Free Drew (The Cowboys) by Leigh Greenwood

concern as it is yours.”
    “No, it’s not.”
    “Of course it is, especially if I’m going to be the one thinking up all the new tricks.”
    “I say we cut his throat now,” Zeke said.
    “Gut him,” Hawk corrected.
    “You can’t kill me in front of all these witnesses,” Cole pointed out He hoped they wouldn’t kill him here, but he couldn’t afford to be too confident. He didn’t imagine it would be the first time circus people had covered up for each other. “I can explain.”
    “Get started,” Drew snapped.
    “Can’t we go somewhere else? I hate to keep all these good people awake.”
    “We want to hear, too,” one man said.
    “It’s my business,” Drew barked at him. “If I want you to know about it, I’ll tell you.”
    “Sure, Drew, anything you say.”
    “Why don’t you take him outside on the back of the last car?” someone suggested. “Then, if you don’t like his answers, you can just push him off. If they find him later, it’ll look like he went sleepwalking and fell off the end of the train.”
    They were all sticking together. If that hard-faced Indian decided to gut him right here, somebody would probably offer to wash the blood out of the sheets.
    “Let me get my pants on.”
    “Leave them off,” Drew said. “Then if we push you off the train, our story will add up.”
    As Cole threw back the covers and got out of his bunk, he ruminated on the speed with which this assignment had gone wrong. He hadn’t expected it to be easy, but neither had he expected to find his neck in a noose quite so soon. If he’d kept his mind on business—searching Drew’s trunks for possible clues to her involvement in the robberies—he’d have been gone before anyone saw him. Instead he’d become preoccupied with thinking up new tricks. Now he was in big trouble. One false move, and he might not live to think up any more.
    “If you need help getting him to talk, let me know.”
    That from an ex-lion tamer. Cole guessed the man would offer to see if the big cats liked Cole Benton steaks and cutlets. Cole had a sinking feeling they’d like them very much.
    He felt the flush of embarrassment and a stab of anger as he was paraded in his underwear through several cars and out the door of the last one. A small porchlike extension with a metal railing formed the end of the car. Cole held his breath until the wind shifted and the soot and cinders from the train’s engine drifted away. Then he relaxed and took a deep breath of cold night air.
    He would have been able to enjoy the fresh air a great deal more if he’d been out here under different circumstances. A midnight assignation with Drew ranked high on his list of choices. She might be a thief, but she sure was a pretty one. Besides, if she liked and trusted him, she’d be more willing to take him into her confidence.
    He could forget the trust part. He didn’t need to see her expression to know it looked grim and angry. That pretty well took care of her liking him as well.
    “Now, let’s hear your tale,” Drew said.
    “It had better be good,” Zeke said. Hawk grunted his agreement.
    “Like I said,” Cole began, “I was just going through the crates with all the stuff for your stunts. I thought about asking, but you were so anxious to get rid of me I decided it would be better to just go ahead and look.”
    “What were you looking for?”
    “Candles.”
    “Candles?”
    “He’s lying,” Zeke said. “I say we cut his throat and throw his body over the rail.”
    “That’s the trick I was telling you about,” Cole said, hoping Drew wasn’t quite as bloodthirsty as her adopted brothers. “I don’t have any candles or holders. I was going to have to buy all that stuff first thing tomorrow if I couldn’t find something I could use.”
    “How would I use candles in the act?” Drew asked.
    She was still angry, obviously not ready to trust him, but there was a chance he could make her believe him.
    “It’s something I saw