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“Shortly after Rodriquez went on his rampage, your father turned himself in. He explained how you’d shot Mad Dog. Smith knew Rodriquez was set on finding you, and was willing to do whatever was needed to keep that from happening. He said he’d hid you in the mountains, but feared you’d be discovered. The judge was more than happy to enlist your father’s aid. Rodriquez had stolen the judge’s daughter. Your father aided in the capture of several of Rodriquez’s gang, but unfortunately, lost his life before Rodriquez was captured.”
Maddie covered her mouth to keep in a sob before she whispered, “Mad Dog hanged him.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m sorry to say he did.” The marshal sighed heavily. “Rodriquez seemed to disappear then. Most likely he saw the badge on Smith and the others he hanged that day. Knowing the law was so close to catching him, he went into hiding. We heard tales he’d gone to Mexico and others that he’d gone to Canada.”
“It was neither,” Lucky said. “He’d gone to California.”
Maddie nodded in agreement. “And changed his name.”
“We know that now,” the marshal said. “But it took a few years before it was discovered. He went down through Mexico and worked his way back up to California.”
“He ran henchmen up and down the coast, stealing young girls and selling them, mainly to ship captains who took them to Mexico or farther south,” Lucky said.
“He’s like a chameleon,” the marshal said. “Blends in so well he practically disappears whenever the law gets close.” He then asked, “How long have you been in Alaska?”
“Since spring,” Maddie answered. “Smitty, the miner I lived with in the mountains, died last fall and gave me enough money to go to California.”
Lucky stood up and started pacing. “Ridge tried stealing her. My uncle had partnered up with a local woman who hid girls Ridge and others like him pursued. We’d sneak them out of town and take them north to Seattle.”
Maddie held her breath, waiting for the lawman to ask if they were truly married like the men outside had. Even with everything else she’d just learned, it was that thought that still plagued her.
The marshal nodded. “I’ve heard that, how ship captains were helping those girls. I trailed Rodriquez to Seattle, and when I saw the boats sailing north, figured this is where he’d gone. I’ll catch him. Have no doubt about that, ma’am,” he said, addressing her with a steady gaze. “I suggest when you go south again, you stop in Clear Springs, Wyoming.”
“Why?” Lucky asked.
“Smith captured several men, and each one had a bounty on their head,” the marshal answered. “There’s a bank account in his and your name, ma’am, a pretty hefty one.”
Curtis Wyman appeared to be an honest and knowledgeable man. His eyes were kind, too, and his smile friendly, and he’d certainly been sincere while sharing information about her father, yet Maddie couldn’t help but point out, “Outlaws can’t claim bounties, or lawmen.”
“The judge insisted, ma’am. Your father rescued his daughter before Rodriquez sold her to a band of renegade Indians.”
Chapter Fourteen
A thick fog had formed inside Maddie’s head. For so many years she’d remembered her father one way, and couldn’t quite work her way around all the lawman said. Other memories, things she’d forgotten because she hadn’t wanted to remember them, were filtering in, too. How Bass had moved her and Smitty several times that first year, and how the last time she’d seen him, Bass had looked at her differently. His parting words that day had been to tell her everything would have been different if she’d been a boy.
All the time, she’d thought he’d been disappointed because she wasn’t a son who could have followed in his footsteps. Now she had to wonder if he’d said it because she’d been his daughter and he’d had to change his life because of her.
It was as if all she’d ever known, ever believed, had changed, and she wasn’t sure what to do about that.
The opening of the door snagged her attention. “Wait,” she said, jumping off the bed before Lucky could follow the marshal out the door. “Where are you going?”
Lucky said something quietly to the lawman before closing the door. “I won’t be gone long,” he told her. “I’ll have Albert stand guard at the door.”
