Chapter 2
The men who came down to breakfast the next morning at the Barkley house were a little on the bedraggled side, all three of them. Victoria and Audra, already at the table, had decided to start without them, not sure when they would appear. When they all wandered in at once, the two women smirked at each other.
"Well, how nice you could make it out of bed this morning," Victoria said.
"Just a lot of cards, Mother," Nick said as he sat down and reached for the eggs.
Heath reached for the coffee and poured himself some. "And before you ask, yes, Nick had more whiskey than either Jarrod or I did."
Jarrod sat down, saying, "I stayed true to my word and went easy on the liquor, and as a result I won the most money at the card table."
"That oughtta tell you two something," Victoria said, waving her fork at her other two sons.
"Did you pick up any news from town?" Audra asked.
"Nothing that would interest your pretty little head," Nick said.
Jarrod said, "We played a bit with Joe Payson."
Everyone looked up, Victoria and Audra especially surprised that Jarrod of all people would mention Joe Payson.
Jarrod said, "I met him outside and thought he needed some diversion. Last night made thirteen months since Carol was killed."
Everyone knew Jarrod's feelings were still pretty raw too, but Victoria said, "I'm glad you took him in, Jarrod. That was kind of you."
"I hope it wasn't too hard," Audra said.
"No," Jarrod said, "actually it wasn't. I was having fun winning money. I thought I ought to spread the good feeling around."
"He spread a little of the money around, too," Nick said. "Joe took a few games and stayed for more than an hour."
"Yeah, I think it was good for him," Heath said.
"Are you going into the office this morning?" Victoria asked, deciding to change the subject.
"Yes, I want to take stock and make sure I don't have to square anything away before I go to San Francisco tomorrow," Jarrod said.
"Will you be home for dinner?"
"I plan to be."
"Is there anything I can get together for you here for you to take with you?" Audra asked.
Jarrod smiled. "That's very kind of you to ask, dear sister, but I think I'm pretty well squared away here and don't need to take anything along."
"How long are you gonna be gone?" Nick asked. "We could use a little help redoing some fencing around here."
"Only a week or so," Jarrod said, "and if I can, I will help you wherever you need me to when I get back. It'll be a good diversion for me."
XXXXX
Jarrod had found the note under his office door when he went in at around nine in the morning. It was from Sheriff Madden, and it said he had a man in jail who wanted to retain him. Jarrod frowned a bit. He really didn't have time for a local case, but he never liked to just ignore a call for help from the sheriff, so he went to the jail before he even dug into his work for the day.
Sheriff Madden was there, alone, and quickly said, "Jarrod, thanks for coming over."
"What have you got, Fred?" Jarrod asked.
"One Arthur Martin, caught last night after burglarizing Joe Payson's house – stealing his late wife's jewelry. Joe caught him when he got home from being out."
That was interesting. Joe Payson probably caught the burglar not long after the poker game broke up. Jarrod had no idea who Arthur Martin was or how he would know Carol Payson left jewelry behind. Martin wasn't at the poker game. "He asked for me, huh?"
"By name," Sheriff Madden said. He picked up the keys and unlocked the cell block door. "He's the only one I have in there right now. You'll have plenty of privacy."
Jarrod nodded. He went into the cell block and found his client there. He had no idea why the man had sent for him to be his attorney. This was a man of about 30, thin and not very tall, with a fairly thick but trimmed moustache. He wore a suit, with a suit jacket. Jarrod could see his necktie was poking out of his jacket pocket, not around his neck. The man did not look like any burglar Jarrod had ever seen, but that was the charge. This was going to be interesting, at least.
"Mr. Martin," Jarrod said. "I'm Jarrod Barkley."
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Barkley," Martin said in an educated tenor voice.
"You want me to represent you on this burglary charge, I take it," Jarrod said.
"Not exactly," Martin said.
That was the first surprise. "Then why have you sent for me, and before you answer, you should know that if I'm not representing you, there can be no client confidentiality."
"I want you to represent me, just not on the burglary charge," Martin said.
"Well, what then?"
"I want you to go see my wife. She lives in San Francisco – we live in San Francisco – and she needs to know what's happened to me."
The second surprise, this one confusing. "Mr. Martin, if you live in San Francisco, what are you doing burglarizing a house in Stockton? And why don't you want me to defend you on the charge?"
"I don't need you to defend me. I'm going to plead guilty."
The third surprise. Jarrod tried to shake the confusion out of his head. "Wait a minute, perhaps we should start at the beginning. You admit you burglarized the house."
"I was caught with the jewelry," Martin said. "I did break in and steal it."
"That's a very serious charge. You can go to prison for that."
"I know."
"You need a good lawyer to see you get the best possible treatment under the law," Jarrod said. "You do need someone to defend you."
"I need you to go see my wife more," Martin said.
"Why?" Jarrod asked. "I can just send a wire to her and let her know what's happening. We can bring her here."
"No, no, we can't bring her here."
Another surprise. "Why not?"
Martin hesitated and finally said, "I need you to see her and talk to her about that."
Exasperated, Jarrod tried another tack. "Mr. Martin, if you live in San Francisco, why did you rob this house in Stockton? How did you know there was something there to rob?"
"My wife will explain that to you too, if she wants to," Martin said. "But that's the point. This is about her, and she has to be the one to decide what to tell you."
"Why wouldn't she want to tell me anything that would help you?"
"There are reasons that will become clear if you see her."
Jarrod was ready to give up. "Mr. Martin, you need a lawyer to defend you on this case. If I am to go see your wife, it'll be because you hire me to defend you against this burglary charge. Otherwise, I'm not interested. I'm far too busy to run errands, and you're going to have to answer a few of my questions if I am to work for you at all."
Martin wandered away from the bars, back toward the window. He was thinking but his face was full of indecision and confusion. "There is a reason I took that jewelry from that house," he said. "But the reason is my wife's reason and she made me swear I wouldn't say anything about it if I were caught. If you are not available just for going to see her, then yes, I will hire you to represent me in the burglary charge, but you will still have to go see her. I'm asking you to do it because I know you have offices both here and in San Francisco. I'm not a rich man, Mr. Barkley. I have the means to pay you but we needed the jewelry to pay for something else, something my wife will tell you about if you see her. I understand you were planning to go to San Francisco tomorrow."
"I have business there already," Jarrod said. "Your trial here won't be before next week, and I can be back for it, but my other business in San Francisco has to come first."
"Will you have the time to talk to my wife?" Martin asked. "Once you do, if you don't want to represent me, you can say so and back out."
Jarrod was confused, exasperated, but also interested. But – "There is one other thing. The man you robbed is a local businessman I know well. If there is a conflict – if your wife is better at answering questions that you are and the answers raise a problem – I will have to withdraw."
"I understand that."
"Bail has been set, but you haven't raised the money to pay it."
"No, I don't have it, but even if I did I still wouldn't be able to leave town before the trial."
Martin was being awfully honest and law abiding in the way he was handling his crime, confusing Jarrod even more. But he had to go to San Francisco anyway, and he would have time for an hour or two to talk to Mrs. Martin. And he was intrigued. "All right. Tell me your wife's address, and I'll see if she's home tomorrow afternoon after I get to San Francisco."
"She'll be home," Martin said.
Jarrod thought he sounded very, very confident about that – intriguing him even more.