Memories of Gold (14 page)

He came up with little else on the rest of his circuit, but he kept an eye out for the footprints and noted that the men had walked away, not ridden. There were no hoofprints, and it made more sense to slink around on foot if they were trying to blend in after the earthquake. Still, he could assume they had horses stashed somewhere nearby, or they would steal some to help them on their way, if they could find any.

When he got back to the front door, one of the employees was back with a deputy. Since the officer was taking information from the employees around him, it appeared that recent events had been explained to him. Jimmy sighed in relief. Taking charge of the situation was exhausting and now he could get back to his original reason for walking past the bank—Maria.

He went up to the lawman, hoping he could give his account of what happened and quickly move on to his own affairs. Once he was there, however, he realized that it would be quite a long while before he would be allowed to leave. He was labeled by the employees as “the man in charge”—after all, he was the acting manager—and the officer looked to him for confirmation of everything. It turned out to be for the better, since he had paid close attention to the details that many of the other employees missed. He was able to describe the men in much greater detail than anyone else.

Everyone present explained what happened, and with Jimmy’s help the officer was able to get a clear account of the events and complete descriptions of the men. After it was written down, the man inspected the hole in the wall, and Jimmy pointed out the lack of hoofprints. By that time, a few more officers had been brought by other bank employees, and the circumstances of the robbery needed to be explained yet again. Jimmy was anxious to go, but it was necessary for him to fulfill his responsibilities, so he waited, impatient.

When he was yet again anticipating he would be allowed to leave, horses were brought and the group of officers clambered into the saddles, preparing to follow in the direction of the tracks and hopefully find some more information about where the men who had robbed the bank had gone, or possibly find the men themselves. Jimmy watched them with relief, glad his part was over.

The sheriff, an older man who nonetheless exuded an air of confidence and ability, turned to the crowd around the bank. “Any of you fellas willing to come with us? We could use someone to identify the men if we run across them.”

Everyone, including the lawmen, looked at Jimmy expectantly. His mood plummeted. Of course it would need to be him. Sighing, he pushed Maria yet again into the back of his mind, and swung himself onto the only horse without a rider, a large dappled mare that seemed a mite skittish, but Jimmy was fairly certain she was just sensing his disposition.

He would disappear the moment he was no longer needed, and he was sure the horse could feel his eagerness to get away from her and the entire situation. Since he had the clearest picture of what the men looked like, there was nothing he could do but ride along. Normally, he would’ve been happy to track down the robbers and be a part of the action, but this was less than perfect timing.

At least it would give him an interesting story to tell Maria when he was finally able to see her, he thought as they rode off. He hung back in the pack of men and horses, allowing his mind to wander back to her and what happened between them that morning. He still felt uncomfortable about her job, but the initial shock had worn off and he had at least come to accept it. After all, Maria was a smart girl. He didn’t know exactly what happened after her father died, but he knew that she would always do what was needed to survive.

As he meandered along paths in his mind, the officers turned their horses out of town and toward the river. There were places for the drifters to hide near the river, and it was a known camp spot for those spending the night in the open air. Even if the vagrants evaded them, they might be able to gain some information about where the group had gone.

As they approached the water the company of lawmen slowed, eyeing the area carefully. Jimmy watched, detached from the situation. He was not worried or anxious about their location; it was unlikely the men would be nearby. After all, they had gotten their money and probably obtained horses somewhere, so there would be no reason to remain in the area.

Their group eventually came to a few trees surrounded by brush, a guarded area where travelers often spent the night. Jimmy hung back, allowing the sheriff and his troop to check it for any clues about the thieves, attempting to find something that could explain where they came from or where they were headed.

Just as Jimmy was calculating how far the men could have gone on horseback since the robbery, he heard a man’s shout and an explosion as a gun fired.

Startled, he looked in the direction of the sound to see the thieves raising their guns just as the lawmen leveled theirs. He didn’t even have a gun to wield, and sat completely defenseless. Before he could fully absorb the absurd circumstance, several guns went off at once; the sound was deafening. Bullets flew everywhere. Jimmy had no time to find cover before a stray bullet buried itself a few inches below his left shoulder.

Jimmy gasped in pain as the small piece of metal sliced into him, and the sudden shock as the blood began to flow blocked out the chaos and noise around him. He was separate from the fight, apart from it all; there was only the pain and the blood and the realization that he could die. He put his right hand over the hole, fairly sure the bullet had been just a little too high to hit his heart. Maria’s image flashed into his mind, and he wished he was with her.

Suddenly the volume was turned up and he was back in the middle of the gunfire and smoke and shouting. His horse was skittering to the right and he knew he had to grab the reins before she bolted, but his left arm felt useless. Just a lifeless thing hanging at his side. His right one was pressed against the wound as he tried to staunch the flow of blood. Before he could decide what to do, the horse reared and he tumbled off. He felt a fresh burst of excruciating pain as he hit the ground, then the bitter cold as he spilled into the river.

His last thought was of their argument, regretting that he never had the chance to fix it. He didn’t want that to be the last time they would ever see each other.

And then everything went black.

Chapter 8

After Maria stormed away, she went to make sure Emma was okay. Her emotions were roiling inside of her, and she instinctively went to remind herself why she had to make the decision to refuse Jimmy’s offer. She wanted to be a wife—no, that wasn’t entirely true—she wanted to be
his
wife and never need to go upstairs with anyone but Jimmy again, but she had burdens she had no right to thrust onto his shoulders.

When she got to the wooden house, Mrs. Harper was standing outside hanging laundry while her boys ran around playing. Emma, who was sitting in a chair nearby, was clapping happily as she watched their antics.

Mrs. Harper saw Mary approach and waved, smiling. “Well, good morning! Didn’t expect to see you today, but I guess you were just as surprised as the rest of us with the shaker this morning. We’re all staying outside for a few more hours, until Mr. Harper gets back and tells me that everything’s safe inside and it won’t tumble about our ears if one of these crazy boys runs into a wall.”

Mary walked up and ran her fingers through Emma’s hair. Listening to the woman chatter was soothing for her soul. “Emma made it through without too much fuss?”

“Oh, she was scared some, and she started wailing a bit at first, but today’s a good day and she got over it quick. She was running around a little just a few minutes ago, but I had her take a break. She was getting tired and started to stumble. I didn’t want her to fall and hurt herself.”

Mary leaned over Emma and hugged her, needing to feel a connection with somebody, needing help but having nowhere to go. Emma patted her arm, and Mary felt that, perhaps Emma understood her need for affection. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Mrs. Harper watched her thoughtfully, and Mary thought about unloading her troubles on the kind woman.

The moment was broken, however, when the young boys ran between them, yelling and jostling each other. It was her own dilemma, Mary decided, and she had no excuse to burden others with it when they could do nothing.

Mr. Harper came sidling up, a thin older man, slightly stooped from his years of hard work. Mrs. Harper watched him coming, her eyes lighting up with love, and Mary’s heart ached with want at the sight. Though the Harpers had been married for so many years, it was still very clear that they loved each other with a passion.

Mrs. Harper walked over to her husband, receiving a lingering kiss on the cheek. Mary could guess that the restraint they showed was for her benefit, and smiled at the thought. Mr. Harper wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist like a teenager, ignoring their age and the fact that she was much larger than he was.

After their greetings, Mrs. Harper, still smiling widely, said, “What took you so long, Frank? I was beginning to think that you took the earthquake as an opportunity to run off and leave me and this passel of critters all on our lonesome. Not that I would blame you, mind,” she finished as she was knocked from behind by the two boys running up to greet their father.

“Can’t say I never considered it,” he answered, “but I knew I wouldn’t be able to find anyone else quite as pretty as you, so here I am.”

She beamed and looked like she was holding back girlish giggles, and Mary felt as if her heart was swelling with love and being crushed under a giant weight at the same time, making it difficult for her to breathe.

“Actually, there’s a bit of a mess in town right now,” he continued. “A group of men broke into the bank after the quake and managed to get away scot-free. They’re sending out a party to go find them.”

Mary wondered if Jimmy had gone to the bank yet and learned of the robbery, and she pitied him. This would leave him with a good deal of work to do, she knew. Perhaps after he got it sorted and his mind was distracted from her disloyalty, though, they could find a way to reconcile. The short time they’d been separated was enough to help her see that she needed to try again.

Seeing the married couple and their deep love for one another made her feel hopeful. She was going to go talk to him, apologize, explain everything, even Emma, and they would find a way. She unwrapped her arms from Emma’s shoulders and walked to the Harpers. “I must go. Thank you for everything,” and without explaining further, headed back towards the center of town.

There had to be a way to make it all work, and she was determined to figure it out.

As she approached the bank, she was greeted with a large crowd discussing the events that had occurred. She listened to a woman explain the situation to another, and then she moved deeper into the crowd, trying to get closer to the bank to see if Jimmy was there yet. He had to know about it, based on the crowd. Nearly the entire town was there.

Once she pushed to the front, though, she still saw no sign of him. She scanned carefully, and her eyes fell on the other man who lived at the boarding house with Jimmy, the one he had pointed out to her at Lee’s. She wasn’t sure of his name, but supposed he might be able to help. She caught his eye and waved him over towards her.

When she asked if he had seen Jimmy, his tired expression shifted slightly, became brighter. “He was here during the robbery, and when the sheriff got men together to ride out to try to catch the thieves, they asked him to go along so he could identify the outlaws. I would have gone, too, but I’d gone out to get help and by the time I got back, they’d left. I would have loved to help catch those men.”

Worry coursed through Mary. It sounded like a dangerous situation, and Jimmy was trapped in it though he was no lawman. Something could happen to him. She thought over the last things she had said to him, how she had called him an ass, and she resolved to fix it the moment he returned.

She quelled the part of her mind that added,
if he comes back at all.
That sort of thinking would do no good and only make her more concerned, so she told herself to ignore that possibility. It was silly to be anxious when his friend clearly saw no danger in the situation. She had difficulty believing herself, though.

She was lost in thought for several moments before she realized that the man had stopped speaking and was watching her. She had no idea how much he knew about her relationship with Jimmy, if he had ever seen her at the saloon, or if he asked her a question, and she couldn’t focus on figuring it out. She thanked him and walked away.

She resolved to wait until Jimmy came back and she could be sure everything was well, so she found a shady area to stand on the outskirts of the crowd of onlookers, many of whom also seemed content to wait for news rather than head back to homes and businesses. Shasta rarely had excitement of this sort, and they planned to see it through. They spoke with enthusiasm, repeating the facts of the case to others and making predictions about what was happening on the chase for the law-breakers.

After an hour, a few had dropped off and most of the ones who remained had long exhausted the conversation topic, instead reverting back to everyday conversations or discussing the additional work created by the earthquake. Nobody seemed worried, but Mary’s unease settled deep in her, a cold ball in the pit of her stomach that grew larger as the time passed.