Silence stretches. My jaw tightens, but I ain’t about to give the satisfaction. I tip my hat slow. “That so? Well, don’t surprise me he’d send a boy to do a man’s job. You can tell Virgil I ain’t hard to find. When he’s done hidin’, Shermans can bury him right next to his brother.”
Almost before I could finish my sentence, I hear a shotgun racking and we both turn toward the sound. Fitz aims his barrel between us, as if he don’t care which of us he fires at first.
“Take your trouble outside, or I’ll paint the walls with your blood.”
The man sneers, dipping his head as he slides past me.
I step out into the street, heat prickling under my collar. If Virgil’s sending men bold enough to name me in daylight, won’t take much to sniff me back to the hotel. Back to Alice.
Shit.
That thought ties a knot in my gut.
I tilt my brim low and cut through the side streets, doubling back where I can, watching every shadow, listening for every heel strike behind me. By the time I swing toward the hotel’s rear, I’ve near worn a hole in my boots.
Once I’m back on my floor, I enter our room, careful no one’s watching from the hall.
“Alice,” I call, walking fast, waiting for the relief of finding her safe and sound. But all I find is the bedroom and washroom—empty.
Damnit, Alice. Where are you?
Chapter 20
ALICE
Buttery praline sugar melts on my tongue as I watch the children dance and cheer in the square, silver dollars gleaming bright in their small hands. A mild breeze passes through, horses clomp by and a basket of flowers rests at my feet, purchased from the children by my purse.
“Now, keep those safe, loves,” I say, smoothing my skirts. “Do not wave them about, lest some thief snatch them away. Take them straight home and place them into your mommies’ and daddies’ hands.”
They nod as if making a solemn oath, then skip off, laughter echoing and fading across the square like a playground. I look down at the basket brimming with daisies, all mine now, bought at a dollar apiece. Far greater than they’re worth, and yet worth every cent. The coins were taken from Kodiak’s pile, true, but they were stolen long before that. A thief’s spoils used to feed and clothe children. I doubt even God would frown too harshly at such an exchange.
I nearly float back to the hotel down the crowded city streets. Though a pit of fear lingers in my belly, it’s tempered with the joyof young smiles. Kodiak will understand, won’t he? I had sought permission—in a manner of speaking—and he seemed endeared to the idea. Twenty dollars is a small sum compared to the thousands he stole. Though there is a chance he will be cross…especially after our spat. He might think it retaliation.
I smile to myself.
Perhaps it was.
I imagine him towering over me, his chest rising with quickened breath the way it had earlier, his face close to mine with that menacing look. It’s a dizzying mix of fear and something I cannot define. A knot tightens in my stomach, and yet, the thought of his voice rumbling with authority sends a shiver rushing through me, a sudden warmth blooming low within me.
Why is it that Joseph’s temper often paralyzed me from daring to defy him at all, and yet the thought of defying Kodiak, a man most would agree far more dangerous, wraps my fear in glee?
When I open our hotel room door, I find him sitting at the edge of the bed, forearms on his knees as if burdened. He lifts his head, his eyebrows lifting before his expression fades to something equal parts hostility and relief.
“Where the hell have you been?”
I jerk back. We’re off to a poor start. My pulse quickens and I can barely get a word out. “I…I was at the market.”
“The market,” he repeats with a note of skepticism.
I show him my basket. “See, I bought flowers.”
He looks at them with a wrinkle in his brow. “I don’t know what you paid for that, but I could’ve yanked those out of the dirt behind the hotel.”
The children probably had. I cannot help but laugh to myself, which only seems to make him grow colder.
“I can’t have you wandering wild all over the city. It ain’t safe.”
“I wasn’t wandering wild. I was at the market. Please pardon me for misunderstanding your concern; I thought you’d have me crawl back to Ohio.”
