Blood Wedding

“I guess you could at that. I’ll go get Lem and some of the others.” Molly started out of the bedroom, then turned back. “What am I going to tell Lem when he asks what you and I were doing over here?”

“Tell him the truth. That we went to Talley’s to check on things, heard gunshots, and came over here.”

“That’s not the whole truth,” Molly said.

Fargo thought about Abby. He didn’t have any designs on her the way the rest of the male population did, but he didn’t much want her to know about his little escapade with Molly. There were some things better not talked about to anybody.

“It’s enough of the truth to tell him,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to drag your good name in the dirt.”

“Maybe that’s what I need,” Molly said. “Might make my life a lot more exciting.”

“I wouldn’t count on that.”

“Yeah. You’re right. I’ll just tell Lem the truth. Most of it, anyhow.”

“I think that would be best,” Fargo said.

In an hour or so, Molly was back. Lem was with her, along with some men that Fargo didn’t know. It was almost daylight by then, and Fargo didn’t think Murray would be back, but there was no use in taking any chances.

Behind the men on horseback there was a wagon. Two women were in it. They’d come to help Molly with Sarah.

“I wouldn’t be having any big funeral for her,” Fargo said. “Somebody needs to stay here in case Murray comes back, and somebody should be at Talley’s place.”

“I’ve sent a couple of men over there,” Lem said. “They aren’t much for fighting, but they can at least use a gun if they have to. I’ll talk to Rip about having a small funeral. He’ll see the sense of it.”

“What about your place?” Fargo asked. “Who’s taking care of things there?”

“Abby’s there. She has a gun, and she knows how to use it. You don’t have to worry about my place.”

Fargo wasn’t so sure. “Do you think we can trust Murray?”

“Doesn’t matter if we can or can’t. I said Abby had a gun. She’s sitting in a chair in the room with Angel, and she’s holding the gun pointed right at her. Even Murray’s not crazy enough to mess in a situation like that.”

“I hope you’re right,” Fargo said, wondering if Abby would pull the trigger.

“Abby’s not afraid to shoot, if that’s what’s worrying you,” Lem said. “You don’t have to worry about that. Abby blames Angel for Jed being dead. If anybody comes close to the house, Angel’s going to heaven.”

“I don’t think that’s very likely,” Fargo said.

Lem gave him a grin. “I just thought it sounded better than the truth. If there was ever a woman bound for hell, Angel’s the one.”

“Maybe I’d better ride over that way, just to be sure everything’s all right. You can deal with Rip and his friends. I think Conner’s still asleep, but Wesley’s awake now.”

“We’ll have ’em in fighting shape in no time,” Lem said.

“How much would you like to bet on that?”

“Not a damn thing.”

Fargo nodded in agreement.

“Wouldn’t be smart,” he said.

Fargo found Abby sitting in the bedroom, just as Lem had said. But there were three big differences between what Lem had told him and what Fargo saw.

The first difference was that Abby wasn’t pointing the pistol at Angel. Instead, Abby was asleep in the chair.

The second thing was that Abby didn’t have a pistol in her hand at all. There was no pistol anywhere in the room, as far as Fargo could tell.

And the third difference, probably the biggest one of all, was that Angel Murray was gone.

10

“It’s no wonder I went to sleep,” Abby said when Fargo got her to wake up. “I didn’t get much sleep at all.”

She said it somewhat accusingly, and Fargo was willing to share the blame for her failure to stay awake even though he wasn’t the one who’d paid a visit to her bedroom. And he didn’t think it would be a good idea to remind her that he hadn’t had much sleep that night, either. For that matter, he knew damn good and well that he wasn’t going to tell her he’d had hardly any sleep at all since then. Come to think of it, he could have used a couple of hours on his blanket up in the hayloft, but he knew he wasn’t going to get them.

“I don’t blame you for what happened,” Fargo said. “How long have you been asleep?”

“It couldn’t have been long. And Angel must have waited until I was sleeping hard, because she couldn’t have taken the gun out of my hand otherwise. Why?”

“Because we have to find her. If she gets back to Murray, he’ll probably kill every farmer around here.”

“Oh,” Abby said. “And it will be my fault.”

“It’s not your fault. Anyway, she’s hurt. She shouldn’t be able to get very far. She’ll be too weak from that gunshot wound. You stay here. I’ll go after her.”

Abby’s mouth was set in a hard line. She opened it to say, “Not without me, you won’t.”