He shrugged. “I had to be nice to the barkeeper to get information, and now we have this.” Blade packed the bottle into one of his bags and mounted Africa. “Mason isn’t in town, but I know where he lives. You want to go snoop around and see what we can find?”
“I do enjoy snooping,” Dakota replied with a chuckle. “So why not?”
Finding Mason’s house wasn’t difficult, and they quickly found a way inside through a window that wasn’t closed properly. Blade didn’t want to stay there long, but he was hoping to find something that would tell them where Mason had gone.
“You look in the kitchen and living room,” Blade instructed. “I’ll go check the bedrooms.”
Unlike bandits, Blade didn’t make a mess of the place; in fact, he left everything exactly as it was. The house only had two bedrooms, and there wasn’t much to see in them. It literally took him five minutes to search through the cupboards, bedside tables, desks, and under the bed. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping to find, but the place looked almost empty.
“Find anything?” he asked, returning to the living space.
Dakota shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Makes two of us. What do you say we get out of here?”
They quickly left through the window and then headed back the way they came, wondering what to do.
“We have no idea how long he’s going to be gone,” Blade pointed out. “He might not even come back.”
“So what do you want to do? Should we just skip him and carry on with the list?”
Blade didn’t like leaving Mason alive, but they couldn’t simply stay in North Platte until he returned. “Yes, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. We can’t just wait here and hope that he comes back. We can always return later.”
“We can’t let him get away simply because he isn’t here.” Dakota adjusted her hat and tugged some loose strands of hair behind her ear.
“We won’t. He’ll pay for what he has done, just like the rest of them. He’ll just get a little longer to enjoy his freedom.”
“I guess we get going then,” Dakota stated, glancing at Blade. “It’s a far way to Wyoming.”
Blade contemplated their options. They could start their journey to Wyoming, but it was already getting late, and they wouldn’t get far before they had to set up camp. “What do you say we stay at the inn tonight and leave first thing in the morning?”
The excitement on Dakota’s face was undeniable. “I’ve never slept in an inn before.”
“So is that a yes?”
“It sure is. Are we going to get supper there too?” she asked.
Blade shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
The inn had stables behind it where they could safely leave Africa and Riot for the night. There was no way they were leaving their bags there, though, so they took all their belongings up to their room before heading back down to the dining hall. The inn wasn’t big. There were only a couple of rooms, and some of them were being used for other activities.
They didn’t have a brothel in Silver, but it was quite obvious what was happening. There were only two women downstairs in the dining hall, and they kept looking at Blade. He had absolutely no interest in them and made it clear by ignoring them.
While they were eating, other men came in and disappeared up the stairs with the women. They had their own room and the door locked, so the place was safe enough to stay at, but he wasn’t sure if Dakota would want to since it was blatantly obvious what was going on.
“We can leave,” Blade offered. “We don’t have to go far.”
Dakota shook her head. “It’s okay. I’m tired, and we could both use a break. Just don’t sneak out at night for some entertainment.”
Blade froze. “You think I would do that?”
“No,” Dakota replied, her cheeks flushing red.
They changed the subject after that, but it was difficult to ignore as they made their way to their room. Loud noises were coming from behind some of the doors, and Dakota started to laugh.
“This is so wild,” she said, a mixture of emotions washing over her face.
Blade couldn’t agree more. The whole situation was strange, and he couldn’t quite figure out whether he felt embarrassed or fascinated.
