Chapter 5

No one slept very well that night, and everyone was up early. Nick and Heath needed to get to town in time to catch the train to Reno, then Carson City, and Jarrod wanted to go with them, to send the telegram to Sheriff Fain, to Pinkerton, and to a few others.

"Including Nat Springer," Jarrod said at the breakfast table. The attorney he knew would not be popular with the family, but maybe they would understand when he explained.

Everyone looked up at him, surprised.

"I know we butted heads over Heath's defense in the Parker Atlas killing," Jarrod said, looking down at his coffee at first, but then looking up, straight into Heath's eyes, "but I thought about it all night. There's no one in Stockton with the experience to handle this – other than me," he said with a touch of irony. "I need Nat Springer, if he'll take the job."

"Of course, that's up to you," Victoria said.

Nobody liked it much, not even Jarrod, but they all knew he was right. There were no attorneys in Stockton capable of handling what this might turn into, except for him, and he was not fool enough to represent himself on a murder charge, much less ten murder charges.

"I've got to make the best of a bad situation," Jarrod said, "and if I'm charged and tried, it won't be here in Stockton. There are no killings here linked to me. I'd probably be tried in San Francisco."

Jarrod caught the pained and ugly look that passed over Audra's face. She caught that he was looking her way. She shook her head. "I just can't believe this is happening," she said. "No one who knows you would believe for a moment that you'd murder – "

She stopped. She was going to say "anyone," but that seemed out of place, even insulting in a way.

Jarrod said, "Even if I had murdered one person, I'd never murder ten."

Nick wiped his mouth and got up. "We gotta get moving. Are you packed, Heath?"

"Yeah, I'm ready to go," Heath said.

Jarrod stood up. "We'll take the surrey to town so you don't have to leave horses there." He walked to his sister and then his mother and said, "I'll be gone most of the day, I expect. Don't worry – I'll be home for dinner. Nobody's going to arrest me today."

On the way into town, the Barkley men talked about what Nick and Heath would be doing in Carson City and Rimfire, what they would be looking for, and what information they would give to Hogan either through telegrams or when they got back.

"Keep things to yourself until I see if Nat Springer is going to be my attorney," Jarrod said. "He's going to want to control the information flow."

"Don't you let him call all the shots," Nick said.

"I won't," Jarrod said, "but he'll have to call a lot of them. I don't want you sending anything substantive back here by wire. Bring it back in person – unless the word is that you've had somebody arrested or you have a name we need to track down. Anything that needs immediate attention."

"I wish we had time to meet this Marshal Hogan," Heath said.

"You'll be seeing plenty of him when you get back," Jarrod said, "whether you want to or not."

When they parted company at the train station, Nick reached a hand out. He tried to put a brave optimism in his eyes, but Jarrod could see the concern there. "You look after yourself, Pappy," Nick said. "Remember – if we're right and somebody has been following you, they're probably here in Stockton."

Jarrod nodded. "I'll make sure Sheriff Madden and Marshal Hogan realize that, though I'm sure they do. You two just be careful yourselves. And good luck."

Jarrod headed for the livery stable first and left the surrey. Then his first stop was to the telegraph office, to send that wire off to Sheriff Fain in Rimfire. He also telegraphed his contact at Pinkerton and Nat Springer in San Francisco. They were hard to compose – how do you tell someone you're in this kind of trouble without advertising you're in this kind of trouble? Jarrod ended up saying Big splashy case in Stockton. Need help now. Come fast. Jarrod was sure the big splashy case part would get Springer's attention and probably get Pinkerton hopping faster too. It definitely gave the telegrapher a chuckle.

From there, Jarrod went straight to the sheriff's office. Sheriff Madden was there, but Marshal Hogan wasn't. Sheriff Madden was putting new wanted posters on his wall. He saw Jarrod come in and looked at him like he was relieved he was not putting one up there with Jarrod's picture on it. Jarrod was certainly thinking that.

"I shoulda known you'd be here first thing," the sheriff said.

"Have you seen Hogan this morning?" Jarrod asked.

"Not yet. He's probably having breakfast or sending telegrams or something."

"He's not sending telegrams," Jarrod said. "I just came from there."

"How are you this morning?" the sheriff asked. It wasn't a casual question.

"I didn't sleep well," Jarrod said, "but I talked to the family last night. I just sent Nick and Heath off to Carson City and Rimfire. Considering when this all started, considering what happened right before it all started – we wanted to be sure we check out the possibility that someone who saw me run off the rails there is following me. It's a possibility I'm taking more seriously than Marshal Hogan is." Jarrod took a deep breath before he said, "I've also wired Nat Springer in San Francisco to come here so I can talk to him about representing me."

The name Nat Springer was not one the sheriff liked much. He remembered very well the man's approach in the Parker Atlas killing case against Heath. He remembered neither Heath or Jarrod liked it. "Are you sure he's what you want?"

"No," Jarrod said honestly, "but he's what I need. If this goes to a trial, it'll probably be in San Francisco, not here. I've got my Pinkerton contact heading here too."

"Once Springer is here, everyone's going to know something big is happening," the sheriff said. "We've kept this quiet so far, but it's not gonna last."

"It wouldn't last even if I hired local counsel," Jarrod said. "Fred, I'm not going to keep too many secrets from Marshal Hogan and you. I intend for you to know exactly what we're doing and what we find out – to the extent I can."

"I expect that the extent you can in your mind and in Springer's mind are gonna be two different things."

"We'll see," Jarrod said, "but Fred, you know I'll fight this with everything in me. I haven't murdered anyone, anywhere."

"I believe you, Jarrod," Sheriff Madden said, "but I know you. Marshal Hogan doesn't."

"He will know me before we're through," Jarrod said. "One other thing we better remember though. If these murders have been done by someone following me, that someone is probably here in Stockton now."

"You think I haven't been thinking about that?" Sheriff Madden said. "You think I don't know that anybody you've been in contact with lately is a target? And that includes me, by the way."

Jarrod shivered inwardly at the thought. "Fred, like you, I'll do everything I can to keep anyone else from being hurt."

As Jarrod said that, the door opened, and Marshal Hogan came in. He heard what Jarrod said. "Well, that's good to know," he said, closing the door behind him.

"Good morning, Marshal," Jarrod said, and he proceeded to repeat virtually everything he had said to Sheriff Madden since he came in.

Hogan listened, nodding now and then. "I realize your attorney, whoever you end up hiring, may disagree with your notion of cooperating with me."

"He may," Jarrod said. "And there may be a thing or two I don't want to share either, but in general, Marshal, I'm going to assume that what you're really after isn't me. It's justice, and an end to these killings."

Marshal Hogan nodded again. "That's correct. And if the evidence turns, and if you are right about this being the work of someone following you and doing this out of hatred for you, or using you for cover, I'll end up thanking you instead of prosecuting you. We'll just have to see if that's where we do end up."