Chapter Three

Nick was just coming out of the barn when he saw Heath riding towards the house. The fact that his blond haired brother was approaching the house would have been a relief had it not been for the fact that he had no extra horses with him and he was pushing Charger quite hard. The fact that Jarrod wasn't with him made Nick's heart skip a beat. He hurried to gate. Before he reached it, his mother had joined him. She had been outside near the house and seen Heath also.

When Heath saw Nick and his mother waiting for him, he was grateful he wouldn't have to hunt them up. As he drew near the gate the memory of riding into Stockton and having Dave, the white haired telegraph operator, stop him came back to him.

"Heath!" Dave hurried out of the telegram office and stopped Heath as he started to pass the office. "Sheriff Lee sent two telegrams from Lodi! One came in last night." His voice grew a bit angry, "George was drunk again and let it sit over night." Before Heath could say anything, which it looked like he was about to, Dave continued on, "Don't worry; he's been fired. But another one just came in. They're both about Jarrod!" He then handed the telegrams to Heath, who had reached down from his saddle to take the wire.

His heart skipped a beat as he read the first one. JARROD ATTACKED STOP WOUNDED BAD STOP AT DOCTOR'S OFFICE NOW. STOP. SHERIFF LEE.

The second, the one was sent after the rocks from the dead man had been removed for identification if possible, made his heart skip another beat. ONE OF JARROD'S ATTACKERS WAS EMMET KYLE. KYLE SHOT DEAD BY JARROD'S RESCUER STOP. TWO OTHER ATTTACKERS FLED STOP COME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STOP SHERIFF LEE.

The moment Heath had finished reading he was sick to his stomach and kicking himself. Jarrod's business with his client had been taking longer than his eldest brother had thought it would. With that being the case, Jarrod had suggested that Heath go ahead and take the two horses he'd bought back to Stockton. Jarrod told Heath that he would head back later. At the time Heath had felt a bit uneasy, but had not fought Jarrod when the man insisted he was old enough to take care of himself. Of course, the moment Heath had read the telegram he'd taken the two horses to the livery stable. He'd told the livery stable boy he'd get them later. He knew he had to get back to the ranch as fast as possible and traveling with the extra horses would have slowed him down.

"What's wrong?" Victoria asked as Heath rode through the gate and dismounted.

"Where's Jarrod?" Nick demanded to know.

Heath held out the telegram and told them why he hadn't been with Jarrod, or known about the attack before he left Lodi.

"EMMET KYLE!" Nick exploded as he thought on the brother of Korby Kyles, who had been hung for the murder of Colonel Ashby. "THAT LOW DOWN SON OF …." He was stopped from finishing his sentence when his mother glared at him and raised her hand.

"Sheriff Lee said the man was dead. Your brother is not." Victoria looked from Nick to Heath and then back to Nick. "We need to go down to Lodi immediately. I'll tell Aud…" Victoria stopped and had to chuckle, even as small smiles managed to find their way onto Nick and Heath's face. Audra had married the week before and was on her honeymoon. "I'll talk to Silas," Victoria, a bit embarrassed at the fact that she had automatically started to talk about Audra as if she still lived on the ranch, continued, "and ask him to watch things at the house while we're gone. One of you should talk to McColl running the ranch and, maybe Ciego would keep his eyes open too. You never know when McColl might need some help."

"I'll do that." Nick barked slightly, still upset at the fact that the family was going through another ordeal thanks to another Kyle. Of course, he consoled himself by telling himself that at least the no good, low life, poor excuse for a man, was dead. And at least he didn't have to worry about landing in jail for pulverizing the man. Nick would have done just that if he'd been given half the chance.

"I'll talk to Ciego." Heath told his mother, as he began leading Charger to the barn. The whole time his mind was spinning faster than a wheel on a speeding train; actually, it had been doing that all the way home. Why would Emmet Kyle attack Jarrod? Jarrod had done nothing to the Kyles. Land sakes, he'd actually defended the man's brother, Korby, when he'd gone to trial for the murder of Colonel Ashby rather well. When Heath had sat in the courthouse and given his eyewitness testimony, Jarrod had succeeded in planting doubt in Heath's mind as to what he had seen. Of course, it helped that, in his hurry to stop Korby, Heath had forgotten about the light coming from the train. The more he thought on the trial and the Kyles, the more Heath grew uneasy as he remembered the day Jake and his sons attacked him and threatened the whole family if Heath testified against Korby. Even with Jarrod defending Kyle, had Emmet and whoever was with him attacked Jarrod because of his, Heath's, testimony? The thought made Heath sick, even if he wasn't sorry for testifying.

As Nick was talking to McColl he, like Heath, thought about the Korby family's threat. "I'm going to send a telegram to Audra and Will," Nick told McColl, "and ask them to stay away awhile longer. When you get a chance, would you ride over to the Marvin ranch and tell Will's father what's going on and explain why there might be a delay in Will and Audra's return?" For the first time Nick was glad Gene lived back east. He was sure that even though Gene had been nowhere near Stockton during Kyle's trial the Korbys, if they were following through on their threat, would have hurt Gene as well. Then, due to the fact that he knew Gene was planning to visit them, he decided to send his baby brother a telegram also.

"Sure thing, Nick, I'd be more than glad to!" McColl was just as sick as the Barkley's when he'd learned what had happened. "If you ask me, the best thing that could happen is Jake and that other son of his up and left the area or be killed as well."

Nick happened to agree, but didn't say so. He was in too much of a hurry to get ready to leave for Lodi. The sooner they got down there the better. If the Kyles were following through on their threat against the family, he wanted to get down to Jarrod as soon as possible.