Chapter Eighteen

"Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever."
~Psalm 37:27

Later that evening, Dewitt Graves walked into the saloon and spotted Jack sitting at a table in the saloon finishing a bowl of chili. He walked over and sat down across from him. "How you doing, Jack?" he asked.

Jack looked up when Graves sat down and replied, "I'm doing..." he hesitated for a moment before completing his thought. "I'm doing okay."

Graves' brow dropped just a bit with concern. This was a very different Jack from the one he'd seen at the social last Saturday night.

"How are you doing?" Jack asked. "Are you and Mary planning your wedding?"

Graves smiled. "Mary and the other ladies have been busy making plans. I think all I have to do is show up," he said around a laugh. "Which, actually, is just fine with me."

"So, when is the wedding?" Jack asked.

Graves shrugged. "I was hoping for this weekend, but the ladies said that wasn't enough time to prepare. So, I think it will be the next weekend, maybe on Sunday after the church service." He punctuated the end of the sentence with a broad smile.

Jack gave him a half-smile. "That'll be nice," he said, making an unsuccessful attempt at enthusiasm.

He turned away from Graves and surveyed the saloon. There were miners eating and drinking at tables nearby. A man was playing the piano and he had a small audience enjoying his music. On the far side of the saloon, there were two tables of poker games. Jack studied the people playing poker and noted that the only non-miner at the tables was Mitch Wiley, Gowen's assistant. He had a pile of money in front of him, indicating he was doing well in the game. Jack continued to scan the room and his eyes fell on the bar. Mayor Ramsey was holding court at one end with several miners and Tom Trevoy. At the other end of the bar, Jack noticed the new young barkeep, Allen, pouring whiskey into some glasses.

"So, Jack," Graves said, pulling Jack's attention back to their table, "I heard your mother has been visiting. How has that been? Has she been getting to know Miss Thatcher?"

Jack inhaled sharply at the mention of his mother and Elizabeth. He had tried to push that situation to the back of his mind this evening, concentrating on his surveillance of the saloon for the person responsible for Trevoy's reduced till. "My mom's visit has been nice. And, yes, she and Miss Thatcher have been getting to know each other," he answered diplomatically.

Graves smiled and said, "Good! You know, I wish Mary's family could come out here for the wedding, but she said it's not possible for them to travel so far. I told her we'd save our money so we can visit them."

Jack nodded and turned his attention back to Allen, who was delivering drinks to one of the poker game tables. Suddenly, the volume rose at the other poker game table. Then, one of the miners stood up and tossed his cards on to the table. "You cheat, you! I am sick and tired of your cheating, Wiley!" he yelled. All eyes in the saloon turned to him and the piano player stopped playing.

Wiley reached out and scooped up all the money in the center of the table. "Cheat? You just can't handle being a loser," he taunted the angry miner.

Jack stood and started to move toward the disturbance, however it escalated quicker than he could move. The miner leapt toward Wiley and laid a fierce punch against his jaw. Wiley's head jerked to the side but he quickly recovered, reaching to his boot and pulling out a knife. There was a collective gasp from everyone in the saloon when they saw the knife and the other players at the table jumped back, knocking chairs, cards, and money in all directions. Wiley lunged for the miner who'd punched him. The miner, suddenly realizing Wiley was wielding a weapon, stepped backward and stumbled over an upturned chair. He tumbled to the floor.

Jack was rushing toward the fight, but found himself battling everyone that was running away from it. By the time he fought his way through the crowd, he was shocked to see that the fight was over. Allen had Wiley pinned to the floor, face down with his arms behind his back. The miner was clutching his bleeding hand, which Wiley must've cut with the knife. Jack hurried over to Allen and Allen looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Jack. "Oh! Uhhh..." he stood, keeping Wiley's arms pinned, though Wiley was thrashing about trying to get away. "He's all yours, Constable," he said.

Jack nodded and reached down to grab Wiley's arms as Allen released him. Wiley continued to fight against Jack but Jack yanked him to his feet. "That's enough!" he rebuked Wiley. "We're heading to the jail," he ordered as he shoved him toward the door. He looked back momentarily and saw that Trevoy was tending to the injured miner, wrapping his hand in a bar towel.

Wiley yelled, "You got no right to arrest me. He started it." Jack turned back to Wiley and started to say something when his attention was drawn to his hands. He looked down to where he was holding Wiley's arms and saw cards spilling from Wiley's sleeves.

One of the miners spotted the cards falling and yelled, "He WAS cheating! That dirty sneak!" Some of the miners, still in various states on intoxication, moved toward Jack and Wiley.
"Back off!" Jack ordered them. "This man is going to jail and will be prosecuted for his crime," he assured them.

One particularly drunk miner begged Jack, "Just gimme one whack at him, Constable!"

Jack turned to the drunk miner and told him, "Have some coffee and sober up. I'll be taking statements from everyone tomorrow." He turned back to Wiley and pressed him out the door.