Page 25 of A Letter to Adaya
“There’s no threat here. Sit down,” Bass whispered sharply as he shoved Beau into a nearby chair. As he sat down, his eyes settled on the girl he’d never seen before. The jagged lines that etched her face and neck triggered something in Beau’s mind from not too long ago. He forced himself to take a deep breath, swallowing back words that wouldn’t help anything at all.
“You’re Izzy,” his voice was low but carefully contained.
The girl flinched but met his eyes.
“Now, Beau Pickett, I won’t have you losing your temper.” Libby rose to her feet, standing tall in a defensive stance. He put his hands out in front of himself to ward her off. He surveyed the room, wondering when Bass had abandoned him to his own devices.
“I’m not losing anything.” His eyes focused on the older of the two women. “Is that who she is?” Of all the people in town he didn’t want to deal with, Libby’s husband was at the top of his brief list. Beau had no desire to meet his maker any sooner than the good Lord intended. But upsetting Spades Matthews’ wife was a surefire way to speed that up.
“I’m Izzy.” The girl slowly inched from behind her protector and peered at Beau. Libby, who had been standing protectively in front of the girl, returned to her chair with a sigh of relief.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Izzy’s voice trembled with fear as she spoke. “Why would I tell you? Not even the sheriff asked me what happened.” Her eyes darted around the room and her breathing was shallow and rapid. He remained silent; his brows furrowed in concern. He slowly exhaled a few deep breaths before rubbing a hand over his face, as if he were trying to erase all her worries away.
“Jesse and I talked about you recently on a trip north. He says you see things and are a good listener.” He paused, noting her fingers tapping against her leg. “You’re the piano player, and no one would ever think you were listening.”
She tilted her head, observing him as if weighing her options. Libby reached out and placed her hand over Izzy’s.
“If you can help Mr. Pickett, find out what happened to Jesse,” Libby prompted, “it’s best to tell him.”
Izzy blinked twice, becoming more animated,her fingers tapping out a rhythm only she could hear. “I don’t know who those men are. They got to town when Jesse was gone. Peter wasn’t even at Miss Marcy’s like normal.”
Beau motioned for her to keep talking with a nod. He noticed the flicker of distress that crossed her face when she spoke about Jesse and Peter being absent. “Do you know what the men wanted, Izzy?”
“They were looking for horses.”
“Horses? Like buying them?”
“I dunno. You’d have to ask Jesse.” Her eyes flickered to the door where Nate and Carolina were treating the cowboy.
“What else can you tell me?” Beau insisted.
Izzy stared at the ceiling for a moment, her eyes becoming glossy as she tried to sort through her memories.
“There is this one man. He’s got dark hair and kind eyes, but only before he drinks. He likes ballads.” She stopped, giving her head a shake. “He started talking about some heist they were planning. They were gonna rob a ranch that had just gotten a shipment of horses and a girl with dark hair they were gonna take. Said no one would look for her if she went missing.”
Beau felt the sudden chill of dread course through his veins and his fingers clutched at his denim pants. He knew he was the only one in town who had purchased fresh horses, and he couldn’t help but think of Adaya with her long, dark hair. He nodded more to himself, desperately trying to will away the tension gathering in his body as he forced himself to relax the grip on his thigh.
“What else?”
“Well, Jesse was sittin’ at the table beside me, like he does. So, he’d heard all that, and his face changed. Like yours is right now.” She wiped the tears away that were running down her cheek. “Then that man threw a mug at my head, demanding I play something happy. It all went kind of ugly from there. I didn’t mean for anybody to get hurt. I was only playing a waltz.”
Beau was most definitely going to punch someone.“Thank you for telling me. Do you know if they’re still at the saloon?”
“Probably. They talked about how the Richards gang failed to accomplish their task and they planned to stay longer and get things done.” Izzy looked at Miss Libby, who squeezed her hand. “I—I don’t want to get anyone else in trouble.”
“Whatever you’ve told Mr. Pickett, he’ll make sure you aren’t the one responsible for whatever happens. I told you you’re coming home with me tonight, Izzy. Even Miss Marcy agrees you shouldn’t stay there.”
Reassured by the thought of having a plan, the girl exhaled in relief.
“Peter Beale was playing Kings in the Corner with Jesse last night. They weren’t gambling or nothin’. Neither of them does. They were just playing games, so the others leave them alone. Normally Mr. Tater will go play a round or two with them, but he wasn’t there last night.”
It made Beau feel better to have this girl, who had no reason to lie, confirm his brother’s story. “Beale,” he mumbled. “Beale. Beale. Beale.”
“That’s Midge Hartman’s little brother,” Miss Libby supplied.
“Oh. Right. Eight siblings.” Jesse and Peter became friends after Midge married Baxter Hartman. The Beale family wasn’t well received before then.
