Love and Glory: The Coltrane Saga, Book 3 (38 page)

Travis gave him a wry look. “Have you ever seen me in woman trouble I couldn’t get out of?”

“Yeah,” Sam replied grimly. “Kitty. You fell in love.”

“Never again.” Travis sat down at his desk. “I can handle it. Right now I’m more concerned about winding up the business at hand.”

Sam pulled up a chair and they began to talk, planning strategy, losing track of time. Suddenly there was a soft rapping on the door. Travis murmured, “What now?” sighed, and got up to answer the door.

He found Willis standing outside, twisting his straw hat in his hands, a worried look on his dark face.

“What is it?” Travis asked, reaching to draw him inside. “Trouble?” Sam hurried over.

“You can call it that, Marshal.” Willis looked apologetic. “I didn’t want to bring her here. You told me not to no more. But she made me. Said she’d see her daddy kick me out if I didn’t do what she said.”

“Goddamn it!” Travis slammed his left hand against the door sill in disgust. “Where is she this time?”

“Same place as before. I rode her into town in the back of the wagon, covered up with a blanket. I took the wagon into the livery stable and left it. Nobody’s around. She said for me to come get you.”

“Alaina!” Sam spat out the name contemptuously. He had known plenty of women who chased after Travis, but never that boldly. “That’s all we need right now.”

Travis was rubbing his forehead thoughtfully. It was late. He was tired. His head was beginning to ache. No doubt Stewart Mason was still in town. Probably in the saloon getting drunk. It was risky to go to the stable, but if he didn’t, Alaina would come storming into his office. And he knew why she had come to see him. He had left the party without explanation and had not talked with her since. After riding all the way into town at this hour, she would not return without seeing him. There was nothing to do but go to her.

Sam cried, “You aren’t going, are you?”

Travis ignored him, saying to Willis as he passed, “You’d best be at the stable in a half hour to take her home. Don’t you be late.”

“Yassuh, Marshal, yassuh,” Willis bobbed his head up and down.

Travis hurried through the night, down the empty streets, glancing around to make sure he was not being seen.

The stable was at the edge of town. He entered the dark recesses and stood silently, listening.

“Travis, is that you?” came her whisper from a stall to his left.

“It damn well better be me,” he growled, moving toward the sound. “Woman, are you crazy? I told you not to come into town like this. It’s dangerous.”

“Well, if you’d come to me, I wouldn’t have to be so bold, would I, darling?”

She was naked, and despite his anger, he was instantly aroused. It made him even angrier.

He struggled for control. He wanted to talk, make her see reason. Ignoring his urges, he gripped her slender white shoulders and said harshly, “Listen and listen carefully, Alaina. Stewart Mason almost got himself killed over you tonight. He’s mad as hell about us. Your father doesn’t like it, either. Now it’s no good. It’s got to stop.”

“It can’t,” she cried. “You love me and I love you.”

“Wait a minute!” He pressed his hand over her mouth. “I never said I loved you. I told you from the very first that what we had together was just desire and nothing more. I never promised you anything else. And now it’s got to end.”

“But why can’t you go on seeing me this way? It…it’s better than losing you, Travis. I can’t stand the thought of losing you.”

“You never had me to lose, Alaina. Be reasonable. You’re taking chances, and you’re going to cause Stewart to get killed.”

“He doesn’t own me.”

“So he doesn’t own you. But if he’s going to get himself killed over you, it’s not going to be by me.”

Her voice rose shrilly, angrily, and she struggled in his grasp. “You bastard! You used me!”

He clapped his hand over her mouth. “Alaina, shut up! Someone is going to hear you,” he commanded harshly. “And don’t be foolish. I did not use you. You knew how it was. If you saw things that weren’t there, it was your doing. I never misled you.”

Slowly he removed his hand. “Now are you going to be quiet or bring the whole town in here?”

“I’ll be quiet,” she hissed, body quivering with rage. “But I promise you this, Travis Coltrane. You’re going to pay for this. You made a fool of me.”

He looked at her and she was forced to look away. “Alaina,” he said quietly, “you and I enjoyed each other. I didn’t make a fool of you and you know it. Now the thing for you to do, if you don’t love Stewart Mason and you don’t plan to marry him, is to tell him. Straighten all that out before you start up with another man.”

“You never loved me, did you?” she asked, voice quivering with emotion as he turned away. “None of this meant anything to you.”

He turned, barely able to make her out in the darkness. “I loved your body, Alaina. I took pleasure and I gave pleasure. I never promised more.”

“Bastard!” she screamed as he hurried on. “I’ll get you for this. I swear I’ll get you.”

He walked out of the stable as quickly as possible without breaking into a run. All the way back to the office he cursed himself for becoming involved with her in the first place. In the future, he made a vow, he would be more discreet. As Sam had said, he had gotten himself into quite a mess.

Lost in thought, he was unaware…did not sense the men hiding in the shadows as he entered the alley leading to his office.

He felt only a sharp crack on the back of his head, and then he felt nothing at all.

Chapter Twenty

Thunder rolled across the majestic Kentucky mountains, lightning cracking against the skies. Branches whipped, fighting the storm.

Marilee trembled, dismounting and moving through the shadows. Her long, flowing white robe twisted around her legs as she stepped carefully through the weeds and brambles. Soon the skies would open and the rains would fall. She hoped by then to be on her way to meet Willis.

The flames of the burning cross lashed back angrily at the beating wind, casting a red glow across the white hooded figures. A gathering of ghosts, she thought.

She stood to the rear of the gathering near the woods, as always, so she could slip away. As always, her eyes scanned the sea of white robes. Who were these people? Neighbors? Friends? Had she dined with them? Were they decent people out of disguise, turning into hoodlums and murderers here in the hysterical air of the gathering?

Where, dear Lord, was it all going to end?

She thought of Travis. Where was he? Why wasn’t he here, doing his job?

Her thoughts turned to the way Alaina had behaved all day. When she had refused to come out of her room for breakfast, Marilee had not thought about it. But when the lunch hour arrived, and Rosa reported she would still not come out of her room, it had been time to do something.

Marilee had found her bundled up in bed, eyes red and swollen from crying.

“Whatever is wrong?” she asked in alarm.

“I don’t want to talk about him,” had been the tearful, angry reply. “Not now. Not ever. I wish he were dead.”

Travis. And there was nothing to be done, Marilee thought, for it was best ended. So Marilee had sent a tray to her sister’s room and made excuses to their father and instructed the servants to leave her alone. Time was the only thing that would help. Alaina might spend many days in her room, suffering alone.

Something caught Marilee’s attention, bringing her back to the present. A name. Whose? She strained to hear, admonishing herself. This was no time for woolgathering.

“…and we’ve had too many slipups lately,” shouted the man standing on the rock and overlooking them. “By the time we get there, the nigras are gone. Something’s wrong! It’s almost as though they’re being warned that we’re on the way!”

Marilee trembled. They were suspicious. She had known it would come to this. After several of their victims had escaped, they would start to wonder.

“Tonight the sonofabitch isn’t going to get away!” The man on the rock was yelling. “And we’ve got something special planned for him, too. Tar and feathers!”

The crowd cheered, and Marilee was sick. She had once seen a man after hot tar had been poured over him. She prayed never to see another. A layer of skin had come off with the tar, and she had heard his screams of agony.

“What’d the bastard do?” someone called out.

A hush fell as everyone waited for the leader to answer. Finally, in a strained voice, he said, “He helped a white man persuade a white woman to sneak off where she shouldn’t have gone. I say a nigger ain’t got no business getting involved with white man’s business.”

“No!” the robed figures shouted in unison.

“We’re going to teach him a lesson…set an example for other niggers.”

Someone cried, “Who is it? Who’re we after tonight?”

“That nigger that works for
Barbeau! Willis!” the leader shouted back.

Quickly Marilee turned away, checking herself immediately. There was an urgency, yes, but she had to remember to be cautious. With short, hesitant steps, she moved sideways toward the woods.

The leader was saying that a brother had an announcement to make concerning problems in another county. Another Klan group needed assistance. It would give Marilee a little time.

She quickened her pace, daring to run the last few steps, breathing a sigh of relief as she reached the cover of the foliage and stooped down. Thank God, she thought as she began to crawl forward on her hands and knees, she knew the way by heart.

She groped for the familiar landmarks, knowing the horses were nearby. All she had to do was lead her own mount away, out of hearing range, leap upon him, and thunder through the night to Willis, who would be at the springhouse. He would have to go far away and probably not return. He had been a good friend, and she would miss him. Perhaps one day law would be restored and he could return. She would cling to that thought. There were so pitifully many just like him who had been forced to run, leaving family behind, leaving their homes.

Fighting tears, she found her horse, dread rising in her. She could never deny fear of the ride. Only when it was over could she breathe easily.

She walked the horse to a safe distance. Suddenly, with an explosion of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning, the skies opened and the rains poured down. But, she thought frantically, that would not so stop the Klan, so it must not stop her.

Thoughts jumbled together, blurring, as she walked faster, her robe soaked. Her only advantage was that the others had no way of knowing where Willis was.

The winds were screaming, whipping the rain to a slashing fury. Walking was becoming almost impossible. She had to mount the horse. It would be difficult in the mud, but by God, she had to try.

She had her left foot in the stirrup and was about to swing her right leg up and over when she felt something hard and cold jammed into her back.

“Just hold it right there or I’ll blow you to hell,” the harsh voice growled.

Terror washed over her. She stared straight ahead, praying that when the gun exploded, it would be over quickly.

“I been watching you,” the man behind her snarled. “We knowed we had a traitor, and when I seen you sneak off tonight, I knew I had you, you goddamn nigger-lovin’ bastard.”

He yanked the hood from her head, then gasped. “A woman! Shit! A woman! Hey, Higgins, c’mere! I got him, only
he’s a she.”

Heavy footsteps crashed through the woods and her captor clamped a beefy hand on her shoulder to spin her around. Lightning streaked across the sky, lighting up the night for an instant. “I’ll be damned! Marilee Barbeau! What in the hell you doin’ out here, woman?”

She pulled her wet hair back from her face and stared up at the hooded man defiantly. Looking right at the slits in the hood, she said firmly, “I’m here because somebody has to stop you lunatics! Yes, it’s me, but I’m not a traitor. I never belonged. I never swore to secrecy. It goes to show how damn stupid you really are, that a woman could penetrate your secret meetings.”

“If you weren’t a woman, I’d blow you away here and now,” he growled, pushing the gun into her stomach threateningly.

“Hey, leave her be!” The other man appeared. Then he recognized her and swore, “Damn! It can’t be you!”

“It is me,” she matched his voice with his large build. “And it’s you, Tom Higgins. I might’ve known you would be involved in this. You always were a scoundrel! Donald despised you, and so do I. It’s going to give me great pleasure to see you behind bars.”

“You keep talking like that, and you won’t live to see nothin’, little lady.” He jerked off his hood and faced her. The man holding the gun reached for his hood, also, but Tom snapped, “Don’t. She don’t know who you are. No need in her knowing any more than she already does.”

“Okay. But what do we do with her? I ain’t never killed a woman before.”

“You mean there’s an atrocity you haven’t committed?” She threw all fear away, anger replacing terror. “I find that hard to believe. A man who hides behind a hood and terrorizes Negroes will not stop at killing a woman. Go ahead and pull the trigger. Show what a big man you are.”