“I can’t say about Wendell, but Dodger is out there, big as life.He seems to have led Sheriff Horner right to your door.”
“Dodger?I shouldn’t be surprised.”She clutched the blanket.“We only hired him for this last job.He’s a nasty young man.”
“Well, you’re right about that.”
“If he’s working for the sheriff, he probably turned Wendell in.”
Or killed him, Doc thought.Dodger was cold and heartless.
“Poor Wendell.They’ll hang him for sure.”She sighed bitterly.“I suppose we’ll all hang.”
The outlaws were asking Lucas questions outside about where the loot was hidden.And they weren’t doing it gently.The young man didn’t appear to be answering anything.
“I’m not so sure that’s what Horner has in mind.”
Doc frowned thoughtfully at his patient.As weak and feverish as she was, Mrs.Fields was clearly a well-spoken woman.It still amazed him that she could be the leader of a gang of stagecoach robbers.Be that as it may, if they were to somehow miraculously survive, he needed to know more about her.
“Who knows you’re the leader?”he asked.
“Everyone who worked for me.But it was a secret they’d all sworn to keep.And I trusted them.I should say, I trusted all but…” The name withered on her lips.“Wendell was supposed to keep a close eye on him.”
“Not close enough, I’d reckon.”
Doc had known many men in his life like Dodger.They’d swear to anything.But if money was involved, they’d deny they ever made a promise.Men with no sense of honor.They’d kill their brother for a ten-dollar gold piece.
And Dodger would kill for far less.He’d seen it with his own eyes.
They were hurting Lucas badly now, trying to break him with blows and threats.Doc knew that as soon as they tired of that sport…or killed the boy…they’d be coming this way.
He forced himself not to look again.A physician’s instinct was to go to the injured, but charging into that circle of men would help no one.Not Lucas.Not Mrs.Fields.Not himself.
He went to her and picked up the bottle containing the last of the morphine and brought it to her lips.“I want you to drink what’s left and?—”
“I can’t.”She shook her head, fighting him.“I need to help Lucas.If I talk to them… I can’t if I’m drugged.”
Doc took hold of her arm and looked sternly at her.“That may be the only way you can save him.”
“What do you mean?”
He had a thousand questions and no time to ask them.
“Horner has thrown away his badge.From what I’m seeing, he’s working for himself.He and Dodger are trying to get Lucas to tell them where you’ve hidden the gang’s stolen money.Does your son know where it is?”
“Only what we took during this last robbery.”
“It sounds like they’re looking for more than that.”
“Everything we’ve taken from Wells Fargo for the past five years was divided among the men, except for a share that I kept and put away.Lucas doesn’t know what I did with that money.”
The voices outside were getting louder, more insistent.
“How much do they think you’re hiding?”
“The men told me that rumors have spread, exaggerating the truth.They say people believe we have a half million or more in gold and paper currency buried somewhere.”
Doc’s head swam with the number.Even if she had a fraction of that amount, she’d need an army to protect her.
“I have no interest in your money,” he said.“But you need to tell me something of the truth, so I know what to do when I face these men.Otherwise, I don’t know how I can protect you and your son.”
