Chapter 11

"YOU!"

Jake's accusation rang out.

But far from looking angry, or guilty, Charles Taylor just look surprised.

"Me?"

"Why on earth do you think I would attack my own wagons? You're crazy!"

"That's what the man said when I asked him who the orders were coming from," Jake told him, firmly. "That's what he truly believed. He wasn't lying - I'm sure of that."

"But he must have been. In fact, he was. No way am I involved in attacking those wagons. I may even have to close down the smelter if the attacks continue. Why would I do that? He must have been lying."

"Nope. I asked the question, and Sue here made sure he answered. He was telling the truth."

Charles Taylor just looked confused. By the look of the stains on Sue's knife, he was sure that the man had been made to answer. He didn't want to imagine how. His head moved, his eyes seeing the surroundings - the bodies, the wagon crew pulling the horse off the rider's leg, the girl with the horses up to his left - but he wasn't taking it all in. How could that man have thought he was behind it?

Jake's next comment broke into his thoughts. "But I told you he answered two questions. That was only the first."

"Oh? What else did he tell you? More lies?" Taylor spat out.

"Not at all. As I said, the first question I asked him was who the orders were coming from, and he said from you."

"So then I asked if the orders were coming from you, who was actually giving him the orders..."

Jake paused, and Charles couldn't contain himself. "What did he say?"

"He said you were always out, and the orders were given to them by - your wife."

"From... ???" Taylor couldn't continue.

"He said your wife told them what to do, on your behalf."

Taylor's mouth looked like that of a fish. His jaw was going up and down but no noise was coming out. He looked completely baffled.

"But - why would she do that?" he asked, almost to himself. "She never has much interest in the business, and she loves me. You can't be right..."

The man was obviously caught up in what Jake had said. He just stared at nothing, while he tried to work it out.

Taylor's two men sat on their horses a few yards away - watching him. The team from the wagon had got the injured rider out from under the horse - it looked like his leg was broken and he was badly beaten up by the fall so they were carrying him to the wagon.

Jake beckoned to Grey Cloud - still up at the top of the slope. She started down to join them. He then turned to Sue.

"Go and check on the two men we shot with the rifles," he told her. "They should be dead but just go and check, will you, lass?"

Sue made off, still with her revolver in her right hand and her bloody knife in the left.

Jake backed off a bit, giving Charles some space and so he could watch Sue in case something went wrong.

Grey Cloud arrived with both horses and a worried look on her face. Her eyes were wide and she was looking at the bloody scarf around his wound. Jake holstered his gun and gave her a hug with his good arm. "Everything good - not worry," he told her in his poor Shoshone. He hugged her again. "Go fetch other horses will you?"

She clutched him tightly, then turned and started back up the slope. Sue came back from the far side of the trail. She had a piece of cloth in her hand - it looked like a piece of somebody's shirt, and she was cleaning her knife with it. She saw Jake looking at her and shook her head, so he knew his original assumption was correct - all of the ambushers were dead.

Sue joined him just as Charles Taylor started mumbling. "But she loves me ... why would she do that? ... she ... she said she didn't like it here ... the dust and the heat ... wanted to go back east ... but she wouldn't ... would she?" He was obviously trying to work it all out in his head.

Grey Cloud returned with the other three horses, her own and the two pack horses. That made Jake think of something.

"Where are their horses? They must be close by."

Sue agreed. "Give me those horses," she said to Grey Cloud, "and go and find where the attackers left theirs. Be careful, they may have left someone with them, but I don't think so. We only saw signs of five men and they are all dead."

The younger girl straightened up. She was being given a job to do, on her own, an important job. The Comanche woman trusted her to do it.

She looked back up the slope. The men had come the way they had, they had followed their trail, but there was no sign of the horses. So they must have gone on a bit further and then walked back. She started back up the slope, angling across to the right.

Her path took her past the body of the man that Sue had 'questioned'. He was curled up. There was a lot of blood on his chest where he had been shot, but there was also blood on his face around his staring eyes. There was also blood on the front of his pants which seemed to have been torn or cut open. She paused for a moment, then moved on. He had made the decisions that brought him to this situation, and Sue had got the information Djaik needed out of him. Grey Cloud could see nothing wrong with that.

Now that he had his horse, Blaze, Jake remembered that his gun was almost empty. Fortunately, no-one had tried anything but, making sure that Sue could see what he was doing, he dug his equipment out of his pack and started to reload. A proper clean would have to wait, but at least he would get five shots back in his revolver.

Jake felt much more comfortable when that was done. He motioned to Sue to do the same while he kept an eye on everything. There were still six men out here, and he wanted to make sure that everything stayed calm.

But Charles Taylor had other things on his mind. "I must get back home," he told Jake, looking agitated. "I can't believe she did it, but I can see that maybe she did. I need to go and talk to her."

Jake nodded. "Before you go, have a look at the bodies. See if you recognise any of them."

The other man went pale, swallowed once, then nodded. He walked to the first dead man, looking down at the body, and then did the same to the second. He moved on to the 'pile of clothing'. He hesitated for a moment, then kicked him onto his back so he could see the face properly. He also saw all the blood, on his face and his pants, and wondered what had been done to him to make him talk.

When he got back from the rocks where the final bodies were still out of sight, he said: "I know two of them," still looking uncomfortable. "One worked at the smelter and one at the quarry. Don't know what they did but I've seen them around there."

"We'll work out what that means later. You go see your wife, we will clear up here and then meet you in town tomorrow, if that's all right?"

"Yes, yes," Charles said, still obviously with other thoughts on his mind. He walked to his horse and remounted. "Come with me," he commanded his two men and then he pulled his horse around and kicked off, back towards Ennistown.

Shadowed by Sue, Jake walked towards the wagon, past the dead horse. They stopped a little distance away in case the survivors were upset that Sue had injured one of them.

"How is your friend?" he asked the men gathered around the wagon.

"Busted leg," the driver answered, "and looks like a busted shoulder as well. But he'll live. We got 'im in the back - on the rocks. Won't be comfortable but we'll get 'im back to town."

"Take his saddle and gear off his horse," Jake suggested. "Then you can use his bedroll to make him more comfortable."

"We will - already used ours to do that," was the reply. Jake and Sue stepped back as the three men went to strip the saddle and equipment off the horse's body. One of the men eyed Sue - he'd realised it was the girl that shot the horse and injured his friend. But as he had seen her kill at least one man, and get the other to answer questions, he was understandably nervous.

Sue looked squarely back at him. "Your friend lucky," she told him.