Chapter Eleven
Excerpt from Ch 10
While Jarrod and Heath were packing and leaving the ranch, Nick was again on the porch talking to Leah; they were discussing Carl. The young boy had been to town again only; this time, he'd confessed he'd purposely hid behind some crates in order to eavesdrop on Modesto's banker and Mr. Stokes. Needless to say, the young man was in deep trouble with all the adults.
"No one was in that alley! As I already told you, I looked out the window and then; to play it safe, I actually left the building. I walked extremely quietly alongside the building. No one was hiding behind anything." Brown-haired Adam Justin, Modesto's banker, barked as quietly as he could as he faced Herman Stokes who had cornered Adam once the banker had reentered the bank office. "It had to have been an animal you heard! I did see a few stray cats." He almost added 'even saw a few rats', but decided things were tense enough as it was without adding any unnecessary side comments.
Herman wanted to argue with him only - with the accident he'd had a few weeks before-an incident that had left him with a patch temporarily over one eye and slightly blurred vision in the uncovered eye-he couldn't actually identify whoever it was that he saw. Without the ability to give Adam a name, Herman knew the man would not listen to him. "Guess this whole thing is making me more nervous than I thought." He then told the banker there was still no sign of the man everyone called Bear. "You sure he knows about us or what we're doing? I mean, I would think he'd have done something by now if he does."
Adam Justin let out a muttered grumble as he sat down on the chair that set behind his brand-new mahogany desk. "My men saw him in San Francisco and confirmed he's looked into our activities; that is, he knows about the activities- and they are ninety five percent sure he knows about our involvement. That is, he either knows about us or soon will."
"Why don't they do something then!" Herman snapped as he stormed around the room with fire coming out of ears, nose and mouth.
"They've tried numerous times!" Mr. Justin had had his fill of Herman's rantings. "He's got to be one of the luckiest men on the face of this earth. If he continues to elude them, he'll be heading back here by next week. I am going to hire a man to start searching the area around Modesto at that time. It's not like anyone outside San Francisco is looking for him."
"Why not just have those men you talk about; the ones in San Francisco, follow him? They'd get him sooner or later. Why take the chance of him escaping them and making it back here?" Herman didn't understand that one. In fact, if he knew what men Adam was talking about, he'd wire them himself. As it was, he was afraid to contact anyone for the simple reason that Adam was sure to get wind of it. If that happened, Herman knew Adam would come after him-and Adam Justin was not a man he wanted to cross.
Adam shook his head. "That would cost us too much. I can hire a few men for a lot less than what I had to pay those imbeciles in San Francisco. No; with no one else suspecting us and no one else looking for him, we'll stick to our original plan. And don't tell me to enlist the aid of the temporary sheriff who we both know can be bought…he's not around anymore." He then told his 'friend' the discussion was over.
Had Adam and Herman had known how wrong Adam was, they'd have bolted the office door shut and come up with another plan. As it was, Herman simply turned around and walked very forcibly out of the room, making sure to slam the door behind him.
While Adam and Herman were talking, Heath and Jarrod had arrived in Modesto. Since they didn't know exactly where Nick or this Fen were, they naturally started walking towards the sheriff's office. The two brothers figured the lawman would know of any serious trouble in Modesto. They were shocked to find out different once they were inside Sheriff Langston's office.
"I'm sorry, Jarrod." The sheriff, who had known the Barkleys for a number of years, sat behind his desk looking just as clueless as Jarrod and Heath felt. "I didn't even know Nick was anywhere near Modesto."
"This doesn't make sense." Jarrod frowned. "Nick wouldn't send…." His sentence was cut off as the front door to the office opened up and a gentleman they had never seen before stepped inside.
"May I help you?" Sheriff Langston stood up.
"My name is Eric Miller, though people call me Fen." It didn't pass by Fen that his introduction had sent shock waves through the two strangers standing with the sheriff- as they'd instantly stiffened. He took a wild guess. "Jarrod and Heath Barkley?"
Now it was the sheriff who looked shocked. "You know the Barkleys?"
"Never met these two only their brother, Nick, is staying with me out at the Douglas place." He went on to apologize to the sheriff. "Nick and I would have come here in the first place only," he chuckled, "we only learned you were back in town a little while ago. Before that? Just before Nick had me send the telegram to his brothers, I heard you were going to be gone for another month. If you're going to ask me why I didn't come to this office sooner, I didn't dare. That substitute sheriff you had? I knew him before he moved here, and I don't trust him. In fact, that's the main reason Nick and I sent for his brothers instead of simply letting them know where he was, and that he'd injured his ankle."
While Heath and Jarrod wanted to know how Nick got injured, they didn't ask Fen any questions. Why should they? They could get those answers from Nick himself. When it came to the sheriff, he sighed. He wished he could say that Mr. Miller had no just cause to say that about the red-headed, thirty-five year old Phil Jenson, only he couldn't. The main reason he'd arrived back earlier than planned was because he- along with other law officers- had learned just how corrupt his replacement was. The fact that the town had had the shock of watching Phil Jensen hauled away by a federal marshal was something he wasn't going to talk about. After all, if this Fen gentleman didn't know it, he would soon enough. Modesto was too small for Fen not to learn of it sooner or later.
"So, tell me-and them-what is going on-and start at the beginning." Sheriff Langston folded his arms, sat on the edge of his desk and kept his eyes on Fen while Jarrod and Heath sat down on a couple of nearby chairs.
"It's like this." Fen looked at the three men and started talking.
