THE CONDEMNED
Book 1 – Rowen
*Note: For purposes of this blog, the content here will be kept to PG standards. However, upon publication, the full novel will include more adult content.
Chapter 10
Remains
“First time
in a saddle?”
Zwick’s dry
humor broke through Rowen’s musings. He cast the man a wry smile. “That
obvious, huh?”
“I can tell
you this much. You’re going to be sore for days once we’re done here. My advice
to you is try to get back in the saddle for a few minutes every day until it
starts to feel natural and your ass stops painin’ you.”
“Thanks.
I’ll do that.”
He, Zwick,
and a volunteer named Jed Blount were heading straight for the Weatherly ranch
to look for Postill. Sheriff Melfry, along with Deputy Slone and the other two
volunteers were on their way to Chamberlain to search for Chapman and his gang.
Rowen
glanced down for the umpteenth time at the rifle sitting in its holster on the
side of his saddle. Although Melfry had determined that their hunt for the
doctor wasn’t going to be as dangerous, he’d ordered them to arm themselves and
keep on the lookout for anything suspicious.
“The
instant you see something that doesn’t add up, get your asses back to town
immediately, you hear me?” the man ordered.
“You
mean, in case we find out Chapman might have had something to do with Doc’s
disappearance?” Zwick clarified.
“Anything,”
the sheriff firmly stated.
“What if
we get to the Weatherlys’ and she’s there?” Rowen queried.
“Then
we’re fine and good,” Melfry replied. “Check to see if she’s planning on
staying longer. If not, just give her an escort back home.”
“How
will we notify you if there’s no emergency there?” Rowen insisted.
“We’ll
find out when we get back,” Melfry assured him.
Rowen
frowned as he recalled the decision.
Zwick
caught it. “Something wrong, Mr. Taylor?”
“What if we
find Chapman and his men?”
The big man
grunted. “Guess we’ll have to deal with that if and when it happens.”
“Can’t we
explain we’re just looking for Miss Postill?”
“Attitude,
Mr. Taylor,” Blount intervened. “As long as we don’t draw our guns and keep a
straight face, if we do manage to come across those men, we should be good.”
“I hope
you’re right, Jed,” Zwick remarked.
Rowen eyed
the rifle again. “I can’t believe you’re allowing me to come with you.”
“Whaddaya
mean?” Blount asked.
“I mean,
I’m still a stranger to you guys. And now you’re trusting me enough to have a
rifle.”
Blount let
out a bark of laughter. “Something tells me where you came from isn’t real big
on trusting others.”
That got a
grin out of Rowen. “You have no idea.”
“Don’t get
any big ideas,” Zwick warned, half in jest. “We’re not a bunch of backwater
idiots who takes in every stranger who comes our way. We take a lot into
consideration before we decide to let someone stay, or send them on their way.”
“What kind
of consideration?”
“Like your
attitude, for one thing. How you act and what you say during a confrontation.”
“And don’t
forget, you were the sheriff’s guest for two weeks,” Blount pointed out.
It was
starting to become clear. “Wait a minute. Are you saying Sheriff Melfry kept
you all informed as to how I was acting while he kept me in that jail cell?”
Rowen queried.
Neither man
answered aloud, but they didn’t have to. The telling grins on their faces said
it all.
“And then
there was Doc’s attitude toward you,” Zwick added. He tapped the side of his
nose. “That woman’s like a bloodhound. She can smell insincerity a mile away.”
The man threw him a hard look. “Sheriff was blown away when she was willing to
go inside that cell to tend to you without him having to be inside with y’all
to make sure she didn’t come to any harm.”
“Even
though I was too weak to move?” Rowen countered.
“Doesn’t
take much for a man to hurt a woman these days,” Blount said.
“So, what
you’re telling me is that the reason I’m with you guys right now is because she
approved of me?”
“Not just
her,” Zwick was quick to point out. “You working for me was also factored in.
Mrs. Mayflower added in her two cents, too.”
“You guys
have been watching me like a hawk, then.”
Zwick
snorted. “Do you blame us?”
“No. Not in
the least.”
“Hey!”
Blount’s sudden shout drew their attention to what he was pointing at ahead of
them. “Is that Doc’s buggy?”
Both men
dug their heels into their horses’ ribs and took off. Rowen gave his mount a
kick in the ribs, and the animal bounded forward to where he was almost thrown
off.
Next
time, Rowen, hold onto the saddle for dear life before you try that again!
When
he finally managed to catch up with the other two men, he immediately knew
something was wrong. Rowen watched them dismount to examine the abandoned
wagon.
“Yep.
That’s Doc’s buggy,” Zwick confirmed. He pointed to the seat. “I put those
trays under there for her doctor’s box so it wouldn’t fall out of the buggy.”
Rowen
scoured the countryside. “Where’s her horse?”
“Probably with
the people who cut the reins,” Blount bitterly answered, holding up the remains
of the leather straps.
Turning
back to the buggy, Rowen spotted it the same time Zwick pointed it out. “Are
those bloodstains?”
“Yeah.”
A
half-dozen splotches of different sizes dotted the floorboard in front of the seat.
“Is it her blood?” he asked, his throat closing in on him.
“I can’t
say for certain,” the man replied. “But I can’t say it isn’t, either.”
Blount threw
down the reins with disgust. “We better get our butts to the ranch and hope
she’s there.”
“Can’t we track
the horse? Or…” Rowen stared at the ground even though he already knew his
untrained eyes wouldn’t be able to detect anything. Regardless, there had to be
something they could do to find her. Or to hunt down the men responsible.
“There’s
nothing to track. Ground’s too hard,” Zwick stated, dashing his hopes.
“Yeah,”
Blount agreed. “We better hurry.”
The men
mounted their horses, and they all took off at a gallop toward the Weatherly
ranch. It wasn’t long before they noticed the distant black smoke rising in the
air. Soon after, they detected the smell coming from the fire. Rowen silently
prayed it wouldn’t be as horrific as he feared it would be. He prayed everyone
was safe. That somehow the family living there was not on the property. Or if
they were, that they’d escaped the flames.
More than
that, he prayed Luka was unharmed. That maybe, maybe, her status as a
physician had saved her from what his gut was telling him they’d find.
As they
drew nearer, it was evident that both the house and barn had been torched. Apparently
the fire had been set last night. Today the flames weren’t as high or as fierce
as they’d been earlier. What was left was mostly charred and blackened wood.
Skeletal remains that showed where the two structures had once stood.
Zwick and
Blount were out of their saddles before their horses came to a full stop. Rowen
pulled up his mount and slid down to the ground, then rushed over to join them
in front of the smoldering ruins. Zwick held out an arm to prevent him from
going any closer to the destruction.
“Is she…
Is…” Rowen couldn’t get the words out. They were stuck in his throat where they
burned along with the wood smoke filling his lungs.
“I see two
bodies inside,” the big man admitted.
Rowen tried
to see them but, again, all he noticed was the fire’s results. Still, he had to
ask. “Is Doc one of them, you think?”
“No.”
That one
word gave him a moment of hope. “Are you sure?”
“Doc was
wearing that print skirt I like seeing on her,” Zwick confessed. “That body
over there is wearing what looks like a nightgown. See the bit of material
around the neck? That’s probably Irene.” He gestured to a location off to their
right. “And that one over there in breeches, that’s got to be Langley.”
“Why didn’t
they try to get out?” Rowen queried. “Why did they stay inside?”
“Once this
place cools down enough, we can examine it further,” Blount stated. “But I
wouldn’t be surprised to discover they were tied up to make sure they didn’t
escape.”
“So what
you’re saying is somebody deliberately killed these people, is that it?” Rowen
clarified. “This couldn’t have been an accident?”
Zwick
tossed him a raised eyebrow. “The house and the barn are quite a ways apart
from each other for both of them to get caught up in the same accident.”
“Maybe some
embers floated over to light it on fire,” Rowen offered. He still couldn’t
accept the fact that someone would deliberately execute the couple.
Blount
cleared his throat. “Anything’s possible, but there was no wind last night that
could’ve sent those embers over that far.
“Can you
spot any sign of Doc?” Zwick questioned as they continued to search.
“Not yet.”
“What if
she’s underneath the rubble?” Rowen suggested. He noticed Blount going around
to the back side of what used to the house. Every so often, the man would squat
to examine something before resuming his walk. Rowen was about to ask he what
he was looking for but instead turned to Zwick. The guy was heading over to the
barn. Undecided whether to follow the big man or stay where he was, he chose a
third option. Taking Blount’s lead, he started searching the ruins, going in
the opposite direction from where the man was moving. He gave special attention
to the ground for signs that might look suspicious, like more blood droplets.
“The barn’s
a goner!” Zwick called out as he headed back toward them. “I don’t know if the
people responsible let them out on purpose, but I spotted two head of cattle
out in the pasture. I know Langley also had a mare, but she’s nowhere in sight.
I’m guessing it was taken, too. Mr. Taylor! See anything?”
“No. Of
course, as ignorant as I am about these things, I could be looking right at
something important and not recognize it for what it is,” Rowen admitted.
“Don’t beat
yourself up over it,” Blount advised. “We all start out that way. Hamp, I’m
pretty sure Doc isn’t here.”
“Which
means either she was here but left before whoever’s responsible for this
travesty showed up, and she got waylaid on her way back to town, or she never
made it this far ‘cuz they got to her before she arrived,” Zwick surmised.
Rowen
stared at the man. “You said ‘they.’ Are you thinking Chapman and his men might
be responsible?”
Zwick shook
his head. “They might be, or they might not be. We need more evidence before we
can come to that conclusion.”
“We need to
get back to town and let Melfry know what’s happened,” Blount advised.
Rowen and
Zwick agreed. Getting back on their horses, they left the ranch.
TO BE CONTINUED
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