Free For the Love of Suzanne by Kristi Hudecek-Ashwill Page A

“I don’t remember your
last name.”
    “Dillon,” she said nervously,
wondering why she was here.
    “Dillon,” he repeated more to himself
than the other man. “Suzanne Dillon. This is Major Richards.
He’s the man in charge of all of this.”
    Suzanne looked at the man’s cold dark eyes
and managed a courteous smile, despite his hard stare that made her
want to run and hide.
    “She may have some information on Cody Black
Fox, sir,” Addison explained to his superior.
    He raised his heavy brows with surprise. “Ah,
you’ve finally decided to cooperate,” he said slowly and
lit a cheroot.
    “Cooperate?” she echoed in confusion.
    He scrutinized her with scathing contempt as he
put his feet on the desk and blew a smoke ring carelessly into the
air. “It seems that Mr. Black Fox is raising hell in the desert
again,” he muttered nonchalantly.
    She could tell from the intensity of his coolness
that he could be vicious and manipulative. “Oh, I wouldn’t
know anything about that,” she said quietly. “I haven’t
seen him since he left me here over a month ago.”
    He took a long drag from the cheroot and tapped
the ash onto the floor. “Oh, he’s been here,” he
assured her arrogantly. “He’s been seen in and out of
Miss Annalee’s saloon numerous times in the last month or so. I
think he’s been coming to see you,” he said accusingly,
facing her again.
    “I haven’t seen him,” she
insisted. “He dumped me here. Why would he come back?”
    “One can never tell about those red-assed
sons a bitches,” he said hatefully. “But you’d
better tell me where he is right now or I’ll throw your pretty
face in the stockade.”
    She didn’t know what a stockade was, but
judging from the tone of his voice, it wasn’t good. “I
don’t know, Major Richards. Honest,” she said in fear,
holding up her right hand.
    “Miss Dillon, let me ask you something,”
he said in a threatening tone. “Are you and that dirty
half-breed lovers?”
    Her mouth dropped open with surprise. “No.
Of course not. He found me in the desert and helped me. That’s
all,” she said, hating the tremor in her voice. She was very
frightened by the abrupt happenings in the last few minutes and
wondered just what Addison Taylor had hoped to gain by bringing her
before this man who had an obvious dislike for Cody and Indians in
general.
    “Do you know what happens to white women who
bed down with Injuns?” he asked her coolly, looking at the
glowing tip of the cheroot.
    She shook her head. She had a feeling this was not
going to end well.
    “No self-respecting white man will ever
touch you again and you’ll end up on Annalee’s payroll,”
he said with some satisfaction in his voice.
    She bit her lip and twisted her hands nervously at
her waist. She hadn’t known Cody had been to the fort or that
he was a troublemaker. He’d presented himself as a peacemaker
and now she was wondering if that had been true. She reminded herself
that everybody lied and he was probably no different.
    “Major, pardon my interruption,”
Addison said in his smooth southern accent. “Maybe Miss Dillon
doesn’t know where he is. After all, Miss Annalee doesn’t
take too kindly to anyone visiting with any of her girls without
money and we all know Cody Black Fox is as poor as a church mouse.”
    The major glowered at who he considered a meager
man. “Lieutenant Taylor,” he bellowed, rising to his feet
in anger. “If you cannot hold your tongue, I will dismiss you
from this interrogation. Mind your place.”
    Addison returned the glare. “With all due
respect, sir, you’ve already convicted this young lady of a
crime that she may not have committed,” he said with an edge in
his voice.
    “I will decide if there has been a crime.
You are dismissed and placed on gate duty until further notice!”
he yelled, slamming his fist down on the desk with such force that it
toppled the ink jar onto its side.
    Addison didn’t back down.