Chapter 6

Jarrod went into town alone the next morning, straight to the courthouse where he touched base with Sam Davison. Davison was visibly shaken about everything that was happening, but glad to hear that Archer had been taken to the Barkley home and was out of the line of fire. Jarrod explained the sheriff's thinking on the pattern that was developing.

"We both know that killers don't necessarily stick to the pattern we come up with for them," Davison said.

Jarrod nodded. "You need to keep an eye out, Sam, and don't be out alone after dark."

"My wife and kids keep me in after dark," Sam said and handed Jarrod the keys to Archer's office. "I think you should work from here, not your own office. I want to keep Archer's files here."

"I assume he wasn't working on anything that involved any of my clients," Jarrod said.

"Not that I know of, but you've been out of town so long, I've forgotten who your clients are."

Jarrod smiled. "There's nothing active. I was planning on a vacation until this all came up."

"I appreciate you taking these things over. Any idea when Phil will be back to work?"

Jarrod shook his head. "Dr. Merar hasn't said anything yet, and Phil is still mostly bedridden, so I don't think it will be anytime soon."

Davison sighed. "I'll get you on the payroll for the next two weeks and we'll revisit things then."

Jarrod nodded and left, heading for Archer's office. Archer shared a secretary with the other Assistant District Attorney, Mark Schenk. The secretary was a woman Jarrod knew in passing from his other dealings with this office. She gave him a smile when he came in. "Mr. Davison said you'd be taking over Mr. Archer's cases, Mr. Barkley," Maddy said. "I've put the ones coming up for disposition over the next two weeks on his desk. How is Mr. Archer?"

"Recuperating at my house," Jarrod said. "My mother and sister will spoil him."

"I'm not sure how Mr. Archer will take that."

"Me, either," Jarrod said and went toward Archer's private office before he stopped and turned. "Oh, Maddy, is Mark in?"

She shook her head. "He's running down some witnesses in one of his cases. I don't expect him in today."

Jarrod nodded. Mark Schenk was single and lived alone, so Jarrod worried, but if he was out working, Jarrod relaxed a little bit. At least he wasn't lying dead somewhere. "And Maddy," Jarrod said, "Tom Kemper's funeral is this afternoon. I plan to go, and if you can spread the word and see if anyone else can come, I'd appreciate it."

Maddy nodded.

Jarrod went into Archer's office. The place was spare, as Jarrod remembered. No artwork, minimal furniture, no photographs of anyone on the desk. What a sad life Phil Archer led, Jarrod thought for the hundredth time.

He started going through the files, but he wasn't finding anything unusual there. Archer's caseload for the next couple weeks was as mundane as mundane could get – thefts, bar fights, property damage disputes. There was a trial set for tomorrow; Jarrod put that file aside and planned to work harder on it as soon as he scanned the others. Nothing he was seeing in any of the files was worth killing anyone over, at least to his mind.

It didn't take long to review, so Jarrod asked Maddy for the files on the cases Archer recently had. He was pretty certain he wasn't going to find anything there either. Why would anyone shoot Kemper and Tiebolt over some case of Archer's? They wouldn't.

Lunchtime rolled around. Jarrod left, saying he was going to the funeral after lunch, and after a sandwich and coffee at the Stockton House, he headed for the cemetery at the Protestant church. He was heartened to see quite a few people gathering already – and he saw his entire family. He smiled at them, came over and kissed his mother and sister. "Thanks for coming," he said, "but who's watching Archer?"

"Silas, Ciego and three other hands," Nick said. "He's not even ready to get out of bed."

"Sleeps a lot," Heath said. "He won't be up and around for a few more days."

"And yet he thought he could go home and take care of himself," Jarrod said.

"Jarrod, do you think there's a chance the killer is here?" Audra asked.

"Yes," Jarrod said, looking around and noticing the sheriff was walking in from the street. The sheriff stayed to the rear of the crowd, but nodded to Jarrod when he saw the attorney looking his way.

It was only a minute or two later that the minister arrived and began the service. Jarrod looked around, scanning each face while the minister read from the Bible and spoke kind words about Tom Kemper. He was a fine young man who didn't deserve what happened to him. Jarrod had to agree. Jarrod caught the eye of the undertaker and nodded to him, letting him know he'd want to see him after the service. If Joe Tiebolt had no one to make arrangements for him, Jarrod wanted to do it. The undertaker nodded back, understanding.

Before long, it was over and people began to disperse. "What time do you plan to be home?" Victoria asked Jarrod.

"Five or so," Jarrod said. "Don't worry about me unless I'm not home by dark, but I will be."

"Watch yourself," Nick said.

Jarrod nodded as his family left and the sheriff came over. Sheriff Madden greeted each of the Barkleys, tipping his hat, and then approached Jarrod. "I've been thinking," the sheriff said.

"About anything in particular?" Jarrod asked.

"We identified a pattern – the victims being single lawyers who lived alone," Sheriff Madden said.

"I think I see where you're going," Jarrod asked. "I thought about it too. We only have one more single lawyer who lives alone."

"Mark Schenk," Sheriff Madden said. "And he wasn't here."

"Maddy said Mark was out running down witnesses in one of his cases today," Jarrod said, "but it probably won't hurt you to run by his house later, maybe just before dark, to make sure he's home all right."

"I was planning to," the sheriff said.

The undertaker joined them, asking, "Do you want to talk to me, Jarrod?"

"Joe Tiebolt," Jarrod said. "Does he have any way of paying for a funeral?"

"Not that I've heard," the undertaker said. "I was going to give him the basic."

A pine box and a spot way in the back of the town cemetery. "Do something like you did for Tom," Jarrod said, nodding toward the grave. "I'll take care of it."

The undertaker nodded and said, "I hope you don't go broke this way, Jarrod," as he walked away.

"There's one thing you may not have thought about, Jarrod," Sheriff Madden said.

"What's that?" Jarrod asked.

"You're a single lawyer."

"I don't live alone."

"Do you expect this guy to just stop because he runs out of single lawyers who live alone?" the sheriff asked.

"I had thought about that," Jarrod said, "so you won't see me out and about alone after dark. At least, that's what I've promised my family."

"Keep that promise, Jarrod," the sheriff said and gave him a hard look. "But remember something else – nobody said he was going to stick to doing his shooting in the dark, either."

Jarrod nodded. "I know, Fred. You'll let me know if I can help you with this in any way, won't you?"

Sheriff Madden nodded. "Right now, I don't know how you could help, except by not getting killed, and spreading the word around to your fellow lawyers."

"The word has already spread," Jarrod said. "In a lot of ways, this is still a pretty small town."

Jarrod headed back to Archer's office in the courthouse. He fetched himself a cup of coffee and settled down behind Archer's desk with the file for the case scheduled for the next day. It was about an assault in the street after a bar fight. The accused had used brass knuckles, broken a man's cheekbone and took out three teeth. The accused was still in jail. For the next hour, Jarrod reviewed the file very carefully, planned how he would question each witness, and tried to find anything there that would get Archer killed. There was nothing.

Four o'clock rolled around. Jarrod closed the file and headed out so he could keep his promise to be home by five. "You look out for yourself, Mr. Barkley," was the last thing Maddy said as Jarrod headed out the door.

"I will," was the last thing Jarrod said as he closed the door behind him.