Chapter 20

Chapter

Twenty

Joshua, his brothers, and his father were approaching Silas’ property—though they were still a ways off from the barn—when they heard the unmistakable report of a gun. They looked at each other in alarm and sped up.

“Please be alive, Nico,” Joshua pled in a whisper. “My sister will kill me if you aren’t.”

As they neared the barn, they dismounted and left their horses in the shade of a tree. Abner Godwin drew his gun, and they approached the barn door stealthily. All was as quiet as a tomb. But then, they heard a scratchy voice pleading, “Help!”

They peered around the edge of the open door and saw the strangest sight ever. Nico was trussed up with a rope around his neck like someone had tried to hang him from a rotten timber, and his feet were lashed together. He was clearly on the verge of choking to death because the timber was starting to give, and it was falling away from him, taking his air supply with it.

And a few feet away lay Silas Hatchett, having bled to death from a big hole in his neck and his pistol still firmly in his hand.

Clearly, Silas was beyond help, so Joshua ran in search of a knife or a saw to cut Nico down before he expired, and Abner rushed to raise Nico’s body up to alleviate some of the pressure on his throat. Within minutes, they had him cut loose, and Nico sucked in massive amounts of air.

“We owe you a huge apology, son,” Abner said to him when Nico started to look normal again. “Are you fit to talk to the sheriff? Eden went to fetch him, and hopefully they ought to be here soon.”

“The dirty bastard was cheating us!” Joshua explained. “I can’t say I’m sorry he’s gone.”

“I’ll be fine,” Nico said in a relieved voice and looked at Joshua. “You’ll want to clean up that hand of yours and keep it clean.”

“Eh, I guess I had it coming, what with the sock and all.”

“I guess you probably did. How’s Eden? Does she hate me for leaving?”

“No, son. Josh explained that you’d been taken against your will, and she explained that she loves you. I realize now that forcing her to marry Silas was a huge mistake. I wish you’d waited a little longer—like after the wedding—to get her in a family way, but I understand. It happens. ”

“She told you?”

“Yeah.”

“So do I have your blessing to marry her?”

“I can’t say no.”

“Thank you, sir. This sure isn’t the way I’d expected to ask though—standing next to a dead body.”

“Did he commit suicide?” Joshua asked. “Right in front of you?”

“No. He was showing off to intimidate me and spinning his gun around on his finger when he slipped in the puddle of piss I made. He fell, and the gun went off. Damned stupid of him.”

Joshua spent the next several minutes explaining exactly what he’d discovered on the property to Nico and his father when Eden and the sheriff came bursting through the door. Eden took one look at Silas and ran back outside again and retched into the grass.

Nico ran after her and waited for her to straighten up. He drew her into his arms and told her, “I was so afraid I’d never see you again. He wanted to kill me.”

“I’m so sorry I brought you here, Nico. Will you ever forgive me?”

“Eden, I wanted to come here. None of this was your fault. I love you as much as ever. Never doubt that. I just want to get cleaned up and go home. Your father gave us his blessing, by the way.”

Mr. Godwin came out to get Nico, saying, “The sheriff needs to hear exactly what happened. We told him what we saw, so he knows you were tied up and had nothing to do with the shooting, but he’d like to hear it all from you as well.”

“I can’t go back in there, so I’ll go sit with the horses,” Eden said with a shiver. “Too much blood.”

Just then, one of her brothers came running out of the barn holding a sack. “Lookit what I found in his feed room, Pa. Poison! He could’ve had rats, or… this might be what’s been ailing ol’ Solomon the bull. Maybe Silas was slipping it into his feed somehow.”

Abner Godwin scowled and answered, “It’s definitely a possibility. We’ll see if that poor bull’s health improves now that Silas isn’t sneaking around to mess with him.”