Continued from 11/15/2023
“Are you sure this’s gonna work?” Sapphire paced the room.
“No, but it’s the only chance we got.” I kept my voice low so that we would not be heard.
“Why can’t we bring John in on this?” Emerald asked.
“Because I still don’t know if we can trust him, and we’re out of time.”
“What if I can find out for sure?” Diamond suggested. “He’s sweet on me, and I think I can flip him.”
I thought about what she said. “Do it. If you can’t, we’ll stick to the original plan.”
“Ruby!” Eli called up from downstairs.
“All right, here goes everything.” I walked out of the room and down the stairs. “The girls are getting changed now.”
He pulled me closer to him and whispered in my ear, “You’re not plannin’ anythin’, are ya?”
“Only planning on showing you that we may have found something.” I wrapped the lie in a truth. “I found some dynamite, and John helped me rig it to open up a tunnel deeper into the mountain. If there’s silver in the hills, it’ll be in there.”
“How did such smarts get into a pretty woman like you?” He nuzzled the side of my neck.
My four girls came down the stairs in their mining clothes. “We’re ready,” Sapphire announced.
Eli stood up but kept his arm wrapped around my torso. “Then let’s get going.” John walked with the girls, followed by the rest of the gang. “Remember what I’ll do if you try anything.”
I escaped from his grip. “Trust me, Eli. I never forget what’s at stake.”
“Good.” He pointed to the door. “After you, my dove.”
I pushed through the saloon doors and hopped onto the wagon that John hooked up for the girls and me. Diamond winked and climbed over the low seat back and sat next to him. She grabbed his thick arm and held onto it while she laid her head on his shoulder.
Eli and the rest of his gang followed the wagon up on their horses. When we reached the mine entrance, I jumped out of the wagon and helped Emerald, Topaz, and Sapphire down. John assisted Diamond, and she gave me the barest of nods that we could trust him.
I prayed to God that it would not be our downfall. Maybe I should pray to Lady Luck instead, since we’re gonna rely on Her power for most of this.
“Follow me,” I said with no emotion in my voice. I lit a few lanterns and handed them to the girls, John, and Eli. They all followed me down the main tunnel into the large cavern. “Now, there’s three different tunnels that we’ve been working with, so we can split up to cover more ground.” The girls handed the lanterns to members of the gang so they could explore the mine.
“What about the dynamite?” Eli asked when he grabbed my hand.
“That’ll come later,” I promised.
Aaron shouted from the central tunnel, “Boss! There’s silver here!”
Marcus’s voice came from the left side tunnel. “Here too!”
Eli gave me a look like he did not trust me. He pulled me over to where Aaron was standing and held the light up to the rock. He touched it with his fingertips. Only a couple of flakes came off the wall, the rest stayed and sparkled. “How did the miners miss this?” he wondered out loud.
“Maybe they weren’t interested in small amounts like this,” I answered. “When you’re looking for a vein, you’ll skip over the tiny flecks.”
He held his finger closer to the lantern, and a smile grew on his lips. “We’re rich.” He set the lantern on the ground, picked me up, and twirled me in his arms. “We’re rich!” He tried to kiss me, but I pulled away. He dropped me onto the ground, anger radiating from him.
Aaron took a step away from us.
“How dare you deny me?” Eli growled.
I shot back, “I always dare. Especially on days like today.”
“You still don’t get it, do you? I own you!”
“Nobody owns me. Not even a murdering bastard like you.”
He backhanded me across the face hard enough that I fell back to the ground, and my lip split. He grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back up to my feet. He dragged me out of the mine. “Saddle up, boys! We’ll be back here later. My wife has somethin’ special for us to celebrate with.” He threw me into the wagon, where my girls all gathered with me.
John looked over his shoulder and handed me a handkerchief to wipe the blood that seeped from my lip. “Thank you,” I whispered. The anger that flared through him helped me to see that Diamond was right. John could betray his gang. She just needs to convince him to do so.
He drove the cart down the trail and back into Silver Hills. Eli grabbed me from the wagon and hauled me over his shoulder. Behind the bar was a set of stairs that led down into the cellar under a trapdoor. He tossed me on the ground and threw the hatch open. He lugged me down the steps to where I kept the alcohol.
“Where is it?” he asked with an edge in his voice.
He slapped me again. “I know you’re hiding somethin’ down here! Where is it?” He tore through the bottles until he found an old, dusty jar sealed with wax in the furthest part of the cellar.
“Not that one!” I called out to stop him, but he just pushed me back.
He wiped the dust off the label. “Con-grat-u-la-shuns, Marshall and Ruby. Dated 1865.” He looked down at me. “This is what you’re hidin’?”
“Please, Eli, it’s the only thing I got left of him!” I pleaded.
His smile became vicious. “Then I guess it’s time to erase him from your history.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me from the cellar and set the bottle on the bar. “Serve it,” he whispered with more than a hint of malice in his voice. He stood next to me, keeping his arm around my waist.
I cried while I opened the bottle. Part of me wanted to shatter it on the ground rather than serve it, but I had to think of my girls. I divvied the almost-black contents into glasses, having just enough for the gang.
Topaz served the glasses to each of the men. Aaron slapped her on the ass when she passed by him with the last glass. He tried to pull her into his lap, but she barely made it out of reach when he grabbed for her.
“I propose a toast,” Eli told his gang.
I leaned against the back of the bar where the alcohol sat on shelves. I wiped away my tears and apologized to Marshall, I’m sorry, love.
Eli held his glass up in the air. “Here’s to the girls who found the silver in the mine—”
A glass shattered, and I looked over at Diamond who “bumped” into John.
Eli glared at her. “Clean it up!”
I tossed her a rag, and she quickly cleaned the spill. “Eli, there’s none left in the bottle,” I explained when he turned to me.
“Sorry, John, but maybe Diamond there can give herself up in exchange for what she broke.”
“Maybe it’s best that negros don’t have a white man’s drink,” Aaron chuckled to himself, but the rest of the gang heard it and laughed with him. Only Eli and John refused to join in.
Eli continued his toast, “Here’s to us becomin’ rich!”
“Here, here!” his gang shouted, and they all knocked back the dark alcohol.
Eli’s eyes lit up when he looked at me. “What is this?”
“It was my wedding wine.”
He did not say anything for a second. “Come with me.”
I fought a little, but after he gave me a cold look, I stopped trying to get away. I gave my girls the signal, and they knew what to do next. My job was to keep Eli occupied while the girls went to work.
He slammed the door to our room open and threw me onto the bed. He leapt on top of me and kept trying to catch my lips with his. “Jus’ accept it, Ruby.” He finally moved my face to be nose-to-nose with him. “You belong to me, now and forever.” He was gentle at first, at odds with the man I knew he was. That softness did not last long. He sat up on my hips and ripped my shirt off of me. He struggled with his belt buckle, and that is when I knew I was free.
“You all right?” I asked, even though I already knew what was going on.
He slid off the bed and stumbled a little while he tried to stay upright. “Wha’ di’ ya do?” he slurred.
“I didn’t do anything,” I replied with a sweet smile. I stood up and put my arms around his shoulders. “Except serve you some cactus wine laced with laudanum.”
“Tchtchtch,” I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth. “You should know better than to drink on an empty stomach. But it will help you enjoy this.”
“Enjoy wha?” His eyes fluttered a little as he fought with the drink.
I pushed him onto the bed with a thump. “You want me to do my wifely duties, right?” I straddled his hips with my thighs and leaned forward to meet his eyes.
“Yes,” he breathed. He yanked me down on top of him and stuck his tongue in my mouth. I found the ropes that I hid behind the top of the mattress while he was distracted. I looped them around his wrists but did not pull them tight.
Three knocks on the door, and then silence. I sat back up, tightening the ropes around his wrists. “Looks like your time is up, Eli.”
“Wha’ ya mean?” His eyes tried to focus on me, but the dilution of opium in the wine made it hard.
“You’ll see.” I smiled and climbed off the bed.
He tried to sit up and stand, but he might as well have been a turtle on its back. I took off the torn shirt, grabbed another one, and put it on. “Ruby!” he shouted. I blew him a kiss and left the room. “Ruby!” he yelled again.
Sapphire stood by the stairs.
“How did it go?” I asked her.
She smiled. “See for yourself.”
The gang was asleep and tied up like little presents. “And it ain’t even Christmas.”
Emerald, Diamond, and Topaz sat near a tied-up John.
“He’s bein’ stubborn,” Topaz mumbled.
I pulled a chair up and sat down in front of him. “Lemme put it to you this way, John. Either you help us, or you die with them. You can become rich from their bounties, or my girls will. You’re not like them, John. You don’t relish in the violence they cause. If you help us get rid of them, I promise that I’ll make sure the rangers don’t look your way.”
He looked at the gang, then to the girls. “What do you wan’ me to do?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Simple. We need help carrying them to the mine.”
He narrowed his eyes. “That’s what the dynamite was for?”
“Exactly. Or, if you like, we can string them up like they did my husband one year ago. Unless you had something to do with—”
He interrupted me, “I followed the girls out of town. I ain’t have nothin’ to do with that hanging.”
I looked to my girls. “This true?”
“He’s the one who caught us before we made it to the train station,” Emerald explained.
I stood up from the chair and wiped my hands on my trousers. “So? Which path are you gonna go down? The path to Hell with them? Or the path to redemption?”
“You swear you’ll keep the rangers off my tail?”
“I promise. And there’s the bonus of becoming a rich man.”
He did not take long to make his choice. “I can get them up the hill in the wagon.”
“Ruby!” Eli screamed from upstairs.
“What ‘bout Eli?” he asked as Diamond untied him.
“I’ve got special plans for him.” I put my hand out to him, and he used it to stand up. “You won’t be the one to kill them, if that helps. No need to get blood on your hands where there is none now.”
He gave me an odd look but shrugged. “Let’s get to it, then.”
We stacked the gang members in the cart. Their feet faced the front and their heads hung over the back end. “We’ll need proof of their deaths for the reward,” Emerald reminded me.
“I think the old preacher had one of them picture takin’ things,” Topaz told her. Topaz, Diamond, and John left to the preacher’s house, then up the mountain to cave-in the mine. Sapphire and Emerald took two horses and headed down to the train station to get a ranger up here.
I went back to the saloon and cleaned it up. I wanted it perfect for when I marched Eli down and outside. Inside my tiny office was a knife that Marshall gave me on our first anniversary. It was made of cherry red wood and had a simple sheath of a cardinal embroidered on it. He had it specially made after I successfully hunted a rabbit on my own. I put the sheath in my boot and covered it with my trousers.
On my desk was a small box. I opened it to show a needle and syringe with a vial laying on its side. I grabbed the needle and syringe, stuck it into the vial and pulled opium into it. It was just enough to sedate him for half an hour, but that would be long enough.
I also found the lipstick that I wore on my wedding day with Marshall. This is will do the trick. I stuffed the lipstick inside my corset between my breasts. The red was just as bright as my eyes, which is why Marshall bought it for me in the first place.
I found him still struggling against the binds on his arms. He must have worked off the drugs in his system by trying to get free.
“Ruby!” There was rage and fury in his voice, but also something laced underneath. It could have been desire. He licked his lips. “Ruby, I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Trust me, Eli. There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
I laughed. “Oh, darlin’, you ain’t getting out of this one.” I leaned over his face. “But I do want you to see something before you die.”
“Like the end of life as you know it.” I stabbed him in the arm with the needle and pressed on the syringe plunger.
His eyes rolled back as he was filled with the ecstasy that only opium could give. He moaned in pleasure when I lightly touched him with my fingertips. “Please,” he begged.
“Please, what?” I whispered in his ear.
“Please…” he could not finish his thought as another round of euphoria rushed through him.
I untied his hands and retied them behind his back. I laid him across my shoulders and carefully navigated my way outside. I made sure the rest of the town, whoever was left, watched as I sat him on the ground. I looped the rope around his neck and tied the other end to his horse. I took the lipstick out and meticulously applied it to my lips.
The sun rose higher over the horizon, and Eli stirred. We had a crowd of the people left in Silver Hills. “Eli Carver!” I yelled more to the crowd than to him.
He looked around and realized where he was. He tried to fight off the noose, but it was too tight to shake off.
“You are hereby found guilty on counts of train robbery, theft, assault, and murder.” I glanced back at him. “And as punishment for your crimes, you will watch your men killed and then hanged until dead.”
His eyes widened in genuine terror as I sauntered in front of him. “Ruby, don’t do this. I can change.”
“You lost that chance of redemption when you murdered my husband, kidnapped me, stole my town, and tortured my girls.” I moved to his side, helped him stand, and pointed to the mine on the hill. “Watch.” I took the knife from my boot and flashed the sunlight off of it.
I received a flash back, and I put the knife away. I held Eli’s head to force him to watch as the hillside exploded. The sound echoed through the town and its valley.
“No…” He tried to shake his head from my grip, so I let him go. He glared at me. “No! You’re not a killer, my dove—”
“I ain’t your dove!” I snapped at him. “I am the wife of the fallen sheriff. I ain’t killing them or you in cold-blood.”
“Then what do you call this?”
I smiled and kissed him on the lips. “Justice.” I moved behind him and guided the horse forward. Eli rose off the ground. This would be the slow death he deserved for everything he did. He kicked his feet and tried to get out of the noose and binds. I used my weight to pull the rope down more and tied it to the anchor in the ground. I let the horse free from its duties, and it ambled back to the front of the saloon.
He hanged there in panic and pain, just like he did to Marshall one year ago. I walked around to the front and just watched. I let the image of him begging, pleading, trying to breathe, and survive burn into my mind. This would bring me the peace I craved. He finally stopped kicking and moving after a while.
I turned back to the crowd. “Eli Carver is dead. But that means nothing after your cowardice killed Marshall. The only reason I don’t string any of you alongside Eli is because Marshall wouldn’t have wanted that. He wanted to build a home here, and I intend to honor him and his memory. If any of you want to leave, go. Those who want to stay, we have work to do to take the stain of Eli and his gang off our town.”
Emerald and Sapphire rode in, just as Topaz, Diamond, and John came back into town. They all stared at Eli hanging there, with the smear of red lipstick on his mouth. They then looked to me, and there was satisfaction in the girls’ eyes. John looked like he was not sure what to think.
Another horse galloped into the center square and stopped just in front of the gallows. “What’s goin’ on here?”
“Justice,” I answered. “Who are you?”
Sapphire made the introductions. “Madam Ruby, this is Cal Deacon. He’s a ranger.”
His blond hair was cut short to his head, which made his blue eyes pop even more. He looked from Eli to John then to me. He took his hat off his head and bent his head a little. “Ma’am.” It felt like nothing escaped his notice.
“Ranger.” I cut to the chase. “Why’re you here?”
“Heard rumors of Eli Carver’s gang set up a hideaway near here. When these two ladies were trying to send a message to the nearest Rangers’ station, I made my acquaintance.” He gave Eli’s corpse a long look. “But it looks like I’m too late to arrest him. Where’s the rest of his gang?”
John spoke up, “Buried in a mine shaft.”
“John. John… Onyx.” He gave himself a last name. “I work for Madam Ruby. She’s the proprietress of the saloon and mayor of Silver Hills.” He looked at the other people left in town and none of them said anything differently.
I raised an eyebrow at the promotion. “Since Eli Carver and his gang are dead, there’s no need for you to stay Ranger Deacon.”
He looked around the small town. “You know, normally, there’s someone here with a shiny badge telling me to get off their turf.” He looked at our faces. “My guess is that Eli killed your sheriff when he first arrived.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Keep talking. You’ll get to the point eventually.”
“I’m saying that if you’re gonna run a way station town, you need a sheriff. I don’t see anyone else stepping up.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you volunteering?”
“If you’ll have me. Life on the road hunting outlaws gets old after a while. Maybe I can stay here for a while until the wander bug bites me again.” He put his hand out to me. “What say you, Madam Mayor?”
I looked at my girls, then my town. I froze and stopped breathing when I saw what I thought was the ghost of Marshall. He blew me a kiss and bid me farewell. I gathered my wits and exhaled the breath I had been holding. “Welcome to Silver Hills, Sheriff Deacon.” I shook his hand.
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