Heart of a Deputy (Heart of Colorado #2)

Chapter Ten

“Drink, Sally. We have plenty of time to discuss any and every subject. You’re staying here, in Denver, with me, until after your baby is born. Then, when your body has recovered, you’ll return to Boulder, where you belong, and I will take care of your little one here. You’ll be allowed to see your child as often as possible. It beats an orphanage. Now, eat your breakfast like a good girl.” Edna smiled and winked at her before exiting the room, nay, the prison, Sally was in. 

*****

“A telegram? Who sent me a telegram?” Buddy asked Oliver at the Telegraph office.

“Ryne Wilkinson of Colorado Springs.” He replied.

“Thanks, Ollie!” Buddy answered absentmindedly as he read the missive. A sinking feeling in his gut hit him; like someone had delivered a right uppercut to his midsection. The air in his lungs evacuated for a brief second. “Oh God! Please let her be okay.”

 Visited Mary Richards. Stop. Sally upset. Stop. Went outside. Stop. Disappeared. Stop.

 His worst fear had come true. Had she run off? Was it something that was said by Mary Richards? Did someone take her?

“Any response to send, Deputy?” Oliver asked.

“Not right now. Soon, though. Please, bring me any other communications, would you?” Buddy asked, staring blankly towards the door he was about to walk through.

“Yes, sir. I surely will.” Oliver called to the retreating man. He looked beside himself with worry.

*****

Davenport awakened, still in Colorado Springs, to an insistent knock on his door.

“I’ll be right there.” He called out while blindly searching for his pants. “Who is it?”

“Michael Fritz. Open up. Hurry.”

“What do you want, Fritz? It’s much too early for the likes of a man who had as much whiskey as I did last night.”

“Livingstone. He left yesterday. Real fast like. Now that woman, Sally, is missing and people are asking around for her.”

“Calm down, man. It was part of the plan.” Davenport scrubbed his face with his open palm.

“I’m usually a very calm man. But, when a woman who’s with child disappears, and I get questioned, I have difficulty remaining so. Now, what are we going to do?” Fritz insisted.

“We are not going to do anything. We are going to wait until Bill tells us what to do next. That’s what we are going to do.” Davenport placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I agree. He didn’t stick to the original idea, but the opportunity to get her back to Boulder presented itself. Okay? All will be fine. Just relax, run your little saloon, and let us worry about the details.”

Fritz’s righteous indignation, if he had any to speak of, rose up in him at the man’s nonchalance in regards to the missing woman. Suddenly, his mind was made up on which side he stood with.

“I want nothing more to do with this. You don’t get any girls. One hour. You have one hour to pack your belongings and vacate my establishment.”

Fritz resisted the urge to knock the man in the nose and leave him bleeding. Instead he stomped back down the stairs, away from the foul odor of bad business; fists balled at his sides and steam virtually pouring from his ears.

*****

Of all the days and all the times to receive bad news, this was not what he needed. Bill blinked at the telegram from Davenport explaining Fritz’s sudden change in morale and morals. No new women for Erie.

No problem, Bill thought. That’s why he had Livingstone. He laughed at the obviously made up name. They’d been partners for more than ten years; seducing, luring, and outright stealing young women for their business and personal pleasure. Livingstone went by more aliases than a fugitive on the run.

They would have to sit and regroup, but it wouldn’t take long. The fact that Sally was now in Edna’s care was enough to make Bill want to dance in the street. Edna was taking care of Sally, and she would keep Bill’s interests over Sally’s any day of the week.

With his thoughts collected, Bill went in to see Lula. Edna knew about the ladies. What man in his right mind could run a brothel without sampling the delicacies it offered? He was as human as any other fellow, he guessed, and he surely had an appetite for the fairer sex. Soon, Sally would be back, and she had always been his favorite. But, should Edna come to see him, or he travel to Denver, he made sure she was pleasured and well before they parted ways. Happy wife; Happy Life. That was his motto in regards to his love.

A wry grin stole its way onto his face as he approached Lula's room. Events would fall into place as they should, and he’d be a wealthier man for it; and nothing could be finer than more money. With that thought, he knocked on her door.