Fair Play by Deeanne Gist

Author:Deeanne Gist
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books

UPSTAIRS BEDROOM24

“The Hull House women had him carry her upstairs and lay her in one of their beds.”

CHAPTER

29

He was going to kill them. First, he was going to hunt them down. Then he was going to lay them out cold, tie them up, and haul them in. Only he couldn’t haul them in. He only had jurisdiction over the World’s Columbian Exposition.

Frustration gnawed at his gut. Rangers had jurisdiction over every county in Texas, and sometimes more, depending on whom they were pursuing. But the colonel had made it clear. Hunter didn’t have any authority in Chicago.

Crossing his arms, he stood over Billy. The Hull House women had had him carry her upstairs and lay her in one of their beds. They hadn’t said a word about how filthy her gown was. Those kinds of things didn’t seem to matter to them.

He shook his head. He’d never met any women like them. But now that he had, he couldn’t help but hold them up as a standard.

Billy’s eyes slowly opened. She’d woken up from her faint the first time within minutes and started telling everybody what she needed—though each word had taken its toll. She now had her head wrapped and she held a block of cloth-wrapped ice against her jaw.

“How you feeling?” he asked, keeping his voice low.

Instead of answering, she gave him a half smile, then grimaced at the pain and let her eyes close again. Yep, some heads were going to roll. Just as soon as she was strong enough, he’d have her tell the police what had happened. Then he’d lead them to the perpetrators.

When he thought about what those fellows had planned, he trembled with rage. That rank jail was too good for the likes of them.

A motherly type stepped into the room, her bearing confident, her dark hair streaked with gray, her figure thick about the waist. “You can go now, Mr. Scott. We’ll all take turns sitting with her.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “Is she going to be all right?”

“She says nothing’s broken and that she’ll mend. Since she’s the doctor, I guess we’ll have to take her at her word.”

“I thought I’d still sit a spell, if that’s okay. Just to make sure.”

She crossed to a ewer in the corner and poured water into a bowl. “She’s wet, dirty, and uncomfortable. I can’t remedy that until you’re gone.”

Sighing, he scooped up his hat from a wall peg, then leaned over Billy. “I’m going to leave you with this gal, now. If you need me, you just tell her and I’ll be here lickety-split.”

Though she didn’t open her eyes, she offered him the barest of smiles—this time without a grimace.

Straightening, he watched the woman wring out a washcloth.

“I’ll be over in the lot on Polk catawampus to the nursery,” he said. “We’re cleaning up some debris. If she calls for me or takes a turn for the worse, you come fetch me, you hear?”

“We’ll come get you if anything changes.”

Tapping his hat against his leg, he took one last look at Billy, then left the room.

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