The great man was mad!
“That woman willneverget an apology from m—”
The officers grabbed his hands, wrenching them behind his back and snapping handcuffs on him.
“Don’t you touch me! This is all a gross misunderstanding. You can’tdothis to me.” He writhed against the cold metal digging into his wrists.
Ignoring his protests, the two officers gripped his biceps and shoved him forward, cutting him off from any further response.
No matter. He would have his day in court. That would be the day Andrew Carnegie would regret thinking he could ever defeat him.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST16, 1916•JENSEN
This was not what Devin had planned.
He thought he’d get off the train, go see the sheriff, and then spend the evening with Eliza and ask her if she loved him. If she said yes, he’d propose.
Simple.
But no one knew where she was.
Mr. Hawkins went straight to the sheriff after he’d gone to tell his wife that her mother was ill. But Deborah hadn’t been at the dig site. Neither had Eliza. Tools were scattered about, and neither one of them ever left their tools unattended.
Devin paced the sheriff’s station as they gathered the deputies and men from town to help in the search.
One of the deputies raced up. “Sheriff! Herb said that he’d delivered a telegram to Eliza.”
“How long ago? Andwhere?” The sheriff’s thunderous voice revealed his aggravation that they’d been a few hours too late to catch whoever kidnapped those women.
“Almost six, sir. He delivered it at the Meyer ranch.”
“All right, men.” The sheriff climbed on a chair and looked at each man in the room. “We’ll start by combing every inch of that ranch. Lucas Meyer will be with me. He knows it better than any of us. Let’s divide into ten groups. Fire three shots in succession into the air if you find them. Doc will be waiting at the ranch house in case anyone is injured.” He hopped down. “Let’s get out there. Only a few more hours until we lose daylight.”
As the men left the sheriff’s office and mounted up, what looked like a sea of horses headed out toward the Meyer ranch.
Lucas Meyer rode next to Devin.
Devin glanced at the ranch owner. He’d gotten awfully thin sitting in a jail cell all this time. “You holding up?”
“Yeah. Just wish we’d been able to go through with the sheriff’s plan.”
“Me too. Before anything happened to Eliza.” He gulped back the worries his statement conjured up.
Thank heaven the sheriff had taken Devin into his confidence when he arrived, explaining that he and Lucas came up with the idea to arrest Lucas as a ruse, to trap the real killer. It was a brilliant plan and should have worked.
The sheriff told Devin that Lucas had seen hints of the truth of what happened over the years, but it wasn’t until his animals were killed that his suspicions were confirmed. Then, when seven of his own workers died, he’d gone to the sheriff with everything he knew.
They’d been so close to snatching up the killer. If only Devin had gotten there earlier. They could have stopped the kidnapping from happening.
“I’m so sorry about everything you’ve had to go through, Lucas. It must have been horrific to endure all the loss and tragedy you’ve experienced.”
Lucas rode in silence for several moments, then shook hishead. “I can’t say it’s been easy, but the good Lord has been with me. Even when I’ve felt completely alone, He’s been there.” He shifted in the saddle. “For a long time, I thought all the loss was my punishment for leaving the ranch and my family. That the only way to make it up to them was by keeping the ranch going. But now...” His hands tightened on his reins. “I think it’s best if I just sell the ranch and start over somewhere else. There’s too many bad memories there. Too much grief.”
They reached the edge of town and the men all pushed their horses to run at full-speed.
As the hooves pounded the ground, Devin pleaded with God to keep Eliza and Deborah safe.
Too many people had lost their lives.
