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Her hands trembling, she reached out and slowly closed his eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “May the good Lord be with you.”
Sobbing, she slowly stood up and went back to where her parents lay.
Fortunately their eyes were closed so that she wouldn’t have to look into them and see death.
Weak now from shock and despair, she knelt beside them. Smoke still billowed into the sky and ash now blew in the wind, swirling like small tornadoes along the death-ridden ground.
Nicole gazed at her father. “How could you have lied?” she whispered, remembering the very moment he had promised he would never gamble again, and how sincerely he had said it to Nicole and her mother.
“Papa, if you only knew the worst of it,” she said sadly. “You are responsible for the deaths of these people who trusted you enough to move into your town. It is all because of you and your love of gambling. Even my precious mother, your beloved wife, paid for your…your…stupidity, your sins!”
She closed her eyes to try to compose herself, and while they were closed, the name that Harold
had spoken to her flashed into her mind.
“Sam Partain,” she said aloud, her eyes opening quickly as she looked into the distance, where the murderers had no doubt disappeared.
She looked down at her father again. “Papa, I remember that name,” she murmured. “He is that gambler you bragged about having beaten in poker more than once. Papa, apparently Sam Partain tracked you down and gambled this one last time with you. But this time, Papa, you were the loser. You lost your life.”
Again Nicole looked around her, truly afraid when a sudden thought came to her like a slap in the face.
Sam Partain held a grudge against her, too. She had met him once or twice and had been repelled by his rough ways. When he’d tired to cozy up to her, she’d turned a cold shoulder.
She remembered now his angry reaction to her rejection.
She gazed down at her father again. “Oh, Papa, I pray that while you were gambling with Sam Partain you didn’t say anything about me being on my way to town,” she said, her voice drawn. “I…I…know how you loved bragging about your only daughter.”
Sam Partain had killed everyone who had anything to do with her father. Nicole truly feared that he might feel the need to take her life, too.
If so, he might even at this moment be looking for her. He might be nearby.
She was afraid that he might not rest until he saw that Nicole joined her parents in death.
Yes, she must leave. And soon. But first she must say a little prayer over her parents’ bodies.
She knew that she couldn’t chance taking the time to bury them. She was too afraid that Sam might even now be watching her from a distance.
Sobbing, Nicole buried her face in her hands. Through her sobs she whispered a soft prayer. Then, as her eyes slowly opened, she saw something in her father’s vest pocket that made her aching sadness turn to sudden anger. There, in full view, was a pack of playing cards.
Her father had promised never to gamble again!
He had lied!
Her fingers trembling, Nicole yanked the cards from his pocket and threw them into the wind.
She gazed at her father’s clean-shaven face, which was now covered with his own life’s blood. The hole in his forehead was a hideous reminder of the violent way he and her mother had died.
She could not help wondering which of them had been the first to be shot, while the other helplessly watched!
Not wanting to think any more about the details of this horrible massacre, she stood up quickly.
She looked through the smoke at the mountain that was visible not far from what remained of Tyler City.
She would find protection there, and when she felt it was safe enough, she would ride to the closest fort, or town, where she could report the massacre.
But for now, she must hide. She ran to her horse and mounted it.
All she knew about this mountain was that it was inhabited by Navaho Indians. She was aware that she should be afraid of Indians, but at this moment, she was more afraid of Sam Partain.
