlier question first. What was the name of the man responsible for the hanging?”
“I don’t follow you,” Grady said.
“All this time we’ve assumed a few men in town had too much to drink and got carried away.” Travis looked around the table and saw Adam, Grady and Jeannie nod their heads in agreement.
“Are you suggesting it wasn’t the locals?” Jeannie asked.
Travis shrugged. “Oh, I think a few men from Promise were involved. When I researched Jeannie’s story about One-Eyed Jack and that Union payroll, I discovered that the date of the robbery was only a week or so before the hanging.” He paused, glancing around. “The men and women who settled the town were hardworking decent folks, not unlike the people here today. From what I could learn, there hadn’t been a lot of trouble in Bitter End. My guess is that One-Eyed Jack and his band of renegades were on the run and stopped in the town.”
“You can’t prove that!” Val cried.
“True, but it all adds up.” He grinned. “Perhaps it’s my creative imagination, Val. I’m a writer, so I tend to look for endings. I want to see how the story comes out.”
“I think you’re right about something else, too,” Adam added as though thinking out loud. “The people in Bitter End weren’t murderers. Someone must have driven them into a frenzy to hang that innocent young man.”
“If it was One-Eyed Jack’s men, you think they had the gold with them?” Grady asked.
“I’m guessing they did.”
Val shook her head. “And now you’re suggesting Richard Weston found the gold and hid it somewhere in the town?”
“Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it?” Travis said.
Grady nodded. “And I know for a fact that Richard came to Promise with nothing.”
Travis remembered that when he’d first met Richard, the man had fed him a crazy story about the town and its background to pique his interest. He’d relayed only a few details—all of which proved to be untrue—in an effort to get Travis to pay him for more information. Travis had refused, and the two men hadn’t been in touch since. In an effort to discover whether there was any truth to Richard’s outrageous claims, Travis had flown to Texas…and met Nell.
“This is beyond belief!” Val shouted.
“But where could he have hidden it?” Travis continued as if she hadn’t spoken.
“There are no gold coins in Bitter End,” Val said, “and if there were, don’t you think Richard would have mentioned them to me?”
“Why should he?” Travis asked.
“Well…because. I’ve befriended him. For the past couple of years I’ve put countless hours into his defense without a penny’s compensation. Trust me, if he had access to that kind of money, he would have told me about it.”
Grady’s eyes went cold. “It’s time you woke up and realized the truth about Richard. You don’t know what he’s like.”
“You’re the one who doesn’t know Richard,” Val snapped at Grady.
He shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid you’re about to learn a painful lesson.”
“Fine,” Val said defiantly. “If you actually believe such a preposterous idea, then I suggest we all go out to Bitter End and look for this gold ourselves.”
Travis watched as everyone around the table nodded in turn. While Adam paid the bill, Grady, Travis and Val headed outside and got into Grady’s truck. Adam and Jeannie followed them in the patrol car.
Travis admitted that the idea of Richard’s having found something in Bitter End was mere speculation, but the more he thought about it, the more he believed he was right. And even if it wasn’t One-Eyed Jack’s stolen gold, Travis was absolutely certain that Weston’s interest in the ghost town wasn’t altruistic.
Once they’d parked on the hill above Bitter End, they all made the arduous trek down the steep grade that led into the old town. They stopped at the outskirts, unsure where to start the search.
“Well,” Val challenged, hands on her hips, “show me the gold.” She rolled her eyes as though she found this entire episode ludicrous.
“You’re in love with Richard, aren’t you?” Jeannie asked suddenly.
Val ignored the question for a moment, meeting the other woman’s look defiantly. “Let’s put it like this,” she finally said. “I believe that if Richard had found a strongbox of gold, he would have said something. He wouldn’t keep it from me. You see, Richard and I trust each other. We’ve come through a lot together. There are no secrets between us.”
“Not unless he plans to dump you the minute he’s free,” Grady suggested without malice.
“I’ve heard enough of this craziness.” Val started to walk away. “Tell me when you’re finished with this wild-goose chase.” Having said that, she stalked over to the rocking chair outside the boarded-up hotel.
“The hotel,” Grady said triumphantly, pointing at it. “That’s where Jane and Cal found Richard. The stairway collapsed on him and he’d been trapped for nearly three days.”
“You’ve got the story all wrong, but I’m not going to argue with you,” Val told them.
“But he wasn’t sleeping there,” Grady said, paying no attention to Val.
“That’s true.” Travis remembered that Richard had set up house in one of the other buildings, a stone structure that wasn’t likely to topple in a strong wind.
“Yet he risked his life to climb those rickety old stairs,” Grady said thoughtfully. “At the time I wondered what could have possessed him to take such a foolish chance. He had to know just by looking at them how dangerous they were.”
The small party gathered in front of the hotel and stared at the dilapidated half-fallen building. “Even if the gold’s hidden somewhere on the second floor, that place isn’t safe,” Jeannie remarked. “Besides, there’s no way of reaching it now.”
“Sure there is.” Adam glanced about. “Get me a rope and I’ll give you a short demonstration of my Airborne training.”
“Adam!” Jeannie cried, putting her hand on his forearm. “It’s too dangerous!”
“You love him, don’t you?” Val taunted her.
Jeannie didn’t hesitate. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
It did Travis’s heart good to see her set Val back a step with her honesty. Jeannie, at least, had nothing to be ashamed of in the man she’d chosen to love.
“I’ve got a rope in my truck,” Grady volunteered, and took off at a trot up the path to the limestone bluff where the vehicles were parked.
Grady returned twenty minutes later, sweating from the exertion of his climb, the rope draped over one shoulder. He handed it to Adam and they all stepped back and watched as the sheriff expertly swung the rope to the hotel’s second-story balcony and anchored it on the railing. He tested it carefully, then decided it would support his weight.
Adam hadn’t exaggerated his climbing skills, and Travis watched in amazement as the younger man hauled himself up onto the balcony.
Jeannie stood there, hands covering her mouth. It was obvious she didn’t want to watch Adam in danger, but at the same time couldn’t stop herself. “Be careful,” she called, once Adam had made it safely.
“Don’t take any unnecessary chances,” Travis shouted.
“Just find something,” Grady added.
Val glared at them all and shook her head. “You’re out of your minds, every last one of you.”
Adam disappeared into the hotel and a few minutes later, they heard the sound of wood splintering. Travis felt a jolt of alarm. If anything happened to the sheriff, he’d feel personally responsible.
“Adam,” Jeannie screamed, moving forward.
“It’s okay.” The sheriff’s voice was steady.
“This is crazy,” Val said, directing the comment at Travis.
Much as he hated to admit it, Val was right. Proving his theory wasn’t worth injury to Sheriff Jordan or anyone else. It occurred to him now that if word of a hidden treasure got out, it’d spread through the community like wildfire. Before long, strangers would swarm the countryside in search of lost gold coins. Their community, indeed the entire hill country, would never be the same—and it would be his doing. His fault.
“What’s happening?” Jeannie asked anxiously.
“Adam’s fine,” Grady said confidently.
“How can you say for sure?”
“We’d know.” Travis stood next to Jeannie, who gazed intently at the hotel.
It couldn’t have been any longer than fifteen minutes, but it felt like hours before a triumphant Adam appeared, holding up a leather pouch. “I found it!” he shouted. “He’d hidden it just the way Travis suspected. It was tucked in a cupboard. I might never have stumbled on it if the weight of it hadn’t broken through the rotting wood.”
“What is it?” Grady called up to him.
Adam laughed. “Gold! Pure gold!”
Grady stared back in astonishment, slowly shaking his head.
Travis’s hunch had been correct. The date of the robbery and the date of the hanging in Bitter End—that was the link. How and when the renegades had hidden the gold in Bitter End, and why they never retrieved it, would probably always be a mystery. Travis figured he might never know exactly how Richard had gotten his hands on it, either.
Travis suspected that Grady’s brother must have discovered it while exploring the town during those weeks he spent there. Perhaps One-Eyed Jack had placed it at the bottom of a well or under the boardwalk. The possibilities were endless. Once Richard had located it, he must have secured it in the hotel, knowing few would risk investigating the second floor. But his plan had backfired when the staircase collapsed on him.
Trapped as he was now in a prison cell, Weston must have been frantic that someone would uncover his find. All his supposed concern about people’s safety and not “commercializing” the ghost town had been a futile effort to keep anyone else from finding the gold.
“I don’t believe it,” Val murmured repeatedly. “I just don’t believe it.”
“Believe it, Ms. Langley,” Grady advised. “Now you know the truth about Richard. He planned on dumping you as soon as you got him out of prison. Join the club. We’ve all been used by Richard. You weren’t the first and you surely won’t be the last.”
* * *
Val couldn’t wait to leave Texas. The very minute Travis dropped her off at the ranch, she began packing her bags, stuffing her clothes roughly into the suitcase. Dammit, she’d actually believed Richard Weston. Believed in him. The bastard!
The worst of it was she’d fallen for Richard, opened her heart to him. She wouldn’t have traveled to this back-of-beyond town if she hadn’t trusted him. She’d even told that bumpkin of a schoolteacher that she and Richard had no secrets from each other. He’d made a fool of her. An utter fool.
As far as Val could figure, everything Richard had told her was a lie. Everything. Including the way he felt about her, and dammit, that hurt. More than she wanted to admit.
A polite knock sounded on the bunkhouse door.
“Who is it?” Val snapped.
“Nell.”
Oh, great, Ms. Jolly Green Giant. “What do you want?”
“I just need to know if you’re planning on staying much longer.”
Val walked across the room and threw open the door. “Frankly, I can’t get out of this state fast enough.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
The last thing Val wanted to deal with was a Merry Sunshine attitude. “Spare me the bull. You’re just as glad to be rid of me.”
Nell shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“Whatever.” Val searched for her purse, buried beneath the clothes flung across the bed. “How much do I owe you?” she asked once she’d found her wallet. She begrudged every cent she’d wasted on this trip. Richard had been after her for weeks, urging her to meet his family, to see Bitter End for herself. His biggest concern had been the ghost town—and now she understood why.
“Listen, Val, your stay is on the house.”
Val stiffened. “I don’t need your charity.”
“It isn’t charity,” Nell said. “I was grateful for the opportunity to get to know you. You might not think so, but we actually have something in common. We both love or have loved the same man.”
“I’ll pay you what I agreed.”
“If you insist,” Nell said with a certain sadness. “But I do want you to know I’m sorry Richard hurt you.”
It would have been easier for Val to deal with ridicule from Travis’s wife than her kindness. The tears that sprang to her eyes felt like acid. It’d been years, literally years, since she’d broken down and cried. Sinking onto the edge of the bed, she covered her face with both hands.
“Oh, Val.”
“Just leave me alone,” she said angrily, and not having a tissue handy, she reached for her purse and scrambled through it.
“Here,” Nell said, handing her a tissue from her apron pocket.
Val blew her nose and still the tears came. “I was such a fool,” she sobbed, “such an idiot.”
“It’s all right,” Nell said in a soft comforting tone. “We’re all fools at one time or another.”
The compassion, the understanding, was more than Val could take and she shocked herself by turning toward Nell.
The woman she’d considered the Jolly Green Giant, Miss Merry Sunshine, an unsophisticated hick, gently placed her arms around Val and patted her back.
“Richard’s going to pay for this.” Val was sobbing openly.
“Life has a way of setting things straight,” Nell said.
Val pulled herself together a little. “I’m going to make sure it does.” She didn’t intend to waste a minute, either. She was going to set the wheels of vengeance turning as fast as she could. She’d begin working on it during the flight home. Before she was through, Val would ensure that Richard Weston spent a very long time in prison. No one was more familiar with his case than she was. In all the months she’d spent studying the legal aspects, she’d seen a number of points of law she could get him on. He’d been fortunate to have several charges slip through the cracks. It would be easy to shine a light on those areas.
That wasn’t all. She was well aware of the activities Richard participated in behind bars. Little things most prisoners did to make life easier. Smuggling and trading contraband, turning snitch, stealing. Nothing really serious. But perhaps it was time someone let the parole review board know about Richard’s prison involvements. He was going to pay, by heaven. Richard Weston would rue the day he’d used and abused Valerie Langley.
“How about a nice hot cup of tea?” Nell asked.
Val sniffled and nodded. “That sounds great.”
Together the two women headed toward the main house, talking as they went. With tea and womanly conversation, it wasn’t long before Val’s spirits lifted. This had all been a valuable lesson and one she wouldn’t soon forget. Neither would Richard by the time she was finished with him. The bastard.
With her bags packed and her airline ticket in hand, Val bade farewell to Travis and Nell the next morning.
“Thanks for putting up with me,” she said, and meant it. If the situation had been reversed, she wasn’t sure she would have been nearly this gracious.
“It was a pleasure to meet you,” Nell said.
Travis had his arm around Nell’s shoulders. They were a handsome couple, Val admitted. Nell was a much better match for Travis than she’d ever been.
“Goodbye, Val,” Travis said.
But it was Nell who hugged her, and Val returned the hug. The unspoken communication between them was clear.
Who’d ever think her ex-husband’s wife would turn out to be the most understanding woman Val had ever met?