WWIV - Basin of Secrets (32 page)
Read WWIV - Basin of Secrets Online
Authors: e a lake
Turning back to Joshua, Willem squinted, almost as if in pain. “Tell granddad we’re even. Got it?”
Joshua grinned. “I think he already knows,” the youth replied. “Now have someone unlock my friends.”
After tucking her sleeping child into bed, Cara returned to the fire in the front center of the camp. Seeing Steven telling tales to several younger members, she joined him on a log and slid her arm into the crook of his, crossed in front of him.
“You have duty tonight?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he replied, turning to kiss her forehead. “Are you okay?”
She nodded against his arm. “I will be. I know now that I really wasn’t hiding anything from anyone. Perhaps only the truth from myself.”
She watched the flames burn high into the night sky, a dark sky lit with millions of glittering stars. She thought about trying to count them, something she’d done as a child. Something Joshua and Rosie did by the hours on clear nights.
“How long will it take the men to walk back from Salt Lake do you suppose?” Seeing his grin, she knew he held no ill feelings from their earlier spat.
“About two days,” he answered. “Boys have a tendency to dawdle a little, but they’ll get hungry. So they’ll hustle back mighty quick when their bellies are empty.”
“Good. I’ll miss him, but I know he’s coming back.”
“Yeah,” Steven replied. “Your son will be just fine.”
She pulled him closer, taking in the woodsy odor of his clothes. “Our son, Steven,” she whispered. “Our son will be fine.”
Their chore accomplished, Andy and Freddy walked back to the wagon. Andy wasn’t sure why he and his friend had to follow them up the mountain a ways. These boys should know the lay of the land, Andy assumed. What he did know is that he was done playing babysitter.
“I can’t figure this whole thing out, Freddy,” Andy quipped. “First he’s pissed because I didn’t grab them as spies. Then we grab them, and now he yells at me to take them back. And on top of all that, he makes me bring seven different fellows to be hung tomorrow. I think Will has lost his mind.”
Freddy was silent during the trip, both the wagon ride up into the mountains, and now their walk back to the wagon. “I think you just need to keep your mouth shut and do what Will tells you to.”
Andy stopped and turned in the darkness to face his friend. “I heard a rumor that old man Bond is dead. I also heard Will knew this before we went up there. All we brought back was our cousin. You know what I think?”
Freddy placed a large hand on Andy’s shoulder. “I don’t care what you think, Andy. Just keep your mouth shut.”
“I’m going to do some investigating when we get back. I think Will is playing us for fools. I’m a Tarlisch; he can’t treat me like that. He needs to listen to me just like he does Howard. Hell, Howard ain’t even Will’s blood. This is just all screwed up, I tell you.”
A shot rang out in the dark; a shot too close to be an accident. Glancing ahead, Andy saw Melinda standing in the wagon, her right arm extended.
“Damn it Landry, it’s us, don’t shoot!” Andy screamed.
“Sorry,” Melinda called back. “Couldn’t tell which one was which in the dark.”
Andy stared at the figure, confused by her answer. “What?”
Another shot and Andy Tarlisch fell to the ground, dead.
“Sorry about that Freddy,” Melinda declared. “But those were Willem’s orders if Andy got out of line.”
Reaching for the hold to pull himself into the wagon, Freddy watched Melinda slide to the opposite side of the buckboard. “No problems, I knew it was coming. Tried to shut him up, but you know Andy. Stupid as the day is long.”
Landry whipped the team of horses, spinning the wagon back for Salt Lake. Both rode quietly, thoughts lost in the day. Freddy finally broke the silence. “Andy was my friend, but he didn’t get it. Right or wrong, Willem’s the boss. That’s who I answer to, Andy too. He just didn’t get it.”
Landry nodded, letting the horses take their time on the dark and tricky downhill return. Before too long, she turned. “Freddy,” she said, “can I tell you a secret, kind of a big one?”
“I suppose if you got to.”
“I’m pregnant, with Will’s child. Maybe it’ll be a boy. Maybe he’ll take me as his wife too, you think?” She turned forward as the horses stumbled on the rocky trail.
Freddy twisted slowly to face her. Sliding his left hand behind her head, he grabbed her ponytail, forcing her face to shoot straight up. With his right, he drew her pistol and poked the barrel against her right temple. “I don’t think so,” he answered, pulling the trigger.
Pushing the lifeless body from the seat, he heard it hit the ground below. Taking the reins, he continued the team on their current path.
With a deep breath, he spoke out loud, only to himself, and perhaps the horses. “I guess Willem was right. Ain’t no one who can keep a secret no more.”
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The
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