Ellie Madison stopped a few feet over the threshold. “I can’t see a thing, Ben. Did you bring a lantern?”
“No. Give it a minute. I didn’t want to attract attention.” He held the door open long enough to allow Natty Rahway to enter then he shut it.
Natty said, “I saw the new Mrs. Frost duck in here a while ago. She didn’t seem to care about attracting attention.”
“Well, she’s not here now. You’d know it. She glows like a firefly in that dress.”
“Maybe,” said Natty. “Is there another way out? I didn’t see her leave.”
“There’s a door on the left at the back.”
“Loft?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll check it out if you like.”
Natty brushed past Ellie and Ben and found the ladder. He gave it a shake. “Sturdy enough, but I don’t think she could climb it. What I recall is that she needed a leg up to climb onto the back of a horse.” He picked his way around hay bales until he found the back door. “It’s ajar.” He shut it tightly so he would be sure to hear it if it was opened again, then he rejoined Ellie and Ben near the entrance. “All right. What’s this about?”
Ben did not hesitate. It was unimportant that they could not see him well; he lifted his chin belligerently. “I’ve been watching all day. Watching you, watching them. I want to know why you’d come here. No one wants your kind of trouble.”
Natty stroked his beard. “I figure you’re addressing me, son, and the answer to why I’m here is standing beside me. Your mother invited me to escort her.”
“Is that true?” asked Ben.
“Yes.”
“Why would you do that?” Before she could answer, he asked, “The others? Did you ask them to be here, too?”
“I did not. They’re here same as everyone else. Thaddeusissued an open invitation. You’d have to expect there’d be all kinds of folks showing up.” Ellie found her son’s arm and gave his sleeve a tug. “Why are you bringing this up now? You’ve had all day. It’s the drink, isn’t it?”
“Dutch courage,” said Natty, amusement in his voice. “Why don’t you say what’s really on your mind?”
“What’s on my mind is relieving it if you don’t leave and take your friends with you.” He shook off his mother’s hand. “Ma, I’m going to tell Thaddeus the truth. I can’t look him in the eye any longer.”
“Then leave the ranch,” said Ellie. “It’s not up to you to come forward.”
Natty’s hand snaked out and he grabbed a fistful of Ben’s shirt. “That’s for damn sure. Do you hear what your mother’s saying? It’s not your place to decide anything.”
Ben grabbed Natty’s wrist in both hands and tried to wrestle his shirt free of the man’s grip. He staggered back when Natty let go but caught himself before he tumbled backward over a bale of hay.
Ellie reached out blindly in an effort to steady her son. She caught air and nothing else. She straightened, set her hands on her hips, and took a half step forward. A full step would have put her squarely between Ben and Natty. It was not a safe place for her to be, not in the dark, and not with tempers flaring. “Enough. Both of you. Ben, you had better explain yourself.”
Ben straightened his shirt and pulled the collar away from his neck. “I’m going to tell Thaddeus what I did. I don’t have to involve you, Mother. I can say it was all me, all my idea. And I’m not giving up anyone else.”
Natty shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as green as you. Do you suppose anyone will thank you for your confession and let you go? There’s Blue Armstrong, you dumb son of a bitch, and someone’s going to want to hear what you know about that.”
“I can’t say what I don’t know.”
“That didn’t stop you before.”
“What do you mean?”
“That line of bull you fed me about the pearl choker, how someone was trying to sell it, how it belonged to a passenger on the train. Lies. Every bit of it. But it was the first domino to fall. That makes you as responsible for Blue Armstrong’s murder as the idiots who did it.”
Ben wished he had brought a lantern after all. He wanted to see Natty Rahway’s face; he wanted to judge the man’s truthfulness for himself. Ben tried to sound certain, not defensive. “That doesn’t make a lick of sense. What does the dog collar have to do with anything?”
“That’s just it,” said Natty. “It doesn’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
