Chapter 5

Sheriff Madden let Jarrod into Linda's cell, then left the block and closed the door behind him. Linda looked a little stronger this morning. She was in a clean dress, still simple, and she had washed her hair so it was still wet. She did not wear any make-up at all, and Jarrod's first thought was that she was quite attractive.

"Good morning, Jarrod," she said. She was not cheerful at all, but she stood up from the bunk and extended her hand.

Jarrod took her hand and for a moment considered kissing it, but simply gave it a squeeze and let go. This was not anything resembling a social call. "Good morning, Linda. How did you sleep?"

"A bit better, actually," she said. "And I actually felt like cleaning up this morning. I haven't felt that way for days, but I think – " She hesitated. "I think you gave me some courage I didn't have before you became my lawyer. I think my thoughts are clearing up."

"Meaning you are comfortable with presenting the truth now, in court as well as with me?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm ready to own up to it. I am an attorney, after all. I never lied for my clients, so I best not be lying for myself, whatever the reason. Adam wouldn't want that."

"Good," Jarrod said with a smile. He motioned for her to sit back down and drew the stool up to sit down himself. "I need to let you know I checked with the authorities in Sacramento and I will get documentation about your admission to the bar, how you and your husband had a practice in Los Angeles that had no complaints against it, but closed it and moved away, so I can present it at the trial. The authorities are not aware of where you went. We should let them know, and let them know what's happened."

Linda nodded. "Of course."

"I wish I could say I found some precedent in the law that would affirm your defense, but so far, I haven't found anything directly on point."

"I'm sure you won't," Linda said. "While we were thinking and praying, Adam and I were looking too. We didn't find a thing."

"That doesn't mean we can't make our own precedent," Jarrod said. "The right to defend yourself and to defend someone else is something the courts have recognized for years. We have to be able to present to a jury that what Adam did, what you assisted him to do, was a matter of him defending himself against unremitting and permanent pain, and defending you against becoming sick and poverty stricken by caring for him."

"But it was suicide. That's a mortal sin. Do you think that will work?"

"If we pick the right jury," Jarrod said. "If we present the very relevant facts. Your case is one of recognizing and acting out of love, and we have a good chance of getting the sympathy of a jury if we can show that. You're going to have to show a jury and the public some very intimate feelings though, and some very intimate interactions with your husband. You're going to be laying yourself bare in a lot of ways."

She looked like she was thinking hard, and preparing herself. "If this were a case I was preparing for a client like me – I'd start at the very beginning. I'd want to show how I met my husband, how we fell in love. How I got my license to practice law with his support. Even – even how we were never able to have children." She looked up at Jarrod. "Are you prepared to hear all that and tell it to a jury?"

"If you are," Jarrod said. "I know it won't be easy to reveal everything about yourself and your marriage, but it's your life at stake. It's a life that Adam wanted you to have."

Linda actually smiled a little, remembering. "You're right. It is. And I owe it to my husband to do everything I can to save it, don't I?"

Jarrod found himself incredibly moved. This was a woman whose story was a deep love story. Her story was one of grief, but also of intelligence and caring. She was willing to tell it, but, "Yes, but be honest with yourself. There may be individual facts you find yourself uncomfortable with telling even to me. You have to be willing to give them up."

"I understand," Linda said. "And we don't have a lot of time."

"No," Jarrod said. "And before we head down this road, I need you to be willing to talk to Dr. Merar and let him examine you. We need to show you are healthy and of sound mind. He'll have to testify to that."

Linda sighed and gave a nod. "There's no time like the present. Can you get him over here?"

"As soon as he's finished delivering a baby," Jarrod said.

"A baby," Linda sighed. There was a hint of longing there, even a hint of jealousy. "Well," she said, shaking it off. "New life comes first, and it comes when it's ready to, not by our clocks. I'll talk to the doctor as soon as he's able to see me."

Jarrod had to smile. He liked this woman. She was forthright but not cold, warm but not weak. She would make an excellent law partner –

Jarrod jumped a little inside as the word "partner" went through his mind, because it wasn't just a law partner he was suddenly thinking about. He had to get a grip on his own emotions, he realized, because without planning it, without wanting it, his dead wife came back into his mind. She would have been his life partner, just as Adam was supposed to be Linda's.

He backed his emotions off. He couldn't save Linda's life if her story wrapped him up in his own, and he couldn't get too deeply close to Linda now. He had to keep an intelligent distance if he was going to help her avoid a rope. And he wanted that badly.

"In the meantime," Jarrod said, "why don't we start with how you met Adam? Where was it, and when and how?"

Linda smiled. "I'll have to go back a little farther than that, to let you know how I managed to be in the place where we met. You see, I was only 25 when both my parents died and left me their property near Lancaster. It was a small farm. I had no brothers or sisters and I couldn't work it myself, so I decided to sell it….."

XXXXXX

Polly Pierce worked at the ladies' shop in Stockton, and was used to hearing all kinds of news, all kinds of gossip, as if some of the ladies in town took the opportunity to do some talking when their men weren't around. Polly took it all in and ignored most of it, just letting the women ramble on. Most of what they talked about didn't concern her at all.

Polly was a gentle looking woman, a redhead with freckles and a sweet smile that captured the attention of a lot of the men in town. Heath was the only one she gave that smile to without being prompted. He had captured her attention only a few days after she arrived in town, and not long after, he had asked her to dance at a get together in the town square.

She'd heard the story, how Heath hadn't been born into the Barkley family but now was accepted as one of Tom Barkley's sons. Nobody seemed to know the whole story, and so far Polly didn't know it either, even though she and Heath had been seeing each other for several weeks. Polly didn't ask for the story. She figured that was how she would know he was serious about her – he'd tell her his story.

Victoria and Audra Barkley had come in once or twice, exchanged pleasantries when they bought something, but hadn't talked about the Barkley men. Polly wondered if they knew Heath had been seeing her, but if they did, they didn't say so. Polly figured that too would come if Heath began to be serious about her.

Mrs. Winters came into the shop just after Jarrod went into the sheriff's office, the morning after Polly had enjoyed her latest dinner with Heath. Mrs. Winters was not a pleasant woman, always full of gossip and disapproval. Polly didn't think she knew she was seeing Heath, and she was not about to bring it up, but as soon as Mrs. Winters found what she wanted and brought it to Polly to pay for it, the first thing she talked about was the Barkleys.

Jarrod, to be specific. "I just saw that Jarrod Barkley go into the jail," Mrs. Winters said with a frown. "I just know he's going to represent that Cain woman."

Everyone in town – Polly included – knew about Linda Cain's arrest for murdering her husband. Polly didn't know Jarrod had gone in to see her – if Heath knew he didn't bring it up the night before at dinner. Polly decided to let it go without comment.

"That Jarrod Barkley will take any client at all," Mrs. Winters said. "Remember when he defended that Korby Kyles – oh, that's right, you weren't here then. He nearly got that murderer off, but the truth came out. It always comes out. Even the truth about that Heath Barkley came out."

Now Polly looked up. She didn't say anything.

But Mrs. Winters went on. "Just a straggler wandering in off the street, and they took him in and made him a Barkley just like any of the others. Imagine – Victoria Barkley finds out her husband had a love child somewhere, and she still took him in!"

Polly finally spoke. "Heath is a fine man. He's very gentlemanly, very honest."

"Well," Mrs. Winters said, unaware Polly knew Heath at all. "That may be, but that brother of his – defending that Cain woman. I don't know how any Barkley can show their face in town with him doing that."

Polly didn't know what to say to any of that now. "Were you able to find everything you wanted, Mrs. Winters?" she asked instead.

"Yes, dear, thank you," Mrs. Winters said, paid for her purchase and left.

Polly was alone then, with what Mrs. Winters had said and with her thoughts about it. She wasn't sure what they were yet.