Liberty Belle (40 page)

“Oh my. Harley told me not to tell, but he and Wade have gone to look for the men who robbed the depot. He thinks they may have had something to do with the missing knife and canvas bags.”

Libby’s heart brightened at the thought of her husband. She grasped at the tiny sliver of hope that he’d find something to free her and the relief at knowing the reason he hadn’t come to see her. “Maybe they’ll find something.”

Her father hugged her. “Leaving home has made you stronger. And you chose a good man to marry. Better than the one Mother would’ve saddled you with.”

“You think so, Father? That means a lot to me.” A faint smile lit her heart. But only for the briefest of moments as the familiar cloud of despair descended upon her.

 “Your mother never meant to hurt you.” Tears glistened in his eyes.

The sound of pounding hammers slithered inside the cell. No one had to tell her they were building the gallows.

Libby sucked in a breath. She wanted to cry, wanted to run, wanted this to be over. After another look at her father and the anguish on is face, she almost let the tears flow. But she held them back to protect her family.

Flora sniffled into her hanky.

“The cake was very good. Thank you, Flora. I wish Mother had come. You will bring her to visit me before … you will bring her by tomorrow, won’t you?”

Her father nodded.

They stayed until darkness shrouded the cell. At least with nightfall, the pounding stopped.

The sheriff opened the door and brought in a lantern. His face drooped with sadness. “It’s time for you folks to leave now. You can come back first thing in the morning.”

Flora gave her a quick hug and a kiss.

Father gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “I love you, Libby. Your mother loves you, too. We’ll be here at first light.” He released her.

The iron door clanged shut followed by the key grating in the lock. Libby cringed. The sheriff nodded and then closed the door leading to his office. Darkness swallowed her.

She groped in the black night for the cot. Terror mocked her faith. Laughed at the smallness of her hope and fed the doubt growing inside her. She knelt on the cold stone floor. Gritty dirt bit into her knees.

Calling on the Lord, she quieted the frightful words assaulting her mind. “The Lord is my shepherd …”

Libby prayed late into the night, fervently pouring her heart out unto the Lord. Finally, moonlight flooded her cell and a whisper of peace washed over her. Although her emotions still warred, the Lord’s comforting presence helped calm her. She crawled onto the cot and pulled the wool blanket over her shoulders.

She’d just drifted into sleep when a knock on the sheriff’s door woke her. She hoped it wasn’t the mob of angry people to drag her into the street. Muffled words drifted from the office.

The door opened. Holding a lamp, the sheriff entered. Someone else stood in the shadows.

“Unlock the cell.”

Mother?

The sheriff shook his head and fumbled with the keys. Soon, metal screeched and the door swung open.

Mother stepped forward. Even in the flickering yellow glow, Libby could see the determination on her mother’s face. Then she saw the gun in her mother’s hand.

Mother motioned for the sheriff to step away.

With one fluid move, he grabbed her mother with one arm and snatched the gun from her with the other. He growled and shoved her inside with Libby.

The sheriff  shook his head. “I understand why you did it, but you’re going to have to stay in that cell until … you’re just going to have to stay with your daughter. What a fool thing to do.” He shut the cell door with a clang. He went into another cell and brought out a blanket. Passing it through the bars, he glared at Mother. “You got a lot of nerve, lady.”

Libby ran to her and fell into her arms. Together they wept. Her mother did love her. She hadn’t felt this close to her since she was a small child. This must be an answer to her prayers. She needed her. Libby relaxed in her Mother’s arms and the sound of her mother singing sweet lullabies.

###

The first hint of light stirred Wade into action. He jumped up to shake Harley, but saw the man had the horses saddled. “Ready?”

“I been ready all night. Let’s go.”

In minutes, they were on the trail. Harley threw him a piece of jerky, but Wade’s mouth was already dry from worry. Few words passed between them. Wade’s law sense had his ears and eyes primed for trouble. He hadn’t heard any riders last night, so more than likely the gang was still in their camp. He just hoped they weren’t far.

The sun inched its way through the sky, eating away more time. Had they passed the hideout? What if the gang had never returned but had cleared out? A breeze wafted over Wade. He held up his hand and stopped Fuego. The scent of meat cooking drifted on the afternoon wind.

Harley nodded.

They tied the horses deep into the woods. Gun out, Wade eased through the trees in the direction of the aroma. After a few minutes, the brush thinned and voices drifted on the air.

He dropped to the ground.

Harley followed his lead.

Wade pointed to a thick clump of scrub oak. He crept and then crawled as he neared the grove. Ten men lazed around the campsite. Clearly not expecting trouble, the one that had ridden the gray stood over a roasting deer,

Noon shadows marked the time. Wade eased behind a boulder. He could almost touch the nearest outlaw resting on his bedroll.

Nestled against a leafy oak and a crag in the boulder, Wade pulled back the hammer on his gun and nodded to Harley who’d edged to the left of the camp and crouched behind a couple of broad-leafed bushes.

Wade fired into the air. “Throw down your guns.”

The men in the camp scattered.

A man to the right of him reached for his gun.

A shot barked from Harley’s pistol and the man fell.

“Let’s talk. We’re reasonable men.” The voice came from behind a slab of rock on the other side of the camp.

Wade glanced at Harley.

The gambler shrugged.

A twig cracked from behind.

Wade dove to the ground, gun firing.

A bullet zinged past him.

Rolling, he fired another shot into the camp.

A slug blasted into the boulder, splintering shards of rock. His face stinging, he burrowed into the brush, straining to see the enemy.

Desperate, Wade dashed from the trees. Fired his gun and charged the right side of the camp. He surprised one of the men, grabbed him by the throat, and aimed his weapon at the man’s head.

More shots rang out.

Wade heard a groan and turned in time to see Harley fall.

A hard blow to the back of Wade’s head sent silver stars shooting across his vision. He stumbled.

Libby
.

Darkness took him down.

Chapter 41

Wade struggled to wake, but when he did blinding light speared him. He slammed his lids shut and stilled. Breathing shallowly, he pried them open again slowly to dull the hammering in his skull. Even through the pain, he remembered that he needed to save Libby.

The early sun testified against him. What day was it? Second morning?
God help me, not the third.

“You got a nasty bump on the head. Only way we could stop you.”

Shadowing his eyes, Wade looked up.

A man in uniform handed him a cup. “Captain Zeb Lutrell of Georgia. Not often a regiment of our size is attacked by two men. Got my curiosity roused.”

Harley.
Wade shifted his gaze to the place he’d seen the gambler fall.

“Your friend’s wounded. Doc’s tending him. Take a drink, just coffee, but it’ll wet your mouth.”

Wade took a sip and then another. The warm liquid soothed his throat but not the banging in his head. He touched his forehead and felt a cloth bandage.

The uniformed man frowned. “Sorry, had to slow you down a bit. You got guts. We’re always looking for men with courage. What’s so important that you’d come roaring into our camp?”

“What day is it?”

He stepped back. “Wednesday, I think. Hey, Andrew, you’re the bookkeeper. What day is it?”

“Wednesday.” A voice to Wade’s left answered.

“Thank God.” Wade released the words in a whisper.

“You’re a praying man. I like that. My momma taught me to pray. So Mr., uh—”

“Wade. Deputy Wade Calder.”

The captain poked a stick at Wade’s jacket to reveal the badge. “Well, maybe I should a let the boys finish you off.”

Shoving away his pride, Wade begged the man. “My wife, she’ll hang unless we get some answers.” Bitter acid rose in his throat. He’d let himself get captured, let Harley get shot. He had to save Libby.

The leader rubbed his jaw. “For killing Rowen?”

Hopes rising, Wade sat taller. “Yeah. She admits she shot him but claims he had money bags in his office and when she pointed them out, he came after her with a knife. The other deputy searched but didn’t find them. Someone must’ve taken them. She wouldn’t lie.”

He cringed at the desperation in his voice. Grasping the leader’s boot, Wade gazed into the man’s eyes. “I trailed some of your men into town the day of the depot robbery. Saw you stop at Rowen’s.”

The man pulled out of his reach. “As leader of this regiment, I do admit we have had to resort to some rather unsavory means to accomplish our goals.”

“Regiment? I don’t recognize your uniform.”

“We’re from Georgia. Most of us anyway. Seems the Feds are wanting to boss our states around a little too much to suit some of us Southerners.”

“So you rob people? Doesn’t sound honorable to me.”

“I’m afraid the threat of tyranny and war calls for less than honorable actions. All the money and gold is going for the Cause.”

Wade clenched his fist. This talk wasn’t going to help Libby. “You know anything about Rowen that could help clear my wife?”

“Terrence Rowen was an intricate part of our operation. Too late, I found out he wasn’t a man to be trusted.”

 “What about his killing? The knife and money bags?” Wade’s head cleared., His law sense told him the captain had the answers he needed, but time was slipping away.

Zeb stared hard at the man he’d called Andrew. “You know something about this? You came riding in looking a little spooked the other day. And as I recall you showed me a couple of bags you said you found at Rowen’s. In fact, you’re the one told me Rowen took our money and sent it with that lady friend of his and the kids to Georgia.”

The man scowled, gingerly rubbing a ragged wound on his face. “That’s right. I heard a shot and went into the house. That teacher lady ran out of his office and out the back. I went in and Rowen was slumped on the floor. I took the bags to show you how he’d double crossed us. He started to move. I bent down, and he knifed me. I shot him in the head. Thought I done what you would’ve wanted me to do.”

Zeb turned to Wade. “Would that clear your woman?”

Libby hadn’t killed Rowen. “Will you go to Denver with me and clear her?”

The captain rubbed a hand over his face. “I have a duty and a mission to do. Others to think about.”

The slim hope Wade clung to drifted on the wind. His head pounded and darkness took him again.

###

Libby held her mother’s hand. “I’m glad we’ve had this time. I needed you.”

Eleanor pushed a curl from her eyes. “Dear, dear, darling. I thought I was doing what was best for you. Truth be known, it was from fear that I tried to run your life and Father’s.”

Libby sighed. “I wanted to marry a man who set my heart dancing. And I found him, Mother.”

Eleanor rose and went to the cell door. “Libby, you have always thought you were like your father, and in some ways you are.” She turned and smiled. “But in many ways, we are very much alike. I married the man who set my heart dancing, not Amos Garvey, the one my parents chose for me. There was a time I, too, wanted to live a life of adventure. Your father and I wanted to go west.” Mother paused, sorrow clouding her face.

“Libby, I had another child a year before you were born. A beautiful baby boy. Early one morning, I went in to feed my son, and … he was dead.” Tears slipped down her cheeks.

Libby’s heart tore with her mother’s deep pain and loss. She’d always sensed a dark cloud covered her family, a secret never mentioned. “Mother, I never knew.”

“I didn’t want you to. But I changed that day. My life became filled with terror. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing anyone else. So I stopped feeling. I believed that I had not done enough, and it was my fault my baby died.” She shook her head. “I haven’t even thought of this in years. But that is when a rift formed between me and your father. And when you were born, fear overwhelmed my love for you. I took it upon myself to order your lives to keep you safe.”

Libby’s heart ached for her mother. She hugged her as a loving daughter and as a woman who understood loss and desire “The important thing is we love one another.”

The sheriff opened the door. “Brought a visitor.”

Father strode into the room. “Eleanor, I can’t believe you pulled a gun on the sheriff. What were you thinking?”

After unlocking the cell, the sheriff paused. “Knock when you want to leave. Or you can stay the night.”

A shudder rifled through Libby. Her last night. That’s what the sheriff meant to say.

###

Zeb ordered his men to break camp. “I’m sorry, Wade. I have to think of the Cause. If we don’t return with our goods, our mission will have been a failure.”

Wade tugged at the rope binding his wrists. Anger shot through him, making his head ache more. “She’s to hang tomorrow at sunrise. You talk about the Cause and mission. What about your honor? What’s honorable about letting her hang? Libby was born in Georgia. Doesn’t that make her part of your Cause?” He struggled to escape but his hands were bound tight.

With his gang mounted and ready to ride, Zeb stopped in front of Wade. “Honor?” He took in a deep breath. “There is something to be said for honor, but the Cause is where my loyalty lives.”