The Sheriffs of Savage Wells

by Sarah M. Eden

  Cade returned to the room’s door and inched it open. “Paisley,” he whispered loudly.

  She looked back at him. “Did you find something?”

  “Possibly. Come in for a second.”

  She did, and he closed the door. Cade kept his distance. Every time he got close to her he nearly lost his head. He handed over the note, careful to keep its place in the stack.

  “This could be nothing,” Paisley warned. “Or it could mean he’s working with two other people.”

  “It ain’t proof,” Cade acknowledged. “But it’s something to go on.” He slipped the paper back into the stack and returned it to the desk drawer. “Let’s see if Hawk found out anything.”

  She stepped out with him, locking the door behind them. “It’s good having the marshal around while we’re sorting this out. He’ll be an asset.”

  They took the back steps down to the street. “You seem fond of Hawk.”

  “He’s a fellow lawman who treats me like an equal,” she said.

  “So do I,” Cade pointed out.

  “Which is why I like you.”

  He followed in her wake. “The only reason?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He liked that answer. He liked it a lot.

  “Well, Miss Bell, you can out-cook Mr. Cooper, that’s for certain.” Hawk had accepted an invitation to supper. Paisley had been looking for a chance to ask him about the deputy marshal job.

  “Being a better cook than Cooper isn’t much of an accomplishment.” The restaurant’s offerings weren’t bad, they simply weren’t all that good.

  “Cooper’ll have to do better before someone jumps in and gives him some real competition.”

  “Do you really mean to operate as marshal out of this tiny backwater?” Their town had always been something of a joke in Wyoming Territory. It was too quiet and small to be anything but quaint.

  “Savage Wells is set for a boom. If it’ll keep this town peaceful, even with all the money coming in, it’ll be worth a bit of inconvenience.”

  Papa’s head drooped drowsily. Paisley tucked a blanket around his legs then stoked the embers in the fireplace. She lowered her voice so as not to disturb him. “It’s possible, then, to operate as a marshal, or a deputy marshal, from a town like this?”

  “You’re considering the job, then?” He sounded hopeful. Outside of Cade and Gideon, no man had seen her interest in sheriffing and law keeping as anything other than entirely odd. Thackery didn’t seem to mind, now that she thought on it. Maybe there would be others who accepted her as well.

  “What’re your arguments against the job?” Hawk asked. “Maybe I can set your mind at ease on a few points.”

  “For one thing, my father is ill,” she said. “I couldn’t move him to a big town where he’d be even more lost than he is here. And we’ve lived in violent towns. I don’t want to go back to that.”

  “Understandably.”

  Paisley returned to her own chair. “And I’m not entirely convinced your offer is a serious one. Your first job suggestion was a bounty hunter, and that was a joke.”

  “At first, maybe,” he said. “But I looked into it a little more. You have an impressive list of accomplishments.”

  “How would you know that? Sheriff Garrison never gave me credit for anything.”

  He smiled at her, something that likely turned quite a few feminine heads and hearts. “Cade and I are smarter than the average, unfocused small-town sheriff. It didn’t take much digging to figure out which things Garrison did himself and which were the work of his unofficial deputy.”

  Cade had been part of the digging? Who’d have guessed the man who’d arrived in Savage Wells as her enemy would have become her advocate?

  “I’m convinced a female deputy marshal is an ingenious idea,” Hawk said. “Even if it was my own.”

  “Is my being a woman significant?” She wasn’t looking to be a token deputy or a figure of fun.

  “The West can be a terrifying place for women and children,” he said.

  “Believe me, I know.”

  “Too often the people we’re trying to help are afraid of us,” he said. “We need someone who can handle the danger of the position but offer a softer touch when it’s needed. I’m convinced there’d be a great many times when a woman would warrant greater trust than a man ever could.”

  “I’m not looking to be a nanny with a badge.” If that was the offer he meant to make, he was wasting his breath.

  He waved that off. “You’d be a fully-fledged deputy marshal, with all the same rights and same type of duties. But we’d utilize you in those special cases when having a lawwoman instead of a lawman would set some minds at ease.”

  She wasn’t sure she liked that. “I’d rather be a regular marshal than a special one.”

  “I think in time you could be,” he said. “But people’ll need time to get used to the idea of a woman marshal.”

  She knew that all too well. “My being a woman stopped this town from taking my bid for sheriff seriously. Even if I’d won out, I think a lot of people would never have respected the badge so long as I was wearing it.”

  “You’ll encounter plenty of that if you take this job,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve offered it to you. The doubt and curiosity wouldn’t come as a surprise, and I’d wager you’d know how to deal with it.”

  He made a good point. “Are you trying to talk me into taking this job?”

  “I’m doing my all-fire best.” He leaned forward with his elbows on his legs. “The folks back in Washington’d likely think I’m cracked, but I know this territory better than they do. Women and children get the short shrift too often. There are too many orphans left alone, too many desperate women with no options other than bawdy houses. I for one am tired of it happening in this territory.”

  “You make a good argument. But if this town ever gets around to paying for a deputy, that would be a very tempting job too. And I wouldn’t have to leave home. I would be here among people I know.”

  “Which could be a downside, as well,” Hawk said. “What’s that saying about a prophet in his own country?”

  Another good point.

  “You could make a bigger difference with the marshals,” Hawk said. “And I could pay you more than this town will likely ever agree to pay a deputy. They’d require you to prove yourself worthy of that job, just as they did with the job of sheriff. I already know you’re more than worthy. And there’s no waiting. The job is available now.”

  He was making deputy marshaling sound more and more appealing. “Keep this up, and I just might say yes.” A knock sounded at the door. “Maybe that’s Cade come to convince me not to listen to you.” She walked toward the front entryway.

  From behind her, Hawk said, “You and Cade seem to get along well.”

  “We do, though we rather hated each other at first.” She didn’t hate him now. Not at all. She pulled the door open, excited at the thought of seeing Cade again. She’d not seen him all day.

  But it wasn’t Cade. Joshua stood on the front step.

  “What brings you here?” she asked him.

  He flashed a smile. “I was passing by and thought I’d say hello.”

  Passing by? There wasn’t much on the south side of town. Almost no one simply passed by.

  Hawk came and stood in the entryway.

  “Delancey,” Hawk greeted curtly. Knowing Joshua was one of their bank thief suspects had soured whatever opinion they originally had of him.

  “Have you come to ask Paisley a lot of probing questions about her relationship with the bank?” Joshua was on the defensive. Just what had Hawk said during his visit to the bank?

  “He’s a federal marshal, Joshua. It’s his job to ask a lot of questions.”

  Joshua’s eyes darted from Paisley t
o Hawk and back again. “Did I interrupt something?”

  “Marshal Hawking was attempting to convince me of the merits of the federal marshals.”

  Joshua’s gaze narrowed. “Any federal marshal in particular?”

  Hawk laughed. After a moment, Paisley couldn’t help laughing herself. Joshua was jealous. He, who hadn’t put in the effort to track her down all those years ago when the very bank he was working for knew where she was—when the entire town of Abilene knew—now stood on her porch, jealous. Ridiculous.

  “Sheriff O’Brien seems intent on courting you,” Joshua said. “Thackery’s doing his best. Now the marshal. You and I have found each other again, yet I am the only one making an effort to reconcile.”

  “Maybe you’re the only one who feels like a reconciliation ought to happen.” She hated discussing something so personal with Hawk right there, but Joshua was leaving her little choice.

  “I’m not ready to give up on us, Paisley.”

  “I wish you would,” she muttered.

  Hawk pulled his hat off the peg near the door and popped it on his head. “Give some thought to my offer. You’d make a fine deputy marshal.”

  “I will,” she said. “I need to get Papa to bed so he can sleep. The two of you can head back to town together.”

  “Of course, Miss Bell.” Hawk gave her a respectful bow.

  Joshua eyed her more closely still. “But I only just arrived.”

  “Go back to town, Joshua. There’s no reason for you to stay.” It was perhaps cruel, but being subtle and gentle hadn’t worked at all.

  With an air of resignation, he took a step back on the porch. Hawk made his way out as well.

  The praise he’d offered stayed with her throughout the night, even keeping her awake long after she’d retired. “You’d make a fine deputy marshal.” And she realized in those quiet moments, lying in her bed, that Marshal Hawking was right. And if he was right and she was this excited at the idea of the assignment, then maybe she’d finally found what she was meant to be doing all along.

  Paisley soaped the inside of Gideon’s parlor windows. If anything was likely to firm up her shaky inclination to accept the job with the marshals, it would be the chance to give up window washing.

  They’d hoped to keep their investigation entirely between the three of them, but Gideon was a resource they couldn’t overlook. He knew everyone.

  “Mr. Darrow is a tailor,” Gideon said to her and Hawk. “He’s living at the hotel but is actively looking for a place to set up shop. He came with supplies for his business. I don’t think he’s in on the bank robberies.”

  They’d been hypothesizing on possible suspects all afternoon.

  “I’ve met Darrow,” Hawk said. “I don’t think he’s part of this.”

  “There was a Mr. Brown living there until recently,” Gideon added. “Maybe he syphoned off the two hundred dollars and fled town.”

  Paisley dipped her rag in her water bucket. “He couldn’t have managed that without having access to the bank books. Someone who works at the bank has to be involved.”

  “But are we looking at a long-term resident or a newcomer?” Gideon asked.

  Paisley wiped down the windows as Hawk questioned Gideon about the various people at the nearby farms and ranches. Savage Wells had gone from a sleepy little town to a place mired in mystery. And Joshua was right in the middle of it.

  Was he truly guilty? If he was, had he always been a scoundrel and she’d misjudged him or had the past few years changed him?

  Through the now-clean windows she spotted Cade coming up the front steps. She left her bucket and rag behind and slipped out of the parlor to the door. She’d missed him, no matter that only forty-eight hours had passed since she’d last seen him. She was half-gone on the man, though she wasn’t entirely certain of his feelings. She suspected he liked her, hoped he more than liked her. She pulled the door open just as he reached for the handle.

  “Hey, there, stranger.” She tossed out the greeting as if she wasn’t actually quite happy to see him.

  “If you’d come by the jail now and then, you neglectful woman, I’d not be such a stranger.” His grumpy style of teasing was welcome.

  “You know where I live. You might have visited me.”

  He slipped a finger under her chin and tipped her head up toward his. “You had a gentleman caller over last night, love. I know better than to visit under those circumstances.”

  “‘Gentleman caller?’” She grinned. “Hawk would be as surprised as anyone to hear that description.”

  “Not as surprised as you might think.” Cade’s hand dropped away, and his eyes darted toward the voices in the parlor. “He and Gideon in there?”

  “They are. Andrew and Papa are playing checkers at the dining table.”

  Cade nodded and stepped into the parlor. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at her. “You’re comin’, ain’t you? We’ve a criminal to catch, and I’m not about to attempt it without your help.”

  Oh, yes. She definitely hoped he more than liked her. She wanted his thoughts on the deputy marshal position. She was eager to hear his theories on the bank robberies. More than anything, though, she wanted to spend time with him again.

  She walked with him back into the parlor. When she made to return to the windows, he stopped her. “The windows can wait, love.” He pulled her by the hand to the desk where Hawk and Gideon sat.

  “You look like a man who’s made a discovery,” Hawk said, eyeing Cade.

  “Lewis told me a few days back that when the delivery amount didn’t match what he’d been told to expect, that he had Delancey send a telegram to the bank offices in Omaha.” Cade eyed them all as he spoke. “So this morning I sent a telegram to the bank offices in Omaha myself, and I just received a reply.”

  Paisley held her breath. She could sense the importance of what he was about to say.

  “No telegram was ever sent.”

  Hawk nodded slowly. “Sure points a finger, don’t it?”

  They began debating who the other conspirators might be, whether or not he actually had any, how to catch them. Paisley tried to focus even as the last delusions she’d once harbored about Joshua died. Had her judgment been lacking from the beginning of their relationship? Had all of it been lies?

  Maybe he’d been skimming funds from the bank in Abilene and had been using their romance as a distraction. Maybe that was the only reason he’d tried to reconcile with her once he realized she was living in the next town he meant to victimize.

  Pull yourself together, Paisley. You have a job to do. What good would she be as a marshal if she let her personal frustrations distract her so easily?

  “We know Delancey was south of town last night,” Hawk was saying. “Do we know if he’s spent much time north?”

  “Andrew would know,” Paisley jumped in. “He hasn’t been up in his tree as consistently since the snow came, but he still keeps a very close eye on things.”

  Cade turned in his chair in the direction of the entryway that separated the parlor and dining room. “Andrew, we’ve got a question for you.”

  “What is it?” Andrew called back.

  “Have you seen Joshua Delancey head north of town much since he’s been in Savage Wells?”

  “Sure. He’s out there all the time. At the old Parker place.”

  Paisley held up her hands in a show of self-assured triumph. “Easy as that, gentlemen. You just have to know who to ask.”

  “She’s brilliant,” Hawk said, approval shining in his face. “I’ll have you signed on as a marshal, Paisley, if I have to pay you in gold bars.”

  “Now that is tempting.” She stood. “I’ll leave you men to come up with something equally brilliant to capture the villains while I finish up my work here. Until those gold bars start arriving, I have some windows to wash.”


  She kept her ears perked, listening to the men. They weren’t half bad strategists, though nothing ingenious was suggested. In the end, they decided their best approach was to make the criminals antsy enough to make a mistake. Abbott and Clark lived not far from the old Parker place. The two chicken farmers could be counted on to help. A rumor or two that the sheriff was making extra trips out that direction ought to get the thieves fretting a bit. And rumors were easy to start in Savage Wells.

  The conversation wrapped up, and Hawk headed back to the jailhouse.

  Cade peeked into the dining room. “We’re all done here,” he told Andrew and Papa. “Are you two coming or staying?”

  Andrew looked up. “We’re stayin’. Doc said we could.”

  “Thank you, Andrew.” Paisley hoped he knew that she was grateful for more than just that day’s checker games.

  “Where’re you headed?” Cade asked her as they stepped out onto Gideon’s front porch.

  “This was my last job today. So I’d say I’m headed to the poorhouse.” She looped her scarf more fully around her neck as the bitter winter air crept down her back. The wind bit at her face as they stepped away from the porch. “I hope Hawk kept a fire going in the stove at the jailhouse. I could use a bit of warmth.”

  “Could you now?” Cade shot her something of a wicked grin.

  He teased her often enough, but she never worried about him being anything less than honorable. She liked that about him. She also liked that he wasn’t so straightlaced that he was boring.

  “Have you made a decision about the deputy marshal job?” he asked.

  She started to shake her head but changed it to a nod only to shift that into a shrug. “I don’t know. I need the money, and I’d enjoy the work. To know I was helping so many people—I want that. I want that badly. But I can’t leave Papa alone for days or weeks at a time. And I know it’ll be dangerous, so I need to make certain the risk is one I really want to take.”