Chapter 21 #2
She closed her eyes as the sheriff and Josiah talked, only half listening as the sheriff mentioned sending a wire to the next town over, asking for a judge to be found and sent to Elkin.
Having a judge in town would stop any vigilante hangings, but it also meant Josiah would go on trial.
And for what? Because some old bitty who couldn’t mind her own business heard him say something in anger?
Her thoughts went back to that day, replaying it all over again in her head, and kept going back to the four men she’d seen with Edwin that morning inside his store. Were they the same men in the mercantile now, taking money for goods they didn’t even own?
She opened her eyes and focused on the sheriff, interrupting whatever he was saying to Josiah. “Who are the men running the mercantile now?”
The sheriff turned his attention to her and frowned. “What men?”
“The ones over in the mercantile. They’re running the store. Josiah said you told him Edwin’s father died a few months back, and I wasn’t aware he had other relatives who lived in town.”
“He doesn’t,” the sheriff said. “None that I’m aware of.”
“Well, there are two men over there, taking money for goods and neither of them looks like anyone you’d find running a store. They look like your average saddle bums to me. They’re both dirty, and I don’t think they should be in there.”
The sheriff turned in his seat and looked out the window toward the mercantile. She could see it as well from where she was standing and people were still going in and out of the store.
The sheriff made a “hump” noise before standing and heading for the door. She glanced at Josiah over her shoulder and said, “I’ll be right back,” before running after him.
“Violet!”
She stopped at the door and looked back at him. “I won’t get in the way. I’m just going to go see what he finds out.”
She stayed far enough behind the sheriff he didn’t realize she was behind him and slipped into the mercantile behind another lady, following close enough to hear him say, “Who are you and why are you running Edwin’s store?” when the men behind the counter stopped to stared at him.
Everyone went still at the words and she had to wonder if the people inside buying goods had wondered the same thing and if so, why were they giving them their money?
Edwin’s mercantile had been there for years and people get used to seeing the same faces, so they had to be wondering the same thing she was.
The men behind the counter glanced at each other before the one she’d spoken with earlier gave the sheriff a smile and straightened. “The names Enis. This here,” he said, nodding his head toward the other man, “Is Jake. We’re associates of Edwin’s.”
The smile on his face fell away, his head shaking back and forth while blowing out a breath. “It's a damn shame what happened to Edwin. I hope the man you’ve arrested is hung by morning for it.”
Whispers rippled across the store at his words. Violet watched as heads bent toward the closest to them, the murmurs growing in volume. Surely they wouldn’t take matters into their own hands like Josiah suggested they might.
The sheriff walked closer to the counter and whatever he and the men behind it were saying was lost in a sea of hushed conversations. She tried to get closer, but by the time she made it to the front of the store, the sheriff was turning and heading back outside.
She chased him across the street and caught him at the sidewalk in front of the jail. “Well?” she said, when he turned his head to look at her.
“Well, what?”
Frowning, she said, “Who were they?”
“I don’t know.”
When he walked into the jail without saying more, she followed. “That’s it?”
He gave her a brief look before sitting at his desk. “They told me their names and how they knew Edwin.” He huffed out a breath when he sat in his chair. “And they had a document that said they were half owner in the store.”
She glanced at Josiah before straightening. “Is it legal?”
“Hard to say.”
When he didn’t offer her anything else, she sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk and stared at Josiah.
He looked exactly as he had yesterday, but something in his eyes made him look tired and worn down.
Of course, the prospect of being hanged for something he didn’t do would probably make any man look haggard.
Their eyes met, and she saw the life they could have had flash before her eyes. Would she ever get to live it?
Anger at the unknown woman who accused Josiah of saying he’d kill Edwin when he hadn’t made her heart start thumping inside her chest. Her face felt hot and her hands were shaking as she tried to control her anger over the situation.
She looked back at the sheriff and leaned toward him. “How can you hold him here, sheriff?”
The sheriff raised an eyebrow. “I’m the law in this town. That’s how.”
“I know that, but…all you have is the word of some woman we don’t even know.”
The deputy walked back into the jail then and she glanced up at him when he shut the door.
Seeing him look at her, she sat up straight in her seat and said, “I heard your deputy say he’d wanted Edwin dead just yesterday, and now he is.
He lives here in the town and actually knew Edwin, so if anyone has a real motive to kill the man, it's your deputy. He’s your real killer! ”