“Not yet. Maybe in a few minutes.”
Which told him her nausea had not completely subsided. Her face and that burn needed cleaning and treatment. “Let me get my first aid kit from my pack.”
Cole’s eyes met Garrett’s as he went to retrieve his kit from Mountaineer’s saddle. His friend held Mattie in a special place in his heart, and lines of concern etched his craggy face as he untied a tightly rolled sleeping bag from behind his own saddle.
Garrett took the bag to Mattie, unzipping it as he went. “Here, stand up a minute, Mattie.” He spread the bag open and wrapped it snuggly around her shoulders, tucking it into her hands in front as she sat back down on the cold stone.
She gave him a wan smile of gratitude.
Cole bent over her and used gauze pads and water to bathe her wounds, finishing up with touches of antibiotic ointment on the cuts and scrapes. Although there were dozens of them, he didn’t think any of them would need to be sutured. At least that was something.
He dressed the second-degree burn on her arm with antiseptic and a sterile pad. As long as it didn’t get infected, he thought it would heal without problems. The sleeping bag had helped, and by the time he zipped up his first aid kit, her shivers appeared to have ceased.
Brody came over to squat beside her. “Tell me what happened.”
Garrett moved off a few paces as if giving her privacy.
“I remember Robo getting darted in the backyard. I tried to reach him, but then the guy darted me. I thought Robo might be dead.” Her eyes met Cole’s and he could read her questions there.
“Riley found him. She called me.” There would be time later to give her more details if she wanted them.
Her eyelids fluttered and her breath caught as she looked away. Cole could tell her feelings were raw and exposed. She bent and hugged Robo against her while she waged a battle to control her emotion.
Brody pressed on. “What happened after he took you from the yard?”
“I don’t remember much at first.” She told them about becoming aware that she was draped over a horse and being taken uphill, about awakening inside the cave with her hands tied, about being able to cut herself free while her captor built a fire, and then fighting him to break away and run.
Cole thought that her summary had left out some important details, and evidently Brody agreed. He touched his own throat as he posed his next question. “What about the ligature mark on your neck?”
Mattie touched it gently. “He was trying to get me to talk. To tell him where he could find Ramona Cobb … which is something I don’t know.”
“Your mother?”
“That was apparently his motive for taking me and for torturing and killing Willie. To find Ramona Cobb.”
“Did he confess to killing William?”
“Not in those words. But he told me he was going to give me what he gave my brother, so yeah, he was the one who killed Willie.”
“Just so he could get information about Ramona Cobb? Why? What all did he tell you?”
With complete emotional detachment, Mattie began to pass on the information she’d been told while being held prisoner. She told them how her captor believed that Ramona had taken money that was rightfully his, how he planned to track her down, and how he and Harold Cobb had been involved in a gunrunning operation decades earlier.
Though Mattie told her story without emotion, Cole wanted to plant his fist into something—preferably the face of the guy who’d taken her. He felt her slump beside him as she lifted the canteen to her lips, and he placed his arm against her back to support her.
Robo yawned and sank to the ground, nestling his head on her shoe. Mattie leaned forward and stroked the fur between his ears. He closed his eyes, looking exhausted but content.
Still squatting, Brody shifted on his heels. “We think the guy who took you is Bret Flynn.”
Mattie’s focus appeared to turn inward. “I never saw his face because of the mask, but his shape and size could be a match to Flynn. Why did you home in on him?”
Brody stood, his knees popping. “Lawson found a break-in at a hunting reserve near L.A. where the drugs and equipment used on you might have been stolen. The other possible suspect is Tucker York—he’s from around that area, too. Flynn’s horses and his rig aren’t at his place, and he didn’t show up for work last night. Was there anything about the guy that reminded you of either of these two men?”
She thought and then shook her head. “York strikes me as the right size and strong enough to be the one, too, but I don’t have enough to identify either of them.” She glanced at Cole. “What about Riley?”
“She’s at my house. She stayed there after we took care of Robo.” He wanted to reassure her but felt he should inform her of their suspicion. “Before we left the station, we speculated that your captor might have a partner who moved his rig away from the trailheads for him when he took William, and then you, up to the Ridge. We wondered if Riley could be Flynn’s partner. Stella went to my house to talk to her. We haven’t heard from them yet.”
Mattie shook her head and gazed off into the distance. “Could I have missed something with Riley?”
“I need to call on the sat phone and tell the sheriff you’re safe.” Brody turned toward his horse where the satellite phone was tied to his saddle. “I’ll see what Stella found out with the kid.”
Cole sat with Mattie while they waited. After a brief interchange, Brody turned toward them to report.
“Stella said her interview was uneventful. She thinks the kid knows nothing and hasn’t been involved.”
The sound of shod hooves clicking on rock echoed through the forest, and Garrett stepped forward to peer down the trail. “It’s the others in our party. Looks like they picked up a spare horse.”
Robo awakened, rising to wave his tail as Rick Lawson and Frank reined to a halt, Frank leading a stout black gelding. Mattie left the sleeping bag on the boulder and moved forward to greet them. Their faces lit when they saw her, and a moment of quiet celebration followed.
“Where did you get the extra horse?” Brody asked.
“He came charging down the trail,” Lawson said, “dragging a broken picket line.”
“Is this the horse that carried you up to the cave?” Brody asked Mattie.
“I never saw either of the horses, the one he rode or the one I was on. It was too dark while we were moving, and I didn’t see them when I ran off.”
Cole didn’t recognize the horse. “I don’t think I’ve seen this gelding before. He’s not the one that Flynn brought to my clinic.”
“I saw two horses in Flynn’s corral when I went to talk to him,” Mattie said. “This wasn’t one of them.”
“Take a look at what’s in the scabbard,” Lawson said, gesturing toward the gelding.
Brody put on leather gloves as he approached the gelding and then pulled a rifle free from the scabbard before checking the ammo. “A Remington Model 700 loaded with .270 Winchester ammo.”
“We’ll send the rifle to ballistics,” Lawson said, “but I’m willing to bet we’ve got the weapon that killed the ram.”
“Was there a truck and trailer at the trailhead when you got there?” Brody asked.
Lawson shook his head. “Nothing parked there. What other trail could have been used?”
“This has to be the one,” Cole said. “There must be a partner involved. Someone else had to have moved that truck.”
The sun had risen, and Lawson scanned the blackened ridge. “I want to get up above the fire line and take a look. The wind has died down, and since there’s so much devastation on top, I don’t think there’s a danger of it coming back on us.”