Page 76 of Wyoming Promises
Bridger clenched his jaw. “I’ll take my chances.”
Ike never blinked. “If it were only you, I’d believe that. But that brother of yours gives me an advantage, you see. He’d never get along without you, and he’d never survive in the asylum those folks up the trail fondly suggested to you before you hightailed it out of there.”
“He didn’t do anything,” Bridger ground out.
Ike waved him off. “I don’t recollect saying he had. Only that popular opinion didn’t agree with you.”
“Besides, he’s family,” Toby chimed in. “You’d hate to see anything happen to him.”
“Or to Lola. If anyone hears so much as a whisper about your sudden attack of conscience, I may forget our prior relationship completely.” Ike’s eyes glittered with warning.
The muscles in his jaw twitched. Bridger weighed his options in the balance and forced a long, slow breath. His mind spun with responsibilities to Frank and Lola. His promises to Jake and Miss Grace to see justice and his determination to right all the wrong he’d caused pressed over him.
It also left him out of options.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Bridger’s horse neighed and skittered, waiting in the stand of trees with about as much patience as he felt. Getting away from Ike and the others had proved more difficult than usual today. He couldn’t be certain, but it likely wasn’t by accident. How much did they suspect?
He hadn’t slept, or eaten, or done much of anything except pace the floor and ride the perimeter of town trying to clear his mind and figure a way out of the mess. He hoped Jake could provide a different point of view because he’d wasted twenty-four hours with no ideas. Lola had to be on the books by Saturday.
A big horse trotted along the creek and Bridger slunk into the tree line until Jake came into view. “Bridger? You there?”
He stepped out of the scrub and threw the satchel in a direct hit to the marshal’s chest. “I’m out.”
Jake almost missed the catch in his surprise. “What do you mean? We’re this close and you’re bailing now? What happened?”
“He wants to hit Lola, start collecting from her.”
Jake flung the satchel over his shoulder and rubbed his beefy hands together. Moonlight reflected from his triumphant grin, giving him the look of some ghoulish avenger. “That’s perfect!”
“What are you talking about? I can’t do that!”
“You’re already collecting from other folks. And she could be the break we need,” Jake insisted.
“She trusts me now, and if I do this—”
“We’ll tell her, spell it all out.” Jake pulled his notebook and jotted something down with the tiny pencil held in its loop. “From everything I’ve seen, Lola could be the perfect witness.”
Bridger jammed fists into his coat pockets and paced. “What if he hurts her? I couldn’t live with that.”
Jake shook his head. “He’s smitten with her. He won’t do that.”
Bridger halted and drove his finger into the lawman’s chest, pressing the hard metal badge hidden beneath his coat. “You didn’t see him. I don’t know what changed things, but there wasn’t one glimmer of feeling in his eyes when he told me to get her on the books. He said he’d hurt her if she ever found out it wasn’t as much my idea as his.”
Jake took a step back. “He threatened Frank, too, didn’t he?”
Bridger nodded. “If it were only me, I’d find a way. You understand that, right? But Frank is all I have, and I need to get out now to protect him. Quiver Creek is on its own.”
“I don’t believe you have it in you to walk away,” Jake said, his voice hard and tight.
Bridger rubbed a hand along his scar. Between little sleep and worry, his whole head throbbed. “I’m tired of hurting people, and I need out before Ike expects me to do more than intimidate and throw a few punches. I hoped to keep the problem from my doorstep, but now I’m thinking I need to find a new doorstep.”
Jake bit his lip. “She’d at least have a measure of protection if it came from you. You leave, there’s no telling which of his goons Ike will send to collect from her.”
He pictured Toby’s greasy smirk, and a bitter taste sickened him at the intimidation tactics he might choose to use against Lola. And Toby probably held more respect for women than all of the other men combined. How could he leave Lola to face them alone? He huffed. How could he endanger his own brother on her behalf?
“So we tell her and I take her and Frank away from here.”
“Whoa, now!” Jake said. “That would tip our hand and we’d lose everything we gained in this investigation.”