For a moment she stood and stared at him in shock. Then she spun on her heel and went into the diner.
Bursting through the front door, his gun drawn he saw the good doctor and Fancy standing side by side. Doctor Brubaker breathed a sigh of relief.
“I expect the marshal heard the shots and is on his way, but you’d better run and make sure, Fancy. Matthew and I can handle this.”
“Mead and Morgan are right behind me,” Matthew said. “What the hell happened here?”
“Oh, thank God,” Lilly gasped in relief. “Mead is home. He’ll believe me even if the rest of you don’t,” she nearly crowed.
“Lady, the proof is in the puddin’, as my grandma used to say,” Earl pointed out. “You’re guilty as hell and everyone knows it.”
“What’s Lilly got to do with all of this, and would you kindly take your hands off my brother’s fiancé.” He pointed his revolver straight at the one who had his arm across her breast.
“Lilly set the whole thing up,” Doc replied shaking his head in disgust. “She drugged the girls with laudanum that I was stupid enough to give her, and she arranged for these men to kidnap them right out of their beds.”
“Is everyone all right?”
“Jane is, she’s sleeping it off at my place, and as you can see, Fancy was smart enough not to fall for Lilly’s ploy. As far as Marilee and Annalise, I have no idea. They are upstairs and I couldn’t leave Fancy alone with these bastards. Fancy, please go and get the marshal,” he repeated firmly.
Placing the shotgun against the door jamb, she turned and ran for the door. On the boardwalk she literally fell into Mead’s arms.
“What were the shots?” he demanded steadying her. “Is everything all right in there?”
“No, doc and Matt are holding the culprits and I’m going for the marshal,” she quickly shouted as she wiggled out of his grasp to race toward the marshal’s office.
Nodding, Mead walked into the saloon with Morgan on his heels.
“Oh Mead, my darling,” Lilly cried, wiggling madly to get away from the man who held her. “Thank goodness you’re here to straighten this mess out. These men abducted me and made me let them in here so they could take the girls,” she insisted haughtily. “Take your hands off me, you filthy varmint.”
Mead watched her closely as one of the men laughed before releasing her.
“Mister, if you believe that bullshit, you’re dumber than us! That there woman is a viper.”
“Shut up,” Mead growled. “All of you and that means you too, Lilly. Marshal Riley will be along soon, and we’ll get to the bottom of this.”
“Mead, you’d better go upstairs and check on the girls,” Doc Brubaker suggested. “I have no idea of how much of Lilly’s ‘special tea’ they drank or how it will affect them. We’ve got this.”
“I’ll go,” Morgan said backing away.
Upstairs he checkedout each of the girls. Taking their pulses and counting their breaths, he was grateful for his military training. Each of them seemed to be sleeping soundly but would probably wake up with a hell of a headache. He’d been against Callie Mae’s plan to bring them from Saint Louis from the beginning, and they’d certainly been in danger this night, but from everything Mead had told him there seemed to be some purpose to the mayhem.
Mead was convinced he was destined to marry Marilee, even though Witt had not been specific. In Morgan’s mind, that omission had been a huge error. Why the hell didn’t he tell Mead the truth regarding the records he’d discovered? And what if Cara and Mead hadn’t found the article describing the kidnapping? Witt may have been the one who altered the future far more than anyone else. Satisfied both young women would survive, he went back downstairs. Marshal Riley had arrived, half asleep and looking mean as hell. From the way he scowled at Fancy he didn’t approve of her running through town in her nightclothes. Morgan smiled. Welcome to his world.
“Morgan, you and Mead see that these three are taken to the jail and locked up,” he said. “I’ll take Miss Piersal over to the boarding house. Mrs. Barker has a room over there for circumstances just like this.”
“You can’t be serious,” Lilly gasped in outrage. “That’s ridiculous. Why I’m an upstanding citizen of this town! Ask anyone, they’ll tell you! Mead, make them stop this at once,” she pleaded reaching out her hand.
Mead ignored it and turned to Fancy.
“Are you all right?” he asked kindly.
“I’m fine, Mead. Thanks for asking and I’m happy to see you back home. Callie Mae will be too. Morgan has been a bear.”
Mead laughed. “I’m sure that’s true, but as you can see it was worth the journey.” Tapping his injured leg, he went on. “Without the medical attention I received I would never have been able to walk again.”
“Yes,” Doc agreed. “We’ll have to have a long talk soon. I want to know everything, but I think I’d better go and check on Jane. She was asleep when I left, but laudanum can cause some mighty strange reactions in certain individuals.”
“You do that Doc and let us know how she is. If anything happens to these girls the charge won’t be attempted kidnapping, it will be murder.” Grasping Lilly’s arm in a tight grip he began to pull her from the saloon.
