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“Those who ask for it.”

“And who is to be the judge of that?”

“I am. When I’m not there, my deputy is.”

“I’d like to remind you, Sheriff, that your salary and that of your ill-bred deputy, and the office you occupy are paid for by the taxpayers of this county, and they are entitled to be treated with civility.”

“You’ve not paid taxes here. What are
you
yippin’ about?”

“Hello, A. B., I thought I heard your voice out here.” Adelaide had come quietly into the office.

“Hello, Adelaide. I think you’ve got yourself a little hot-tempered chili pepper here. She just got into a fight out on the street. You know that I can’t have a woman, man either, brawlin’ in public. Doc says it ain’t a good image for the town.”

“Wait a gosh-darn minute,” Kathleen sputtered. “That man grabbed me. I had to defend myself.”

“They disagree. It’s two against one.”

“The two you’re referring to are the men who attempted to hijack me out on the highway the day I arrived here. They also took my money and would have gotten away with it if Johnny Henry hadn’t come along when he did. I’ll sign a complaint against them.”

“Here we’ve got two sides again,” the sheriff said patiently. He turned and addressed his remarks to Adelaide. “Webb and Krome, the men this woman is accusing, told me that they had stopped to help her get her car out of the ditch. She offered to pay them. They took the money, but when Henry came along she accused them of stealing it. Now, I know that Webb and Krome aren’t good upstanding citizens; but I know them, and I don’t know her from a bale of hay. Why should I put two men in jail on her say-so?”

Kathleen swallowed down the knot of anger in her throat and forced herself to speak calmly.

“This has nothing to do with Adelaide, Sheriff Carroll. I’m the one involved here. I’m the one accusing your friends, Webb and Krome. My name is Miss Dolan, not
her,
not
she,
and not
that woman.
I’ll thank you to remember it and address your remarks to me.”

The sheriff sighed. “I’m just trying to get along here. I’ve got to satisfy everyone in this county, not just one newcomer who more than likely won’t be here this time next year.”

“Oh, I’ll be here, Sheriff. I’m not one to tuck tail and run when the going gets rough. I’ve been told that it’s the red hair. I’m not sure about that, but I do know that I’m stubborn, I’m determined, and I know when right is right. I don’t back down even when the law in town fails to do its job.”

“All right,” the sheriff said harshly. “This town is not paradise, miss. It’s just like any other town. Folks here are like folks everywhere—some are pretty decent, others so rotten they stink to high heaven. We’ve got some saints and some snakes. We do what we have to do to put up with ’em. My advice to you is to do the same.”

Johnny had opened the screen door and stepped inside while the sheriff was talking. Kathleen’s eyes went to him and found him looking at her from the concealing shadow of his hat brim. His dark eyes bore down at her with an intensity entirely different from the only time their eyes had caught while at the store. With reluctance she turned her gaze back to the sheriff.

“You’re not going to arrest them.” It was a statement that needed no answer, but he gave one.

“No, ma’am, I’m not.” His voice was stiletto-sharp.

The flat refusal drew a faint line of displeasure across her brow. It registered in the barest widening of her blue eyes; then, for an instant, her heavy lashes shuttered her gaze. Mentally, Kathleen had slumped. Physically, she stood with her shoulders back, her head up, and looked the man in the eye.

“I’ve learned a lot about this town today, Sheriff Carroll, but I’m reasonably sure that you’re not interested in my assessment.”

“You’re right about that, miss. This matter is ended, and I’ll be going.” He turned at the door. “I’ll speak to Ell about how you were treated in my office.”

After he had gone, Kathleen shifted her gaze to Johnny and away. Color touched her face. She stared down at the papers on the desk. For a short while she was wholly still, fighting down her embarrassment. When her eyes came up, she was again in control of her emotions.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” she said.

“I told him how it was. I didn’t know he was coming here until I saw his car,” Johnny told her.

“Do you believe his version of what happened?”

“Lord, no!” Points of light flared in Johnny’s dark eyes. “I was there, remember?”

“Not at first—”

“—I understand what’s happening. The sheriff is between a rock and a hard place on this. Someone higher up is calling the shots.”

“Doc Herman?” Adelaide asked, and turned her eyes to Paul, who had come from the back room with several pages to be proofed. More than likely he had waited until the sheriff left before coming in.

Kathleen spoke in answer to Adelaide’s question.

“Why would the mayor of the town have anything to say about how the
county
sheriff’s office is run?” She looked from one to the other, waiting for a reply. None was forthcoming until Adelaide sighed deeply and sank down in the chair behind her desk.

“It’s long and complicated, Kathleen.”

Johnny watched the emotions flick across Kathleen’s face. She had an agile brain and a pair of eyes that missed nothing. She also had guts she hadn’t used yet. A slow smile drew little wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. That redheaded temper of hers was going to get her in trouble. There was no doubt about it.

What surprised him was why he was here after he had gone to so much trouble to keep his distance. He had sprinted down the street when he saw one of the thugs she was talking to grab her. If the man had hit her, Johnny wasn’t sure what he would have done. He might have torn the man apart.

A desire to protect her washed over him.
Christ, John Henry, if you have any sense, you’d say your good-byes and get the hell out of here.

“Got a minute, Johnny?” Paul asked. “I’ve got to turn around one of the cylinders on the press and I’ve only got two hands.”

“Sure. Glad to help.”

Kathleen sat down at her desk, turned, and faced her partner.

“Did I embarrass you, Adelaide? I didn’t mean to cause you more trouble.” Her eyes were clouded with distress.

“You didn’t embarrass me,” Adelaide said staunchly. “It’s hard for people in this town to accept strangers. They’re used to folks
leaving
here, not
coming
here.”

“Do you think it possible that those two men were sent out to hijack me, carry me off someplace, and frighten me so much that I’d be afraid to come back?”

“If they were, they met their match.” A smile tilted the corners of Adelaide’s mouth. “No, I don’t think they’d go that far. I had let it be known that a very bright young woman was buying into the paper. Doc Herman had offered to buy in and so had several others in town. I knew that if I let that happen, it wouldn’t be long before I lost control completely and Paul and I would be out on the street.”

“I’ve been wondering about something. If Doc Herman runs the town, why doesn’t he tell the merchants to stop advertising in the paper. Without advertising, you’d be out of business.”

“He doesn’t want us out of business. He uses us now and then when he wants to make his point about something.”

“Like what?”

“Last year he wanted to get the Greyhound bus rerouted so that it would come through here. He used the paper to get up a petition and to persuade the bus company officials that a town this size with its own newspaper would help to provide a steady stream of passengers.”

“Did it?”

“Oh, yes. It’s a convenience for those who travel, and I think maybe it helped Doc Herman’s clinic.”

• • •

In the back room, Johnny washed his greasy hands.

“Thanks for the help.” Paul handed him a towel. “I could have waited for Woody, but it would have made us late starting the run tomorrow.”

“Anytime. I am fascinated with machinery. I’ve been looking for parts so I can fix up an old earth mover I bought for a song.”

“What are you planning to use it for?”

“A storm cellar for one thing. I’m not anxious to dig it one spadeful at a time.” Johnny waited for Paul to finish washing, then said, “I guess Miss Dolan being here has taken a load off Adelaide?”

“Yes. I was a little leery at first. I wanted Addie to meet the person she was going to bring into her business, but she said that she could tell from the letters and the recommendation from the Liberal paper that Miss Dolan was going to be just what the
Gazette
needed to put some life back into the paper. Addie is seldom wrong.”

“Miss Dolan’s got spunk all right. I hope it doesn’t get her into more trouble.”

“She pretty, and she isn’t a dumbbell by a long shot.” Paul’s homely face broke into a grin. “Why don’t you take her to the picture show or for a ride? The girl needs an outing.”

“In my old truck? I’m sure she’d like that.” Johnny clapped Paul on the shoulder. “You’re hog-tied, my friend, that’s plain to see. I’m not, and I’m going to stay that way.”

“You don’t have to marry her. Just take her out a time or two.”

“She’d laugh in my face if I asked her.”

“Bet ya two bits. It’d pay for the movie.”

“Naw. I’d best get on back to the ranch.”

Chapter Six

J
ohnny left the
Gazette
and walked quickly down the street toward where he’d left his truck. As he passed the grocery store, Mrs. Wilson called to him.

“Johnny, can you come in a minute?”

“Sure.” Inside the store he saw that Mrs. Wilson had an anxious look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m worried about Miss Dolan. The men who had a set-to with her came in a while ago. I was down behind the counter looking for a dime I’d dropped, and I heard one of them say that before they left town that redheaded bitch was going to get what was coming to her. They’re downright mean, Johnny. They talked nasty about her.”

“What else did they say?”

“They said some words I don’t want to repeat.”

“You don’t have to. I can imagine what they were. Did they say anything about the sheriff or the deputy?”

“They said ‘Ell’ a time or two. It’s wasn’t ‘hell,’ Johnny, it was ‘Ell,’ referring to Deputy Thatcher. While they were here a couple of men came in and bought a box of shotgun shells. They were Cherokee. The one called Webb made a remark about blanket-asses having money to buy shells because they could get work at the tannery and decent white men couldn’t.”

“Did they get a rise out of the Indians?”

“No. They ignored them.”

“Mrs. Wilson, is it all right if I bring my supplies back in and leave them until morning? I’ve never had anything taken from the truck while it was parked on the street, but I don’t trust those two yahoos. I think I’d better stick around, keep an eye on them, and make sure Miss Dolan gets home all right.”

• • •

After Johnny left the office, Kathleen set her mind on the work at hand and refused to allow it to drift to other things. She finished the rodeo story that would be on the front page, then worked on the classified advertising section that took up three-quarters of a page.

“Adelaide, what do you think about starting a letter to the editor policy? We’ll have space on the classified page.”

“It’s a good idea. Do you think we’d get any letters?”

“We won’t know until we try. We can also fill that space with items from the paper files of ten or twenty-five years ago.”

“That’s a good idea, too. I’ve heard of doing that, but never had the time to do the research. We don’t have time for it this week, but I could write up columns for several weeks ahead and Paul could set them. I think that we have some old engravings in the file we could use.”

“After we get that going we could start a ‘Cook of the Week’ column featuring a lady from each of the church circles, then the clubs. In Liberal they crawled all over each other to get their names on the list. And we—”

She paused when Johnny came barreling into the
Gazette
as if he had only a minute to do something and he was determined to do it. He stopped directly in front of Kathleen’s desk as if prepared to do battle.

“Go out to supper with me tonight, then I’ll take you home.” He blurted out the words as if he was in a hurry to get them out.

Kathleen stared at him with her mouth open. Then she snapped it shut, remembering that she had tried to be friendly with him at the store and that he had practically shunned her.

“Thanks, but Mrs. Ramsey is expecting me. I have to let her know ahead of time if I’ll not be there for supper.”

“I’ll run down there and tell her. How long will it be before you’re finished here?”

BOOK: Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers]

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