Chapter 7

Stone sat down in the bedroom chair, while Marty walked to the window and looked out. Both Jarrod and Stone were waiting to hear what he had to say, pretty amazed at what he had said so far, wondering how much he was going to explain. It took a little while, but Marty finally said, "When I was caught stealing all that money - and yes, I stole it - I panicked. I lied. But here I was, chief of police of San Francisco at a very young age. It went to my head. I knew I got the job because my father was a big contributor to the mayor's campaign, but to me, I was just handed the free ride of a lifetime."

Marty came away from the window and faced the two attorneys who had been part of his downfall. He actually smiled a little.

"We took in that haul the men who robbed the biggest bank in San Francisco," he went on. "All that money under my thumb. I just couldn't resist taking some of it. Who would notice? They'd just think the robbers spent it before they got caught."

"That wasn't the only time you took money your department had confiscated, was it?" Stone asked.

"No, actually it was," Marty said. "It really was. We never pulled in that much before. I never got that tempted before. It never occurred to me that somebody honest in my department was going to turn me in. I thought I was bulletproof, just because my father gave a lot of money to the mayor's campaign. Nobody was more astonished than I was when you filed charges against me."

"But you kept denying you took the money," Jarrod said.

Marty shrugged. "I was cornered. I lied all over the place. And you knew it, didn't you?"

Jarrod nodded. "I suspected it, but I couldn't prove it. The clients I defend all deny the charges. The jury didn't believe you."

"The jury was right not to believe me."

"What changed?" Jarrod asked. "Why are you confessing all this now?"

"A couple things changed," Marty said. "The publicity surrounding the case got to me. Even after I was in prison, the guards would still shove a newspaper in my face. Stories about people who had lost their money because I took it. I started to really see the consequences of what I'd done. I started to see I had hurt innocent people. And then, of course, my father died. There went any last bit of power I had politically, and my inheritance because what he left me had to go for restitution and fines and the bill they send you for your upkeep in prison. The last time I saw my father, when he came to visit me, he told me I had cost him a lot of clout and I could rot for all he cared. So, there I was in prison, not a friend or a relative left in the world, seeing my crime had an effect on real people."

"You got religion," Stone said.

"No, not religion," Marty said. "Just sense. I saw the men around me and how trashed they were. I saw some get released after doing their time and then come right back in a couple months later for something else. I decided that wasn't going to be me."

"I know the papers weren't kind to you when you were pardoned," Jarrod said.

"That's why I left San Francisco. I came up here to Vallejo, but they'd heard about me here too. It hasn't been easy and I'd have moved on, except I met Alice. I really can't explain why she didn't just spit on me too, but she didn't. Her father owned an old hotel he turned into a boarding house. He gave me a room and board in exchange for working there, keeping the place up, kinda doing what I did when I headed the police department - keeping the peace in a place where some rowdies tended to end up in. Alice lived with her father in an apartment there and did the cooking. She looked after him because his heart was giving out on him. He died not a year ago. Alice sold the hotel, we got married, she bought this little farm and I've kept a low profile out here. Anybody in Vallejo who's bothered about that has just kept their peace. Alice is still well thought of. I've won over the sheriff and the doctor and a couple other people. And I've been perfectly straight and honest. You might say I grew up."

Jarrod and Stone looked at each other. "That's quite a story," Stone said.

"And you're not sure you believe it," Marty said. "Well, just have a long talk with the sheriff when you get back to town. He'll back it all up. I have a nice little farm and a beautiful little wife who loves me. I can make my way, and I can do it without robbing anybody. So if you think I'm one of those pirates - "

"No, no," Stone said quickly, "I don't think that. I've been thinking about it. Whoever those boys were, they managed to sneak up on us out in the bay and Jarrod and I never knew they were there. They had to be young enough and strong enough to get out there, get close to my boat and board it without even making a sound. That takes youth and strength, and it takes more than one man."

"Jack's right," Jarrod said. "And if you were part of it, you wouldn't have brought me here. You'd have just drowned me where you found me, even if you did recognize who I was."

"Well, you were pretty much a drowned rat when I found you, full of mud and weeds," Marty said. "Alice and I cleaned you up when we got you back here and lo and behold, there was Jarrod Barkley under all that."

Jarrod chuckled, but then he broke into coughing. That brought Alice in, saying, "All right, all right, you've talked over old times long enough. I've got coffee hot and I'm making you some soup, Mr. Barkley."

"Jarrod," Jarrod croaked.

"Jarrod," Alice said. "But after you get some coffee and soup into you, you're gonna rest."

"And I'll head back to town," Stone said. "Bob, do you have any ideas on how to get these pirates?"

"A couple," Marty said. "Your brothers are coming in tomorrow, Jarrod. I think we best get them out here and do our talking and planning out of town, if the sheriff is willing. If our pirates are in Vallejo, we don't want them seeing six men getting together and making plans on how to get them."

"Good idea," Jarrod said. "Maybe I'll be well enough in the morning to meet the train my brothers are on. I can bring them out here and the sheriff won't even need to be seen with us – that is, if you will lend me some clothes, Bob. I don't have a stitch on and I won't ask which one of you got me this way."

Alice said, "Well, I'm sorry, but it took both of us to get you out of those wet clothes and they were ruined, but you're Bob's size and of course you can wear some of his until we can get you something new. Let's see about you meeting your brothers tomorrow. The doctor's gonna be out here in the morning. We'll see what he says."

"I can find them if you can't," Stone said.

"You never met them," Jarrod said.

"I saw your family picture in your office back when we were doing my case there."

"Ah, then you saw Nick and my brother Eugene, but Gene's back east in school and we have another brother now, a half-brother named Heath. My father was in that photograph - Heath looks a lot like him, more than Nick or I do."

"Well, we've got it covered then," Stone said. "You just rest and get well."

"Food will be ready for all of you in ten minutes or so," Alice said, "and coffee is ready now. I'll bring some in here, but you need to rest that voice, Jarrod."

Jarrod saluted her, but he didn't speak. He just smiled.