Chapter 4

Ivy Erin's burial did not take place as scheduled that afternoon. Instead, Jarrod drew up a motion to have any competing claims for Ivy's body – including his own – be filed by the end of the day and a hearing held tomorrow. He also drew up his own claim on her body, based on the fact that he was the one who found her and brought her to the attention of the law. He also moved that any bounty be awarded to him, and as he filed those papers with the court, he said to himself, That ought to shake everybody up. He made sure the sheriff would serve copies of the papers on McKee and Samson, and on anybody else who made a claim. Because Jarrod wasn't convinced there wouldn't be some others crawling out of the woodwork.

It made him furious. Here was a girl with no one to care for her in life, only in death. Ghouls.

It was slightly after noon when Jarrod brought copies of the papers he'd filed over to the sheriff. "I ought to have an order on the motion to file claims today within the next hour or so."

"Good," the sheriff said. "As soon as I get it, I'll see these things are served on our would be brother and uncle, assuming they're still in town. Did you happen to check on how much the bounty on her is?"

"It's hefty – twenty-five hundred dollars total on the extortion and the murder," Jarrod said. "The girl is worth more dead than alive."

"Poor kid," Sheriff Lyman said. "I hope we can get this cleared up quick."

"We won't be able to get what happened in Topeka cleared up very fast. I'll wire Pinkerton in on it, but it'll take some time, and I'd like to lay Ivy to rest tomorrow at the latest."

"I'm not sure we're gonna get the claims on her settled that fast."

"Well, I'm hoping Judge Farnham will set an emergency hearing tomorrow and award her body to me. I'll have her buried as quickly as possible."

Sheriff Lyman eyed him. "We've known each other a long time, Jarrod. I can see when you've got your teeth into something."

"Why does that worry you?"

"Because every time you do, it turns into nasty trouble for you and your family. I thought you might be done with cases like this when you left the prosecutor's office and defendants quit threatening you."

"My family shouldn't get involved in this one. I'll do what I can to keep them out. You quit worrying. You're starting to sound like Nick.""

"Then you watch out for yourself. Don't get so immersed in this you can't get out."

"I won't. Right now, though, I'm hungry. You feel like getting a sandwich or something at the Gold Nugget? It'll give us a chance to track down any friends Ivy had there."

"Good idea. No doubt the judge will come running to me to get involved in your hearing tomorrow and answer any questions he had about your motions. I might as well have some answers."

XXXXXXX

Half an hour or so later, Jarrod and Sheriff Lyman had finished their lunch at the Gold Nugget and went to the bar to pay for it. They were both somewhat well-known here, so when Jarrod said, "We need some information," the bartender was only mildly nervous.

Plus, he knew what Jarrod was asking about. "Ivy Elder," the bartender said.

Jarrod and the sheriff both looked surprised. "Elder? She told me he last name was Erin."

The bartender said, "Well. If she was working under a phony name, I wouldn't be surprised. She didn't work here very long. Came in on the stage and came straight here for a job. I gave her a room upstairs, but she didn't even have much with her, just some clothes."

Jarrod gave the bartender a knowing smile. "Did you go through the pockets of the clothes?"

The bartender shook his head. "No pockets. Just two other dresses, a carpetbag and one reticule, had less than five dollars in it. She just wasn't here long enough to accumulate anything. All that stuff is still upstairs."

"Emil, be straight with us on this," Sheriff Madden said.

"I am," the bartender said. "You think I'd risk getting in trouble with the law over a girl who was here maybe a week or two?"

"Who around here became friendly with her?" Jarrod asked.

"You might come back later when all the girls are here and ask them," the bartender said. "They'd know better than I would. What's going on, anyway? I heard you were gonna bury her this afternoon."

Jarrod shook his head. "Competing relatives showed up. They each want her body."

"Relatives?"

"A brother and an uncle."

The bartender laughed. "If she had any relatives, I'd be surprised. And if she did, she was running from them. You could see it in her eyes every time somebody came in the door. She was running from somebody."

Jarrod nodded. "I'm pretty sure of that, and I'm pretty sure this brother and uncle aren't anything of the sort. Listen, make sure nobody gives Ivy's belongings to anybody. Just hold onto them until I come for them, or somebody else with a court order does."

"What do these relatives look like?"

"Like everybody else," Jarrod said. "Uncle about 40. Brother – what would you say, Harry?"

"Maybe 30," the sheriff said.

"They come together?"

"We don't think so," the sheriff said.

"Come back this evening, Jarrod," the bartender said. "You can chat with the girls, and I'll let you know if I've found out anything else. Ivy was a sweet kid."

"If he only knew," the sheriff said quietly as he and Jarrod left.

XXXXXXX

Jarrod went back to his office and opened his file on Ivy Erin again. He read it over several times, all his notes, but nothing there was giving him any more information than he already had packed into his brain. He closed it and leaned back in his chair. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.

There was a knock on his door, and his secretary poked her head in. "Mr. Barkley?"

Jarrod sat up straight again. "Yes?"

"Pinkerton's in Topeka has wired back answering that wire you sent them about Ivy Erin. They said something very interesting."

"What's that?"

"They said according to the sheriff in Topeka – this was as of about two hours ago – Ivy Erin's body was delivered to him two weeks ago."

Jarrod nearly jumped out of his chair. "What?"

His secretary nodded. "They're not looking for her anymore. Apparently, whoever that girl was who was killed in the alley the other night, it wasn't the Ivy Erin who was wanted in Topeka."

Jarrod couldn't believe his ears, and for a moment, he couldn't close his mouth. What in the world was going on here? "Are they sure about this?"

His secretary nodded and brought him the wire. Jarrod read it himself and couldn't believe it. Ivy Erin's body was delivered to the sheriff in Topeka and the bounty paid. Why in the world hadn't the authorities in Topeka told him about this when he first wired about Ivy Erin? Because I didn't ask, Jarrod thought, shaking his head. Authorities never liked answering questions they weren't asked.

"Is there any response?" his secretary asked.

Jarrod said, "Wire back and ask them to confirm this. Ask them to check with the sheriff in Topeka and make absolutely sure the woman he has was really Ivy Erin."

His secretary nodded and left his office.

Jarrod's head was spinning even more than it had been for the past two days. None of this was making any sense at all. If Ivy Erin was dead in Topeka this morning, who was the girl who was murdered in the alley the other night, and why in the world was she claiming to be Ivy Erin? Why would some girl who wasn't Ivy Erin come to him saying that she was, when Ivy Erin was wanted and had a big bounty on her head?

When Jarrod stopped feeling dizzy, he got up, put on his gun belt and hat and left his office. He saw his secretary had left to send the wire to Pinkerton's in Topeka, so he scribbled her a note saying he was going to the sheriff's office. He went straight out and was there in less than two minutes – and there in the sheriff's office was Rafe Samson.

"Just one of the men I want to see," Jarrod said, glaring at the man who claimed to be Ivy Erin's brother. "I want some straight answers, and I want them now."

The sheriff held back. He knew he could give Jarrod plenty of leeway, so he kept quiet, even though Samson looked at him with wide eyes. Seeing he wasn't going to get any help from the sheriff, Samson looked back at Jarrod. "Answers about what? I'm just here to claim my sister!"

"And your sister is Ivy Erin?" Jarrod asked.

"Yes!"

"Then why have I just gotten a wire from Topeka saying that Ivy Erin is dead back there and the bounty claimed? Who is that girl lying in our undertaker's? And who in the hell are you really?"