Chapter 15

15

"You folks go on out of here now." The sheriff gestured toward the door. "Your mister will be kept locked up, Mrs. Rutledge."

Thaddeus Rutledge coughed as if to get everyone's attention. "I insist on being allowed to attend the trial. I came all this way, and now my wife is making a mockery of the care I've provided for her. The trial can't go on without me there to tell my side of what's happened. Dr. Horecroft is right now searching for a lawyer who will represent me. I will be at this trial."

Sheriff Peters, his arms crossed, studied Rutledge for a long moment. "All right. I reckon you should be at the trial. I'll go along and stand guard. It'll be good practice for you for when your own trial date comes along. Maybe we can get this same judge to sentence you to prison as long as he's here."

Rutledge didn't even blink. "Good. And it appears I'm the one who needs to be guarded in this town. I'll welcome your protection, Sheriff."

The sheriff rolled his eyes, then turned his back on Rutledge and walked with the rest of them the few paces it took to reach the door. "You folks don't go far. I may have more questions for you."

Beth quietly said, "I've asked at the hotel if we can use the dining room to gather because none of us has a room large enough. Mr. Whitmer has been very generous."

Maeve had seen a few coins pass from Beth to the hotel owner yesterday. She suspected it was Beth who'd been so generous.

While the sheriff gave them a few more warnings, Maeve remembered Rutledge's accusations about her tackling him, which she had. But he was trying to kidnap Ginny. It had to be legal for Maeve to step in to prevent Rutledge from hauling Ginny away against her will, even if force had been needed to do it.

If they couldn't accuse the man of assaulting Maeve—since she had most certainly assaulted him first—then they'd accuse him of kidnapping. Was it legal to kidnap your own wife? Being an honest woman, Maeve hadn't had much experience with the law. The law seemed so confusing at times like this.

Maybe it wasn't too late to arrest Rutledge for kidnapping Kat back in Missouri. Could they prove that Rutledge had made a habit of kidnapping women? Surely that was worse than doing it just once. Yet even once was a hanging offense, wasn't it? And Rutledge's man Sykes had helped, so that made him an accomplice. If they couldn't see them hanged, then the two men should at the very least spend the rest of their lives in the territorial prison. As long as they were at it, she wished they'd toss that arrogant Dr. Horecroft in prison, too.

Maeve's thoughts were in a turmoil as she walked with the others back to the hotel. Beth led the way into the dining room. Mr. Whitmer came and served everyone coffee and offered them cobbler. They thanked him and accepted the coffee, but no one was up to eating.

The men hadn't finished their breakfast, which was still half-eaten on the table. Whitmer cleared the dishes away and left them alone.

"I'm going to change out of this dress and get my hair back under control." Maeve got a few nods, then left the room. She barely noticed Dakota following her out. At the base of the stairs, she stopped and looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'll just walk upstairs with you, make sure the room isn't occupied. I don't know where Horecroft went, but you could be in danger."

Maeve looked past Dakota's shoulder to the open door to the dining room. Whispering, she said, "I got mixed up in that fight, but all the trouble is aimed at Ginny. I think instead of worrying about me, you should stay down here and guard her."

"Horecroft is likely looking for a lawyer for Rutledge, but then we have only a dishonest man's word on that. I don't trust Horecroft, not after the way Rutledge talked about you."

"What did he say?"

"He questioned your sanity, of course. The man seems to go straight to that conclusion with any woman who gives him the least bit of trouble." A smile crept onto Dakota's face. "I saw with my own eyes how many times you punched him. I'd say that qualifies as trouble."

Maeve nodded. "Well, the man deserved it. I was happy to break his nose. Someone needed to, after the way he's treated Ginny."

"Yep, you didn't leave much of him for Oscar, but enough. Oscar hit Rutledge as if he'd been saving it up for years. I've never seen him so angry."

"I'm glad he got a chance to work some of that anger off. And you took care of Sykes. We all held up when trouble came, didn't we?" She looked up the stairs. "Do you really think Horecroft might be up there with evil plans for me?"

Dakota shrugged one shoulder. "You or Ginny. You share a room. Let me just check to make sure it's safe."

Maeve nodded and led the way upstairs. "Rutledge mentioned me, did he? Before I got there?"

"He said something about you being redheaded Irish trash."

Maeve, outraged, turned on Dakota, who flashed a wide smile even as he held his hands up as if in surrender. "Don't look at me like that. I didn't say it—Rutledge did."

She stormed up the rest of the steps, stopping outside her room and rather grandly gesturing toward it. "Go on and check, Dakota, and don't forget to look under the bed. A rodent like Horecroft might be hiding there."

Dakota stepped forward. When he was even with Maeve, he said quietly, "You're ten times the person Rutledge will ever be. Calling you names and pegging you and Ginny as insane is proof he's a foolish man. He's been throwing his money away searching for his wife. He's been hurt three times now as he searched for her. He's too arrogant and, honestly, too stupid to just give up and admit the money he wants to steal from Ginny isn't his to take."

"Ten times?" Maeve looked up at Dakota and remembered, before Da had died, there'd been a bit of interest that passed between them.

"One hundred times. You're a fine, smart, hardworking woman. This country needs you more than it needs Rutledge."

He reached out for what had to be a rat's nest of hair and tugged on one of her many corkscrew curls. "And I love your red hair and the pretty Irish lilt in your voice."

Swallowing hard, Maeve had to force herself to step back from him and the kind look in his blue eyes. "Thank you. Now get on in there and toss out any intruders so I can tidy up. I must look a fright."

Dakota shook his head and smiled. "I'm not frightened."

He went into her room and was back out in a matter of seconds. "All is clear—nobody in there. I'll wait out here for you."

Maeve thanked him again, deciding she appreciated his protecting her.

When they got back downstairs, they joined a quiet bunch.

"Any word about the judge?" Maeve asked.

Beth shook her head. "We've been listening for the train whistle. Kat and Sebastian left to get word to the lawyer she hired that it was time to get to work. She should be bringing him back here soon."

Maeve settled in with a cup of steaming-hot coffee and listened for the sound of an approaching train. She'd rinsed the blood out of her dress and brought along her sewing notions to reattach the sleeve.

The judge was coming.

Would they get a fair judge? Or one who would be influenced by Dr. Horecroft's arrogance and Rutledge's wealth?

Maeve saw Ginny's hands shake as they lifted her coffee cup. The white cup had a lovely pattern with delicate blue flowers and small green leaves on it. Ginny raised the cup a few inches, then set it back down with a hard click when it became clear she couldn't get even a single sip of coffee without spilling. Ginny had stormed into that jailhouse a confident woman. Right now she looked anything but.

"Should someone be watching Horecroft?" Dakota seemed calm compared to the rest of them. But his eyes were watchful as he assessed every person who passed by the window, came into the hotel, or rode a horse within his sight.

He was more vigilant than the rest of them, but then he was a man who'd been in charge of a wagon train on several grueling trips. A man used to taking charge and dealing with trouble with steady nerves.

Maeve, as she considered the man and mended her dress, realized Dakota had been like this since the day he'd joined their group. Did he have more experience with danger than she was aware of? She wanted to have a long talk with him, ask him what all he'd been through to make him into the man he was today.