Reading Online Novel

After the Ashes(112)



“You know how you felt when Douglas wouldn’t let you in to see Braddock? That’s how those boys made me feel since I was a young man. I had a chance being accepted into West Point. I had a chance to be a great man. My parents broke their backs so I could have that chance, and those boys tried to take it away from me at every turn.” He straightened. “Justice will finally have its day. You can count on that.” He tipped his hat, then turned and picked his way across the rutted dirt street.

Lorelei had little time to waste. She sprinted through the hotel lobby, purposely ignoring the guard, who stood as soon as soon as he spotted her. At the moment she didn’t have the patience to pretend his presence was for her protection.

By the time she reached the battered door of the hotel room she shared with Corey, she had to pause to catch her breath. She turned the knob, finding the door unlocked, and rushed in without first announcing her presence. The empty room stared back at her with an air of doom. The bed she’d made this morning looked as if it hadn’t even been sat upon. Perhaps Corey had stayed in town after she’d ordered him from the room so she could dress.

She collapsed onto the natty cotton bedspread and stared up at the smooth adobe ceiling with its rounded edges, no longer comforted by the fact that she had first confronted Christopher in a similar room down the hall. When she had so long ago asked him to help Corey, she had never expected it to cost him so much. Maybe she wasn’t good for him after all. The thought forced her off the bed.

She couldn’t let Wade use that signed confession against him, though. She didn’t know why he had done it, admitted to things she knew he had nothing to do with, but she guessed it had something to do with protecting Corey or herself. Either way, he had sacrificed his own interests for her.

She dragged herself over to the cracked mirror that hovered above the washstand and rearranged the pins in her wilted hair. Corey was probably lingering at the saloon. Once she found him, she’d have Corey explain it all to Douglas, and maybe he could head off any damage Wade Langston would do.

Corey had been unusually thoughtful since they’d arrived in Arriba. When he had insisted on sneaking away from Douglas’s watchful eye to check on his ranch, she had been a little surprised to see him return as he promised. She’d been even more surprised that he had not only brought her clean clothes, but a brush set. Perhaps he would be just as eager to discredit Wade’s story as she.

When she reached to splash the water she’d left in the basin on her face, she saw the note tucked under the rim. Her fingers shook as she lifted the torn scrap.

Dear Lori. Bratak is gettn better.

He will take care of you. But if he dosnt I

left somen for you in the picture. Luv Corey.

Lorelei glanced around the room. The walls held signs of water damage, but nothing else. She quickly reread the note. Damn it! She should have known he would do something like this. Corey had never taken responsibility for his actions a day in his life.

She resisted the urge to crumple the note in her fist and scanned it one more time, hoping she had read it wrong. When she glanced up, she noticed the porcelain pitcher next to the basin. He meant pitcher, not picture. She tossed the note on the washstand, not caring if it fluttered to the floor instead. She grabbed the pitcher’s handle, but when she tried to lift it, the pitcher stayed firmly planted. With both hands wrapped around the base, she heaved it off the table. A quick glance down the pitcher’s slim dark mouth didn’t give her a hint as to what lay inside. Whatever it was jangled against the porcelain. Once she reached the bed, she dumped the pitcher upside down.

A shower of gold coins covered the off-white bedcover. She blinked. Never had she seen so much money. She couldn’t even guess how much it might be. She reached down and picked up a handful of the cool gold. Where had Corey gotten this kind of money?

She dropped the coins on top of the others and backed away. First she covered her mouth to keep from crying out the most obvious and only answer. She covered her eyes. She couldn’t have been so stupid. There had to be another explanation. Maybe it wasn’t really as much gold as she thought. Maybe Corey had just sold the ranch. She slowly took her hands from her eyes, almost believing the gold would be gone. It wasn’t. Its dull sheen told her a truth she hadn’t wanted to see since Corey was first accused of cheating at cards back in Louisville.

She darted her gaze to the door, half expecting Douglas and a group of armed men to burst through and lead her away in chains. She couldn’t say she didn’t deserve it. Being this big a fool seemed to call for such drastic measures. She glanced back to the gold on the bed without wanting to. Corey had had the gold the entire time. From the moment he’d sent her out to confront Christopher, her brother had forced her to be a party to his lie. He’d put them all at risk for his own selfish ends.