Chapter 13

13

Dakota was as mad as a rabid badger.

Rutledge had knocked Maeve to the ground. She'd refused to be shoved aside to let them take Ginny, and they'd been rolling on the ground, fighting.

A quirk of a smile almost escaped. He was pretty sure Maeve had broken Rutledge's nose. Good for her. Then his anger swept back through him. It couldn't be allowed to stand. "I think we should hang them."

The sheriff pushed a shackled Sykes into the jailhouse. Dakota had Rutledge and enjoyed forcing him to walk across the busy streets of Cheyenne to be thrust into jail.

Beth walked with Jake, carrying three babies between them. Oscar, looking furious and ready to swing his fists a few more times, brought up the rear.

Except, no, he didn't bring up the rear. There was one more member of their little parade. A short man, with a bearing that said he was someone to be reckoned with. He'd stepped out of that carriage after the fighting was over. Now he'd followed them to the jailhouse.

At Dakota's perfectly reasonable suggestion of a hanging, the short man sniffed as if Dakota was talking nonsense. Or maybe as if Dakota smelled bad.

He hadn't fought. He hadn't spoken. But he had an arrogance about him and had stood by while Ginny and Maeve were attacked. Dakota thought that made him part of this crime, and he'd've liked to see him in a pair of handcuffs.

The thug Sykes was muscle-bound, dark-haired, and dressed in a suit that didn't look natural to him. Sykes didn't sniff at Dakota's recommendation of a hanging. In fact, he looked downright scared.

The sheriff shoved Sykes through a door behind his desk, into a room with two jail cells. He put Sykes in one while Dakota pushed Rutledge in the other, slamming the door shut with a loud clang of metal on metal. The sheriff twisted the key in one lock after the other, and the men were detained.

Dakota took a long look at Rutledge. He was surprised at just how old the man was. Ginny was a youthful woman who'd passed herself off as Beth's older sister on the wagon train. Dakota had found it believable. But Rutledge wasn't just old, he was ancient. He limped badly, especially favoring one leg, and Dakota had heard he'd been stabbed by Yvette. Rutledge had survived, but not unscathed. He also favored one arm, holding it close to his body every chance he got. He'd sustained injuries that either weren't treated right or had been serious enough he hadn't fully healed.

Dakota thought of Joseph, who was back in Hidden Canyon with an arm he favored. Joseph didn't spare himself much when it came to work. Had Rutledge had an injury like that?

His hair was bone-white and had receded badly. He had a paunch that swelled out, along with a few extra chins. His shoulders were rounded as sometimes happened to old folks. His face was lined with wrinkles that seemed deeper than could be accounted for by age, though Dakota didn't know Rutledge's exact age. But his wrinkles cut deep along lines set by frowning.

Ginny's husband. The man she'd been hiding from for years. He didn't look all that dangerous to Dakota. He'd been losing a fight with Maeve, after all. Still, a man could do harm that went beyond using his fists. Dakota had known men like that. And it was clear that Ginny was terrified of the man.

It wasn't just Ginny either. Oscar had helped Ginny hide, which meant Oscar took Rutledge seriously. Beth and Jake had agreed to their isolated life, so they'd concluded the only safety to be found was in hiding. Ginny might be overly afraid of her husband if he'd abused her, while Oscar looked like he was on edge enough to start shooting.

Jake kept a hawk eye on all three of the newcomers. The little ones had all been brought along to the jail because Ginny was badly shaken and not up to caring for them right now. Maeve too. Both women had been roughed up in the fight, each getting knocked to the ground. Had they been injured? Dakota would make sure they were all right.

Before he could leave, the third man, the short one who hadn't been knocking women to the ground, said, "Mr. Rutledge has done nothing wrong. He is concerned for his wife's well-being. He's been trying to find her ever since she ran away from treatment years ago. His intention is to see her brought back to rational life or, failing that, to see that she is kept safe from her own madness. I believe it isn't possible for her to regain her sanity. Her mind is too badly broken. But Mr. Rutledge has never given up hope that his wife will one day be well again."

The man looked at Rutledge—broken nose, bleeding, coated in dirt from rolling around in the street—and added, "That redhead who attacked him has obviously got her own problems. I've had many occasions to see a woman lose her composure in such a way that she attacks. It's always a sure sign of madness. As a doctor, I can see she's as insane as Ginny. Does Wyoming have proper facilities for the mad? I'd be glad to speak with anyone in a position to commit her. She needs round-the-clock care and to be locked away. She poses a danger, both to herself and to others."

Jake grabbed Dakota's arm just as he swung a fist. A fierce tug ended with Dakota subsiding, glaring at Jake. "No one talks about Maeve O'Toole like that."

JJ bounced in Jake's arms and reached for Dakota to hold him. Jake moved his body just a bit so Dakota couldn't take the little boy. Probably a wise decision.

Beth was holding Maria and Lydia. "No one talks about my mama like that either." Her eyes flashed with anger.

Dakota wondered if Jake was going to have to wrestle his wife next.

Beth said, "I only regret I'm not the one to give you that broken nose, Father. You have had that coming for a long time. I'll go thank Maeve as soon as we're done here."

"Another madwoman," the sniffing man said. "Her father has said she's showing signs of her mother's broken mind."

"Sheriff," Beth said, interrupting the diagnosis, "are you going to keep these men locked up?"

"I am for a fact. You said the trial concerning Ginny is later today. Once that's done, she'll be safe from these sidewinders." The sheriff thrust out a hand to Dakota. "I'm Rex Peters, sheriff of Cheyenne. I appreciate your help getting these men under control."

"Thanks for coming so fast, Sheriff. We all appreciate you stepping in." Dakota shook his hand firmly.

The jail was as new as the rest of the town. Dakota thought the bars looked sufficiently sturdy. He could still smell the raw wood and see sawdust in the corners. Behind the sheriff's desk, a row of guns were locked in a rack on one side of the room. The cells took up the back of the jailhouse.

"I'll unshackle you now that you're behind bars," the sheriff said.

Sykes offered his hands through the bars as if he'd done it a few times before and knew exactly what was expected of him. Dakota studied Sykes more closely. He was a man hired to be the strong arm of Rutledge's will. Who was he? What lay in his past that had trained him so well how to behave behind bars?

Sheriff Peters unlocked the handcuffs. He'd only had one set and used them on Sykes, a decision Dakota approved of, although seeing Rutledge shackled would've been real satisfying.

"I want a doctor. That is, if this one-horse town has such a thing." Rutledge touched his nose gingerly, then his lip. He pulled out a kerchief to stanch the bleeding.

"He's gonna take one look at you and tell you your nose is broken. Broken by a one-hundred-pound woman who was trying to pull you off your wife when you attacked her. The doc's not gonna do much for you. Waste of his time."

"I demand medical attention, Sheriff." Rutledge slammed the side of his fist against the bars. He flinched and cradled his arm.

Sheriff Peters turned to Horecroft. "Didn't you say you were a doctor? You tend him."

Horecroft sniffed. "I'm not that kind of doctor."

"I am going to make you sorry you locked me up, Sheriff," Rutledge said. "I've been searching for my wife for years. She's a danger to herself. I did not attack her. I took her arm, and then that little vermin tackled me with no provocation."

"I suspect she had plenty of provocation," Beth snapped. "Like hearing my mama scream and cry for help and watching her fight my father's hold on her."

Oscar shook his head. "Ginny's been living on her own for years—like you just said, Rutledge. You admit she's been away from you while you searched for her. She hasn't been in a bit of danger—until you showed up." Oscar sounded grim as death. "She's worked hard to cook and sew, to care for her own home. She's as rational as any woman alive, and no doctor can be trusted in his assessment when he's being paid to rule her insane."

Dakota wondered if they should get the children out of there.

"Who's that old man, Mama?" Marie asked.

"That's your grandpa, honey." Beth sounded weary. "Don't expect anything from him. He's not nice like your grandma is."

Marie, with her round, blue eyes, said, "Hi, Grandpa."

JJ bounced in Jake's arms. "Grampy! Grampy! Grampy!" He struggled to get down while Jake held on tight.

Rutledge focused on the little girl, then on the boy in Jake's arms. "You managed to produce a son, Elizabeth? I'd've thought no woman in your mother's line could do that."

"Don't get your hopes up, Rutledge," Jake said. "We're raising him up to be a rancher. He's not going to be interested in being a robber baron or whatever you call yourself."

"Robber baron's about right," Oscar said. "I've heard tenement owner, slumlord, thief, tyrant, cheat, and plenty others."

Rutledge glared at Oscar, then turned back to the sheriff. "I did not harm my wife. I was delighted to see she was alive and well. And because she's run away before, I caught hold of her to take her back with me to a place where she can be properly cared for."

"You mean the Horecroft Insane Asylum." Beth handed Lydia to Oscar and hugged little Marie tight. "A place of horror where my father put my mama against her will without any kind of hearing as to her mental state. My mama, Eugenia Rutledge, is an intelligent, sensible, utterly sane woman. Father's decision to lock her away was because she had inherited money from her parents in such a way that Father couldn't touch it. His cruelty was all based in his demand that she hand over her money to him. She might have given him the money in exchange for her freedom, but he also demanded that she hand over the money I inherited. She refused and so he locked her up with no trial, no doctor's examination, no proof of her being insane. I would have handed over my inheritance, but I didn't realize that was what he wanted. And I don't think that's all he wanted. He mainly just couldn't stand a woman defying him, so he decided having her own opinion meant she was insane."

"I examined her. She's completely mad." Horecroft checked his watch as if this conversation was a waste of his valuable time.

"Examined her how?" Beth asked. "What tests was she given? I've lived with my mother for four years now, and she's calm and wise. She's a woman to trust and depend on, a woman with a strong faith. She's a hard worker and has a fine intelligence. What tests could you have given her that would say otherwise?"

"I've made sufficient observations. You're in no position to question a well-respected doctor with years of experience."

"We are all going to question everything about you, Horecroft." Beth plunked one fist on her hips while swaying with little Marie in the other arm. "You're a man who's grown wealthy denying citizens their rights. That shouldn't be allowed, and I'm going to see that it's not. In a few years, men like you will be the ones locked up. And in case you haven't noticed, right this moment my father is the one locked up."

Rutledge made a purely rude sound. "Your mother hasn't told you the whole truth, Elizabeth. She needs constant care." He touched his swollen nose again. "That little redhead, probably Irish trash, attacked me. I'll expect her to be arrested before this nonsense is over."

Dakota thought the fool was lucky to have bars between himself and the rest of them. He was glaring at the jail cell and contemplating getting his hands on the key when Sebastian Jones walked in.