Nick nodded. “Actually, I’ll just wait for the sheriff.”
“Fine, fine.” Despite his words, Nick could tell that the deputy wasn’t fine with his decision, but he wasn’t about to change his mind.
He began to pace the small office. Each second felt as if it were an hour. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the sheriff appeared in the doorway.
“Howdy, how can I help you?” The sheriff was a stout man, he was certainly a formidable-looking force that many criminals avoided.
It seemed that Jake wasn’t intimidated though.
“Howdy, Sheriff, I actually need to speak to you about a private matter.”
The sheriff paused and looked between Nick and the deputy before speaking. “David, Mrs. Jones actually said she needed some help. Would you go see how we can be of service?”
David looked as if the last thing he wanted to do was be of service to Mrs. Jones, but instead of protesting, he walked out of the sheriff’s office, whistling a tune.
“So, tell me, Nick, what is this about? I don’t believe I have seen you in my office for a few years and the last time you were here it was over a minor dispute.”
“It’s actually something a little more important than that this time, sheriff. My brother-in-law, Daniel, didn’t die in an accident. He was murdered.”
Nick’s words hovered in the air for a few moments.
“Well, now. That is certainly not what I was expecting you to say.” The sheriff sat back in his chair with a puff of breath. “Hmmm. Do you have evidence that there was foul play involved or are you just going on a hunch?”
“I know it sounds crazy. That’s why I didn’t mention it at first. I wanted to get some time to investigate things on my own. But I’m positive, and more than that, I know who did it.”
Nick pulled the pin he had found in Ginger’s barn out of his pocket and slapped it down on the table with a resounding clink.
“What’s this?” The sheriff picked up the pin and twisted it around in his hands.
“That’s the pin from Daniel’s wagon. It was buried in the feed bin in his barn. It was wrapped in a piece of cloth and buried way at the bottom. There is no way it could have gotten there by accident. And you saw the wooden pin that I pulled from the broken wagon tree. I sent it with your deputy to show you the day that we went and looked at the wreckage.”
The sheriff shook his head and slid the pin across the desk towards Nick. “Look, I know this has been a powerful difficult situation for you and your family, but the truth is that your brother-in-law died in an accident. There was no wooden pin. The wagon just fell apart.”
Nick began to pace more furiously than he had already been doing. He went into all the things he had found out about the accident. He had given the wooden pin to the deputy. He told him about investigating at the saloon and how he had followed Jake to the clandestine meeting outside of town.
When he was done, he expected the sheriff to be angry. He expected him to stand up and cry out for justice, start organizing a manhunt, or present a plan.
But instead, the sheriff had an amused expression on his face. “You’re bringing Jake into this now too?”
“I know that he doesn’t seem like the type. Before I followed him, I thought that Derek had made it up when he was drinking.
“How do you know that he didn’t?”
“I followed the man! He was discussing with two others about how they were going to rob the bank! We could hear them clearly.” Nick felt himself getting angry. How was it that the sheriff didn’t understand the urgency of this situation?
“Look, I know that something happened to convince you that Jake is a bad man. I know that a lot of people have prejudices against the man, because of his disability. We need to be a better town than that. He isn’t the type of man that robs banks.”
“That is not what I am doing here. This is not prejudices. I would never think anything of Jake if I hadn’t been tipped off and followed him and heard it with my own ears.”
“It really looks like you do. Jake has been here for more than half a year and hasn’t hurt so much as a fly. He’s a nice man despite his odd way of talking. He is harmless. I think you are letting your grief get the best of you. You need to take some time and you will see this is all just a way to blame someone for your brother-in-law’s death.”
Nick’s fist began to itch to punch something. How could the sheriff really not believe him? He had thought it was a possibility, but having it happen was no less frustrating.
Nick fought a groan and stopped pacing. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, sheriff.”
“Now Nick, hang on a second!” The sheriff was calling after him, but Nick didn't respond to him. He had been right about the sheriff not wanting to help. Derek had been wrong about his helpfulness.
They were going to have to go with the other plan, whatever that was. It still wasn’t perfect by a long shot. They had all been hoping they wouldn’t need a separate plan.
While Nick couldn’t exactly blame the sheriff for not believing him, it didn’t make him any less frustrated.
Jake had made a good case for himself. Everyone believed in his innocence and would stand by him just because they pitied him.
No one would believe Nick’s accusations. Everyone would see him as the grieving lunatic trying to make an accident into a murder.
Nick clenched his jaw as he rode back home. He was going to prove everyone wrong and when he did, they would realize just how much danger they had all been in.
Chapter 25
Lana paced back and forth in the quiet parlor. Nick was supposed to take her into town this morning. More than that, she was going to find out how the sheriff had reacted to the information that they had found out.
While Lana was hoping that the sheriff would help them and have a plan, she had to be prepared for him to turn them down completely. Even she had thought Jake was an innocent man. It would be even harder for everyone else in town to consider him a criminal since they had known him for so long.
She glanced over to the empty spot by the fireplace where Ginger’s bed had been. They had moved her bed back to her bedroom two days ago. It was definitely an adjustment, but Lana was glad that she was feeling better.
Finally, she heard hoofbeats and was relieved when she saw Nick riding up to the ranch house. She hurried to the door and stepped outside to meet him.
As soon as Nick got up to the house, he stopped the horse and got down. “You ready to go?”
Lana nodded. “What happened? What did the sheriff say? Is he going to help us?”
Nick avoided her gaze and Lana immediately knew that something was wrong. “No, he’s not. He doesn’t believe that Jake could do something like that. In fact, he called me prejudiced because I thought Jake was a criminal. He says I’m letting my grief cause me to blame others for what has happened. He seems to know nothing about the broken pin I gave to the deputy.”
“What? That’s ridiculous!” Lana threw her hands up in the air. “What in the world? He is supposed to be the sheriff. He’s supposed to believe us and protect us!”
“Whoa, whoa! Calm down. It’s not his fault.” Nick turned her towards him, his hands on her shoulders.
“How can you say it’s not his fault? Of course, it is his fault. He is supposed to listen to his citizens.”
“He is listening. As far as he knows, Jake is one of his citizens and one who needs protecting none the less. He is just doing his job. I don’t want you to be angry at him.”
Lana huffed; she couldn’t believe that Nick was defending the sheriff. “I am angry for you and for Ginger, but I’ll do my best not to take it out on the sheriff.”
Nick nodded as if he knew that was as good as it was going to get. “Fine, come on, we need to get going before Ginger wonders why we haven’t left yet.”
Lana nodded and looked around. “Where’s the wagon?”
“We’re not taking the wagon today, just the horses.” Nick mo
tioned to the horse he had been preparing. Lana had been so angry at the sheriff she hadn’t even realized he hadn’t been preparing the wagon.
“I’m riding again?”
“You need to get as much practice as you can. I know it seems right now like you won’t ever be able to do it right, but soon, it’ll be more natural than walking.”
Lana wasn’t convinced, but it didn’t look like she had much choice. It couldn’t possibly be worse than the first time she’d tried.
“Think of it this way, you might need to know how to ride to help us take Jake down. It’s worth it to practice for that, right?”
Lana nodded and followed Nick to the barn to get her horse saddled up. She knew she could do this.
---*---
Surprisingly, Lana found the ride to town much easier than the first time she had ridden. She felt much more relaxed and it was almost enjoyable.
When they arrived at the general store, Nick dismounted first and helped her down. As she started up the storefront steps, he pulled her back by the hand for a moment. “Wait,”
Lana looked up at him. “What?”
“Remember, we need to act like we don’t know anything. If he thinks we know anything, it could throw the whole possibility of catching him out the window.”
“I know, I know. I’ll be careful.”
Lana took a deep breath before walking through the general store door. Now that she was actually about to talk to Jake face to face, the nerves in her stomach were refusing to stand still.
She felt like she was walking into a trap and wanted to turn around and go back outside, but Jake had already seen her now. It would be more suspicious if she left now.
“H-howdy ma’am. What can I get for you today?” Jake spoke with his strange lisp and a bit of a stutter. It was hard to believe that he was faking all of it. But Nick had specifically said that when Jake was near his men, he spoke normally.
“I- um, just need to pick up a few things. If you could get me a pound of coffee, two pounds of sugar, and a bit of salted pork.” Lana took a deep breath. From her perspective, it seemed that she was talking normally, but Jake gave her a strange look.
“Are you feeling all right, ma’am?”
“Y-yes. Fine, thank you. Just not used to riding the horse,” she added hoping that would explain her jitteriness. Lana hurried over to one of the shelves and began to look at different packages. She needed to get herself together. As she had been looking at Jake, she had just been able to think of what he had been responsible for and what he was planning to do.
“Are you ready to go?” Nick was at her elbow a few moments later with a few parcels in his hands.
Lana nodded, “I think I got everything.”
When they went back up to the counter, Jake had already piled up the things that Lana had requested earlier.
Lana fidgeted and her foot tapped as she waited for Nick to pay and put the parcels in two burlap bags.
“So, how’s Ginger doing these days?” Jake asked Nick.
Lana saw a nerve twitch in Nick’s neck. This couldn’t be easy for him; talking with the man who had made his sister a widower as if they were friends.
“She is well, thank you.”
“Send her my regards. Such a t-tragedy.” Even though Jake shook his head back and forth as if he were speaking of the saddest thing in the world, Lana could see the cold, calculating gleam in his eye as if he were testing Nick to see if he reacted.
The more she knew about Jake and the more she interacted with him, the more she wanted to put him behind bars where he belonged.
“Come on, Lana.” Nick’s voice was tense as he called her. Lana realized she had just been standing there, letting her thoughts take over and control her body.
Lana tapped her foot and chewed her bottom lip as she waited for Nick to load their purchases onto the horses and secure them behind the saddles.
“Calm down, everything is fine. He could still be watching us, you know.” Nick said in a low voice so quietly that Lana was positive she was the only one who could hear.
“I am calm, just angry.” Despite her words, Lana was not calm. She was ready to storm back into that store and tell Jake exactly what she thought of him. She couldn’t stand the fact that that man was in there, living his life as if nothing happened, while Ginger and her family were grieving the loss of a loved one.
A smug smile touched her lips as she imagined what his face would look like when they got him arrested.
She was going to stop at nothing and do whatever it took to get him the justice he deserved.
---*---
“Okay, okay. Let’s go over this again.” Derek was shaking his head back and forth.
Lana tried to suppress a groan. She wasn’t sure if Derek wanted to go over the plan again or if he was just stalling for time and hoping they would change their minds.
“It’s simple, Derek. Everyone has a simple part. What is it you want to go over again?” Nick was looking at Derek with the same exasperation that Lana was feeling.
“All of it. This could be a life or death situation. We should go over it so many times that we are all very clear on what needs to be done.”
“I think the only one who isn’t clear is you.” Even though Lana had been mumbling, Derek turned towards her.
“Excuse me? Things are very clear to me! This is something very dangerous and we and a number of other people could all lose our lives. That is the clearest thing of all.”
“Don’t you think it’s worth the risk? Or should we just let Jake get away with what he wants to do and what he’s already done? He’s a killer! He needs to be locked up!”
“Whoa, whoa. Let’s all calm down a bit.” Nick stepped forward. “Everything is going to turn out fine. Derek, you and I simply have to wait until the gang is robbing the bank while Lana goes and gets the sheriff. It’s as simple as that. We will just keep an eye on them. We aren’t going to get in a shoot-out.”
“And what are we going to do if the sheriff blows Lana off the way he did you?”
Lana’s heart beat a little harder. She hadn’t thought about that. How was she going to get the sheriff there if he thought she wasn’t telling the truth like he had with Nick?
“We don’t have to worry about that. Even if the sheriff thinks she’s not telling the truth, he’ll come out of pure curiosity. There’s no way that he could just ignore her. Besides, I went alone. She wasn’t with me, so he has no reason to connect her story to mine. He would have no reason not to come and check it out if she says a robbery is taking place.” Nick leaned back against the stall once more, “I just need both of you to trust me. The robbery is soon and if we want to stop it, we need to be working together and not against each other.”
Lana nodded at Nick’s words and Derek even looked like he was close to being convinced.
“I should go. I think that Ginger is going to start to wonder what’s taking me so long out here. She has probably noticed that we are spending a lot of time disappearing these days.”
Nick nodded and waved her on. Lana didn’t stick around to hear more. Instead, she ducked out of the barn into the clear, crisp night.
She was falling further and further in love with the beauty of the west. It seemed that everywhere you turned, there was something new to be in awe of. The sky was so crystal clear the stars seemed close enough to touch and it took her breath away to gaze at the moon. She paused at the door for just a moment and absorbed the beauty of the night sky and then taking a deep breath opened the door quietly.
An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 19
