True to the Law by Jo Goodman

Author:Jo Goodman [Goodman, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction, General, Historical, Western, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780425264164
Google: 8BSSMQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0425264165
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2013-05-06T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

God help her, Tru thought. She believed him. She swallowed, but she had nothing but spit in her mouth, and not much of that. She set her fork down and chose the tea instead.

“Now that you’ve found me,” she said when she could speak again. “What are you supposed to do?”

“Inform Mr. Mackey.”

“Inform him. Not escort me back to Chicago?”

“That’s right.”

“And have you? Told him, that is?”

“Yes.”

The surface of her tea rippled as she released a measured breath. “And?”

“And I haven’t heard from him. He might not have received my letter yet.”

“A letter? I would have thought you’d send a message by wire.”

“I wanted time.”

“Time?”

“To be with you.”

Tru shook her head, disappointed. “To identify and find whatever it is that I am supposed to have taken, you mean.”

“That was part of it,” he said. “But so was the other. I was told to make certain you didn’t run off, but that had nothing to do with wanting to be with you.”

“So you say.” Tru felt herself grow warm when his eyes did not shift from her face. She was the one who looked away. “Did you write to him about the brooch?”

“No. The brooch never figured into the assignment.”

“What if I’d never told you about it? What if you’d never found it?”

He shrugged. “Then I expect we would be having a very different conversation this evening.”

“You are an optimist. If it weren’t for that brooch, we would not be talking at all.”

“Don’t make this about that piece of jewelry, Tru. He said you took something, and he wants it back. I determined that it was probably the brooch, but I don’t know that.”

She leaned forward. Urgent, but quiet, she said, “Except for the clothes Aunt Charlotte gave me, I don’t have anything else.”

“Then you’ll explain that.”

“Maybe I won’t.”

Cobb heard the starch in her voice. She was looking a bit on the stiff-necked side as well. He judged the better course was not to argue. Returning his attention to his plate, he cut and speared a triangle of baked ham. “Suit yourself.”

“I don’t like being accused of stealing.”

“I’m not sure anyone does.”

“The allegation doesn’t deserve a reply.”

Cobb paused, swallowed, and cut another piece of meat. “There would be plenty of people who would agree with you.” Most of them were thieves, but he kept that to himself.

“An explanation could make me seem guilty.”

“Done poorly, yes.”

Tru took a forkful of cabbage and noodles and lifted it to her mouth. “I think I would do it poorly.”

“Quite possibly.”

“I would probably have to go through several drafts.”

Cobb’s head came up. “Drafts?”

“Yes.”

“Did I give you the impression that this was something you could do in writing?”

“Well . . .” A crease appeared between her eyebrows. “Can’t I?”

“Tru,” he said patiently. “I told Andrew Mackey that I found you in Bitter Springs. Nothing else. He doesn’t know that I’ve told you anything about hiring me, doesn’t know that I’m marshal here, doesn’t know that I think his suspicions about you are wrong. Finding the brooch hasn’t changed anything.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.