Chapter 4

Jarrod worked late and waited for the midnight train too, the sheriff beside him again on the bench on the platform, but Buster Shane did not get off that train either. "Maybe this means we're getting lucky," the sheriff said. "He's probably found someplace else to go, or he stayed in San Francisco."

"It's hard to find a place for yourself in San Francisco when you're fresh out of San Quentin," Jarrod said. "I'll go tell Sandra he didn't come in tonight."

"No, you let me," Sheriff Madden said. "You need to get on home, and besides, you don't want to be the subject of gossip for seeing Sandra too often."

"What do you mean?" Jarrod asked. "Except for yesterday and today, I haven't seen her in years."

"Word's already spread that Shane's been pardoned, and you turn up coming to see his wife at A.K.'s," the sheriff said, lowering his voice. "There are people in this town who will start reading things into things, you know that."

"I don't live my life worrying about what other people are reading into things," Jarrod said.

"Maybe you don't, but sometimes I have to. It gives me a leg up on what trouble might happen down the pike. Jarrod, just go on home and let me talk to Sandra tonight. Have you talked to your family about Shane getting out?"

"Yeah, yesterday," Jarrod said.

"You not coming home yet might have them worried. Go take away their worry."

Jarrod gave a brief sigh. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"And don't worry about the eight o'clock train in the morning. I'll be here for it. You best wander on into town a couple hours later."

"All right," Jarrod agreed. "Thanks, Fred."

When he got home, it was going on one in the morning, but there were still plenty of lamps lit in the house. Jarrod wondered how many of his family members were still up. He realized he should have sent word he'd be late but he frankly forgot to. That made him feel doubly guilty when he found both brothers waiting in the living room, playing checkers.

"About time you got here," Nick said as he and Heath got up and met Jarrod in the foyer.

"Sorry I worried you," Jarrod said. "I was waiting to see if Buster Shane got off the midnight train."

"Did he?" Heath asked.

Jarrod shook his head. "Sheriff Madden will meet the eight o'clock in the morning and see if he gets off that one. Have Mother and Audra gone to bed?"

"No, Mother and Audra have been in the kitchen," Victoria's very firm alto came in with her and Audra from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I should have sent word," Jarrod said.

"Yeah, as long as one more of your just-got-out-of-prison acquaintances is around, you should have sent word," Nick said.

"I'll make sure I do it tomorrow if I'll be home late," Jarrod said.

"You've eaten dinner, I take it," Victoria said.

"Yes, I ate dinner," Jarrod said, "and I got a lot of work done so I don't have to hurry in in the morning."

"Well, we have to get moving early in the morning," Nick said, heading for the stairs. "But you make sure you send for us tomorrow if you need us."

"I will," Jarrod said.

Heath followed Nick up the stairs, saying, "Good night, Mother, Jarrod."

Audra was with them, noticing that her mother was lingering and that meant she wanted a private word with Jarrod. "I'll get to bed, too. Good night, Mother. Good night, Jarrod."

As soon as they were all up there and out of sight, Victoria asked, "Would you like a little brandy before bed?"

"No, I think just the talk you want to have," Jarrod said, smiling a little.

Victoria wandered into the living room, Jarrod following her. "I won't tell you how to handle this, but I will tell you I'm concerned. I was concerned ten years ago. We just danced around the edges of this yesterday – the day before yesterday now, actually – but there's more, isn't there? We can't help you with it if we don't know what it is."

"I don't know what kind of help I'll need or how you can provide it," Jarrod said.

"Which is why I want to talk. Ten years ago you were defending a man with an attractive wife, and perhaps you didn't hear them, but rumors ran around," Victoria said, stopped and turned to face him. "Tell me, if you know. Did your client hear those rumors?"

Jarrod stopped. "Mother, I have never had an affair with Sandra Shane." He thought fast and made a decision on the spot. "I will say that Buster Shane saw me embracing her after he was found guilty, but that was in the hall outside the courtroom. There was no one out there at the time, except Buster and the deputy taking him back to jail. But all it was was an embrace of comfort for a woman whose husband had been convicted and was going to prison."

"A woman who testified against her own husband," Victoria said.

"That was a complicated matter, Mother. I knew what Sandra was going to say and why she was testifying. She knew what really happened, and she was protecting herself."

"From what?"

"Prosecution for killing Roman Taliaferro. I understood how it looked if she didn't testify she found Buster there. That would have left her there with the body in people's minds. That wasn't true and it would have hurt her. Remember, they never had that wonderful a marriage to begin with. Buster felt betrayed, and when he saw me embrace Sandra, he felt more betrayed. That's where things lay when he was taken to San Quentin, and that's where they continue to lie, because until I got the letter that he'd been pardoned, I hadn't seen or talked to either one of them since the trial."

"Jarrod, why did you believe Sandra and not your own client about what happened with that killing?"

That was a legitimate question. Jarrod answered the only way he knew how. "I don't know. Perhaps because Buster's reputation was that of lazy man grifting off his wife's income. Her reputation in general was better than his."

"And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was an attractive woman." Victoria was talking very plainly.

"She was an attractive married woman," Jarrod said. He thought of Marcy Howard for a moment, how he had denied to his mother that he'd had an affair with her, and he hadn't had an affair but she was a client and he could never reveal the secret she shared about her affair with another man who was not her husband. "Mother, I've never had an affair with a married woman, and I've never been inclined to."

Victoria took that all in and knew it was the truth. His eyes were not blocking a thing. She nodded. "I appreciate you telling me the truth. Now, tell me what happens next if Buster believes you were locking him up to have his wife and he intends to do something about it."

Brutally plain, as always, his mother. "Mother, I did not have Buster locked up so I could have his wife. Until I got the letter saying he was being pardoned, I hadn't even seen her since the trial."

"But what are you going to do if that's what Buster believes?"

"I don't know, Mother," Jarrod said. "I don't know if Buster is going to come back to Stockton at all. If he does, I don't know what he'll do about anything that's left over from the past. I don't intend to do anything with him except let him know that I know he's here."

"And Sandra?"

"I've told her he was pardoned. I've told her he wasn't on the 2:45 train. Sheriff Madden is telling her he wasn't on the midnight train. I don't plan to have anything more to do with her, but in truth, I'm going to have to wait and see what Buster does, if he shows up."

Victoria thought about what he had said. In a while she asked, "Is there anything else I should know?"

"No," Jarrod said flatly.

Victoria nodded, accepting his word. "Thank you for being frank with me, Jarrod. Are you going to be as frank with your brothers and sister?"

"Mother," Jarrod said, "I'd rather what I've said to you tonight stay just between you and me. So long as there isn't any danger to anyone coming out of this, I don't see any reason Nick, Heath or Audra need to know the things we've talked about tonight."

"And if it does get dangerous?"

Jarrod decided to be as straightforward as his mother had been. "You're thinking of Cass Hyatt, aren't you?"

"I'm concerned about your brothers having to rescue you again," Victoria said.

"From myself," Jarrod completed her sentence.

Victoria nodded. "I can't change what Buster Shane might do, but I hope you don't fall into the same trap as before."

"I learned my lesson, Mother," Jarrod said. "I won't be any danger myself to anyone, but if Buster becomes a danger, I'll be sure the family knows about it so you can help me deal with it. I promise you, I won't go off half-cocked on my own again."

Victoria accepted that with a soft nod, but Jarrod knew there was a lot of I hope not behind that nod.