“Rider,” Yucton said, nodding straight ahead.
Hunter squinted into the distance. The buildings of the town formed a dark shadow on the horizon. It had started to snow again and big flakes filled the air. The tracks they’d made earlier were nowhere in sight.
“Caleb.” He recognized the ease with which his friend rode, the relaxed posture in the saddle as if he’d been born in it. “But that’s not his horse.” He had become accustomed to associating the two together as if they were one entity.
Hunter pressed his heels into his own horse and immediately regretted the faster trot. He was happy to finally draw up on the reins when they reached Caleb.
“What happened to your horse?”
“Meredith Connolly happened to my horse.” Caleb arched an eyebrow. “What happened to your arm?”
“Meredith? Is she hurt?” He pointed to his wound as an afterthought. “Kincaid and I ran into some trouble.”
“Meredith left Doc’s on the premise of going back to the hotel.”
“Did you find her?”
Caleb shook his head. “I was at the hotel looking for Bancroft. He’s gone by the way. Cleared out.”
“Where is she, then?” His stomach clenched, his worst fears realized. She had found something in the chessboard.
Caleb shook his head. “The snow had covered her trail by the time I returned. She was in with your father for a few minutes. When Doc went in to check on him she snuck out, taking my horse with her. Jenkins admitted the hotel story was just a ruse. I thought maybe she’d come after the two of you. Where’s Kincaid?”
Yucton answered, “Kincaid lit out after the men who took me.”
“Meredith didn’t come after us,” Hunter said. “She didn’t know which trail we were taking either way. What did my father tell her?”
The old mare shifted under Caleb. Puffs of white streamed out of her nose with each heavy breath. Caleb sat silent in the saddle for a moment, his steady gaze unwavering. His father was gone. He knew before Caleb said the words. “I’m sorry, Hunter.”
Hunter nodded, pushing back the mixed emotions that came with the news. He didn’t have time to deal with them now. He could pick through them later. Right now he needed to find Meredith.
“There’s more,” Caleb said. “Laidlow came by Doc’s office. Said he was there to see Vernon, old friends that they were. Doc wasn’t sure what was said, but when he went back in to check on your father, he was gone.”
“Helped along by the judge, no doubt,” Yucton said. “If Donovan held on to the ledgers detailing the Syndicate’s operations, he made himself a liability.”
“He made himself a liability the minute he signed up with them,” Hunter said, his voice grim. “C’mon. We need to find Meredith.”
Caleb’s mare shook its mane, the snow clinging to it flying off. “Any idea where she might have gone?”
“Same place we’re going would be my guess,” Yucton said. “The old homestead.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Judge Laidlow’s voice cut through Meredith and the wild beating of her heart stuttered to a stop. For a fleeting second, she considered taking her chances, but she knew by the time she raised the rifle to her shoulder, she’d be dead. It wasn’t worth the risk. She had to find another way out of this.
She set the rifle down. Would they shoot her in the back anyway? Her insides had turned to jelly. There was no reason in the world for them to let her out of here alive. If she offered them up the evidence as an exchange, they would kill her once they had their hands on it. If she didn’t, they would kill her anyway. It was safer that way. With her gone, no one would care one whit about the Syndicate or bringing them down.
“That’s my girl. Now step backward slowly and let me see those hands of yours lifted nice and high.”
She glanced over her shoulder. As promised, Laidlow’s hired gun had his own rifle raised and ready. She supposed she should be flattered they considered her such a threat. She wished she possessed the ability to live up to it, but in truth, she had no idea what to do to protect herself or stop them from doing whatever it was they intended.
Is this where it ended? It seemed a strange kind of symmetry to leave this world in the same place you came into it. Sadness crept upon her. There was so much she had left to do. Goodbyes she wanted to make. Conversations left to be had. Funny, how you always think there’s all the time in the world to take care of these things, then when the time comes you look back and see all the minutes you wasted not doing them.
She could have come home sooner. Left Aunt Erma and spent more time with Pa. She could have returned to Salvation Falls and made a life for herself, a life she wanted and not one foisted onto her by circumstance. Maybe she could have loved a little more. Shrugged off her anger a little sooner. Forgiven a little easier. Listened a little better. Hunter told her he could explain why he’d done what he had, that things weren’t what they seemed. What had he meant? Now she would never know.