The barkeeper, who was likely the only other sober person, eyed her wearily but gave her instructions to the doctor’s house without asking any questions. She wasn’t sure whether it was because he wanted to help her or because he wanted to get her out of the saloon as fast as possible. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting Blade to the doctor.
Chapter 27
The wind howled through the cracked windows of the saloon where Austin and his men were huddled together. To his right sat Maxwell, who appeared to be just as worried as he was. They had pulled a couple of tables together. All in all, there were twelve of them. It was a sizable number, but Austin would have preferred it if it were bigger.
Austin sat hunched over a battered map, his wide-brimmed hat casting shadows over his eyes. There were eightXs marked on the map, one for each of his men who had been murdered. Some had died from a single gunshot, others from wounds inflicted by blades.
“They are coming for me,” Austin stated. “For all of us. But they’re leaving me for last.” These masked men knew who he was. They knew he was the leader of the gang. Austin just had no idea how they knew that. He had always been extra careful to cover his crimes. They never left evidence or witnesses. Nobody should know, but somehow they did.
“They are hunting us,” Maxwell added as he stood up and walked over to the window, his hand resting on his pistol.
Austin looked back at the map and traced a line with his finger, connecting the dots. They were getting closer. “These masked men want us to know that they are coming. They’re not even trying to hide what they are doing.”
Maxwell came back to the table and took his seat next to Austin. He poured himself a drink and then pulled the map closer. “So what’s the plan?”
That was the problem. Austin didn’t know what to do. “We could flee,” he suggested. “Go to Mexico and start new lives. We’ve got enough money to do it, but I don’t know if it will help. If they’ve found us once, they could find us again.”
“You want to stay and fight?” one of his men asked.
Austin took a sip of his drink. “I don’t think we have much of a choice.”
“Who do you think they are?” Maxwell asked.
It was the first time in all the years that Austin had known him that he sounded scared.
Austin shrugged. “I have no idea. They haven’t left any clues, but what I do know is that they are trained killers.”
“You think it is the same two men who killed all of them?” the young man sitting across from Austin asked.
“I do. The murders all took place weeks apart. They are traveling from place to place and killing us along the way.”
“So we stick together,” Maxwell said. “And make a stand. We let them come to us, and then we put an end to their killing streak.”
There was a murmur of agreement around the table.
***
Jace’s heart fluttered at the sight of Millie smiling at him. She was sitting on a blanket next to her vegetable garden. She had always brought a small blanket to sit on, just big enough for her, but for the last couple of days, she had been bringing a bigger one so that he could sit with her.
As he sat down, she pulled her basket closer and started unpacking its contents. Yesterday, for the first time since they had met, she had given him a note. It wasn’t an elaborate letter, just a simple request:
Don’t pack a midday meal tomorrow. I’ll bring food for both of us.
As instructed, Jace didn’t bring any dinner and was delighted to see that she had packed a whole picnic for them.It was a welcome surprise, especially after what had happened the other day.
Jace could still remember it as if it had just happened. He had come to the garden to have a midday meal with Millie, but she hadn’t been there. He immediately knew that something was wrong and had sprinted to Margaret’s house. The door to the kitchen had been left open, and the sight that had greeted him terrified him.
Millie had been sitting on the kitchen floor, crying and sobbing as she rocked back and forth. Blade had run over to her and crouched down beside her. In his panic, he had reached out and touched her arm, wanting to comfort her. The scream that had escaped her throat as she recoiled from him still haunted his dreams.
Dr. Masterson and Blade had warned him about her episodes, and he had quickly figured out that she was having one. It had taken a while, but eventually, Jace had managed to calm her down. It was one of the worst moments of his life. In that moment, he had felt completely useless. He had wanted to help her so badly, but there wasn’t much that he could do except try to calm her down.
“This”—Jace gestured at the spread between them—“looks delicious.”
Millie graced him with another one of her beautiful smiles. He lived for them and could easily get lost in them.
She touched her hand to her heart, a gesture he had learned meantthank you.
“It’s the truth,” he told her, eyeing the food. His stomach chose that moment to rumble, and he watched as Millie laughed silently. She hadn’t made any sound since he met her, except for that horrible scream. It meant that her voice still existed, but maybe she could only use it while having an episode, when she wasn’t aware of what she was doing. He was trying hard to figure it out, desperate to come up with an answer.
