Town was mostly shuttered up. A few places had burned. The streets were empty and quiet, except the Red River Saloon, out of which came the somehow sad sound of someone toying tunelessly with the piano. They would play a few notes, fall silent, play a few more from something else, and go silent again.
Will rode on.
He’d left his mules to rest at Maggie’s.
She’d been kind enough to lend him Honey, her beautiful buckskin mare, a fine horse that seemed out of place here in post-war Texas. The mare’s breeding was apparent in its perfect lines, and that Maggie had trained her well was apparent in the horse’s demeanor and every action.
Trailing behind was Winnifred, Rose’s mare, because Will was determined to find his sister and take her home.
Will remembered, as a boy, how excited he’d get, coming to town. It was a rare event. And everything here had always seemed so nice and fancy and full of life.
It had never been much, he now understood, but to a young pig farmer, it had seemed like New Orleans on the Red River.
Here and there, men stood in groups, looking ragged and filthy and sullen like packs of feral dogs.
Will rode on up the street and past the sheriff’s office. He didn’t feel comfortable leaving the horses unattended, even outside the sheriff’s office, not with all these feral-looking men hanging around with their slack jaws and hungry eyes.
Especially because these weren’t his horses. He wouldn’t risk losing Maggie’s beautiful mare. Or Rose’s horse. Winnifred was nothing special, as far as horses went, but Rose loved her and had a temper to boot. She’d skin Will alive if he let these men take her horse. After thanking him for saving her, of course.
So he rode Honey down to the livery. He wasn’t sure the place would still be in operation, but as he drew close, he saw the corral was chock full of horses.
“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Joe Lennox, the hostler, said when Will came through the door. “Will Bentley.”
“Howdy, Mr. Lennox. Good to see you, sir.”
“Good to see you, too. Heard a carpetbagger stole your farm.”
“Yes, sir. You heard right.”
“Bad business that. Happening all over.”
Mr. Lennox got up from behind his desk and walked over to the windows and glanced outside and then went to the side door and looked back and forth before adding, “Them Yankees said the war was all about preserving the Union. Hogwash! They won’t be happy till we’re all gone, and they got everything.”
“You got that right.”
Mr. Lennox nodded. “But you gotta watch what you say these days. And personally, I can’t complain. You see them horses outside? They’re all Yankee horses. Army’s got a bunch of soldiers living in the hotel down the street, but they got too many horses for the hotel corral, so they use my place for an overflow.”
“They pay you?”
“A little. I make enough to get by. How’s your mama faring?”
“She’s all right, sir. Thanks for asking. I’ll take care of her now.”
“That’s good, Will. How’s your sister?”
“That’s why I’m here. Isaac Pew kidnapped her.”
Mr. Lennox sat down again with a heavy sigh. “Heard something about that, about him kidnapping some young girl, but I had no idea it was your sister.”
“Yeah, it’s her. But I’m fixing to get her back.”
Mr. Lennox nodded. “You be careful. Pew’s got some tough men working for him.”
“As soon as I leave here, I’m heading over to the sheriff’s office.”
Mr. Lennox frowned. “I hope Rickert helps you.”
“It’s his job.”
