Sins of Summer (36 page)

Wiley blew out the light. He had not asked the cause of James’s depression nor tried to prolong a conversation. For that Ben
was grateful. He liked the old wolf, really liked him. In his younger days he must have been a man to reckon with.

Ben sat in the dark, his chair tilted back against the wall, absorbed in his thoughts. Putting the problem of James and Odette
to the back of his mind, he tried to figure out why Steven would be going to Spencer in the middle of the week when this was
the busiest time of the season for a mill. Prices were highest in early spring. The teamsters were ready to haul out the sawed
lumber as soon as their loads were ready.

Another thought crossed Ben’s mind: who was in charge at the mill? Milo was supposed to be; but without Louis there to back
him up, the men didn’t seem to pay much attention to him. And with Steven gone, who was keeping the tally and writing out
the bills of lading?

“Ben! Ben!” Dory’s frantic scream reached him and sent the front legs of the chair crashing to the floor. He shot out of the
door and into the yard. James was right behind him. “Ben! I can’t find Odette.” Dory was running toward him.

He caught her in his arms. “What did you say?”

“I can’t find Odette.”

“Calm down, Sis. What’s this about Odette?”

“James! I’m so glad you’re here.” Dory let out a strangled sob. “I went up to put Jeanmarie to bed. Odette was finishing up
in the kitchen. When I came down she wasn’t there. I went to the end of the porch to see if she was emptying the dishwater
because I knew she wouldn’t hear me if I called. I found the dishpan on the ground.”

“Get a lantern, James, and get Wiley out here to stay with Dory.” Ben gripped Dory’s upper arms. “Would she have gone to the
outhouse?”

“No. She’s scared to go out there alone even in the daytime.”

“Are you sure she’s not in the house? She’d not hear you if you called.”

“I know that,” Dory replied with irritation in her voice. “She went out to empty the dishwater. She would not have left the
dishpan on the ground and gone back in the house.”

“Does she do this every night?”

“Yes. She pours the rinse water into the dishwater and throws it out off the end of the porch.” Dory explained as if talking
to a child. “Don’t just stand here, Ben. Do something. If Milo came and took her, he’ll rape her or let some of his dirty,
slimy friends do it. Can’t you see that? He’s getting back at you for the beating.”

“That dirty, rotten son of a bitch!” James had returned with two lanterns and had heard what Dory had said. Wiley appeared
with just his pants on over his union suit. His shotgun was in his hand.

“Stay in the house with Dory, Wiley. If anyone comes to the door besides me or James, shoot the son of a bitch.” Ben took
one of the lanterns from James. “Let’s see if they left any tracks.”

After carefully searching the area from the end of the porch to the edge of the trees, they found one fresh hobnailed boot
track.

“It sure as hell wasn’t Indians.” James peered at the track. “That’s the kind of boots a river pig wears.”

Ten minutes later they found where two horses had stood recently. The droppings on the ground were fresh.

Ben and James hurried to the barn and saddled their horses.

“They’d not hang around here after they took her.” Ben led his horse out the big double doors.

“I’m going to the mill.” James blew out the lantern and hung it on the saddlehorn. “The men will help search. One of them
might know where Milo would take her.” He checked his sidearm and shoved a rifle down in the saddle scabbard.

“I figure she’s been gone twenty-five or thirty minutes,” Ben said as he mounted. “There were bugs on the horse dung. One
of the horses shied and stepped in it. Could be it was not used to carrying double.”

By the time Ben had finished speaking, James was a dozen yards ahead and riding hard.

Ben didn’t allow himself to think beyond the moment. He couldn’t afford to let hate and revenge confuse his thinking. He followed
James, trusting his horse to navigate the trail, while his eyes surveyed first to one side and then the other.

James suddenly hauled up on the reins. His horse reared. When he settled down James turned him to backtrack, then jumped from
the saddle. He picked up something that lay on the ground, something that Ben had ridden by without spotting.

“She’s been this way. I gave her this today.” James stashed what he had found inside his shirt without showing it to Ben.
He mounted and dug his heels into the sides of his horse, and the big black’s powerful haunches propelled it forward.

When they reached the mill, James rode past the bunkhouse to the back of the main building. He dropped the reins to ground-tie
his horse and went swiftly to a door. Without hesitation, he kicked it open. The room was black as midnight. He struck a match
and held it aloft. Both bunks were empty.

Back in the saddle, James followed Ben to the bunkhouse. Through the one windowpane they saw a group of men playing cards.
The rest were watching or lounging on the communal bed that stretched the length of the building. All turned as James threw
open the door.

“That son of a bitchin’ Milo has taken Odette Waller. When I catch him, I’m going to shoot the bastard. We need all the help—”

“James, wait.” Tinker stood.

“Can’t wait. We’ve got to find her and—”

“Wait,” Tinker said loud enough to override James’s voice. “It couldn’t have been Milo. He’s lyin’ over there drunk as a skunk.”
Tinker jerked his head toward the end of the bed. “He’s been here since mid-afternoon.”

“The hell!” Ben went to look down at the man sprawled on his back, his cut and bruised mouth hanging open. He smelled as if
he’d been dunked in a privy. “Where’s Louis?”

“He left this afternoon to go back up to the cutting camp. He’s mad as hell ’cause you’re not up there.”

“Jesus, my God, what’ll we do?” James took a trembling breath. “I was sure it was Milo.”

“Are all of Milo’s dogs here?” Ben demanded.

Tinker looked around. “I don’t see anyone missing, do you, Billy?”

The old man scanned the room. “Nope.”

Watching the men closely, Ben saw the flicker of a grin cross the face of one of the men who had backed Milo the morning of
the fight. He was on the bed leaning up on one elbow. Ben went to him.

“Get on your feet.”

“What fer?”

“’Cause I want to see you fall flat on your ass when I bust you in the mouth.”

“What’d I do?” The man’s eyes scanned the room seeking help, then he got off the bed.

“It’s what you’re going to do, Rink. You’re going to lie, when I ask you who took my girl.”

“How the hell would I be knowin’? I been here all—”

A rock-hard fist connected with the man’s jaw, knocking him off his feet. Ben was on him in an instant, dragging him up and
propping him against the wall.

“You’re Milo’s top dog. You do his dirty work. I’m going to ask you once more and then I’m going to carve you up.” Ben drew
a thin blade from a scabbard hanging beside his gun.

With blood running down his chin, his eyes pleading for help from the other men, Rink tried to sidestep away from Ben. When
he realized he couldn’t get past the big man, he looked past him.

“For God’s sake! Ain’t you fellers goin’ to help me?”

“If you know anything, you’d better tell him, Rink. He’s a mean son of a bitch. You saw what he did to Milo.” Tinker came
to stand beside Ben.

“Why’er ya pickin’ on me? I ain’t the only friend Milo’s got.”

“You’ve always been so proud of bein’ his top dog, Rink. If you’ve had a hand in doin’ something to Waller’s girl and you
don’t make it right, you’d better not work around me or any of these men ever again. A little shove here or there and—” Tinker
drew his finger across his throat. He was playing on the fear all men had who worked near the spinning steel blades.

The what-the-hell smile the men were used to seeing on James’s face was gone. It was a cold-eyed, grim-faced stranger who
stepped up to Rink and shoved the barrel of his gun in the man’s belly.

“You set this up for that son of a bitch! You turned a young, innocent girl over to a pack of river pigs!”

“Naw, James. I been workin’ here off ’n’ on fer two years. I ain’t never done ya no harm.”

“We’re not talking about me, you shithead. Who took Odette and where is she? Start talking or I’ll blow you straight to hell!”

“Don’t kill him yet, James,” Ben said. “He’ll spill his guts if he suffers enough. I lived with the Shoshone for a while and
1 know a place to drive a splinter that will make this bastard scream his heart out before it kills him.”

“My God!” Rink’s eyes were wild with fear. “Air you fellers goin’ ta let ’em kill me?” There was dead silence from the hostile-eyed
men. “I ain’t done nothin. I ain’t never seen that dum— I ain’t never set eyes on her. I ain’t—”

“Ain’t what?” James moved the barrel of the gun down and pushed it hard against the soft organ that hung between Rink’s legs.
“Go on, you piece of horse shit. Milo hired someone to take her, didn’t he?”

“Stop! Fer God’s sake, stop!” Rink yelled and tried to wedge his hand between the gun barrel and his manly parts.

“Talk, damn you!” James jabbed hard with the gun barrel. “I don’t have the time to drive a splinter in your gut,” James gritted.
“Tell what you know or I’ll shoot your pecker off, then one ball at a time. Is Milo payin’ you enough for that?”

“Milo told me… he said… nobody’d know—”

“You stupid bastard. Milo got himself dead drunk so he couldn’t be blamed.” James pulled the trigger. The bullet passed between
Rink’s legs and into the wall behind him. The man screamed.

“No! Please!”

“I only nicked your balls, you gutless asshole!” James gritted. “The next time, I’ll blow ’em away.”

“Don’t shoot! I only done what he told me. For God’s sake, don’t shoot—”

“What’s God got to do with it? Do you think he’d care if I blew away everything you got down there?”

“Milo’s boss. I can’t buck ’im.”

“I’m boss now, and I’m not asking you again.” James fired another shot.

Rink screamed and began to babble and cry. “Oh, oh, God! Don’t. Please. I’ll tell—”

Odette was wonderfully, supremely happy when James pulled her into the hallway and told her that he loved her and wanted to
marry her. He said they would live together, make babies together, spend their lives together. He wanted a home of his own,
a family. He wanted her.

She feared for an instant that this really wasn’t happening; but when she saw the tender look of love in his eyes, she was
too stunned with happiness to think of anything but him.

Standing in his arms, her eyes on his lips, she read every word he said. He repeated over and over that her not being able
to hear was unimportant. He would hear for both of them.

His kisses were sweet and gentle. She returned them with all the love her young heart had to give. She clung to him. Her hands
moved up into his hair and down the strong line of his back and shoulders and up to clasp around his neck.

He gave her the heart pillow and she read the words
I love you
on it. He held it to her nose so that she could smell it, then kissed it and tucked it into the neck of her dress. After
sharing gentle, loving kisses, he looked down at her and in his magnificent eyes there was the glow of love. He was so great
a miracle that she trembled with the happiness that she could hardly believe was hers.

It was over quickly.

As soon as they stepped back into the kitchen and she saw her father’s grim, disapproving face and Dory’s sad one, she knew
that something was terribly wrong. Was it because she couldn’t hear that her papa didn’t trust James’s intentions?

After the two men left the kitchen, Odette and Dory sat at the table. Odette’s stomach was so knotted that she thought she
would be sick. She had not dreamed that Ben would be anything but happy that she had a love like the one he shared with Dory.
It was no comfort to know that Dory shared her misery. Her green eyes were bleak and she looked as if she would burst into
tears any minute.

When Ben returned, he told her that James had gone to the mill and that he didn’t know when he would be back. Odette wanted
desperately to know what was wrong, but he had walked out without giving her an explanation.

Until they came here there had been only two people in Odette’s life: her mother and then Ben. From the moment her mother
had told her that Ben was her father, she had adored him. He was everything she had hoped her father would be. With Dory and
Jeanmarie she had learned that she didn’t have to live in a closed-in, silent world. She could communicate with people, enjoy
life, give love, and teach. She was teaching Jeanmarie her ABC’s, teaching James to cipher.

James. How she loved him. From the first it had seemed to Odette that her soul had reached out to him, and his lonely soul
to her. They had bonded together without either being aware of it. Now they were being torn apart, and she didn’t understand
why.

Odette was relieved when supper was over and she could allow her shoulders to slump, her lips to tremble and the tears to
fall from her eyes. She and Dory took their time tidying the kitchen after the evening meal. While Odette washed the dishes,
Dory bathed Jeanmarie in the washbasin, then took her up to bed. Odette finished the cleaning and carried the dishwater out
to the end of the porch.

There was nothing to warn her.

As a hand closed over her mouth, she was jerked off the porch. The arm that hooked around her middle and lifted her up cut
off her breath. By the time she got over her surprise and began to kick and lash out with her arms, the man had her pressed
tightly against him and was running toward the woods.

In the silent darkness Odette’s fear was so great that she swooned. When she came to, she found herself hanging head-down,
her arms dangling. The jarring movement told her she was on a horse, lying face down across a man’s knees. She panicked. Her
struggles caused the frightened horse to sidestep and fight the bit. A heavy hand dealt her a stinging blow across her bottom.