Something didn’t sit well with me about Kelly K going back to Upton. I’m usually a pretty light sleeper and when I got up and found she was gone, I was a little perturbed at myself. Granted, for privacy, we had separated ourselves a bit, but still, I would have thought she’d have made enough racket to wake me. And at least wait until I woke up so I could say good-bye.
But then, she knew I’d demand to take her back to Upton, and perhaps she felt like she’d been a big enough bother and didn’t want to put me out any more.
It didn’t take me long, though, to discover that all wasn’t well. Or at least, she’d had some help in leaving. I scouted around her part of the camp for a few minutes, and there were two sets of footprints. And I don’t walk in my sleep. At least, I don’t think I do. How would I know what I’m doing when I’m asleep? But these other footprints weren’t mine and they looked male—different sort of boot, bigger and wider than a female. I followed the tracks and they led to where she had picketed her horse. And, sure enough, there were two piles of horse droppings. It didn’t take a clever detective to figure out what had happened.
Kelly had been kidnapped.
But then, I thought that maybe my suspicious mind was jumping to conclusions. That she had left with someone was beyond doubt. But she might have gone willingly. Since she had talked about going back home anyway, perhaps somebody—and my first assumption was Freddie—showed up and convinced her to return to Upton.
I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. Maybe I wasn’t sure why Kelly left. But I did know that I needed to find out. If she went willingly, she could tell me and I’d leave her be and continue wandering around until I found River Bend. But if she didn’t go willingly….
What really aggravated me about the whole thing, though, was that she had run off with all the bacon and eggs. And apples, cherries, peaches, honey, crackers, kitchen sink, etc. etc.
I couldn’t tell exactly when they had left, but it had been a few hours. The horse droppings were dry, so they had a pretty good head start. But I also knew that Ol’ Nag would have to stop frequently to rest so I should be able to catch up with them by tonight, at the latest. Maybe we could all share a dinner of bacon and eggs, apples, cherries, peaches, etc. etc. etc….
Their tracks were pretty easy to follow; I knew Beauty’s sign by now. But it did appear, by the distance between the hoofprints, that they were moving along at a pretty good gait. At least at the beginning. After awhile, they slowed down to a walk. I noted one place…then two…where they had pulled over to a stream, obviously to rest and water the horses. I stopped once and let Ol’ Paint have his fill. It didn’t really matter if I caught up with them on the road or not. I knew where they were going—Upton—so, if necessary, I’d just see Kelly there. I didn’t especially want to backtrack all the way to town, though.
I found them about dark. I saw a fire not too far off the road amongst some trees and near a stream, so I headed in that direction. Because of the foliage I didn’t have a clear view of the camp and I didn’t want to ride in on horseback, so about 20 yards short, I stopped in some grass so Ol’ Paint would have something to munch on, and headed in on foot.
They were standing on the opposite side of the fire from me—it was Freddie, as I had surmised—and Kelly was holding out a plate to him. She didn’t look terribly happy and he didn’t look terribly friendly. But they didn’t see me until I spoke and I spoke before I should have.
“Howdy, folks. Mind if I join you?”
I underestimated that rat Freddie; he moved quicker than I thought he would. He was holding a knife—I should have seen that, too, and waited until he didn’t have it any more before announcing my presence. He quickly grabbed Kelly, twirled her around in front of him, and jammed the knife against her throat. She squealed, but she was apparently caught by surprise, too. At how fast he moved, that is.
“I been expectin’ you, mister,” Freddie said, greasy hair dangling, teeth protruding, and a rather severe scowl on his face. “You ran off with my woman, and when she and me get back to Upton, I’m gonna sic the law on you fer kidnappin’. So you better just hightail it outta here and git a head start to wherever you’re headed.”
I hadn’t pulled my gun yet. I stood at the edge of the camp, perhaps 30 feet away from them, with my hands on my hips. “And if I don’t?” I asked him.
“You cain’t have Kelly, mister. And that’s final.” And he pressed the knife a little closer against her throat.
That sounded ominous—and looked ominous. The man was crazy, I was convinced of that, and he might just slit her throat to keep me from “having her.” It wouldn’t do any good for me to tell him that I didn’t want her. I couldn’t reason with him, that I knew, but I had to buy some time until I could figure out what to do. I probably could have drawn my gun and shot him, but that was risky, and I didn’t want to kill him if I didn’t have to. I’d just have to hope some kind of opportunity for a peaceful settlement presented itself.
“I assume,” I said, “that Kelly told you that I didn’t kidnap her.” I looked at her. Her eyes were closed, her head back trying to lean away from the knife, and she had an expression of supreme angst on her face. Understandable. Most people would with a nut’s knife at their throat.
“I seen the way you looked at her the other day, feller,” Freddie responded, “and I knew you’d try something like kidnappin’ her. She’s my woman and I’m a-takin’ her back to town and we’re gonna get married. Ain’t that right, honey?” The last obviously spoken to Kelly.
What was she supposed to say? What would anybody say with a knife at their throat? “Yes. Yes. I just…needed a little time to think, like I told you…” She opened her eyes and looked at me. “It’s…all right, Rob. Don’t hurt him. I’ll go back with him. I should never have left in the first place. That’s my home and I need to stay there.”
“See?” Freddie said. “She wants to go with me, not you. She won’t say it because she don’t want to get you in no trouble, but I know you took her against her will. Kidnapped her. An’ I’m gonna tell the sheriff. So you get on your horse, mister, and ride, right now, and maybe I’ll let Kelly talk me into leavin’ you be.”
I looked at Kelly; there was so much emotion in her eyes I couldn’t read any of it. I looked at Freddie. All I saw in his eyes was insanity.
“It’s your life,” I said to Kelly, and then I turned and walked away.
Kelly Kramer had been horrified when she had been awoken that morning by a harsh hand placed over her mouth. She looked up, eyes wide, into the grinning face of Freddie Orton. He put a finger over his lips in the classic “shhh” signal.
“You’re comin’ home with me, darlin’,” he whispered. “I’ll take you away from that feller what kidnapped you. But you have to be quiet, understand?” He showed her a knife. “I don’t want to hurt you, you know that, don’t you?”
Kelly had long suspected that Freddie was deranged. At times, he could be so very calm and caring, and at other times he would explode into incomprehensible fits of rage over the smallest thing. His instability frightened her, and Freddie Orton was the main reason she wanted out of Upton. And now…the look in his eyes…he would hurt her, if necessary, to get his own way. She knew that for sure.
So she left with him, making as little sound as possible.
She tried to talk and reason with him as they traveled that day, yet do it in a careful way.
“He didn’t kidnap me, Freddie. I just needed a little…vacation. Time to think and sort things out in my own mind. But I didn’t want to go by myself. It can be very dangerous out here. He was headed this way, so I asked him if I could ride with him. That’s all.”
That was a thick pile of barnyard material and Kelly knew it. And apparently, Freddie did, too. “I would have taken you, you know that. That feller smiled at you real nice and I could read his mind right off. And he forced you to come with him. Why you’re protectin’ him, I don’t know. But I’ll take care of you, honey, don’t you worry none about that.”
That was the very thing Kelly was worried about…
So, she watched Rob disappear into the forest with an ache in her heart. Not that she was in love with him, but he represented hope to her—the hope of getting out of Upton, of having a new life somewhere, of a new beginning. Of getting away from Freddie Orton. And when Conners left, her heart fell and a wave of despair swept over her. But she was scared to death of Freddie and had to say what he wanted to hear. His words, “You cain’t have Kelly, mister. And that’s final,” were as clear to her as the noonday sun. Freddie would kill her before he would let her go with Rob Conners. She could only hope that her eyes expressed to Rob the desperation she felt and that he would return.
She didn’t like the look in his eyes, however, when he spoke his final words to her and left her standing there with Freddie’s knife at her throat.
No, I wasn’t about to let that cretin get away with taking Kelly, not until I talked to her to find out if going back to Upton was what she really wanted. Getting her away from him wouldn’t be difficult. All I had to do was sneak up on him when he was asleep, stick a gun up his nose, and tell him that if I ever saw him again, he’d be singing with the angels. Or, more likely, groaning with the demons. But I hated to always have to resort to a gun. That could eventually backfire on a fellow—no pun intended. Maybe I’d use a knife this time.
I wasn’t an Indian, but I was pretty good in the forest. I could come up on a fellow in the dark before he knew I was there. And that is pretty much what I did. After I left their camp, I rode about a mile up the road and made camp myself. Beans and jerky weren’t exactly what I was salivating for for dinner, but that was my usual fare. It doesn’t take a fellow long, though, to get used to good cooking and I had certainly enjoyed Kelly’s.
I thought I’d wait until I was pretty sure Freddie and his woman were well into their slumber before I visited their hidey-hole again. I wasn’t going to ride Ol’ Paint; sound travels very well at night, and if Freddie-boy were an insomniac, he might hear me coming on horseback and take it out on his beloved. So I left Ol’ Paint unhitched—I always did, he wasn’t going anywhere, and I wasn’t about to tie him down so that a mountain lion could get to him. He was never far away and all I had to do was whistle and he’d come a-runnin’. Every man ought to have a horse like him. But few do.
Well, I shouldn’t be wasting the reader’s time expounding upon my love affair with my animal, so back to the tale. It was probably 2 o’clock in the morning when I started back to the Freddie/Kelly campsite. It took me about half an hour to get close enough to see the lay of the land. What I saw almost convinced me to go back on my resolution not to resort to a gun. I could have done the world a favor and blown that insane scumbag to whatever part of eternity insane scumbags go to, but Kelly had asked me not to hurt him; whether she meant it or not, I don’t know, but I’d try to honor what she had said. Who knows, maybe some women like insane scumbags, but that’s not the way I read Kelly Kramer. Or what she had told me. But that doesn’t mean she wanted Freddie deaddie.
I watched them for a few minutes while the crickets and cicadas serenaded me and an owl asked my identity; it was none of his business. I waited simply because I wanted to see if there was any movement by either of them. They were sleeping close together—or at least lying close together. Within three feet of each other. I don’t know how Kelly could have been sleeping because Freddie had tied her wrists to a tree and so she was flat on her back, her arms extended, in what must have been horribly uncomfortable. And probably painful. If she got a cramp in an arm, which was highly likely, that could be excruciating. I hoped, for her sake, that hadn’t happened.
As quietly as I could, I snuck up to where they were reclining. Freddie was breathing deeply and regularly, so I trusted he was asleep. Kelly had her eyes closed, but a pained expression on her face. I couldn’t tell if she was asleep or not. I gently put my hand over her mouth and her eyes shot open. I first read terror in them, then relief. My finger to my lips…and she nodded…
Kelly had barely dozed off. Her position was extremely uncomfortable and thus it had been difficult for her to fall asleep. But she was so tired that her body finally gave over to a light, fitful sleep. Thus, when she felt a hand over her mouth—again—her first thought was Freddie. When she saw Rob Conners…she wanted to cry…
But watch out, Rob, he’s probably not asleep…and he’s crazy…he’ll kill you, I know he will…
Well, he certainly tried. Before I could even get my knife out to cut Kelly’s bonds, I heard a screech that would have petrified a banshee. Fortunately, I’m not a banshee. Freddie hadn’t been asleep, and he rolled and came at me with a knife in his hand. Kelly screamed, but I was just able to grab Freddie’s wrist before the blade sank into my heart. I rolled onto my back, him on top of me. I read insanity in his eyes and that insanity gave him a strength that normally he probably would not have possessed. He grunted as he continued to press the knife, now towards my face. “I’m going to kill you, Conners…kill you…kill you…kill, kill, kill…”
It took both of my hands to prevent that knife from piercing my eye. I gritted my teeth and held on as the tip of the blade got closer and closer. His ferocity was incredible, and again, that gave him a strength beyond his ability. Our hands shook, the tip of the knife barely an inch above my eye. But I had two hands and he only had one, and with a might heave, I shoved him off of me and he rolled a few feet away.
Both of us were on our feet as quickly as we could move. I could have drawn my gun and shot him, but I was still trying to prevent that. Both of us in a crouch, we circled, Freddie snarling and spitting like a mountain lion, me watching his every move and prepared for anything. Kelly was yelling at Freddie to stop, but if he heard her, he gave no indication of it. Finally, with another ferocious yell, he came at, pointing the knife at me like a spear.
I jumped to the side and he slashed at me, ripping my jacket and getting a piece of my shirt. I jumped back again but he kept coming, swiping the knife back and forth, causing me to give ground. There wasn’t a whole lot of ground to give, and I feared that, very shortly, I was going to have to go for my gun. I still thought I could take him without resorting to gunfire, but I was rapidly losing faith in that assumption. I waited for an opening, hopping back each time he slashed.
It was Freddie who tripped, not me. I don’t exactly know what he slipped on, but after one might swing, he started to stumble. That gave me an opportunity to go for him and I grabbed his wrist again with both hands. This time he threw a punch which hit me in the cheek, but didn’t have much force behind it. I jerked his arm up, but we both lost balance and fell to the earth. As we fell, I twisted his arm, pointing the knife at him. He hit the ground on his back—and the knife entered him just below the sternum.
His crazy eyes got huge as he looked at me, and then he gritted his teeth, anger now written all over his face. But the knife apparently pierced his heart as well and, in a very short time, I saw the life go out of those eyes and his face relaxed. In a few moments, Freddie’s his eyes closed and his head fell to the side. Freddie was indeed deaddie.
I sighed and shook my head. Frankly, I felt horrible. I didn’t want to kill the poor guy, but he left me little choice. I slowly rose to my feet and walked over to Kelly.
“Is he…?” she started.
“Yeah,” I said, kneeling down to cut her ropes. “I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and a pained expression came onto her face. “I didn’t want that. I didn’t want to live with him…but I didn’t want that.” A tear trickled down her right temple, so I figured she must have had some feeling for the fellow. And I’m sure, on his good days, he was probably a nice guy. But he wasn’t going to have any more good days…or bad.
I sliced the ropes and then rubbed her wrists and hands where the circulation had to have been weak. I saw her bite her lower lip and wince and she gently lowered her arms to her stomach. She opened her eyes. “Thank you for coming back, Rob. I know you didn’t kill him intentionally. You could have shot him if you wanted to kill him.”
I nodded. “I don’t have a shovel, Kelly, so I can’t bury him in the ground. Did he have any family in Upton? We’ll take him back, if so.”
“No,” she said, trying to sit up, and I helped her. “Can I have some water?”
“Sure.” I found a cup and went to the stream to fill it up. I looked around; there seemed to be enough fair-sized rocks around that I might be able to cover Freddie up…for awhile, at least. I took the water to Kelly and told her my plan for disposing of the body.
She nodded, disheveled and disoriented. But still lovely. “We can…wrap him…in his blanket.” Well, maybe she wasn’t as discombobulated as I thought.
The rest of the night wasn’t terribly eventful. Kelly helped me, as best she could, to take care of Freddie; I covered him as best I could, but the animals would get to him eventually. I had a pang of conscience for not taking him back to Upton, but the man did try to kill me, and threatened to kill Kelly to boot, so my pang wasn’t too deep. And Kelly didn’t push the matter at all.
I walked back to my camp, retrieved Ol’ Paint, and rode back to Kelly. The sky was already turning a bit pink in the east. She was asleep.
I decided she had the right idea and caught a little shuteye myself.
I woke up to the smell and sound of bacon frying; a fellow could get used to that real quick. Well, I had when I was married, and it was nice to wake up to it again, if just for a few days. Kelly smiled at me when I got up, though her face was a little sad.
“You ok?” I asked her.
“Yes, thank you.” Then, motioning to the food she was cooking, she said, “I thought you might be hungry.”
I smiled at her. “Not a bad assumption. I want to go wash up then I’ll be right back.”
It took me about 10 minutes and by that time she had everything prepared. We ate in silence for a few minutes and then I asked her, “Do you want to go back to Upton?
“No,” she replied, and with some finality in her voice. But then she looked at me. “I mean, if you don’t mind me continuing on with you.”
“I don’t mind a bit,” I replied. “Your cooking and coffee beats mine any day.”
And she smiled…but again, it was a sad smile. Freddie might have been a little deeper inside her than she wanted to admit.
That wasn’t what was bothering Kelly Kramer. And she wasn’t especially enamored of Rob Conners, either, though she did like him. In fact, she did like him, and that’s what part of what bothered her. I know that doesn’t make much sense, but I’ll explain it soon enough.
As we went on our way, Kelly seemed to have recovered fairly well from her ordeal and we talked quite a bit.
“Are you still planning on going to River Bend?” she asked me.
I had had no reason to change my mind about it, so I said, “Yes. At least, that’s my intention at the moment.” For some reason, I was still uneasy about it, and I wasn’t going to go until I was ready. “It may be a few weeks, though.” I looked at her and smiled. “Maybe I’ll go to Bandera and see if there’s some land up there I like.” I almost bit my tongue after I said that, fearing she might take it wrong, i.e., that I was interested in her.
She didn’t give any indication of that, though, she simply asked, “Is River Bend a nice town? Is it a growing area? I’ve never been there.”
So I told her a little about River Bend and Clearwater Valley and she told me a little about her aunt and uncle in Bandera. I thought she was a little vague, but then, she hadn’t seen them in a long time and said she had never been to Bandera, so I couldn’t expect much. She dug a little too deeply into my past; not that she was nosey, it just…hurt…to think about Julie and Robin. But when two people are riding alone together along a lonely mountain road, well, what else is there to do but talk? I became quite fond of Kelly Kramer, but she wasn’t running away with my heart by any means.
My stomach probably would have followed her cooking anywhere, though.
We arrived in Lethridge the third morning after the death of Freddie. “Do you know how far it is to Bandera?” I asked her, though I think she’d already answered that question. I couldn’t remember.
“No, but I’ve got enough money to take the stage. So I’ll just do that. In fact, it leaves this afternoon.”
I wasn’t exactly sure how she knew that. I looked at her. She wasn’t looking at me. “Kelly, that’s not necessary. I can take you—“
She interrupted. “No, Rob. You’ve done enough. Please. I don’t want to be any more of a bother. You have your own life…I almost got you killed.” She then did look up at me, and gave me that sad smile that she was pretty good at. “I’ll be ok, really. I don’t think Beauty could go much farther anyway.”
Well, Beauty probably could have made it to Bandera, but the poor beast could have used a day or two of rest. “I really don’t mind, Kelly. The stage is an absolute pain—“
Kelly interrupted again. “No, I’m going by stagecoach, Rob, and that’s final.” There was no meanness or impatience in her voice; she spoke very kindly, as in, “I just refuse to put you out any more.” She said, “You go ahead and leave. I’ll wait for the stage by myself.”
Something wasn’t right about this; I was almost getting the impression she was trying to get rid of me. But then…that wasn’t exactly the way she was coming across, either. “Well, I’d like to at least have lunch and pick up a few supplies. How about let’s eat together at that restaurant there?” I pointed at a greasy spoon a few doors down from where we were.
She opened her mouth, and I thought she was fixing to object. But then she smiled again and said, “Ok. That would be nice…”
We had lunch. If she was hiding something, I learned nothing about what it was. The stage left a 1:30. I didn’t leave until she was on it. Our good-byes were short and sweet. I watched the stagecoach until it disappeared.
It was all so abrupt, and I didn’t like it. I don’t know why I didn’t like it, but I didn’t. Is it because I’ll never see her again? She looks so much like Kelly Atkins… Did that mean I ought to go on to River Bend?
I sighed and shook my head. Nothing had made much sense to me since Robin had left about a year ago. I still didn’t know what to do.
Except that I was going to stay in Lethridge that night and sleep on a soft bed.
Back to Kelly Kramer. She needed to get away from Rob Conners because she didn’t know how much longer she could lie to him and him not detect it. He’s such a trusting soul… Rob would have laughed out loud at that sentiment, but he really didn’t have any reason to suspect Kelly was lying to him. Well, other than the mountain lion incident. And not everything Kelly had told Rob was untrue. Her parents were dead, though Indians had nothing to do with it. Well, I think they are dead...She did want to get out of Upton. And especially away from Freddie Orton.
But the main deception was regarding her aunt and uncle in Bandera. She actually had two aunts up there, whom she couldn't stand, and she had no intention of living with them. So she really had no idea where she was going when she left Upton. She felt bad about lying to a man who had done what Rob Conners had done for her. So, that was a main reason she wanted to get away—he bothered her conscience. There was, of course, no way she could let him take her all the way to Bandera, and was horrified when he said he might go up there and look at land. He’d find out then, for sure, that she’d told him a few whoppers. Hence, getting on the stage was imperative.
Yet, while her conscience ached a little, it didn’t hurt her so bad to deflect her from a decision she had made on the road to Lethridge.
Kelly Kramer wasn’t going to Bandera. She was going to River Bend.
He made it sound so nice, so lovely…Rob will come and I’m sure we’ll see each other…
But she’d deal with that when the time came.
If it came.