She also reasoned she was not the one Duffy wanted dead.
Chapter 30
Sheriff Anderson lowered his eyes and steadied them on Howard J. Duffman’s paperwork. It hurt him deep inside to be processing attempted murder charges on the man he’d come to call a friend over the years, but his hands were tied. And facts were facts; Duffy had already confessed that he'd planned to get rid of Tobias, but when his schemes went awry and Bruce took that tumble, he figured with the man of the estate gone and out of the picture, he would’ve been co-owner of the Red Bone Ranch practically overnight.
Yes, it tugged at his heart to be signing this paperwork, but it was that last conversation between Bruce and Duffy that made his stomach turn plum sick.
“But being just a co-owner would have never left you satisfied, would it?” Bruce had asked him. “How would you have taken care of that one last flaw in your plan?”
Duffy raised his evil, glaring eyes to meet Bruce’s as he had the audacity to flash a sideways grin.
“It’s a big ranch here...lots of things can cause an accident on a ranch. Everyone knows that. And Hailee ain’t nothin’ but a dumb farm girl. She might’ve just had an ill fated turn, that’s all.”
Before he had the chance to open his mouth to say one more word, Tobias had the man by the neck with a fist doubled up in his face.
“Why, you lousy son of a,” he spat in Duffy’s face, not caring that he did.
Tobias plowed Duffy square in the nose and knocked him to the ground.
“You’re the most disgusting piece of filth I’ve ever seen! You wanna know why your little plan didn’t work? I’ll tell ya why, Duffman. It’s because I happen to love Hailee and I won’t ever allow scum like you to hurt her or her family!”
Giving the humiliated man who lay sprawled out on the floor a swift kick before he walked away from him for the final time, Tobias promised, “I’ll see you hanged for this.”
P
Hailee sat in the center of her bed with her knees all drawn up under her chin, twisting a strand of long blonde hair around her finger, deep in thought and unable to erase the images from her mind or unravel the events that had occurred in the kitchen downstairs.
How could one person have become so evil?
A welcome knock at her door interrupted depressing thoughts she’d been trying to forget.
“Come in,” she called out.
The glass door handle turned to reveal her father's face.
“Hi, daddy!” she beamed. “It is so good to have you back home again. My heart was broken in half without you.”
He sat down on the edge of her bed and gave her foot a shake.
“Well, I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere without you ever again.”
“Is that a promise?”
“It sure enough is. But for right now, there’s a dandy young man waiting downstairs for you in the parlor room. He mentioned something about asking you a question, but for the life of me, I just can't figure out what that question might be,” he winked.
As her left foot nearly caught in the lace of her petticoat, his daughter tossed her book to the foot of her bed and made a leap for the floor; she darted out the door so quickly, her shoulder bumped into the door frame.
“Oomph,” she strained out, attempting to regain some composure as she turned to see if her father had witnessed the slick move.
Bruce just shook his head and smiled; the look of utter peace on his face urging her to go ahead.
P
Tobias stood in front of the fireplace; a nervous twitch had begun to flare up in both feet.
“Calm down,” he twisted his hat in his hands and smoothed the brim back out again, only to repeat the process another time or two. A nervous sweat covered his brow; he swiped at it with his kerchief, but in an afterthought of mussing his perfectly-combed mop of dark brown hair or worse - creating a cowlick, Tobias rushed to the wall mirror for one last inspection.
When he raised his eyes to the mirror, Hailee stood in the reflection, wearing that blue dress the color of a robin’s egg. Frilly white lace docked the neckline and matched a sash around her waistline. Remembering once out by the barn, he knew a bow tied at the back of the dress, because she’d asked him to remove a twig the wind had blown into it.
“I talked to the sheriff. He said Duffy will be taken into Canon City before lunch time tomorrow; we’ll never see him ever again,” he promised, turning to speak.
Hailee nodded. There was nothing left for her to say about Howard J. Duffman.
“But that’s not why I came to talk.”
She grabbed at another strand of hair, began to twist it around her finger.
“No?”
“Remember when I asked you a while back if you felt like maybe we missed a couple of steps somewhere in our courting?”
Nodding, she took a seat in her chair.
“I do. And at the time, it felt like there wasn't anything we could do about it.”
“But now,” Tobias sat down next to her, “everything is back to normal, and I want you to have a proper courting. I already asked your Pa for your hand, Hailee, and now I'm asking you. Would you let me court you proper-like so I can ask you to marry me?”
P
The sealed envelope from the US Marshall's office sat at the edge of his desk. It had been delivered right as he and the others were fixing to head on out to the Red Bone to nab Howard, and yet the lawman passed it off as one more letter in the pile he would get around to opening once the matter at the ranch had been tended to.
With Howard locked safe and sound in one of the tiny cells on the other side of the room, the sheriff's fingers picked through a scattered pile of items in his desk drawer until he spied the letter opener given to him by his grandfather. He slid it underneath the flap to avoid tearing the paperwork inside.
His eyes began reading: Dear Sheriff Anderson: By order of President Buchanan of the United States, I have been commissioned to visit your jail and surrounding township within the next two weeks time. In preparation of this visit, it would be advisable to see fit that any and all legal matters requiring attention be taken care of prior to my arrival in order to make an accurate report. It will be within my jurisdiction to assign an additional deputy, if necessary, upon my arrival - in the case that lawlessness has become too heavy a burden for you alone. It is my pleasure to work with in unison with you under the law.
Sheriff Anderson kicked both boots up and rested them at the edge of his desk; a slow grin began to spread across his face.
Justice. That's what his badge stood for.
P P P
Thank you for reading my story!
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robynleatherman.com http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/RobynLeatherman
What to look forward to in 2014:
The second book in the Valley trilogy, Anticipation in the Valley, will take my readers back to the Wet Mountain Valley.
We'll find out what becomes of not only Duffy – but also his shares in the Pocahontas Mine and learn how the man adjusts to his new life at the end of Main Street in Canon City.
Hailee and Tobias tie the knot and begin their new life together, each taking on some new responsibilities.
Of course, it wouldn't be a proper western story without a good old-fashioned bank robbery and a silver mine takeover, so if you'd like to find out more about what happened in the tiny mountain towns of Rosita, Westcliffe, and surrounding areas in the 1870s, stay tuned to my website and of course – right here on my Smashwords page!
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Rebellion in the Valley Page 19
