Page 85 of I Do, I Do, I Do
“First, Bear’s still weak and mad as a wet hen about it. But he’s sitting up most of the day now.”
“Clara was up for several hours, too.” She studied Juliette’s angry gray eyes. “Now tell me what’s troubling you.”
“It’s Jake Horvath. He’s bragging all over camp that he brought down the mighty Bear Barrett and his whore.” Juliette winced. “He says he shot Bear because he believes Bear cheated him out of the Bare Bear, and he shot Clara because he wanted Bear to know how it felt to lose something he valued.”
Zoe frowned. “He’s bragging?”
Juliette came to her feet and paced in front of the table. “That’s not all. He swears he’s going to finish the job. He’s going to kill them both! Mr. Eddington heard him say this. I told Ben about the threats, but Ben already knew. He said they’ve sent someone to the Mounties’ new headquarters at Fort Herchmer. But that’s near Dawson, at least five weeks from here and five weeks back. Assuming the Mounties leave at once and encounter no bad weather, it will be close to three months before they come to arrest Horvath. If they come at all! And they may not.” She looked at Zoe. “Ben says there are only about two hundred Mounties to police the entire Yukon territory, and they undoubtedly have more serious crimes to follow up than an ambush and attempted murder.”
“Horvath threatened to ‘finish the job’?” Zoe’s heart sank. She’d wondered if Horvath would be satisfied with almost killing Bear and Clara or if he’d make another attempt.
Juliette nodded. Sitting down, she pounded a fist on the table. “And no one is doing anything to stop him!”
“Tom explained there’s a group talking hard against vigilantism. They’re saying no one was killed. They’re saying this is between Bear and Horvath.” She knew Tom felt pulled between going after Horvath and agreeing that vigilantism was wrong. The same conflict circled in her own mind.
“Zoe.” Juliette cupped her hands around the coffee mug and leaned forward. “Horvath is going to kill Clara and Bear. And no one intends to do anything about it. We can’t let that happen. Clara is…She’s our sister. And Bear is our friend.”
Bear was a better friend than Zoe had dreamed. Finally Tom had told her that it was Bear who had paid almost half of their passage to Dawson. Bear. She never would have guessed.
“On a different subject,” she said, clearing her throat. “I know I’ve said this a dozen times in the last few days, but Juliette, I’m so sorry for the nasty things I said to you when I believed you’d paid the extra to pack us to Dawson. I’ll always regret it. I’ve been so wrong about a lot of things.”
Juliette waved the apology aside. “Zoe, please. If we don’t do something, Clara and Bear are going to get killed.”
Slowly, Zoe nodded. Juliette wasn’t saying anything that Zoe hadn’t already considered. “What would you suggest?”
“I think we should make a citizen’s arrest and confine Jake Horvath to his tent until the Mounties get here. If no one else will do it, then you and I can take turns guarding him.”
“Us? You and me?” She hadn’t expected this sort of suggestion. Her impulse was to laugh, but Juliette’s serious nod kept any smile from her lips. “What makes you think Horvath will allow us to confine him to his tent?”
“If he refuses, then you shoot him.”
“What?”
“You came up here to shoot a man, didn’t you? Well, shoot this one. Zoe, if Bear kills Horvath, then the Mounties will come afterhimbecause it would be a revenge killing. If we shoot Horvath, we can say that we had to do it because he resisted arrest. You know Bear won’t try to arrest him. Bear will just walk up and kill him. He won’t have a strong defense, but we will. Especially if Horvath threatens us.”
“I think you can count on a few threats,” Zoe said dryly. Then she narrowed her gaze. “You keep saying ‘we.’ Do you plan to shoot Horvath, too?”
“Of course not, I don’t know how to shoot a gun. But I’m willing to be an accessory by coming along to support you. I don’t care if I get arrested. It’s better that you and I get arrested than that Clara gets killed. And Zoe, we don’t know when Horvath will strike, but I believe we can agree it will be soon. If you were Horvath, would you wait until Bear is strong and well again?”
Zoe stared. Juliette’s argument was making sense: the situation was dire.
“For all we know, Horvath is creeping around outside right now. He’s probably planning to go after the easiest prey first, and that’s Clara!”
Alarmed and worried, Zoe stood and peered out the ice-block window. The ice was so thick that all she could see was a smear of greens, whites, and browns.
“Before we go after Horvath, there are a couple of things we have to talk about.” She drew a breath. “Suppose for a minute that Horvath won’t agree to be arrested. Suppose he threatens us, and suppose I have to shoot him. Then suppose the Mounties arrive and arrest me for killing Horvath and they arrest you for being part of it.”
“Yes?” Juliette drummed her fingers impatiently.
“Who’s going to shoot Jean Jacques if I’m arrested?”
“That’s easy. You give Clara your rifle, then she continues on to Dawson and she shoots him.”
“She’s like you. She’s never shot a weapon.”
“So she can learn. Or she can poison him. Or she can hire someone to do the deed.” Juliette shrugged.
“Sometimes you amaze me.” It was hard to believe that she had once dismissed Juliette as a prissy simpering creature with no backbone.
