Chapter Eleven
It was close to dark when the men returned to Hawthorn. Seeing the sheriff leading the posse that surrounded the prisoner created a stir amongst the citizens and they soon filled the streets with applause and shouts of celebration that the murderer had been recaptured. For a moment, both Slim and Jess wondered if the sheriff would have gone back on what he'd said about the hanging taking place in the morning and just get it over with right then. It was still light enough to see and the audience seemed eager enough, but all that happened when they rode into town was Jess was pulled from his horse, rather roughly Slim noted, and ushered into jail.
Slim entered the sheriff's office just as the iron door was loudly slamming shut. He walked to the cell and put his hands on the bars from the outside as Jess put his hands on the bars from the inside, both seeing the torment that each endured as their blue eyes took on their full look of pain. Slim bit the inside of his lip, knowing that he had to do something. He turned to see the sheriff going through some papers on his desk and took a step towards the lawman.
"I need to talk to you," Slim stood behind Sheriff Holloway and when the lawman didn't give him immediate attention, Slim took the two steps so that he was directly in front of him. "Do I have to repeat myself?"
"What about, Sherman?" Holloway rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache although Slim had no concern if the man did or didn't have one.
"Not here," Slim said, glancing at his defeated friend in his cell, "outside."
"Fine," Holloway agreed, "but not for long."
"Jess Harper is an innocent man," Slim said as soon as the door to the office was closed. He wished that he had proof to back up his statement, not just his say so, but the only evidence he had was Laurel's letter, and that was something that he was going to withhold since all that it would do would make Sheriff Holloway even more convinced that Jess was the killer. He would keep the letter a secret from Jess also, for it wouldn't do him any good to know what her intentions were. Slim felt that he should continue to protect Jess from Laurel, even after she had died. But what else could he do now, to protect him from death?
"Look, I get it," Holloway put his hand on Slim's shoulder. "I know he's your friend and it must be hard to believe your friend is a murderer, but that's just the way it is. You have to accept it and move on."
"If my friend was a murderer, I might just do as you say, but he's not," Slim returned quickly. "Jess did not kill Laurel DeWalt, but someone else did. While Jess is sitting there in that cell preparing to die, the real killer is running around loose."
"All right," the sheriff nodded, "all right. I'll play into your game for a moment. If your friend is innocent, then who did kill Mrs. DeWalt?"
"I don't know," Slim had to answer truthfully, but then the other truth came quickly out. "It's no secret that Mrs. DeWalt wasn't pure in her marriage. She probably has left a string of men from here to Mexico and who knows how far east or west. Any one of them could be guilty of her murder."
"True," Holloway sighed gently. Of course he knew, he himself had been one of the hopefuls that one day she'd sashay his way.
"And what about Arnold DeWalt?" Slim added, remembering something Jess had said when he had decided to escort Laurel to Mexico. "Jess told me that he thought DeWalt would kill her if he found out the truth."
"I didn't think I needed to question Arnold's whereabouts," Holloway explained slowly. "You should have seen his face when I told him his wife was dead. It was as if a part of him died too. No, DeWalt didn't kill her."
"Then what about the man she went after down in Tumavaca, Montero Rios? He only wanted her money, but when that was gone, he could have been angry enough to kill her. And like I said before, there could be many others."
"I know more than you think about Mrs. DeWalt's roaming nature," Holloway said making Slim's eyebrows rise. "No, I wasn't one of them, but that's beside the point. It doesn't matter if she made every single one of her lovers hate her, there was only one man's name she said when asked who killed her. It was Jess Harper."
"She lied during her life, maybe she'd lie even at her death."
"Maybe, but I doubt it." Holloway shook his head. "The couple who was with her described the scene as absolutely heart wrenching. Mrs. Platte said she'll never get over it as long as she lives. Mrs. DeWalt barely had life left inside of her, she wouldn't lie. She wanted to say Jess Harper's name, so badly that it was on her very last breath."
"Then the fault must be in that couple," Slim said, feeling like he was grasping for his last straw and failing miserably. "They must have heard her wrong, or just embellished the scene or something."
"What would they have gained by that?" Holloway sighed in frustration. "The Platte's are normal, hardworking farmers who live a quiet, simple life. They didn't even know Mrs. DeWalt or Harper at all. What reason would they have had to make up a story about people that they had never met? I'm sorry, Sherman, but there's nothing else that can be done except justice."
Slim closed his eyes as the sheriff's words sunk into his soul. He had reached the end of the line. Slim felt an added weight fall heavily onto his shoulders because he had finally come to the harsh reality that there was nothing he could do to save Jess from hanging. He felt the pain of failure and knew the next pain would be that of loss.
"Sherman, despite whatever you might think about me, I'm not a cold hearted man. I'm a sheriff that abides by the law. That man inside that cell broke the law, which leaves me with an unpleasant, albeit necessary duty to do in the morning. I can see what this is doing to you. It's tearing your insides up. Maybe it would be best if you just rode on home and let go of your friend now."
"I won't do that," Slim answered, his voice in a low, quiet tone. "I'm going to stay with Jess all the way until the end. If you have no objections, I'm going back in there and stay by his side. He's been alone way too much in his life. I am not going to let him be alone now."
"All right, Sherman," Holloway nodded his head. "I have no objections, but you should know that I have hired two guards and sworn in another deputy to keep Harper where he belongs, so if you are thinking of any plans to spring your friend loose in the middle of the night, don't."
"I won't," Slim vowed as he reached his hand to open the jail's door.
"One more thing," Holloway stopped Slim with a hand on his arm. "I'll be keeping your iron."
Slim handed the sheriff his gun and then went inside the office. He paused just inside of the doorway as Jess lifted his head to meet his gaze. There was a stool that sat unused in a corner, so Slim walked to it, grabbed it and then set it next to Jess' cell. There Slim sat, ready to spend these last hours with Jess.