Blood Wedding

Fargo could tell she was determined, and he didn’t try to stop her from following him. He went out to the barn to see if Abby’s horse was missing, but it was there. Angel probably hadn’t been able to lift the saddle with her wounded shoulder. He looked around the barn to see if Angel had hidden somewhere in a stall or the loft, but there was no indication that she’d even been there. Fargo went back outside, with Abby at his heels.

The sun was coming up, reddening the eastern sky over a low cloud bank and giving Fargo just enough light to see the ground, which was too hard to take any tracks. He did, however, notice some light dew that had been disturbed where someone had walked toward the cornfield. It was the only place of concealment around other than the barn.

“I’m going in there to look for her,” Fargo said. “You wait here.”

“No,” Abby said. “I feel responsible. I’m going with you.”

“If we both get shot, who’s going for help? You stay here until I call for you or until something happens and I need you.”

Abby didn’t like it, but she nodded. Fargo walked into the corn. The sun made crazy dark shadows on the ground, but at first it was easy enough to see where Angel had passed by. Although the ground hadn’t been plowed recently, it was soft enough for Angel to have left a light impression on it. Fargo followed her tracks, being careful to keep an eye out for her. He didn’t think she could have gotten too far, and he thought she might be waiting for him. And she had Abby’s pistol.

After going about halfway through the field, Fargo saw that Angel’s tracks were much fainter, almost disappearing completely. He wondered why, and then realized that she must have been even weaker than he’d thought. After the excitement of escaping, she’d tired quickly, and now she was probably just ahead of him.

But she wasn’t. Fargo looked all around; he couldn’t find her. It took him a minute or two to locate more tracks, and then he knew he’d been tricked. Angel had slipped over to another row, turned around, and gone the other way. She’d passed him by and was headed back to the house.

Fargo didn’t know why she was going there, but he knew it couldn’t be for any good reason. Good, that is, from Fargo’s point of view. He turned back and started to run, not minding that he was brushing against the cornstalks and making as much noise as a buffalo herd.

When he pushed aside the last green stalks and emerged from the field, Angel was there, all right. She was standing behind Abby, holding the pistol against the base of the smaller woman’s skull.

When she saw Fargo, Angel said, “I’m glad it’s you who came back. I knew I couldn’t get back to my pa, but I thought I might get back at you some other way. I was willing to wait for however long it took until somebody showed up, but you came quicker than I even hoped.”

Fargo had never liked to be tricked, but he had to admit that Angel had gotten the better of him. He said, “Now that you’ve fooled me, what are you going to do about it?”

“I’m going to kill this dainty little trollop,” Angel said. “It’s too bad her father’s not here to see it, but you’re just as good. You’re the one that held me like this in front of my own father. Now you can feel a little of what he did. And this whore can feel what I felt.”

“I’m not a whore,” Abby said. “And I’m not afraid of you, either.”

“Well, you should be. Because I’m just about to shoot the back of your head off.”

“You don’t want to do that, Angel,” Fargo said. “It wouldn’t be smart.”

“I don’t give much of a damn whether it’s smart or not. In a way she’s the one who got Paul killed, and it’s only right that she’s the one to pay for it.”

That was just like the Murrays, Fargo thought, always looking for someone to blame.

“If Paul had stayed away from here, he’d still be alive,” Fargo said. “Who’s fault is it that he came?”

“Don’t start that kind of talk with me,” Angel said. “I’m going to shoot this bitch.”

“If you do, I’ll kill you,” Fargo said.

“What do I care? You’re just using me against my father, and we Murrays don’t like to be used.”

“You talk too much,” Abby said. “And you’re standing too close.”

She raised her foot and stomped down on Angel’s instep.

Angel yelped. Abby whirled around and smacked her in the face with a tiny fist. Angel stumbled back a step, and Abby struck at her again. She missed. Angel brought up the pistol, but she didn’t get a chance to pull the trigger. Abby slammed headfirst into her midsection, and both women hit the ground, Abby on top. Angel struck at Abby’s head with the pistol, but she didn’t seem to do much damage. Abby raised her fist and clubbed her in the wounded shoulder. Angel let out a yell to rival the ones Fargo had heard from Molly not too long ago under entirely different circumstances.

By the time the scream had died, Fargo was beside the two struggling women. Angel was trying to head-butt Abby, but the smaller woman had pulled back and was preparing to hit Angel’s shoulder again.