Chapter 6 #3
Somehow, she got through to him that day. He’d decided to let the law handle it.
Now, however, more than three months had passed, and no trial had been forthcoming. More than once, Caleb had wondered if he made a mistake.
“What about him? Did the judge set a date for the trial?”
“No trial.”
Caleb shook his head at her. “You can’t tell me the judge would hang him without it. Having Elkhorn look civilized is too important to him.”
Even as he said it, though, it occurred to him that his father sent gunslingers after Patterson to take him down in the street.
Elijah Starr kidnapped the judge and even used torture to try and force him to transfer land his boss wanted for putting the railroad through Elkhorn.
There was definitely bad blood between them. Maybe the judge had had enough.
“There will be no hanging. I saw Starr a couple of hours ago. He was walking down Main Street like he owed the town. He even tipped his hat to me, smiling and smug as the Cheshire Cat.”
Caleb shook his head, not believing it. “You made a mistake. It had to be someone else.”
The judge had a damn knife driven through his hand when Starr pinned the man to a table. He wouldn’t just let him go.
“Do you really think I could forget that man’s face?” Sheila held his gaze. “I walked directly to the jail and talked to one of deputies lazing drunkenly in a chair outside the door. The one named Beau or Billy or Bub…or whatever.”
“I know the one. Useless as a tin jackass.”
“He told me Zeke wasn’t there, but he let me look inside. The cells were empty. He said the outlaw you captured—Rivers, I think his name was—had been sent off to Denver under armed guard a few days ago.”
Zeke had mentioned a bounty on Mad Dog McCord’s head. It figured there would be one on John Rivers as well.
“The deputy said Zeke came in this morning, unlocked the cell door, and let Elijah Starr walk free. Everything was a misunderstanding, they’re saying.”
Blood was roaring in Caleb’s head. Zeke wouldn’t turn Starr loose without the judge ordering him to. But how could Patterson justify letting that man go? There had to be some reason, and it had to be a damn good one. Doing it had to benefit the judge in a big way.
Elijah Starr’s boss, Eric Goulden, had to have something to do with it.
Back in the summer, Caleb had helped Patterson get the upper hand on the ruthless railroad tycoon, whose director of operations in Colorado turned out to be Elijah Starr.
Goulden was trying to put his tracks through Elkhorn, and the judge wasn’t about to let that happen…
unless he was top dog in that business deal.
Bullets had stopped the magnate’s quest—or at least slowed him down—but whether the judge could put the railroad through by himself was still a question.
Goulden was one of the most powerful money men in the country.
He’d been buying up and building railroads all over the West since the end of the war.
Many saw him not simply as a smart businessman but as he was…
a ruthless robber baron who crushed anyone and anything that stood between him and his next dollar.
Over the past few years, the newspapers had been full of stories about him, and even the editors who were in awe of his success didn’t like him much. He was a man to be feared.
Sheila broke into his thoughts. “I hurried home and asked my father what he knew. He’d only just heard that Starr had been freed, but he didn’t know why.”
Doc was unaware of any connection between Caleb and Starr. The man was his friend, but he didn’t need to know.
She slipped her hand into Caleb’s.
“We’ve never talked any further about what happened in the cabin that horrible day. About what I heard pass between you two. But I felt it was my responsibility to come and let you know he’s no longer incarcerated. I know what a dangerous man Starr is.”
Her fingers tightened around his.
“And I know he’ll come after you.”
The world seemed to narrow. Caleb heard the wind moving through the grass. Somewhere behind them, Bear barked. The boys were laughing about something near the barn. All of it sounded very far away.
Elijah Starr was free.
A slow heat began spreading through Caleb's chest. The old fury was stirring again. Sheila must have felt it.
Her hand tightened around his once more.
“Caleb.”
Just his name. Nothing more. Yet somehow it halted the dark thoughts racing through his head. He looked down at her. The fear he saw there wasn’t for herself. It was for him. And suddenly he understood. She was afraid of losing him. The realization struck harder than any fist.
For a moment neither spoke. Then Sheila lifted her free hand and rested it lightly against his arm.
“Promise me you’ll think before you do anything.”
Caleb stared out across the meadow. The killer inside him was already awake. Already planning what needed to be done. But Sheila's hand remained in his. Grounding him. Holding him here. Holding him to the life they'd begun building together.
“I'll think,” he said quietly.
It wasn’t quite the promise she was looking for.
And they both knew it.