Salvation in the Sheriff's Kiss(79)

She leaned over the horse’s neck and held on tight. It had been a long time since she’d ridden like this, but the feeling left her exhilarated despite the dangers.

Relief swept through her as the homestead came into sight. She pulled up on the reins and slid from the saddle, leading Jasper to the side of the house. She tethered him by the water barrel, breaking the thin layer of ice on top.

“Stay out of sight, handsome.” She patted the horse’s neck. “I won’t be long.”

She nudged the door of the cabin open, putting her shoulder into it where the top corner liked to stick against the frame when the weather turned cold. The interior was silent as a tomb and in a way she guessed that’s what it was. An altar to her past, to a time before the world had come crashing down around them and taken it all away.

When she first returned, she had hoped to move back here once she established her business. Now she knew better. Hunter would get his wish after all. She couldn’t stay here. She couldn’t stay anywhere in Salvation Falls. Her heart would never survive seeing him every day, knowing she had hung her hopes on him once again only to be played the fool. She had wondered once how much pain a body could stand before it just gave up. Now she had her answer.

She walked into the cabin and fished in her pocket for the matches she’d filched from Doc Whyte’s table. She struck one against the mantel above the fireplace. The flame burst from the end and she placed it against the wick of a candle that had sat there these past seven years. It was almost down to its nub, but it should suffice. She didn’t need much time.

Said it was...staring me right in the face, but I’d never see it...

Vernon Donovan’s words echoed in Meredith’s mind coupled with the words written on the list containing names of the Syndicate’s members. She put two and two together. Pa was right—Vernon would never have seen it, even if he had found her father’s clue in the chessboard. But she knew her father better than most, understood the way his mind worked. She’d been deciphering his riddles since she was a girl and she’d deciphered this one.

Memories washed over her as she stepped away from the fireplace, taking the candle with her. Her footsteps echoed through the empty home. Her heart ached over the loss of her family, but deep inside she was thankful for what she’d had. Hunter hadn’t been so lucky, with a father twisted with bitterness and a mother who had run off without a backward glance. He’d once told her when they were married he would make sure their home was filled with love and laughter. He didn’t want their children to grow up in the cold and lifeless atmosphere he had.

Well, it hardly mattered now. None of them would get their wish on that account.

She turned to her left and walked down the short hallway into the back room that had been her parents’ bedroom. Over the bureau, an oval mirror hung on the wall. It was the only one in the house. Pa had saved for a year to buy it for Mama. A crack ran through the middle, something that hadn’t been there when she’d left seven years ago.

She stared at it a moment. Had the Syndicate been here already? But of course they had. No doubt they would have turned the place upside down and inside out. That had been why the furniture had looked slightly out of place on her last visit. Someone would have cleaned up after them. Hunter?

She hurried over to the mirror and carefully lifted it off the wall. She rested it on the floor, facedown. The back was covered with a thin layer of wood nailed into the frame. Fishing in her pocket, she pulled out the sharp knifelike instrument she’d taken from Doc and used it to pry the backing off at one edge, lifting it far enough to see inside. She pulled the candle closer. The flickering light revealed a small rectangular object wrapped in cloth and wedged near the bottom.

Outside, Jasper nickered and snorted in the cold. Meredith stopped, her muscles rigid as she listened. Blood rushed and pounded in her ears.

Was that...?

The pace of her heart increased tenfold. She let the backing snap back into place and rushed to the window pulling back the dusty curtain to peer outside.

Two riders came down the sloping hill toward the house. They were fewer than a hundred yards away. Too close for her to make a run for it. She let the curtain fall back into place and rushed back to the mirror. It was too heavy to lift back over the tall bureau. She scanned the room quickly then shoved it under the bed. She pulled at the bed’s sideboard and it fell open. A breath of relief escaped her as she found her father’s rifle in its old hiding place. She grabbed it as a cold burst of air blew in and guttered the candle on the floor.

“You can set that down nice and easy, Miss Connolly, lest Tyrone here might be tempted to blow a hole in your back with his.”