Chapter 8
Victoria breathed a deep sigh of relief when she got the telegram. "Jarrod is alive, worse for wear but being cared for by a couple just outside of Vallejo."
Audra burst into a giant smile. "I wish there were a way to tell Nick and Heath."
"They'll find out when they get there, and they'll wire us," Victoria said with a nod, and then a thought. "If he's hurt, they'll stay with him."
Audra added her own thought. "And once he's well, they'll all stay there to find out what happened to him."
"That's your brothers all over," Victoria said.
"Did you want to go up there to Vallejo?"
Victoria shook her head. "Let's wait and see what Nick and Heath say. I'm content to let them handle it, now that I know Jarrod is all right. If they think we should be there, they won't hesitate to tell us."
It was close to dinner time. Neither of them had been that interested in eating, but now, Audra said, "I'm hungry."
"Then let's have dinner," Victoria said. "And add a few extra thank yous onto the blessing."
XXXXX
When the train rolled into Vallejo just before noon the next day, Nick and Heath didn't know what to expect. They made their plans even as the train stopped. They would find the sheriff first, maybe he could help them find Stone. They still had no idea that Jarrod had even been found by anyone. For all they knew, he was still missing, out there in the water somewhere - that is, his body was.
Which is why they nearly fell over when they got off the train and saw Jarrod sitting on a bench on the platform, wearing Levi pants and a blue work shirt. Their mouths were open as they came to him and he got up, a little shaky but that was all. Nick and Heath dropped their saddlebags on the ground and hugged him.
"We were afraid you were dead, Pappy," Nick said. "Nobody knew where you were."
"Yeah, that's a long story and this isn't the place to talk about it," Jarrod said. "I got some money at the bank and got mounts for you. We're gonna ride out of town a bit, after you wire Mother that you got here and found me alive."
His voice was still a little rusty. Heath asked, "Are you okay? You sound a little off."
"Just an irritated throat," Jarrod said. "The doctor said no pneumonia and he's let me be up and around, but let's get to the telegraph office and then get to where we're going. I'll explain everything when we get there."
They headed off to the telegraph office, unaware of two young men outside the depot, neither one over 21, both pretty sizeable and loading boxes onto a wagon in an alley outside a mercantile. The two young men stopped, and looked, and looked at each other. One said quietly, "That's the other one. They're both here in town."
The other young man said. "So? Neither one of them saw us or we'd be in jail already."
"When they see their stuff in these boxes - "
"These boxes will be off on the train to San Francisco before they get a look into them."
"We shoulda sunk the boat."
"Naw, it's good boat and we got it hidden good. Even if they find it they can't trace it to us and Omer will pay us good for it when we get it down there. We just need to hide it out for now."
"I hope you're right on that."
"Trust me."
XXXXX
The Barkley men wired home and then headed out of town, without seeing the sheriff and without talking to any locals except the telegrapher. On the way out of town, Jarrod broke the news that they would meet the sheriff and Jack Stone at a small farm where Bob Marty lived.
Nick stopped his horse dead in the road. "Bob Marty?"
Jarrod and Heath stopped, and Jarrod nodded. Heath asked, "Who's Bob Marty?"
"A client of mine," Jarrod said. "He was chief of police in San Francisco and was convicted of stealing money confiscated after a bank robbery."
"A big bank robbery," Nick cut in. "The trial was in all the papers, and as I recall, Jack Stone was the prosecutor. But what's Marty doing out here?"
"Lying low on a small farm," Jarrod said. "He was pardoned but he couldn't stay in San Francisco. Met a woman here and married her. They found me washed up on their property and took me in. Marty's reformed - really reformed - and he wants to help catch these pirates who tossed me and Jack Stone into the drink and stole Jack's boat."
"Pirates?" Heath said, unbelieving.
"Pirates," Jarrod said, and turned his horse and rode on.
It wasn't long before they reached the Marty Farm. Marty, Stone and the sheriff came out of the house to greet them. To Nick and Heath, these were all strangers and under the circumstances, they were uneasy, but if Jarrod trusted them, they figured they would at least give these men the benefit of the doubt.
The Barkley men dismounted and hitched their horses. Jarrod quickly introduced everyone. Nick admitted, but only to himself, that he was uncomfortable about Marty in particular. He had never met the man, but he remembered how rough the trial had been on Jarrod, and he remembered how rough the San Francisco press had been on Marty. As he shook hands with him, Nick thought his uneasiness was probably showing.
But Marty said, "It's good to meet you fellas, even though the circumstances aren't good."
"At least Jarrod and Mr. Stone are alive and well," Heath said.
"Jack," Stone said quickly.
"And I'm Bob," Marty said.
The sheriff said, "We've been talking about some ideas we've had on how to deal with this, because it's a cinch it can't go on, and the two of you surviving the latest attack might be our best bet to get a grip on it."
"You got any ideas on who's behind it?" Nick asked.
"Not a one," the sheriff said, "but we have a thought on how to find out. Bob was chief of police in San Francisco. Before his problems there, he had a situation that was a bit similar to this one."
"One we managed to get hold of, and the perpetrators went to prison," Marty said. "I know. I saw them there."
Nick felt a little easier when Marty owned up to his past right away, although he was still planning to hold back, to listen, to evaluate. Both Jarrod and Heath could tell by the look in his eyes that he was going to do that, and it didn't surprise them.
Jarrod said, "Bob and his wife Alice found me washed up on the beach nearby and took me in. If they hadn't, I might have died out there. If they were involved in this, they could have just drowned me right there, but they didn't. I trust them in this."
"My wife's name is Alice," Marty said. "She's inside and she's rustling up some food for us. So, let's go have a long talk, because we have some ideas to talk about."