The Chisholm Trail Bride by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Author:Kathleen Y'Barbo [Y’Barbo, Kathleen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781643522890
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

It wasn’t yet full daylight, yet William Gentry was pacing the confines of his office like a caged panther when Wyatt arrived. Mrs. Gentry sat quietly dabbing her eyes in a chair beneath the map of the Chisholm Trail. Neither looked as if they had slept in quite some time.

“I got your message,” Wyatt said. “Something happened to Red?”

“Close the door,” was the boss’s immediate response as he paused behind his desk.

Wyatt complied and turned to face Mr. Gentry. “How can I help?”

“Where was Ben Barnhart last night?” he demanded.

“In his room at the Driskill where he’s been every night this week. If he had so much as sneezed, I would know about it.” Wyatt paused. “Why?”

A look passed between husband and wife. “Eliza is missing,” Mrs. Gentry said, her voice so soft he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

“One of my men was out on patrol out on the western range and found Red. Thought he was dead, and he was close to it, but the doc says it was some sort of apoplectic episode. All I could get out of him was that he drove Eliza out in the wagon to look at the stars. That’s all he remembers.”

“Where is he?”

“Doc’s with him in the bunkhouse. I tried to bring him up here and set him up in a nice room, but the old coot just wanted his own bunk.” Mr. Gentry chuckled, though there was no humor in the sound. “That’s not true. He didn’t want his bunk either. It took the doc giving him a dose of something to make him sleep in order to keep him from joining the search party.”

That sounded like Red. The man was not only ageless but also the toughest cowboy he’d ever met.

“Did Miss Gentry give any indication that she might leave before last night? Was there an argument of any kind?” His gaze went from Eliza’s mother to her father. “Anything?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “I knew she’d be out last night. I doubt she realized I kept such close tabs on her, but after Red came to me to say he’d caught Eliza taking a wagon from the barn after midnight last fall, I figured it was easier to let her do what she would do but put Red in charge of keeping her safe. He said she didn’t seem to mind.”

Wyatt shook his head. “So there was a regular arrangement? Something that anyone who was watching would know to expect?”

“Every new moon, so yes, just about the same time each month. Red said they rarely said a word. She’d show up at the barn and he’d throw a blanket in the back of the wagon. When they got to that hill over at the western range, he’d sit there with his rifle at the ready and she’d climb into the back of the wagon and do whatever it is she did.”

“She counted falling stars,” he said. “And looked for whatever new constellation she’d learned about in those books she reads.”

Mrs. Gentry smiled.

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