Chapter 7
The lawyer had given Jarrod an amount of paperwork that was too much for him to carry so he lent Jarrod a briefcase, and in only a few minutes, Jarrod was arriving at the dry goods store. He put the briefcase into the buckboard just as Eugene was coming out with an armload of boxes. "How many more?" Jarrod asked.
"Another armload, at least," Gene said. "What is all this stuff? Do you know?"
Jarrod said, "No, Mother didn't say."
Eugene put the packages in the buckboard and went back into the dry goods store. Jarrod adjusted the packages so they were not all in a pile that would fall over as soon as they made a turn. As he was doing that, he saw Barrett, watching him.
Barrett saw Jarrod looking, and he turned and went on his way. Jarrod watched the man mount a horse about a block away and ride out of town. An Appaloosa, Jarrod had seen it before, a nice mount with a spotted left hindquarter. Jarrod wasn't sure why he kept that in his head, but he did.
Eugene came out again with more packages and saw Jarrod looking, a frown on his face. "What's the matter?" he asked and put the new packages into the buckboard.
Jarrod began adjusting them. "I just saw somebody Nick fired yesterday, fella named Barrett. Do you know him?"
"Not really," Gene said.
"Well," Jarrod said, keeping any more concern to himself, "is this everything?"
"Yep, it is," Eugene said.
"Then let's get out of here," Jarrod said.
He climbed up into the buckboard, and Gene climbed in and took the reins. Jarrod didn't lean back and tilt his hat this time, though. Something told him to pay closer attention as they rode home.
There was not a lot of traffic on the road home, and for some reason, as they got to the flatlands just before the last hill they had to climb, a couple miles away from the ranch property, Jarrod felt a nervous itch come over him. Neither he nor Eugene had worn a sidearm to town – they didn't think they'd need one. But now Jarrod wished he had. He didn't know why. He looked around, particularly at that hill ahead of them.
He saw the flash and heard the shot.
He didn't even have time to swear before Gene dropped the reins and the horses took off. Gene slumped over toward Jarrod, and Jarrod couldn't get to the reins before they slipped away like wet spaghetti. It was only a moment later the horses turned abruptly, throwing both Jarrod and Gene out when the wagon started to turn over. The wagon righted again, but Jarrod and Gene were left in the road as the horses ran off with the wagon.
Gene was as still as death. Jarrod grabbed him and dragged him to a small ravine that ran beside the road, and he hunkered down beside him, waiting for the next shot. He watched, he listened. He expected someone to come closer on horseback, but no one did. The only thing Jarrod saw was movement in the trees, where he'd seen the flash of light. Movement of a horse. An Appaloosa.
Still keeping an eye out, Jarrod turned his brother onto his back. "Gene! Gene!"
There was blood on Eugene's chest, just above the collarbone on the left hand side. Frantically, Jarrod checked for a pulse and breathing. Thank God, they were there. Jarrod checked for an exit wound, but there was none. Maybe the bullet still being in there would act as a plug and retard the bleeding, but Jarrod took no chances. He ripped a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and pressed it against the wound.
He kept looking. No one was coming. But now Jarrod didn't know what to do. They needed help, but could he leave Eugene here alone and go for it? When he tried to get up, he realized he couldn't. His right arm hurt where he'd hit the ground on that recently healed gunshot wound from Sample's farm. Worse, his knee screamed in pain and collapsed under him. Until now, he hadn't realized he'd twisted it when he fell. He wasn't going to be able to walk anywhere.
Eugene groaned.
"Gene, don't try to move," Jarrod said urgently. "You've been shot. Just lie still."
Eugene didn't say anything else or groan again, but he didn't move either. Jarrod was frantic – what was he going to do? He tried getting up again, but the knee wouldn't support him. He looked around fast for a branch or something to use as a crutch but there was nothing there.
He managed to pull out his watch and check it. It was close to five thirty. He'd told his mother they'd be back by six. Maybe they'd be missed. Maybe someone would be coming for them soon. Maybe those horses and that wagon would even head home and alert someone. Jarrod realized that was an awful lot of maybes, but he had to pin his hopes on them. There just wasn't anything he could do, except stay here and help his brother. His baby brother, the youngest of the brood, the one who was going to go to school and step into the future in just a few months. The one of them who had the most to lose.
Now Jarrod wondered - why would Barrett shoot Gene? Why would anybody shoot Eugene? Eugene had never done anything to hurt anyone at all. No one should be after him, and clearly this was not a robbery attempt, because no one was coming to rob them. This was a murder attempt, but why on Eugene?
Jarrod knew it was Barrett on that Appaloosa, but why shoot Gene? Maybe Barrett had just hit the wrong Barkley, Jarrod thought, but then it didn't matter. All that mattered was they needed help and they needed it soon, or that beautiful future waiting for his baby brother might bleed away in the dust.
XXXXXXX
They heard the wagon coming, rattling wildly, horses running far too fast. As it headed for the stable yard, three of the hands ran for it and grabbed at the horses to slow them down before they crashed into a fence or something worse. They got them under control as Nick and Heath came running from the barn.
Nick rummaged through what remained of the packages and found their lawyer's briefcase. "Jarrod must have gone into town," he said, "but what the hell is this?"
Victoria had heard the commotion from the kitchen and came running out. She saw Nick holding the briefcase and saw the packages. "I sent Jarrod and Eugene into town a couple hours ago! Something's happened to them!"
"We'll find them," Heath said quickly.
Nick put the briefcase back in the wagon, yelling for the men who still had not unsaddled their horses to mount up. He and Heath remounted and led the way out as fast as they could.
Jarrod heard the horses coming, was worried at first but then realized there were so many it wasn't likely to be thieves. Then he saw Nick and Heath coming over the hill, and he slumped, finally able to breathe again. In a moment, Nick and Heath had dismounted and were down beside him.
"What happened?" Nick asked first.
"Gene is shot," Jarrod said. "We lost the wagon. I never saw the shooter, but I'll bet I know who it was."
"Who?"
"Barrett, from up there." Jarrod pointed to where he had seen the flash. "I saw an Appaloosa like Barrett rides."
Nick and Heath looked at each other now, confused. "Why would Barrett shoot Gene?" Nick asked.
"Maybe he hit the wrong man," Heath said. "Are you hurt, Jarrod?"
"Just a twisted knee, but we have to get Gene home and get the doctor," Jarrod said.
Nick started issuing orders – one man to town for the doctor, a couple men to pick up the packages that had fallen out of the wagon, two men to help get Jarrod and Gene up and onto Nick's and Heath's horses. In moments, everyone was moving. Nick had Gene in front of him on his horse, and Heath had Jarrod. Before long they were home.
"Oh, my God," Victoria breathed when she and Audra saw Nick and Heath get a bloody Eugene down off Nick's horse and carry him into the house.
Audra saw that Jarrod was struggling to walk, and she quickly went to support him. "Are you shot?" she asked.
"No, Honey, just a twisted knee and a banged up arm," Jarrod said.
Audra got him into the house, where they saw Nick and Heath carrying Eugene to his room, Victoria following along. Jarrod knew he couldn't make it up the stairs just yet, so he had Audra take him to his "thinking chair," where he sat down. Audra put a pillow on the coffee table, carefully lifted Jarrod's injured leg and rested it there, stuffing another pillow under his knee to support it.
"Thank you," Jarrod said and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll get you some scotch," Audra said.
"You're an angel," Jarrod said. "Someone's gone for the doctor."
Audra quickly brought him a drink. "I'll check upstairs and see if they need anything. I won't be long."
"Take as long as you need," Jarrod said. "Gene comes first."
Audra hurried upstairs, leaving Jarrod with his knee and his scotch and his thoughts. The more he thought, the more certain he was that it was Barrett who had shot Eugene, and he'd done it intentionally, to get back at the other three Barkley men all at once. His temper began to rise up in him. He wanted to have at the man right now – but right now he was not just a man with one arm, he was also a man with just one usable leg. Jarrod sighed. He wasn't even going to be able to go open the door when the doctor got here. He was utterly useless right now, utterly useless.
He finally cursed both his missing arm and his leg, but then settled himself on reality. Whoever had done this, be it Barrett or somebody else, Nick and Heath were going to have to deal with him. Their first real crisis together. Their first real test as a team. Jarrod drank his scotch, closed his eyes, and hoped.
