Rocky Mountain Oasis

by Lynnette Bonner

  The day was beginning to warm, and steam rose from the street as the first prisoner was brought from his cell and led to the witness stand. His hand shook as he held it out and rested it on the Bible, swearing that he would tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Sky could tell as he watched that the man feared for his life, and looking at the faces of the men around him, Sky couldn’t blame the man for his fear. The atmosphere was anything but friendly.

  It had been decided that Ping Chi, the one who had confessed, would be brought out last so his testimony could be weighed in light of what all the other men had to say.

  The questioning began. “Where were you on the night of the murder? What was the celebration that took place on the night of the murder about? Did you have any reason to want the deceased dead?” On and on the questions went. When each man had been questioned, he was seated, with his hands securely tied behind his back, in the shade of a tree not far away. Two men, with guns held ready, stood watch over them.

  As Sky listened to John Bymaster question the witnesses, his opinion of the man rose swiftly. He repented of his earlier animosity toward him. Bymaster was thorough and fair with all of his questions. Never accusing but always cutting deeper, trying to get at the real truth of what happened on that fateful night.

  Standing inside the covering darkness of the forest at the edge of town, Percival watched the proceedings through his binoculars. A pitiless smirk crossed his face as he watched Lee Chang being led to the witness chair. It gave him great pleasure to know that all the men Lee hired to do the killing had been arrested. It would make his next job so much easier. Chang, you fool. Didn’t you know that you couldn’t pull off this job and live to tell about it?

  He had known Chang was the man for this job the minute he’d heard the story about the bogus gold. Percival smiled.

  When David Fraser had denied him permission to date his daughter and had told Alice in no-uncertain-terms that she wasn’t to be seen speaking to him anymore, he had gone and tried to talk her into running away with him, begged her, even. But Alice, being the good daughter she was, had complied with her father’s wishes. She had refused him; said her father had opened her eyes and now she could see he wasn’t the man for her. She had wished him well, but said she wouldn’t be accepting his calls anymore. In a way, this whole mess was her fault. She had been ready to marry him before her father talked her out of it. No, not Alice’s fault; she’s innocent in this. It’s all her father’s fault!

  He had been in a saloon, brooding on a way to repay Fraser when he’d heard the men at the next table relaying the story of the Chinaman up in Pierce City that David Fraser had confronted. It was an innocent comment that had spurred his plan. “I bet that Chinaman would like to get his hands on Fraser’s scrawny little neck!” guffawed one of the drunken men, laughter filling his words, as he slapped the table. “Imagine a showdown between Fraser and Chang!”

  That had been the start of his plan. He had decided right then to contact Chang and put it into motion at the earliest possible moment. It wasn’t like he hadn’t done this sort of thing before and gotten away with it. His only qualm had been in wondering if Chang could be trusted long enough for his plan to work. After he’d met him, all his misgivings had vanished.

  Now, as he stared at Chang, he smiled.

  He wasn’t worried about Chang spilling his name just yet. Chang was the type of man who savored his infamous reputation. The illusion that he was in control at all times was very important to him. And it would hurt his reputation to have it known that he was merely a hired killer. Chang won’t say anything about me until his very life depends on it. And by then it will be too late.

  He lowered the binoculars and eyed the large group of men listening to the inquiry. How many men would guard the prisoners when they were sent to Murray for trial? That was his only worry.

  Things had to go without a hitch. Nothing could go wrong now, and in order to insure that, he must know how many guards there would be. Or would I? A sudden thought hit him. He rubbed his first two fingers across the edge of his jaw as he thought the idea over.

  His eyes narrowed as he stared down at the pine-needle-covered ground. The trace of a relieved smile parted his lips as he realized his newly formed plan would work to perfection.

  Several plump hens scratched in the mud, searching for bugs. The rooster sat on his lofty fencepost and cocked his head in their direction. Fluffing his feathers in the warm afternoon sun, he settled down and closed his eyes to have a little siesta.

  Brooke stepped up onto her stool and began to gather the eggs.

  “You cry before I come?” Jenny asked.

  Brooke turned in mild surprise and smiled sadly, trying to decide how best to describe what had brought the tears on. “I am not a good person, Jenny. I have done lots of very bad things in my life and when Rachel and Sean showed up yesterday, I was so afraid of what they would think of me if they ever found out about my past. Sky is such a good man. I have never known anyone like him.”

  She shooed away a roosting hen and began putting the eggs into her bowl. “I thought his parents would be disappointed in me…that they wouldn’t like me or accept me. I know I’m not good enough for Sky. But this morning Rachel told me a story about herself when she was young. She and Sean were not good people either, but Rachel says that Jesus accepted them and forgave them anyway. He changed their lives.”

  Jenny was so easy to talk to. Perhaps it was her easy-going spirit or the peace that constantly shone from her eyes. Brooke opened up to her like she hadn’t done to anyone else. “I wish I could be forgiven. I’m tired, so tired of…I don’t even know why I am tired. I just feel like I need something, Jenny. Maybe I need Jesus’ love and forgiveness. But I’m afraid that what I’ve done is too terrible to forgive.”

  Brooke gave up gathering the eggs and sat on her stool. Jenny pulled a log from a pile against the barn wall and followed suit. The sun was warm and gentle. A companionable silence engulfed them as they watched the pecking hens. It was a long time before Brooke spoke again.

  “I have watched you, Jenny. I saw the way Lee treated you the day I was in your store. I used to know some men who treated me that same way, but I did not respond to them the same way you did to your husband. You were calm and strong and even seemed to have a peace about you. Where do you find your strength and peace?”

  Jenny thought a moment before she answered. “You think maybe I haf something else that help me be strong? Something not Jesus?”

  “Do you?”

  Jenny smiled in understanding at her friend. “No.” She shook her head. “Jesus, He the One give me strength. He help me love Lee even when he bad to me. Even help me forgive Lee.”

  Brooke looked surprised. “You could forgive a man who treated you that way?”

  Again she shook her head. “Not me only. I haf to haf Jesus’ help.”

  “I don’t want to forgive them.”

  Jenny nodded. “First thing first. You want to find peace? You need Jesus. You not find long peace any place else.” Jenny gestured toward the house. “You haf Bible?”

  Brooke nodded.

  “Come. I show you Jesus’ heart.” Jenny headed toward the house. Brooke followed, carefully carrying the half-filled bowl of fresh eggs.

  18

  Late in the afternoon, when all the Chinamen but the last had been questioned, still not one of them had come clean. The posse brought out Ping. He admitted that he and three others had gone into Fraser’s store on the night of the murder, and while he made a small purchase to distract the merchant one of the others had lifted the lock on the front window. Then later that night, after the town had become sufficiently noisy to hide the sounds of a struggle, they had gone into the store through the unlocked window and killed Fraser.

  A threatening murmur rose from the crowd, but John Bymaster held up his hand for silence and continued with the questioning. “And what was this purchase you made?” he asked, pacing in fro
nt of the witness, his fingers steepled.

  “A string tie.” He pointed toward his neck with a rather unsteady hand.

  John pulled a string tie from a bag handed to him by Jed. “And, is this that tie?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let the court know that I, myself, went to this man’s shanty this morning and found this—” He held the bolo aloft as he spoke. Turning back to the witness, he said, “What was the celebration about on the night of the murder? From all appearances it would seem that every Chinaman who participated in that affair on the night of September the ninth is guilty of being a co-conspirator to a murder.”

  “No.” Ping shook his head. “People were told that celebration was in honor of Mrs. Chang. A late birthday gathering. Only ones who knew about Mr. Fraser were us who kill him.”

  John paced in front of the witness for a minute, rubbing his upper lip. Relief rippled through the crowd when they heard that only a few men had known about the real reason for the celebration that night.

  “Now, I must ask you, why did you commit this crime?” John moved on to a new line of questioning.

  The Chinaman fidgeted with his hands in his lap. “We get pay.”

  “Someone paid you to commit this crime?”

  Ping nodded.

  “And who did that?”

  He spoke without hesitation. “Lee Chang.” His voice was sure and steady, and Sky sensed he was telling the truth.

  All eyes in the group turned to the cluster of men seated under the tree.

  Lee Chang, hands tied behind him, stared back at them, his red, opium-deprived eyes cold and calculating. Sky saw no remorse there. Could the man really be that hard?

  Sky wondered what the man who had been in the alley that night might have to do with this. Who was he? Certainly not Trace Johnson. What was he doing there?

  Lee Chang was recalled to the stand. He sat, leaning forward uncomfortably to keep his bound hands from pressing painfully into the back of the wooden chair.

  “Did you pay these men to murder Fraser?” asked John.

  Chang did not answer. His stare locked on Bymaster, never wavering. There was a long pause as the two men eyed one another. After several more questions to which Chang only responded with a blank stare, it became apparent he was not going to say anything, and the judge called for a short recess.

  The crowd had not had a break since lunch. They stood to stretch and take turns with the dipper at a barrel of drinking water.

  Sky approached Bymaster. “Would you mind if I asked Chang a couple of questions?” he asked quietly.

  Bymaster ran a tired hand over his face. “Fine with me. What do you know about this situation?”

  Sky told him everything he knew from the story of the bogus gold to his friendship with Fraser. He told about Brooke seeing another man in the alley between Jed’s boarding house and the Mercantile on the night of the murder.

  “I’m sure Ping is telling the truth now,” Sky said. “When we first arrested him, he denied any involvement, but he had blood all over his shirt. I had some tests run on it, but they couldn’t say for sure whether it was human or not—only that it belonged to a mammal. So that doesn’t help us much. Ping’s description of the attack would explain how the blood got there.”

  Sky suppressed a shudder as he imagined what Fraser must have gone through. “Still,” Sky rubbed his chin, “I don’t think Ping is giving us the whole story. He probably doesn’t know the whole story. Somehow I think that there is someone else in the mix. Someone who knows Chang.”

  “Well, he won’t talk to me, so you might as well try.”

  Once Chang was back on the stand Sky didn’t waste any time getting to the point. “Chang, did someone pay you to hire men to kill Fraser?”

  Chang blinked and looked away. It was the first breach that the crowd had seen in his armor all day long.

  Sky repeated the question, but Chang was back to his routine blank stare.

  Undaunted, Sky went on, “On the night of the murder, my wife and I stayed in the boarding house next door to Fraser’s Mercantile. My wife happened to look out on the alley between the two buildings and saw a man who is not from around here. Do you know anything about that?”

  Chang blinked again but still said nothing.

  “Long, graying hair. Full, long beard. Do you know the man?” He threw out the description of Trace Johnson to see what kind of reaction he might get.

  This brought another blink from Chang, and Sky thought he saw a puzzled look cross Chang’s face. Still, he refused to answer.

  “How about a small man wearing lots of jewelry? Did you ever know a man who looked like that?” Sky described the man Trace Johnson was tracking as well as he could with the little information he had.

  Chang’s face tightened and he paled, but no answer was forthcoming.

  Sky tried another tactic. “Tell me why the safe in the back room of the store wasn’t even touched. Were you leaving it there for someone else to break into after Fraser was taken care of?”

  Chang licked his lips, then spat on the ground at Sky’s feet in contempt.

  He was not going to answer any questions.

  The sun sank low on the horizon. None of the posse nor the prisoners had eaten, so the court was called to a close until an hour after sunrise the next day. The prisoners were taken back to the jail, and the tired posse began to make dinner preparations and sleeping arrangements.

  Sky bid Jed and Jason a good night and started to head for home, but a sudden thought occurred to him, and he turned back to Jason.

  “Jason, how are you doing with all this?”

  He shrugged. “I’ll be fine as long as that man gets what he deserves.”

  Sky didn’t have to ask to whom he was referring. “And what does he deserve, Jason?”

  “He deserves to die!” The words sounded harsh, and Sky saw Jason flinch even as the sentiment left his mouth.

  “So do we all, Jason. So do we all. But I know you know that. Good night.” Turning, Sky rode off into the dusky evening.

  When Jenny and Brooke got back to the house, Rachel was not there. Brooke set the bowl of eggs on the table and retrieved Sky’s Bible from next to the bed.

  As they sat at the table, Jenny opened the book and turned the pages. She paused to stare at the ceiling. “Give me minute. I think how to say in English.” She tapped her temple in demonstration.

  Brooke folded her hands and waited.

  Finally Jenny spoke. “There many stories in Bible about bad men and women who find salvation in Jesus, but I not show you all them now. You say you afraid that you are too bad a person for Jesus to forgive, but I not think that your big problem. I think you love darkness.”

  Brooke blinked at her.

  “I read, you listen.” She went on. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, That whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Jenny’s finger moved from word to word. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. —John 3: 14-21.”

  Jenny stopped reading. Tears streamed down Brooke’s cheeks.

  “Come to light, Brooke. Come to light. You do bad things, so haf all people. The Bible say whoever believe. That mean anyone, no matter how bad. Jesus forgive you, but you let go of the darkness. Let God shine His l
ight in your heart and clean out all the sin. You afraid of condemnation, yet you condemn yourself every day. Yes, God show us our sin, and that not feel good, but it so much better than darkness. Come, Brooke, you pray with me?”

  She was ready. The darkness around her felt heavy and thick, and she was ready to let go. To step out into the glorious light of God’s forgiveness. To accept the fact that, yes, she was a terrible person. She didn’t understand yet how it all worked, but she had finally come to the place where she didn’t need to understand, she would simply trust.

  Nodding, she clasped Jenny’s hands.

  “Just pray. Tell Jesus what is in heart.”

  Brooke bowed her head. “Lord Jesus, I have sinned a great deal in my life and I know I have hurt You by those sins. I believe that You died in my place, and that You rose again so I can have life. It seems like I should have to do more, Lord. But the Bible says all I have to do is believe in Jesus and I do. Please forgive me for all the wrong I have ever done and have mercy on me. I want to change, Lord. I want to serve You and to learn to do what is right. I want to live in the light, Lord. Help me to live in the light. Amen.”

  Suddenly a great burden lifted from Brooke’s shoulders. She couldn’t have explained what felt different; she just knew without a doubt that something had changed. She felt light and carefree, and a great joy welled in her heart.

  She lifted her head to find Jenny smiling at her from her side of the table. As one, the women stood and embraced one another.

  Just then they heard footsteps on the porch, and Rachel and Sean entered the house. Brooke turned from Jenny and enfolded her startled mother-in-law in her arms. “Oh, thank you for telling me how Jesus saved you. For letting me see that you weren’t already perfect when you gave your life to Him. I needed to hear that.”

  When Rachel pulled back slightly and looked at her, not quite comprehending what was going on, Brooke’s smile nearly split her face. “Jenny has just helped me to give my life to Jesus.”