"Do you mind?" I asked him as I pointed at the chair.
"Sit down, Mr. . .?"
"Maverick. It's a long story, sheriff. And Harper is fine. At least she was when I saw her yesterday." I sat down and took the next twenty or thirty minutes to explain almost everything that had happened since I first rode into Wilsons Corners last week. Anything that pertained specifically to Harper's feelings for Danny I deliberately omitted. Her father didn't need to hear that from me. When I got to the part about Maxwell's demand that we get the thousand dollars from the sheriff, Parish's eyes came alive again. What I saw in them was a combination of fear, loathing, and disgust, and at that moment I knew I was right. There was some kind of history between the two men.
"Where's Mills now?" After everything I'd just told him, that was the only question the sheriff had.
"At the livery, waiting for me."
"Why? Why didn't he come with you?" There was a note of annoyance in his tone.
"Because I told him not to," I replied. "If you really dislike the boy as much as Harper seems to think you do, I figured it would only aggravate you for him to show up here with me."
"So Harper thinks I dislike Danny, Mr. Maverick?"
"Bart, please. She's sure of it. Do you, sheriff?"
"Hugh. My name is Hugh. Yes and no, Bart. It wasn't the boy himself, as much as it was his friendship with Maxwell. And then the attempted robbery! I thought better of him when he tried to stop Red and recovered the money. I was hoping that a year apart might cool off Harper's feelings, but it doesn't sound like it has."
I shook my head. "No sense lyin' to you, it hasn't. Not at all. Danny's a little hesitant, maybe because of you." I paused, to let that sink in. "What's this really about, Hugh? Cause there's sure more to it than just ransom."
Parish sat there for several minutes, no doubt deciding whether to trust me or not. When he finally answered me it seemed like he'd made up his mind. "Revenge. And it's been a long time comin'."
XXXXXXXX
I rode the sorrel down to the livery to collect Danny. Hugh Parish had promised to explain all at Bonnie's for supper, as soon as he locked up the jail for the night. Mills was just finishing grooming the stallion, when I got there. He looked at me expectantly. "Has he got the money?"
I dismounted and shook my head. "I didn't ask him yet. There's somethin' goin' on here that we don't know about. We're gonna meet Parish for supper at Bonnie's and he's promised to explain."
"And he wants me there, too?"
"Yep," I answered. "Don't look so surprised. It wasn't you he didn't like so much as the man you were keepin' company with."
"Maxwell?"
"The same."
"That was a bad choice on my part. Guess some of us learn harder than others."
I knew that from first-hand experience. "Some of us never learn."
"I talked to Henry." I knew from Harper that Henry was the livery's owner. "He says Harper's comin' back for her job. Told me we could keep our horses here tonight. Feed 'em, groom 'em, whatever they need. I said we'd be gone in the mornin'. We will be, won't we? We gotta go back and get her before he hurts her."
"We'll be gone in the morning. With or without the money, we'll be gone."
XXXXXXXX
It was near eight o'clock when Hugh Parish joined us at Bonnie's. I hadn't seen Danny this nervous, not even the first time I met him. The two of them were polite to each other; just not overly friendly. At least there was no open hostility.
We'd been talking about little things; nothing of any consequence. Parish and I were drinking coffee; Danny sitting silently, waiting to see what came next. The sheriff was on his third cup before he began his story.
'I was raised in Texas, down south in a little town named Del Rio. I was the only son, but I had two sisters, both younger than me. Deborah and Millie. We lived down the road from the Maxwell's. Yes, those Maxwell's. There were two brothers, Cody and Joe. Cody was the oldest – everybody called Joe by his nickname, Red, because of his hair. Cody and I were about the same age; Red was several years younger. I was friends with both of the Maxwell boys, and they knew my sisters.
I wanted to be a lawman. Cody wanted to make easy money. He started gettin' into trouble when we got older, and either Red or me got him out of it. He took up with my sister Deborah, and he kept tellin' her he'd marry her, but he never did. When he was eighteen he robbed a stagecoach, and when he lit out for parts unknown he took Deborah with him. I went to work for the marshal in Del Rio.
It was two or three years later, and I'd become a deputy. Deborah showed up at ma and pa's place one day, sick and dyin'. Cody abandoned her in some little town in Mexico. He was wanted for bank robbery, and I got sent out with the posse to look for him. We caught him and drug him back to Del Rio, but by the time I got home our sweet Deborah was dead. I never forgave him for it.
One night I was by myself at the jail; the Circuit Judge was comin' the next week to try Maxwell. Some of his gang tried to break him out and I tried to stop 'em. I got shot and they musta thought I was dead; as Cody was slippin' out the back door of the jail, I fired. Maybe I coulda winged him, maybe not, but I didn't. I killed him. All I could think about was Deborah.
Red claimed it was murder. Nobody agreed with him, and when I recovered I left Texas for New Mexico. And I just kept movin' until Harper was born. Then later Esme came along, and their mother died. I sent Esme to live with my sister Millie. She was safer there. I woulda sent Harper, too, but I knew she wouldn't go.
Things were goin' pretty well, when one day years later Red Maxwell turned up workin' for old man Ferris. And then he took Danny under his wing, and fed him all kinds of lies. I knew what he was after – it was revenge, and if he couldn't get it one way he'd get it another. I should have explained it to Harper, but I didn't. And now he's got her, and what am I supposed to do about it?'
Danny Mills and I sat there and didn't say anything. He'd been duped and used by Red in his pursuit of retribution for what he perceived as the murder of his brother so long ago. Harper was definitely an innocent victim, and I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then again, it wasn't my life, health, or welfare that was being threatened.
Finally I had to ask. "I don't suppose you've got a thousand dollars, sheriff?"
Parish shook his head. "Nope. I don't even have ten. But I might be able to borrow it. Just one thing."
"What's that?" I asked, hoping that I was wrong about the sheriff's condition.
"I hafta go back up there with you."