She was not asking forgiveness.Caleb understood that.She was asking him to see the whole of it.The wrong done.The wrong returned.The lives broken.The lives helped.Nothing about it was clean, and maybe that was what made it feel true.
Caleb stood and went to the door of the shack and looked out at the remains of the deserted mining camp and at the hills and mountains beyond.Laws were made in cities like Denver and Washington, and the people who made the laws mostly lived in them places.Out here, it was a rough and violent country.The laws from back East didn’t always work, and the truly guilty never felt the hand of justice.
Wells Fargo’s hired men were responsible for four deaths in the Fields family.Over five years, she had—without bloodshed—exacted what she felt they were due.Because of Horner, blood was spilled, and two men were dead at Dodger’s hand.Now, the killers themselves had paid the price.
And who came out ahead?Caleb thought.Widows.
Frontier justice.It was rough, and maybe not what the judge was looking for, but sometimes life had a way of working things out.
Behind him, Doc said nothing.Caleb knew his friend well enough to understand the silence.The doctor was waiting to see what kind of man Caleb intended to be.
ChapterForty
Two days later,Caleb and Doc and Sheila got on the trail back to Elkhorn.
The horses, tied in a line behind them, carried the strongboxes with the cash and letters and certificates they’d contained, as well as the weapons that had belonged to the outlaws, the sheriff, and his men.
The weather was clear, and the morning sun was bright in the sky.The trail, hills, and valleys held no mystery for Caleb now.Many of the same dangers existed, but he was traveling over familiar ground.The last time he’d come this way, however, his attention had been focused on tracking outlaws and killers.Today, he could simply breathe the cool mountain air and revel in the endless forests, the power of the river, and the majesty of the soaring peaks.
“Do you think everything she told us was the truth?”Doc asked, interrupting his thoughts.
They had only an hour or so of easy riding left till they reached the Denver road, and Devil’s Claw loomed behind them.
“It would be easy enough to write to those charities.I could do it, if you like,” Sheila offered.Her father had told her in confidence everything about Mrs.Fields.
Doc agreed.“Yes, that part of it is verifiable.But what about giving up the life of a road agent and settling down in California?”
Caleb knew Doc had begun to develop a friendship with the mother and son as they both recuperated.He shot a questioning look at his friend.“I thought you trusted her.”
“I do.But how can a woman with her quickness and drive settle on a ranch after all she’s done?It certainly will be a relatively quiet life.”
“You should have asked her,” Sheila told him.“I am certain Mrs.Fields has plans, even if she didn’t share them.I think she’s a woman who knows exactly how to put her abilities to use.”
Caleb sensed that Sheila’s comment to her father had as much to do with her own future plans.The night she’d intended to speak to him, she was interrupted by Dodger’s appearance.Since then, she’d had no chance to tell him what she wanted to do with her life.Or rather, what she didn’t want to do.
Doc turned to him again.“Have you decided what you’re going to say to the judge when we get to Elkhorn?”
“Nearly.”
After talking to Mrs.Fields, Caleb decided that he wasn’t going to take the mother and son back to Elkhorn.They were mending nicely, according to Doc.She was even up and moving about a little.So he left them at the mining camp after getting their promise that, when she was ready to travel, they’d go to Denver.From there, they’d board a train for California.And that their days as road agents were behind them.
“You’d better decide soon,” Doc said.“Because we need to have the same story.”
Caleb’s instincts told him Mrs.Fields was telling the truth about what had happened to her family in Montana, how she’d approached getting her revenge, and what she’d done with the money.
Who was he to throw stones at a woman who promised to change her life and start herself and her son down a new road?He didn’t see that hanging them would do much good.They wanted to start over, and he wasn’t going to stand in their way.
Hell, he’d done it himself.
More than once.And never because any judge or badge had shown him mercy.Sometimes a man survived because someone looked away long enough for him to become someone better.
When they reached the Denver road, Doc pointed to a group of riders approaching from the direction of Elkhorn.Even from a distance Caleb immediately recognized the hairy, boar-like figure in gray at the head of the others.
Doc seemed to recognize him too.“Isn’t that Zeke, the miner who works for Judge Patterson on occasion?”
“The very man.”
“We still haven’t worked out a suitable story, Caleb.”
