ground? " "Yes, " Daniel answered. "The first thought all of us had
was that someone was trying to cover embezzlement. The bank manager
swore that the receipts balanced every night. Every penny was
accounted for, " he added. "And we ran a thorough check on all the
officers and employees.
Every one came up squeaky clean."
"Marshal, can you ever forgive me?
" Grace asked. "If Jessica and I had told Daniel the truth, you
wouldn't have been shot. All of this could have been avoided. "
"That's one way to think about it, " Cooper told her. "But there's
also another. If you two had told the truth at the beginning, Rehecca
wouldn't have said she was the witness. She could have happily gone on
her way and let her friends go after Jessica. We might never have
known that Rebecca was involved."
"Then it wasn't terribly wrong of Jessica and me to withhold the
truth?
" "Grace, if you're expecting me to thank you, it isn't gonna happen, "
Daniel said. "You should have told me the truth." His mind was
consumed with Rebecca. "I let her slip right through my fingers."
"I bent over backwards to accommodate the woman, " Cooper admitted. "I
even let her . . . Ah, Daniel, I told her Grace and Jessica were going
to meet her in Red Arrow, and I also let her send a telegram. She told
me she wanted to let her friends know she wouldn't be joining them, but
we now know that was a lie. If you go into Red Arrow, they're going to
be waiting for you."
"What about Cole and Jessica? " Grace whispered. "They'll be walking
into a trap." Daniel didn't seem very upset by the possibility. A
gleam had come into his eyes, and he rubbed his hands together in
anticipation.
"What are you thinking? " she asked. "Aren't you worried about Cole
and Jessica? " "No, they have to come through here to get to Red
Arrow, " he explained.
"And they're at least a day behind us. Maybe two. ^ "Then you won't
go into Red Arrow at all. You'll take a cut through to Blackwater? "
She was nodding over her own conclusion when he contradicted her. "Oh,
no, we're going into Red Arrow all right."
"But they'll be waiting.
. . . " "God, I hope so." Cooper had been listening to the
conversation with his eyes closed. He didn't bother to open them when
he asked, "You do have a plan in mind, don't you? " "Yes, " Daniel
answered. "But it involves you, Cooper."
"Daniel, he's been seriously wounded, and his fever only just broke."
"He won't have to do much, " he promised.
"So what do you want me to do? " Cooper asked.
Daniel smiled. "I want you to die. "Jg And in green underwood and
cover Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
or two long days and nights, four members of the Blackwater gang
impatiently waited to ambush the women when they got off the train in
Red Arrow. Three of them kept vigil at the depot, while the fourth