The Wanted Bride by West Everly

Author:West, Everly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The door to the Sheriff’s office slammed against the wall. A seething Bart Leachman stomped inside.

“Blast it, Bart,” Nathan snapped.

“I’ve been robbed—again!”

Nathan pulled a bottle of whiskey and a glass from his bottom drawer. He nodded to the chair in front the desk. “Sit down and start at the first.”

“The half thief struck again.” Bart pulled out the chair while Nathan poured him a shot of whiskey. He downed the liquor in one gulp then glared at the Sheriff. “Loretta was with me. She could have been seriously hurt or even killed!”

“Why in tarnation would you take your wife on a gold run?” Nathan barked as he refilled Bart’s shot glass.

“You said to be inconspicuous. I figured a man and his wife out on an afternoon ride would be as inconspicuous as it gets.” Bart downed his second shot of whiskey. “Who would have thought the little whipper-snapper would try something in broad daylight.”

“Little?” Nathan’s intuition flared as he reached in a desk drawer and pulled out the wanted posters. “Can you describe him?”

“Of course, he was holding a gun on my Loretta.”

“Tell me,” Nathan ordered.

“The sun was behind him, but it looked like he was about five foot-seven or so. Kind of stocky, Wore all black.”

“What about hair or eye color?”

“Don’t know,” Bart admitted. “He wore a black mask, gloves and a big black hat.”

“Probably Jeb’s hat,” Nathan mumbled.

“Come to think of it, it did look a lot like Jeb’s.”

Nathan shifted through the posters until he came across the one he wanted. “Did he look anything like this?”

“Yes!” Bart shook the poster at Nathan. “He looked exactly like this.”

Nathan was afraid of that. The wanted poster was a drawing of a black-clad thief. The picture looked more like the outlaw’s name than a man. Just a shadow.

The wanted poster was going to be little to no help at all.

“Which way did he ride off?”

“Don’t know that, either. Loretta and I left before he did?”

“Say what?”

“He scared the horse and buggy off—”

“Wait,” Nathan said, interrupting Bart’s answer. “Start from the beginning.”

Bart shoved his empty shot glass in the direction of the whiskey bottle in a wordless request of another drink. Nathan ignored it. Leachman needed a clear mind to remember the details.

Taking a deep breath, Bart told his story. Nathan asked questions here and there, but generally let him tell it at his own pace.

“That plug of a horse ran halfway to town before he stopped. My Loretta was exhausted by the time we retrieved the horse and buggy,” Bart bemoaned, wringing his hands.

Suddenly, the door opened again and Hannah, in a swirl of yellow gingham, rushed in. “I just heard. Are you all right, Mr. Leachman?”

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