Chapter 12

Jarrod rested in the chair for quite a while, then Dr. Merar was helping him out of his clothes when they heard the door from the street into his outer office open and close. The two men looked at each other warily. Both Nick and Heath had come and gone and would be at the hotel, but Dr. Merar could always be getting another patient.

On the other hand, neither of them had a gun here in the sick room. Jarrod still had his pants and boots on but was minus his coat and shirt. As the doctor left the room, Jarrod held back, watching via a slight opening in the sick room door – and he saw what Dr. Merar saw.

"Esther!" Dr. Merar said, loud enough for Jarrod to hear him in the sick room.

"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you," Esther said. She didn't see Jarrod peeking out the sick room door. "I saw Mr. Barkley's brothers come and go but he stayed here and I got worried."

Jarrod went back into the sick room and pulled his shirt back on, then he came out just as the doctor was saying that Nick and Heath would be spending the night at the hotel but Jarrod would stay here.

Esther saw Jarrod come out as Dr. Merar finished explaining. "I'm sorry, Mr. Barkley," she said very loudly. "I just wanted to see if you were all right."

"I am," Jarrod said. "I'm just very tired."

"I won't stay, but do you need me to do anything?" Esther asked.

"No," Jarrod said. "Tomorrow."

"You'll need me tomorrow?"

"At the office," Jarrod said. He wanted to get her out of here and on her way home as quickly as possible.

"He's doing well, but he has been out all day," Dr. Merar said, speaking in a low voice, hoping that Jarrod realized he wasn't supposed to be hearing it. "I just don't want him trying to get home tonight. Why don't you go on, get some rest yourself? He'll need you to be taking care of the office tomorrow."

"All right," Esther said. Then loudly, to Jarrod, she said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Jarrod nodded and managed a weak smile.

Esther left, and Jarrod let go a deep sigh. "Let's get you to bed," Dr. Merar said and helped him back into the sick room.

"She's gonna kill me when this is all over," Jarrod said, taking his shirt off again.

"She's been your secretary for years," Dr. Merar said. "If she were going to kill you, she'd have done it long before now."

Jarrod had to laugh at that, even if it did hurt.

"Sit down, and get those boots and pants off," Dr. Merar said. "Just to be on the safe side, I'm going to go get my gun out of my office and have it with me at all times."

"Doc – if you don't want to be involved in this, I can go to my office – "

"No," Dr. Merar said firmly. "Putting aside what you're trying to do to catch the man who hit you, you are still my patient and you belong right here in this room where I can keep an eye on you. Your plan may not work, you know, and I won't be having you collapse and get worse in the meantime. You get into that bed while I get my gun, and then we'll wait together until your brothers get here."

"You should eat something."

"I already ate something before you got back here. Get to bed."

Jarrod gave him a salute, sat down on the bed, and started taking off his boots.

Esther, on the other hand, was having second thoughts. She didn't know why, but she decided to go back up to Jarrod's office. From there, she could see what was happening at the hotel and at Dr. Merar's office. She didn't know what help she could be if something went wrong back there at the doctor's office, but she wanted to be watching.

She let herself into the office again and locked the door behind her. The sun was beginning to set, so she lit the lamp in her outer office, but did not light any lamps in Jarrod's inner office. Instead, she sat down in his chair behind his desk and turned it to look out at the street.

XXXXXX

Dr. Merar fetched his gun and came back to the sick room. Jarrod had undressed and was in the bed, under the blanket, looking very weary. Jarrod said, "Doc, why don't you just wait in your office – if you leave the door open, you can see this room from there. There's no need for you to sit here and watch me while I sleep – because that's what I plan to do."

"All right," Dr. Merar said. "Do you want me to wake you when your brothers get here?"

"Only if you need to," Jarrod said, closing his eyes.

Dr. Merar could see Jarrod was going to be asleep in minutes, so he just said, "Yell if you need me."

"Mmmm," Jarrod said.

The doctor left, leaving the door to the sick room open while he went back to his office. He did want to add a bit to Jarrod's file, and he had one or two more to attend to, so he set about taking care of the paperwork.

Heath had come to the doctor's office and caught up on Jarrod's plans, but then left then and caught up with Nick in the hotel across the street. Nick had gotten them a room overlooking the Empire saloon and the doctor's office.

Heath kept watching out the window, checking for any activity out there, but only saw one person of interest. "The sheriff's out there," he said to Nick.

"He's not being too obvious about hanging around, is he?" Nick asked.

"I don't think so," Heath said. "He just looks like he's making rounds."

Nick came to the window and looked up at the sky. "It's clouded up. Dark is coming early."

"We better give it a little longer, at least till the street lights are lit," Heath said.

"You know, if this doesn't work, we're gonna need to figure out what to do next."

"A good night's sleep and Jarrod will come up with something else," Heath said. "He was a spy, remember?"

"Well, he never talks much about his intelligence work in the war, but he always did have a devious mind," Nick said.

Heath smiled. "He got you into trouble when you were kids, huh?"

"Naw, I got into trouble all by myself," Nick said. "He got me out of it."

Nick wandered back into the room, thinking. Heath noticed. "What's on your mind, Nick?"

"I don't know," Nick said. "It's just the more I think about it, the more I wonder if this is all about Tyler and not about Bishop at all. It's Tyler turned up at the sheriff's office coming after Lynch. It's Tyler who gave Lynch his orders to blow up the orchard, not Bishop. It's Tyler who's Jarrod's size and fits who might have hit him."

"Bishop's not a little guy," Heath said.

"But he's not the kind to do dirty work himself. I'm thinking Tyler, but whether Tyler is doing his boss's bidding or working for himself, I don't know."

Heath came away from the window. "Why would Tyler be after Jarrod? That makes less sense than Bishop being after him."

"And that doesn't make much sense," Nick said. "But one thing's for sure. Something's going on behind our backs that we don't know about, and it involves Tyler and Lynch, and they work for Bishop. And the men Jarrod overheard at the Empire work for Bishop too. It involves all of them, somehow."

Heath thought about what Nick said. "Let's keep a close eye on that sky. Maybe we can get over to the doc's early. If you're right, then Jarrod might be right and something might happen as soon as word spreads far enough that he's at the doc's overnight. This decoy thing might work."

"Well, I hope it does," Nick said, "but it doesn't get Jarrod killed."

XXXXX

As the clouds grew thicker and the sunlight was seriously fading, she came out of the house and met him in the garden, where no one else would go. He was already there waiting, and he quickly asked, "Did you get it?"

She nodded and handed it to him. "Are you sure you don't know where yours is?"

"I lost it someplace, but I can't sleep out with the herd another night. It's going to look fishy if I can't get into my own room," he said. "Are you sure your father didn't see you take it?"

"He didn't," she said. "He's finished his dinner and he's gone into town to see his lady friend. You be careful you don't run into him."

Tyler leaned over to kiss her. "Don't worry, Angie. He'll be occupied, and nobody will believe his lady friend if she tries to stand up for him when this is finished. If this goes the way we plan, I'll lead the law right by where your father is and he'll be in jail by morning. You just make sure you go back into the house and stay there until I come or the sheriff does."

Angela Bishop kissed Tyler again. "Then it'll be just you and me, and I won't have to see him again."

"Maybe at the trial, to make it look good," Tyler said. And he kissed her one more time. "I've got to go. I'll see you soon, and you'll be free of him. And this ranch will be yours – and so will I."

"Just be careful no one sees you," she said. "They should see Dad because he's there in town, but not you."

"I'll be careful," Tyler said.