“Faith, I wouldn’t underestimate what I can do. I’ve had people watching your loved ones for well over a year.”
She stopped at the door and turned. Her confidence seemed to wane. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as if she’d thought better of crossing him.
“Take a day to consider everything,” he said. “Think it through carefully. You have in your hands the power to cause a great deal of heartache.”
She shook her head. “It won’t be me causing the heartache. You’ve already done plenty of that.”
“Nevertheless, think carefully. I’ll be in touch soon.”
She huffed and left the library, soundly slamming the door behind her.
Lakewood walked to the window. It was raining, and the light appeared muted. Everything had a dream-like quality, like it wasn’t quite real. He was sure Faith was hoping his threats weren’t real—that he was just an old man grasping for things he could never achieve. But if she thought that, she was wrong. He had always acquired what he wanted. He had always been successful. No man, and certainly no woman, was going to stop him.
After a few minutes, Faith appeared with her umbrella raised. He had known she would walk rather than take his carriage. She was very predictable, and that was why he knew she would yield to his demands rather than see her family suffer greater harm. She would help him accomplish what he needed with the Indians, and she would be his mistress. It was all too simple.
Faith hadn’t planned to go to the docks to see if theMorning Starwas in port. She had intended to visit the hospital to be with her family and see what Seth’s condition might be. However, after what she’d gone through with Lakewood, seeing Andrew was all she could think about.
She knew she would do whatever was required to keep her family safe, but becoming Lakewood’s mistress and helping him cause an Indian war was asking too much. Instead of pondering how she could bear those things, Faith was given to an entirely different direction of thought. She had to find a way to stop Lakewood—even if it meant killing him herself.
She’d never before thought about killing someone. Murder was illegal, but it also went against God. How could she takethe life of another just because they were threatening to harm her? But Lakewood wasn’t only threatening to harm her. He had already harmed Seth by ordering it to be done. He’d made it clear that he had no problem killing others in her family. Grief, the man had no trouble planning an entire war that would no doubt kill hundreds. He had to be stopped.
Faith tried to imagine shooting Samuel Lakewood. She remembered a story her father had told her of when he first met her mother. Hope Flanagan had gone to the jail where the Cayuse man who’d raped her was being kept. He was on trial as one of the main perpetrators of the Whitman Massacre.
“Your mother somehow snuck in there with a Colt revolver,” her father had said. “She was there to kill the man who’d hurt her.”
“My father?” she had asked.
“I’m your father,” Lance Kenner had insisted. “He was just an inconvenience. Tomahas was his name, and it was already well known that he had been involved in the massacre, but his lawyers were suggesting otherwise. Your mother was afraid he would get off and then kill more people. I convinced her that the law would deal with him.”
Her father had thought her mother admirable in her bravery, but even more so in her willingness to back away and let the law deal with Tomahas. Her mother said that she was always glad Father had stopped her—that she could never have lived with the knowledge that she’d taken a life. Even the life of a worthless miscreant like Tomahas.
Faith had asked her if she would have really killed Tomahas, and to her surprise, Mother had answered without reservation—yes. At the time, it had stunned Faith, but not now. Now she finally thought she understood. It wasn’t about revenge; it wasabout keeping him from harming anyone else. Her mother was afraid the government wouldn’t hang him—that he and his friends would get away with what they’d done. She wanted to stop him before he could hurt another person.
The situation with Lakewood was even more distressing. No one was ever going to put Lakewood on trial. He was a pillar of the community. Like her mother, Faith thought of the pain and suffering he had caused, the misery he still planned to cause. Stopping him was of the utmost importance.
As she neared the docks, the rain let up. She saw no sign of theMorning Starand thought she might burst into tears. She needed to talk to Andrew. She needed to explain to him what had happened and what was going to happen. She was only fooling herself. She would become whatever Lakewood demanded she be. She couldn’t allow him to hurt her family.
“Hey there, Miss Kenner.”
She looked up and found Remli—his arms wrapped around a crate of goods. “What are you doing here? I was looking for theMorning Star, and it’s not here.”
“She’s due anytime. Captain left me here to go huntin’ for supplies I needed while he took on cargo upstream. How’ve you been? Ain’t seen you in a while.”
“My life has been very complicated. I was just coming to speak to Andrew in order to avoid buying a gun so that I can kill a man.”
If her comment surprised Remli, he said nothing. He gave her a nod and shifted the load in his muscular arms.
She couldn’t help but smile at his response. “I can see I haven’t shocked you.”
He gave a deep, throaty chuckle. “Everyone has those times, Miss Kenner.”
“Faith. Please call me Faith.”
Several blasts of a riverboat whistle could be heard. “That’d be theMorning Star, Miss Faith. You come along with me, and we’ll make sure you get to see the captain first thing.”
She followed Remli to the docks. TheMorning Starwas approaching from the south, and she could see Andrew up in the wheelhouse, shouting orders to the deck crew below. It took nearly half an hour to see the boat properly docked and tied off. The procedure was one Faith had never really paid attention to. Another time, she might have had plenty of questions, but this time all she could think about was confessing to Andrew that she was part Indian and that she wanted Samuel Lakewood dead.
“Looky what I found wanderin’ the streets,” Remli said as he came up the gangplank. “Miss Faith says she needs to talk to you before she goes and shoots a man.”
