Chapter 4

The family couldn't believe what they were hearing – a federal marshal suspecting Jarrod of several murders in several cities. It was ludicrous, but it was true, and that made it deadly serious.

"You were planning to go to San Francisco soon to catch up on your work there," Audra said.

Jarrod nodded. "I may need to put that off. I can take care of a couple things by wire. I'm going to wire Pinkerton, too – get them to looking at this situation, especially the killings in San Francisco – especially that first one."

"Do you think there was something special about that first one?" Victoria asked.

"Something that set someone off? I don't know but it bears looking into and Pinkerton is best equipped to do that."

Heath said, "If somebody is following you around these places, then they'd be here in Stockton now, wouldn't they?"

"That's my thought," Jarrod said. "And if I left again, they might follow me, but I can't leave. Not right now."

"What do you want us to do, Jarrod?" Nick asked.

"I'm not sure," Jarrod said. "That's part of what I wanted to talk about – everything we should be doing now. I'm not sure how much time we have before they arrest me."

"Can Audra and I do anything?" Victoria asked.

"Not yet," Jarrod said, but smiled a little. "I might need you to line up some character witnesses for me later on."

"Let's hope not," Victoria said, and then said, "but – the timing. The first person was killed not quite a year ago?"

"I know what you're getting at," Jarrod said, and felt the weight of Rimfire coming back on him.

"No," Victoria said, afraid he'd misunderstood her. "What I'm getting at is, do you think this might have anything to do with Cass Hyatt? Is it possible someone is getting back at you for Cass Hyatt?"

Heath kept thinking. "Or is it possible somebody who saw you in Rimfire found you a good excuse to latch onto, like you think? I mean, what if you're right? What if it's not somebody after you personally but some lunatic using you as cover? Could it be somebody who saw you in Rimfire and found you the perfect cover?"

"If you're right, that's gonna be awful hard to track down," Nick said.

"But Heath is right," Jarrod said. "I was the perfect madman for another madman to latch onto."

"We have a lot to look into but we may not have a lot of time to do it," Heath said.

"The first thing we do is get me a lawyer," Jarrod said. "I'll go into town tomorrow and do that."

"Who are you going to get?" Audra asked.

Jarrod took a deep breath. "I have a thought or two in mind." But he didn't give names. They weren't in Stockton, and there was one that was not beloved in his family.

Victoria said, "This will attract a lot of attention."

Jarrod nodded. "There will be newspaper men coming from San Francisco and other towns once the word starts to spread. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the notoriety it's going to bring on all of you."

Nick waved his hand in the air. "That's nothing. We've been through that before."

Heath said, "The important thing is getting to the bottom of this as soon as we can. Do you want us to go lawyer hunting with you tomorrow?"

Jarrod shook his head. "Let me line someone up, and then I can talk to him, here, without attracting a lot of attention in town." He looked up at his family. "I know my work has caused a lot of problems in this family – a lot. And I'm sorry but this could end up being the worst of it. I'll do everything I can to keep you all out of it."

Now Victoria waved her hand. "Don't even concern yourself with that. The thing we all have to concern ourselves with is getting you cleared of involvement in this."

"And the best way to do that is to work with Marshal Hogan as much as we can," Jarrod said.

"With him?" Nick said. "He's trying to build a case to arrest you on."

"The best way to get him to build a case on who is really doing it is to work with him," Jarrod said. "We have to get him to change his mind about me. I have to be as genuinely ingratiating as I can be."

Nick shrugged. "All right. As long as keeping a lookout for you is the most important thing. If Heath and I dig up something that we want to pursue but Hogan doesn't, I want to go after it. We're not married to him."

Jarrod nodded. "Agreed. And one more thing. We have to stop the killing. I don't want to hear of one more person anywhere getting killed because they associated with me. Whoever is doing this, I have an obligation to stop them, as much as I have to clear myself."

"You're afraid someone in Stockton may be the next to be killed," Victoria said.

Jarrod nodded. "I am."

They stared at one another. This situation was getting more upsetting by the minute. If Jarrod was concerned someone in Stockton might be killed, someone connected to him, they were all concerned.

"Has Hogan been to Rimfire?" Heath asked.

"Yes," Jarrod said. "He said he's been following this since the killing in San Francisco but landed on me after Rimfire. He said he was called in on these cases because the killer strangled people – and drowned some. And the killer had big hands, like I do. He went Rimfire because of what happened to me there, but there haven't been any killings there."

"Then we need to go to Rimfire and check for ourselves," Nick said.

"I can't go anywhere," Jarrod said

"We can," Heath said.

Nick said, "We have to dig into this hard and fast. Heath and I ought to take the train to Reno tomorrow and get to Carson City, check out what we can about the Coleman killing, then head to Rimfire to see if Sheriff Fain can connect anything up."

"That will take a while," Victoria said. "Are you sure you should be gone that long?"

"It won't take more than four days," Nick said.

"But what if something happens here in the meantime?" Audra asked. "What if they arrest Jarrod in the meantime?"

"And what about those other cities?" Victoria asked. "Rimfire doesn't have any killings there."

"No, but we have to start somewhere," Jarrod said. "Hogan has been digging elsewhere, but this all seems to have started after my – " He stumbled on the word. "After what I did in Rimfire," he settled on, and the shame of it washed over him again. Dear God, what if someone did latch onto him in Rimfire and was killing people with him as cover? Didn't that make him partly responsible for all these deaths?

Jarrod didn't block his thoughts out of his eyes this time. Everyone else could see them there, and hear them in his voice. Nick quickly said, "We're gonna get to the bottom of this. Heath and I are gonna head for Carson City and Rimfire tomorrow morning."

They mutually decided to wire Sheriff Fain in Rimfire before they left in the morning, to get a head start on anything they had to check into there. Nick and Heath had established a relationship of sorts with Sheriff Fain while Jarrod was getting himself back together after his debacle with Cass Hyatt, so they decided a telegram from them would be the best first approach. The family composed the telegram together.

Looking for information concerning possible suspect in Mark Coleman killing last week. Carson City. Will come to Rimfire. Somebody following brother Jarrod from Rimfire one year ago? Anyone missing?

"That's not gonna be much for him to go on," Heath said.

"It'll be enough to start him out until we get there," Nick said.

Feeling humbled, looking ashamed and even grief stricken, Jarrod said, "I'm sorry for this, all of it. I was hoping what happened was behind me, but it seems it might just still be following me around."

Nick put a hand on Jarrod's shoulder. "Whatever is going on, we'll deal with it, but the first job is to keep you out of jail. You get yourself that lawyer tomorrow. Heath and I will head for Carson City. We'll get moving right away."

Jarrod smiled a sheepish thank-you, and then headed for the scotch.