Lawman in Disguise (13 page)

His Daisy had a soft heart, Thorn realized. It was one of the things he loved about her. “All the same, treat her with the same care you would a rattlesnake. She's dangerous.”

“I will, I promise. And you be careful, too, Thorn.”

And then it was time to kiss Daisy goodbye and ride back to the outlaw camp.

* * *

“The man at the stagecoach stop in Simpson Creek said a person coming from Houston would take the train from Hempstead, a little outside of Houston, to Austin, and catch the stage from there,” Thorn told Griggs when the outlaw finally left his bedroll the next morning. He'd been asleep when Thorn had arrived in camp the night before. “Based on when they're expecting her back, I'd say that Mrs. Gilmore would arrive in Austin the second day at noon, and leave on Friday at 6:00 a.m. on the Sawyer and Risher stagecoach line. I figure she'll plan her travel so she's not in Austin more than overnight by herself. The stage gets to Lampasas at 4:00 p.m. and leaves the next morning at seven, getting into Simpson Creek at four.”

Griggs rubbed his stubbly chin as he considered. “Much as I'd love to add train holdups to our list of accomplishments, I expect snatching the woman from the stage would be easier,” he said. “Fewer people traveling, less chance of armed guards. Now we just have to figure out whether to stop the stage afore it gets to Lampasas or when she's on the final stretch to Simpson Creek.”

“There's less towns and lawmen between Lampasas and Simpson Creek than from Austin to Lampasas,” Thorn pointed out, thinking it would also be easier to involve Sheriff Bishop in the capture of the gang closer to his own town, and quicker for Thorn to return to Daisy afterward, if all went well.

“Good point, Dawson, and good work, getting this information,” Griggs said. “No one acted suspicious at the stagecoach stop, did they, when you asked about this?”

“They all took me for a parson, like you said, boss. I told 'em my wife was traveling to join me after a visit to Houston to see her mama, and I wanted to be sure to meet her when she got in.”

“All right, we'll wait for the stage somewhere between Lampasas and Simpson Creek. There's plenty of daylight left,” Griggs added, after casting a bleary eye upward at the sun. “Why don't you and Tomlinson and Pritchard ride out and scout us a likely place? I want a spot with plenty of cover, close to the road, but not near any houses or ranches where we're apt to be spotted by nosy neighbors.”

Thorn gave a mock salute and went to roust the other two from their poker game. He only wished it could all be over sooner.

Chapter Twelve

L
eaving the sheriff's office, Daisy hurried back down the street to the hotel, her stomach growling because she'd used her midday break to visit Sheriff Bishop and inform him of the Griggs gang's plot. Hopefully, she could snatch a biscuit or two to tide her over till supper without Tilly seeing her and tattling to Mr. Prendergast about it.

The sheriff had been grim-faced when told that the Griggs gang planned to kidnap the mayor's wife as she traveled home by stagecoach. “I don't like it,” Bishop had said, rubbing his forehead as if trying to soothe away a sudden headache. “Too much could go wrong, even with Dawson there to help us and make sure we save the mayor's missus. Instead of sending a force to ambush the gang, I ought to have the mayor send his wife a telegram telling her to stay put till we could have a whole regiment of cavalry escorting her home.”

Daisy hadn't foreseen that the sheriff might take such a notion, nor had Thorn, apparently, and now she saw Thorn's chance to get out of the outlaw gang slipping away. If the outlaws stopped the stage and Mrs. Gilmore wasn't inside, they might get away before anyone could capture them.

“Oh please, don't do that,” she'd said. “Give Mr. Dawson this opportunity to capture the gang, so he can put them behind bars and end this dangerous masquerade of his. Every day he spends with the outlaws is a chance his real identity could be discovered.”

“Don't fret, Miss Daisy, the likelihood of the federals agreeing to cooperate with a Southern lawman would be slim as a grasshopper surviving a red ant hill,” the sheriff had muttered, and then his next words startled her. “You've really grown to care for this Dawson fellow, haven't you?”

Once again she'd wondered, was she as transparent as that? The idea had dismayed her.
If the sheriff could see right through her, how many others could?

But she wouldn't lie. “Yes,” she'd admitted, not daring to look him in the eye.

“And does he feel the same way?” Bishop's voice had been neutral, yet she'd sensed a tenseness in him as he waited for her answer.

“I believe so,” Daisy had said.

“He ought to, that's for certain,” Bishop replied. “You deserve a better hand than what you've been dealt lately, you and the boy. I'd like to see you have what my Prissy and I have.”

The care in his words touched her deeply, and caused her to remember that he had been a gambler in his past.
If a gambler could become a respected lawman and beloved husband, perhaps that meant even Daisy Henderson could have an honest man who loved her.
“Thank you, Sheriff. I appreciate that.”

“I'll do everything I can to get him back to you safely, Miss Daisy, as much as it lies in my power.”

* * *

After a long day spent on the road between Lampasas and Simpson Creek inspecting possible holdup sites, Thorn and the other two outlaws reported back to Griggs, recommending a location where the road ran between two outcroppings of rock just after a sharp bend in the road. The driver would be forced to slow his team to make the turn and would not be watching for danger, only to be presented with a line of outlaws, guns trained on him, when he came around the rocks. The place was ideal from the standpoint of having a thick cover of trees, as well as a little creek running nearby to water the horses, yet was far from any ranch or cabin. Better yet, it was an easy distance from a cavern with a hidden entrance that would be the perfect place to hide and guard the kidnapped mayor's wife until the ransom had been brought to an agreed-upon location and left there. After the ransom was paid, Mrs. Gilmore would be escorted close to Simpson Creek and let loose. She would walk back into town, unharmed and grateful to be alive, but unable to describe her captors because she would have been blindfolded during her captivity. They would take care not to use each others' names while they had her in their custody.

“Sounds perfect,” commented Griggs, after they'd discussed it over supper.

It was even more ideal for another reason. Thorn had noticed a draw nearby, where the lawmen whom he would have warned of the kidnapping could lie in wait to ambush the ambushers. It was far enough away from where the outlaws would be that any slight noise they made wouldn't be heard by the gang, but it had easy access to the road. Thorn would need one more trip into Simpson Creek to set it up. He'd send a message to the Rangers—State Police, he corrected himself—and notify Bishop so the sheriff could coordinate plans with the other lawmen in the area.

“Yeah, boss. After that,” Tomlinson said with a grin, “we can spend the rest of our lives sippin' tequila and cuddling with our pretty senoritas across the border. I kin hardly wait.”

They'd all be starting new lives after the kidnapping
, Thorn thought, but not the leisurely lives of ease in Mexico they had planned. Instead, the outlaws would be starting years in prison, if not life sentences. Some of the more violent ones had deaths on their records, and might end up facing a hangman's noose. And with God's help, he'd have a new life, too, Thorn thought, with Daisy at his side, and no need to ever again draw a gun on another human being.

* * *

Daisy ladled out vegetable soup into two bowls and sliced a loaf of crusty bread for her meal with her son. Though it had been perhaps the tastiest soup she had ever made, there weren't many takers among the restaurant customers. As warm as it had been at midday, and even still at suppertime, no one had wanted hot soup, so Mr. Prendergast had criticized her for making it. Only now that darkness had fallen had the heat of the day begun to abate.

But hot or not, Daisy was hungry. By the time she had finished talking to the sheriff, there had been no time for a dinner break and she had had to dive back into cooking.

“Why don't we thank God for the food first?” she gently chided Billy Joe, seeing that he had already devoured half his soup. She folded her hands together and said a quick grace.

“How was business at Miss Ella's café today?” she asked a few minutes later, hoping to break the silence punctuated only by the sound of a hungry boy slurping soup.

“Okay...”

So much for that conversational gambit
, she thought wryly, as Billy Joe turned his attention back to his bowl.

“Did you see your friends after your shift was done?”

He nodded, but didn't meet her gaze.

“What's wrong?” she finally asked.

He glanced at her, then shrugged. “Now they're making fun of me for having a job,” he groused. “They said I was more fun when I didn't have to be so
responsible
.” He said the word with contempt. “They said my nails were clean as a girl's from all the dish washing.” He held his hands out to show her.

“And what do you think of what they said?” she asked carefully, wondering if she would make things worse with her question.

He shrugged again. “I don't care what they say.” But his posture said he
did
care, and had been hurt by their words.

“And what do you think Mr. Dawson would say about your being such a dependable worker?” she asked.

“‘Ain't none of them earning wages to help their families,'” he said, doing a creditable imitation of Thorn's deep, drawling voice.

She saw him square his shoulders as he spoke, and was encouraged by that. Even if he never returned, Thorn had made a positive impact on her son's behavior.

Billy Joe laid his spoon down. “Ma...” he began, unusually hesitant. “Ma, I miss Mr. Thorn.”

“I do, too, Billy Joe,” she admitted.

“When's he coming back?”

Now it was her turn to shrug. She dared not tell him anything about the plans the gang had to kidnap the mayor's wife, and Thorn's role in thwarting it. It was safer right now for her son to believe Thorn was really an outlaw. And if he didn't know about the planned kidnapping, then he wouldn't be filled with worry about it—the way she was.

“I don't know, son. Soon, I hope.”

“Me, too. I think he'd like to quit outlawin' and marry you.”

She had risen to slice a couple pieces of the cake she had brought home for dessert, but now she was so astonished at what Billy Joe had said that she nearly dropped the knife.

“You do?”

Billy Joe nodded with enthusiasm, then wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I think you should marry him, Ma. He'd be a good pa. And you wouldn't have to be alone when I grow up.”

Sometimes Billy Joe said the most astonishing things when she was least expecting them, she thought, feeling the pricking of tears in her eyes. She still wasn't sure how she felt about Thorn. She knew she loved him, and believed him when he'd declared he loved her. But she still didn't know what kind of life they could have together. The future for the two of them would depend on what he did, on how he kept the promises he made.

“Well, you keep him in your prayers, Billy Joe, and if it's God's will, it will happen,” she said.
Please, Lord, let that happen.
“Remember, ‘trust in the Lord with all thine heart...'”

“I will. I want it to be soon.”

Oh! Me, too, son. You can't imagine how much.
She wondered how Billy Joe would like finishing his growing-up years on a ranch, working at Thorn's side. He wouldn't have his no-good friends in Simpson Creek to pal around with and to lead him down bad paths. His life would be full of rigorous chores and hard work, but somehow she didn't think he'd mind too much, with Thorn as his stepfather.

* * *

“So you don't think the widow will follow you to Mexico?” Griggs asked, when Thorn broached his request to go to Simpson Creek for a last visit with Daisy before the kidnapping. “Sure you're not underestimating your charm, Dawson? You need some lessons in romancing? I'd be glad to give you some tips. My woman can't wait to join me across the Rio Grande, though she knows she'd better continue to please me, or I'll trade her in for a dark-eyed Mexicana.”

Thorn tamped down the urge to punch Griggs in the face for even mentioning Daisy in that tone, as well as the temptation to voice exactly what he thought of the treacherous waitress who had made Daisy's work life so miserable and who was willing to risk the life of the mayor's wife just to satisfy her own greed.

“Naw, I don't reckon she'll leave Simpson Creek,” he said, carefully keeping his tone neutral, as if it didn't matter all that much. “She's got the boy to think of, and I don't reckon she wants him living with an outlaw... And I don't think she'd much like living in a country where she'd be a foreigner.”

“Maybe she'll change her mind when she realizes you're kissin' her goodbye forever, and she'll leave her son behind,” Griggs suggested with a snicker. “Don't reckon she'll have another chance for a good-lookin' fella like you to leave his boots under her bed, 'specially with that young cub of hers around.”

Thorn set his teeth, knowing his control would eventually slip if the outlaw kept jawing as he was. It was useless telling a man like Griggs that his feelings for Daisy were more honorable than that. “Maybe she will, but I don't think so.”

“All right, go make your farewells tomorrow, but be back in time to get some shut-eye. The day after that's our big day, and I need all my men to be 100 percent on their toes.”

* * *

“Here's the last order,” Tilly said. “It's the mayor. I'm going on my break, so I'm sure he'll be glad to have you bring him his meal rather than me. And don't expect me back real soon,” she added, as she pushed open the kitchen's back door. I'm going to go eat at Ella's café.”

“Why? There's plenty of catfish left,” Daisy pointed out.

“Ugh! You know I hate fish,” Tilly snapped. She gave an elaborate sniff. “The whole kitchen stinks of it.”

“There's still some sliced roast beef from yesterday,” Daisy offered. “I could fix you a sandwich.”

“Don't bother,” Tilly replied. “I need some fresh air, after all this fish smell.”

The kitchen
did
smell of fish, but what could they do but use up what Mr. Prendergast had hooked when he'd gone fishing the previous day on the San Saba River? He was so proud of his catch. Fortunately, most of the restaurant's patrons were fond of fried catfish.

Daisy sighed as Tilly exited the back door without another word. Walking down to Ella's café at the other end of town and waiting for her order to be cooked before she could even begin eating, the waitress would be gone much more than her allotted half hour. But Mr. Prendergast never seemed to mind, even though Daisy had to do double duty, waitressing and cooking, while she was gone. At least she would be able to greet Mr. Gilmore without Tilly looking jealously on, she consoled herself. Perhaps Tilly even had the grace to be ashamed to face the mayor, knowing what the outlaw gang had planned for his wife. Surely even Tilly would have to feel a little ashamed of herself when faced with the woman's husband. But Tilly's conscience was really none of Daisy's concern, so she pushed those thoughts out of her head and set to work frying the mayor's catfish.

“That looks delicious,” Mayor Gilmore said a few minutes later, when she brought it out to him.

“I hope you like it,” she told him. “Mrs. Gilmore will be home from her trip soon, if I remember rightly?”

“Tomorrow, if all goes well,” he replied, beaming. “I'll be a happy man.”

It was all Daisy could do to keep smiling, knowing about the planned kidnapping, but not being able to say a word of warning. She felt so guilty. It would have been better if she hadn't known anything about it, she thought. She'd be in an agony of worry till it was all over. But if she hadn't known about it, Thorn couldn't have set up the ambush that would hopefully result in her rescue and Thorn's release from his dangerous lawman-in-disguise role, she reminded herself, and felt a little better.