He was wearing a mask. A simple bandana pulled up over his nose. This is a warning. The man whispered. He stepped close, smelling of tobacco and horse sweat.
He pulled the rope tighter, the rough hemp burning into her neck. "Tell your husband to sell. Tell him the next time the rope goes over a branch, not around your arms. " He drew a knife. Clara stopped breathing. She stared at his eyes.
Hard, flat, indifferent. He brought the knife up and slashed it across her arm, shallow, but long. A line of bright red blood on her sleeve. Cell. He hissed.
He shoved her heart against the tree, loosened the rope, and vanished back into the brush. Clara sank to the ground. She touched her throat. It was throbbing. She looked at her arm.
The cut was stinging, but it wasn't deep. It was precise. It was a message. She scrambled up, grabbing the knife she had dropped, and ran back to the house. When Eli saw her, he dropped his tools and ran to meet her.
He caught her as she stumbled up the porch steps. "Clara," he saw the blood on her sleeve. He saw the angry red welt circling her neck. His face went terrifyingly blank. "Who? " he asked.
"Masked? " Clara gasped, leaning against him. "One man down by the creek. " He said, "He said to sell. " Eli did not speak. He helped her inside. He sat her down and cleaned the cut on her arm with trembling hands. He put a cold compress on her throat.
He was gentle, efficient, and utterly silent. Then he stood up. He walked to the gun cabinet. He took out his Winchester repeating rifle. He took out the heavy Colt revolver.
He began to load them. "Eli," Clara said. He did not answer. He shoved cartridges into the loading gate of the rifle. "Click, click, click. " The sound was deafening in the quiet room.
Eli, look at me, Clara said. He turned. His eyes were not the eyes of the man she loved. They were the eyes of a stranger, cold, empty, filled with a singular murderous purpose. I am going to kill them, he said.
His voice was flat. I am going to ride to Pike's ranch, and I am going to kill Vance, and then I am going to find Pike. And I'm going to kill him. I am done waiting. He turned for the door.