Chapter 8
At about a quarter to two the next day, the Barkley surrey rolled into town, carrying Jarrod and his mother and sister while Nick and Heath rode in on horseback. It was easy to see that a sizable crowd was gathering, and there were a lot of men looking like guards protecting a perimeter. The Barkleys left their transportation at the livery stable. The man there said, "Big day in Stockton, huh?" to which Jarrod nodded and Victoria merely smiled.
Holding his breath, Jarrod led the way into the area set off for the crowd to watch the town meeting. Victoria and Audra followed while Nick and Heath brought up the rear. Nick and Heath kept looking around, but once they were past the guards and into the throng of people who had given up their weapons, things seemed less threatening. There were even words of encouragement from some people – "Keep tellin' the truth, Jarrod!" "We're pullin' for you, Jarrod!" – but then they heard similar words of support for Salazar, who was coming in not far behind them.
Jarrod directed his family to stand toward off to the side, close to the door to his own office. He gave his mother the key, saying, "If things get rough, you get yourself into my office and we'll join you there as soon as we can."
Nick and Heath nodded that they heard the instructions, and they stuck close to Victoria and Audra. Victoria gave Jarrod a kiss on the cheek and said, "Good luck."
Jarrod made his way to the steps of the courthouse, where Salazar was waiting and the mayor was arriving. The crowd began to quiet down, and when the mayor held his hands up and waved them to get attention, the street became almost silent. "All right!" he yelled in a big booming voice. "We all know why we're here, so let's not waste any time. I'm gonna toss a coin to determine who goes first. Then each man will talk, and then each man will have a rebuttal. There'll be five minutes for each turn, and then we're gonna be done! No question and answer! Then you'll disperse and go about your business! We have deputies everywhere around here, so you yahoos who think you're gonna cause trouble, just change your minds right now! This is gonna be peaceable, or you're gonna be spending the night in jail! Anybody who even looks like they're gonna fire a gun is gonna have that weapon PERMANENTLY taken away from them! Got that?"
Some mumbles, some snickering, some grumbling went around.
"Good!" the mayor yelled. Then he took a coin out, saying, "Heads and Mr. Barkley goes first! Tails and it's Mr. Salazar and before anybody starts complaining, I'm going by alphabetical order, so shut your traps!"
More snickering went around as the mayor tossed the coin. It came up tails.
Jarrod was not unhappy about that. It would give him the last word, and two opportunities to rebut what Salazar would say. But then Salazar threw him a curve. Salazar held up his hands. "You all have been talking with me for the past few days and you already know what I'd be saying, so I am giving up my time and my chance to speak first. Let's hear what Mr. Barkley has to say!"
There were both grumbles and cheers. Jarrod wasn't thrown for long. He raised his hands to quiet the crowd and said, "That's gracious of Mr. Salazar, to give up his first chance to talk to you. I know I haven't been wandering around town replying to what he's had to say when he's been wandering around town, but I put down what I wanted to say in writing, in the Stockton Eagle, and I know many of you have already read it. I won't repeat it word for word. What I will do is open my comments by thanking Mr. Salazar for saving my life, because that is what he did on the morning he was forced to kill Senator Robson."
The grumbling got louder.
Jarrod held his hands up again. "That's the truth! He was forced to kill Senator Robson, and let's just get any notion that what he did was murder or any other kind of unlawful killing out of the way. Mr. Salazar did kill Senator Robson, but he did it to prevent the Senator killing me, and I will be grateful for the rest of my life that he did what he had to do to save me."
The crowd erupted into applause. Jarrod let it go on for quite a while, then, when it looked like the mayor was about to raise his hands to settle the crowd down, Jarrod raised his.
"I'm glad you're all happy I'm still here," Jarrod said and got some more laughs and a little applause. "But what's happened since Mr. Salazar was forced to kill Senator Robson has gone a bit haywire. Because he loved the Senator every bit as much as I and my family did, Mr. Salazar has taken a wrong turn. He denies now that he killed Senator Robson and claims some unidentified assailant is responsible. He told me when he killed the Senator that this was what he was going to say, to protect the Senator's legend. I told him – and I tell all of you now – that Jud Robson doesn't need that kind of protection! He was a great man, and the fact that the strain of public life got to him toward the end will NEVER erase that fact! His legend is secure in Stockton, as I believe all of you will agree!"
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Again, Jarrod let it go on a bit, and then raised his hands to settle it down again.
"Mr. Salazar is campaigning to be named to fill out Senator Robson's unfinished term," Jarrod went on. "I have no comment on that. You can make up your own minds whether you will support him or not. What I will tell you, in closing, is what I have said in my letter to the newspaper. Mr. Salazar's claim that there is or was some conspiracy to kill the Senator, and that some unidentified assassin killed the Senator, is flat out false."
The crowd broke into applause again, although somewhat less than what it had been.
"I'm telling you right now, and I will say this until the day I die, because it is the truth – "
Jarrod didn't get any further. There was a shot. Jarrod felt a sting on his right forearm, like a bee sting. The crowd heard the shot, was frozen for a moment, and then began to panic. People began scrambling for cover or for home, running every direction.
Victoria did as she had been directed and she and Audra went into Jarrod's building and up to his office. Nick and Heath headed up the courthouse stairs, where Jarrod had sat himself down, examining his arm. The mayor and Salazar had run into the building.
"How bad?" Nick asked, yelling over the screams of the crowd.
"Not bad," Jarrod said. "Where did that shot come from?"
"The way it hit your arm, it had to come from in front of you, off to the left," Heath said.
Through the rush of other people, they saw the sheriff and one of his deputies head into a building in that direction. Other deputies were trying to get people out of the area, but people were already panicked and there was no getting them back into an orderly exit.
The Barkley men suddenly heard a scream behind them. Back and to the side of the courthouse, they saw a woman, bending over a lump of clothing in the small green area beside the courthouse. Jarrod was on his feet and hurrying over there with Nick and Heath in an instant.
The woman was screaming and crying. A man was standing there, frozen, stunned. The lump of clothing was a child.
Jarrod dropped beside them. It was a little girl, and there was blood on the front of her. Jarrod made the woman look straight at him. "I'm going to take her to Doc Merar," Jarrod said calmly, flatly, and he picked the little girl up in his arms.
Nick took hold of the man and shook him a bit, saying calmly, "Come on. We have to get moving."
The woman got up, and with Nick herding her and the man ahead of him, they began to move. Heath pushed his way through the remaining frightened crowd, clearing a path for Jarrod as he hurried to the doctor's office with a little girl in his arms. Behind them, Nick made sure they were not being pursued by anybody and made sure the man and woman kept moving. In a few moments they were all at Dr. Merar's office. He stood with the door open, knowing from the noise and the shot that he was going to be needed.
"God, I knew this day was going to be trouble," the doctor breathed to himself and herded everyone inside.