Chapter 2
The day after learning about the two brothers who were gone, Heath had to go into town for supplies. He took the opportunity to stop in the sheriff's office. He knew Sheriff Madden had known the Barkleys for a long time, even before he became sheriff. He would have known Jarrod and Nick, and maybe, given his position now, he might know how to look for them.
The sheriff was going through new wanted posters when Heath came in. He looked up from his desk. "Well," he said happily, "Heath Barkley. It's good to see you."
"Hello, Fred," Heath said, came in and sat down in a chair in front of the sheriff's desk. "Anybody we know in there?" he asked, pointing to the posters.
"No, nobody I've seen around here," the sheriff said. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"Maybe," Heath said. "I was talking to my mother yesterday."
Fred Madden smiled at him using "my mother."
"She told me about the two missing brothers, Jarrod and Nick."
Fred Madden lost his smile.
"She told me how they both came home from the war with troubles following them around," Heath said.
"To put it mildly," the sheriff said and shook his head. "They were different boys when they got back. Boys – I shouldn't use that word. Jarrod was 22, Nick was 18. They were men. But something happened to them back east."
"Mother told me about that, how Jarrod became violent and they asked him to leave."
"Nick left after that on his own, but he was getting into all kinds of trouble, too."
"The last mother heard was that he was in jail a couple years ago in Montana. She's never heard anything else about Jarrod at all. That's all I know, except for stories I heard before I came here. I was wondering if you knew anything, or how I might go about looking for them."
The sheriff took a deep breath. "I've heard a couple things about Nick. Not good things. He's been in and out of jail in Montana, in Oregon, in California, too. He turned up on one of my posters once, but I hear he was acquitted on that charge. I told Victoria about one of those early fights that put Nick in jail, but I haven't told her about any more – why just keep bombarding her with bad news about Nick? Jarrod – I haven't heard one word about him. I think he might have changed his name and just forgot about the family completely."
Heath nodded, thinking about what the sheriff had said. A name change would explain why Jarrod had utterly disappeared. But Nick – "Do you know where Nick might be now?"
The sheriff shook his head. "There's no telling. He moves around. The last I heard he was up Placerville way, but that was several months ago. He's probably not there now. He tends to get into trouble and move on as soon as he's out of jail. Probably invited to move on, I suspect." The sheriff cast a sharp eye at Heath. "You're not really thinking of trying to find them, are you?"
Heath eyed him right back before he nodded slowly. "Mother and Eugene and Audra have been mighty good to me. Only three weeks, and I feel like I've been part of that family all my life."
"You've filled a hole for them, Heath," the sheriff said. "You're not replacing Jarrod and Nick. You're making your own place, but you are filling a hole."
"They've been good to me, Fred. If I could at least find out what's happened to Jarrod and Nick – maybe if I could even meet my brothers, talk to them."
The sheriff shook his head. "I don't think it's a situation you can fix, Heath. Those boys came back from the war damaged more than any of us could understand."
"I came back a bit like that myself, Fred. Maybe I can understand."
Sheriff Madden took a deep breath. "Are you sure you want to go off looking for them this soon after coming here? Your mother really needs you out there."
Heath got up. "I'm not really sure of anything. I wouldn't leave without talking to Mother about it and getting her approval."
"Heath, she's never asked me to go looking for them. I don't think she even wants them back."
Now Heath shook his head. "You might not say that if you saw her face when she talked about them. You said Nick was up Placerville way?"
"Yeah."
"Maybe I'll just ask Mother if I might mosey up that way for a few days. She's not getting any younger, Fred. I think if she could get even one of them to talk to her again, it would mean the world to her."
"You might be right," the sheriff conceded. "You want me to wire up there and see if he's still around, or find out where he's gone if he left?"
"That would help, Fred. Thanks."
"Don't mention it. As for Jarrod, I don't even know who to look for, much less where."
Heath nodded. "Maybe Nick knows."
"I doubt it. They weren't much on speaking terms when Jarrod left."
"It's been ten years. Either one of them could even be dead now, but at least Mother would know what happened to them. If you can get me a bead on Nick, maybe it'll lead to something."
"All right. I'll see what I can do. Check with me tomorrow."
Heath nodded his thanks and left.
XXXXXXX
When Heath arrived home with the supplies, he had a couple of the hands unload them while he went into the house. All the way home he wondered what to say to Victoria about his conversation with the sheriff. He wondered what to say about his idea of looking for Nick. He wondered what to say to Audra and Eugene if he did decide to go looking.
When he went into the house, he left his hat on the table in the foyer and headed for the kitchen, but Victoria was already coming in from that direction. "I didn't expect you back so soon," she said.
"I wanted to get those supplies in," Heath said. "They need those nails if they're going to fix the whole bunkhouse roof today. Listen, I'd like to talk to you about something. Have you got some time?"
"Of course," she said.
Heath led her to the living room, and they sat down in the settee. "I talked to the sheriff while I was in town. I talked to him about what we talked about yesterday – about Nick and Jarrod."
Victoria took a deep breath. She figured he wouldn't let the subject of his older brothers go, once he'd learned about them. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she nodded. "And what did you say?"
"I asked him what he knew about them. He said he'd heard Nick was up Placerville way a couple months ago."
Victoria's eyes lit up. "I didn't know that."
"He's gonna check and see if Nick's still up there, and find out where he might have gone if he's not. Mother, if I can pin Nick down, I'd like to go find him, talk to him. I'm not saying I can get him to come home even for a visit or even if he'd say word one to me, but it would help me if I could just meet him once. And I think it would help you if you at least knew he was all right."
"If he's all right," Victoria said quietly. "What did Fred know about Jarrod?"
"Nothing," Heath said. "He thinks Jarrod might have changed his name."
Victoria nodded. "He may have."
"Nick may know something."
Victoria looked at Heath. He could see all kinds of doubt in her eyes.
"How would you feel if I headed out for a few days, to see if I could find Nick?" Heath asked. "I know it would make you feel better if you at least knew what's happened to them."
Victoria gave a short, harsh laugh. "It depends on what happened to them. Oh, Heath, I loved those boys more than I can tell you. I had such hopes for them, and that war – that horrible war – it took all my hopes away. You can't imagine how it feels to have the children you bore, you raised, you loved – turn into terrible men you don't even recognize. I don't know what I want to know."
Heath squeezed her hand. "I won't dig into this any further if you don't want me to, but think about it. Maybe they need us."
Victoria looked doubtful about that, but the words did touch her. If they did need her, she'd want to know. They were her first and second born. She also knew that even though he'd found his way here, Heath was still searching for his family, and Nick and Jarrod were missing parts of that family that he at least wanted to know more about. She patted Heath's hand. "I will think about it. But what are you going to say to Audra and Eugene?"