Chapter 7

"That's absurd," Jarrod said. "If I recommend him for Robson's uncompleted term, you'd be asking me to say he's a trustworthy and honest man when he is not."

"Then don't oppose him," the mayor said. "Just keep quiet and let this thing run its course."

Jarrod finally couldn't sit still anymore. "I and my family will have to live with the consequences for a long time if I don't speak out and let Salazar have his lies. Mr. Mayor, I think what you ought to be doing is escorting Mr. Salazar to the next train back to Washington. He's had his say. All he's doing now, but your own admission, is stirring up trouble. Get him out of town."

"If I do that, it's political suicide, Jarrod," the mayor said. "I'd never win another election."

Jarrod couldn't help a wry smile now. "Listen to yourself. There's nothing in this that's about truth and lies. All this is about is political power, getting it and holding it and it just doesn't matter how."

"It's about reality, Mr. Barkley," Simms said. "Politics is reality."

"Politics is garbage and I'll have none of it," Jarrod said. "If you want to risk a town meeting, that's your decision. You do and I will attend and maybe it will even help the situation, but you'd better have plenty of deputies keeping the peace because you've let Salazar work up a lot of angry people without challenging his lies, and now it's apparently too late to get the horse back in the barn. That's your reality, gentlemen. Not politics, not power, but people in the street fighting because of lies."

Jarrod stood staring down at them, and they got the message. Both the mayor and his secretary stood up. "All right, Jarrod," the mayor said. "We'll consider what you've said, and we'll decide where to go from here. If we do decide to hold a town meeting – "

"I'll come but you better have plenty of protection for every person there," Jarrod said.

In the living room, Silas heard the library doors open and ran for Victoria and Audra in the kitchen. The men reached the foyer just as the women did, and Victoria gave the mayor a big smile. "David, it's good to see you," she said, offering her hand.

The mayor took her hand, saying, "I wish the circumstances were better, Victoria. The truth is Stockton has a problem we can't seem to find a solution for."

Victoria kept her smile. "I'm sure you'll think of the proper solution, David. Remember the wisest words ever spoken – 'this too shall pass.'"

The mayor looked doubtful. He and his secretary left.

Victoria lost her smile when they were gone. She looked at Jarrod. "Nothing helpful came out of your meeting."

Jarrod shook his head. "It looks like we'll be heading for some kind of town meeting on the subject of Jud's death and everything that's happened since."

"That could be very dangerous," Audra said.

"I know," Jarrod said, "but at this point, thanks to Mr. Salazar and his ambition and his lies, it looks unavoidable."

"Perhaps you should try talking to him privately again," Victoria said.

Jarrod shook his head. "He'll just spin more lies out of whatever we say to each other."

"What if you had someone listening in?" Audra suggested. "The sheriff or the mayor?"

"The mayor won't do it," Jarrod said. "Too much political risk, and this is all politics now, nothing more. No, anyone who would be willing to listen in would simply be accused of being prejudiced in my favor. No. It's a town meeting or nothing."

"And you don't have much hope for a town meeting," Victoria said.

Jarrod took a deep breath. "I know I can talk up a storm, and maybe I'll win some converts, but I worry about the cost. If the anger overflows and gets out of control, someone could get hurt."

"You could get hurt," Audra said.

Jarrod nodded, but said, "I'm not really worried about me. I'm worried about the innocents in the crowd, and even David is worried about that. He'll have the sheriff and plenty of deputies, but you know that may not be enough."

"Jarrod, what if I talked to Salazar?" Victoria asked.

Jarrod quickly shook his head. "No, Mother. Things are far too explosive right now. If you go into town, you could be intentionally hurt, and I won't have that. Besides, you talking to Salazar wouldn't be any more helpful than me talking to him. The mayor is leaning toward a town meeting. I think we best keep urging him to lean that way, and we keep insisting he have a lot of deputies patrolling any meeting so it doesn't erupt."

Victoria and Audra weren't convinced a town meeting was a good idea, but they didn't have any better ones.

XXXXXXX

It didn't take long for the mayor to make up his mind. Once he was back in Stockton, he contacted Salazar, who approved of a town meeting idea. The mayor had meeting with the sheriff about security for such a town meeting, and by the end of the day, the town meeting notices were going up.

The sheriff went out to the Barkley ranch himself and met with the family during their hour together before dinner. "I'm sorry to intrude," he said, "but the mayor has decided he wants to have a town meeting to try to get the unrest under control. He wants to have it tomorrow afternoon at two, right in the street in front of the courthouse."

"You'd better have a lot of deputies, Steve," Jarrod warned.

"I'm already getting whoever I can get, and I'm getting a lot of interest. People want to see you and Salazar talk this over in front of them."

"And do you really think it will improve anything?" Victoria asked.

The sheriff shrugged. "I really don't know, but the mayor has his mind made up."

"Mother, I think you and Audra better not plan to come to this town meeting," Jarrod said.

"I want to be there to support you, Jarrod," Victoria said.

"I understand," Jarrod said, "but – "

"No 'buts,'" Victoria said. "We've always stood together as a family when there was trouble for any one of us. We'll stand together tomorrow."

"Heath and I will keep close to them, Jarrod," Nick said.

Jarrod's forehead was beginning to clang, but a part of him welcomed the public meeting. He was confident he could talk circles around Salazar, but would the truth win out over the lies, or would too many people still prefer the lies? Would too many people not even care they were being lied to? "All right," he said. "We'll all be there, but if you don't have enough deputies – "

"I'll have enough," the sheriff said.

"We can have even more for you, Steve," Nick said.

The sheriff shook his head. "The crowd won't like Barkley men keeping them under control, and I'm getting enough volunteers from elsewhere. I suggest you gentlemen come unarmed, because I'm planning to disarm everybody who isn't a deputy."

Nick and Heath looked warily at each other. "Good luck with that," Nick said.

"I'll be unarmed," Jarrod said, "and if you want to disarm everybody coming near the courthouse, go ahead. It might work if people see Nick and Heath unarmed."

"We are usually carrying," Heath said. "If we're not carrying, people might be more likely to give their guns up for a spell."

"But we won't be able to protect you, Jarrod, or Mother and Audra," Nick said.

Jarrod said, "You know as well as I do that if somebody starts shooting, pandemonium is gonna break out and you probably won't be able to see who to shoot back at anyway. You can still protect Mother and Audra just by getting them out of there if shooting starts."

Nick heaved a sigh. He had to admit Jarrod made sense, but he didn't like any of this.

"Who's gonna monitor this debate, Sheriff?" Jarrod asked. "The mayor?"

The sheriff nodded. "He's thinking he'll give each of you five minutes and then five minutes more for rebuttal. He'll toss a coin to see who goes first."

"What time will the saloons in town close?" Heath asked.

"Noon," the sheriff said, "and they'll stay closed until one hour after the debate ends. And neither you nor Salazar will be allowed to stay in the street and whip people up after it's over. He goes back to his hotel and you come home."

"How long will Salazar be kept off the streets?" Victoria asked.

"The rest of the day," the sheriff said. "If either he or Jarrod wants to come back out the day after tomorrow, I won't be stopping you. BUT I won't be tolerating any riots or near riots. I won't tolerate either one of you making speeches anymore. I'll get the mayor to call martial law if I have to."

"I won't be whipping anybody up, Steve," Jarrod said. "I won't even be coming back into town for a few days – but there will come a time before long that I have to get back to work."

The sheriff nodded. "Understood."

Then everyone was quiet, looking unhappy but resigned.

"All right then," the sheriff said. "I'll see you tomorrow at two in front of the courthouse."

The sheriff left without a lot of fanfare, and Nick immediately said, "Somebody's gonna get hurt tomorrow."

"I hope you're wrong, Nick," Jarrod said. "We have to do something to get this under control, and if the mayor wants it to be a town meeting, that's what it'll be."

"Foolish politicians," Audra said. She had been quiet all the time the sheriff was there, but now she couldn't be. "I'm glad you're not one of them, Jarrod."

"Just keep telling the truth," Victoria said. "It will sink in sooner or later."

"I'd rather it be sooner, like tomorrow," Jarrod said.

"Wouldn't we all?" Heath said.