Shadow Walker by Connie Mason Read Free Book Online

government school for Indians on a nearby reservation. She tried to protect me from Pa’s temper while she was alive. He didn’t much like children.
    “Sounds like a real bastard,” Cole said sourly.
    “After Mama died I kept house for Pa until he brought home another woman. Then he struck a deal with Billy. You know the rest.”
    “Not everything,” Cole said softly. “Why did Cobb beat you? Did it happen often?”
    Dawn flushed and looked away. She couldn’t talk about the things Billy had done to her. They were too shameful. “He beat me when I … didn’t … please him. Or when I made him angry. Don’task me anything else. I … I don’t want to talk about it ever again.”
    “What are you going to do after I leave here? Where will you go? You can’t stay here. Sooner or later the other two members of the gang are going to show up for their money.”
    “I’m not going to wait around for them to show up,” Dawn declared.
    “Do you have any money?” Cole knew the answer to that question even before he asked it. If Dawn had money of her own she wouldn’t be wearing rags or starving half to death.
    “Billy wasn’t a generous man.”
    “There’s a reward for both Cobb and Riley. I’ll see that you get the money.”
    “No! I don’t want your charity.”
    Cole gave a snort of disgust. “You should be able to find work in a brothel with little effort. Is that what you want?” Cole hated to be so blunt, but Dawn had to understand she couldn’t survive on her own. She’d become prey to every predator in the area. She’d been forced to endure abuse from Billy and his cohorts, but now she was free of that kind of degradation.
    The breath hissed from Dawn’s lungs. “I’m no whore. My mother was my father’s whore, and I know what it’s like.”
    “I never said you were. I was just trying to talk some sense into you. Your options are limited. You’re a woman, you’re young, and you’re a half-breed. How will you support yourself? You could find another husband, who will—”
    “No! No man will ever touch me again. All men are beasts. Just go away and leave me alone.”
    Cole wished he could do just that. He was becoming too involved in Dawn’s life. He shouldn’t care what happened to her, he told himself. During all his years as a Pinkerton detective he’d never been moved to pity before. Yet he wouldn’t call what he felt for Dawn pity. Certainly he felt compassion for her sad plight, but something about her moved him as he hadn’t been moved in years. He wasn’t sure he liked the feeling.
    “I can’t leave until I recover the money.” He turned toward the door. “I’m going to search the lean-to. If the money isn’t there, I’ll dig up the yard until I find it.”
    “What are you going to do with Duke Riley?”
    “Feed him, for now. His wound isn’t serious. I’ll take him into town tomorrow. This time you’re coming with me.”
    “No, I …”
    Her protest made little impact on Cole, who had gone without a backward glance.
    Dawn watched Cole from the front door of the cabin as he literally tore apart the lean-to. When he failed to find the money, he grabbed a shovel and began digging randomly in the yard. By supper that night he was dirty, tired and out of sorts.
    “I’m going down to the river to bathe,” Cole said when Dawn called him in to supper. “Fix up a plate for Riley. I’ll take it to him when I return. Don’t go near him, he’s a mean-mouthed bastard and not too happy right now.”
    Dawn had no intention of approaching Duke. After what he had tried to do to her, she couldn’t stomach the sight of him.
    For supper Dawn had fried slices of smoked ham, boiled up a pot of potatoes and opened a tin of peas. She used some of the dried apples Cole had purchased in town to bake an apple pie. Her mouth watered hungrily. She couldn’t count the times she’d dreamed of eating food like this, but Billy had provided only bare essentials such as bacon and beans