Innocence Lost

Chapter 22

Hosea shook his head, he was struggling to take in what he'd just been told. But the notes, that he saw on the bed, were evidence enough.

"So who knew, about Ella's past, who could have put this plan into action?"

Dutch sighed, "more people than we originally thought. But as far as we know, Colm O'Driscoll, Maxwell Rowan, Josiah, Arthur, Myself. Also, you and Sadie, but only after Micah found out. The sheriff, I guess, after Rowan told him,"

Ella stared at Dutch, "My father...step father's alive?"

Dutch looked at Ella, suddenly realising that she didn't know. "Yes he is. He's the one who told the Sheriff, what happened in Strawberry."

Ella stared at Dutch, "why would he do that? He's the one that set fire to the house, who said we had to leave!"

Dutch sat next to Ella, and held her hand. This was going to be difficult. "How did you come to be in the O'Driscoll cabin, in the mountains?"

"I was kidnapped. My father...I mean stepfather, asked me to go and feed the hogs, they grabbed me."

Dutch sighed, "That's not exactly true."

Ella looked at Dutch, she could see he was hiding something. "What is it, tell me?"

Dutch swallowed, and took a deep breath, "Colm O'Driscoll," he spat the name out, as though it were poison on his tongue, "he blackmailed your stepfather. He found out, what had happened, in Strawberry. Your stepfather, tried to raise the money, but couldn't, he asked Colm, to give him more time, but he refused." Dutch reached into his pocket, and handed Ella the note, that they had found in the cabin.

As Ella read the note, tears started to fall, and she started to sob, uncontrollably. "He sold me," she sobbed, "for fifty dollars!"

Dutch put his arm around Ella, and stroked her hair, "I didn't want you to find out like this, I'm sorry."

Hosea thought for a moment. His logical mind, processing the facts. "How did Colm O'Driscoll, find out about Ella? It took Josiah, a helluva lot of investigating, to find out. Lets face it, Colm isn't exactly a thinker. He tried to kill her too. There's something very odd going on."

Dutch looked at Hosea, "What are you saying, Hosea?"

"If someone wants Ella dead, it would be really convenient if she happened to be with Dutch Van Der Linde, so him, and his gang, could be taken out as well. There's only two groups of people, who would benefit. That's the Pinkertons, and Colm O'Driscoll."

Dutch shook his head, "Hosea, that's ridiculous! No one knew we were going to raid Colm's hideout, or rescue Ella."

"No, but after you raided his camp, someone knew you had her, someone who wanted her dead, someone who knew we were on the run, and someone who knew about the feud you have with Colm O'Driscoll."

"Stop!" Ella screamed, "will you stop talking, like, I'm not here. Like I don't matter!"

Both men, stopped talking, and looked at Ella. She had stopped crying.

"Hosea," she said, "just bait the god-damn trap. Please, I just want this nightmare to end,"

Hosea looked at Ella, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean...to be so insensitive. But I do insist, you get some rest."

Ella nodded. She was tired, too tired to think about all the theories, as to who was trying to kill her, and why.

Dutch put the notes, back into the saddlebags, and put them on the floor.

He gently lifted Ella's legs, back onto the bed, and helped her to lay down.

She looked up at Dutch, "will you stay with me?" She whispered.

Dutch smiled, and kissed her forehead. "I'm not going anywhere," he said, gently.

Ella closed her eyes. Exhaustion, had taken its toll, and she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Hosea, walked out of the tent, as soon as he was outside, he yelled at the top of his voice.

"Miss Grimshaw!"

Susan Grimshaw came running across, "Mr Matthews, what's wrong?"

"I need you to get a wagon ready. Ella appears to have taken a turn for the worse. We'll need to take her to the doctor in Rhodes, first thing in the morning. I don't want to waste time, in the morning, so we need to get the wagon ready now."

Susan Grimshaw nodded. She strode across the camp, barking orders.

This was exactly what Hosea hoped would happen. By the time she was finished, everyone would know, that Ella was being taken to Rhodes, in the morning.

Arthur looked over at the hitching area. He figured, that who ever it was, wouldn't leave until after dark. He needed to find somewhere, to get a good view of the horses. There were plenty of side tracks out of camp, so he guessed they would use one of those, so they didn't get spotted by whoever was on guard duty. They would probably lead the horse, until they were clear, and on the road.

He found a large Oak, and sat behind it. He just had to wait until nightfall.

For Arthur, the rest of the day seemed to drag. It didn't really surprise him, it tended to do that, when you were waiting for something to happen. No one, headed out during the day, everyone was just milling around, doing chores, drinking beer and chatting by the fires.

As the sun started to set, he noticed everyone turning in, until the only two people awake, were him and Bill, grumbling because he had drawn the short straw, for the nightwatch.

At least that was one person, to cross of the list of potential traitors. Not that Arthur thought that Bill was. He was to much of a yes man, to Dutch, to even think about trying to do away with his woman.

Arthur heard footsteps, he peered out into the gloom. A shadowy figure, was making its way, across to the horses. He couldn't tell, if it was a man or a woman. He cursed his luck, that there was no moon tonight. Even if there had been, he probably wouldn't have known, as the figure appeared to be wearing a hooded cloak.

The figure, unhitched one of the spare horses, and lead it, as Arthur suspected, down one of the side tracks. He waited until they were out of sight. Then he grabbed his horse, mounted up, and started to follow, Ducking under some of the low hanging branches. Making sure that he kept his distance.

He saw the figure, mount the horse, as soon as they were clear of camp. It surprised him, that they weren't heading to Rhodes. Whoever they were seeing, must be located somewhere else. He had no idea where.

He carried on following the rider. As he looked into the distance, he could just about make out plumes of smoke, coming from a camp. Whoever this was, he figured that this was where they were heading.

As Arthur got nearer to the camp, he decided to dismount, and continue on foot. He crouched down, and used the long grass as cover, until he reached the camp. He ducked behind a wagon, out of site, but with a good view of the camp.

Five men stood around the fire. He immediately recognised two of them, as Pinkerton agents. The other three, were standard bounty hunters.

The cloaked figure, dismounted their horse, and walked towards the centre of the camp.

One of the bounty hunters, turned to look at them,

"you fucking idiot, you didn't tell us she could shoot, I lost two good men."

As the figure, removed the cloak, Arthur stared, aghast.

He recognised them, immediately. Arthur kicked himself, he should have seen this coming!