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"Do you mean… kill me?"
"You're not so dumb after all."
"But why?"
"When Frederick brought you here, he thought you were an innocent kid. A virgin. But now? Even associating with a common criminal? You're too soiled for what Frederick wanted you for."
"I just don't understand," Eugenia whined.
"He wanted a girl with the face of an innocent angel to present to the public. Not a used whore."
Eugenia laughed loudly. "Then the laugh's on the two of you," she said.
"What do you mean?" Clarissa hissed.
"My first night away from my Papa's homestead, I was seduced by Drew Jamieson. The first night I spent in Cripple Creek I spent it in the Old Homestead Parlour. I was drugged and taken sexually by both a man and a woman."
"You're making this all up."
"All your precious time has been wasted on me," Eugenia said
further, then pounced forward, knowing that she could make an effort to escape. Clarissa was smaller than she. Surely she could fight her way out of this. But she stopped when she felt a stiff piece of metal being thrust into her side.
"Get back," Clarissa hissed, pointing a small pistol toward Eugenia. "Don't try anything else, or I'll have to use this on you."
"My God," Eugenia moaned. "How could you be so cruel? And how do you think you and Frederick will get away with this?"
"We have before. We will again. The mountains can hide many a body. Yours will just be feed for the bobcats. The sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. But Frederick will have to be the one who decides this. Now move on out of this room."
"Where are you taking me?"
"In the room down the hall. Move."
Eugenia moved ahead of Clarissa, her eyes moving desperately around her, but she knew that she was trapped. She had no way of escape. Not while a gun was being held on her. A door to a room that she and Drew hadn't entered the previous evening opened, revealing shackles at the end of chains hanging from the side walls. "You don't mean… You're not…" Eugenia gasped.
"Yes. Move on over there," Clarissa ordered.
Eugenia did as told and watched for a chance to break free as Clarissa began fumbling with one of the shackles. But Clarissa held the gun poised in front of her too securely for Eugenia to do anything but what she was told.
"Put your hands through these," Clarissa ordered.
Eugenia placed her combs and Drew's watch on the floor before her, then did what was demanded of her. She grew sick inside as she heard the snap of the lock on each, already feeling the blood rushing from her fingers, having to hold her hands stretched upward above her. All she could think about now was what Dawn had told her about Frederick, and Drew running out on her, leaving her in such a mess. She watched through a teary mist as Clarissa left the room, leaving her alone with only the grayness of the day as a companion as the dim light entered through the one window of the room. As in the room where she and Drew had made love, this room was colorless; the walls a clear, unpainted plaster, and the floors of faded-out boards. Everything was so quiet. The snow on the road and ground seemed always to make it that way, muffling all sounds. But she was in a room away from the front of the house and would know when Frederick returned. She would hear the carriage being taken to the stables. She hated to think of what the night would bring for her. First Frederick pleasuring himself with her in any way he pleased. Then maybe even death.
* * *
Chapter Twelve
The darkening of the sky outside the tower window made Eugenia aware of the time. Her wrists throbbed and her head ached from being in one position for so long. She had listened closely, all day, for the return of Clarissa or maybe even Frederick. But nothing. She had just been left to fret over the situation she had now gotten herself into. It was unbelievable to her that so many evil things could keep happening to her, and in such a short length of time. But it would probably all end now if Frederick had his way with her and treated her as all past girls, as Clarissa had said. Yes, maybe it would all end. Maybe she would be left on her beloved mountain as feed for a black bear, or possibly a bobcat.
She looked toward the window again, wishing she could see her mountain. If only she hadn't ventured around its base, had stayed home with her Mama, Papa and Elizabeth. If only she hadn't wanted more from her life than what her Papa had planned for her. But it was too late now. Her life was drawing to an end. She just knew it. She could still see the hate in Clarissa's dark eyes. Maybe if she had let Clarissa have her way with her, let her touch her, kiss her. Maybe Clarissa wouldn't have done this to her. But Eugenia was proud that she had refused. At least she would die filled with pride, not shame.
Her eyes settled downward to the shadows of small objects lying on the floor below her. Drew's gold watch glistened back at her, almost mockingly, through the semidarkness making her remember so much about Drew. In a way, it made her almost hate him for having deserted her once again. She had expected to have been left behind, had even almost resigned herself to that fact. But she had thought he would see her once more, explain to her once again the reasons why. But Eugenia knew that if he had waited to tell her these things he would have surely been caught by Clarissa and sent back to jail, or maybe hanged. She had seen, once, only briefly, the hangman's noose behind the jailhouse, and had wondered how many lives had been snuffed out by this ugly piece of rope. The thought of Drew possibly hanging from it made nausea rise in her throat. She swallowed hard, so relieved that Drew was indeed gone, and hoped that he would keep traveling until he was out of the reach of the law—and Frederick. And maybe, in the future, they could meet again.
A stirring of noise behind the door that led from the room to the hallway drew Eugenia's keen attention. She even slowed her breathing, to listen more carefully. And when the door began to open slowly, she slid her body more closely against the coldness of the wall, waiting, then let her body grow limp when she saw the small, smiling face of Kiyomasu.
"I'll get Missie Genia free," he said, scurrying across the room, the whiteness of his attire so identifiable against the now almost dark room. "I told you this was a house of crazies," he added, pulling a key from his front apron pocket. He reached up and unlocked the shackles on Eugenia's wrists, then caught her in his arms as she fell away from the wall.
"Kiyomasu, how did you know?" she asked, tears beginning to fall, watching his slanted eyes also begin to mist.
