Chapter 9

Jarrod took the child straight to the treatment room and laid her on the table there. Her blood was all over the front of both of them, but Jarrod paid no attention to himself. He looked up at Dr. Merar with horror and grief in his eyes. Dr. Merar quickly used a stethoscope to check on the little girl. "She's alive," he said, and then he chased Jarrod out into the waiting room.

Nick, Heath and the man and woman were already there. The man seemed to be getting himself back together, holding the crying woman in his arms. "Are you the parents?" Heath asked.

The man nodded. "We were just on our way to the meeting. We were coming through the park to get closer so our little girl could see – " He broke into sobs.

Nick kept hold of the man and his wife, just trying to keep them somewhat calm as he got them to sit down.

When Jarrod came out of the treatment room, he stood there with the door closing behind him, looking angry, confused, unsure as to what to do. And bloody.

"Are you all right?" Nick asked.

Jarrod nodded.

Heath took hold of Jarrod's arm. His jacket and shirt were torn and just a little bloody. Heath took Jarrod's jacket off and pulled his shirtsleeve up to have a look.

"It's nothing," Jarrod said. "I hardly felt it."

"It still ought to be cleaned and dressed," Heath said.

"Later," Jarrod said.

And the rage started to grow up in his eyes. He headed for the door and was out before Nick and Heath could stop him.

Watching the people who were coming back into the street now that the shooting had stopped, Jarrod parked himself in the middle of the gathering mob. Nick and Heath took places near him, watching for more trouble because Jarrod was oblivious to the threat. He stood there with the little girl's blood on his shirt. He spoke in a voice that was frighteningly calm. "I want to know who fired that shot. You've hit a child, you cowardly piece of garbage. You've hit a child."

The sheriff was there right away. "Jarrod, let me handle this," he said. "I've got my deputies already trying to find where the shot came from."

The people who were coming back into the street started moving back out of it. Jarrod's icy ferocity was scaring the crowd. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a man was pitched down at Jarrod's and the sheriff's feet, and another man came up behind him. "This is where it came from," the other man said. "This is the man who fired the shot."

Jarrod reached for the man on the ground, but afraid of what Jarrod might do, Nick and Heath got hold of him and pulled him back before he could grab the man. The sheriff pulled the man to his feet – and they all recognized him. It was the clerk of the hotel.

The man who had thrown him down was the hotel owner. "I saw it, sheriff," he said. "Louie here fired from upstairs at the front of the hotel. He was aiming for Mr. Barkley and hit the little girl instead."

The sheriff wrestled the clerk off before anyone else could have at him. People began to move back toward Jarrod again, but keeping their distance, not sure what he was going to do. Jarrod eyed them, one by one. "What's the matter with all of you? Have you lost the sense you were born with?" His voice was so calm, so straightforward, that some of the people physically shrank in front of him. "You've been listening to a stranger tell you lies and you've believed him instead of me, a man you've known all your lives. And now it's come to this, a little girl shot down in the street. Go home. Go home and think about what in the world you've been doing."

Nick and Heath drew Jarrod away, out of the crowd and to his office. Once there, they closed the door and locked it, pushing Jarrod into the middle of the room. He stood there, all the energy draining out of him.

Victoria and Audra were waiting there in silence. Audra was just about in tears. "Who was hit?" Victoria asked.

"A little girl," Heath said. "Jarrod's taken a nick in the arm."

Audra's tears came out at the mention of the child. Victoria took hold of Jarrod's arm and examined the wound. "It's just a scratch. Audra, will you get some fresh water from down the hall? We need to clean and dress this anyway."

"Do you have any fresh clothes in here, Jarrod?" Nick asked.

Jarrod looked at his bloody shirt and the jacket Heath was carrying. "Only a shirt, in the chest in the alcove," he said quietly, played out.

Nick fetched the shirt quickly.

"Let's get this shirt off you," Heath said and helped Jarrod out of his shirt.

"Where do you keep your medical supplies?" Victoria asked.

Jarrod said, "There are some in the bottom drawer of the desk."

Jarrod didn't say much more as his brothers sat him down in a chair. Audra came back with water. Victoria fetched the medical supplies and in a few minutes, she had the small wound cleaned and bandaged. Nick helped Jarrod get into the fresh shirt.

Once dressed again, Jarrod sat down behind his desk and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Nick poured him a scotch and brought it to him, saying, "Drink this."

"No," Jarrod said. "I don't need it."

"Well, then, I do," Nick said and drank it.

Then Nick and Heath sat their mother and sister down, and they all waited in silence for Jarrod to come back from wherever he had gone to get himself under control.

"Jarrod, it's over," Heath said. "The child's in the doctor's hands and the shooter's in the sheriff's."

Jarrod suddenly glared at him. "And where is Salazar?"

Everyone sighed. That, they didn't know.

Jarrod sighed, hanging his head. Then he got up, heading for the refreshment table and the scotch he had declined a few moments ago. He poured himself a shot's worth and tossed it down, then said, "I want to go see how the little girl is."

"I wouldn't, Jarrod," Heath said. "There's still a crowd out there, and I don't know who they're blaming for all this."

Jarrod closed his eyes. "We have to find a way to put a stop to this before anyone else gets hurt."

"It's not all up to us," Heath said. "Those people down there have to want to stop it."

"Then we have to find a way to get them to stop it," Jarrod said, and suddenly the ire was rising up again. "A child has been shot! A child, for God's sake!"

"Look, Jarrod, I know how bad you feel about that, but we just gotta sit tight for a spell," Nick said. "We move too fast on this and we might make it worse. Just sit down and take it easy for an hour or so. Let things settle down out there."

Victoria got up and took her eldest by the shoulders. "Nick is right. We just need to stay here and let things calm down out there."

Jarrod sighed his frustration out and sat back down behind his desk. No sooner was he seated than a knock came on the door. Nick, the closest, opened it slightly to see who it was. He saw, and he growled, "What do you want?"

Salazar was there, alone. "May I speak with you all?" he asked.

"Let him in, Nick," Jarrod said, closing his eyes against the man. "Let him have his say."

Salazar came in, but Nick did not close the door behind him. Both younger Barkley brothers took a close look at the man to make sure he wasn't armed. Salazar stopped in front of Jarrod's desk, behind the two chairs where Victoria and Audra sat. The women glanced at him, but did not stay turned to look at him.

Salazar spoke slowly. "I am – devastated about what's happened," he said.

"Are you?" Jarrod said very slowly, standing up and leaning across his desk, glaring. "What did I tell you right after you shot Jud Robson? Didn't I tell you not to lie, that I wouldn't be part of it? Didn't I tell you Jud Robson's reputation would withstand what happened to him at the end of his life? You seemed to agree with me, and then you started with all the lies."

"I have nothing to say about my behavior," Salazar said, and everyone realized he was not going to apologize for it. But he went on. "I just wanted to let you know that I would be returning to Washington on the train tonight. I won't be petitioning to take the Senator's place anymore. And I deeply, deeply regret that a child has been injured."

"Get out," Jarrod said. "If you have no apology for me, go out there and apologize to the citizens of Stockton before you leave. They're the ones you really owe the apology to."

Salazar said, "I've already given a statement to the newspaper. An extra edition will be coming out this evening. And now, I will take my leave of you and never darken your door again."

Salazar left, and Nick closed the door behind him. Jarrod stayed standing until Salazar was gone.

"It sounds like he wants to get out of town while the getting is good," Nick muttered.

"That was more than I expected, but less than I hoped for," Victoria said.

"He's a politician, Mother," Jarrod said. "That was the best we were ever going to get."