Blood of the Hunters by Jeff Rovin & Ralph Compton

Author:Jeff Rovin & Ralph Compton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

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A quarter hour later, watching through the stained glass window in the front of the church, Molly saw the curtains draw shut in the bathroom. With a gift of bread and cheese tied in a white cloth, and a skin filled with water the priest personally drew from the well, she hurried across the street to the stable to get her horse.

Under cover of the falling twilight, she slipped from Buzzard Gulch and turned her horse west. That was where the homesteaders all lived and where she was likely to find Dr. Stockbridge.

Unfortunately, what she found was Promise Cuthbert. The man had lured her out by telling Raspy Nikolaev to prepare the bathroom for him alone. Then he had gotten his horse and waited behind Tom Neal’s jail, where he had a view of the front and the back of the church. When she left, he galloped ahead. There was nothing but Gunnison more than a day’s ride to the east. She would not be going there, dressed as she was.

As soon as she neared the sheriff’s office, the last building in town, Cuthbert trotted forward. She stopped, and the two stood with their horses facing on the cold, windy plain. She was cold, despite the seasonal shawl she had pulled on. He looked ominous in his dark, granite posture against the sinking sun.

“Where you going, Molly?”

“For a ride.”

“This hour? Dressed like that, with no coat?”

“I know how to make a fire, and Reverend Michaels gave me food—I just want to be alone for a while.”

“Where? On the plains?”

“That’s right. To clear my thoughts.”

He laughed. “Girl, you must think me the biggest jackass this side of the Mississippi. I don’t know what you’re up to, but I want you to go to the hotel with me.”

“Not tonight.”

“That was not me requesting. I’m telling you. There’s something not right, and I want to find out what it is.”

While Molly was frozen, considering what other options there might be, Cuthbert rode forward a few paces and grabbed the bridle of her horse. Being bold was one thing; being reckless was something else altogether. There was no choice then, as she had already come to realize.

The two returned to the hotel and went upstairs. Nikolaev was surprised and saddened to see Molly. She gave him a look that said she was all right, for now. Cuthbert took his bath and Molly soaped and scrubbed him—considering and dismissing the idea of running when he was naked and in the water. For the safety of Molly and Yi, there was no lock on the door. But Cuthbert put his six-shooter on the floor beside the big tin tub. Given the man’s threadbare patience with her, Molly did not want to risk angering him further.

Not before she had a plan for getting away.

Until the confrontation in the church, Molly had not thought about doing anything other than somehow getting word to Dr. Stockbridge that there were men searching for him. She did not for a moment believe the doctor had “ambushed” Grady Foxborough.

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