Chapter 6

Jarrod went to his office after talking with Sheriff Madden and Marshal Hogan. What his personal troubles were didn't deflect him from the regular work he had to do – much. He didn't even mention them to Esther, his secretary, although she knew him too well to not notice the fact he was bothered about something. Jarrod dug into three wills he was drafting for a local family and was giving them to Esther to type up right before going for lunch when the messenger arrived with two telegrams. Jarrod read them. Phil Davis, his contact at Pinkerton, would be in Stockton on the evening train. Nat Springer would be there by noon tomorrow. Jarrod pocketed the telegrams and headed out for lunch.

He had barely gotten out to the street when he heard his mother call his name. He looked to see Victoria and Audra arriving in a buggy. His smile was weary but he leaned up against the buggy when they stopped. "Just in time for me to buy you lunch," he said.

"That's kind of what we had in mind," Audra said.

"Where shall we go?" Jarrod asked. "The Stockton House?"

Victoria nodded. "Let us get the buggy hitched near Sally Ann's. We have some material to pick up at the mercantile and we intend to take it to her to have dresses made for me and Audra. We'll do that after we eat and meet you at the Stockton House in less than five minutes."

"I'll see you there," Jarrod said.

Jarrod headed down the street as his family rode away, but as he did, a feeling of alarm started over him. Was someone watching? Did someone see his mother and sister talking to him? Had he just made them targets? How could he have left them go off alone to the mercantile?

He hustled over the mercantile instead of to the Stockton House, in time to see Victoria and Audra begin to head his way after parking the buggy, looking confused. "I decided a gentleman should escort the ladies to lunch rather than just meet them there," he said.

Victoria smiled. She knew exactly what Jarrod was doing.

So did Audra. "You're reluctant to leave us on our own, aren't you?" she asked.

Jarrod had taken his mother's arm. "It occurred to me that you shouldn't be without an escort right now. I'll ride along home with you after lunch too."

"And visit the mercantile and Sally Ann?" Victoria asked. "Nick may get jealous if he finds out you've visited his girl."

Jarrod let himself laugh a little. "Nick isn't here. Besides, Sally Ann broke up with him long ago. The last I heard, she had her eye on Stanley Briggs, the pharmacist over on Weber. Something else I'll mention too. Phil Davis from Pinkerton will be here this evening, so I'll be late getting home."

"You shouldn't be alone," Victoria said.

"Mother, the one person who seems to be safe from whoever is murdering people is me," Jarrod said. "If he kills me, his cover is gone. No one is going to hurt me. I'll be home late, and I'll be fine. And Nat Springer is coming in tomorrow. I'd like to put him up out at the ranch so we can talk privately all we want."

Neither Victoria nor Audra was too happy at the thought of having Nat Springer around, but Victoria nodded. "Whatever will help you the most, Jarrod."

"That will help me the most," Jarrod said. Then they started into the Stockton House, and he said, "Now, let's have a nice lunch together and then I'll help you with your shopping. I can carry the packages."

XXXXXXX

Jarrod was right. No one bothered them on the way home, and no one bothered him on his way back to town. He met Phil Davis at the train station just after dark, and no one bothered him there either.

Jarrod got Davis checked into a suite at the Stockton House, then joined him there to talk. He filled Davis in on everything he knew. Davis shook his head a lot. He finally said, "We had gotten word that this Hogan guy was working on a string of murders, but we had no idea at all he was zeroing in on you. If he knew you, he'd be looking harder at the idea that somebody was out to get you, or some lunatic was just using you for cover."

"He says he hasn't given up on those ideas," Jarrod said. "But I think he'll be more easily persuaded if you can come up with something."

"Well, if there's a trail to pick up, it'll be in San Francisco, not here," Davis said. "I'll head back in the morning and get to work on this."

"I want to hear from you at least once a day," Jarrod said. "Nat Springer is going to handle my case for me."

Davis raised an eyebrow. "He's a capable attorney but he does tend to get picky about the kind of evidence he looks for."

"I know," Jarrod said. "I've known the man for years, and I know what his good points and bad points are. He won't be driving this on his own. I intend to be directing him more than he directs me, and where I direct him will have a lot to do with what you come up with."

Davis nodded. "We'll get on things as soon as I get back to San Francisco."

Jarrod headed home after bidding Davis good night. He didn't run into any trouble at all, and everything was fine with his mother and sister when he got there. Tomorrow, Davis would be getting Pinkerton moving, Springer would be here and starting to plot his defense, and his brothers would begin their investigations in Carson City and Rimfire.

Late at night, Jarrod sat alone with a last brandy, feeling the buzz and the relaxing muscles a bit more, and trying to forget for tonight what was happening to him. Tonight might be his last night of freedom, if things did not go well. He knew that. The brandy did not block it out. But the future would be what it was going to be, and he could only control it so much. He looked at the last of his brandy, and raised his glass to the future, whatever it held.

XXXXX

It took all day and into the dark for Nick and Heath to get to Reno. When the train pulled into Reno, they got a quick bite to eat and caught the last stage out to Carson City. The sun was coming up as the stage pulled in. Both men had gotten some sleep on the stage, but kept getting jolted awake when the stage hit the ruts in the road. They went first to the telegraph office to send word home they had arrived, then got some breakfast and discussed their plans.

"I think we oughtta head right down to Rimfire first," Nick said.

He'd said that a few times already so Heath wasn't surprised, and didn't disagree. "I'm not sure how much anybody in Carson City will tell us about Mark Coleman's killing," Heath said. "We might not get anything at all here."

"We might get something if we get anything about of Sheriff Fain," Nick said.

"It would be handy if he was able to find out anything after he got our wire," Heath said.

"Well, for a minute, let's assume he didn't," Nick said. "You got any ideas on where to go from there?"

Heath had to shake his head. "No."

"Me neither," Nick said.

"We better do some thinking and get some."

"We'll have to get horses to get down to Rimfire," Nick said, "and it's gonna be an all-day ride. Why don't we get some food and take it along with us? It'll save us a long stop somewhere to eat. I don't think too well on an empty stomach."

"You know, there's some other thinking we need to do if we're gonna be realistic about this," Heath said. "Trying to find somebody out to get Jarrod bad enough to frame him for ten murders is gonna be hard. Finding a lunatic is gonna be near impossible."

"Meaning we might not find anything at all to help him," Nick said. "Meaning he could end up tried for ten murders."

Heath leveled a serious look, and got a serious look back. "I don't like thinking the worst, but it's better think it and plan for it than go into it with no ideas at all."

"Yeah," Nick agreed. "But right now, I don't have a one."

Heath shook his head. "Me neither."

So there it was, the unthinkable was no longer unsaid. What if they couldn't find anything at all to support Jarrod's innocence? The thought turned both of them cold.