I took a few days out to deal with something that had been bothering me. That being my parents. I wanted to see them again, I had to! I wouldn't get too close, I wouldn't be seen, but I had to see them.
I rode to Saint Denis again, heading straight for the house. I got off where I had jumped the wall before, right behind the memorial. I looked over the wall and frowned when I saw an envelope sat on the stone plaque. It wouldn't hurt to look, right?
I jumped the wall and crouched down, almost crawling towards the plaque. The envelope read my name! It definitely hadn't been there before, so I grabbed it and jumped back over, sitting with my back against it. I tore open the envelope and scanned the contents.
Ann,
We hope you'll get this letter. We know you were here once, maybe you'll come again. But perhaps that is wishful thinking.
We know who you are. Now that we know you're alive, we kept an eye out. We've seen the posters. You're a criminal in the Van der Linde Gang, the price on your head is high.
We aren't angry. We don't care who you are now, who raised you, you are still our little girl. And we need you to come back to us.
We never wanted to give you up, we never had a choice. We searched for years before we accepted you were either dead or would have no idea who we are. The fact you are back now is a shock to us both, but we have never been so happy!
Please come back to us, darling.
Love
Your parents.
I gripped the letter tightly, tears threatening to fall. Why had I come back? I knew this would happen, something else would make me doubt my decision. But I had to at least give them an explanation.
I tore a page out of a notebook I had and composed my own letter to them. It was only fair.
Mr and Mrs Wright,
I couldn't stop myself from coming back, though perhaps it was a mistake. I am a criminal, but I'm not a villain. Nobody in the Van der Linde gang is a villain, I swear it, we're just old-fashioned folk in a world that's leaving us behind.
Dutch van der Linde is the one who saved me. He found me on the side of the road, abandoned, and he took me in. He taught me how to read, write, protect myself. He's a good man, and he has never let me be in danger. He was the one who gave me the means to find you again.
For years, I thought you had just abandoned me. When Dutch gave me that blanket that he has kept all these years, I realised I could find you. I thought Ann Wright was a name he came up with, I never knew it was my real one.
I expected to find you and discover you were vile people who left me for dead without a second thought. I didn't consider for a moment that perhaps you didn't get the choice. That perhaps I was stolen from you. That perhaps you were good people.
And you are good people. That's another reason I can't come back. I'm not a villain, but I'm also not a good person. I just wanted you both to know that I was alive, once I saw how you mourned for me. But I'm not someone you want as a daughter.
Ann
I folded the note up and left it in the same place, held down by a small stone. It was the best I could do, there was no way I could go and stay with them. That would be bad for all of us.
I returned to camp, the letter still clutched tightly in my hands. I came across Hosea, Arthur, and John, sat by the wagon of moonshine. Hosea had successfully sold the Cornwall bonds, and was onto his next venture apparently.
"Hey Ann," John called, "You alright?"
I stashed the letter in my bag and forced a smile. I wasn't going to get into that with anyone right now.
"Of course," I said, "What are you doing?"
"Selling it back to where it came from," Hosea said, grinning.
"Why?" I frowned.
"Well, I ain't got a market for it," he shrugged, "They made it, they must have someone to sell it to. Stuff looked kinda lonely out here, I think we'll cut ourselves a deal."
"Ah, I get you," I grinned.
"You, Arthur, and Dutch was just doing your duty when you requisitioned it," he continued, climbing onto the wagon, "Now I'm doing mine."
"I'll leave you fellers to it, good luck!" John called as we left.
"Dutch asked him to look into something, the Braithwaite horses, I think," Hosea explained as I climbed in the back of the wagon.
We drove to the Braithwaite place, a towering manor, even bigger than my parent's!
"What you got there?" The guards questioned us.
"Moonshine, my dear fellow," Hosea said brightly, "May I have a word with the man of the house?"
"The man of the house is a lady," he growled, "Mrs Catherine Braithwaite."
"May I speak with her? I want to discuss a business opportunity," Hosea corrected himself.
"Okay, she's at the house," we were waved forward, but they had their guns trained on us still.
We rode up the path to the house, and the doors swung open.
"What you want?" Catherine Braithwaite yelled.
"Found something, out in the hills," we all climbed down, "Thought you was maybe in the market for it."
"I ain't in the market for what's already mine," she yelled at him.
"Way we see it, its ours," she scoffed at Hosea's words as some men with guns came out behind her, "Woah, I ain't here to rob you. Though it seems that's easy enough. Wanna do a deal! What do you sell that stuff for?"
"Dollar a bottle," the old lady croaked.
"Then give us fifty cents," Hosea shrugged.
"It's already ours!" She cried.
"Look on it as a reward for returning the property," Hosea said, "Alternative is, I sell it elsewhere."
"Alternative is, you get shot," one of the men said as Mrs Braithwaite laughed.
"Pay the man," she said, grabbing his gun.
Hosea caught the money as it was tossed to him.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Hosea said as he counted it, "And listen. We didn't take it. Least not without orders from-"
"I know exactly who gave you your orders," she said with a sickening grin, "Old Sheriff Gray. You know what? I don't want it. In fact, sir, now you can do me a favour, there's an extra ten bucks if you do. Drive the stuff into Rhodes, head over to the tavern run by Mr Gray and give the stuff out for free!"
"Momma!" One of the men said.
"Hush now," she scolded, "I believe they call that a promotional expense."
Hosea glanced at me and Arthur then back at Mrs Braithwaite.
"As you wish, madam," he laughed.
"You boys come back sometime and tell me how you made out," she called after us as we turned and rode into Rhodes, "Maybe we'll play a little cribbage."
At both men's request, I sat this one out. They didn't need three folk, and the likelihood of a shootout was high, so they didn't want me there. If it had been anyone else, I could have argued my way in, but Arthur and Hosea together were unmovable, so I grudgingly returned to camp, awaiting news of their success.
It did turn into a shootout, as Arthur told me when he returned. They had gotten a lot of the liquor given out before the Lemoyne Raiders turned up, but as soon as they did, it was a bloodbath. They knew it was their liquor, and they were not happy.
Hosea had gone back to see Mrs Braithwaite while Arthur was to tell Dutch what had happened.
"So, what do you think?" Dutch asked as we approached, he was stood with Micah who had finally returned.
"About what?" I asked.
"The fine folks around these parts," he said.
"Oh, real nice," I shook my head.
"Exactly," he replied, "On one side, we have the Gray family. Scots, degenerates, drunkards, the local law. You couldn't make this stuff up! Rich as Croesus. And on the other, their mortal enemies, the Braithwaites. Moonshiners, hypocrites, both rolling, we believe..."
"In gold," Micah nodded.
"And in the middle of it all you've got some inbred retelling of Romeo and Juliet," I shook my head, "So what you boys thinking?"
"We try to rob 'em both," Micah said, holding his hands out as though he had a fantastic idea.
I looked at Dutch, confusion and annoyance on my face.
"You sure?" I asked.
"Why not?" he asked, exasperated.
"Because we got lawmen in three different states after us!" Arthur said in a raised voice.
"Last thing I want is to get us into trouble," Dutch told us, "But we need money. Now, we have the opportunity here to put ourselves in the middle of something ain't nobody gonna know we was here. Because even without us, these fools are gonna kill each other anyway."
"Okay, well, Hosea's gone back to see that Braithwaite woman," Arthur said.
"Good, Hosea should definitely take the lead on this," Dutch nodded, "I sent Sean over there too. Now, one of you go there and the other join John and Javier over at the Gray's place, something to do with the Braithwaite's prize horses."
"How the hell did we get an in at the Gray's place?" I asked.
"Sheriff Gray kindly put in a word with his father," Dutch said, clapping me on the shoulder but I shrugged him off, "It ain't that complicated. We gotta convince each family that we're on their side and then we rob 'em both. Before they figure out it was us and not the other lot, we'll be long gone. Think of it as payback for my daddy."
"Payback?" I stepped forward, "I ain't in the revenge business, Dutch. Least of all for something that happened a long time ago."
"Well, I guess we all gotta pay for something," he said, "Now, if you will excuse me, I've gotta write a letter."
After playing Rock Paper Scissors with Arthur to see who got the fun job, I had to join Hosea at the Braithwaite's manor. I prayed it was more exciting than just a conversation, then I could wipe the smug look off of Arthur's face. I was greeted by a butler and let to the sitting room, where Hosea was actually playing cribbage with her.
"So, your friend, the other liquor vendor," she said, "Hello."
"Hello ma'am," I smiled.
"Ann, we were just playing cribbage," Hosea said, "Ann Wright, Catherine Braithwaite."
"Nice to see you again," I nodded at the woman.
"Apparently," she said, not giving me a second look, "So, is she gonna be able to do the job? She looks a bit... well... it might be more of a man's job."
"She can do it, she's one of the best of us," Hosea said, and I looked away, biting my lip to prevent a snarky comment escaping.
"So these two are going to Caliga Hall?" Mrs Braithwaite asked.
"Yes, we could take care of that for you, but one hates to be coarse... there is the question of money," Hosea said.
"Oh, we have money, Mr Matthews," she replied as Hosea signalled for Sean and I to go deal with it.
"What are we doing?" I asked him as soon as we left.
"I'll fill you in on the way," he said, leading me to a cart, "Old Braithwaite wants us to torch their tobacco fields, says they ain't had rain in weeks! Using that stuff back there."
"What? The moonshine?" I asked.
"Burns faster than kerosene, she says it'll be fitting," he shrugged, "All I'm saying, is there better be money at the end of this."
"Hosea knows what he's doing," I said.
"He better," Sean growled, and I whacked him across the head.
"So we just gonna drive right in there?" I asked.
"I got a plan," he laughed, "We're just making a delivery, don't worry. But ain't you worried about them Grays? They know you!"
"Fair point, I'll hide in the back," I nodded, for once he made a good point.
I hid as he spoke to the guard, who didn't question his explanation of the delivery but just hopped on the wagon with him to direct him to the right place. Once we got to the delivery shed, I knocked out the guard as Sean spoke to him then we waited for night to fall.
We each took a bottle of moonshine and spread it over the tobacco fields, using the plants as cover alongside the darkness. We spread it decently and met up at the barn, where Sean handed me some fire bottles. We threw some in the dry barn to distract the guards while we lit up the fields, then legged it before they could actually see us.
Sean found a wagon full of payroll as we made our escape, so he went in and grabbed it while I kept watch, then we freed the horses and rode off before they could work out who was to blame. They were too busy trying to control the fires to see us.
"Interesting little fight Dutch has got us in the middle of here," Sean said and I laughed.
"I hope him and Hosea are right and there's money at the end of it," I sighed.
"What now?" He asked.
"We should head back to camp, let Dutch know how we got on," I said, and off we went, the fire burning bright behind us.
By the time we got back, John, Arthur and Javier had successfully stolen and sold the Braithwaite's prize horses, though it was not nearly as much money as they were told the horses were worth. After Arthur found out what Sean and I had done, he was unimpressed.
"I won our game, and still came out worse," he grumbled.
"It's because you didn't have faith," I winked at him before ducking out of the way and heading for Dutch.
"You sweating yet, Dutch?" I asked and he glared at me.
"Of course I'm sweating," he growled, "We're in some disease-ridden, swampy, dixie-whistling shithole."
"I meant about what Trelawny said, about these bounty hunters," I laughed.
"Not sweating as such, but maybe a little gentle perspiration," he sighed, "Until we know, ain't much point in sweating out good liquor. I'll send Arthur to find out what Trelawny knows, see if it really is something to worry about."
I nodded before going to grab some lunch.
"Hey Ann, we got something cooking you might be interested in," Bill called me over. He was stood with Karen at the side of camp.
"Am I gonna like the sound of this?" I groaned. I knew I wouldn't.
"Been cooking since Horseshoe," Bill told me, "but you went and kicked up all that commotion in Valentine. Now, we was preparing to rob the bank there until you got involved in all that nonsense and... I don't know, I just feel like its unfinished business."
"That wasn't my fault, it was just one of them things," I told him.
"How come every time I get in trouble, I'm called a fool and an idiot," he said angrily, "but when you get in trouble, oh, it's just one of them things?"
"It's a good point, Ann," Lenny said and I glared at him.
"A very good point," Karen agreed.
"Alright, well what do you all want me to do?" I asked angrily.
"Hit the goddamn bank with us!" Karen said.
"You really think it's worth going back there?" I laughed.
"Four of us can hit the bank, easy," she argued, "If we go in quick and quiet, we can hit it with no problems. Come on, its the end of the stock seasons, there's plenty of money!"
I sighed then nodded.
"Fine, but it better be good," I warned them.
"Miss Wright," Strauss caught me before we left, "That debtor? Mr Downes. Apparently he's dead."
"Dead?" I asked, shocked.
"I believe he has a wife and child," he continued, "She will assume the debt of course. When you can, head up there. We lent them a lot of money. I would ask Arthur, but you took this debt for him."
"Okay," I sighed, I felt uneasy.
The plan was to send Karen in ahead, as a distraction, then we'd burst in and take it all. I was to open the vaults as the others kept watch. We rode to Valentine, going over the plan until it was word perfect. I still wasn't convinced, it was a small town bank after all, but Bill was.
We arrived in Valentine and sent Karen in ahead of us. We left the horses a bit away, they were easily recognisable. She played the lost little girl, distracting the guards in the bank with ease. She was perfect at it and we got into position.
We waited for the perfect moment, once she had reeled them in completely, then burst in, guns raised. We knocked out the few guards that were there without much issue, and Karen took the keys to unlock the door.
I went in and forced the teller to open the vault, and soon we were in.
"Are you in?" Karen yelled.
"Yes, just!" I called back, "Give me a minute. He says he can't unlock them, it's the manager who does that. I'm not gonna blow them, I'll crack them myself and we'll have more time."
"Good thinking, we'll let you know when we need to move," Lenny called back to me.
I was something of an expert in cracking locks, and within a few minutes, I'd unlocked them all and filled our bags. Not a moment too late, as the law had turned up.
Karen went out first, tricking the law into thinking she was just caught in the crossfire and picked off the first few. We burst out next, taking cover and taking out the law. We made our way to the horses, taking out everyone who got in our way and rode for it.
We rode as hard as we could, heading straight for the railway with the law hot on our heels. We had somehow timed it perfectly, a train was coming straight at us!
"Come on, Wright, beat the train!" Bill yelled. They were a bit in front of me, I pushed Roach as hard as I could and—
Just made it. I felt the wind as the train passed me by mere millimetres, but I was across the line. We were home free, the law had to stop and we got away!
"I think we lost them," I said as we pulled to the side, out of sight.
"That was-"
"Stupid and dangerous, thank you, Bill," I sighed.
"We got the money," he laughed, "I'd say it went well."
"Don't head straight back to camp," I said, handing them their share, "And make sure you ain't followed! Lenny, take my share for now, I'll collect it when I get back to camp. I got something to do first."
I didn't know if they listened or not, but I only had one thing on my mind. Mrs Downes.
I rode to the Downes house, where Mrs Downes and her son were sat outside. I approached them silently and she turned to face me.
"My husband's not cold in the ground, and you've come back here," her voice was shaking, "I nearly paid off what was owed."
Her son walked into the house and I sighed.
"Your husband knew the rules when he took that money," I said simply, "Now, I'm real sorry about the way things turned out, but he had a choice. Ain't my fault about the way the world is."
"He didn't have a choice, he was good and he did good, there was no choice in that," she turned to me, "And you as good as killed him yourself, don't kid yourself. You had a choice."
"You speak as though killing is something I care about," I growled.
"You ever think about eternity? You should," She told me.
"I hope it's hot and terrible, Mrs Downes," I said, "Otherwise I'll feel I've been sold a false bill of goods, now please. Give me that money."
She sighed and marched into the house, her son glaring at me.
"Either you have a lazy eye or a lack of respect," I remarked.
"I ain't got no lazy eye, nor respect for the likes of you," he said coldly.
"Well, maybe when your mother's finished mourning your father," I stepped towards him, "I'll keep her in black, on your behalf."
"Maybe you shall, or maybe other events shall transpire," he replied.
"You better stick to them books because mark my words on this, vengeance is an idiots game," I sighed then turned to Mrs Downes who returned with the money, "Ah, thank you, Mrs Downes, for your punctuality. That's next to godliness, right?"
"That's cleanliness," she turned away from me.
"I'll have to take your word on that," I walked to Roach, "Good day."
Something didn't sit right with this money lending business, but it had to be done. We needed the money, and they chose to take it. What could I do? At least I didn't have to do any more after this, it was Arthur's job.
As I was pondering this, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings.
"Put your hands up, and get off that horse," I heard the click of a gun and froze.