The shutters were open, and the sun had hidden itself behind the far mountains. Scattered shafts of fading light sliced their way through the pines around the cabin.
The window looked out toward the trail, and Jim saw a faint cloud of dust rising in that direction. A rider was coming up the road. From the open window, Jim watched him come. The man was tall, painfully slender, riding a white horse. His clothing was dark. The shadow of his hat hid the man’s face.
Jim took down the rifle from over the door, checked the breech, and stepped out to meet him.
“Stay in the house,” he told Ellen. “I’ll see who it is.”
The stranger didn’t seem to be in a hurry. He held his horse at a steady trot. When he was at the edge of the clearing, he reined up.
“You’d be Jim Heston?” the stranger said. His voice was rough and jagged.
“I’m Jim Heston. Who might you be?”
“I’ve a message for you.” The stranger reached into his coat pocket and Jim took aim with the rifle. Still in his coat pocket, the stranger’s hand stopped. “No need to shoot me. I’ve got nothing to do with this business, whatever it is. I was hired only to deliver a message.”
“And who hired you?”
“Don’t know his name. I don’t ask. Better not to,” that gravelly voice said. “You want the message?”
“Go ahead,” Jim said without lowering the rifle. “But go awful slow.”
The stranger smiled at that. The white of his teeth were the only thing visible beneath the hat. From his pocket, he drew out a folded paper.
“What’s it say?” Jim asked.
“No idea. Better not to know that either,” the stranger said. The corral fence was to his left, and he guided his horse toward the corner post. “I’ll leave it for you on this post.”
“Are you supposed to carry back a message from me?”
“No.” The stranger shook his head. “I was only hired to deliver a message. I wouldn’t know how to find the man who hired me. Better—”
“Better not to know,” Jim interrupted.
“Exactly.” The stranger smiled again. Then he laid the letter atop the post. Slowly, he turned his horse and started off again down the trail.
Jim waited, rifle ready, until he was well out of sight. Then he went to the post and picked up the letter. Ellen came out from the house. She, too, held a rifle.
“Who was he?” she asked.
“A messenger,” Jim said. He passed Ellen the unread letter.
“To the parents of Walt and Alma Heston,” Ellen read aloud. “The price for these two children is fifty thousand in gold. You have three days to get the money. Ride from Onionville to Bidwell’s Bar. Ride alone. Someone will meet you on the trail.”
“Fifty thousand,” Jim said.
“We don’t have nearly that much,” Ellen said.
“We’ll have to get it,” Jim said. “Bannen’s a killer, sure enough. He’ll kill them if we don’t pay.”
“Will he kill them even if we do?” Ellen said.
Jim didn’t want to tell her the truth. A lie would be better, kinder even, but she was his wife, the mother of two missing children. She deserved to know.
“He might,” Jim said. Still, he couldn’t tell her his full thoughts. He loved her, and he would spare her the worst of it. Bannen would almost certainly kill the children either way.
For all we know, he already has.
* * * *
“Fifty thousand,” Jim said. “That’s what he wants in exchange for Walt and Alma.”
No one spoke.
Jim scanned their faces. Colton, Abigail, Ellen, and Martha were all gathered together at Neill’s cabin. Aside from the family, Delphi sat at the back while Captain Neill stood next to her, one hand resting on her shoulder.
“Do we even have that much?” Ellen said.
“No. But we can get it,” Jim said. “That isn’t the problem, though. The problem is—”
“That once this man gets the money, he’ll come back for more,” Colton said.
“He won’t be satisfied with fifty thousand. He will want more,” Jim said. “Men like him always want more.”
“But he’ll give them back?” Martha said. “After we pay him, I mean. Then he’ll give them both back.”
“He might not,” Jim said, and Ellen met his eye. They’d already discussed this. They’d already made their plans. The purpose of this gathering was to lead the rest of the family to their way of thinking.
“So paying him might not work,” Colton said.
