Crazy Woman Creek by Virginia Welch Read Free Book Online Page B

left some evidence somewhere. There must be something out there to explain what happened to him. A man doesn’t just disappear like a ghost.” She saw the two ranchers exchange furtive glances. Her heart flip flopped in her chest.
    “Sheriff Morris, what happened to my husband?” Lenora’s voice took on a tinge of shrillness.
    “Mrs. Rose, we believe that—”
    “Wait,” said Luke. “Jed, will you and Ben take the horses to the barn? Beauty shouldn't wait any longer. There’s fodder, the water pump’s around the side of the house, and you can let your own horses rest a bit for the ride back to town. I’m sure Mrs. Rose here will be happy to get you something to eat too before we leave.”
    Jed and Ben didn’t need to be asked twice. They tipped their hats to Lenora while Sheriff Morris and Deputy Davies handed their reins to them.
    Sheriff Morris and Luke watched Jed and Ben walk to the barn, and once they were inside it, both lawmen, almost in unison, removed their hats. Lenora recognized the gesture and what it meant. Her heart pounded wildly. She could hear the blood rushing past her ears.
    Sheriff Morris opened his mouth to speak. “Mrs. Rose— ”
    “Just tell me! Tell me what happened to my husband!” 
    “No one can be sure, ma’am,” said the sheriff, flinching at her outburst, “but it looks like your husband fell into the North-East Creek. We believe he’s dead, probably downstream a good ways. We’re planning to send a search party downstream tomorrow, first thing.”
    “You think my husband drowned?” Lenora's face contorted with disbelief.
    “The evidence looks that way, ma’am,” said Luke.
    “Evidence? What evidence? You said you had nothing! You have no evidence at all that my husband drowned.” Lenora was starting to flush red. She punctuated her angry words with her hands.
    “What kind of evidence do you expect from a drowning, Mrs. Rose?” said Sheriff Morris. “He fell in three days ago. His body is long gone downstream. Finding the body is the only evidence we can hope for.”
    “Sheriff Morris,” said Lenora, finding her feisty self once again, “You don’t know James Rose. My husband would never, NEVER, be so clumsy as to slip and fall into a rushing stream.”
    “We searched the entire creek bank, Mrs. Rose. All four of us,” said Sheriff Morris, exaggerating the facts. “Nothing else makes sense. Your husband drowned.”
    Lenora trembled with anger. “Your investigation, sir, if you may flatter yourself by calling it that, has resulted in a conclusion that is not only faulty, it’s preposterous.”
    “Listen here,” said Sheriff Morris, stepping closer and growing redder in the face than Lenora . “We’ve been all over that area, where we found her, his horse." Sheriff Morris wagged his finger angrily toward the eastern border of the Rose ranch. "There’s no evidence that anything happened to your husband other than a drowning. You can wish it away, ma’am, but James Rose drowned in the North-East Creek.”
    “That’s impossible.” Lenora’s eyes flashed wickedly with anger to match the sheriff's. These idiotic men. She’d had all she could take. Intimidation. Accusation. Exhaustion. She knew she wasn’t acting ladylike, but she didn’t care.
    “What makes you so sure his body ain't in that creek? You know more about this than you been telling?” sneered the sheriff.
    With that, Lenora’s temper went from simmering hot springs to volcanic eruption. “You haven’t conducted an investigation! You’ve made an assumption, that’s all. An assumption based on nothing. What can you possibly deduce from a tied-up horse and no rider? It can mean anything.” Lenora banged the butt of her Sharps on the ground for emphasis.
    “Mrs. Rose,” said Luke, stepping a little closer to her. His tone was far more entreating than the sheriff’s. “I walked all over the area where we found Beauty. There’s nothing to be found. No sign of him at all. The