The Marshal Meets His Match (26 page)

“Why did you think he was still around?”

“Jonah matched the tracks where he stole your ranch horse to the ones on the road where you…”

Meri interrupted. “The two men I saw on the road—I knew you and Jonah were acting funny. One of those men was the bank robber?”

“Yes. His name is Ernie Mullins.”

“Who was the other man?”

“Mr. Phineas Samuels.”

Meri’s eyes grew large, and her mouth dropped opened in surprise. “Mr. Samuels?”

Wyatt nodded grimly.

“But—I don’t understand.”

Wyatt related what he’d learned from the bank clerk. “I’d already figured out someone else was involved in the bank job, and when every inconsistency kept leading back to Mr. Samuels, I began to have my suspicions. I could never pin him down on any explanations, and then you mentioned seeing him at the cemetery and his strange behavior. It just added to all the things pointing his direction. I put a couple pairs of eyes to watching him and sure enough it led back to the cemetery.”

“I still don’t understand why you were there.”

“Mullins was hanging around because he didn’t find a safe full of money like he was expecting. The majority of the money was gone long before he arrived. Mr. Samuels had been embezzling a little at a time and engineered the robbery to cover his tracks. He didn’t expect Mullins to realize there had to be more money somewhere and want more than his share of what he cleaned out of the safe. Mullins was trying to scare Mr. Samuels into giving him a bigger cut. That’s what you saw on the road that day and what you saw through the bank window the day of the picnic.” He shook his head. “There is absolutely no honor between thieves.”

“I can hardly believe it.” Meri was stunned.

“You were the other wrinkle in Mr. Samuels’s plot.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You’d seen too much. Or so Mr. Samuels thought.”

“I didn’t see anything. I wasn’t anywhere around when the bank robbery occurred.”

“You saw Mr. Samuels in the cemetery, you saw him out on the road with Mullins and you saw the two of them in the bank. When you mentioned that at the picnic, he thought you were putting it all together and panicked. He told Mullins if he got rid of you, he’d give him a larger cut. You were too hard to get to at the ranch, but Mullins got his chance when you rode into the graveyard. He wasn’t shooting randomly that day. He was aiming for you.”

Meri shivered at how close he’d come to being successful. She decided not to dwell on that thought. “What were you doing there?”

Wyatt shifted in the chair and leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Jonah and I were following a hunch—one that played out. Mr. Samuels had been ‘depositing’ money in that ridiculous crypt. He buried it under a loose stone in the floor, believing no one would ever think to look in there. We’d just uncovered it when we saw you. We didn’t want you asking questions and were waiting ‘til you left, but Sandy caught us peeking out.”

Wyatt threw his head back suddenly and laughed. “I wish you could have seen your face when we walked out. You looked like you were expecting a ghost, but you got me instead.”

“I came close to shooting you just for scaring me.” Meri couldn’t hide an embarrassed grin.

“I thought for a moment you
were
upset enough to pull that trigger.” He grinned back at her to show there were no hard feelings and continued his story. “Word got to Samuels that you were shot, and he went to retrieve the money before hightailing it out of the country. He got quite a surprise when he found an empty hole in the ground instead of his money. We were waiting when he burst back out the door.”

“You got him.”

“And found your father’s missing gun, too. Samuels had it and used it. Ruined a good shirt, too.” He scowled.

“He shot you?” Meri jerked forward and yelped as the injured shoulder objected to the sudden move.

Wyatt was gently easing her back against the pillows before she realized he’d moved from his chair. “Easy does it. Give it a minute, the pain will pass.” He gently rubbed her arm. “Breathe, sweetheart. Want me to get Doc?”

“No,” Meri bit out, eyes closed and teeth clenched against the searing burn. Maybe she hadn’t dreamed up the sweetheart endearment in her drugged stupor after all.

A cool cloth touched her skin. She opened her eyes, surprised to see Wyatt tenderly dabbing her forehead. Concern radiated from him. “Is it easing up any?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t great, but it was bearable, given the distraction of his fingers against her forehead. “Go on with your story.”

He studied her closely before folding the cloth. Laying it over the edge of the basin, he reseated himself. “Okay, but no more sudden movements,” he cautioned anxiously.

“I think I’ll take you up on that advice.” She breathed shallowly as the pain began to ebb.

“Following orders? That would be a first for you, wouldn’t it?” Wyatt asked seriously.

“Funny. I can understand why you’re a lawman. Your career as a jester was so short-lived.” Meri grinned dryly.

Wyatt swiped his hand across his brow. “Pshew! Now that’s the Miss McIsaac I know and…I was beginning to worry that I didn’t have the right room.”

She rolled her eyes with a grin. “You didn’t say if Mr. Samuels hit you or Jonah.”

“He missed on both counts and only tore up the sleeve on my shirt. We didn’t miss.”

“Is he dead?”

“No. Jonah and I winged him, one on each side. He’s sitting in jail with two very sore arms awaiting the U.S. Marshal to transport him to the county seat for trial.”

“Sounds like you both nearly missed.”

His eyes narrowed playfully. “No, Miss Doubting Thomas, we hit exactly what we were aiming at. We didn’t want to kill him. We wanted him to stand trial.”

“What will happen to him?”

“That’ll be up to a judge, but he’ll be tried for the attempted murder of you and your father as well as the theft of the bank’s money.”

Meri shook her head in unbelief. It was bewildering that the man who’d attended church with them year after year had tried to have her killed! “But he was hurt in the holdup, too.”

“I’ve not been able to get out of either of them whether Mullins hit him or if Samuels did it to himself, but either way, it was done to make the holdup look real.”

“Why would he do it—rob the bank?”

Wyatt shook his head, thoughtfully quiet for a moment before answering. “I asked him that myself, and a lot of pent-up anger spewed out. Says he deserved to have the money because God never did anything for him. He’s raved about his poor childhood, the loss of a baby son, a wife that withdrew after the baby’s death, every little slight anyone’s ever done to him and on and on. Bitterness poured out of him like a festered sore. He doesn’t even sound rational half the time. I guess he let all his disappointments weigh on him until he snapped.”

“So the money’s all back?”

“Every penny according to the records we found at Samuels’s house. We even got back most of what Mullins took. He’ll stand trial for attempted murder, as well.”

“What will happen to the bank?”

“That’s up to the bank’s investors. Apparently, they were part of Samuels’s problem. Several of them wanted him replaced as bank president and had been working toward that end. Samuels knew about it and decided to get revenge along with what he thought he deserved.”

She leaned her head back against the pillow. Just hearing the whole sordid story tired her out. “What a mess.”

“I can’t help but think about Pastor Willis’s message a couple weeks ago. Samuels is a prime example of letting anger and bitterness fester until it ruined him. I suppose he’s had a hard life, but so has everyone to some extent, and he’d made something out of himself. But instead of letting the Lord help him through his difficulties, he allowed every little problem to grow out of proportion until he was willing to kill to get what he wanted.”

Meri blushed to think how close she’d been to starting down the same path. She didn’t realize her eyes had drifted closed until they flew open when she heard Wyatt stand up from his chair.

“I can see I’ve bored you to sleep,” he teased gently. “I’ll let you get some rest before Doc comes in and runs me out.” He pulled out his watch. “He gave me a time limit, and it’s almost up.”

“Thank you for explaining what happened.” She swallowed the yawn that threatened.

“You are most welcome.” Wyatt bowed. “May I drop in to see you again?”

“Could I keep you away, Marshal?” she teased.

“If you really don’t want to see me, Mac, I won’t come, but I’m hoping that’s not the case.” Wyatt was completely serious.

“I…” She cleared her throat in nervous confusion. “I don’t mind if you come by.”

Wyatt grinned hugely. “Good.” In the blink of an eye he picked her hand up from the quilt and, leaning over, kissed it gallantly. Straightening, he squeezed her fingers before releasing them, gave her a jaunty grin and headed out the door.

Meri was speechless. Her eyes followed the broad shoulders until they disappeared. She was still staring, pondering his actions, when Dr. Kilburn stepped into the room and after a quick look at her, ordered her to get some rest. She had no desire to sleep; her mind was too busy ordering her heart not to indulge in foolish dreams, but the kiss on her hand accompanied her into dreamland where chivalrous knights wore shiny badges instead of rusty armor and rode beautiful bay stallions instead of washed-out white horses.

* * *

When Wyatt arrived back at his office Friday afternoon, a U.S. Marshal was waiting to escort the prisoners to the county seat. He also requested Wyatt’s assistance in delivering the two men. Wyatt thought the trip would be a quick there-and-back, but he had to stay long enough to testify in a preliminary hearing Monday morning.

The time away gave him plenty of time to think. Almost losing Meri to a gunman’s bullet brought a new perspective to his belief that he needed to wait until life was safe before thinking about a wife and family. Seeing the hardship military life placed on wives and families, he’d erected a barrier to keep himself from being hurt or hurting someone else. The loss of his parents had shown him he couldn’t control circumstances around him, only his response, but still, he’d tried to protect himself with a wall around his heart.

Then Miss McIsaac had sailed a rangy black horse over his carefully fortified barriers as if they were no more substantial than a cobweb fence.

Although she had struggled for a while, she’d proved she was resilient enough to deal with the loss of her mother. Was her self-sufficient independence strong enough to deal with the uncertainty of his job and an unknown future? He hoped so, because the thought of not having her in his life was as scary as almost losing her to that bullet.

Whether he was an officer of the law or a simple horse breeder, it was impossible to guard completely himself or those around him from loss. He could, however, stop waiting for life to be perfect and go after the woman who made him laugh and his heart beat faster. After years of trying to control his future, it was time to trust the One who held the future in His hands.

Equal parts excitement and fear accompanied him on his return to Little Creek. Her reaction to him, whether it was a fiery retort, an all-out retreat or the shy softness she’d worn the last time he’d seen her, suggested she wasn’t completely indifferent to him. He clung to that hope as he let Charger pick his own pace—fast—toward home.

Chapter Nineteen

M
eri caught herself glancing up nervously every time the door rattled, but the longed-for sight of a particular star-toting individual did not appear. The pain in her shoulder was less severe, but she was achy and chafed at the unaccustomed inactivity of the past several days. She had slept a great deal due to the laudanum, and when she was awake, she’d had a steady stream of visitors. It felt like she’d seen everyone in town. Everyone except the one person who she most wanted to see.

Not too many days ago you were convinced you couldn’t abide the man, yet here you are working yourself into a dither wondering why he hasn’t come by to see you again. Just because you’ve decided you lo—like him after all, doesn’t mean he’s of the same opinion.

But he called you sweetheart and kissed your hand,
the little voice argued.

He was merely being a gentleman.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask his whereabouts, but when Jonah casually mentioned Wyatt had escorted the prisoners to the county seat, her internal argument ceased.

For all of ten minutes.

In spite of her unsettled emotions, however, her soul rested in the peace of restored fellowship with her Heavenly Father.

Meri had been injured Thursday, and by Tuesday morning, she had developed a case of cabin fever. By keeping her arm quiet in the sling Dr. Kilburn had fashioned, pain was kept to a dull ache, and he allowed her to be up and about as she had energy. He also gave her the welcome news she could return home the next morning if she promised to curtail any riding or lifting for another week.

Mrs. Kilburn assisted her into real clothes, a pale yellow blouse and simple blue skirt, and pulled her hair up and away from her face in a soft twist. Meri then celebrated her impending release by escaping the enclosing walls of the house for Mrs. Kilburn’s shady garden.

After exploring every nook and cranny of the verdant bower, Meri made her way to the pretty bench tucked under the rose arbor. A few buds were just beginning to peek open, subtly perfuming the air, and some thoughtful soul had padded the bench with a thick quilt and several soft pillows. She gratefully tucked her uninjured side into the pillowed corner and lifted her legs to rest on the seat, more drained than she would have admitted. It was good to be outside in the fresh breeze, but getting shot definitely took the starch out of a person.

Leaning her head against the high-backed seat, she allowed her mind to wander as she listened to a chipper little sparrow singing his heart out as he hopped to and fro on his bird duties.

She was drifting on a drowsy daydream somewhere between sleep and wakefulness and didn’t immediately notice when floral-scented air changed to spicy bay rum. She enjoyed the new aroma for several breaths before the contrast dawned on her. Her eyes flew open, and her gaze riveted to the shadow lying across her lap. A wave of shyness washed over her, and she hesitantly turned lowered eyes toward her visitor.