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She took the canteen he offered, and drank until he pulled it away. "Why did daddy do it?" she asked softly. Not wanting to know, yet having to know. She still wasn't convinced Hawks was telling the truth.
"Every man has a reason fer doin' bad, at least the first time." Hawks seemed to study her for a minute. "Yore daddy had a weakness. He loved yore Mama with a passion. He was sorta obsessed with her. Aw yeah…he took the Indian girl a time or two, but it was your ma he loved. He was jealous of that Indian chief. Yore Ma cut him off a time or two and yore dad didn't take to that much. No man does. He only took my squaw when your ma thought she was pregnant again, the first time at least. That was for sure and certain. At least at first that was her excuse. He wanted to give her better than what he had, since she came from pretty prominent folks back in the east. Least that's what he told me. Oh, he could provide for her well enough, but he could not give her what she was used to."
Hawks went to his horse, loosened the reins and pulled the saddle off him. "So one night, he occasioned the bar in town, and we talked. Yore dad was a talker when he drank. I had to watch him 'cause a time or two I was scared he'd tell everything we done. Course, I'd have never known all this if he hadn't been drinkin'. It didn't take much convincing that he needed big money to do what he wanted. So he joined me in my plan to rob the bank. He actually took the idea over. We figured it out to the last detail. Yore daddy was smart like that. He could plan such things. Guess he was good at it. When the time came, I could depend on him to kill anyone who got in the way. You'd have never knowed he could kill so easy like, but he did. Yes siree, cold-blooded son of a gun. Despite the fact that he was a good daddy, he was an outlaw too. Sometimes you don't see the bad, 'cause he don't want you seein' the bad. He loved yore Ma and you kids. But, he shot the Deputy, that's why they kept after us so long. Dern near had us that first day, but an old farmer hid us out. Said he didn't like banks anyway."
Katherine took this story in with trepidation. The way Hawks said things made her feel very leery about her father now. He couldn't be making it all up. Could he? Could her father have been that cold hearted? Not the man she knew. She wanted to think Hawks was lying, but the more he talked, the more it all made sense. And taking the Indian girl, could he have done that, too? She'd seen her father look at her, and how the Indian girl smiled around him, but at the time she marked it up as being friendly. Her Pa always fed her and sent her home with Hawks with plenty of food. But what Hawks was saying was ugly. And that wasn't the way her father was. But she didn't know what to believe.
"Did the Deputy die?" Her voice sounded raspy now.
"I reckon he did or they wouldn't have kept at us so long. I expect it must have been pretty bad as mad as they was. The deputy was pretty wet behind the ears, just a kid."
/> "Is this why you been watching our place so long?" She looked at him now. "For the money?"
"Yep. Been waiting fer my chance. Didn't know about them soldiers, thought you were diggin' fer the gold yerself."
"Hawks for the last time, I didn't know about all of this…"
Chapter Sixteen
"My patience is a wearin' thin, girl. You gonna tell me where he hid that money or not?" Hawks asked, his gun in his hand.
"I don't know where it's at, Hawks. It's the honest to God truth," she cried as she sucked in air and prepared for the inevitable. "I knew nothing of this. It's all so shocking."
"If I'm lying why would I have you out here diggin' in the dirt? Ever think about that? I ain't here for my health. Now, you dig 'til we find it." Hawks nodded. He handed her the shovel she used to bury her folks.
"You just get started, anywhere you want to. It's here somewhere, that much I know." He nodded.
"You want me to dig?" she twisted her head in puzzlement at him as she sat in the shade against the barn wall.
"That's right. While I sit here in the shade and watch. You get tired enough and hot enough, you'll dig in the right place," He declared with a chuckle.
"What makes you so sure it's here?" she questioned.
"Where else would he put it? I been all over the valley checkin' in banks and stuff to see if he left anything. Not one cent. So it's got to be here on this land he refused to leave." Hawks chuckled again as though pleased with himself for figuring it out. "You think he cared about this piece of dirt? Naw…he buried that money here, that's why he didn't want to leave."
"Maybe the bankers didn't want to tell you," she quipped.
"Nope, they would've told me. I told them your Ma and Pa were laid up with the fever and dying and you and the kids were alone and needed that money. If there'd have been any, they would have come forth with it. Nope, he didn't put it in no bank. He buried it, right here."
Katherine shook her head, "How could you know that?"
"'Cause I knowed yore Pa. He didn't want to set foot off this land. Not as long as I was around. And the reason is the money is here, somewhere. So dig, girl. Quit wasting time."
Slowly she began to dig. At the time it didn't matter where. She had no idea where the money might be, even if there was any. But Hawks thought she did and as long as he thought so he wouldn't be killing her.
Hawks stood over her, scratching his chin, watching her. "This ain't where he buried it."
"No?" she asked staring at him, as the sweat trickled into her face, stinging her eyes. "Then where?"
"I don't know, but it aint here. Jest look, it's in plain site of the doorway. Why how could he have done that? He couldn't that's how. This ain't where it's at. You better think and think straight, girl," Hawks said as he pushed at her.
"Why don't you figure it out and tell me where to dig?" she suggested as she gained her balance once more.
"Don't get smart with me, you little whipper-snapper. You just dig, 'til I tell you to stop."
"But Hawks, I don't know where it is," she insisted.
"That's okay. We can stay here 'till we find it. Ain't in no hurry." Hawks snickered.
