Chapter Twenty-nine

Red Dawson McKnight watched Captain Mason’s house with unflinching fascination despite the rainwater pouring on his head from the eaves above. He dared not move for fear of being seen. Straights had entered the house several minutes ago, and by now he’d killed Harold Mason or discovered the truth, one or the other. Red should know his answer soon. He was either about to become rich, or about to be hunted for the rest of his life.

He pulled his cape closer around his neck to keep the water from running down his spine. The thought of Straights hunting him sent a chill through him only intensified by the rain. Of course, there was no reason for Straights to suspect Red had anything to do with the murders.

Neither Lottie nor Straights knew who he really was, and even if Straights figured out Captain Mason was innocent, he still wouldn’t have reason to believe that Red had been the guilty one. Or at least he hoped not. Dyer Straights was not a man he wished to spend his life running from.

Straights would never believe the death of his family had been accidental. Red had thought for sure the woman and child would run out of the house and away from the fire. But all in all, it still wasn’t his fault. The almighty Captain Straights shouldn’t have fought for the Yankees in the first place, and he had no one to blame but himself for the consequences.

The sudden opening of the front door of Mason’s house sent a flood of excitement through Red. Straights stormed out of the house with a sobbing Miss Mason holding on to his greatcoat.

“He deserved to die!” Straights yelled, jerking his arm away from the crying woman. “He killed my family!”

Miss Mason fell to her knees, weeping into her hands as the furious Captain Straights strode away into the storm. An older woman came into the street and helped the devastated young lady to her feet and back inside her home.

Red smiled. Finally he would receive retribution for the countless injustices he had met at the hands of Mason and the Yankees. In just a few hours, the great Captain Straights would give him enough money to go west and live in comfort for the rest of his life. Maybe he’d go to Texas. There was an abandoned ranch in Jasper he imagined he could get pretty cheaply.