Chapter Seventeen
MRS. WRIGHT HAD BARELYtold him half the story before Hale ran from the boardinghouse into the dusky evening light. He sprinted to the sheriff’s office and threw open the door.
Sheriff Wright was leaned over his desk, staring blankly at a sheet of paper. He didn’t even startle when Hale came bursting in. Instead, he looked at Hale with remorse. “I’m sorry, Darby. They took off for Cañon City hours ago. I tried to convince him to wait for the train tomorrow, but he’d arrived with borrowed horses from Cañon City and was determined to leave here with them. He’s taking her to Cheyenne.”
Hale’s breath burned in his lungs as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He’d left so quickly, he hadn’t even grabbed the hat he’d set down in the parlor. Mrs. Wright had been waiting for him for hours, after searching the town fruitlessly for him. Of all the days he thought he needed time to think. He’d whiled away his time alone by the creek, while Isabella had been taken away by some rough bounty hunter. “I should’ve been there. If I’d been home, Mrs. Wright could have told me immediately.”
“You couldn’t have known,” Wright said in an exhausted voice. “Look, here’s what I would do. Get some sleep tonight and take the train to Cañon City in the morning. If they make the last train out to Denver tonight, you’ll only be a day behind. You know where they’re going. Taking off this late through the valleyis foolhardy. You can’t do her any good if you’re lying on the ground halfway there, bleeding to death.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that she’s alone with him.” Hale ground out the words, hating himself more by the second. “She’s frightened and . . . and . . .” What sort of husband was he, letting this happen? He should be with her.
He slumped into the chair in front of the desk, at a loss. He knew the sheriff was right. Riding alone through this mountain valley late at night was an invitation to being robbed or worse. He couldn’t do anything useful at all right now. As he flattened his hair, the paper on the desk caught his eye.
Wright turned it around so Hale could get a better look at it. There was no mistaking Isabella this time. He read the words silently, his heart dropping at each line.
“Did you know about this?” Wright asked, a note of irritation in his voice.
“I knew about her family. That was all. She was convinced they were somehow doing good by their crimes.” Hale shook his head. “But I’m convinced her father built their lives on a pile of lies.” He pointed at the line indicating Isabella was wanted for robbery. “That’s untrue.”
Wright pressed his lips together and leaned back, assessing Hale. “When I showed this to her, your wife claimed that all she did was ‘hold the horses.’”
Hale closed his eyes. If only Isabella had told him. She was likely ashamed, especially after hearing his thoughts on her father’s real reason for committing all those robberies. “I’m not surprised. She wholeheartedly believed in her father.”
Wright shook his head. “I wish she’d said something to you earlier. And I wish you’d confided in me.”
“What would you have done?” Hale countered. “Surrendered your badge and kept her secret?”
“No, but we’d have had time to figure out the best course of action. Now it’s too late.”
Hale was staring at Isabella’s sketch. It was an uncanny lookalike. “Where did they get this? Her image. Her name.” He shook his head. “All of it.”
“The bounty hunter said the men charged with locating the stolen money found a photograph where the Sutcliffes were living. They took it, along with several other items. Someone finally pieced it together when they couldn’t find the missing boy. There was no other boy; there was only a girl. I imagine they got her name out of her father or one of her brothers.” He paused and gave a dry laugh. “Wouldn’t you know, when that bounty hunter first rode into town, he thought Deirdre Wiley was the woman he was looking for. She slapped him across the face and set him straight.”
Hale would have found the story of the bounty hunter confusing the two red-haired women in town amusing if it hadn’t led to his wife getting taken off into the night with a man he wouldn’t have trusted with one of Isabella’s plants, much less her life.
Isabella had felt safe here. She’d trustedhimto keep her safe. And he’d failed.
But how could he have guessed that anyone was searching for her before Tansy had brought up the possibility? And even then, how could he have known someone would be searching here, in this remote town miles and miles away from the Wyoming Territory?
“Why did he come here?” he asked Wright.
“The bounty hunter?” When Hale nodded, Wright shrugged. “I didn’t ask. But considering I didn’t get that poster until he arrived, I imagine he had some information that indicated she had come to Crest Stone.”
What that could have been, Hale didn’t know. It didn’t matter, anyhow, now that Isabella was gone.
“There’s one other thing you should know,” Wright said. “One of her brothers escaped. The bounty hunter was hoping to find him here too. The bounty hunter said he’s got the same hair. Walks with a limp after they shot him in the leg back in Wyoming. He might come looking for his sister.”
“If he has any sense, he’ll be halfway to Mexico by now,” Hale said.
“Depends on his loyalty.” Wright glanced at his pocket watch. “You need to get some sleep if you’re going to be on that train tomorrow.
Hale nodded, as if sleep were even possible. He’d likely lie awake all night, fighting worry and anger at himself.
