The Rightful Heir

by Angel Moore

  He turned away from her and left. She’d have to let him know she wasn’t upset with him. But, right now, she had to go see the sheriff. As soon as she dropped off the papers at the hotel and general store.

  “Mr. Croft, I’m in a bit of a hurry today. Will you please divide the credit for these papers between Mr. Ivy and me? Just put them on our accounts.” She placed the papers on the counter.

  “Will do.” He opened the store ledger.

  “Mary Lou Ellison!” Liza Croft’s voice rang out through the general store. Several ladies who were shopping turned to see what the commotion was about as the owner made her way through the barrels and displays to stand beside her husband.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Croft.” Mary Lou didn’t know what was coming, but it didn’t bode well for anyone in her way when Liza Croft got something in her craw.

  “It is not!” She pointed to the ledger her husband was writing in. “Why we’ve lost more than anyone else in town to this petty thief. And I hold you personally responsible.”

  “Now, Liza.” Mr. Croft raised a hand in caution.

  “Don’t you ‘now Liza’ me, Donald Croft. We’ve taken these newspapers—” she thumped the stack of freshly printed copies of the Record “—and spent our time and energy to sell them for the benefit of Miss Ellison, and she repays us by harboring a criminal in our midst.”

  A small gasp came from near the fabric tables. It seemed Mrs. Croft had decided Andrew was guilty without the benefit of evidence or a trial.

  Mary Lou kept her voice low. “Mrs. Croft, there is no proof that anyone associated with me has stolen anything.”

  “You’ve no need to whisper. Everyone will know to be on pins and needles around Andrew Nobleson if I have anything to do with it.” Mrs. Croft sniffed the air as if that were the end of the subject.

  “We all know you will.” Mr. Croft finished his notations and put his pencil down. “You always do.”

  “Humph! You think what you will, Donald, but it’s the good people of Pine Haven that I’m thinking of when I tell them to be on guard when that young man is around. No one will say I didn’t warn them.” The bell on the front door rang and she twirled in a flurry of skirts and poor temper. She marched from behind the counter to help the arriving customer.

  Mary Lou left the store and dropped onto a bench on the front walk.

  How did her one slip to the sheriff have the town buzzing with ugly rumors about Andrew? All she’d ever done was try to help him. The same way Mr. Ivy had helped her.

  If Jared hadn’t put the thoughts out into the air, this never would have happened. It was a good thing Andrew was getting a job on the Double Star. It would keep him away from the gossip until the rumors died down.

  She jerked her head up. “Or until the real thief is caught.” The pencil she kept tucked over one ear flew across the paper of her notebook. She would solve the crime and clear Andrew’s name. She tapped her lip with the end of the pencil, trying to think of any other suspect or victim that wasn’t on her growing list.

  “Trying to come up with a story for the next edition so soon?” Jared stood on the street in front of her.

  “What?” She closed the notebook and tucked it back into her belt. She wasn’t prepared to share her growing list of suspects with him until she had time to carefully consider each one. She didn’t want to cast suspicions on an innocent person by speaking too quickly. “Never you mind. What happened in there is all your fault.” The fact that Mrs. Croft had accused her of harboring a thief could destroy her. Not only could she lose the paper, she could lose her good name in Pine Haven.

  He leaned back. “What is my fault?”

  The door of the general store opened and two of the ladies who’d overheard Mrs. Croft’s accusations came out. They looked from Mary Lou to Jared and turned to go in the opposite direction.

  Jared took the two steps onto the porch in one motion. “Ladies, would you have a moment to answer a question or two?”

  The younger of the two ladies sent a coy look to the older one and put a hand out to stop her. She gave Jared a slight nod.

  “Do either of you know why Miss Ellison is accusing me of causing something that went on in the general store just now?”

  His smile and familiar manner irritated Mary Lou. The ease with which he captured the attention of anyone who would listen, all the while deflecting any scrutiny from himself, was maddening. In less than two minutes the ladies had assured him that he could in no way have had a part in anything that Mrs. Croft was saying about Mary Lou.

  He tipped his hat to them. “Thank you for your time. You ladies have a nice day.” The women walked away with their heads close together, sharing words that Mary Lou had no doubt would spread everywhere they shopped.

  “May I?” He indicated the empty place beside her and sat when she didn’t respond. “There seems to be a misunderstanding.”

  She still didn’t speak. He had branded Andrew as guilty from the moment Jasmine’s cameo went missing. She wouldn’t waste her time trying to convince him.

  “You may be able to charm a silly girl who is enjoying your attention, Mr. Ivy, but your charm has no effect on me.” She stood and brushed her skirt smooth. “If you’ll excuse me, I have business for the paper.”

  * * *

  Jared followed Mary Lou to the office. “I’ll take the papers to the train depot. You can do whatever it is you’re doing. I need to speak to the station master, anyway.”

  “Whose reputation will you be out to destroy today? Someone new, or will you just be finishing the job of ruining mine? Is this all part of your plan to get the paper when the judge comes to town? Turn all of Pine Haven against me, so you can insist that the paper will collapse if you don’t gain control?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What happened in the last hour?”

  “What happened is that you’ve sullied the name of a fine young man, and in the process you’ve sullied mine.”

  “You’re going to have to explain.”

  Andrew slung the front door wide and stomped into the office. He stopped in front of Jared and pointed up at him. “You and your gossip cost me the best job I could have hoped to have in Pine Haven. I know you’ve been talking to the sheriff. Then all of the sudden he’s asking people all over town if I was near their place when things got stolen. I don’t know what gave you the idea that I’m a thief. But I’ll be happy to meet you in the street and settle this like men.”

  Jared held up both hands. “Whoa, boy.”

  Andrew took a step closer. “I ain’t a boy.”

  Mary Lou came from behind the desk. “What’s wrong, Andrew? This isn’t like you.”

  “On account o’ him—” Andrew punched the air with his finger and didn’t look away from Jared. Anger and pain filled his young face. “Señor Morales said he’s gonna have to wait about offering me a job. Said the sheriff needs to finish investigating the thefts in town before they could bring me on as a hand. Said the rest of the men need to know they can trust the people who work with them.”

  The thunderclouds in Mary Lou’s eyes darkened. “Oh, no! This has gone too far.”

  Jared could see the tide turning against him. The two of them had been skeptical of his motives since he’d first come to town. His goal had never been to destroy anything or anyone.

  He took a step back. “First, I think we should all calm down.” The tension in Andrew didn’t lessen, but he lowered both hands to his sides and clenched his fists. “Violence is not the answer.”

  Mary Lou spoke to Andrew. “He’s right about that. The answer is to find out who did steal those things and clear your good name.”

  She spun to face Jared. This time it was her finger pointed at him. “And you are going to help us do it.”

  He shook his head. “I never se
t out to prove Andrew was guilty—only to find the truth.”

  “Well, if that’s the case, you haven’t been successful.”

  “All I can do is search for the truth. What would the two of you do if I wasn’t here?” He spread his arms wide. “The thefts would still have taken place. You’d still have a paper to publish. What would you do?”

  “We wouldn’t be accusin’ one another of stealing the things.” Andrew’s anger still boiled at the surface.

  “No, we wouldn’t.” Mary Lou twisted her mouth into a tight pucker. If she wasn’t so angry with him, Jared would consider it adorable. “We might, however, ask you where you were when the things were stolen. It occurs to me that we had no theft in Pine Haven until you arrived.”

  “What? Are you honestly accusing me?”

  Andrew nodded. “That’s right. How does it feel to be the one people are looking at?”

  “But I didn’t take anything. And no one has a reason to suspect I did.”

  “You was at the hotel the same day as me. The day the cameo and dish were stolen!” Andrew seemed to latch on to this possible theory of Mary Lou’s.

  “Mary Lou, you know I didn’t steal anything.” He couldn’t believe they’d turned on him like this.

  Mary Lou raised her eyebrows. “How would I know that, Mr. Ivy? You’ve only given me your word. I have no basis for knowing the value of that word.”

  “You’ve worked with me all these weeks. I’ve given you no cause to question my integrity.”

  She turned to Andrew and chuckled. “I think we’re getting somewhere now.”

  Jared was incredulous. “What?”

  Andrew didn’t seem to understand her, either. “What do you mean?”

  She brushed her hands together and went to sit behind the desk. “Mr. Ivy, you have just used the very arguments I presented to you about young Andrew.” To her assistant she said, “Now Mr. Ivy understands how you felt when you were falsely accused.”

  “You mean, you didn’t actually think I stole the things, but you were making a point?”

  “I sometimes have to remind myself to be objective. Your grandfather taught me to look at every situation without bias.” She picked up a pencil and opened her notebook. “I’ll admit it’s something I struggle to remember.”

  Jared protested. “It’s one thing to be unbiased and another thing to discount the facts you have. You know me.”

  She shook her head. “Not for as long as I’ve known Andrew.”

  “I see.” Jared dropped into a chair near the front door.

  “I don’t.” Andrew leaned against the press. “And I’m the one who doesn’t have a job now.”

  “You still have a job here.” Mary Lou asked Jared, “What do you think your grandfather would have done in this situation?”

  He sat on the edge of the chair. “You tell me. You knew him a lot better than I did.” The sadness of the statement jarred his chest. He was trying to carry on the legacy of a man he barely remembered. She was carrying it on with full knowledge of Grump’s likes and dislikes, his habits and opinions.

  Andrew said, “He wouldn’t think I did it. I’ve been working here too long. He trusted me.”

  Jared met Mary Lou’s confirming stare. “You’re right, Andrew. I shouldn’t have suspected you. I should have considered the respect you had from Grump and Mary Lou. Please forgive me.”

  “I can forgive you—” Andrew slapped the side of his leg “—but that don’t get me a job on the Double Star.”

  Mary Lou leaned back in her chair. “I’d say we’re making real progress in this investigation today. What if we all share what we know about the thefts and see if we can figure out who the guilty party is? Then Andrew can get his job and Mrs. Croft and the sheriff will focus on someone other than the two of us.”

  They spent the next few minutes talking about what they knew. Mary Lou gave her opinions about who it wasn’t, but she never gave a guess at who it could be. Was she hiding something? Some clue?

  She closed her notebook and stood. “I’m glad we’ve cleared the air among the three of us. We’re all going to have to keep an eye out for anything, or anyone, suspicious. At the same time remember, the townsfolk are thinking they know who did it. Andrew, don’t do anything or go anywhere that might lend weight to their arguments.

  “Jared, you said you would speak to the station master. Ask if he’s seen anyone who might have been to Pine Haven on more than one occasion. Perhaps there’s someone who came to town before the first theft and left after the others.”

  “What can I do?” Andrew had calmed down and shared his thoughts about the thefts. Like Mary Lou, he had ideas about who was innocent but no clue about who could have committed the crimes.

  “Bring the newspapers and come with me to the train depot. You can make the other deliveries like any Monday morning. I’ve already been to the saloon. I don’t want you to go there.”

  Mary Lou stopped. “You took papers to the saloon?”

  “I did.”

  “We don’t sell our papers in the saloon.”

  “We do now. Mr. Ledford was most helpful.” Jared put on his coat. “If a bit surprised.”

  “You didn’t discuss this with me.” The tension of their earlier conversations returned to her voice.

  “We are in the business of selling newspapers. The fact that many of the men who go to the saloon want a paper made it a good business decision. I thought you’d want more sales.”

  “I want to keep the reputation of the paper immaculate. Seeing it in the saloon could damage that.”

  “The paper is for everyone in the community. Not just the churchgoers. The same people who frequent the saloon shop in the general store.”

  “And that’s where they can buy their paper.”

  “Must we argue about this now? We’ve just come to agreement again about finding the thief. Let’s not get distracted from that.” He put on his hat and opened the door.

  “This isn’t the end of our discussion.”

  “A fact of which I have no doubt.” He closed the door and walked with Andrew toward the train depot.

  “You should ask her stuff like that.” Andrew didn’t look at him.

  “Why do you say that? The paper is mine. I have as much, or more, right to make decisions as she does.”

  “It ain’t the same.” Andrew shook his head. “She’s worked hard. If you’re gonna change things, you oughta at least talk to her first. She ain’t hard to get along with.”

  “That’s not true of my experience with Miss Ellison.”

  “Hadn’t seen her argue with no one but you. Seems like that makes you the problem.”

  They walked in silence to the depot. Was Andrew right? Mary Lou did have a good rapport with just about everyone else.

  Lord, if Doc Willis was right about needing to ask You for things, I’m asking for You to help us sort this out. It’s not fair for Andrew to be falsely accused while a thief goes free. And I’d like to keep Mary Lou’s reputation secure.

  Grump had invested so much in her. For Jared to destroy it because he didn’t think through his first attempt at uncovering a good story for the Record would be wrong.

  He wanted ownership of the paper, but he didn’t want to cause her pain. Somehow she’d burrowed her way into his conscience. What happened to her mattered to him.

  In a few weeks everything he’d thought he wanted out of life had changed.

  And Mary Lou had played a large—and unexpected—role in the changes.

  Chapter Ten

  Mary Lou interviewed the sheriff and Mr. Warren again. Neither man gave a hint of anything that she or Jared hadn’t already discussed. By the time she finished writing up her notes in the hotel lobby, it was well past the noon hour. Lunch in the hote
l might warm her insides and cheer her mood.

  “Here you go.” Naomi put a bowl of vegetable soup on the table in front of Mary Lou.

  “Thank you.” Mary Lou put her napkin in her lap. “Would you care to join me? It looks like the lunch rush is over.”

  “Don’t mind if I do. I’ll be right back.” The cook made her way through the empty restaurant and the swinging door that led to the kitchen. She reappeared in moments.

  “I thought I’d get us some corn bread, too.” She set a plate of the golden-brown bread in the center of the table and took a seat.

  Mary Lou offered a prayer of thanks and then dipped her spoon into the thick soup. “This is always delicious.”

  “It’s one of my favorites. Any time you see it on the menu, you can know one of two things has happened. Either I’ve had a chill to the bone or I’m thinking about my Elijah. It was one of his favorites, too.” Naomi often spoke of her deceased husband. “Today was his birthday.”

  “I’m glad to share your meal on such an important day.” Mary Lou, like most everyone in Pine Haven, respected Naomi Grant. Her good food and sound wisdom had brought comfort to many people on more than one occasion. Sharing a meal with Naomi was like dinner with a wise grandmother or aunt.

  “How are things going with you and the young Mr. Ivy?” Naomi took a piece of the corn bread and crumbled it into her soup.

  “Not very well, I’m afraid.”

  “Would you like to share? Sometimes saying things out loud takes the tension out of them.”

  Mary Lou took a sip of her coffee. The fact that she’d forgotten to put sugar in it reminded her of how distracted she was today. “He’s gone about the newspaper business with an approach that is opposite anything his grandfather did.”

  “Opposite?”

  “That might not be fair.” She added sugar to her cup and stirred the coffee until it dissolved. “He accused me of being biased because I didn’t suspect someone I knew of theft.”

  “Ah... Andrew.”

  Her heart sank. “If you’ve already heard of this, too, then it’s more widespread than I thought.”