Chapter 5

Jarrod gave himself the luxury of sleeping a little late and getting into the office later than usual, but luxury disappeared as soon as he went in and Esther told him, "The sheriff wants to see you."

Jarrod went over to the sheriff's office, fully expecting to hear what the sheriff told him. "Buster Shane was on the morning train. He got off, I told him I was watching, he didn't way word one to me."

Jarrod could only sigh. "Where did he go? Do you know?"

Now came the surprise. "He went to see Joe Mason."

A lawyer? One of the oldest lawyers in town? "You're kidding."

"I saw him head right into the man's office," the sheriff said. "It was early. I didn't think Joe would be there, but he was. I saw them talking through the window."

Jarrod shook his head. "Shane can't have enough money to hire Mason or any other lawyer."

"They were talking, Jarrod. That's all I know."

Jarrod's thinking shifted. "Have you told Sandra that Buster was here?"

"I told her," Sheriff Madden said. "I also told her Buster was talking to Mason. A.K. was there and said he'd look out for her, but I suggested she stay close to the saloon today until we can see what Buster is up to."

"That may take some time," Jarrod said.

Sheriff Madden knew some of the looks in Jarrod's eyes, how they could give away what he was thinking, and right now he saw some calculating going on. He could only guess what it was about. "I'd stay away from Buster if I were you, Jarrod, and Sandra. I'd stay as far away from this whole thing as possible."

Jarrod wondered for a minute if the sheriff knew about that embrace Buster saw ten years ago – the incident that was going to keep Jarrod in this whether he wanted to be or not. Had the deputy who saw it told him? Fred Madden hadn't been the sheriff at the time, so there was no reason to tell him. Sheriff Lyman, in office at the time, had been killed in the fight at Sample's farm, and the deputy who saw the embrace had left Stockton seven years ago. "I suppose I'll have to see if Buster is going to let me stay away from it," Jarrod ended up saying. "At least I need to find out if Mason is going to represent him and if it has anything to do with me if he is."

"Why do you think he'd be going to see any lawyer about anything, much less you?"

"There's only one thing I'd be doing if I were in his shoes. Fresh out of prison, no job – "

"He's looking for a job with a lawyer?"

Jarrod shook his head. "He's looking for money, but not by way of a job."

"It's way past time for him to be suing you over losing your case."

Jarrod shook his head again. "The statute of limitations is tolled for you while you're in prison. It starts to run again when you get out, so Buster has plenty of time to sue me, but that would take too long. That house he and Sandra owned – it burned down not long after he went off to prison, didn't it?"

"Yeah, as I recall. People wondered if Sandra burned it down intentionally. All that's left is a shed in the yard."

"As I recall, Buster owned that house and the land it sat on in his name, free and clear. I planned to put a lien on it if he didn't pay me, but I just never did it and then the house burned down. But he'd still own the land."

The sheriff couldn't follow Jarrod's thinking. "You think he's trying to sell it? Wouldn't he go to an estate agent to do that, not a lawyer?"

Jarrod shrugged. "I don't know. You know the State of California will send you a bill for the time you were its 'guest,' if you have any assets they can attach."

"They'd know about the land and the house."

"Yes, but you know how slow the government acts," Jarrod said. "They should have put a lien on the property too, but if they didn't, they might have thought like me – after the house burned down, it wasn't worth the effort. It could be Buster went to see Mason to check his rights out, in the land and with the state, to see if there was a lien. That's what I would have done, anyway, if I were Buster. I'd be selling that property as fast as I could and disappearing with the money before the state could send me a bill."

"If that's all he came back to Stockton for, it would make me a happy man," the sheriff said.

"Well, if that's what he went to Mason for, Mason won't talk about it, but if that land turns up on the market in the next couple of days we'll have our answer."

The sheriff leveled a stare at his friend. "None of that means he isn't after Sandra for testifying against him, and maybe after you for losing his case. If that's what he saw Mason about, Mason won't talk about that either."

"Unless Mason won't take him on as a client. I think I'll go see what Joe has to say, if anything."

XXXXXXX

Joe Mason was older than Jarrod by a good twenty years, but he had only been in Stockton for the last twelve or so. He had a solid practice and a solid reputation, so Jarrod was not uncomfortable talking to him and asking him questions, even if Mason could not ethically give him answers. But Mason was not in his office. His secretary said he'd gone to the land records office.

Jarrod went there, playing his hunch about what Shane might have hired Mason to do, and he was right. When he found Mason, the older man was hunkered over one of the record books, and it was easy to see he was looking at the deed that transferred Shane's property from his father to him twelve years earlier.

Mason saw Jarrod looking over his shoulder. "Hello, Jarrod. I suppose you heard Buster Shane is back in town and he came to see me."

"Straight and to the point, Joe," Jarrod said. "And I can see one of my guesses was right. You're checking out his title so he can sell the property."

"I'm checking out his title, yes," Mason said. "He didn't tell me anything in confidence, Jarrod, not about this."

"About anything else?" Jarrod asked.

"I didn't take him on to do anything else," Mason said. "He can pay me after he sells the property."

"Well, I won't get into what he might have talked to you about taking on that you declined," Jarrod said. "Just tell me this – do either Sandra or I need to be on the lookout?"

Mason shook his head. "I didn't discuss anything with him about what he might want to do with you or Sandra, but frankly – he's never been anything other than a bitter man. As you can imagine, after ten years in prison he's more ornery than he was before. That's why I wouldn't talk to him about anything except checking out this title."

"How's it look?"

"Looks good to me so far, no liens or anything, but I haven't checked it all out. I'm hoping he just intends to make his money and leave town."

"Where's he staying, do you know?"

"He said he'd be camping out on that little piece of property I'm looking into. Probably sleeping in that little shack that's left out there. It's not in the town limits but he can walk to it, and his only neighbors are Brady's cattle, so nobody will be running him off unless the cows try it. He doesn't have any money but what they gave him when he left prison."

"Hmm," Jarrod said. "I wonder how he expects to eat."

"Jarrod, if I were you, I'd let him worry about that and stay away from him."

Jarrod gave half a nod. He did want to stay away from it, just as he had stayed away from Sandra all these years. He told himself A.K. would look out for Sandra, but having Shane around just bothered him no end, for Sandra and himself. Shane just being here was like waiting for the storm to blow in.

Was there anything to do other than wait?

Jarrod didn't have to think about that for very long, because not three minutes later, barely half a block away from the courthouse, Jarrod ran into Buster Shane on the street.

Shane looked thinner, older, much more careworn. He stopped in Jarrod's path and looked straight at him with eyes that were somehow both cold and hot at the same time.

"Hello, Buster," Jarrod said, deciding to open whatever discussion there was going to be and get it over with.

"Counselor," Shane said.

Then they just stared awkwardly at each other, each one waiting for whatever it was that would happen next.