Free Peacemaker by Lindsay Buroker

hoped for.
    “ With what?” Cedar
demanded, prodding the pistol against the man’s Adam’s
apple.
    The pirate gagged and sputtered. “The
girls,” he managed. “That was all Sparwood. Nobody here’s into
that. We don’t murder, least not if we can help it, and nobody’s
raping and torturing girls and then cutting them up. He was a sick
bastard. That’s why the captain sent him walking.”
    The admission of rape and torture made Kali
grip the nearest tree for support. She focused on the harsh, thick
ridges of its bark beneath her palm and tried not to picture that
girl—Vixen—being tormented before finally being killed. And she
tried not to think about the fact that that grisly killing had
happened less than a mile from the cave where she was always out
working, all alone….
    “ This Sparwood acts
alone?” Cedar was asking, and Kali realized she’d missed part of
the conversation.
    “ No one would want to
spend time with that monster.” The pirate did an admirable job of
shuddering for someone with a pistol jammed into his throat. “He’s
mean as a rabid badger, but worse’n an animal. Takes real pleasure
in hurting folks, especially…” His eyeballs swiveled to lock onto
Kali.
    Though his significant stare made her squirm
inside, Kali lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her chest.
She wasn’t about to let some scruffy pirate believe she was
worried.
    “ Where is he now if he’s
not with your ship?” Cedar asked.
    “ Captain put him off just
north of Dawson. Figure he’s in the city by now.”
    “ What’s he look
like?”
    The pirate licked his lips and eyed the
trees. Did he think this Sparwood might be about and come take
revenge if he was betrayed? The pirate lowered his voice. “Big man,
bigger’n you, with a chest like a whiskey barrel. Bushy black hair
and beard. Beady dark eyes. I seen him get shot once and not even
feel it.”
    Cedar looked at Kali, his eyebrows lifted as
if to ask if she had any questions of her own.
    “ Why does he leave the
beadwork?” Kali asked.
    The pirate checked Cedar’s face, wondering
if he had to respond to some girl’s questions maybe. Cedar’s glower
deepened, and the pirate shrank into himself. While Kali found
Cedar handsome, she had to admit he could assume a fearsome mien
when he wanted to. The scar, in particular, gave him a grim, deadly
serious visage when he wasn’t smiling.
    “ So the Injuns get
blamed,” the pirate whispered with another glance at
Kali.
    “ I see,” Cedar said. He
hid his thoughts well, but Kali knew he was irked to have fallen
for the ruse.
    “ Why does he cut them up?”
Kali asked, trying to imagine what manner of tool a man might use
to leave those parallel gashes in a person’s flesh.
    “ So people will think
animals or angry spirits did it,” the pirate said. “And it’s
working for him, too, last I heard. Ain’t no lawmen pointing a
finger at him.”
    “ Yet,” Kali said. “What’d
you say his full name is?”
    “ I don’t know
it.”
    Cedar leaned closer to the pirate, and his
words were so soft Kali almost missed them. “You sure that’s the
truth?”
    The pirate nodded vigorously.
    “ It doesn’t matter,” Kali
said. “There are plenty of wanted posters that don’t have full
names on them. The Mounties can just stick up another
one.”
    “ No,” Cedar said. “We’ll
take care of this animal before they have time to print one up. And
before he has time to kill again.”
    His grip had tightened on the pirate’s
shirt, and the man swatted at the hands cutting off his air supply.
Cedar didn’t even seem to see him. His eyes were hard but focused
inward, and he barely seemed to notice the pirate in his grip.
After what Kali had heard, she couldn’t blame him.
    “ You killing that one
too?” she asked, in case he would feel guilty over accidentally
strangling a pirate.
    Cedar’s eyes came back into focus, and he
loosened his grip. “Probably should. No telling how many