Coal Black (Book 5)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Let her go, Cooper," said Ivan as he and Alice pointed rifles at him.

"It all over," said Red, as he appeared on the opposite side of the now engulfed staircase with his rifle pointed at Cooper.

Victoria felt in her pocket, and her fingers embraced the familiar weapon. She felt sweat run down her face from the heat of the growing flames. Desperation and anger took over as Victoria spun to the side and shot both barrels through her robe into Cooper's stomach at close range.

He stumbled back and fell against the wall. Cooper's hands clenched his stomach as blood ran from the open wound. Victoria grabbed his rifle and pointed the barrel at him.

"You killed my mother. Die, you son-of-bitch," hissed Victoria as she took aim with the rifle.

And like a wounded bear, Cooper let out a roar of anger as he rushed forward towards Victoria. Three rifle shots reverberated through the alley. Ivan and Red had hit Cooper in the leg, and Victoria shot him in the dead center of his coal-black heart.

* * *

Alice couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger. She dropped the weapon on the ground and rushed to his side.

"Cooper, don't leave me. I have nowhere to go."

"Alice," said Cooper as he gasped for air.

His eyes looked around above him, as he knew he was dying.

"I should - have - listened - to you."

The last two words came out of Cooper's mouth in a whisper. Then his head rolled slightly, and his eyes remained open. Alice sobbed in grief, and Victoria froze in place as Ivan and Red rushed past her.

"Alice, get out of here. Take Miss Spencer and get out to the street," yelled Red.

The two men carried Cooper's body away from the fire, and the girls picked up the rifles and ran to the street as the smoke filled the alley.

The rifle shots brought Sheriff Dauber and his deputies running toward the Redwood Boutique. Shouts of fire had spread through Main Street, and men filed out of the saloons, carrying buckets and spittoons. Men formed a water brigade using the troughs on Main Street and from the blacksmith's shop. The back of the building was on the fire. The blacksmith, Hans Overson, brought an ax and chopped away at the staircase, kicking the burning boards away from the building.

Red and Ivan carried Cooper's body out of the alley and across the street. When Sheriff Dauber arrived and saw the dead body of the escaped prisoner, he sent Deputy Cowan for the undertaker.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" asked Sheriff Dauber as he surveyed the group.

Alice turned her eyes away and looked at the ground. She didn't want Sheriff Dauber to recognize her, but his eyes locked in on her, and he knew Clyde Turner was hiding the prisoners the day they stopped at their ranch.

Thomas Renshaw ran into the group and embraced Victoria, bringing her out of her shock. Alice stared at the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. She saw the devotion and love in his eyes as he looked at Victoria. Her heart ached with wishes of being that love by someone.

"Oh Thomas. I killed him. I shot him. Then the fire. Oh my God! Hannah! Where's Hannah? Thomas,"

The words rushed out of Victoria's mouth as she felt hysterical. Thomas reassured her he would find her and ran toward the front door of the shop. He threw his shoulder against the big wooden door of the shop, breaking the door opened.

Smoke billowed out of the shop, and the flames in the back of the building surged higher into the night sky. Then Victoria saw Thomas and Hannah emerge from the shop carrying an armload of dresses. She rushed to her, and Hannah dropped everything and hugged her big sister for all she was worth. Alice watched the embrace and saw the love the two of them had for each other.