Chapter 14

Getting to the sheriff's office and getting him involved didn't clear up a thing. Both Bishop and Tyler denied being in the doctor's office. Both claimed they were innocently in that alley when Heath and Nick jumped them.

"I ran into both of them at the same time in that alley, Sheriff," Heath explained.

"Which one were you chasing?" Sheriff Madden asked.

Heath just shook his head. "I don't know. I could never see who it was."

The sheriff looked at Nick. "You didn't see who was in the doctor's sick room?"

"No," Nick had to admit. "I didn't see him."

"Then who am I supposed to arrest and for what?" Sheriff Madden asked, and neither Nick nor Heath could answer.

Harry just shrugged. He couldn't answer either.

"I'm leaving," Bishop announced and headed for the door.

Tyler was right behind him, and no one could stop them.

Nick was snarling mad. "Fred, it was one of them going after Jarrod at the doc's office and that's the one who attacked Jarrod in the livery!"

"Nick, you have no proof of any of that," Sheriff Madden said. "I'm sorry, but I can't lock them up if you didn't see either of them do anything. Being in an alley after dark isn't against the law."

Nick just grumbled and started for the door, Heath following.

"Don't you start anything with them!" Sheriff Madden said. "Or I'll have to lock you up!"

The Barkley brothers stopped at the door and glared back at him, but they knew he was right. They both slumped enough to let the sheriff know they wouldn't cause any trouble. Nick made that clear when he just said, "Good night, Fred," and he and Heath left.

XXXXXX

Jed Bishop and Joe Tyler had ridden out of town before Bishop said, "All right, what were you doing in Stockton?"

"Looking for a little fun," Tyler said. "I didn't know you were there."

"Well, what the hell were you doing in that alley? Was it you the Barkleys were chasing?"

"No!" Tyler blurted. "I was headed for Big Annie's when I saw somebody run from the doctor's office like he was trouble and I went in after him and ran smack dab into you and the Barkleys were right behind me!"

"Why didn't you tell the sheriff about the man you saw run in there?"

"Because I ran into you! I ran right into you!"

"It wasn't me running from the doctor's office! I was upstairs with Patrice!"

"I know about Patrice, but the sheriff doesn't and the Barkleys don't, and if I said I saw somebody run into that alley and the only one in there with me was you, they'd have thought it was you I was chasing!"

"By morning they'd have talked to Patrice and she'd clear me!"

"But you'd have been the night in jail and you'd have probably fired me, and the sheriff would have arrested me for going after Barkley!"

They were starting to yell louder at each other as they rode on. Bishop finally quit and more quietly said, "Yeah, all right. But you tell me the truth. Was it really you running from the doctor's office?"

"No, it was not me," Tyler said flatly, and breathed a sigh of relief. Bishop was buying his story.

When they got to the ranch, they both saw Angie Bishop at the window near the front door, looking out, seeing them. Tyler knew that he and Bishop were seeing two different things in her eyes – Bishop was seeing her annoyance with him coming home late after being with Patrice, but Tyler was seeing her annoyance with her father coming home at all.

Tyler was supposed to have attacked Jarrod Barkley again and gotten away without being seen, and with her father in town he would have been arrested for it. No one would have known Tyler was even there. But once the Barkleys saw Tyler in that alley, it was blown. The plan they made hadn't worked.

XXXXX

Nick and Heath went back over to the doctor's office in silence, but they didn't go to the back door. They didn't need to. They found Dr. Merar at his front door in his bathrobe, and he wasn't alone. The street light lit up both him and a small figure beside him.

"Esther!" Nick cried. "What are you doing here?"

"I was in the office," she said. "I heard the racket in the street."

"What were you doing up there this late?" Heath asked.

Esther sighed. "Watching. At least trying to."

"What did you see?" Nick asked quickly.

"Nothing of the racket," Esther said. "I'm sorry. All I saw was earlier in the evening, Jed Bishop went up to the stairs to that room over the barber shop."

Nick and Heath looked at each other, startled. "Who lives up there?" Heath asked Nick.

"I don't know," Nick said. Then he looked at the doctor. "Is Jarrod all right?"

"Yes, I got him to stay in bed," Dr. Merar said.

Dr. Merar led them all back inside then. They found Jarrod in bed but the sick room was well lit now, and he was sitting up, not sleeping. The three men came into the room, and Esther held back by the door, but Jarrod saw her and wasn't sure he believed what he saw. "Esther?"

"I was up in the office and heard the commotion," Esther said, very loudly.

"It's all right, Esther, I can hear," Jarrod admitted.

Nick explained what had happened and how the sheriff had to let both Bishop and Tyler go. Then he said, "Esther says she saw Bishop go up into that room over the barber shop earlier. Do you know who lives there?"

"You'd have to ask Slim," Jarrod said. Slim was the barber.

"What happens now?" Esther asked.

Jarrod shut his eyes but said, "You go home, but don't you tell anybody I can hear or that I can think straight. It's been a ruse, Esther. I've been trying to get information without anyone knowing."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Esther asked, obviously put out.

"I'm sorry," Jarrod said. "I couldn't risk too many people knowing and I didn't expect you to get involved like this. If you want to quit on me, I'll understand, but I wish you wouldn't. I can't keep my office going without you."

"Of course I won't quit you," Esther said but she was still obviously put out.

Jarrod knew he was going to be paying for this when everything was over.

"All right, that's enough for tonight," Dr. Merar said. "I don't think anything more is going to happen."

"Nick, Heath, I want you to stay with the plan, just in case," Jarrod said, "but one of you walk Esther home please?"

"I'll go," Heath said. "Nick, I'll relieve you here with Jarrod when I get back."

"Yeah," Nick agreed.

"We'll talk everything over again here in the morning, if that's all right with you, Doctor," Jarrod said.

"All right," Dr. Merar said, "as long as I don't need this room."

Jarrod nodded and said, "And Esther – can you be here about nine or so? I want you to be in on this now."

Esther nodded. "I'll be here."

Heath went out with Esther, and Jarrod closed his eyes again. He was wide awake, but still very tired, and his head still hurt. But he was thinking.

"Jarrod, see if you can sleep some more," Dr. Merar said.

"Yes," Jarrod said and slipped back down under the covers.

The little lamp on the table was still lit, but Dr. Merar extinguished the main lights in the room, saying, "I'll be awake for a while. Announce yourself when you come up, Nick. I don't want to shoot you."

Nick nodded, and as the lights went out, he sat back down in the chair he had put near the window. And chewed himself out. He should have caught the man who came in. He wasn't careful enough. He let the guy know somehow that he was in here, and he didn't get a hand on him to grab and hold on. He handled it all badly.

And Jarrod was still at risk. One thing this decoy business had revealed for sure – somebody still wanted Jarrod dead. Jarrod moved and groaned and Nick cursed himself again, but in only a few moments Jarrod was breathing evenly if not really comfortably, and then he was snoring quietly.

At least you're sleeping, Pappy, Nick thought. At least somebody is.

XXXXX

Esther lived in a small apartment the next street over, and it took less than five minutes to get there. She and Heath didn't talk much along the way, but when it came time to leave her at her door, Heath said, "Don't be too hard on Jarrod for leaving you out on this. He didn't want his trick to get around, but he also didn't want to put anybody else at risk. He really does care about you, and he really does appreciate you."

"I know," Esther said. "And I'm not angry anymore. I never really was angry, just – disappointed, I guess, that he didn't trust me."

"That's not it," Heath said. "He trusts you with his career."

"Yes, I guess he does." Esther sighed. "At least I saw Jed Bishop go upstairs over the barber shop. As soon as you find out who lives there, you'll know why. Maybe that will open things up."

"You didn't see him come out at all?"

"No, but I fell asleep. I don't know when he came out."

"Well, we'll see what Jarrod wants to do in the morning. Can you come straight to the doctor's office at nine?"

"I'll be there," Esther said. "Thank you for walking me home."

Heath touched his hat. "My pleasure."

Heath went back to Dr. Merar's office without even seeing anyone on the street. It was far too late for anyone sober to be out, and the drunks would have found someplace to bed down. Heath went to the front door of the doctor's office and gave four knocks, like they had at the back door. It was Nick who heard and came to let him in.

"Everything all right with Esther?" Nick asked, closing the door and locking it again.

"Yeah, fine," Heath said. "Is Jarrod still awake?"

"No, he went back to sleep."

"I'll sit with him. You go on up to be with the doc."

They both went into the sick room – and got a shock. Jarrod was sitting up on the edge of the bed. Nick went to him and tried to ease him back down. "Pappy, you better get some more sleep."

"No, wait a minute, wait a minute," Jarrod said and held him off. "There's something important I just thought of – we have to check with Fred first thing in the morning."

"What?" Nick asked.

Jarrod's eyes glistened in the light of the small lamp. "The key," he said. "The key we found in the livery. It's important. We have to find out if he found out who belongs to the key."