The Wild One by ELAINE BARBIERI

Author:ELAINE BARBIERI [BARBIERI, ELAINE]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-05-19T20:54:49+00:00

Chapter Seven

"It's almost morning and Tanner hasn't come home yet, Manuelo!"

"Si, senora, I know."

"So you know! What good does that do me?"

Clare moved a shaky hand to her brow, then strode across the darkened kitchen toward the window where first light was breaking across the night sky. Day would soon dawn, bright and clear, but the day would not be bright for her. She had known it would not after she had risen from her solitary bed and gone to Tanner's room to discover that he was not there.

A frenzy of rage had swept over her as she pictured Tanner and that woman together in clear detail. She had stormed downstairs to Manuelo's room behind the kitchen and awakened him to vent her fury.

Still in its throes, she breathed heavily, her slender body shaking with frustrated passion.

"Senora Clare . . ."

Rounding on Manuelo with unrestrained rage, Clare hissed, "Don't even speak to me if you have nothing to offer but platitudes!"

"Do not despair, senora. You sent me to town to learn what I could about the woman, but you had already retired when I returned and I did not want to wake you."

Clare went suddenly still. "Did you find out something?"

"The woman is new in town. She is employed at the Roundup Saloon."

"A saloon!"

"She was hired to entertain—to sing. Senor Tanner met her the first night she was there. He fought a man called Billy Joe Thompson who sought to replace him at her side. It was a vicious encounter that stirred much talk. Senor Thompson has not come back to the Roundup since."

"Tanner fought a man for her—for a saloon woman?"

"Si. The woman is well liked in the saloon."

"I'm not interested in how well liked she is! What else do you know?"

"The woman speaks vaguely of her past, claiming that she moves often."

"Is that it?" Clare's fair complexion flushed. "Is that all you've learned?"

"No, senora." Manuelo held out a folded sheet of newspaper. "I searched the woman's room and found this hidden in a suitcase under her bed."

Snatching the sheet from him, Clare unfolded it with shaking hands. She scanned the newspaper her frustration mounting.

"At the bottom . . . Senor Tanner's name ..."

Her gaze narrowing on the portion Manuelo indicated, Clare read:

LOCAL MAN KILLED IN BANK ROBBERY

April 9, 1886—Matthew Logan, 31, local rancher, was shot and killed during a robbery of the Foster State Bank. Three men escaped with the contents of the bank vault. The leader was identified as Terry Malone, a drifter who was seen in town the previous night. The other two men were unidentified. Arrested by Sheriff Ira Glennan for a suspected part in the robbery was a fourth man identified as Tanner McBride of Sidewinder, Texas, who was subsequently released when witnesses could not positively identify him as being present in the bank at the time of the robbery.

Matthew Logan is survived by a sister, Caldwell Logan. His funeral was attended by Miss Logan and local ranchers and citizens who deeply grieve the death of this popular rancher.

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