Chapter Eight #2
“Papa!” Ruby called out happily when she saw him. The little girl slid off the chair and ran all the way around the large table straight into Sam’s open arms. “We’ve already started eating. I was so hungry! Are you mad?” Sam shook his head with a warm smile.
“Of course not,” he told her as he squeezed her tightly. “I know you’re always as hungry as a horse.”
Ruby giggled at that.
“Can I go and see Black Shadow?” she asked. “Sadie gave me an apple. I want him to have it.” Sam looked up at Sadie, who looked beautiful in her yellow dress. The second their eyes met, she looked away. Sam knew the awkwardness was about the previous night.
“We can do that as soon as I’m back. I have to go into town to speak to the sheriff today,” he told Ruby, which instantly extinguished her smile.
“Will you be gone all day again?” she asked, openly pouting.
Sam noticed that everybody was watching them. He shook his head.
“I’ll try to make it quick,” he told his daughter, though Ruby didn’t show any enthusiasm.
She just shrugged and then walked back to her seat with visibly hanging shoulders.
It broke Sam’s heart. This had been the exact reason why Hattie had pushed him to find a wife.
Thankfully, Ellen managed to distract Ruby with a funny story about some dwarf that supposedly lived in their garden.
Sam inhaled deeply and went to take his seat at the head of the table—something Sadie had been adamant about. He sighed, then looked at his new wife, who sat next to him, though she was purposefully avoiding his eyes.
Sam didn’t like the tension between them. He leaned closer to her, put his hand over hers and gently squeezed her fingers. Sadie froze, but she didn’t pull away.
“I want to apologize for what happened last night,” he said with a subdued voice, hoping that the others wouldn’t pick it up. “I didn’t hear you come in and got startled. I’m sorry.” Sadie turned her head toward him, her face a stern mask.
She stared at him for a long while. Sam almost thought that she would never answer, but then her face softened slightly, though she didn’t smile.
“I forgive you,” she replied quietly, not saying much else. Her gaze lingered a few seconds longer, and Sam took it as a warning that she was no pushover.
He couldn’t help it—a small smile formed on his lips.
He was coming to understand that the woman he had married was every bit as strong and impressive as they said she was. He liked it.
***
It was already noon by the time Sam reached the sheriff’s office of the Southern Bellevue District. Since Bellevue was an ever-growing town slowly morphing into a big city, it had been split into several districts, each with their own sheriff’s office.
Despite having several connections to numerous lawmen and officials who’d been helping him in his search to find Elizabeth’s murderers, Sam had never met with Clayton Briggs before.
Over the years, Sam had sent a few telegrams to this station, asking for information regarding local crimes, but he’d never heard back from them. At some point, Sam even thought that the office had been shut down, but as he rode up to it, he found that clearly wasn’t the case.
The building was small and looked more like an outpost but the door stood wide open and there were several men hanging out on the porch as well as inside, loudly chatting with the sheriff.
Sam wasn’t sure what to make of it and left Black Shadow a couple of doors down in front of a barber shop, which seemed to be a safer option.
Walking up to the office, the loud chatting stopped as soon as the men spotted Sam. Some of them left immediately. Two stayed, curiously watching Sam as he stepped in front of the sheriff’s desk.
Clayton Briggs was not at all what Sam had pictured when he’d first heard about him from Daniel.
He was a short, stocky man with a huge gut and thinning, oily, sand-colored hair he combed halfway across his balding head.
As soon as he smirked at one of the other men, it revealed his yellow teeth, of which two were already missing.
Sam was shocked that this man carried a sheriff’s star. He didn’t at all represent the fit and healthy lawmen Sam had been working with throughout his career.
“Sam Brown?” he asked, moving something in his mouth from one cheek to the other before he spit a dollop of chewing tobacco into a spittoon at the bottom of his feet.
Sam was disgusted, but he didn’t show it. He just nodded, carefully watching the other men in the room.
“What can I do for ya?” Briggs asked as he casually leaned back in his chair, putting both of his dirty boots right onto the paperwork that was strewn across his desk. Sam contemplated leaving this place.
“I am here to offer my services,” he said hesitantly. “I used to be a sheriff myself, over in…”
“Yeah, yeah, I already know,” Briggs interrupted him rudely. “So, what are you asking? You want to work for me, now?” He spit another dollop into the spittoon.
Sam was taken aback. How did he know anything about him? Had Daniel told him? Sam shook his head.
“No,” he replied flatly. “I’m just offering my services in case you need help.”
“And what would you like in return?” Briggs asked with a smirk.
“Tell me if there’s been any local gang activities or robberies around town,” Sam replied directly. “I am helping with the investigation of an old case and need all the information I can get.”
That was only partially true, since he wasn’t really working with anybody on Elizabeth’s case, which had been officially closed a year after it had happened.
At the time, Sam had given up his star completely, though he did have the ear of an attorney who’d told him that he would prosecute the murderers if Sam could find them.
Briggs laughed dismissively and spit again. He had to wipe off some of the brown residue dripping from his chin with his sleeve.
“Why would I tell you anything?” he said condescendingly. “You’re no longer one of us!” He chuckled, then he started coughing.
Sam was so disgusted he didn’t even bother to say anything else as he turned on his heel and left the office. There was no point.
Briggs had made his stance on the matter pretty clear.
Sam would not receive any help from him. No big deal. His network was large. He didn’t need this man for anything.
But why did his gut tell him that this would not be the end of it?