Part Six
The Needle in the Haystack
When Vin Tanner awoke, the first thing that came to
mind was the realization that the stagecoach he had been trying to catch would
have reached Sweet Water by now. Despite the pain that attacked him in waves
and the fatigue that seeped so deep into his bones that simple movement made
him groan, Vin knew he had to get up. He grit his teeth and bit down hard as he
tried to sit up. Even the thought impulse sent to his brain so that his body could
carry out that instruction, rebelled in protest at the foolhardiness of that
desire. Vin managed to do no more than shift slightly in his bed before he had
to give up all together.
Vin lay back in his bed, the pain having properly
humbled him to the reality of his situation and he took stock of where he was.
It did not take him long to recognize that he was inside Alex's clinic and with
that realization returned his most recent memories of the events that had
brought him to this place. Will Richmond's face flashed into his mind as well
as a memory of the ground awash with his blood. He knew without doubt that he
had killed Charlotte's husband and that knowledge drew a small groan of despair
from him. It was not his intention to take the man's life particularly when
Will was been so wrong about Charlotte and him.
"Hey cowboy." A familiar voice said softly
in his ears.
Vin's breath caught as he recognized Alex's soft tones
in his ear. He tried to turn his head in her direction but felt her cool palm
against his cheek as she leaned next to his bed and saved him the trouble. He
was very weak and groggy and the pain in his body was making it difficult to
focus his eyes but seeing her did him a world of good the way nothing else
could. The relief bled into him as he saw that she was here and not in some
hotel room in Sweet Water, trying to decide how to live her life without him.
"Alex." Vin managed to say. His voice was as
weak as the rest of him.
"You know," Alex tried to smile but it was
too hard to overcome her emotions when she was so damn pleased to see that he
was awake. "You could just have said you were sorry. I would have forgiven
you without you having to get shot."
"Well that's what happens when you throw me out
your door." He answered quietly, still too weak to muster anything more
than a soft whisper.
"I shouldn't have done that." Alex blinked,
showing more regret in her eyes that he could ever know. "I'm so sorry
Vin."
"No, I'm sorry Alex." He countered, his
voice was little more than a soft croak. "I let her get to me."
"Don't talk," she held her finger to his
lips. "You need your rest."
"Was I hit bad?" He asked.
Was he hit bad? If only he had any idea what she and
Nathan had been forced to endure during the three hours it took to replace the
damage section of artery with Will Richmond's transplant and then to remove the
bullet that had almost killed him. Between Alex's attempts to make the fine
sutures necessary for the transplant to take and Nathan keeping Vin's vitals
steady throughout the duration of the procedure, the hours that ticked by were
painfully slow. There were moments during the surgery when Alex thought that he
was going to die on the table and the only thing that had kept all of them
going was sheer stubbornness against letting a small piece of lead defeat them.
"Bad enough." Alex responded, deciding not
to go into details he did not need to hear. At the present time, she was so
grateful that he had energy enough to come out of his surgery induced slumber
that she wanted nothing to spoil the moment.
Alex had once thought operating on Ezra had been
difficult but as always, Vin eclipsed that experienced easily. Fighting to keep
him alive had driven home to her just how much she loved him and the
unpleasantness wrought by Charlotte and her words were so far away, Alex could
not imagine why she had ever let it get in the way of how they felt about each
other.
"Vin, I love you." Alex whispered softly as
she leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips. "I shouldn't have over
reacted the way I did. I should have listened when you tried to
apologize."
"I was being an dang fool." He muttered
weakly. "I let her get inside my head and make me crazy." Vin
admitted, unafraid to confess that it was the plain truth of the matter. He was
so grateful that Alex was here he was willing to say anything to keep that from
changing. Until that moment, when she had been ready to board that stage and
leave Four Corners forever, Vin had never appreciated the effect she upon his
life since entering it months ago.
"She made us both a little crazy," She said
brushing her lips against his in a gentle kiss. He was not in much shape for
anything else, she thought with a slight smile. "Let's just put it behind
us okay?"
Alex did not want to spoil things by lingering too
long on all the wrongs committed by Charlotte against the both of them. The
arrival of Vin's past love had clouded so many things, their judgement most of
all and now that they were given a stark reminder of what was really important,
there was no reason to punish themselves over the past. As for Charlotte, she
lost a great deal more than whatever affection Vin might have had for her, she
had also lost a husband and retribution seemed pointless in the face of that.
"My clothes here?" He grunted painfully,
trying to lift his head to look around the room.
"Lie back." Alex gently stopped him from
continuing the attempt. He was extremely weak and although for all intensive
purposes, the surgery had been successful Alex did not want to take chances.
What she and Nathan had done was risky and there was no real guarantee that
Vin's body would not reject the transplant. Until she had indications to the
contrary, Alex was not going to let him exert the strength needed for his
recovery. "Your jacket's here." She said looking around the room and
located his buckskins draped across a chair. His shirt and bandanna had been
too soiled to recover and was discarded during the procedure.
"I need it." He said leaning back, painfully
aware that she was right about him not moving too much. Even that small effort
had drained him and he started to feel the pull of slumber tugging at him
again. However, Vin was not going to sleep until he had accomplished this one
little task.
Confused at what could be so important, Alex retrieved
the heavy skin coat and brought it to him. "What do you need?"
"Inside pocket." He strained to say and Alex
fumbled through the insides of the coat, noting some stains of blood on the
leather and reminding herself to have it cleaned for him later on.
It took a few moments for her to find what he intended
to find but Alex knew what it was the instant her fingers made contact with the
soft velvet. Removing it slowly, she stared at the small box for a long while
before she dared to raise her eyes to meet his.
"I got that for you the day you were in Sweet
Water." He responded, struggling to stay awake because he wanted to see
her face when she opened it and he was unwilling to wait any longer before presenting
it to her. "Open it."
She wanted to say that he need not have wasted his
money on such tokens because she knew how he felt about her, now so more than
ever. However, Alex remained silent and lifted the lid before she took in the
sight of the delicate band of gold, with a single jewel perched on top. It
glimmered the under the dim light of the room and to Alex, it was the most
beautiful thing she had ever seen.
"Its beautiful." She whispered, trying to
hide how overcome she was by the thing and immediately removed it from the box
and slipped it onto to the correct finger.
"Ezra helped me pick it." Vin eased back
into his pillow with a satisfied smile on his face at her reaction.
"You both have good taste." Alex replied
leaning over to kiss him again on the lips when suddenly she heard the familiar
voice of Chris Larabee behind her.
"I'm guessing he's feeling better." The
gunslinger remarked as he stood at the entrance to the room with the rest of
the seven.
Alex withdrew immediately and threw a smirk in his
direction. "Very funny." She retorted. "He's doing better, but
nowhere out of the woods."
"How you doing Pard." Chris said stepping
forward to Vin. Chris' greetings was soon joined by a chorus of similar
salutations and well wises from the others. Alex stepped out of the room as Vin
was surrounded by his friends, wishing to change out of her soiled clothes and
to get cleaned up.
"I've been better." Vin replied, glad to see
his friends again. "I guess I ain't as good as Buck when it comes to
avoiding pissed off husbands."
"Well that takes a special knack and lifetime of
know-how." Buck grinned, glad to see that Vin was well enough to joke.
"And the ability to jump out of windows like a
jack rabbit." Josiah commented with a rugged smile.
"I ain't ready to try that yet." Vin
chuckled and regretted that much exertion as soon as he did it. The pain
registered in his face and quickly prompted Nathan into response.
"Now let that be a lesson to you," Nathan declared.
"You ain't gonna be moving out of that bed for awhile and you're going to
have to take it easy. Miss Julia says she'll lend a hand and look in on you
while you're here."
"Mr. Tanner, I weep for you." Ezra found
himself admitting, unable to imagine even to the slightest degree Julia playing
nursemaid to anyone. As it was, he was somewhat amazed at how Billy Travis had
taken to her.
"We're glad you're okay Vin," J.D.
responded, not as jaded as the rest of his companions to hide how he really
felt about knowing the tracker had survived the gun battle with Charlotte
Richmond's husband.
"Thanks J.D.," Vin smiled weakly at the
younger man before turning to Chris again. "Any word on Billy?"
"No," Chris replied tautly.
"Nothing."
"Its like they've fallen off the face of the
earth." Buck muttered unhappily. "No one has seen them and if they
had, they ain't talking."
"And we've been mighty persuasive." Josiah
added.
Vin looked at Chris and saw just how tormented his
friend was about this and knew that Chris was now bitterly regretting not
pulling the trigger when Ella had been in his sights. At the time, Vin had
voiced his opinion that Chris should have killed her because women like that
had a tendency to come back.
Something in her eyes had told Vin that she was not
going to give up so easily and she was just crazy enough to try it again. Chris
had not been her first victim. There had been many and some how, her past lover
became objects of her obsession. She pursued them relentlessly and did not let
them go until they had lost everything or she was forced to kill them. Vin knew
she had not reached that stage with Chris yet but with Billy in her hands, it
was terrifying to them all what she was capable of doing.
"I wish I could be of some help instead of being
stuck here." Vin complained.
"Its okay pard," Chris said quietly.
"This ain't your fault. Its mine." The gunslinger retorted, moving
away from the tracker, trying not to show everyone just how badly he was
feeling about Billy even though he was certain they all knew anyway.
"You weren't to know she'd come back Chris."
Buck replied automatically, always quick to absolve Chris of his guilt because
he felt so much already and was being consumed by it.
"It doesn't matter," he retorted and
continued walking out of the room, before pausing long enough to cast a glance
in Vin's direction. "Take it easy, I'll drop by later."
A heavy pall remained in the room after Chris had made
his departure. No one spoke of it but there were all aware of the cloud that
hung over them and would remain as long as Billy Travis remained abducted. Vin
ached for his friend and it was a pain worse than what he was feeling now. He
was aware as they all were, that Mary and Chris had not spoken since the night
Billy was taken and Vin could understand the widow's rage and her terrible
fear. Ella Gaines had not misgivings about burning a five year old in his bed
when she had sent Fowler to kill Sarah and Adam, she would have less hesitation
about Billy who was by her reckoning, not even Chris' child.
"We've got to find Billy." Buck exclaimed in
frustration. "The longer things stay like this between Chris and Mary, the
worse its going to get."
"You cannot blame the woman for feeling the way
she does Mr. Wilmington," Ezra responded. "He is her only child and
forgive me for saying this, Mr. Larabee should have told her about the deranged
Miss Gaines."
"Look," J.D. spoke up. "We can argue
about this to kingdom come but it ain't gonna change nothing. We got to find
Billy to make it right again. Before its too late."
"Out of the mouth of babes." Josiah threw
the young man a proud smile. "I think Vin needs his rest and I can sure
use some food." The preacher replied, deciding this argument as J.D. had
stated so pointedly would avail them nothing.
Nor would it bring them any closer to locating Billy
Travis.
Mary saw Chris return to town through her window and
saw her son was not with him.
Mary watched him as he made his way down the street
towards the saloon and knew that he was forcing himself not to look in the
direction of the Clarion as he walked by. She observed his progress down the
board walk in the shadows of her darkened bedroom window and was able to tell
as he moved in that sinewy way of his that he was hurting as much as he was. It
was a struggle for her not to want to throw herself in his arms and allow him
to tell her that things would be all right. Despite her longing for him, Mary
Travis was still furious that he had not told her about Ella. They were meant
to marry in three days and it right now the possibility of that happening was
extremely remote.
Mary followed Chris until he disappeared into the
saloon before she turned away from the window and started moving through the
house with almost wraithlike substance. The silence of the walls around her
seem to be even more overpowering as she found herself drawn to Billy's room.
Mary knew she ought not to be going in there but her state of mind at the
present moment was precarious to say the least. She wanted her son with her so
badly, she could force herself to do nothing else but think of it. Attempting
to throw herself into her work had done little or no good because she could not
stand the quiet that allowed her to do it.
She twisted the knob to the room at the other end of
the hall from her own bedroom and pushed the door open. Stepping inside, she
could see through the faint light emanating from the hallway, his toys in an
ordered mess around the room. Apparently Billy's idea of cleaning his room was
to shove toys and anything he did not consider clothes under his bed. She saw
an opened book on the nightstand next to his bed and picked it up for
examination. Peter and the Wolf. Flicking through the pages filled with
illustrations of Russian landscapes and wolves bearing sharp teeth. It was the
sort of thing a little boy would love she supposed as Mary found herself
sitting on his bed.
She noticed a shirt strewn on the polished wood floor
and reached for it. Mary started to fold it, not knowing why she was doing this
in the dark but requiring something to do. For reasons, she could not explain,
she lifted the cotton shirt to her nose and took a deep breath of it. The
material smelled like cookies and dirt. What her mother used to affectionately
call 'little boy smells'. She breathed it in and for a moment could almost be
forgiven for thinking that Billy was in the room with her.
Something inside her snap and the damn that held back
the full measure of despair escaped her in like heaving of machinery or a gale
breathing in deep just before it started to storm. Mary started to sob loud and
unashamedly, terrified of finding her son the way Chris found Adam, knowing
that she was not as strong as he and would not be able to recover should she
have to bury her son like she had to bury Stephen. Mary wept uncontrollably,
unable to stand this helplessness that held her in her grip. She wanted her son
back and she wanted things to be the way they were with Chris too. She was
angry with him but she also missed him and until Billy came back there would be
no way to bridge the gulf over the rift that had forced them apart.
Mary did not know how long she let her tears run as
she buried her face against Billy's pillow, the scent of him doing more harm
that good because it was a stark reminder of his absence. She was visited with
so many memories of Billy and they seem to spin out of control in her mind, the
closer she came to believing that he would not be returned to her in one piece.
Mary kept replaying things in her mind, his first steps, the way he would smile
at her and how he would fall asleep to the sound of her voice. These were
things that she was not ready to give up and what made the whole situation
unbearable was that if this was the end of her son's life, then he would go to
it alone and without his mother or his friends.
Suddenly, Mary came to a decision. She could no longer
bear to wait here and let Chris find Billy because it was becoming painfully
obvious that the gunslinger had no idea where her son might have been taken.
Mary was also knew that she was sure as hell not going to let Ella used Billy
as bait to lure her into another trap. Mary Travis was not helpless and she had
resources at her disposal. If Chris' efforts to find Billy were unsuccessful
then perhaps a different avenue of attack was required. Drying her tears, she
stood up from the bed and hurried out of the bedroom, determined that this was
still going to Billy's room for a long time to come.
Hurrying down the stairs, Mary started to let her
journalistic instincts do the thinking for her. Too long had she been wallowing
as the wounded mother when her son needed the resources and the intelligence of
an investigator. Mary descended into the lower floor of the house and knew that
the answer to finding Ella Gaines was in her files. Vin had asked her to make
some inquiries about the woman when she had first appeared in Four Corners. The
tracker had not trusted Ella from the very onset and had been dubious about the
sincerity of her feelings for Chris.
Although Mary had confessed to feeling some jealousy
at Chris' interest in Ella Gaines, she could not begrudge him wanting to move
on after his wife's death and there had been nothing himself and Mary during
that period. Mary reached her office and started searching for the folder with
all the information she had garnered about Ella for Vin's perusal. Even though
she had to explain most of it to the tracker's whose reading skills had been
rudimentary at the time, despite her reading tutorials, what they had learnt
had been enough to convince them both they were dealing with someone quite
formidable.
Mary pulled open the drawer and sought out the
particular file, praying that she was correct in assuming that the clue to
finding Ella Gaine's present whereabouts was in her colorful past. Rifling
through the list of folders kept neatly in alphabetical order, Mary found
Ella's file easily enough. The file was not exactly thick and Mary wondered if
there was enough information within it to be useful but she was sick and tired
of leaving things to the seven. Easing into the chair behind her desk, Mary
scanned through the documents and telegrams that had been collecting dust since
Ella's departure from Four Corners all that time ago.
Of course none of it held the most important facts
about the mysterious woman, that she was fully fledged psychopath who became
fixated on the men she had known throughout her life to the point where she was
forced to murder in order to ensure her access to them. Mary found herself
shuddering at the insanity that would drive a woman to have done this terrible
thing to ten men, not just Chris.
She wondered how terrible it must have been when Chris
made the discovery after long last that Sarah and Adam had been killed for such
an unimaginable reason.
Mary glanced through the file, sifting through the
documents that told revealed the ownership of Culpepper mines around which of
the drama regarding Ella had unfolded during her stay in Four Corners. The
woman did not just own that piece of property. There were several that held her
name on the titles and it appeared with that Ella, however she made her money
was extremely good at it. Mary saw small textile stores, a few shares in a
railway and several investments in eastern factories. It appeared that should
Ella chose to retire, she could do so and still live very comfortable for the
rest of her life.
No doubt, it was how she had paid an assassin to steal
Billy, Mary thought bitterly.
A money trail like this had to leave traces Mary
decided and quickly jotted down the names of the various holdings into a note
pad, the deeper she went into the file. There had to be some way of tracing
this back to a common denominator. Ella lived in shadows but to live the way
she did and afford the things she had, there had to be someone out there she
trusted to take care of all this for her.
Mary had contacts in some of the places Ella had
businesses and perhaps someone knew something that they did not know now.
In any case, it was worth a try because Mary was
getting her son back, one way or another.
Billy Travis was afraid.
He tried not to be because he was not a baby any more
and boys were not supposed to be scared. Try as he might to keep this thought
in mind, he found that it was easier said then done and no matter how hard he
tried to be brave, he still wanted his ma. Billy wanted to feel her arms around
him, the way she held him when he used to have those terrible nightmares about
his pa's death. He remembered how she would hold him close and whisper in his
ear that everything was going to be all right.
Right now he really needed to hear that.
As Billy was whisked away into the darkness from his
bed to places unknown, he had tried to remain very quiet so his captor might
forget he was there and not hurt him. He had recalled clearly what Chris had
said once when they were in a similar situation when the men who had killed his
pa came for him and Chris at the old house. It was with shame that Billy
revealed to Chris the secret that had been buried inside him for so long and he
expected the tough gunslinger to tell he was coward for hiding away when the
devil took his father. However, Chris had done nothing of the sort and told him
that he had probably done the smartest thing by staying put and being quiet.
Thus Billy resolve to do just that because Chris was never wrong about
anything.
No matter how frightened he got, Billy kept reminding
himself that Chris would come for him because Chris loved his ma and he was
Billy's friend. He was Billy's best friend and maybe even his new pa. Billy
wasn't so sure about the second part but he believed Chris when the gunslinger
promised that he would never let anything bad happened to Billy or his ma. Not
just Chris though, he knew Vin, J.D., Buck, Nathan and even Josiah felt the
same way. They would come; he knew this with an unshakeable faith that was only
common to children. He just had to sit tight until they did.
In the meantime, his kidnapper had not said much other
than to ensure that he had remained silent throughout the journey with no ideas
of escape. Billy did not know where he was and the stranger kept far away from
towns so there was no way he could get help even if he did dare to run away.
The man seemed to know where he was going but he felt no inclination to tell
Billy or to get too familiar with him. He fed Billy a meal of beans during the
breaks in their journey but beyond that he did not speak to Billy other than to
bark a few stern orders.
They travelled for two days and Billy did not see any
sign of Chris and the others but he was sure they were looking for him. He knew
they had to be and thought he was very afraid to be alone, he was glad that the
man did not capture his ma too. Billy had no idea where they were as they moved
further and further across the flat plains of the Territory but he knew he had
to very far from Four Corners because they had not stopped in two days of
travel.
When their journey finally ended, Billy found himself
being taken to a house on a hill that overlooked a town he did not know but did
not seem very different from Four Corners. The man led him into the house and
Billy noticed that there were many women walking around the place. They
regarded him with confusion as Billy was taken upstairs into a room that looked
like his ma's parlour but was bigger and seemed to have more expensive things.
More expensive but not any nicer, he decided.
"You were supposed to bring Mary Travis."
The woman who sat at the divan looked at the man critically, her eyes looked
hard and the way her chin set made Billy think of one of his meaner teachers at
school.
"There were complications." The man
answered. "I told you that it would be difficult bringing them alive. That
is not what I do. Normally, its simpler to expedite things by eliminating them
on the spot."
She shifted her eyes towards Billy and stood up from
her chair. Her head tilted slightly as she observed him at length and then
remarked. "He is a handsome child isn't he?" She stopped in front of
Billy and reached out for him. Instinctively, Billy stepped back, knowing
enough about this woman and her manner to know that he did not want her hands
anywhere on his person. There was something about her that was frightening,
something he could not define but know it to be true. She did not seem offended
by his reaction but since he backed into his kidnapper, she knew that he had
nowhere to go. Billy cringed as she reached for him again and could do nothing
as she lay her hand on him... and ruffled his hair.
"I see Chris in him." She said
enigmatically.
"He's not Larabee's child." The main pointed
out.
"Doesn't matter," she said in a sing song
voice. "Chris was going to be his new father. Isn't that right Billy? Your
mother was going to set up a nice little arrangement for Chris using you as her
lure."
Billy did not understand what she meant with all this
talk of lures and arrangements. He could only associate the word lure with
fishing but could not comprehend what that might mean in relation to her
conversation about Chris and his mother.
"How do you intend to bring his mother
here?" She shifted her attention from him and turned her eyes to the man
once again.
"That's easy enough," the man replied
automatically. "If you had seen the way she pursued me to get her son
back, there's no doubt that all we have to do is tell her where and she'll come
willingly just to get him back."
"Such strong maternal instinct," she snorted
derisively. "Chris seems to like them that way. You should have heard
Sarah before she died." The woman smiled in way that send shivers down
Billy's spine like he felt whenever he had to go get potatoes for grandma down
in the fruit cellar where it was dark and cold. "She begged Fowler to let
Adam go, right until the last minute. She breathed her last begging for the
life of her brat. Of course it was too late by then, the fire was too thick and
no one was getting out of that house, even if Fowler wanted to help her."
Billy saw the man stiffen as if he did not like
hearing that and his eyes became darker than hers and Billy knew that he was a
little afraid of her too. For a brief instance, he and the man shared a strange
sort of empathy for each other.
"I have moved people into place that can approach
Mary Travis without the lawmen becoming privy to it. If it is done properly,
then she will come to us before Larabee and his group have any idea that Travis
gone."
"Good," the woman seemed satisfied by that.
"In the meantime, I'll keep this one locked up here." She turned her
attention to him again. "Perhaps, we can even get acquainted."
Billy did not know what that meant but he did not like
the sound of it at all. Neither did he like the idea of his ma being led her
because of him. He had no idea how he was going to do it but he was going to
escape this place somehow.
He was not going to let this woman hurt his ma.
Chris Larabee had a plan.
He was going to drink himself into a heavy stupor that
would make it easy for him to fall asleep when he finally chose to retire. It
was not the most complex of stratagem he had devised in his life but for the
moment, it would seem to suffice. As he steadily made his way through the
bottle of whiskey on the counter before him, Chris decided that he would keep
filling up his glass until the ache inside of him was dulled into submission by
the alcohol. It was a good plan and one he intended on following through no
matter what. It was the same plan he had utilized after realizing that had he
chose to return home that night instead of remaining in Mexico with Buck, in
all likelihood Sarah and Adam would still be alive.
Always go with something you know, Chris decided.
He intended to follow through on this plan until he
could stand knowing that it was he who placed Billy in this kind of danger and
shattered the trust that the woman he loved had in him. He could not berate
Mary for her anger because he had let Ella get away. Not only had he let Ella
escape after learning what he had about her hiring Fowler but he had kept that
information away from Mary. It had never occurred to him that Ella might come
back now after such a period of silence but supposed it made perfect sense when
one really thought about it.
Chris knew precisely what had drawn Ella out after all
this time.
The wedding.
Ella believed he was his as she had believed the same
about all her previous victims. She had eliminated Sarah and Adam as if they
were some kind of malignancy that had to be removed from her perfect illusion
of their so called love. The idea sickened Chris to the stomach and made him
wish he had pulled the trigger. He still did not know why he had not and as Vin
had stated at the time, he should have. The months with Mary in his life had
been a bliss that had lulled him into complacency, making him believe that the
threat of Ella was gone for good. He should have known better and now he was in
a situation where Billy was to be the next victim for Ella's insane passion for
him.
In some ways, he had not been surprised to learn about
the extent of her dementia. Even during their love affair almost fifteen years
ago, it had been a madness for both of them. There was passion and fire and
everything a torrid romance was meant to have but underlying it all, Chris had to
admit to seeing the extent of her mania in the ferocity of her love. Loving her
was like doing a balancing act on a knife's edge and after awhile Chris had
found that it was simpler to give up altogether and move on. Breaking it off
had not been easy but she had displayed none of the venom that would let him
for an instant to believe that she would seek out his wife and son ten years
later and murder them.
That's your problem right there, Larabee, you're
always assuming things with Ella.
For a man who was known to always have all angles
thought out before disaster could strike, it was hard realizing that he had
underestimated Ella's obsession of him. He should have told Mary about Ella and
the danger she represented. Chris was not ashamed to admit he did not like
discussing that subject with Mary, not simply because Ella was responsible for
Adam and Sarah but because a part of him was unable to believe he could have
cared for someone so twisted inside.
"Chris." He heard her voice and swung around
immediately in his stool to find himself on the receiving end of a gaze from
her blue-grey eyes.
"Mary." Chris swallowed, surprised that she
had sought him out.
"I think I know of a way to find Ella but I can't
do it alone." She stared at him trying to be aloof but not quite managing
it.
He could tell that she was still angry with him but
not to the extent she was the night Billy was taken. It surprised her that she
had come to the saloon at this time of night but then when it came to Billy,
Mary was never concerned about convention. Until he saw her face to face, Chris
did not realize how much he missed being with her and her eyes reflected the
same thing as she regarded him. The past few days had been private nightmare
where he had fought the urge to do as Buck said, to go and apologize because he
knew that gesture would have more weight if he could bring Billy home to her.
Unfortunately, his efforts to find her son were laughable and Chris was
starting to believe that he would never recover Billy and his days with Mary
Travis were done.
"How?" Chris asked, breaking the pause of
his ruminations.
Mary took up the stool next to him, oblivious to the
looks she was getting from some of the patrons. Even Inez was wise enough to
stay away at the other end of the counter although her best friend did look up
at them periodically to see if things were still remaining civilized.
"When Ella first made her appearance in town, Vin came to me and asked if
I could look into her background."
Chris was hardly surprised by that statement because
he knew for a fact that Vin had never really trusted Ella when the woman had
first come to town.
Understandably, Chris' judgement had been somewhat
clouded when it came to Ella at the time but Vin had a scent for trouble that
was almost as strong as his own. From the onset of Ella's reappearance in her
life, the tracker had been cautious of her intentions and had made private
inquiries of his own. He had not thought that Vin would bring Mary into it but
then considering Mary's connections out of town, it was only sensible that he
would.
"What did you find?" He inquired.
"I don't know what the situation is now but when
she came to Four Corners she had a small fortune. She owns deeds to factories,
mines, big city stock, Ella was quite the business woman." Mary said with
a hint of bitterness because it was all this affluence that allowed her to
hired assassins to kill Chris' family and possibly hers as well.
"She always knew how to land on her feet,"
Chris muttered, wishing it were anything but so.
"Most cats do that." Mary retorted sharply.
Despite the grim situation, Chris could not help but
let a smile steal across his features at the venom in her voice. There were
women who became very shrewish when they were angry but not Mary Travis. In her
rage, she was a sight to behold and Chris found that he could seldom feel his
ire raised when she was suffering fits of outrage at something or another.
Remembering that she had come here for a reason, he kept his mind centered on
this plan of hers.
"Anyway," Mary continued. "There's a
lot of money being moved from place to place to buy these business. I am
assuming she can't have done all this herself because. ." She presented
Chris with all the paperwork she had on the subject of Ella Gaines "This
is a wide area we're talking about, scattered throughout most of the
Territory."
Chris was never one for paperwork since he relied on
what was before him, not on hearsay to be found on scraps of paper. However,
his time with Mary had made him a partial believer and as he scan the documents
before him, he came to the conclusion she did. Ella had been doing brisk
business across the Territory, buying up small shops and investing in businesses
in boomtowns. She had made herself quite wealthy in order to keep up with her
extra curricular activities.
"I don't think she travelled to these individual
places herself, she has to earn her money if what you told me about her was
true. I think she has someone who deals with all this for her. Perhaps a lawyer
or an accountant, in any case I think if we dig deep enough, we can find a
name. Whoever this person is, she must trust him to place all her affairs in
his hands and since she has to be in hiding now, it would make sense that she
would still be using him. After all, someone new is someone she'd have to trust
and I don't think she's stupid enough to do that."
It was a long shot. Chris could tell that even Mary
knew this for a fact because they were dealing in suppositions and assumptions
that there was someone in Ella's Gaines past who hid in the shadows and
conducted her business affairs. Still the truth of the matter was such that
they had no choice. Neither Mary nor Chris was willing to wait until Ella's
assassin made an attempt on Billy's life and that was coming. From what Mary
had related about the assassin's words to her, Ella wanted Mary and Billy alive
so she could be present when they died. That was the only bit of good news that
Chris had from this whole miserable situation because he knew Ella was patient,
she would wait until Mary was brought to her before doing anything to Billy.
"Assuming he exists, how do we find him?"
Chris put forward, intrigued by Mary's deductions on this matter. He had to
admit that her journalistic instincts were a treasure onto themselves
sometimes.
"I have contacts in most of these towns,"
Mary said taking a deep breath. Franklin had not been too impressed with her
when she dragged him from his dinner and made him send a series of telegrams
across the Territory. However, the man had been quite understanding when he
realized that this was for the recovery of Billy although he did require an
extra piece of cake at the wedding as payment. "I've asked my contacts to
talk to the people who owned these business previously. Perhaps we can find
this man by learning how contracts for sale were exchanged. Was the transaction
conducted through the post or hand delivered? That sort of thing. I am hoping I
will get answers to by the end of tomorrow."
Chris was impressed by her efforts and had to admit he
would have never considered going down this route to find Ella. However, Mary's
resourcefulness never ceased to amaze him and when she was properly motivated,
like she was now, she could be a juggernaut of relentless determination. It
made him all the more sorry that he did not tell her about Ella because Mary
would have been able to take precautions with Billy.
"What do you need me for?" He asked.
"You seem to have things well in hand."
Mary shifted uncomfortably in her seat, trying not to
notice the sorrow in the ice blue depths of his eyes. She could tell how much
pain he was in despite the indifferent mask he wore on his face. Now more than
ever, Mary felt ashamed of how she had treated him that night, even though she
was justified in her anger.
Since she had embarked upon this course of action in
finding Ella, Mary had the chance to let her anger dissolve somewhat and she
knew that she still loved this man even though he had wronged greatly by not
telling her about Ella. What she had been seeing in his eyes the last few
minutes told her that he was feeling more guilt than she could ever make him
feel. Not just for Billy but for Sarah and Adam as well.
"If we find this man, I don't think he'll just
tell us where Ella is." Mary said softly, hiding her softening heart from
him for the moment. "If he's as loyal as I believe he is, he'll try to
protect her."
"Not necessarily." Chris pointed out.
"He may be handling her business affairs but he may not know that she's
crazy or a murderer."
"Arguments I'm sure you can use on him when the
time is right." She returned. "In any case, I don't think I'm going
to make him talk. That's your job in this expedition."
Chris nodded slowly, ready to agree to anything if it
meant bringing Billy back to her. "When you get a name, I'll be
here." He said shortly and reached for the bottle before him.
She stopped his hand before he could reach it.
"Chris," Mary took a deep breath and met his
surprised gaze "Have you eaten?"
"Not hungry." He grunted.
Which actually translated into a yes but Mary knew
when he was just being difficult. It was impossible not to love this man with
the passion she did and not know anything about his habits. "I've got some
dinner on the stove," she said gently, finding a hint of amusement in his
brooding manner. Mary could tell he was sulking a little. "Why don't you
come share with it with me."
"Are we friends again?" He asked trying to
hide the hope out of his eyes.
"Yes we are," she nodded slowly and decided
to be honest with him about how she felt at the moment. That was the only way
either of them was going to get past this. Mary did know that she loved him
despite everything that had happened and that he loved Billy almost as much as
she did. Their love should bring them together at a time like this, not force
them apart. If they could not endure this hurdle before they even reached the
altar, how on Earth would they survive the next fifty years together?
"Chris I am still mad at you for not telling me
about Ella. You should have but I know you love Billy too and you would never
intentionally let any harm come to him."
She saw the emotion drain into his eyes even though a
stranger would be hard pressed to think that he was staring at her with
anything but indifferent eyes.
"I don't know why I didn't tell you about Ella.
Maybe I was a little afraid." He admitted.
"Why?" She asked puzzled. "The woman is
a psychopath. It's not your fault she fixated on you."
"Maybe if I walked away fifteen years ago, maybe
Sarah and Adam would still be alive." He whispered, admitting something to
her what had been tumbling around in the darkness of his mind ever since he
learnt the truth about Ella and her part in his family's murder.
Mary placed her hand on Chris' cheek and felt her
heart ache for him because that was a terrible burden to carry around and
suddenly, her anger at his not telling her diminished even more. "Chris,
there was no way you could know she was capable of that. She's done this to ten
other men which she means she's very good at hiding her obsession. I said
things the night Billy was taken that I wish I had not because I was angry.
He's my son and the only thing in the world I have left of Stephen, when I
found out you knew what she had done and you had let her go, I just snapped. I
love you Chris, I always will and right now, we need to be clear on that if
we're going to find our son."
Chris was somewhat surprised that she had used those
words, that she considered them both Billy's parents. However, he welcomed the
description because it was true. It had been true since that first afternoon
when Billy had spied him carving that wooden horse. They had regarded each
other quietly, completely aware of the secret bond that had made them both
offer faint smiles to each other, both so filled with secret pain and bridging
a gap within one another that been left unbreached for so long. It had been
more than just the fact that he was Mary's son that had drawn Chris to Billy,
it was seeing that same pain in his eyes as being powerless to stop a loved one
from dying. Chris had seen that look in Billy's eyes each time he looked in a
mirror and it had rocked the hardened gunslinger core to know that pain existed
in a child's eyes where it had not business being.
"We will find him, Mary. I promise you."
Chris said firmly because Adam was gone and Billy was still alive and before he
let Ella take their child away from them, he'd kill her a dozen times over.
This time there would be no pause or reprieve for Ella Gaines. When they met,
it would be for the last because she was sure as hell not taking another family
from Chris Larabee again.
Billy stared out the window and saw the town in the
distance at some Mecca he would never reach. He was kept in the attic of the
house and shared the space within the huge room with dusty old things and the
spiders who built their homes in the corners that allowed for web building. He rummaged
through the collection of boxes, filled with an assortment of things, ranging
from clothing to hats, books yellowed with age, the odd bit of furniture that
seemed terribly ornate to be left in such humble surroundings. Some of the
objects were interesting and helped past the time away but nothing that could
help him out of his present predicament.
He was still trying to be brave like Chris told him he
was once but somehow, the fear kept creeping in despite Billy's best efforts to
ignore it. As the darkness loomed and the shadows crept their black tendrils
around the candle and bedroll that had been provided for him, Billy felt it
clench his heart and paralyze his thoughts. In those moments, he wanted his ma
so badly that he was almost driven to tears. Only Chris' words that he was
brave had held back the tide of tears.
He was let out of his prison twice a day to take care
of his toilette and had sought desperately for escape during those times.
Unfortunately, the sour face young woman who had been assigned to keep an eye
on him was sharp as she was nasty and she made certain that no such opportunity
availed itself. He saw nothing of the woman to whom had been responsible for
his incarceration but he knew everyone of the women in the large house was afraid
of her. Billy did not understand why this was so since they all chose to live
with her. Of the man who had stolen him out of his bed Billy had seen nothing.
It frightened Billy to no end to think that if the man was not here then he
must be trying to find his ma and do those terrible things the woman said he
had to do.
Billy had tried to escape from his room but the door
was always kept locked and the window that afforded him his view of the town at
the bottom of the hill was also a long way from the ground and would kill him
if he fell out of it.
Effectively trapped until Chris and his ma found him,
he did not know what to do and kept staring out that window longingly, knowing
that some time soon, he would see Chris riding over the horizon with Vin, J.D.
and all the others. His mother would hold him in her arms and tell him that she
loved him of the house and Julia who smelled so good would let him eat ice
cream with her again and talk to him like he was her beau not Ezra.
Billy would work that complication out later.
He was still staring out the window when he suddenly
heard the door open behind him. It was night and he did not expect anyone to
come in until morning, when his minder would bring him breakfast. Billy cringed
against the glass, wondering what was the reason for this unexpected visit.
Maybe they were not going to wait for his ma to get here; maybe they were going
to kill him now! Billy had worked himself into a proper state of exhaustion
when Ella Gaines stepped through the door and let her gaze sweep across the
boy's prison to seek him out.
"Hello there." She said pleasantly, carrying
a plate in her had that was covered with a dishcloth.
Billy did not speak and his eyes started at the plate,
wondering if she intended to poison him with what she had hidden.
She stepped towards the bedroll where he slept and sat
down before the candle. Billy watched her as she nestled herself on the floor
and uncovered the plate that held a tasty selection of pastries with cream and
sugar. Despite himself, Billy felt a twinge of interest as the assortment. She
met his gaze once she had become comfortable.
"I'm sorry the accommodations aren't
better." She replied as she motioned for him to come forward.
"Unfortunately, the situation requires your presence here is kept
anonymous for the time being."
Billy did not know whether or not he should answer her
since she was trying to make friends and it might help him to escape if he
responded to those advances. Slowly, he crept away from his position at the
window sill and approached her cautiously, his eyes never moving from her as he
finally neared close enough to sit down across her.
"You're not much of a talker are you?" She
smiled almost warmly. "Take one." She gestured towards the platter of
food. When he did not take one, she picked up a piece herself and bit into it,
proving to the boy that she did not intend to harm him with anything she would
not partake of herself. Only after she had done that, did he reach for a piece
of pastry and started nibbling at it in conservative bites.
"You're a cautious one." Ella commented.
"Just like Chris."
The mention of Chris sparked Billy's interest and he
wondered how she knew the gunslinger. "How do you know Chris?" Billy
asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
"Mr. Larabee and I go way back," Ella
smiled, pleased that she had received some kind of reaction from him. He was
such a beautiful child she thought. He looked so much like Chris with his
golden hair and his blue green eyes. Even though Chris did not have any part in
conceiving this child, Ella could see the gunslinger in him. "I knew Chris
when he had just gotten out of the army. Do you know Chris fought in the
war?"
Billy shook his head in response. He had not known but
then Chris did not like talking about the past. Billy had come to know that
much about the gunslinger during the time together. Still, he was not surprised
that Chris was once a soldier.
"He was so handsome," Ella mused.
"Utterly beautiful to look at. Back then he was still the fastest man with
a gun I knew. We were both so much prettier then." She smiled and offered
Billy another look of remembrance. "Chris used to fight anyone who looked
my way wrong. He would usually win."
Well that did not surprise Billy either. Nobody could
beat Chris at anything, Vin maybe but no one else that Billy had seen or heard.
"He still does." Billy said quietly.
"We could have gone anywhere," she sighed as
she continued her reminiscing. "Seen the world and done anything. You like
to see the world Billy?" She asked. Billy nodded because he was eight
years old and the world he knew was small. There had to be more out there and
Billy had to confess that he did want to see it all some day. Vin always told
him that there were more than just towns and farms. There were hills that ran
so far into the distance; they looked like an ocean of green and mountains so
tall that you could reach the ice in just a day. Buck told him there were
places were the wine was cheap and the women were cheaper. He did not know what
that meant but he was glad to hear it since most of the dollar his grandpa had
given him for the journey to Four Corners was gone.
"I knew it." She smiled brightly and pushed
the plate at him to take another pastry. "I think that if you helped me,
we can convince Chris to come away and see the world like he was meant
to."
"What about my ma?" Billy blurted out.
Her expression darkened then, just a fraction but
enough for Billy to know he should not have made mention of his mother. He
feared what would be the consequences of this error and held his breath until
she spoke again.
"You ma doesn't count." Ella said neutrally.
"Chris loved me first and he will love me last."
"But he's marrying my ma." Billy pointed
out, wondering why she was so mistaken about that point.
Ella leaned closer to him as if she were about to
divulge some great secret that only he could hear. "Chris is marrying your
ma because of you. No other reason. He doesn't love her, not the way he loves
me anyway and the only reason he ever gets married is because of children. So
this time," she smiled as she said this. "He'll come to me for sure
because I have what he wants."
"You have a child?" Billy asked, even though
it was becoming terribly clear to him what she meant by that declaration.
Ella Gaines looked at him with a smile and confirmed.
"Of course I do, silly. Its you."
In light of Mary's plan, Chris had send the others out
to continue the search for Billy while he remained in town. The waiting was
driving Mary crazy and the only way she could cope with her anxiousness was to
throw herself into work. When Chris had left her, she was busily immersing
herself in writing a letter of confirmation to the local school board that a
teacher had been found for the new semester. Chris was grateful for anything
that would take her mind of this relentless waiting game and found himself
similarly distracted once she was occupied. With the others gone, Chris found
himself visiting Vin at the clinic where the tracker would be convalescing
until he was well enough to be moved to alternate lodgings.
"You think it will work?" Vin asked after
Chris had told him the details of Mary's plan.
"Its something." Chris replied as he
stretched out on a chair next to the tracker's bed. "We ain't got any
others leads so far."
"Ella knows how to go to ground." Vin had to
admit, remembering how impossible it had been for him to track Ella after she
fled from Four Corners the last time.
"So how long do you plan on being lazy like
this?" Chris asked with a hint of teasing, knowing how much Vin hated to
be in bed, well alone any way, or indoors for that matter. According to Alex
who was away at the moment running errands, Vin's condition was still
precarious and would most likely be out of commission for weeks.
"Very funny," Vin scowled, his voice was
just raspy enough to tell Chris that he was still very weak from the surgery
the day before. Even now, he seemed balanced on the edge of slumber and Chris
would have left if not for Vin's request that he remain at least for awhile.
"A couple of weeks, says Alex." Vin frowned unhappily at the idea
that he would be immobile for so long but the nature of his injury was nothing
to take lightly.
"You're gonna drive her crazy." Chris joked.
"It's a good thing you two made up."
On that note, Vin found himself curious about
something not so dissimilar.
"Things between you and Mary okay?" He
inquired instead, pleased to know that the duo had reached some sort of
compromise. He hated to think that they would be at odds with each other at a
time like this.
"They're better." Chris replied, unable to
deny the pleasure in his voice knowing that Mary did not feel him responsible
for Billy even though she was still annoyed that he had kept Ella's part in
Sarah's death a secret. Chris could not begrudge her that even if she did
understand better why he had done it. "Have you seen or heard from
Charlotte?"
"No," Vin shook his head, not wishing to see
her either. "Alex told me she called in to see if I was okay but that's
it." In truth, Vin had no desire to see Charlotte at the moment. He was
still angry at how she had tried to manipulate him and even angrier that he had
been placed in a position where he was forced to take Will Richmond's life.
Chris would have loved to have been a fly on the wall
during that encounter.
"I don't want to see her." He admitted to
his best friend. "I ain't happy that I had to shoot Richmond especially
when there was no reason for it. There weren't anything going on between me and
Charlotte and he died for no reason. No reason at all."
"It wasn't your choice Vin," Chris said
sympathetically. "It was his. At least you and Alex got things sorted out.
I saw her wearing the ring." He had noted the bauble on the doctor's
finger on her way out and had to admit that Ezra certainly knew how to pick
jewellery. It almost made him wonder if he should have dragged the gambler
along when he had been selecting Mary's wedding band.
"Yeah," Vin nodded, smiling for the first
time. "It only took me getting to shot to have the sense to give it to
her."
Chris was about to respond when he heard the door
burst open and frantic footsteps running through the length of the clinic,
approaching them rapidly.
Chris and Vin exchanged glances briefly as the
gunslinger let his hand drop instinctively to his peacemaker when suddenly,
Mary Travis burst into the room breathing hard. She was clutching a number of
telegrams in her hand as she hurried to Chris.
"I've got it!" She said breathlessly.
"I've got the name."
"Who?" Chris asked as Vin attempted to sit
up and winced when he could not.
"His name is Betts." Mary replied as she
unfolded the telegrams crushed in her palm. "He was the middle man in at
least three business transactions that Ella conducted over the last two years.
He apparently is a lawyer who deals mostly with business and commercial
law."
"Where is he?" Vin asked, wishing he could
be some part of this other than lying her uselessly. He got injured way too
often for his liking.
"Eagle Bend." Mary looked at Chris with a
smile on her face that exuded nothing but pure triumph at this first solid lead
since Billy was abducted days ago. "If I start now, I could make it by
early afternoon." Chris mused as he looked at the information provided
about Mr. Betts.
"You mean we." Mary stated firmly.
Chris looked at her. "No I meant we." He
repeated himself with as much resolve. "Mary, it's too dangerous."
"You're going to talk to a lawyer, not take on
Ella and her hired goons! I'll be perfectly safe," she protested, hands on
her hips which mean that her mind was set on this matter. Chris realized with a
familiar knot in his stomach that she would not be deterred from this point.
"You are not leaving me behind Chris Larabee, not this time. Besides, you
know me, I'll be out of sight and mind at the first sign of danger."
"I do know you Mary," Chris returned.
"And I also know that you have never been able to stay out of trouble at
all. Mary, Ella's crazy and this is not a good idea."
"Chris," Mary said wishing to do this
privately and not in front of Vin but this could not wait. "I cannot stay
at home waiting to find out if either you or Billy are safe. Please, I need to
go and I promise you, I'll stay out the way. I only want to be there when you
talk to Betts." Her eyes implored him in that irresistible way she knew he
could not ignore.
Vin tried not to smile as he watched Chris succumb to
the lure of those blue-grey eyes. He agreed with Chris that Mary should stay
here in Four Corners where it was safe but Chris had as much chance of that
happening as he had convincing of Alex that he should accompany the gunslinger
to Eagle
"All right," Chris groaned, conceding defeat
because she had a right to be there and he could not imagine anything worse
himself to wait around while waiting to hear if the two most important people
in his life were living or not. "But once we get what we need from Betts,
you are to go home, understand me?" His eyes met hers with burning
intensity, which Mary returned in kind.
"Chris," she said properly riled by his
superior tone of her voice. "You are not my lord and master, not
yet."
"Mary. ." Chris repeated, his voice starting
to become just a little menacing.
"Okay," she grumbled. "I'll come home
as soon as you've spoke to Mr. Betts."
"Thank you." He sighed, wishing she did not
have to make things so difficult some times.
"Hey pard?" Vin called out softly as Mary
and Chris said their goodbyes to him and started out of the room. "Good
luck."
Chris tipped his hat at the tracker. "We'll find
Billy." He said with confidence he did not feel but needed to believe at
the moment.
"I meant travelling together to Eagle
"I hope you get bedsores." Chris retorted
and continued out but did so with a faint smile on his features.
Vin watched them go and told himself that if neither
returned by nightfall, he was sending Buck and the others after them. Even
confined to this room, Vin was sure as hell not going to let Chris face that
deranged woman alone.