Chapter Fourteen
IZZY TALKED AS MUCH as she could about Edie, the plants, and the boardinghouse guests as they walked along the railroad tracks south of town. What she was dying to know was whether Hale had given any thought to helping Papa and her brothers.
And maybe a little part of her hoped he might try to kiss her again.
“How was your outing today?” she asked, hoping he might finally reveal his thoughts.
“It was helpful,” he said.
Izzy glanced toward him. He’d spoken carefully, as if he were choosing each word for a reason. “Why was that?”
He stopped beside the tracks and turned to face her. “I paid a visit to Sheriff Wright.”
Izzy laid a hand on her stomach, wishing she hadn’t eaten so much of Tansy’s chicken pie. Why would he go to the sheriff? Unless he’d seen that poster and suspected she was . . . well, who she was.
Hale squinted into the distance, past where the railroad tracks disappeared into the horizon. “I said nothing to indicate it had to do with you, but I needed to find out if there was any more information you didn’t tell me.”
“I told you everything I know. About Papa and my brothers,” she added quickly.
“I was afraid there were things you didn’t know, and I wanted to find out what those could be.”
Despite the warmth of the day, Izzy shivered. “What do you mean?”
He looked at her again, his lips pressed into a line. “First, would you care to enlighten me about your true surname?”
Isabella’s heart sank. It had been essential when she’d written those letters, but she’d never corrected it.
And now that her last name was Darby, she’d almost forgotten that she hadn’t been honest with him about it.
“Sutcliffe. I wasn’t certain how it would look if I’d written to you under my real name. ”
He nodded, seemingly satisfied that she was telling the truth. “There’s a poster in the sheriff’s office, indicating one man escaped.”
She had the feeling he wanted to say more, but he remained silent, waiting for her response.
What was she to tell him? That the authorities in Roebuck mistook her for a man?
That they assumed she did more than hold the horses and watch for unwanted attention?
If she admitted to that, Hale might feel he had to tell the sheriff.
And if she were arrested, there would be no one left to help the others.
The desperation she felt at the very thought of it almost cut off the air in her throat.
“I only have two brothers,” she said. “Carter and Henry. As far as I know, both are in prison.” It was the truth, and yet she felt miserable saying it. It was the only way to help them, she told herself.
Hale watched her a moment, as if he were trying to decide whether or not to believe her. He crossed his arms, and the lowering sun created a sort of glow around him. Izzy had to look right at him or be blinded.
“Sheriff Wright received a letter with this poster. It went into some detail, indicating one of the men confessed to the locations where the stolen money was hidden.”
“It did?” That made no sense at all. “Papa gave that money away. We only had what I took from the cabin. It was a small amount to purchase food for ourselves, and the remainder was to be distributed once we left that area.”
Hale was silent a moment. “What about the bank?”
Izzy searched her memory but couldn’t remember Papa ever mentioning a bank. Perhaps Hale was asking something else entirely. “Papa never would have robbed a bank.”
Hale sighed, looking off into the distance again. Izzy was just about to ask him what he meant when he turned back toward her.
“How did your father give away all of this money he and your brothers took?”
“He’d usually bring it to a town or two and look for people who needed it.
It took him days—sometimes a week—to find the right people.
” And then he’d come home, exhausted but with a smile on his face.
It assuaged every sliver of guilt Izzy felt when she was holding the reins of their horses, waiting for them to emerge loaded down with bags filled with dollars and coins.
When she thought of the people they were helping, it felt as if they were doing the right thing.
“Did you go with him?”
“No. He went alone. He was always afraid someone might recognize him, and if that happened, he didn’t want me or my brothers there too.
” Izzy bit her lip. She’d prayed every night for his safe return during those weeks, but deep down, she’d known it would end at some point.
She’d just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.
A wave of longing coursed through her. As much as she loved it here in Crest Stone with Hale, she deeply missed her family.
She blinked back the sudden tears that pricked her eyelids and gazed down the tracks where yellow flowers dotted the grasses and clumps of silvery-green sagebrush.
She hoped Papa would receive her letter soon.
“I see.” Hale pulled off his hat and rubbed a hand across his face.
She looked back at him. “I don’t understand. What do you see?”
He drew in a breath and let it out, and Izzy had the feeling he was about to tell her something terrible.
“Your father had an account at a bank in Cheyenne. He filled it with stolen money, which the court took when he was found guilty.”
Izzy blinked at him. Suddenly, the world around her was very loud. The birdsong, the breeze waving the long grasses, even her own breathing. “He didn’t. He couldn’t have . . . He gave it away.”
“It doesn’t appear that he did,” Hale said gently.
“Of course he did.” Izzy couldn’t imagine her father hoarding all of that money in a bank account. He’d never used banks when her mother was alive, after all. And what need did they have for all of that money?
All of that stolen money?
Her hands began to shake, and she pressed them into her skirts. “It’s not true.”
There was a sadness in Hale’s eyes as he watched her. It felt like pity, and Izzy didn’t want—or need—pity. He lifted a hand to reach for hers.
“Isabella?” he said.
She shook her head, keeping her hands where they were. This was too much to understand. How could she find a lawyer to make an appeal when they all believed Papa stole that money for himself? “It isn’t true,” she said again, her voice barely a whisper.
Hale’s voice was nothing but kindness when he spoke. “Did you ever see him give the money away?”
She shook her head. Of course she hadn’t. He’d gone alone. “No. But he told me and my brothers about it. About all of the people we’d helped. The widows and children and the ill and injured men.”
He wouldn’t have made that up. He wouldn’t have lied to them. Not her papa. It was impossible.
“I’m so sorry,” Hale said, reaching out a hand again. “Why don’t we go back? I’ll ask Tansy to make you some tea—”
“I don’t want tea.” The shock of Hale’s revelation had worn into a burgeoning anger. No one knew her father as well as Izzy and her brothers. Once she had a lawyer she could trust, she’d be able to convince him of the truth. She knew she could.
“All right.” Hale’s surprise at the force of her words showed all over his face, but he didn’t lower his hand. Instead, he waited for her to take it.
Izzy stared at it. “He wouldn’t have done that. I promise you. Do you believe me?”
His shoulders sank, and he finally dropped his hand. “I know what the sheriff told me, and I know what you told me.” He paused. “It’s hard to ignore the evidence, Isabella.”
“Even if it’s false?”
“You don’t—” He shook his head, cutting himself off. “Maybe you should speak to the sheriff yourself. See the letter.”
The very thought made Izzy feel ill. The last thing she wanted to do was prod Sheriff Wright into realizing there was a missing and wanted Sutcliffe running around his town. She lifted her chin. “I don’t need to. All I need to know is whether you’re going to help me.”
Hale closed his eyes for a second, and Izzy knew what he was going to say before he said it.
“Isabella,” he started, anguish written across his face.
“I can’t . . . It’s not feasible. After you have time to think about it, you’ll see that it won’t work.
The court will never allow a guilty man to go free. ”
Izzy pressed her shoulders back. It didn’t matter what he thought, she told herself. She believed in Papa. And he needed her. Carter and Henry needed her. She’d do whatever it took to help them.
“I don’t need your help. I’ll find a way to do it myself.”
She turned and walked back toward town, hurt but determined.
And she didn’t turn around, even when Hale called her name.