After the Ashes(91)

“I want to hear it.” Braddock gritted his teeth against telling Corey who was the cause of all Lorelei’s problems.

“I was going to take off the night you left. Lorelei caught me.” Corey cast an accusing gaze at Braddock. “I wanted her to come with me, but she wanted to wait for you. I told her it was stupid, that you didn’t care about her, but you had her all tied in knots.”

Braddock stared at Corey, unblinking. He felt ripped in two, one part wanting desperately to believe Lorelei had given her loyalty to him over her brother, while his rational side warned he was an idiot even to listen. “Go on.”

“I told her you weren’t coming back. That you’d be killed. And still she wanted to stick around and wait. So she wouldn’t waste her time, I told her about the canyon’s second entrance.”

“The one you forgot to tell me about.”

“You deserved it. You had no right to ask Lorelei to wait for you. A real man would have made her his wife as soon as he did her wrong. It’s not like I asked you to go to Specter Canyon. You’re the one who wanted to go off and get yourself killed. I just made it easier for you.”

“Then why the hell did she take off after me?”

“She wanted to warn you. But I told her not to go past the canyon entrance.”

Braddock’s eyes widened with the full impact of what Corey was telling him. “Why did you tell her how to get there at all?”

Corey’s face reddened. “This isn’t my fault. It’s your fault. Besides, Jay wouldn’t have let her go.”

Knowing Jay, they had both gone. Braddock tugged hard on the metal clamped around his wrists, tearing open the rope burn wounds from Specter Canyon. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

Braddock maneuvered himself until his back was facing Corey. He stuck out his wrists. “See if you can get these off.”

“I can’t. If I could, I would have my own off already. You never should have let him put you in handcuffs.”

Braddock inched his way in the dirt in order to turn around. He’d trussed up more people than he could count, but he’d never been bound himself. If he knew how well it worked, he would have slept better when he was bringing in his prisoners. He had to think of something else to get them out of this.

Corey sighed. “She could just be at the ranch.”

Braddock couldn’t take that chance.

“Langston!”

“What are you going to do?”

“Langston,” he yelled again.

Langston stomped over to them, a curry brush in his hand. “What the hell do you want? You’re making the horses skittish.”

“I’ve got a deal for you. We’ll tell you where to find the gold if you take us to a ranch a few miles from here.”

“No, we won’t,” said Corey before Braddock could finish.

Langston shook his head. “How stupid do you think I am?”

“Mulcahy doesn’t have the gold. He does.” Braddock gestured to Corey with a jerk of his head.

“Shut up, Braddock. He’s too smart for us. Don’t get him riled by lying to him,” said Corey through gritted teeth.

“You’re trying to tell me this half-pint outlaw with peach fuzz still on his face took the gold from Mulcahy? Tell me another one, Braddock. I haven’t laughed this hard since West Point, when you and your buddies locked me out in the snow in my long johns.”

Braddock inwardly cringed, forgetting the incident until Langston mentioned it, but apparently Langston hadn’t. Braddock had to make him want to believe, and he knew how.

“He didn’t take the gold on his own. I helped him. I planned the whole thing.”

Langston took a few more steps toward them. “I’m listening.”

“Picked Sullivan up on horse theft. Saw how I could use him.”

“I never stole a horse in my life. Never.” Corey protested so dramatically, even Braddock believed him.

Braddock continued, so far into his tale he didn’t know or care about the truth anymore. “I hooked him up with Mulcahy and told Corey which stagecoach to hit. His sister showing up was just luck. I held on to her as insurance. I wanted to make sure the kid didn’t double cross me.”

“I can’t believe this. Not even from you. You’re worse than I imagined.” But Langston’s unblinking fascination told Braddock he did believe the tale, and was enjoying every word of Braddock’s downfall.

“We need to get back to the ranch. The kid won’t tell me where he stashed the gold until he sees his sister.” Braddock laughed, low and evil. “Thinks I did something to her.”