I Cannot Abide Liars
Chapter 13 of The Ballad of Abigail Lambert
Clint ran inside the Inn with such speed, he nearly fell flat on his face as he ran up the stairs to Colin’s room. Those of Colin’s gang that remained; the few that hadn’t run off from this foolhardy quest to chase a teenage girl halfway across the continent, occupied each room of the building. They hadn’t paid for the rooms, of course, for the meek man who owned the establishment lacked the fortitude to demand payment for the service provided to Colin and his crew. In a contest of seven against one, Colin made it abundantly clear when they arrived that the choice was obvious: endure a couple days of unpaid service, or enjoy an eternal dirt nap.
“Colin!” Clint shouted as he burst into the room. He found him kicked back in his bed, having only fallen into restful sleep for all of a minute before being awoken by his goon.
“What in the hell, Clint?” He barked as he rubbed his eyes.
“It’s Esperanza.” Every ounce of grogginess disappeared from Colin’s person the moment her name hit his ears.
“She’s here?”
“I just saw her ride on down the street with the bitch.”
“Get the boys. We’re leaving.” Colin leapt out of bed and collected his things. Clint had half a mind to tell him that they should wait till morning, but he bit his tongue to spare himself Colin’s wrath. It wasn’t long at all before the rest of the gang was ready to go, they knew better than to keep their leader waiting. They mounted their horses and left Stillwater behind, following the road in the direction Clint saw Esperanza ride.
It took them some time to track her all the way back to the farm, but they managed to arrive as the party in the barn was winding down. They hid behind the trees that lined the property. Colin nudged Tim, who reached into his rucksack to hand Colin a telescope. He watched as the entire ranch poured out of the barn until he saw the one person he’d traveled so many miles to find. He spotted Esperanza as she walked beside Abigail and approached the main house.
“What’s the plan, Col?” Clint asked. Colin was silent as he watched Esperanza enter the house, and lowered the telescope once she closed the door behind her.
“We wait until they’re all asleep,” he explained. “You guys create a distraction over at the barn while I head for the house.”
“By yourself?” One of his goons asked.
“That’s what I’ll head for the house means,” Colin said.
They waited there for what must’ve been an hour, lying in wait as everyone dispersed, returned to their rooms and the last of the lanterns were extinguished for the night. After all was quiet on the ranch, the gang began their approach. Clint took it upon himself to rile up the horses in the barn with the rest of the gang, but one of them dropped their lanterns near a bale of hay. The flames quickly sent the stack ablaze. The sound of the barn buckling under its own weight caught Colin’s attention. He looked over his shoulder to see the barn going up in flames.
“Ah, hell,” he muttered. There would be a change of plans, as it often was for their gang. He ran back toward the barn.
“Save the horses!” Suzanne shouted as she ran out of the house, other members of the ranch running toward the barn, some with buckets of water. No amount of water held by every pair of hands on that ranch would be enough to quell the inferno. The commotion was enough to awaken Abigail, who leapt out of bed—injuries be damned—and ran straight for Esperanza’s room. When she burst inside however, neither the girl nor her dog were anywhere to be found. The drapes fluttered near the open window. Abigail ran back out of the room, to find her brother running down the stairs with his rifle in hand.
“Where’s Esperanza?” she asked him as the gunshots that rang outside quickly faded into an eerie silence.
“Benjamin Lambert!” A familiar and sinister voice called out. Abigail approached the window with Ben. They found Colin standing outside the house with his men lined up beside him. Every able bodied man on that ranch surrounded them with their guns drawn, but no one would dare take the first shot. “We got your woman!” he shouted. Colin held Suzanne captive on her knees, with his gun pressed to the back of her head.
“You’ve gotta get out of here,” Benjamin told Abigail.
“I ain’t leaving you again!” She cried.
“I’m buying you time, Abby. You gotta find that girl,” he told her. “Before they do.”
Abigail had traveled nearly 15 years to find Benjamin once again, and once again—she was being asked to leave behind all the family she had left in the world. She hugged him, as tight as she could.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you, too.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Now go!”
Abigail ran toward the back of the house and reached for the door, but she hesitated. She looked over her shoulder, and met Benjamin’s eyes. He nodded, and she left. Benjamin took a deep breath and readied his rifle. He opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch.
“You Benjamin?” Colin asked.
“Indeed I am.” He said.
“Where is Esperanza?”
“I couldn’t say,” Ben replied. Colin pulled the hammer back on his revolver.
“I’m in no mood to play games, Benjamin. I done travelled a lotta miles to find this girl. Now tell me where her and the bitch who took her are hiding.” He pressed the revolver to Suzanne’s temple. As strongly as she had tried to carry herself in this moment, she trembled in his grasp. If she could trade her life for the one growing inside her, she would in an instant, but she would be forced to pray that Colin might show her mercy. “We don’t want things to get ugly now,” Colin said.
“They left, few days ago,” Benjamin said. “Didn’t tell me where they were headed.”
“Don’t be lying to me now!”
“They ain’t here!”
Abigail summited the hill that overlooked the ranch. She couldn’t help but stare down at the confrontation in progress.
“I cannot abide liars, Benjamin. That I cannot,” Colin told him. “It’s against everything I stand for.” Colin wrapped his finger around the trigger.
“Tennessee!” Benjamin cracked. “They said they were headed to Tennessee—but the girl ain’t here!” And that’s the God’s honest truth.”
“I believe you,” Colin said, and he shot Suzanne in the head. She fell to the dirt and Benjamin cried out in fury. He started firing with reckless abandon, but as the outlaws returned fire and the whole ranch erupted into a hail of bullets, Benjamin ducked back into the house for cover. It would be a massacre, and all Abigail could hope to do was run.
And that’s just what she did.
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