Chapter 10

Jarrod went back to the office in the courthouse after the Cramer case and was happy to see Mark Schenk had come in. Jarrod had been slightly worried that something had happened to him, but Mark shook his head when Jarrod brought it up.

"No problems for me so far," Schenk said. "I spent all day the past two days tracking down witnesses in one of my cases. I wasn't even in town, but I heard about Len Main this morning. This is not good, Jarrod."

Jarrod could tell Schenk was feeling uneasy, and he couldn't blame him. "Somebody was stalking me in the livery stable the other day, but he got away and I never saw him."

"You?" Schenk said.

Their secretary looked even more nervous than they felt. Jarrod gave her a smile and said to Schenk, "Stick to very public areas as much as you can until whoever is after us is found. That's our best bet." Then he looked at the secretary. "You, too, Maddy, even though I don't think there's any threat to you at all."

"I'm not worried about me," she said. "I'm worried about you."

"Don't be," Jarrod said. "We'll be all right."

"I hear you have Archer recovering out at your place," Schenk said, trying to get off the subject that was making him the most nervous.

Jarrod nodded. "He's being a pretty decent patient. The trouble may be keeping him from going home too early for his own good. At our place he's pretty safe. On his own, not so much."

Abruptly, the door opened and Sheriff Madden came in. He had a very unhappy look on his face. "I need to talk to you two," he said.

Jarrod motioned him and Schenk into Archer's office and closed the door.

The sheriff immediately said, "There's been another attack. Sam Davison."

"Sam?!" Schenk blurted out.

"He's alive, found behind the livery stable about half an hour ago," the sheriff said.

"The doctor has him?"

The sheriff said, "He was taken home. Doc said it looked like he was going to be all right. I'm heading over there right now."

"May I go with you?" Jarrod asked.

"I was going to ask you to. Mark, you ought to come, too. If he's conscious, he's gonna want to get you two organized so this office can continue to operate."

They went back out to the secretary's office and found Maddy crying now. Someone had been here and given her the news. Jarrod squeezed her shoulder, saying, "Maddy, we'll be back pretty quickly. Are you all right? Can you go talk to Mr. Davison's secretary, make sure she's all right?"

Maddy nodded as she stood up. "I'll go right now."

They all left together, Maddy heading down the hall and the men heading outside. Neither Jarrod nor Schenk took the time to strap on his gun belt. Sam Davison did not live that far away, and within five minutes, they were there.

Davison's wife was not the kind to fall apart easily. She met the men at the door, composed but worried. The sheriff, the only one wearing a hat, removed it, saying, "Alice, how is he?"

She let them in. "The doctor is still with him, but he's awake. Sheriff, you need to talk to him. He saw who shot him."

She led the sheriff into the back bedroom. Jarrod and Schenk followed but stayed in the hall. The door to the bedroom was open and they left it that way. Sam Davison was sitting up on the edge of the bed, Dr. Merar standing beside him. Davison was bandaged around his right shoulder and pale as death, but wide awake.

"Sam," Sheriff Madden said. "How are you?"

"Pretty good, all things considered," Davison said. "I saw him, Fred. I saw who shot me."

"When did this happen?"

"Just after dawn. I was headed to the courthouse because I wanted to be there early. I took my horse to the livery because I was due to go out to the Paterson place. No one was in the livery, so I just put my horse up and headed out the back. He was in the alley, shot me. I played dead, and he just ran."

"Did you know him?"

"No, but I saw him as he ran away. The bad news is he looks like any other wrangler. The good news is that as he ran away, I saw his boots. The left has a thicker sole and heel. His left leg is shorter than the right."

"That's good, Sam. That's good. Hair color? Eyes if you saw them."

"Black hair, but I didn't see his eyes," Davison said. "Not as tall as I am, maybe five-nine or ten. Wearing a blue shirt, grey hat, dark trousers, boots either brown or dirty black."

The sheriff smiled. "You're a prosecutor's dream, Sam, but I guess that just figures." Then he turned to look at Jarrod and Schenk. "Do either of you know anybody like that?"

They both shook their heads. Jarrod said, "It must be a stranger in town. It doesn't sound like anyone I've ever seen around here, but with uneven boots, we ought to be able to spot him pretty easily."

Davison smiled. Dr. Merar said, "All right, I need to finish up with my patient and he needs some rest. The bullet went through without damaging anything but muscle, so Sam should be fine in a couple weeks, but I don't want him pushing things too soon."

"Jarrod, I know you're doing Archer's cases," Davison said. "Mark, can you take them over? I'd like Jarrod to take my place until I'm back on my feet."

"Of course," Schenk said.

Jarrod nodded. "We'll take care of the office, Sam. You get well."

The sheriff looked at Jarrod and Schenk, then back at Davison, his wife and the doctor. "One more thing. None of you is to talk about the description of this man to anyone. I don't want him getting wind of it and leaving town before we catch him. Jarrod, your brothers are deputized, so I'll tell them and my other deputies, but other than that, no one is to know. This man is dangerous, to say the least. We don't need everybody in town to be a potential threat to him."

Everyone nodded.

"And if you see anybody fitting this description, you don't go trying to apprehend him. You come to me, fast as you can."

They all nodded again.

Then Sheriff Madden actually smiled. "We're gonna get him. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but we're gonna get him."

XXXXXXX

When Nick and Heath got back to town, they reported in to Sheriff Madden and told him that neither Turner nor this guy Alder had anything helpful to say. The sheriff told them about Davison and what he had said. "Why don't we nose around town a bit?" Nick offered. "I could stand a beer and a sandwich, and we could go by the mercantile and the bank and make like we're just running errands."

Sheriff Madden said, "If you spot him, one of you keep watch on him and the other come get me, but don't let him know you're eying him."

Nick and Heath both nodded and headed out the door. Heath said, "Why don't we go get Jarrod and take him to lunch if he has time?"

Nick nodded, and in a few minutes, they were at Archer's office in the courthouse. They found Jarrod reviewing a file. "Come get something to eat with us," Nick said.

Jarrod got up and fetched his gun belt. "Sounds good. Did you see the sheriff?"

"Yeah," Nick said.

"We heard about Davison and got the description of who shot him," Heath said, "and the warning about letting it out."

Nick led the way out, Jarrod and Heath behind him. Jarrod told the secretary they were going to Harry's, and in a few more minutes, they were there. They took a table and one of the saloon girls brought Nick and Heath beer and a sandwich. Jarrod accepted a sandwich, but drank coffee.

"We can rule out the three guys standing at the bar," Nick said quietly.

"I noticed," Jarrod said. "What are you boys gonna do this afternoon?"

"Go to the bank and get some cash," Heath said. "Then go to the mercantile and buy some new socks."

"Maybe stop by Big Annie's," Nick said, "and a place or two on the waterfront."

"Be back in my office by four," Jarrod said, "unless you have some luck, in which case I'll see you at the sheriff's office. And be careful, will you? If this shooter feels threatened, he won't hesitate to shoot a lawyer's brothers instead of the lawyer."

"You gonna be in the office all afternoon?" Nick asked.

"I'll take over Sam Davison's office, per his request," Jarrod said. "Mark Schenk will take Archer's cases."

"If you go out alone, you stick to public places."

"I will," Jarrod said, "but I doubt I'll be going out of the office. I've got too much to do there."

"All right, sounds like we've got plans," Heath said.

His brothers nodded, and Jarrod raised his cup of coffee in a toast. "To the end of this."

"To the end," both Nick and Heath raised their beers and agreed.