Chapter 8

Nothing else happened that night. The Barkley brothers relieved each other as scheduled. Serena did not try to leave her room, and Chonez made no effort to get out of the springhouse. Nobody slept well, though. Not one person in the house, not even Silas or the Cabrillo servants, wasn't dragging come morning.

Jarrod was the first one down. He checked in with Nick first, who had manned that corner in the parlor after relieving Heath. "Nothing happened," Nick told him. "I didn't hear a peep out of anyone. You want me to stay right here for now?"

Jarrod knew the scent of breakfast coming from the kitchen was waking Nick's stomach up. "Until the sheriff gets here. I'll get Silas to bring you something to eat."

Jarrod went into the dining room alone then. Silas and the Cabrillo servants were already getting the buffet ready. Ever cheerful, Silas tried his best, but it was obvious he was hampered by fatigue, and so were the Cabrillo servants.

"We heard the talking," Silas said right away. "We all just tried to stay out of the way and waited back here in case you needed us."

As always, Jarrod said to himself. He gave Silas a light pat on the back. "You're the best, Silas. I'm glad we didn't need you but I'm sorry we ruined your sleep. We might have these houseguests longer than we planned. Do we have the provisions?"

"We'll be fine for another two or three days, Mr. Jarrod," Silas said.

"The sheriff will be coming in soon and probably taking one or two of our guests away with him. Make sure to keep plenty of coffee hot this morning, and if you would, take Nick a plate in the living room? He's keeping an eye out until the sheriff comes and I can hear his stomach grumbling from here."

"Right away," Silas said and began putting food on a plate to take to Nick.

Jarrod filled a plate for himself and sat down at the table as one of the Cabrillo servants, an older woman with a soft smile, poured coffee for him. "Gracias," Jarrod said with a weary smile of his own.

People came down from upstairs to eat breakfast, Victoria, Audra and Heath first, then the Mitchells together. Lastly, the Cabrillos came down, without Serena. Annamaria and Joe kissed lightly in greeting and stayed close together as they filled their plates. People spoke to one another but in quiet tones, with soft words that carried a lot of sadness over what had been happening, and over the fact that their two children were not married as they were supposed to be by now.

"Want me to go get Serena down here to eat?" Heath asked Jarrod quietly.

Jarrod looked around. "She might ruin a few appetites, and I don't want her talking to anyone before she talks to the sheriff. Feed yourself, then take plates up to her and Kegel, and then one out to Chonez in the springhouse. I'll cut Nick loose from the parlor once the sheriff gets here."

"When do you think he'll get here?"

"Anytime," Jarrod said. "Sooner rather than later, I hope."

The sheriff arrived not long after the last of the guests had finished breakfast. Jose and Don Mitchell had gone into the library to shoot a game of pool when Jarrod brought Sheriff Harris in there. "Good morning, gentlemen," the sheriff said. "I'm sorry to break up your game, but we have some more talking that has to happen in here."

Jose and Don put their pool cues back up into the rack. "If you want to talk to my daughter Serena, I would like to bring her down here myself," Jose said.

"Maybe you ought to talk to Chonez first, Steve," Jarrod said.

He gave the sheriff and sincere you ought to look. None of the Barkleys had told anyone about all the money Chonez had on him, and Jarrod hadn't had the chance to tell the sheriff about it yet. Sheriff Harris said, "All right. Don Cabrillo, why don't you ask Nick or Heath to go get Chonez in here? Then you gentlemen just relax as you like, but don't go too far away in case I need you."

Jose and Don left the room. Jarrod did not close the door, but he drew the sheriff away from it and spoke to him very quietly. "When Nick took Chonez to the springhouse last night, Chonez dropped a lot of paper money out of his pocket. He might try to get rid of it, but at least we'll know it's somewhere in the springhouse if he does."

"Unless he sent it downstream with the spring water," the sheriff said.

Jarrod shook his head. "If he did, it wouldn't have gotten very far. Wet paper doesn't flow very well, and that spring stream runs awful far out in the open. Maybe if we lean on Mr. Chonez about it, we can finally get him to open his mouth."

"I wonder what the money was for? Payoff to the men who took them?"

"Those men would have been paid off already. If anything, this was Chonez's cut, meaning the money probably came from Serena."

"This whole thing still sounds like a losing move if it's a move on her part. Disrupting the wedding – it just couldn't last. They'd be married sooner or later anyway."

"Maybe she thinks she can delay it longer by constantly screaming about how frightened she is. Maybe give her some time to get Joe to see her instead of Annamaria. I don't know, Steve. People do strange things when they're infatuated with someone who doesn't love them back."

Suddenly, Jarrod was struck again by the thought he had floated last night. It showed in his eyes. "What?" Sheriff Harris asked.

"Nothing that I have any evidence for," Jarrod said, "but if Serena is in love with Joe and that's what's behind this – is it possible that someone else is in love with Annamaria and that's how Serena got some help in this crazy scheme?"

"You mean Chonez. But he's apparently been paid for this."

Jarrod shook his head again. "Maybe, but he's had a good job as the Cabrillo's driver. Would he have risked it for just a little extra money?"

Sheriff Harris shrugged. "I suppose it's worth leaning on him about. Anyway, I plan to give it another hour, hour and half with him and Serena. Then I got two deputies coming out and we'll take them back to Stockton. I can keep them there for a couple days, but frankly, I need more than we've got from them now to keep them."

"All we really have now is Annamaria's word that Serena told her she loves Joe," Jarrod said. "What we really need is the two men who did the actual abducting."

"My deputies are still asking around. I just hope they haven't left the area. It may be the best we can get out of this is that nobody ever pays the price for the kidnapping, but the fear factor gets eliminated and Annamaria and Joe get to be married."

"One thing's for sure," Jarrod said. "The Cabrillos' happy family has had a big hole shot in it. Knowing Jose, he won't be taking Serena home with him, ever again."

In only another minute or two, Nick came in with Chonez, holding him by the arm. "Here we are, gentlemen," Nick said and gave Chonez a shove toward Jarrod and the sheriff. "You want me to have him empty his pockets?" Nick gave a snarling smile to Chonez.

Chonez didn't even wait for an answer. It was clear he understood every word of that English, and the nasty grin Nick was wearing when he looked at him. Chonez emptied his pockets. The only thing in them was money. He put it all on the pool table.

"Thanks, Nick," Jarrod said, fingering the money. "We'll take it from here."

Nick nodded and went out.

There was a chair at the far end of the pool table, away from the door but a little closer to the French doors that led out to the front of the house. The sheriff fetched that chair and brought it away from the French doors, but just to be sure, Jarrod put himself in front of the doors as the sheriff motioned Chonez to sit down.

Chonez sat.

Sheriff Harris asked, "Are you ready to tell us about this money and how you got it and why?"

Chonez still didn't say anything.

"My jail isn't much more comfortable than that springhouse," the sheriff said. "Or I suppose I could get the Barkleys to lock you in the springhouse for one more night."

Still nothing.

Jarrod came closer, standing behind Chonez and a little to his right. He said carefully, quietly, even gently, in Spanish, "Is Annamaria worth going to prison for, amigo?"

That lit a light in Chonez's eyes.