Part 14 (1/2)

”You should have stayed in town,” Zac said, inspecting Willie with a disapproving eye. ”You look like you spent the night in a snowdrift.”

”Never did like Albuquerque,” Willie said, sinking into a chair. ”Too many scalawags ready to take everything you got.”

Tyler took some of the stew he kept on the back of the stove, put a generous helping in a tin plate, and handed it to Willie. The old prospector dug in like he hadn't eaten in days.

”Hey, take it easy,” Zac said. ”Tyler hasn't been able to find another deer.”

”He won't until this weather breaks,” Willie said through a mouth full of stew. ”They can stay holed up longer than you or me.”

Willie ate in silence for a few moments. Tyler opened the stove and ran a poker through the coals to stir them up, but Willie drank the coffee without waiting for it to get hot.

Willie swallowed the last mouthful of stew and allowed a look of satisfaction to lift the deep lines on his face. ”I think I'll live now,” he said.

”You don't look like it,” Zac observed.

”I'll look a lot better for some sleep.” Willie got up and started toward the portion of the cabin set off by the barrier of sheets and blankets.

”You can't go in there!” Tyler said.

”Why?” Willie asked.

”Because I'm back here,” Daisy announced. Before Willie could demand an explanation, she stepped from behind the curtain.

Willie looked from Daisy to Tyler then back again. ”Two young men,” he muttered, suddenly understanding. ”So that's why--”

”Why you can't go behind the curtain,” Tyler finished for him. ”You can sleep in my bunk if you want.”

Willie dragged himself back to his chair and sank down. ”I'm not as sleepy as I thought.”

”This is Daisy Singleton,” Tyler said. ”We found her in the snow a couple of days ago. She had injured her head. Daisy, this flea-bitten old crookshanks calls himself Willie Mozel. He claims he's a prospector, but I figure he's just looking for a claim to jump.”

Daisy cast Tyler a questioning glance, but his expression gave nothing away. She looked at Zac, but his was equally uninformative. It was clear they didn't mean to let Willie in on the true state of things. She wondered why.

”What were you doing so far from your cabin?” Willie asked.

”Her father was dying, and she was trying to reach a doctor.”

Daisy marveled at Tyler's ability to invent a tale on the spur of the moment.

”What happened?”

”He died, so we buried him and brought her here so she could get better.”

Willie looked skeptical. ”Well you're going to have to find some place to take her.”

”I'm going to the Cochranes in Albuquerque as soon as the snow melts,” Daisy announced. ”Adora Cochrane is my best friend.”

”That's as may be, but they're in Santa Fe,” Willie told her. ”They won't be able to get back until the snow melts.”

”How do you know that?” Zac demanded.

”Like Tyler said, I'd been to town when I got caught in the storm,” Willie said, tying into Tyler's story.

Daisy hoped her surprise didn't show. All along she had depended on being able to go to the Cochranes. It was a shock to realize that option was cut off. She would have to stay here for several days more.

But that wasn't the worst. Daisy realized the news hadn't upset her very badly because she didn't really want to leave. That was more than she could understand.

Because for the first time in your life, somebody is taking care of you, not the other way around.

Her father had always been the center of their household. But now she was the focal point of Tyler's day. He might spend hours fussing with his mules, reading his books, or taking longer than necessary with the meals, but nearly everything he did had to do with her comfort and well being.

But there was more to it than that. She could feel it sometimes. She could see it in his eyes once in a while when she caught him off guard. He liked her. He wouldn't say so. He wouldn't do anything to indicate it, but she could tell he liked her. She found this as hard to believe as the understanding that sprang up between Tyler and Zac the moment Willie Mozel came into the cabin. They hadn't said a word. It was just there.

It was a bond meant to protect her.

It was an experience so new, so unexpected, she was tempted to question her judgment at first. But it only took a moment to realize she was right. That's when Daisy decided she didn't care how long the snow lasted.

”I guess that means I'll have to go hunting again,” Tyler said. ”We're getting low on meat. You can come with me, Willie.”

”Me!” Willie exclaimed. ”I can't go tramping through that snow. I'm worn to a nub.”

”I'll let you rest up an hour or so,” Tyler said. ”You ought to be recovered by then.”

Willie looked like he was going to argue but changed his mind after a glance at Tyler's expression. ”I guess I'd better get what sack time I can,” he said, getting up and hobbling over to the bunk. ”Probably a good thing if I do go with you. You'd never find so much as a rabbit by yourself.”

Toby stared into the malevolent eyes of Willie's burro. ”Where do you think the old fool got to?” he asked Frank.

”How the h.e.l.l should I know!” Frank barked. ”I can't find a single footprint in all this d.a.m.ned snow.” They had come out expecting the old prospector to be ready to talk after a miserably cold night spent in the shed with the burro. Frank was stunned to find him gone.

”Shouldn't have tied him up,” Ed said. ”Made him jumpy.”

”Shut up!” Frank growled. He looked all around the shed and down both trails from the cabin, but the snow had covered all trace of the old prospector's escape.

”You think he knows where the girl is?” Toby asked.

”I don't know,” Frank said. ”These old codgers stay as far away from each other as possible. There could be a dozen females living up here and him not know.”

”I think he knows,” Toby said.

”More likely he knows the men,” Frank said. ”And if he knows them, so do others.”

”What are you going to do?” Ed asked.

”We're going to saddle up and go from one cabin to another until we've hit every one of them,” Frank said. ”They've got to be up here. With her hurt and all this d.a.m.ned snow, they can't have gone anywhere. We'll find them.”

Frank's temper was on edge. His instinct told him to cut and run. The plan was doomed. Too many people knew. But the longer it took him to catch up with the girl, the more chance others would find out.

He intended to kill the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d for sneaking out during the night. No one would miss him. Probably n.o.body wouldn't even know he was dead for several months.