Rosie lowered the gun and eyed him. Lorelei turned her focus to the man too.
This really was White Horse, though his hair was more disheveled than he usually allowed it. He looked a little ... sleepy?
Of course Rosie took charge of the situation. “What’s happened here? Why didn’t you come out when we called?”
Lorelei couldn’t help adding her own questions. “Where’s Tanner? And the animals?”
White Horse reached up and touched the back of his head, and a flash of confusion crossed his features. Had they thrown too many questions at him? And was that pain forming wrinkles at the corners of his eyes?
Lorelei took a step forward. “Are you hurt?”
He dropped his hand and straightened, his expression donning the strong warrior look he usually showed to strangers. He was hiding something.
She moved to his side and touched his arm, looking behind him at the back of his head. His hair rose in a bump near his crown, and realization made her gasp. “Were you hit with something?” She peered at his face and waited for his answer. They would be going nowhere until he told them what happened.
He started to nod but stopped with a flinch. “I think. Yes.” His eyes drew into a squint as he stared into the distance. “I go find more root for Juniper. When I return, Tanner not here. I search. Go there.” He pointed into the storage room. “Hit on head.” He reached up to touch the lump on his crown again. “Nothing more.”
Rosie had moved closer, her voice dropping its hard edge. “Someone was here? Someone hit you?”
“Yes. Hide there.” He pointed to the building again.
“Do you think that same person took Tanner and Curlyand Frisco?” Lorelei asked. This was far worse than she’d let herself imagine.
“Not know.” White Horse seemed to be taking care not to move his head.
She glanced around the courtyard. “The trade room is the only place we haven’t looked yet, but I think we need to search everything better.” She turned a glare to Rosemary. “I’m going to light the lantern. Don’t move from this spot until I come back with it. We’re not doing another thing without proper light.”
Rosie nodded, and Lorelei lifted her skirts to hurry back into the cabin. Where could Tanner be? Had the men knocked him out as well? Was he lying in the trade room unconscious ... or worse?
Her hands trembled as she stepped into the cabin and gathered the lantern and flint case to take them back out into the moonlight. Every second might matter for Tanner’s life.
She sat on the stoop and pulled out the flint and steel to begin striking sparks into the tinder. The faster she hurried, the more her fingers fumbled.
By the time Rosie came over to help, she had only managed one spark.
“Let me help.” Rosie crouched beside her and reached for the flint and steel, but Lorelei pulled it back.
“I can do it.” She had to be stronger. She had to steady her nerves. For Tanner.
After two more tries, she lit a spark strong enough to make the tinder smoke. Rosie blew to form a tiny flame, then Lorelei opened the lantern door, and they lit the wick. She eased out a breath as Rosie snuffed out the tinder and put away the tools.
She carried the lantern toward the trade room, Rosie and her rifle on one side and White Horse and his tomahawk on the other. He owned a rifle too, but he must not have had it handy now.
When they reached the door, she gripped the latchstring before the others could.
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. Her mind whispered the verse on a silent prayer.Help us find Tanner.
As she pushed the door open, the lantern’s light flooded the interior, casting shadows that made her mind slow to form the image of what she saw.
The place had been ransacked.
twenty-seven
Lorelei’s gut coiled as she stared at the trade room. Furs and blankets lay twisted in heaps around the space. As she lifted the lantern, hundreds of tiny crystals glittered back at her. The bead necklaces had been tossed everywhere. Or perhaps they’d been ripped apart and the individual beads spilled among the mess of everything else.
She swung her gaze into the corners, searching for a form that might be hiding amidst the chaos. “Tanner?”
White Horse stepped farther in, and she forced herself to follow right behind him, moving the lantern so its light would help him see too.
