A short while later the wagon came into view, the oxen now facing uphill. Chuck stood at the front of the team, fastening a harness. The large deputy hoisted a roll of blankets onto the load of rough-cut boards. When she realized Mr. Dobbs was wrapped up in them, tears stung at her eyes.
Juniper reined his horse in beside the team of oxen, and for a moment she didn’t mind the security of being surrounded by his strength.
“Sheriff,” said the deputy, his expression glum. “I heard the gunfire. Chuck was just telling me what happened.”
Chuck climbed up to his wagon seat and lifted the reins, seeming impatient to be on his way.
Juniper’s hands closed around her waist, hitching Lily’s breath. “They got off with the payroll cash box,” he said, slowly lowering her to the ground.
The moment her feet touched down she stumbled forward and found her balance. Her gaze stuck on the body Günter continued to tie down.
“Why did they take the woman?” Günter jumped from the wagon and swiped the back of his arm over his wide sweaty brow.
Rage simmered in Juniper’s blood as Lily’s accounts played in his mind. “Can’t think of any reason that isn’t worth hanging for. Once I find out who grabbed her, he’ll be charged with assault and kidnapping. Chuck, did anyone tell you a cash box was on this wagon?”
“Nope. That feller said he had a locked box he needed delivered to The Grove office.” Chuck motioned to Reginald as he stepped beside Lily.
Juniper’s narrowed gaze moved between them. “This is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”
“If you hadn’t shipped me off like a hog trussed for roasting, Reginald wouldn’t have been left to make decisions without me!”
“I’m sorry, Lily,” said Reginald. “We had the files we needed. Grimshaw went over the documentation and gave his approval. He and Mr. Dobbs agreed the payroll should be put in the safe kept in The Grove as soon as possible. They thought it’d be safest to send it down on the wagon, so as not to attract attention.”
“Grimshaw couldn’t have read any written orders,” Juniper said, knowing now how word had likely gotten out about the cash box. Jim couldn’t read, and Juniper figured any number of men could have overheard them talking at the millhouse. “Chuck, did you recognize anyone?”
“They all had their faces covered like a buncha stage robbers. With all of ‘em shouting to get on the ground, it was hard to hear any one voice. Had to be near fifteen of ‘em. They come right over the side of that mountain,” he said, motioning to the incline across the road. “They knew the money was there. Started fighting over how to open that locked box before they got it loaded. Heard a mention of John’s place. Reckon his woman’s hurtin’ pretty bad.”
Juniper bit back a curse. That meant Calvin had likely been with them. His widowed sister and her five children had been waiting for the last of John’s wages.
“Who’s John?” asked Lily.
“A good man who believed this camp would come through for him,” Juniper told her. “So he kept working when others left, even though the smaller crews compromised their safety. It cost him his life. His wife and their five children have been waiting on the last of his wages for two months. What exactly did you expect these men to do while you got all your pretty little ducks in a row?”
“To have some understanding. I sent notices—”
“Notices won’t buy much at a mercantile, Miss Carrington. Plenty of these men have families who depend on that income to make ends meet. To buy food and keep roofs over their heads.”
“Surely they have some savings set aside for—”
“Savings?” Lily Palmer Carrington was burning through his patience like fire through a haystack. “Most of your employees have never stepped foot in a bank because they’ve got nothing to put there. They work to get by, Miss Carrington.”
“I realize—”
“No, you don’t. You’ve got no business being out here. You belong in San Francisco.”
“Do not tell me where I belong! You are the one who belongs … in …”
“Hell?” Juniper supplied. “Right beside your father?”
Her green eyes flared with rage. “How dare you!”
“Enough!” Reginald stepped between them. “Lily, what’s going on?”
Her lower lip slid between white teeth as her gaze moved between Juniper and her cousin.
“What’s the matter, Miss Carrington? Didn’t you fill Reginald in on your plans for revenge?”
“Lily?”
“If I’m cartin’ this poor dead feller back up to camp,” said Chuck, “I need to get goin’. I want to be down this mountain before nightfall.”
Juniper turned to Günter.
His deputy splayed his hands wide in question. “You tell me. What do we do?”
He needed to get away from this woman before he lost his temper or, worse yet, she found another revolver. “See the Carringtons back to camp so they can make arrangements for their man and collect their belongings before being escorted to The Grove. Go straight to the kitchen and have Cook tell you which men didn’t show up for dinner. That could help us narrow this down. Then meet me at Frank’s livery. If I’m not there, he’ll know where to find me.”
Günter gave a firm nod. He turned toward Miss Carrington. “You wish to ride on the wagon?”
She glanced at the horse Mr. Dobbs had been riding, then leveled those shrewd green eyes on Juniper. “Where are you going?”
“To recover the cash box. I think I know what will likely be the first stop of our Good Samaritans.”
“Good Samaritans?”
“In their minds, though I admit they’ve gone about it all wrong.”
“They shot my guard and stole my money!”
“They took what they believed you owed them, Miss Carrington.”
“What we owed an entire camp, not one group of thugs. How can you defend murderers? Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” she added, crossing her arms as she glared up at him.
Juniper glared right back. “Only one man pulled that trigger, and he’ll be found and charged with the crime. I’ll get your money back, Miss Carrington.”
“Not without us, you won’t.” Lily strode toward Dobbs’s black horse, and Juniper had to clench his jaw to keep from swearing.
“Let the man do his job, Lil’,” Reginald said, a blessed voice of reason.
“I plan to make certain he does.” Her tiny form swung into the high saddle in a most unladylike fashion, and with an ease that shocked him. “We can’t move forward until the payroll is recovered and properly distributed.” She tucked the excess folds of her fancy skirt securely beneath her slender white knees, then shifted in the saddle as though reacquainting herself with what had once been familiar.
“Which is why we’re riding along. Reginald.”
Her stiff-backed tone put a pinch in Juniper’s spine. He glanced at poor Reginald. The man’s weary expression threatened to dash the last of his hope. “What are my chances of talking her into staying at the camp?”
Reginald shook his head. “I always knew she’d be the death of me,” he said in a whimper, and started toward his horse. “I