Lara forced herself to smile at her cousin. She loved Belle dearly, but the last thing she needed was her sister sighing and shaking her head and telling her she’d just known it would come to this. “Thank you.”
Josie pursed her lips and looked around the empty room. Her gaze landed on the partially finished duck, and the corner of her lips tugged up. Then she looked at Lara. “He didn’t leave willingly, did he?”
Lara wanted to melt into her cousin’s arms. Josie knew. She understood. “I don’t believe so.”
“Do you know why, then? George is beside himself, and Arlen’s blaming himself for asking too much of a man he couldn’t pay. I finally convinced them to go out and check on the cattle.” She paused. “But I doubt his leaving had anything to do with the work.”
“It didn’t.” Lara rested a hand on the little duck. “He loved it here. He said it was like home to him. That we reminded him of his own family.”
Josie nodded, not pressing for more but letting Lara speak as she could.
Lara drew in a deep breath. “Yesterday, when I went into town, there was a man I didn’t know. It seemed like he was following me, but I couldn’t tell for certain. So I didn’t say anything to you or Belle or anyone. But then last night, I was reading the newspaper from Denver, and I saw him.”
“In the newspaper?” Josie asked, wrinkling her brow.
“Yes. There was an artist’s rendering. A very good one, too. It was definitely the man I’d seen in town. He was . . .” She pulled her hand away from the duck and dug her fingers into her skirts. “He’d escaped from prison in Colorado.”
“Oh, Lara.” Josie let out a breath and pulled out one of the chairs to sit down. “I’m sorry. That had to be terrifying to discover on your own. I wish you’d woken me.”
Lara swallowed. “I know I shouldn’t have, but I came down here. I wanted to show Mitchell, considering he was from Denver and he’d rescued me from that other man on the road. I thought maybe he might have heard of the man.”
Josie nodded, no trace of judgment or reprimand to be seen.
“And, well . . . Josie, he knew him, the man in the paper. Mr. Buck Clarkson. He didn’t say as much, but the questions he asked, and the look on his face, and . . . and . . . now he’s gone.”
Josie was quiet for a moment. Lara took the chair beside her, hoping that sitting might calm the nerves that made her want to go running . . . where? To town? To Denver?
Where had Mitchell gone?
“What was this Mr. Clarkson imprisoned for?” Josie asked.
Lara forced her thoughts back to the present. “Murder, the newspaper said. Murder and train robbery.”
Josie drew in a deep breath and then let it out.
And at that moment, Laraknew. Mitchell had been involved in some way with this Clarkson, and the only thing that made sense was . . . exactly what Clarkson had been convicted of. Robbery.
She closed her eyes and prayed it wasn’t murder. She couldn’t fathom Mitchell doing something so terrible, so heinous. She refused to believe that until she heard it from his own mouth.
But robbery . . . she could see how a desperate man might fall prey to easy money. A man without a family. And if this Mr. Clarkson had been caught and convicted and Mitchell had not, then . . .
Of course he’d come here. For revenge.
She caught Josie’s eye, and just from the look on her cousin’s face, she knew Josie had pieced it together too.
“Leaving was the worst thing he could have done. That man will follow him.” Josie pushed herself up to standing. “If he’d stayed, Arlen and George would have helped him.Iwould have helped him, if I could. That Mr. Clarkson wouldn’t have stood a chance against the four of us.”
Lara nodded slowly. “But what do I do now? I can’t let him go. I can’t let him—”Walk into a trap. She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Josie glanced around the room as if she might find an answer in the empty corners. “You could saddle up Murray. Go find Arlen and George. Tell them what’s happened, and I know they’ll go after him.”
That would take time. Too much time. “It might be too late by then,” Lara whispered. “If he left last night . . .”
Josie shook her head. “He wouldn’t have gone at night. It’s too dangerous. His horse could have turned an ankle, and you know how much he loves that horse. He would have waited until first light.”
“He can’t be too far away.” Plans swirled and formed in Lara’s mind. “I’ll go now. Send Belle out to find Arlen and George. They can catch up to me.”
Josie ran a hand over her belly. “I should tell you not to do that, but I’d do the same if I were in your shoes. I only wish I could go with you, but this babe won’t let me do such things. Come up to the house and I’ll give you a pistol. We’ll send Belle out right away. Do you know what direction he may have gone?”
