Diablo by Georgina Gentry

Author:Georgina Gentry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2013-05-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Kruger was in a frenzy over Sunny’s disappearance over the next several days. “How dare anyone kidnap her? It’s spittin’ in my face, that’s what it is!”

He wired the governor and rode over to the fort to talk to the commander there. The sheriff at Krugerville deputized extra deputies, and every member of the Stock Growers Association and all their cowboys soon knew of the kidnapping. As the days passed, Kruger had reward posters on every tree and fence post in the county, offering a big reward in gold for information leading to her safe return.

He called Joe into the ranch house again and made him go over every detail about what had happened. “Tell me again: was there more than one kidnapper?”

Joe backed away, as if fearing he might be beaten again. “I—I’m not sure, boss. If there was, some of them were hiding because I only remember one. I’d swear he was riding your black horse, and that part-wolf dog of yours was with him.”

“What?” That sent Kruger into a rage of gritting his teeth and slamming his fist against the wall. “The gall of him! I’ll take his hide off slowly, an inch at a time. Takes my woman, my horse, and my dog? it’s a deliberate insult, that’s what! Can you remember anything about what he looked like?”

Joe tried to remember, his weasel face screwing up in thought.

Kruger wanted to hit him, beat him. “If you hadn’t been drunk, you might have saved her.”

Joe threw his hands up before his face. “Now, boss, he came out of nowhere, all dressed in black. I still ain’t sure it wasn’t some kind of devil.”

“What’d he look like?” Kruger sucked his teeth and tried to imagine the scene.

“I’m not sure. His face was in shadow, but I think he was dark.”

“Injun? Mexican?”

Joe tried to remember, shook his head. “Not sure. Wait, I do remember he was ugly, ugly as a monster.” That puzzled Kruger. He chewed his lip. “Ugly? That could be a thousand men.”

Joe struggled, his face furrowed. “No, I—I mean like one side of his face had been caught in a meat grinder or a forest fire.”

Hurd lit a cigar but didn’t offer Joe one. “If he’s that ugly, seems like we’d remember if we ever saw him in the county before.”

“He looked like something out of my worst nightmare,” Joe said. “There’s something familiar about him, but I’m not sure what it was.”

“Looks like if he was that bad, you’d remember,” Kruger snapped.

Joe seemed to be struggling as he played with the brim of his Stetson. “It’s—it’s almost there, but I can’t quite get a hold of it.”

“Oh, hell,” Kruger shoved him, “you’re an idiot! Go out and help the boys. I want a reward poster on every tree in every surrounding county and town within fifty miles.”

Joe sighed. “Boss, we already got them in Krugerville and over in Wildfire. That’s all the towns there are for quite a few miles, unless we put them up in Buffalo and that’s a farmers’ town.

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