Jarrod gets a taste of what his clients, and people he's prosecuted, go through when he's arrested for killing four people during a stage coach robbery. Meanwhile his mother and his lawyer work to build his defense, while his brother race to find the real robbers and save Big Brother from the rope.
The Other Side of the Bars
Chapter 1
Jarrod woke up in a strange hotel room, again. He rolled out of bed with a groan and washed his face in the basin on the dresser. He took a look at himself in the mirror as he dried off. Unshaven, but he'd take care of that in a few minutes. Red-eyed – well, there was no taking care of that, not yet anyway.
He wandered down the hall to the necessary, thinking about how long he had been on the road on these business errands. When he put this whole agenda together, trying to knock off as many negotiations and contracts in one long trip as he could, he thought it had been a good idea. After too many long nights and too much talking and drinking to ease the deals into being, he was tired. He was beyond tired, even beyond exhausted. Even beyond hung over.
Back in his room, he shaved at the basin and finished dressing. He liked what he saw in the mirror better, but he still didn't care for the bloodshot eyes. He went down to the hotel lobby, seeking breakfast, and sat down in the restaurant where he'd had breakfast each morning for the last three. The usual waitress looked at him and smiled a little.
"Late night last night?" she asked.
"Too late," Jarrod said, too bleary-eyed to even look at her. "Eggs and ham and biscuits, please. And lots of coffee."
She had already brought the pot and filled his cup. "You got it," she said and went back to the kitchen.
Jarrod rubbed his eyes, trying to put his day in order. Finalizing the deal with the army here in Modesto should only take today, so tomorrow he could move on south toward the town of Camp Meade where he'd meet with David Castle, partner with the Barkleys in a gold mine. He'd negotiate an exit from that deal for the family. Shouldn't be difficult – Castle did not seem unhappy that he'd have the mine all to himself. Things ought to go smoothly and quickly.
But then Jarrod would have to move up to the northeast, to negotiate the merger of a Barkley mine with another mine owned by the Lowell family. Then further north to finalize a sale of Barkley land to the Markell family.
And somewhere in there he would have to have his laundry done at least once, and get a haircut. This morning, before finishing with the army, he'd have to wire his family about his progress and where he'd be going next. And he'd have to make arrangements to take the stage to Camp Meade tomorrow. And there was still that case that didn't involve the family, still open in San Francisco, that he was still negotiating a settlement on via telegraph while he was taking care of all this family business.
He moaned out loud just thinking about it all.
He didn't realize the waitress was there with his biscuits. She smiled. "That rough this morning?"
Jarrod shook his head and reached for his cup of coffee. "Just thinking about everything I have to do in the next couple weeks. I'll be leaving you tomorrow."
"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," the waitress said. "It's been nice having you."
Jarrod smiled a little as he took a sip of coffee. "It's been nice being here, but duty calls."
"You take good care of yourself," she said, "because frankly, you look like you could use some taking care of."
Jarrod chuckled. "I haven't been doing a very good job of it, have I?"
The waitress smiled. "Let's just say that maybe you should stick to coffee today and forget the nightcaps."
Jarrod nodded in agreement as the waitress went back to the kitchen. He checked his watch and saw he'd have time to take care of the telegrams and getting the stage ticket before his scheduled meeting with the army. With any luck, he could finish with the army before lunch and have the rest of the day to take it easy. A long, quiet nap in the afternoon sounded great.
He finished breakfast quickly and headed for the stage depot to get a ticket for tomorrow's stage. Only one stage a week went to Camp Meade, so he was pretty pleased to get the ticket, which he put in the inside pocket of his suit jacket for safekeeping. Then he headed for the telegraph office.
It took a little while to compose what he wanted to say to his family, but he finally settled on: Will finish successfully here today STOP Camp Meade tomorrow STOP Will wire again with instructions on delivery.
Short and sweet. The family back home would be well satisfied and he could move on.
By the time he finished with those errands, he was due to meet the army representative back at the hotel restaurant. He ran up to his room to get the papers and arrived only a minute or so before the captain he'd be negotiating with came in.
"Captain Wells," Jarrod said, offering his hand.
The young captain shook hands with him and sat down. "Everything ready to sign?"
Jarrod fished the contract for the sale of horses out of his briefcase. "Just needs you to read over it one more time."
The captain took the papers and began to read, saying, "You're sure you can make delivery in two weeks?"
"Things are all ready to go in Stockton," Jarrod said. "They're just waiting for the word, and they probably will be able to deliver early and accept that bonus."
"It would be very helpful if delivery was early," the captain said, and then he was quiet as he read through the contract.
Jarrod shut his eyes while he waited. They were beginning to burn.
Captain Wells finally said, "Looks good."
Jarrod took out the pen and ink he had in a traveling set in his briefcase and handed the pen to Captain Wells. He put ink in the pen and signed the contract. Jarrod accepted the pen back and signed for the Barkley family, two copies – one for the army and one for the Barkleys – and everything was done.
Captain Wells stood up and offered his hand. Jarrod shook it and then gave the captain his copy of the contract, saying, "It's been a pleasure to do business with the army, as usual."
Captain Wells said, "Our pleasure as well."
Then they were finished, and the captain left. Jarrod put the pen, ink and his copy of the contract back into his briefcase, then headed for the telegraph office.
He was pretty much half asleep already when he got there and wired home, Deal done STOP Deliver Modesto two weeks STOP Will wire again when done in Camp Meade.
That being done, Jarrod headed back to his room, took off his jacket and boots, loosened his tie and vest and fell onto the bed. Sleep was all he wanted for the rest of the day.
XXXXXXX
The next morning, well rested after his afternoon nap, dinner without alcohol and a good night's sleep, Jarrod threw his suitcase up to the stagecoach driver and climbed inside. Two other people were there already, both women, one who looked to be in her mid-twenties and the other who could have been her mother. Jarrod smiled and tipped his hat. "Ladies," he said cheerfully as he sat down across from them. He hadn't felt this cheerful in days.
The women both nodded to him.
"My name is Jarrod Barkley," Jarrod said. "I guess we'll be sharing the trip for a spell."
As soon as he said his name, the younger woman perked up. "Jarrod Barkley – the lawyer from San Francisco?"
"The same," Jarrod admitted.
The older woman smiled then, too. "Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Barkley."
"A good one, I hope," Jarrod said.
"Lawyers don't have the best reputations, but you seem to have a good one," the older woman said. "I'm Harriet Helms. This is my daughter, Belinda."
"I'm pleased to meet you," Jarrod said.
The stage suddenly lurched into motion. The ladies held onto their hats but let go as soon as the stage pulled out.
"Are you going all the way to Camp Meade?" Jarrod asked.
"Only to Clayton," Mrs. Helms said.
"Well, it won't be difficult a trip for you then," Jarrod said. "We should be there by midafternoon."
After a couple more minutes of idle chatter, the Helms women settled into staring out of the windows in silence. Jarrod tilted his hat forward and his head back, closing his eyes. Still a bit sleep deprived, he found himself allowing the rocking of the stage to make him drift off.
That was the last he knew until he woke up face down in the road in the midday sun.