Her father
746 Words
*Calvin*
Standing within Fortune's only bank, I take an immediate dislike to Jedidiah Slade when he struts into the building like a bloody peacock. In small ways that I can't quite put my finger on, the stout fellow reminds me of a man I would rather forget, my wife's former lover, who crippled me years.
"What in the hell does Crow look like?" Slade demands of Howard Simpson, the bank president, who sits behind his desk, cracking his knuckles one at a time. I recognize the balding man's telling habit. He's holding nothing of importance.
"They are already in the shadows of the alley by the time I spot them," Simpson says, giving me a beseeching look from behind his thick spectacles. "I know they have a woman with them, but I think they are just a group of cowboys looking for a little innocent sport. I didn’t hear the woman hollering, so I figure she was willing. It never occurs to me that she might be Norah, not until you reported her missing early this morning. And I have no idea whatsoever who they were until I find this damned note when I opened the bank for business."
"Didn’t you notice anything amiss last night when you came here?" I ask.
Forlornly, Simpson shakes his head. "The vault door was closed and locked. I just came in to get some money to take to your tables, but they didn’t steal enough for me to notice. I didn’t even glance at my desk."
"And are you certain that the note has Crow's signature on it?" I ask Slade.
Slade glares at me. "Do I look like I'm prone to wading into a river so I can drink standing up? Of course, I'm certain. He even leaft the damned black feather, the conceited bastard."
Gripping my cane until my knuckles turn white, I glance at my wife, standing at the window, gazing out. It constantly amazes me to discover that when I awake each morning, I love her more than I did the day before. I wish to the Goddess that I could spare her this anguish.
"Based upon this discussion, I suppose we can accurately deduce that the man is River Crow and the woman is Norah." Woman. To me, she still is, and will always be, my little girl.
Jessye slowly nods. "Why did he take my baby?"
"Crow does whatever the hell he damn well wants to," Slade says. "Take whatever he damn well wants: my son's life, my money. Why not a woman?"
I rub my thumb over the golden lion's head that adorns my cane. "How does he know where you deposit your money?"
"I haven't a clue, but he'll tell me once the men I send out capture him," Slade says in a voice that sends cold chills traveling along my spine.
"You've already sent men after him?" I ask.
He nods. "The best bounty hunters money can buy."
"How do you suppose they will react when they find our daughter with him?" I have a bad feeling about this.
Slade has the grace to blush. "They will probably think she's his whore."
"Well then, we'd better hope the men I send out find her first and quickly. Jessye, shall we go?" I ask my wife. I need to get away from this man before I hit him.
As she moves away from the window, Simpson stands. "I'm sorry. If I realized the woman is Norah..."
Jessye places her hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. Norah was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. She's been there before."
She slips her arm around mine, and I escort her outside.
"That Slade strikes me as a man who thinks the sun comes up specifically to hear him crow," she says as soon as we're on the boardwalk.
"I couldn't agree more." I admit.
She shakes her head lightly. "His trap for capturing Crow isn't very well thought out."
"I think it's extremely well thought out if he never intended to capture him here. He lured him in, allowed him to escape, and sent ruffians after him." I glance around the town that has long ago become home. "I don't trust the man, Jessye, and I trust his minions even less."
"You'd better send for Rex." She says.
I nod and lean in blushing a kiss to her cheek. "I already have, love. He should be here by nightfall."
- Writer
