Desert Moon Read online

  “Good.”

  She probably ought to say more, but how could she explain her tangled feelings about Adam? She’d done her best to shut him out of her heart, but he kept finding crevices and seeping in. If they got through this quagmire, and Adam didn’t get himself killed, could she let her love for him grow again?

  The door to the building opened softly. Julia tensed and peered into the darkness of the sheriff’s office beyond the front bars of the cell.

  “That you, Adam?” Oliver said.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

  “We’re not sleeping.” Oliver’s cot creaked.

  Julia sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. “What’s going on out there?”

  “It’s pretty quiet. The saloons are still open of course, and there’s some card games going. It’s about normal for this time of night.”

  “Are Sam and Bob still out there?” Oliver asked.

  “Bob and Ike Hinze. I caught up with Ike down the street, and he offered to stay in town tonight and help us out. I sent Sam home and told him to come back at 2:00 a.m. If it’s still quiet then, I’ll let Bob go sleep until daylight.”

  “Did you talk to Ike about the robber?” Oliver asked.

  “Yes, but he still says he didn’t see him. He wasn’t sure about the voice, either. Said it sounded a bit raspy, but it could have been anyone.”

  “That’s not helpful,” Julia said. Any man trying to disguise his voice might sound “a bit raspy.”

  Adam stood just outside the bars and peered in at them. “Well, I found Joe Chesley, too. He was even less helpful. But I can’t say there was anything about either of them to make them look suspicious. Oh, and Chesley says he doesn’t own a sidearm.”

  “How about the fellow in the suit—Brink?” Julia asked. “He had one, and he looked like he wouldn’t hesitate to use it if he had to.”

  Adam shook his head. “He left yesterday. Stayed at the Placer two nights and took the stage back to Flagstaff. But Mr. Whitaker at the hotel said he went out to the mine twice, and he seemed like the genuine article. I can check with Leland Gerry again tomorrow and ask him what they talked about, but I don’t think he’s mixed up in the robbery.”

  “And Mr. Gerry’s out of it,” Julia said.

  “Yes. I’m fairly certain of that. By the time he left for lunch, the robbery was already under way.”

  Julia let out a long sigh. Adam’s investigation would have to look further afield. “Are you going to turn in?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a cot in the back room. I hope you both can rest.”

  Footsteps and rustling sounds followed. Julia thought he must have stopped by his desk.

  “You can light the lantern if you want to,” Oliver said.

  “No need. And it might bring folks around again.”

  “What’s the plan for morning?” Oliver asked. “Are you going out to the mine again first thing?”

  “I reckon I’ll go back down to where the robbery happened,” Adam said. “I’ll look around again, but I doubt I’ll find anything I didn’t find before.”

  “I looked, too, that first day,” Julia said. “I didn’t see anything either, except a mark where the box fell and an old whiskey bottle.”

  “Adam?” Oliver said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Maybe we could all pray together.”

  Julia held her breath. She wouldn’t have had the courage to suggest that. If Adam wouldn’t pray with them, did it mean he still didn’t completely trust them?

  After a long moment, he walked over to the cell door. He struck a match, and it flared up, too bright in the darkness. Julia squeezed her eyes shut and turned away, but she could still see the orange burst for several seconds. During that time, Adam’s keys jingled, and the lock turned.

  “Come over here, Jules,” Oliver said. She shoved her bedding aside and stood unsteadily, orienting herself to the window and the noise Adam made as he opened the door and entered the cell.

  She took several hesitant steps with her arms extended in front of her. The cell wasn’t very big, but it surprised her how long it took her to find Oliver.

  “Hey,” he said softly, and she touched his arm. He grasped her hand and pulled her down on the cot beside him. “C’mon over, Adam.”

  A moment later, he settled on the floor close to them. Julia took a deep breath. Adam had left the cell door open. If he thought they might overpower him and escape, he wouldn’t have done that. It was a small concession, especially since two armed men still stood outside the office door, but it calmed her.

  “Let’s pray,” Oliver said.

  She bowed her head and clung to her brother’s hand. Oliver’s voice was quiet and soothing, his words passionate.

  “Lord, may justice be done. May the killer be found out. And may You be glorified. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Julia whispered.

  Adam’s amen was firmer than her own, and she took an extra helping of comfort from that.

  “You could go to our house and sleep,” Oliver told him. “It’d be quieter there.”

  “No, I need to be here when I have someone in the cell. Sometimes I just sit up all night in my chair.”

  “You don’t need to do that.” Julia noted that he hadn’t said when he had prisoners.

  “Well, I told Bob I was going to try to catch forty winks. You’d best do the same.”

  Fatigue washed over Julia. She was a little sore, too, from all the riding she’d done in the past four days. She squeezed Oliver’s hand and stood. “Good night. I think I can sleep now.”

  She lay awake a little longer, listening to the small noises the men made as they settled in for the night—Adam in his desk chair, she thought, although she wasn’t certain. From a distance, she caught muffled strains of “Camptown Races” from one of the saloons’ pianos and occasionally heard voices or hoofbeats as people and horses passed the jail.

  Sometime later, she was jerked awake by a quiet screech she soon placed as the opening of the stove door. The night had fallen chilly, and Adam was building a fire as quietly as possible. The last thing she remembered was his intent face bent over the glow of his infant blaze while he fed in more kindling.

  Adam awoke with a start when he heard voices outside the office door. He sat straighter in his chair with a grimace. He should have lain down. Sleeping slumped over your desk was even worse than sleeping on the ground.

  Gray light came through the barred window behind him and the smaller one high on the cell wall. He clambered to his feet and went to the door. Sam Dennis was huddled in the doorframe outside, sitting on the top step with his shotgun cradled in his arms. He swiveled his head as the door moved behind him and glanced up at Adam with alert but weary eyes.

  “Mornin’, Sheriff.”

  “Mornin’ yourself,” Adam said. “Nice and quiet?”

  “Yup. Lucas Morley just went by, but he was cordial.”

  Adam nodded and looked out over the town. People were just beginning to stir. Lamplight shone from a couple of windows, but most of Ardell was still dark.

  “It’s cold out here. You should have come in to get warm.”

  “I’m all right. I sent Ike home though.”

  Adam nodded. “‘Preciate your staying. I’ll make some coffee.”

  A lone horseman came up the street, silhouetted dark against the graying sky.

  “I reckon that’s Bob, coming to relieve me,” Sam said. He stood and stretched his wiry arms, shotgun and all.

  “Whyn’t you go get some breakfast?” Adam said. “If it’s still peaceful when you get back, I’ll go do the same.”

  “Awright. I was going to bring Peewee back this morning, but if folks have settled down, I guess we don’t need him.”

  Adam tiptoed back inside and went about replenishing the stove and filling his enameled coffeepot. By the time he had it fixed, the stove was ticking and Julia was sitting up on her cot, peering at him in the twilight of dawn.
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  “Good morning,” he said. With her face flushed from sleep and her hair tumbling willy-nilly about her shoulders, she was adorable, like a child never scarred by the world. “Would you like to…uh…freshen up?” He felt his own cheeks flush, and he turned back to the stove and checked the fire as an excuse not to look at her. Usually he left the prisoners in the cell with the bucket, but with a lady…and she wasn’t really a prisoner.

  “Yes, thank you.” Julia tugged at her skirt and swung her feet over the edge of the bed. She reached down for her boots.

  He sauntered to the cell door and turned the key. She looked at him and sat up quickly, tossing her hair back. Their gaze held for a moment, until Oliver rolled over and opened his eyes.

  “Uh…” Adam’s pulse was galloping, but he opened the door and said to Julia, “It’s out back.”

  “I figured. Do I need an escort?”

  He glanced toward the closed front door. “Well, Bob’s sitting on the steps. Do you feel safe going out there alone? It’s pretty quiet this morning.”

  “Yes, I feel perfectly safe.”

  He swallowed hard. He’d feel better if he or one of the others at least went around the building and watched her get safely to the privy and back, but he had a feeling Julia might resent that.

  “All right.”

  “You want to carry this?” Oliver said.

  She turned around, and Adam looked over at him. Oliver was holding up her pistol. Adam stared at it. She’d had that gun in her bedroll in the cave, but once they’d made peace, he hadn’t given it another thought.

  “Do you have a problem with that, Sheriff?” she asked.

  “No. You’re not a prisoner. I told you that before.”

  “Right. I’m sure you would have searched us both if we were prisoners.” She smiled mischievously.

  Adam stood stock still as she retrieved the gun, put it in her pocket, and walked over to the door. When she opened it, Bob Tanner said cordially, “Morning, Miss Newman.”

  “Hello,” she said. “Excuse me, Mr. Tanner. I’ll be back in a short while.”

  Bob poked his head in at the doorway. “Everything in order, Adam?”

  “Everything’s fine. I’ll be going out for some breakfast soon if it’s all the same to you.”

  “Sure thing.” Bob shut the door.

  “You knew we had the pistol, right?” Oliver asked.

  “Of course.” Adam walked to the shelf and took down his tin cup without looking at him.

  “Don’t feel bad about forgetting.”

  “A mistake like that could get me killed.” Adam poured a half inch of pale liquid into the cup and tasted it. It was still cold water, with a few coffee grounds floating in it.

  “I know,” Oliver said. “Like Pa. But Julia did tell you she had a gun the other night.”

  “And I knew she wouldn’t use it on me,” Adam said.

  “So it’s not a problem.”

  Adam slammed the empty cup down on his desk. “But I forgot. What if you two were desperados?”

  “Take it easy, Adam. We’re not criminals. You let go of the thought because it wasn’t important.”

  Adam shook his finger at Oliver through the cell bars. “Your sister has me wound up like a clock, pal. Not that it means anything, but I’m just sayin’.”

  “As if nobody could tell.”

  Adam blew out an exasperated breath and stalked around his desk. He plopped down in the chair. “I can’t help it. I still love her, Ollie.”

  “Does she know that?”

  “I told her at the cave.”

  “What’d she say?”

  “Not much. She drives me nutty, but she’s still the finest woman that ever breathed Arizona air, and I think—I know—she was the best thing that ever happened to me. I never should have let her go.”

  “You couldn’t stop her. Not short of leaving off being a lawman.”

  Adam thought about that for a long time. He’d been thinking about it for more than two years. Sometimes he’d nearly convinced himself to quit his job. Those were times when he felt all soft toward Julia and willing to do anything to win her back. Other times he just got angry. Why should she expect him to give up the job he loved? To stop doing the thing that he believed in. Did he dare say that he felt God called him to be a lawman?

  Where did that leave him after his horrendous blunder this week—accusing his best friend of robbery and murder, and tracking him down like a chicken-stealing coyote?

  He’d already apologized twice to Oliver. Saying it again wouldn’t help things. Still, Adam felt guilty and stupid. How could he ever think a fine man like Oliver was capable of such crimes? And how could he find out who really committed them?

  “Think that coffee’s hot?” Oliver asked.

  “Maybe.” Adam stood and went into the back room. He had another cup on the shelf in there. As he turned to it, he glanced at the stage line’s treasure box. He might as well give that back to Chick. They’d need a new lock, though. The robber’s bullet had ruined that. He stooped and lifted the lid so he could examine the damage. He froze for a moment, and his heart seemed to stop then kick and go on. He stared down into the box at several piles of neatly stacked paper money.

  Chapter 15

  Adam inhaled carefully. That money had not been in the box when he brought it here Monday afternoon. He picked up the wooden box and walked slowly into his office.

  “Ollie—”

  “Hmm?” Oliver still sat on his cot, pulling on his boots.

  “You’re not going to believe this. I don’t believe it myself.”

  As he spoke, the door opened and Julia walked in. She eyed him with speculation in those cool, blue eyes.

  “Is that the chest from the robbery?”

  “Yes.” Adam’s throat was so dry he could barely croak the word out.

  Oliver had come to the cell door and watched him warily. “What is it, Adam?”

  “The money’s in here.”

  “What?” Julia strode toward him and stared into the treasure box. “All of it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Oliver pulled the barred door open and walked out of the cell. “Let me see.”

  Adam set the box on his desk. Julia and Oliver stood over it like statues, looking at the money.

  “That box was empty when I brought it in here the day of the robbery,” Adam said.

  “You’re sure?” Oliver looked up at him, then back at the money.

  “Of course I’m sure. It was lying on the ground open, out where the holdup happened. I picked it up and brought it here. It was absolutely empty.”

  “So…someone put the money back while you were away,” Julia said. “Was this building locked?”

  “No.”

  “But why would the robber do that?”

  Oliver scratched his head. “Maybe he felt guilty, because of Bub.”

  “Or maybe the robber didn’t put it here.” Julia raised her chin and looked at Adam. “Maybe someone else found the loot and put it back.”

  Adam sat down in his chair. “What do I do now?”

  “I suggest you count the money,” Oliver said.

  “Good idea.” Adam reached into the box and took out the stacks of bills. He lined them up on his desk. “Will you count it after I do, Oliver?”

  “Sure.” Oliver glanced toward the stove. “I smell coffee.”

  “Oh, there’s another cup in the back room.” Adam pushed his chair back. “I was going to get it when I found the money in the box.”

  “I’ll get it,” Julia said. “You two start counting.”

  Ten minutes later, the two men sat back.

  “So we’re agreed,” Adam said. “It’s three thousand dollars even.”

  “Yup. A little more than half what was taken.” Oliver stacked the bills on the desktop.

  “So what do you do with it?” Julia asked.

  “I guess we should give it back to Mr. Gerry.” Adam wondered if there was a reason n
ot to do that. “There’s no proof this was actually part of the money from the robbery, though.”

  “Where else could it have come from?” Julia asked.

  Oliver tapped the stack of bills nearest him. “The paper bands have HDM on them. The bank does that to indicate it goes to High Desert Mine—just so there’s no mix-up when they’re getting it ready, I guess. But it always has that when we get the payroll.”

  “Good to know.” Adam rose. “I guess I should take it out to Mr. Gerry and tell him how I got it. Will you ride to the mine with me?”

  Oliver looked at his sister. “Do you mind, Jules? It might be good to have Adam with me the first time I see Mr. Gerry again.”

  “All right,” she said. “But Mr. Gerry won’t be there this early. Let’s go home, and I’ll make some breakfast. You come, too, Adam.”

  “Well…I guess I can send Bob Tanner home. And we’d best take the money with us.”

  “Put it in something else,” Julia said. “You don’t want to march down Main Street carrying that treasure box.”

  “All right, but let’s hurry before more people are out and about. I don’t want too many folks to see Oliver out on the street.”

  A half hour later, Julia served Adam and her brother breakfast. She’d fried up some bacon and potatoes, and Oliver had scrounged a few eggs. Not a bad meal on short notice.

  “I’ll go up to the livery and get your horse after we eat,” Adam told Oliver. “I don’t want people seeing you walking around by yourself yet. Somebody might remember that they thought you should hang.”

  Oliver didn’t refuse, so he and Julia waited at the house while Adam went for their mounts.

  “Guess we should unpack our stuff from the trip,” Oliver said.

  “It’s not much. Just let me look at you, Ollie. I’ve hardly had a chance to this whole time. You haven’t told me about Mama yet, either. I want to know more about her illness. I’ll unpack my bedroll and our saddlebags while you’re gone to the mine.”

  They sat down in the front room, and she looked him over closely. His eyelids drooped from fatigue, but other than that, he looked good.

  “Do you think the people will accept the fact that you’re innocent, now that the money is back?” she asked.