Thornton smiled again, but he didn’t look a bit happy. “And how can you possibly help me?”
“I can convince David to change his mind.”
“Why would David listen to you?”
“Because we’re engaged. We’re going to be married, and he’ll do anything I ask him.”
“Married!” Thornton scoffed. “You’ve only known him a few days.”
“I only knew you a few days, and you would’ve married me.”
“Not married you.”
“You would’ve done it if you had to.” She was right, and the truth of it was on his face. “David thinks he has to, so we’re engaged.”
“You’re a clever little minx, aren’t you?” His tone told her it wasn’t a compliment, so she didn’t respond. For a long moment, no one moved. Then Thornton said, “Let her go.”
Fletch reluctantly removed his arm from her neck, and she drew an unsteady breath.
“How do I know I can trust you?” Thornton asked.
“Because I know what you’ll do to me if I don’t help you. The question is, what will you do if I’m successful and you sell your precious rifles?”
“Don’t tell me you want a commission.”
That almost made her smile. “I’m not stupid. All I want is for you to leave me alone. I don’t have your money, and I don’t know what happened to it, so the best I can do is help you make some more by selling the rifles.”
“What about your brother? If he really is your brother.”
“He can take care of himself, and if he really did steal your money and didn’t share it with me, then I hope you do find him.” Except he’d never find Jake now. The Old Man would keep him safe.
“Well, then.”
Did she dare hope that she’d convinced him? “Well, then what?”
“How are you going to convince Vanderslice to help me?”
“By using my feminine wiles, of course, and reminding him that we owe you a tremendous debt for finding the deputy to serve the warrant on Warden Whittaker. He thinks I’ve never even met you, so I won’t understand why he’d refuse to help someone who rescued me from prison.”
“You really are clever.” He obviously hated her for it, too.
“And in return, you forget we ever met.”
“I don’t think I will ever forget you, Miss Perkins, but I’ll be happy never to see you again.”
At least they agreed on something. “Then we have a deal?”
“Yes, but don’t think for a minute you can trick me again. If you even try, you know what I’ll do.”
“Throw me down the stairs?” she said before she could think better of it.
But he only raised his eyebrows at her. “You’ve been listening to gossip.”
“Isn’t that the way you killed your wife?”
This time his smile made her skin crawl. “No, it isn’t. I choked the life out of her after I’d beaten her nearly to death. I enjoyed it, too, Miss Perkins, and she hadn’t even done a thing to deserve it.”
And, of course, Elizabeth had. His message was plain. She swallowed the terror clogging her throat and wrapped her arms around herself to keep from shaking. “I need to get back to the Vanderslice house before they miss me.”
“And how do I know you won’t just hop on a train and disappear?”
“Because I give you my word.”
He actually laughed at that, an odd bark that made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. “And because my boys will be watching you, so don’t get any ideas.”
“Yeah,” Fletch said. “We followed you today, didn’t we? Even though you tried to lose us.”
She didn’t bother to reply. “Fine. You’ll know I’m keeping my end of the bargain when David contacts you. I’m ready to leave now. Where’s my purse?” she asked, suddenly realizing she’d lost track of it during the ordeal of the taxicab ride. If they’d left it in the taxi . . .
Neither of the goons replied, and Thornton frowned. “Which one of you has it?”
Fletch reluctantly pulled the small drawstring bag she’d been carrying out of his pocket. She reached for it, but Thornton snatched it away. To her dismay, he pulled it open.
“What’s this?” he demanded, snatching out the wad of bills. “I thought you didn’t have any money.”
“I didn’t until today. I went to see an old family friend and borrowed it.”
“What family friend is that?”
She sighed as if put upon. “Dan Kelly, also known as Dan the Dude.”
“That’s the fellow who owns the saloon where she went this afternoon,” Lester said. “He claimed he’d never heard of her when we asked him, though, and then he threw us out.”
Of course he did. Dan wouldn’t give Thornton or his goons the time of day, so they’d never know if she was telling the truth or not.
“Your family has interesting friends,” Thornton said, stuffing the money into his own pocket.
“What are you doing? That’s mine!” she cried.
“And if I let you keep it, you could very easily leave the city. You’re more reliable when you’re penniless, Miss Perkins.” He dropped the empty purse into her lap. “Take her back to the Vanderslice house and make sure she stays there,” he told his goons.
“David wants to take me around to see the sights,” she said.
He gave her a murderous glare, but he said, “Just make sure she doesn’t leave the city.”
• • •
“I couldn’t fall asleep, so I thought I’d just go for a little walk,” Elizabeth explained to David and Anna. “I wanted to send my aunt a telegram to tell her where I am, but then I couldn’t find my way back. I was hopelessly lost, and everyone here is so unfriendly, I was afraid to ask for help.”
“You poor thing,” Anna said, taking both her hands. They were sitting in the parlor where Anna had taken her after she arrived back on the front doorstep, disheveled and unnerved from her encounter with Thornton.
“You should never have gone out alone,” David said.
“I know that now,” Elizabeth said, not even having to force the tears that flooded her eyes. “Back home, I walked out alone all the time.”