Chapter 10

Dr. Merar listened to what Jarrod had planned now and said, "All right, but I'm sending Iva over to her sister's. I don't want her anywhere around here if your idea works."

"You'll plan to stay though?" Nick asked.

"I'll be in my rooms but I'll be ready if anything happens. You, though, Jarrod – you better not expect to be staying awake."

"I understand," Jarrod said, "but Nick will be with me and Heath will be with you, and they'll both be awake if anything happens."

"We're gonna check in at the hotel after we get Jarrod back over here, but we'll slip out the back way after dark," Nick said.

"You're sure Tyler and maybe Jed Bishop are behind this?" Dr. Merar asked.

"No, I'm not sure at all," Jarrod said. "But if someone is out to get me, he might show himself tonight. I want to know who and why because right now, nothing makes any sense. In the meantime, Doctor, I could really use a good meal and a shot of whiskey. What do you think?"

"Sit down here. Let me have a look at what your eyes have to say about that."

XXXXXX

Victoria and Audra were both in the stable yard when Heath came in with Dan Lynch. They didn't know the man, and they immediately wondered what this was all about.

"Mother, Audra, meet Dan Lynch," Heath said as he and Lynch both dismounted.

"Mr. Lynch," Victoria said with a nod as Lynch took his hat off.

Heath handed the reins of his horse to Lynch. "Why don't you take these horses into the barn and get them settled, and get me a fresh horse. I'm going back into town."

As Lynch took the horses into the barn, Victoria said, "I didn't know you were hiring someone new."

Heath said, "Until today, he worked for Jed Bishop. He thinks Bishop or his foreman Tyler set Jarrod up to be hit last night and Tyler might have done the job. Lynch is feeling scared. He's the one says the foreman gave him dynamite to blow up the orchard and then accused him of stealing some tools when he left the job, but Lynch thinks Bishop is behind it all. He hired Jarrod to help him out."

"Does he know Jarrod's all right?" Audra asked.

"No, he thinks Jarrod can't hear and can't think straight," Heath said. "I'm gonna head back into town right away, after I get Lynch settled in the barn with Ciego. I don't know what Jarrod and Nick have in mind, but don't worry if we don't come home for dinner or even at all tonight. We'll send word if there's a real problem. If there isn't, you can assume we're all right but we're up to something."

"We'll need somebody here overnight in case someone comes here after Lynch," Victoria said.

"McColl should be in the bunkhouse by now," Heath said. "I'll go talk to him and see he gets a watch posted tonight."

"I sure hope Jarrod knows what he's doing," Audra said as she and Victoria watched Heath head for the bunkhouse.

"I think he probably does," Victoria said. "I just wish we knew what he was doing." Then she sighed. "But at least Nick and Heath will know, and having a watch tonight will help me feel better."

Heath found McColl easily, washing up in the bunkhouse. Being foreman, he had a small room and office of his own. Heath knocked on the door.

"Come on in, Heath," McColl said, and asked as Heath came in, "did you bring Jarrod home?"

"Not yet," Heath said. "I brought one of his clients though. Fella named Dan Lynch. I put him into the stable area with Ciego. He used to work for Jed Bishop but for now he's working for us, and I want a watch posted for the house tonight in case my brothers and I don't make it home."

"Are you expecting trouble?"

"No, but with this whole thing with Bishop, and with Jarrod getting attacked and now Lynch pretty much on the run from Bishop, I don't know what to expect. Just keep an eye out, and keep an eye on him too. He may be Jarrod's client but I'm not positive we can trust him either."

"You're going back to town then," McColl said.

"Right away," Heath said and started out the door. "You check in with Ciego and Lynch as soon as you can, all right?"

"Yeah," McColl said.

Heath stopped to say good-bye to Victoria and Audra, then went into the barn to touch base with Ciego and Lynch, and to tell them McColl would come by. Ciego already had a fresh horse saddled a waiting for him. Heath was on his way back to town in just a minute.

XXXXXX

"Just one whiskey," Dr. Merar said, "and go easy on the food. Eat something easy on the stomach."

Jarrod gave a nod as he and Nick left the doctor's office and headed for the Empire. Jarrod still followed the script he had written, pretending to stumble a little as they crossed the street. Once they got in the saloon, Nick took Jarrod to a table and sat him down, saying, "I'll get you something!"

Other men in the bar – some playing poker, some just talking and drinking – quieted down when Nick yelled, and gave Jarrod pathetic looks. Some talked quietly. Jarrod closed his eyes and listened.

Behind the bar, Harry shook his head. "Is he any better?" he asked Nick.

"Not that you can see or hear, but Doc Merar said he could have something to eat and one shot of whiskey," Nick said. "What do you have for food?"

"A ham sandwich?"

"Let's see how it goes down. Bring me one too."

Maisie, the saloon girl, went to the kitchen for sandwiches while Harry poured shots of whiskey, one for Jarrod and one for Nick. Nick took them to the table and set one down in front of Jarrod.

Jarrod mumbled something, not loudly, not understandably, but he pointed slightly to the table to his right so only Nick could see him do it. That table was in front of Nick. He could get a look at the men there without them noticing much. He didn't know them.

Maisie arrived with the sandwiches and Jarrod mumbled "Bishop" while he chewed on his food, so only Nick could make it out. Nick looked closer at the men. He didn't see Tyler there, but he understood that Jarrod had overheard something from them that made him think they knew something about Jed Bishop. Maybe they were his men.

Nick gulped down his sandwich and his whiskey, then as Jarrod finished his, Nick asked loudly, "Do you want coffee?"

Jarrod nodded, and Nick got up and went back to the bar. He asked Harry for another whiskey for himself and a coffee for Jarrod. Maisie went back to the kitchen to fetch the coffee, and Nick stayed right there at the bar. If he was not with Jarrod, maybe that table full of Bishop's men would start talking again so Jarrod could overhear something.

Maisie gave Jarrod the coffee and then went about fetching more whiskey for the men at the other table. Jarrod sipped his coffee, fumbled a little with taking his pad out and made some notes in it. He realized a couple of the Bishop men were trying to see what he was writing. He knew they would not make any sense of what seemed like random letters and drawings, and he could hear he was right.

One of the men said quietly, "I don't know why the boss is so worried about him. He doesn't seem to have an ounce of sense about him."

"Keep it down," one of the other men said.

"He can't hear me, and nobody else around is close enough to hear me," the first man said.

"Just shut up about it," a third man said. "It's the boss's business, not ours."

Whatever "it" was, Jarrod didn't know. They weren't saying. But there was an "it."

Nick came back over to the table after a while. Jarrod said loudly to him, "Tired."

"All right, let's get you back to the doc's," Nick said loudly. Then, to Harry he said, "Harry, if my brother Heath comes in, tell him Jarrod's gonna spend the night with Dr. Merar and I'm getting us rooms at the Stockton House. Send him over to the doc's, okay?" He said it loud enough for Harry to hear, and just barely loud enough for the men in the room to hear, but he didn't yell. He didn't want to sound too obvious.

Harry said, "All right, Nick. Take it easy."

Nick helped Jarrod up and out into the street. They didn't talk at all along the way, but as soon as they were safely in Dr. Merar's office and no one else was around, Jarrod said to Nick, "They're up to something, those men at the other table. I'm sure they're Bishop's men."

"What are they up to?" Nick asked.

"I don't know," Jarrod said, "but at least it sounded like Bishop is up to something. I swear I can't believe Bishop is acting this stupid."

"Maybe his lawyer dumping him while his case is on appeal has really set him off."

"He was already off. I think he was born off, and he's just gotten worse," Jarrod said. "The men said it was about 'the boss.' That could be Bishop or Tyler, since he's the foreman. Or both. But something seems to be going on."

Dr. Merar appeared from his treatment room. "I was just cleaning up, there's no one else here," he said. "Let me change that bandage of yours and then it's you in the sick room for the night."

They went to the sick room, and Jarrod sat down in a chair there. "I admit it," Jarrod said to as the doctor changed his bandage. "I need to rest. But before you go get those rooms, Nick, I have to explain something to you. Doc, you don't need to listen if you don't want to."

"I'll listen," Dr. Merar said.