Wild Winds Page 6

  After she made it back to her room safely, Maggie exhaled in relief. She had removed the coverlet from the bed and hung it over the drapes earlier and laid one of her dresses at the bottom of the hallway door to make sure no light was visible from her room during her preparations to leave; once again, she spread out the dress at the door. She lit a candle, returned the clothing and shoes and charcoal container to the hidden compartment in her trunk, and used a special cream to take off the charcoal. She spread a silky lotion from France on her face and hands to soften and moisturize them following their abuse. She donned a cotton nightgown and checked the room for any oversights. Finding none, she blew out the candle, laid the dress over a chair, replaced the coverlet, and climbed into bed.

  Maggie told her trembling body to relax and her anxious mind to calm. She had completed her first major challenge, but it remained to be seen she could carry out the second and third.

  Hawk tossed and turned on his bed, unable to sleep for thinking about Margaret Anne Malone and the many challenges looming ahead of him. He hadn’t seen Maggie all day and wondered why she had stayed inside the hotel. Maybe she was sick, or running scared, or simply didn’t want to expose an intense interest in the prison and town. He tried to imagine how she could engineer Ben’s escape, but no theories came to mind. There was no way she could get a drop on the guards; they stood too spaced out along the road’s edge; all it would require was one warning shot for the Gatling gun and sharpshooters on the wall to open fire on her and her target. It would be foolish for Ben to just take off running, because he couldn’t get far on foot, in prison garb and with so much firepower to thwart that effort. And for certain, she couldn’t bust him out from the inside; no attempted escape from the inside had ever succeeded. He also doubted she could bribe any of the guards or Meeden for assistance.

  If you do have a cunning idea to use, woman, you best get busy with it. If you don’t have him out by Sunday, you’re out of luck and I take over from there.

  Hawk wondered if Maggie was only duping the Carvers with a pretense of trying to free Ben and soon would tell Newl it was impossible. Or perhaps Maggie only came to scrutinize the area, come up with a clever plan, and others would arrive soon to carry it out for her. From now on, Hawk resolved, he couldn’t let her out of his sight or Ben could be gone in a flash; and he himself would be right back where he was before Maggie Malone entered the scene, trying to locate and punish those three vicious bastards.

  Friday morning, Abby told her mother that she and Maggie were going for a walk and would return before mealtime. Lucy nodded and returned to her sewing. Both young women knew that Tom wouldn’t be a problem because he had left for Los Angeles yesterday morning to question the owner of Perry, Woodworth, and Company about a missing prepaid supply of lumber for the prison and he wouldn’t return until Saturday.

  Maggie was glad he would be far away during Ben’s escape—if she could pull it off today—which should prevent him from falling under suspicion as an accomplice. She had told Abby what to do and cautioned her against making any changes. She had a note ready for Ben, telling him where the items he needed were located.

  Maggie and Abby walked down Gila Street and veered toward Prison Hill. They pretended to stroll along, chatting and laughing and holding parasols over their heads to protect them from the sun’s fierce rays. They halted at the base of the bluff and, as planned, Abby pointed up the dirt road as she talked. Maggie nodded, then they headed in that direction.

  When they encountered the guard who was watching Ben and the convicts laboring near him, they halted and smiled.

  “My best friend, Miss Margaret Anne Malone, is visiting us from St. Louis,” Abby said to the man. “I told her she could get a lovely view of the entire area and a cooling breeze from up here. Is that all right with you, sir?” Abby asked, using her best southern charm and ladylike manner.

  “Of course, Miss Mercer; and welcome to Yuma, Miss Malone. You can see for a long way off up here, but the wind is kicking up a big fuss today. Been blowing in stronger by the hour and tossing dirt in my eyes.”

  Maggie gazed across the landscape, smiling sweetly, and said, “It is a magnificent view, and so much cooler than down. in the flatland. I—Oh, my!” she shrieked as she pretended to lose her footing during a strong gust of wind which billowed her full skirt and entangled her legs. She cunningly took advantage of that unforeseen incident by tumbling down the slope to land almost at her stepbrother’s feet.

  As Ben Carver rushed to assist her, Maggie pressed the note into his hand and whispered, “Go in the bushes somehow and read this.”

  The guard made his way down the slope, recovering her dropped parasol en route, and asked, “Are you hurt, Miss Malone?”

  As Maggie brushed off her soiled and snagged dress, she smiled and said, “I don’t think so, sir. That gust just blew me right off my feet and blinded me with sand. This man kindly halted my fall and assisted me.” She looked at Ben and said, “Thank you for the rescue, kind sir.”

  Ben touched his fingers to his hat and said, “You’re welcome, ma’am.” He pulled the guard aside and asked in a low voice, “Can I go in the bushes over there? I got a grippy stomach and ladies are present, so I can’t squat behind a big rock.”

  The distracted guard nodded before he grasped Maggie’s elbow to steady her while they cautiously scaled the slope to where Abby was standing with a frightened expression on her face, having been joined by another guard.

  “Are you injured, Maggie?”

  “I’m fine, Abby, just a little dirty and scratched up, and my hair is a mess. Nothing is broken. This gentleman was most kind and helpful,” she said of the guard as she smiled at him again.

  “Thank you, sir, for assisting my friend. Her parents would be most unhappy with us if we allowed her to get hurt while visiting us.”

  “Your arm is bleeding, miss,” the second guard remarked. “I have a clean handkerchief if you don’t mind me binding it so you won’t get blood on that pretty dress.”

  “Please do so, sir, and I will be most grateful.”

  As the second guard tended her scrape and the first one watched him, Maggie furtively noticed that the other guards along the road also were watching their group instead of the laboring inmates. She lifted her head and took a faked breath to assess the situation; she sighted no guards standing on the wall on this side of the prison or any others leaning out tower openings. She knew they were out of visibility range of the main guard platform. The setup was perfect for Ben to sneak away, if he was brave enough todo so. She dared not glance in his direction to see if he was making an attempt at that moment.

  As Abby chatted with the two guards while one tied a makeshift bandage around Maggie’s left forearm, the bubbly blonde began, “I—”

  “What was that?” Maggie asked as she looked around in panic following the ominous noise which sounded like cannon fire or …

  Chapter

  Four

  Both guards came to alert and glanced upward as another roaring peal of thunder rumbled overhead. As if from nowhere, wild winds swept across the setting, stirred up dust and sand, violently shook the leaves and limbs of bushes and trees, and yanked fiercely at wildflowers and grasses. The second guard’s hat blew off and he raced off to retrieve it. A previously clear sky now darkened rapidly to a deep slate color as rain-ladened clouds suddenly stretched across it for countless miles. Anything loose was sent flying off into the distance; and anything held by another object was whipped about with awesome force. The muggy air caused faces to shine and garments to dampen. Lightning flashed, and more ear-splitting thunderclaps boomed. The breeze gusted stronger and cooler.

  “Since you’re closer to town than the prison, you best get home fast. That storm’s gonna be a bad one and it’s coming in at breakneck speed; that’s the way they are out here, no warning. When one like this comes along, it sneaks up like a thief and catches us off guard.”

  Peals of thunder roared like cannon fire g
oing off in rapid succession and echoed across the landscape. Lightning flickered like glowing fingers trying to claw open the heaven so the rain could begin, which it did before the startled people could react.

  The second guard returned and shouted above the dim, “It’s going to be a long and maybe dangerous one; you ladies want me to see you home?”

  “That won’t be necessary, sir, but thank you. Let’s go, Abby, or we’ll be totally drenched soon,” Maggie coaxed, taking her friend’s wet hand and shouting farewells and another thank-you to the guards.

  The two men waved and focused on rounding up the inmates to get them back inside the prison. As soon as the return signal was given, the striped-clad men scrambled up the slope with their tools and hurried up the dirt road where gushes of water were already running toward them.

  Maggie glanced back to see the first guard quickly check the bushes where Ben had gone earlier, then rush to join the other guards and convicts. Did he assume Ben was bunched up with the fleeing group that was scurrying for cover and safety? Was that true, or was her stepbrother using this surprise storm to get away? You must be innocent, Ben, or Mother Nature wouldn’t be helping us.

  From a concealed location in the nearby hills and using fieldglasses to observe the action, a drenched Hawk lost sight of Ben in the ensuing torrential downpour. He knew he was too far away to trail Ben, who hadn’t reappeared after heading into the dense bushes after speaking with a guard who was obviously distracted by the brown-haired beauty. Even if he could reach the scene fast, the rain would be destroying Ben’s tracks as fast as he made them.

  Hawk was certain Maggie’s visit and tumble down the hill were tricks to make contact with Ben, and her clever attempt had succeeded. No doubt she had found a sly way to conceal items Ben would need. He was vexed with himself for allowing that slip to occur and warned himself to not underestimate her skills again. Apparently, when she almost landed at Ben’s feet and while Ben was assisting her, she had passed along a message revealing the whereabouts of those items. By now, Ben probably had collected them and was on his way to a hideout.

  Hawk realized that all he could do now was shadow Maggie when she left town to rendezvous with Ben, which would still enable him to locate and capture his three targets. He would entrap her, take her to a private spot, and extract Ben’s location from those pretty lips. After Ben was in his tight grasp, he would force out the others’ whereabouts from that sorry scum. How, he wondered, could a woman have such a convincing air of sweet innocence and ladylike refinement about her and ally herself to such vermin? She certainly had an enormous talent for duping people. Well, Miss Malone, you don’t have me fooled. You and Ben better kiss good-bye forever when you see each other again because I’m going to make your next separation a permanent one.

  As lightning flashed and thunder clapped, Hawk mounted his black mustang. Born and raised in the wilds, Diablo was surefooted, fast, spirited, and loyal to him. He would return the animal to the stable, tend him, then go to his hotel room to get out of his soaked clothes.

  As he left his lofty position in the hills, Hawk’s mind filled with contradictory thoughts and his body with conflicting emotions. He couldn’t help but be amazed that she had pulled off such a seemingly impossible feat, and in only one week to the day after meeting with Newl in Wilcox! Of course, she had had unexpected assistance from a furious Mother Nature whose wrath increased by the minute. Yet, even without that help, he had a gut feeling she would have somehow succeeded anyway.

  Hawk admitted he was impressed by her daring, intelligence, and courage. Although he was swayed by Maggie’s talents and even enchanted by her beauty and fascinated by the mystery surrounding her, he was angered by her strong connection to at least one criminal on his list; maybe to others if she knew Barber and Jones.

  Suddenly an unexpected idea struck him: what if Maggie was Ben’s trusting sweetheart? What would Ben tell her if or when she discovered his guilt? If she was madly and blindly in love with Ben and Ben was deceiving her, she might refuse to accept the dark truth or Ben might continue to withhold it from her. Whatever their bond was, he needed to uncover it; and he needed to find an unsuspecting way to get close to her now that Ben was on the loose. If he lost track of Margaret Anne Malone, he would lose his path to swift revenge.

  The force of the wild winds and downpour increased as the storm’s fury mounted, as did the frequency of the lightning and thunder. With the gusts blowing so forcefully, the two women couldn’t use their parasols. They walked as fast as they could toward the hotel, almost blinded by the thick sheet of water. Their movements were restricted by their saturated dresses which clung to their bodies and by softened ground which grabbed at their shoes. Both squealed as a bolt of lightning struck a tree and seared off one of its limbs, which immediately crashed to the ground.

  “Let’s run, Maggie, before lightning strikes us dead!” Abby screamed, and the friends bolted for cover as fast as their almost entangled legs would carry them, kicking up mud and soiling their clothes.

  After she opened the door, Lucy gaped at the two young women, and pulled them into the sitting room. “My heavens, you’re both soaked to the skin! We have to get you dried off and changed, but don’t move from there or you’ll ruin the rug.” After she fetched thick cloths, she softly scolded, “Thank goodness your father isn’t here or he would be angry. Those shoes and dresses look awful, so we’ll need to clean them before he returns. Wherever have you two been? I’ve been worried witless. Why didn’t you hurry home when the storm threatened or stay where you were until it stopped?”

  “There was no warning, Mother, and we were out in the open. We hurried back as quickly as possible. You know we couldn’t take shelter with strangers or in a horrid place like a saloon. I’m sorry about our clothing. We were strolling near the base of Prison Hill and started talking with two of the guards. None of us noticed the change in weather; it altered like magic, in the blink of an eye. Maggie took a spill and one of the guards was bandaging her arm when this calamity struck.”

  “Are you all right, my dear? Were you injured?”

  Lucy turned her attention to Maggie. As Maggie dried her hair, she said, “Only my pride and dress, Mrs. Mercer. A gust of wind just swept me off my feet and threw me down an incline, but two of the guards assisted me. I shall have to purchase blue thread tomorrow to repair a rip in my skirt.”

  “First, we must take it to Mr. Kee’s laundry to see if he can remove those stains. He’s worked wonders for me on some soiled garments.”

  After they washed off mud and changed clothes, they scrubbed their shoes and conditioned the abused leather. Then Lucy served them hot tea and warm muffins from downstairs and the women relaxed and chatted.

  As the storm raged, Maggie waited in mounting suspense to learn if Ben had succeeded in escaping. If he had managed to elude the guards during the commotion, all he had to do was use the strange but propitious weather to get far down the Gila River and hide until he could catch the eastbound train at a distant station as her note with the items told him to do. She had been fortunate so far, and she hoped her good luck held out until this matter was resolved.

  When Maggie heard a faint tapping at her door late that night, she assumed Abby had sneaked away from her sleeping mother to chat with her. She would have been asleep herself if the storm and her tension weren’t keeping her awake and edgy. She unlocked the door and gaped at the person standing there, dripping wet and grinning. She seized Ben’s arm and almost yanked him inside her room, unmindful of her state of dress. She relocked the door, turned, and whispered, “You should be long gone by now! It’s up to you to get yourself to the pick-up point with the train. What are you doing here? How did you find me? This is crazy, Ben; you’re endangering both of us.”

  He smiled and said, “I found the things right where your map said they would be. While you and that other girl distracted the guards, I slipped deeper into the bushes. After that storm struck, I got my fanny out of there fas
t. I figured I wouldn’t be missed until lock-up time and by then, it would be too late, and the weather’s too bad for them to search for me tonight. Besides, that rain washed away my trail, and I stuck my old shoes in the mud at the river to lead them in that direction. After everybody here was asleep, I sneaked in downstairs and used the registry book to locate your room.”

  “How did you know I was at this hotel?” She saw him grin again as he pushed soaked sandy hair from a darkly tanned nice-looking face. Eyes as green as grass sparkled with vitality.

  “I didn’t know, but it was the first one I checked. Everybody knows the Mercers are staying in a hotel, and this one’s the best. I couldn’t leave town before thanking you for getting me out of that hellhole. It surely does feel good not standing in the shadow of that hangman’s noose. Papa and your letter said you’re gonna try to exonerate me. What’s your plan, my amazing stepsister?”

  “We don’t have time for a get-acquainted visit and I don’t have time to explain the matter to you again: I thought I included everything in my note. I’ll do my best to expose those two witnesses who lied and to apprehend the guilty men. You know them, right?” As Ben responded, she observed his expressions and manner and listened to his tone of voice to see if she could detect even a hint of deception. She didn’t and was relieved.

  “I’ve met Pete Barber and Slim Jones a couple of times; a man don’t travel this territory much without running into them on occasion. The Law’s certain they were involved in that Prescott bank job, so I hope you kill them for letting me be framed for their crime. Papa said he told you I was hunting with him when that bank was struck. All I know about that robbery and shooting is what I was told in jail and court and read in the newspaper. Papa also told me you’re one of the best detectives in the country, but you be careful when you go up against Pete and Slim; they’re mean and dangerous and unpredictable.”