Page 86 of The Heart’s Charge

Althea was awake. And moving around, judging by the silhouette that occasionally darkened the bedroom curtain. Did she know someone suspected her of being involved with the snatchers? Did she plan to sneak out of town in the dead of night? If she succeeded, what would become of the missing children? Of Mark? Would they remain lost forever?

Katherine couldn’t allow that to happen.

Setting her lantern on the ground by the back stoop, Katherine reached for the narrow railing and crept up the back stairs. She fit her hand to the latch. The door opened.

Katherine stepped inside the small kitchen and closed the door softly behind her.

“It’s about time you got back,” Althea called from another room. Her bedchamber, most likely. “I’m nearly packed. The smith didn’t haggle over the amount again, did he? I don’t mind paying extra for his discretion, but if he thinks to extort me, I’ll send Miguel after him.”

Miguel. Althea was involved! Katherine crossed the kitchen, taking care not to click her heels on the wooden floor. Not only involved, but the way she talked about ordering Miguel around, she might actually be the person in charge.

“He and Dorsey should have destroyed the evidence by now. I hated to collapse the mine, but it couldn’t be helped. Production was pitiful anyway. Daddy will be disappointed, but he’ll understand. I left enough raw ore at the site to cover the men’s share, so we need never see them again. Everything’s going to plan. We need only to—”

Althea appeared in the doorway, a pile of petticoats in her hands. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing Katherine, but they normalized quickly. She tossed her armload of undergarments onto the bed, then casually stepped into the hall.

“Miss Palmer. Have you taken up housebreaking, then? I must say, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Where’s Mark?” Katherine demanded, doing her best to ignore the gooseflesh prickling uneasily across her nape.

“You mean that handsome Mr. Wallace?” Althea smirked as she leaned a hip against the side wall. “Gone, I suppose. I saw him leave town this morning with that partner of his. I don’t expect they’ll be back.”

Katherine’s heart clenched. Her distress must have shown on her face, for a flash of triumph flared in Althea’s eyes.

Something raw and fierce surged inside Katherine in response. “You’re wrong, Althea. Mr. Brooks did return. And he had quite a tale to tell.”

Uncertainty flickered in the teacher’s eyes, but only for a moment. “Did he? And who exactly did he tell this tale to? You, I suppose?”

“And Deputy Bronson. A search party will be leaving at first light.”

Althea smiled. “Oh, I don’t think so, dear.”

Katherine heard the scuff of shoe leather on wood a moment too late. A man grabbed her from behind, one hand snaking around her middle and lifting her off the ground as the other closed over her mouth to muffle her scream.

“You see,” Althea said, pushing away from the wall to saunter forward like a tigress inspecting the injured prey her cub had just dropped at her feet, “Deputy Bronson works for me.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-SIX

What d’ya want me to do with her, sis?”

Sis? Katherine’s struggling stuttered to a halt. She looked up. Examined Althea’s hair and eyes. The shape of her face. The deputy had similar coloring. Both were tall and slender. Their eyes were different, though. Deputy Bronson had brown eyes, while Althea’s were green. His face was longer and more pointed too. Yet a resemblance existed . . . if one knew to look for it.

“Tie her up and stuff her in the pantry for now.” Althea gestured toward the kitchen. “We’ll have to take her with us. We can drop her off at Miguel’s camp, let him deal with her.”

“That’ll add time to our trip,” the deputy grumbled. “We’re already gonna have to lead the team with lanterns all the way to Llano.”

“Quit your complaining, Ernest. The train doesn’t leave until nine, and we only have to use the lanterns until dawn. We’ve got time for a short side trip.” Althea shot a glare at Katherine. “We can’t leave her around to tell people what she knows.” She shook her head and made a tsk sound. “You really shouldn’t have stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, Miss Palmer.”

“How could you?” Katherine’s angry question sounded more like Ow ood oo with the deputy’s hand covering her mouth, but talking caused one of the deputy’s fingers to slip between her lips. Katherine immediately bit down.

“Ow!” The deputy yanked his hand away from her face. Unfortunately, he had enough presence of mind to maintain his grip on her midsection. In fact, when she didn’t start screaming, he opted to secure both her arms behind her with his hands.

Screaming would only lead to a gag being applied, and Katherine needed to learn as much information about Mark and the missing boys as possible. Escape could wait.

“You’re a teacher,” Katherine spat at Althea while Bronson dragged her backward. “You’re supposed to protect children. Nurture them. How could you participate in their abduction?”

“Participate?” A humorless laugh erupted from Althea. “I’ll have you know I never abducted a single child.” Her arrogant smile turned Katherine’s stomach. “I did, however, orchestrate the entire endeavor.”