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"Maybe you should be. Anyone finds out you killed the Tyler boys they'll be after you. That was a dumb mistake, Hawks. You should have brought them along, and they could have helped us dig."
Hawks scratched his chin. "Yeah…you're right about that. But nobody's gonna worry about them Tyler boys. It will look like the Indians did it. So I ain't gonna worry about that. But I got my rifle. If anyone comes I'll just have to shoot them if they cause me any trouble," Hawks decided.
"Did Pa ever say anything about hiding the money?" Katherine kept stalling him. "I mean, did he say he buried it?"
"Nope, said he had it hid and nobody would find it," Hawks said.
"Then what makes you think we'll find it?"
"'Cause if we don't, you are a dead woman…" He snickered again and went to sit down on the porch once more.
Katherine kept digging in the heat. She was exhausted, but she knew she couldn't stop. She saw Hawks expression changing every few minutes. She wouldn't be surprised if they both didn't have a little delirium from the excessive heat.
If her Pa really did steal from the bank in Missouri, he buried it here. Was there a logical place to look for it? She couldn't believe all the things Hawks said about her father. However, Hawks being here, bent on finding the money led her to admit to herself it might have happened.
Her father had been such a wonderful man. She couldn't believe it of him. And yet, if there was money here, Hawks wasn't lying. She hoped she didn't find any. And yet, it niggled in the back of her mind, if it wasn't here, why would he be wasting time here when the law would soon be after him for the killings?
She looked around the entire yard, and nothing sparked a memory. Not once had her father said anything about the money or a bank or even hinted at something this bizarre. It hurt to think of him this way. She wanted to deny it, but the longer she dug, the more she began to realize Hawks was probably right. Her father had been a thief. If Hawks hadn't lied, then what he said about her mother was probably true too.
Oh it was too hot, she couldn't think straight any more. Her mind was rambling.
For her own sake she needed to find the money if she could. Hawks might kill her, and she suddenly realized she did not want to die.
Chase Rivers had given her much more than his love in her dream, he'd given her hope and she couldn't lose sight of that no matter what. She wanted to live now and she would work hard to do just that.
Where could her father have buried the money though? She wanted to think like him. She looked around the entire yard, realizing how big it was. Would it be possible to find such a thing? How long would Hawks give her before he grew impatient?
As she took a sip of the water from her canteen she gazed about. He couldn't have buried it out in the middle of the yard without someone seeing him, so he must have buried it further from the house. She glanced about the barn. Maybe there, she decided.
"Where you goin' girl?" Hawks demanded as she took up her shovel.
"Pa wouldn't have been burying it in plain sight of everyone. He'd have had to do it away from the house. I thought I'd try around the barn. If he buried it there, no one might have noticed. He was always at the barn tendin' the horses and greasin' axles and stuff. And he admired this tree more than anything, because it kept the barn so cool."
"That's good thinkin' girl. Yes siree, that's good thinkin'," Hawks agreed. "Wouldn't have been as noticed either, would it? Good thinkin' girl."
Satisfied she had quelled his curiosity, she decided to make a way around the barn. The dirt seemed a little softer here too.
Hawks followed her and began walking about the barnyard. When he began yelling, she ran to see what was going on.
Hawks was smiling and pointing at the fresh dirt. "Lookie here, maybe this is where he buried it."
Katherine shook her head, "No, that's where Joshua and I buried the soldiers."
"What soldiers?" Hawks demanded.
"The ones we killed," she said quiet calmly.
"You killed?" Hawks repeated, his eyes going wild now. "You mean, you really did kill them soldiers like the Captain said?"
"Yes, that's why the Captain wanted me and Joshua to go to the fort with him. Yes, I killed one in self defense."
Hawks took her by the arms and shook her. "You ain't makin' no sense, girl. C'mon, let's get out of this heat a minute. Don't want you gettin' touched in the head from the heat, now do we?" He pulled her to the shade of the old oak and sat her down, then got her some water. "Now, what you talkin' about, girl? What soldiers did you kill?"
"The stage was comin'." She began as she gulped the water he offered her. "And Mr. Bowlins had three passengers. Chase Rivers was the prisoner, and two soldiers."
Hawks eyed her. "Must have been while I was out musterin' with the Tyler boys."
"I do
