Touching Rune

Chapter 2-2

“The local lawman left just a few minutes ago,” the scar-faced man said as he spit on the pitted dirt road next to the carriage that pulled up next to him. “I wasn’t sure he was ever going to leave.”

“And the young woman?” the dark figure sitting in the back of the carriage asked. “She is still inside?”

“Yes. She looked right at me,” the man replied, shifting from one foot to the other in unease. “She didn’t look like she was scared either.”

A chilling silence met his response. “Did you get the items I asked for?” the man in the carriage finally asked.

“Yes,” the man replied. “But I don’t feel good about burning down a holy place. I can kill a man or that young woman if you want, but burning down some Sisters and a bunch of kids just don’t sit right with me.”

Walter Randolph sat forward in the carriage just enough for the man to see the cold brutality glittering in his eyes. He didn’t care how the man felt. It wouldn’t matter. Sam Weston was nothing more than a cutthroat he had hired down at the docks. His body would be found in the burnt remains of the building. Weston would be blamed for an arson gone wrong.

Randolph only needed the man to gather the items that were to be used and to be there. He would kill him after Weston and he used those items to set fire to the orphanage. But first… first he had a certain female that he wanted removed. Rune August had been a thorn in his side for the last two years. She had petitioned the mayor and several wealthy philanthropists to support the orphanage. His arguments that the property was too valuable to be wasted on a bunch of indigent children had fallen on deaf ears. He soon discovered that the more vocal he became, the cooler his reception among his peers had become, thanks to her interference.

He had come to the conclusion that he needed to take care of the situation himself. Time after time, his meetings with the stubborn but beautiful Miss August had led to nothing but frustration, both physically and financially. She had rebuffed his attentions just as she had refused to take his money.

“You are not being paid to feel things, Mr. Weston,” Randolph said coolly. “Have the items in the back alley behind the orphanage after midnight. I want to personally oversee this… task.”

“Yes, Mr. Randolph,” Sam muttered before he stepped back. “I’ll be there.”

“You’d better be, Mr. Weston,” Randolph said before he tapped on the roof of the carriage. “You’d better be.”

Randolph looked out the window of the carriage as it pulled away from the curb. His eyes rose to the figure silhouetted in the upper window. A cruel smile formed as he saw the figure disappear as the light inside was blown out. Tonight he would not only make the property available for his future plans, but he would have the beautiful Miss August under his control.