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“That’s true, but I don’t know what good that will do us as long as they hole up at the Triple C with the kid. Did you see all those men they had guarding the place?” Rollie asked. “It looked like a damned fort.”
A loud harrumph came from Emma. “I knew you’d get cold feet.” She glanced with scorn at her youngest.
“I don’t have cold feet,” Rollie insisted, reddening. “I’m just smart enough to see that we haven’t got a chance at the kid as long as he stays in that house.”
“You’re just scared to go up against Calder.” Rising from her chair, she began gathering up the dirty cake plates. “That man as good as sent you to prison, and look at you—trembling at the mere thought of walking into his house. Lath’s clearly the only one with guts in this family.”
“You saw all those men guarding the place,” Rollie protested.
“You’d better take another look at those men.” She swiped at the cake crumbs on the table, using a corner of her apron. “Those were nothing but cowboys. Calder was just putting on a show for your benefit. He can’t keep ’em standing around there much more than a week before he’ll have to put ’em back to work. Then what’ve ya got?”
She faced him, one hand on her hip in challenge. She was waiting for an answer, but Rollie had no idea what it should be.
“I don’t know.” He shot a look at Lath, trying to see if he knew. But Lath watched their mother with a rapt and curious attention.
She sniffed her disgust. “Use your eyes. You got a big house sitting off by itself, all white and proud and important-looking. There’s nobody living within shouting distance of it. Don’t you know it’d kill Calder if you snatched the boy right from under his nose?”
Chuckling, Lath came up behind her and gave her a big hug, smacking a kiss on her cheek. “Ma, you are a jewel. You’re right as rain. That house is about as isolated as you can get.”
Rollie couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But look at how big that thing is,” he argued. “How are we supposed to find the kid? We can’t go searching through the whole place.”
“You don’t have to. All the bedrooms is upstairs, and there ain’t but six of them,” Emma stated. “Somebody told me once that Calder’s got the big one in the southeast corner. And I’d guess the family would have the other bedrooms that faced the front so they could look out and gloat over all they own.”
“You see, little brother,” Lath said, grinning. “It ain’t as impossible as it sounds. You just gotta think.” He tapped his head.
“Maybe,” he conceded. “But logic tells me that there’s only two of us and a whole lot more of them.”
“You only got two people to worry about,” his mother stated. “Echohawk and that crazy O’Rourke, if he’s hanging around. Those two’ll be the ones who’ll react the quickest. You get rid of them, and you’ll only have the Calders to deal with. This time, though,” she added, “you better make sure that tramp isn’t slipping out the back door with the kid.”
“You can count on that, Ma,” Lath promised.
TWENTY-FIVE
Outside Quint’s bedroom window, rose light flooded the ranch buildings of the Triple C headquarters, strengthening to a rawer red al
ong the sky’s western rim. Finished with his prayers, Quint clambered into bed and waited for Cat to draw the covers around him.
“Why can’t I stay up till Dad comes? I’m not tired.” The weariness in his eyes told Cat otherwise.
“Maybe you’re not, but it’s already past your bedtime.”
He gave an adultlike sigh. “I know, but—where is Dad?”
“He had to go feed the horses and check the stock.” Cat sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed the hair off his forehead.
“When are we gonna go home, Mom?”
The longing in his voice tugged at her. “Soon. Maybe in a few days.”
“Raindance is gonna forget me.”
“It’s only been two weeks. I don’t think Raindance will forget you that quickly.” Two weeks. In some ways, it seemed much longer than that.
“He could, though,” Quint insisted.
“But he hasn’t.”
“Don’t you want to go home, Mom?”
