“Yes, here, definitely. She . . .”
Ike ignored Lily rambling on about seeing her mother come this very way. A familiar sight poked out. He pointed.
“Our cyclorama!” Lily started to run to it, but he held her back. He pressed his finger against his lips to silence her, then drew his six-gun and advanced.
She pressed close behind. He knew nothing he said or threatened would keep her out of danger’s way. Better that he knew where she was than have her running around making things worse.
With a quick whirl around the corner, he leveled his gun. Again he lowered the weapon and returned it to his holster. Lily pushed past him.
“Mama, you frightened me so!” The two women embraced.
Ike kicked at the cyclorama and saw their luggage and other gear tossed about haphazardly.
“Why’d you leave me behind like that?” Catherine Sinclair demanded. “I thought you’d run off with . . . him.” She eyed Ike. A mocking smile came to her ruby lips. He saw what Lily would look like in another twenty years. “Not that I’d blame you. Give him a bath, a haircut and a shave and he’d clean up nicely, I think. But the mustache must go. Definitely, it must be shaved off.”
“We have to get out of here right now,” Ike said. He turned to retrace the path to the door, but Catherine caught his arm and spun him around.
“Not without our props, sir, not without our costumes! The Sinclair sisters will not be denied their performance.”
“Sisters?” He looked to Lily. She smiled weakly and shrugged her shoulders.
“The cyclorama is the pièce de résistance of our act. That means—”
“I know what it means, and there’s no way we’re lugging that canvas roll out of here. It must weigh a hundred pounds. More.”
“Well, then at the very least we must retrieve our costumes. There are only three steamer trunks of them. We also need our personal belongings. Two carpetbags are filled with those. And our makeup kits, of course.” As she spoke, Catherine pointed.
“We’re leaving it all. If we try to drag any of it out of the warehouse, we’ll be caught. Do you remember how I found you the first time?”
“Why, yes, you found us delightful, I am sure,” Catherine said.
“I found you and Lily chained up like animals,” he said harshly. “If the railroad bulls catch you again, it’ll be worse, much worse.”
“Well, that may be,” Catherine said, “but we simply cannot do without our props.”
“And costumes,” Lily added. “What ever would we do without them? We don’t have a penny to our names to replace what’s taken years to accumulate. Leaving behind the very things that make us our daily bread isn’t possible. Not at all.”
“My—Lily—is right. Everything that is for our livelihood is locked up in this warehouse.” She batted her eyelashes at him and smiled winningly.
Ike looked from the older woman to her daughter. Lily tried to look innocent but was close to laughing out loud. She had seen her mother use this ploy on men before.
“How did you avoid the railroad detectives that trailed you here? Your daughter said Kinchloe and his henchmen must have nabbed you.”
“I knew they followed me, so I took refuge in an empty crate. I pulled down the lid and peered out until I was certain they had left. It’s a good thing I haven’t performed my ablutions of late or applied perfume. They would have sniffed me out like bloodhounds.” She made a face. “They are nothing more than mongrels. Yes, mutts, worthless dogs who—”
“Sir,” cut in Lily, “Mama is right about our belongings. They are valuable. We can’t leave anything behind. If we don’t take what we can now, we stand to lose it all.”
“This storage room’s not locked up,” Ike pointed out. He swept his arm around to show how wide open the warehouse was. “They can’t use any of your costumes themselves. No one’s going to buy your clothing. We clear out, and when they find you’re gone, they will dump it.”
“Dump it! No!” protested Catherine. “They can’t! Everything we own is valuable.”
“I think he means we hang around and wait to see what they do with our props and other belongings. If they throw it out, we wait for the right time and reclaim it. That’s a safer way, isn’t it?” Lily batted her eyes in his direction and dimpled enough to set his heart racing.
“That’s it exactly. Now let’s get out of here and find somewhere safe to wait them out.” Ike felt increasingly uneasy. The hairs on the back of his neck popped up and a chill passed down his spine. He spun around, going for his six-gun. He had it out and searching for a target when a bullet ripped past his arm.
The shooter was atop a stack of boxes.
“A railroad bull!”
Ike wasn’t sure if he yelled the warning or if Lily did. He was too busy trying to get a good shot at the detective. A second round came his way before he felt secure enough to squeeze his own six-shooter’s trigger. Both the cinder dick’s and his rounds missed their targets, but his caused the bull to duck back. From the raucous sound that followed, the man had fallen off his perch and crashed into something wooden on the far side.
A stream of blue cussing filled the warehouse. The man screamed about getting splinters in his back.
“What’ll we do?” Catherine clung to his arm. He shook her off.
“That way. Run. Get out of here and hide.” He grabbed Lily and pulled her along behind him as he tried to reach the door. Catherine blundering about would distract the men who had to be swarming in their direction, drawn by the gunfire.
“Mama, not that way. You can’t—”
“Outside. Get out of here. I’ll decoy them away from you and your ma.”
Ike hesitated as he looked at her. He pulled her close, planted a big kiss on her lips, then pushed her away. She looked startled, recovered her composure, smiled and then ran out the door.
If Ike was going to die, the taste of her lips against his was a way to check out a bit better than he ever had expected. Two detectives rounded the stack of crates. Ike fired point-blank at them. Then he and the ladies lit out in opposite directions, twisting this way and that through the freight waiting to be shipped.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ike ducked an instant too late. The bullet cutting through the crown of his hat knocked it flying. A wild grab for the airborne hat saved his life. The spot where his head had been an instant before filled with the deadly hornet’s buzz of slugs meant for him. He hit the floor and rolled, fetching up against a crate so hard it jolted him.
Blinking his vision back into focus, he lifted his six-gun and fired as a detective rounded the stack of crates. His aim was better than the railroad dick’s. The man grunted, then bent double holding his belly. He pivoted and fell back out of sight. Ike clambered upright and rounded more crates to hide. A quick peek showed two more bulls following the one he had wounded. They were cautious after their partner being gut shot. This gave him a chance to reload.
Ike looked around to be sure the coast was clear, then scaled the mountain behind him. He exposed his back as he reached the top, but there wasn’t anything he could do other than move faster. He flopped belly down and swung around, pistol ready. A half-dozen more armed men followed the pair. Shooting it out with so many of them was suicidal.
He wanted to call out and find what happened to Catherine. He had to believe Lily had the good sense to escape from the warehouse and hightail it to somewhere safe. But her mother? She was too determined to retrieve her clothing and stage props.