Eli looked down at me steadily. I could not read his face.
I had so many questions and I could not squeeze out a one of them. They’d kind of gotten stuck in my throat from all trying to get through at once.
Eli bent a little to put his arm around Maddy. It touched mine. I said, “Now.” We began moving again. Eli was a lot taller than me, but he bent and I stretched, and we got her there much faster than if I alone had been supporting her.
Maddy surely had a lot of questions, but the pain sapped her curiosity. I was glad of that.
We delivered Maddy to the wagon as it was about to leave. There was just enough room for her next to Rogelio, who had already been loaded up. He looked pleased when Maddy was deposited beside him, to the point of grinning at her. Even with the broken nose, it was not a bad effort.
“I’ll see you in town,” I told them, and Rogelio blew me a kiss. The wagon lurched into motion.
“Those are friends of yours, I take it,” Eli said in a funny way. He was standing about a foot from me, too close, but it would be prissy to tell him to take a step away.
“New crew,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“You first,” Eli said with a polite smile.
Huh. Okay. “I’m on a job with my new crew,” I said. “Hardly likely I’d come to Dixie for sightseeing.” I glanced up. Eli’s eyes were narrow and green, just like I remembered.
“That’s for damn sure,” Eli said, and it sounded funny, with his slight Russian accent.
“How’s my sister?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Eli took my hand. “Felicia’s well. You got her letter?”
“I think I’ve gotten three now. I hope she keeps writing.” I took a deep breath. “Why are you here?”
He did not let go of my hand. “I’m on a… business trip.”
Since Eli was a grigori, a wizard of the Holy Russian Empire, which used to be California and Oregon (my mom had taught me), that might mean almost anything.
“Got a partner with you?” His previous partner, Paulina, was dead. She’d died twice. That I knew of.
“No. I had hoped to hire you.”
“I didn’t see you in Segundo Mexia knocking on my door,” I said, my voice level. I had to stay hard.
“You were already gone when I got there,” Eli said. “I missed you by a few hours.”
I didn’t know what to do with that news. “I’ve got to get back to Jake,” I said. Eli let go of my hand and we began walking to the tree. My crew leader was where I’d left him. But now he was sitting funny.
A few seconds ago I would have told you I couldn’t run, but I did. When I was close enough to see clearly, I stopped dead and covered my face with my hands for just a moment. Then I made myself look again.
Jake still had his back against the tree, but now he slumped to his left. His shirt was soaked dark with blood from where he’d been stabbed in the throat. His eyes were open. He was dead. The crate that was tucked under his arm had been pulled away and ripped apart. The chest inside it was gone.
“I left him alone for ten minutes,” I said through clenched teeth. I felt Eli behind me, but I wasn’t exactly talking to him. I just had to say it out loud. “Ten damn minutes. And he couldn’t even stay alive that long.” Dammit. I was yelling when I finished.
After a moment of letting the world settle into a new pattern, I was able to understand that my Winchester and Jake’s guns were still on the ground by his side. In fact, one of his guns was in his right hand. Whoever had killed him had wanted to get away with the chest so bad they hadn’t stolen the guns along with it.
Nothing was more sellable than guns. And my leather bag was lying right there too.
I was so angry I was shaking.
Eli said, “This was your new crew leader?”
I jerked my head in a nod.
“And two of your crewmates are hurt badly enough to be going to the hospital in Sally?”
“Yes. One’s already dead, in the crash.”
Then there was a lot of silence from Eli.
I wheeled around to face him. “You didn’t…?”
“I did not make your train derail,” Eli said.
Because I knew he could. I had seen grigoris do things that made even me feel queasy.
“All right.” I believed him. “But someone did.”
“I know. What were you here to guard? People? A thing?” When I didn’t answer—I was still too stunned about Jake—Eli said, “What will you do now?”
That was an important question. I fumbled through my thoughts. It felt like I had fog in my brain. I fixed my gaze on my feet, noticed my boots were bloodstained, and shoved that thought away while I pondered.
There weren’t going to be any trains leaving out of Sally for a while. How long would it take to clear and repair these tracks? How would I pay my fare?
I could go into Sally and consult with Rogelio and Maddy. Or maybe Harriet Ritter would help me find the chest. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what part Ritter and her henchman had to play in this, whether she was a friend or foe. I thought about joining up with Sarah Byrne for about a second, but I was obliged to find whatever had been in the crate. I was the last crew member standing.
The third thing I might do was find the Sally sheriff to tell him my boss had been murdered.
Sure, I ought to do that.
The sheriff would be glad to hear some more bad news on top of what must be one of the worst days Sally ever had. It had probably escaped his notice that the train had been derailed on purpose.
And the stab wound in Jake’s neck would look an awful lot like the sharp glass wound that had pierced Charlie’s neck and killed him. Were doctors going to examine every single body real thoroughly after a massive loss of life? I didn’t think so. And whoever our employer was, surely that employer would want to know what had happened… that we’d failed.
What with the bop on the head, the arm wound, and the tossing around I’d gotten in the wreck, it took me a bit to think through all this. Eli’s feet shifted restlessly, but I did not look up.
Eli said, “Come with me, Lizbeth. Please.”
“Where to?” I had too many problems. I couldn’t organize them enough to make a plan to solve them. I gathered up my rifle and my bag.
“Come with me to Sally.”
“What are you going to do there?” I asked. I made myself look up at Eli. Who was also Prince Ilya Savarov. And so many other things.
Not like me. I was one thing.
Eli’s long, light hair was braided clumsily. He had beard stubble. He wasn’t spanky clean. When we’d been on the road a few months ago, he’d shaved every day. This made me worry even more.
“I have to find a man who hired some people to bring a chest to him.” Eli looked like he’d rather be anywhere on earth than standing in front of me telling me this.
“Did you know?” I said, suddenly angry.
“Did I know…?”
“That it was me? Did you know we were bringing it? That was our cargo.” Because what had been in the crate had looked exactly like a very old and carved chest with something important in it.
“No,” Eli said. “I swear, Lizbeth. Your neighbor told me you’d left on a job, but she didn’t know where you were going. I had no idea you were here until I spotted you across the field.”