Heart of the West by Carolyn Twede Frank

Author:Carolyn Twede Frank
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Drama;Love;LDS;Romance;Wild;West;Country;Medicine;Relationships
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2017-12-13T22:09:08+00:00

Chapter 18

Kate ran down the stairs, huffing more from panic than lack of oxygen. She burst into the saddle shop. “Mr. Hoy, did you get a look at the man climbing my stairs earlier?”

“Never set my eyes on him, just heard him.” Mr. Hoy’s face took on a look of concern. He tilted his head and considered her more carefully than when she’d first stepped in. “Why? What’s wrong? You see a ghost or something? You look like you’ve been scared out of your wits.”

“Worse. I’ve been robbed.” Kate struggled to hold back the tears.

“Robbed! I’m so sorry, Miss Donahue.”

“It had to have been that man you heard going up the stairs. I haven’t been gone that long. Unless you’ve seen or heard anyone else go up there? I’ve been gone since eleven.”

“Nope, just that one set of footsteps.” He sat down his tools and held out his empty hands. “I wish I could be of more help, but that’s all I know.”

Kate clenched her fists. “I can’t believe someone would just break into my home and take all my money!”

“Sorry to tell you this, Miss Kate, but this here isn’t known as the Wild West for nothing. There’s men out here that can pick a lock easier than using a key. And would just as soon rob you as put in an honest day’s work. You gotta keep your valuables better hid. At leastwise until we get that new bank built.” He offered a weak grin. “But those get robbed too.”

Kate gathered her skirt, ready to go. “I won’t allow this. I just won’t.”

As she scurried to the door, she could hear Mr. Hoy say, “Not that Sheriff Greene could do much now that the man and your money’s long gone, but you want me to fetch him anyway?”

“I’m headed there right now, but thanks for the offer,” she muttered as she stepped outside. She leaped into the street and shot in the direction of the makeshift town hall/jail one block down. Sheriff Greene had always intimidated her, with his six-foot-plus husky frame and bushy white mustache that concealed the smile or frown on his face. She forced her feet to move faster, telling herself with every hurried step that she was going to see Sheriff Greene, not Doctor Greene, and so this had nothing to do with any physician rivalry.

She hesitated outside the building, staring at the single-story wooden town hall that bore two signs above its two doors. On one side the sign read Craig City Hall; the other read Yampa Valley Land Office. She could see the man she knew as Harlow Forbes through the window of the land office sitting behind his desk. He’d been so rude last time he’d spoken to her—and he’d probably be worse now after an earful of his wife’s gossip. Kate squared her shoulders. It wasn’t Mr. Forbes she was seeing; it was the sheriff. She couldn’t see anyone through the other window, just an empty desk at the front and two jail cells through a doorway into a back room.

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