A woman screamed and threw herself down beside one of the men. Several other people began to cry and wail. It all seemed like a bad nightmare. Will couldn’t breathe.
“Will.” Edward called his name, but it seemed like it came from a deep well.
“I’m ... ready.” Will forced the words. He’d never be ready for this.
Without further warning, Edward pulled down the blanket from the first body, and Will found himself gazing at the woman beneath. She looked as if she were just sleeping. Her face was relaxed and peaceful. There was no sign of any injury.
Will met Edward’s eyes and gave the smallest hint of a nod. It was his mother.
Edward replaced the blanket and moved on to the smaller body. He pulled the blanket back, and the pale white face of Will’s sister appeared. Will stared at her for a long, silent moment, then nodded again.
The blanket was replaced, and Edward came to Will’s side. “I’m so sorry, Will.”
“I don’t understand why this happened. They wouldn’t have been a threat. They wouldn’t have tried to fight back.”
“There’s no way of knowing. Come on.” Edward took hold of his arm. “Come back into the station and sit down.”
Will shook his head. “No. No. I can’t stay here. I have tothink. Please ... have them taken ... to the undertaker. I’ll ... I’ll go there ... later.” He turned to walk away.
“Will, just wait a minute and I’ll come with you,” Edward called.
He heard the words and the insistent tone, but Will couldn’t make sense of what his friend was saying. He’d seen death during the war. It had come in all sorts of ways. Pain-filled battlefield wounds, bodies racked with disease and infection. He’d even witnessed one older man who’d simply gone to sleep, never to awaken again. But none of those deaths had been so personal.
His mother and sister were dead. Killed by Indians.
It made no sense.
He moved without even realizing where he was going. He felt nothing but a cold-spreading numbness and heard nothing but the rush of blood in his ears as his heart seemed to pound out of control.
By the time he glanced up and saw the horse and carriage bearing down on him, Will was beyond caring. He heard someone scream—shouting for him to watch out as the team plowed into him. He felt his head hit the ground. The dull thud snuffed out the light and robbed him of all conscious thought.
Death had come for him as well.
6
Laura fought to control the horse and back away from the unconscious man in the street. Where had he even come from?
She glanced around as people started to gather. She quickly set the brake and jumped down from the carriage to see about calming the animal. By now she could see that the man was Wilson Porter from church.
“Hush now,” she said, taking hold of the horse’s harness. She gently stroked the animal’s neck and continued to speak in a low, soothing tone as several men picked up Will.
He was lifeless in their arms, leaving Laura terrified that she had killed the man.
“Is he ... is he...?” She couldn’t bring herself to ask the question.
“He’s alive. We’ll carry him over to the hospital.”
“We saw the whole thing, Deputy,” someone said behind Laura. “The fella just walked out into the street without paying any attention at all. It was like he was in a stupor of some sort.”
“He just learned that his mother and sister were killed.”
Laura turned at this news and found Edward Vogel. He gave her a sympathetic glance. “I saw the whole thing too, Laura. I know you weren’t at fault.”
“I want to go to the hospital.” She climbed back up into the carriage. “Would you come with me?”
Edward nodded and climbed up after her. He released the brake, and with a light snap of the lines, he put the bay gelding into action.
“You said his mother and sister were killed,” Laura forced herself to say. “What happened?”
