Chapter 9

Dr. Merar finally came downstairs, with Audra, after forty-five minutes or so. The men were still discussing plans for the next day, but they broke off and met the doctor in the foyer. Dr. Merar smiled. "She'll be fine. I'm not even certain her leg is broken, but we'll treat it as if it is."

"We told her it probably was broken," Audra said. "Otherwise she'd be up out of that bed tomorrow."

Dr. Merar gave a chuckle. "Try not to worry, boys. There's nothing major going on around here."

Audra walked the doctor to the door after they all bid him goodbye. Then she came back to join her brothers near the stairs. "What do you have planned for tomorrow? I'm suspecting you might be going back to Millertown."

Nick looked at his brothers. "Mother's rubbing off on her."

"We are going back," Jarrod said, "to check out this man named Wright."

"Is he responsible for Mother being injured?" Audra asked.

"No, but we've gotten wind of some illegal activities he might have going on up there," Jarrod said. "We're going to check it out tomorrow, and if we're not satisfied, I'll be heading off to meet with the county DA to see if I can get an investigation started."

"Nick and I will be home tomorrow night, maybe the morning after if we take so long we have to stay over," Heath said. "Jarrod will probably take a bit longer."

"I want to know exactly where you plan to be and when, because Mother will want to know," Audra said.

"Let's get some lunch and we'll talk," Nick said.

They sat down together and ate, and talked, and after the men explained everything they intended to do, Audra thought hard about it, staring at the table in front of her. The men looked at each other while she thought things through, and just as Jarrod was about to ask what she was thinking, she said, "I really don't like this. Does Mother know about your plans?"

"Most of them," Jarrod said. "I don't think she knows I'm going back to Done In."

"Well, you can tell her," Audra said. "I'm certainly not going to do it for you."

Audra threw her napkin down, got up and left the table. The men looked at each other, and Jarrod knew that since going to Done In was his idea, Nick and Heath were leaving it up to him to defend it. Jarrod left the table and went after Audra.

He caught up to her in the foyer. "Audra – "

She stopped and turned. "I don't like this, Jarrod. Going alone back to that town – " She just shook her head.

Jarrod took her by the shoulders. "I want to be sure I have the best information available when I see the DA. This is the best way to do it."

"You should take Nick and Heath with you."

Jarrod shook his head. "It'll be safer if I go alone while they take the attention away from me."

"You think. Jarrod, why is this your problem in the first place? Why are any of you going back up there at all?"

"Come sit down," Jarrod said and led her to the settee in the parlor. He took her hands, but at first he could not look at her. "I know you don't like it when we talk about the war, but you need to know about something both Nick and I experienced while we were back east fighting." He looked at her now. "Wherever we went, wherever there were Union troops, slaves came running to our camps, to get away from their enslavement. Over and over again we saw it, Audra. Men, women, even children, Audra. Running to us to save them. By the hundreds, Audra. Neither Nick nor I have ever forgotten it. If this man Wright has enslaved people again – if there's even an ounce of truth to what Dr. Lane told me – I have to do something about it. I'm sorry, honey, I can't explain it any better than that, and I'll go take Mother her lunch and explain it to her, too. None of this is on your shoulders."

"Waiting with Mother for you to come home is," Audra said.

Jarrod tried a smile. "We won't be long."

"No? What are you going to do if this DA asks for your help? You're going to stay and help him. That's the way you are, Jarrod."

Jarrod gave in with a nod. "You're right. I probably will. I'll have to, Audra. I can't let slavery get a foothold again. I can't let it happen. Surely you want better than that for the children involved."

He had hit her where she lived when he mentioned the children who might be victims of Wright. Audra bowed her head and nodded. "All right, Jarrod. You do whatever you need to do, but I do want you to explain it to Mother. She deserves to hear it from you."

Jarrod kissed her. "Of course she does."

XXXXXXX

Victoria had only one thing to say after Jarrod explained to her everything that had happened and was going to happen the next day and possibly the few days after – "Be very careful." Before they left for Millertown the next morning, the Barkley men made sure to kiss and comfort their mother and sister, and then they were off, with seven of the ranch hands in tow.

The sheriff of Millertown was not happy to see ten Barkley men instead of five, but Heath explained. "Only five of us are going in. The other five will stay back by a couple miles. They're only coming in case shooting breaks out."

The sheriff looked very unhappy anyway. "If shooting breaks out, you won't see me taking sides."

Nick was about to protest, but Jarrod put a hand against his chest. "Not a problem, Sheriff. We understand you're not out there to arrest anybody, just to ask some questions. Nobody's asking you to get shot for that."

As they left to go to the Wright property, Nick quietly asked Jarrod, "Are you going to tell the sheriff that you're going to Done In?"

"No," Jarrod said. "I don't want him deciding he should lock me up to stop me."

All ten of them, plus the sheriff, rode off toward the Wright ranch, raising a lot of eyebrows around Millertown as they did. As promised, about two miles from Wright's gate, five of the Barkley men dropped out with instructions to wait and only come if sent for, or if they heard a lot of gunfire. The Barkleys, Sloan, Ewell and the sheriff continued on and soon were riding up to the compound on the Wright property.

And it did look something like a fortified compound. There had been two men at the gate, and several men patrolled with rifles that they kept close as the newcomers dismounted in front of the house. Wright came out of the house, smiling again. The Barkleys looked around. "I don't see anybody who isn't carrying a rifle," Nick said quietly to his brothers.

"No slaves here," Heath said.

"They're under the rug," Jarrod said.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Wright said. "Welcome to my ranch. Why don't you tell me what you want to see, and I'll be happy to take you around."

The sheriff said, "You know what the rumors are, Dan. If you have any people here other than the ones I see right now, you'd better let us see them."

"Of course," Wright said. "Let's start in the house."

The men all went in together – and right off the bat, they saw something that they were half expecting was here but they figured Wright would hide away. There were two women in the house, older women plainly dressed who were cleaning in the big living room.

"Gentlemen, may I present Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Locklater," Wright said and the women stopped what they were doing. They just stood there. They did not smile. "Mrs. Henry is married to the former storekeeper in Done In, Blane Henry, and Mrs. Locklater is married to the former sheriff of Done In. Both men also work for me. They are out herding cattle at the moment."

The men all took their hats off to the ladies. Wright nodded to the women and they resumed their work.

Wright said, "I don't have anyone else working in the house right now except my manservant in the back, but I'll be happy to show you around anyway if you like, Sheriff."

The sheriff looked at the Barkley men. Jarrod immediately asked, "Where are the children?" and he watched the two women react to his question. Mrs. Locklater hesitated just a moment but then kept up her work.

"We do have five children with us here," Wright said. "Mrs. Henry's two and Mrs. Locklater's three. Right now I suspect they're out picking vegetables for our supper. They take their classes in the morning."

"The three Rs, I take it," Jarrod said. "Who teaches them?"

"One of the ladies who used to work in the saloon in Done In is quite literate, Mr. Barkley," Wright said. "She teaches them every morning. The vegetable garden is just a bit out back. Would you like to see the children?"

"Yes," Nick said quickly.

Wright nodded and led them through the house. Jarrod brought up the rear of the entourage, purposely because he wanted to give another look to Mrs. Henry and Mrs. Locklater. Mrs. Locklater hesitated in her work and looked up at him before she went back to it. Jarrod was pretty sure he understood what she was trying to tell him.

They went out through the kitchen, where a black man was getting ready to make dinner. "This is David, a servant I brought with me from back east," Wright said. "David is the best cook west of the Mississippi."

Wright kept on walking straight out the back door. David did not even look up from his work. All three Barkley men looked at each other, knowing full well that a free man, like Silas, would have looked up and nodded a greeting.

Wright led the group out back and about a hundred feet away from the house. They saw a large vegetable garden there, and there were five children picking vegetables, as Wright said there would be. There was one man watching over them, just moving among them, watching. "Hello, children!" Wright called.

They all stopped for a moment, looked up, and then went back to work.

Jarrod took a huge breath. Despite Wright's attempt to make everything look normal, it was not looking normal. The women, David, the children – none of them had even smiled or acknowledged the visitors in any way. "Where are the other people from Done In?" Jarrod asked.