and discussing my case?” Aaron growled. “Seems like everybody’s decided not to get involved with this at once.”
“We’ve decided we won’t be crazy, that’s all.”
“Has Harris Olney been sniffing around offering to pay you money if you’ll turn me down?”
“That’s no business of yours, Brown. You know that.”
“I know what’s fair,” Aaron said. “I’m entitled to a fair trial with a jury of my peers. Doesn’t look like I’m gonna get that.” He pointed a finger right between Seth Wood’s eyes. “My blood will be on your hands, Wood.”
“Nope,” the lawyer said stiffly. “You’ve brought the blood on yourself.”
By the end of their meeting with Wood, Aaron was as mad as a bear. “Beth, there’s no use you traipsing around all day at my side. You’re going to wear yourself out and not be any good to anybody tomorrow.”
“I thought I could help.”
“Well, I don’t see that your presence is doing anybody any good.” He didn’t mean to be unkind to her. It was just that he was as frustrated as he’d ever been in his life. And he figured that, at this rate, he wouldn’t have a life very long.
How he hated to see Olney win.
“Aaron.”
“I’m takin’ you back to the Pacific Hotel. You’ve helped me by coming, Beth. If nothing else, you got me free to walk the streets for two last days before I go on to glory. At this point, I’m appreciating every extra minute I get.” He had only one more chance at a lawyer. He wasn’t placing too much hope in that one, either. He figured Harris had made a point to get to all of them before he did.
He delivered Beth to the hotel and saw her safely to her room. Then he went to visit John Kincaid, the third and last lawyer to set up business in Tin Cup.
“Now look,” he said to Kincaid when he stomped in the door and saw the man sitting with feet crossed atop his desk, just waiting for him to walk in like all the others. “I don’t like this cat-and-mouse game.”
“Neither do I,” Kincaid said, swinging his boots to the floor.
“I guess I just went and got my hopes up,” Aaron went on. “Last week, I thought I was hanging for sure. This week, I start to see possibilities. Next thing I know, those possibilities are slipping away. I’m not a trapped animal, Kincaid. I don’t take kindly to being pounced on and played with.”
Kincaid rose slowly and went to stare out the front window of his office. “Never was too fond of Harris Olney myself.”
“You’re saying you’re not gonna take his money to tell me no.”
“I’m saying I’ll decide the merits of taking your case on my own, Mr. Brown. Whoever represents you Thursday is going to have a tough go of it. Everyone’s hungry for your hanging. And everyone’s hungry for a hero. Unfortunately, you gave them one when you got tromped on by Uley Kirkland.”
“Are you saying everybody wants to hang me just for Uley’s sake?”
“It would seem a proper show of respect for what that kid did.”
“I suppose I’m in trouble.”
“You tell me something,” Kincaid said. “You tell me if you were planning on pulling that trigger.”
“Would it make any difference if I told you that I wasn’t?”
“It might make a lot of difference. It might make a lot of difference in how I look at you.”
“Okay, I wasn’t.”
“You telling the truth?”
Aaron was at the point of growling again. “I generally tell the truth, Kincaid.”
“So why were you holding a gun on the marshal’s back, Brown?”
“Because I didn’t want the marshal to shoot me first.”
“You’d be willing to tell me the whole story?”
Aaron hesitated for an instant, thinking of Elizabeth and all the things he wasn’t certain he should say. But he had no other choice now. His plan had backfired on him. And Elizabeth had already proven how much she was willing to risk by making the treacherous journey across the Continental Divide.
“I’d be willing to tell you the whole story.”
“I don’t like Olney’s money, either,” John Kincaid admitted now. “Though I find his gold dust a whole lot more tasteful than I find him. Looks like I won’t be bending to bribes.” John Kincaid pulled out a red law book that looked exactly like the ones Otto Violet and Seth Wood had been thumping earlier. “Let’s get down to business. We’ve got thirty-six hours to come up with a way to keep you from swinging high.”
* * *
Just as Uley was clearing the cobalt-blue tin plates from the table that night, a timid rap came at the front door.
Samuel rose from the table and opened it. There stood Tin Can Laura in the dark, all dressed in red silk, with a huge matching plume on her head and enough kohl on her eyes that Uley almost didn’t recognize her.
“Hello.” She cast her eyes toward the smooth-swept dirt floor. “Gotta get back to Santa Fe Moll’s. But Storm here’s been tellin’ me he wanted to come to his new place and move in. What with spring coming and all the moles coming out, you’ll be needin’ him to do his duties purty soon. Knew you wouldn’t wanta be seen with me in the broad daylight, so I figured I’d better do this tonight.”
Uley’s heart lifted when she saw her new friend.
“Laura. Get in here,” she said. “Have a piece of huckleberry pie. I was just fixing to cut it open.” It suddenly seemed so important to her, treating Laura to sweets, making her feel welcome, letting her know that this was a place she could visit.
“Nope. Can’t do it. Moll will have my hide when she finds out I left the parlor. But Storm’s been caterwaulin’ something awful. He don’t like being locked up in my room anymore. It bothers the customers, having a cat howling next door.”
“Here.” Uley took Storm out of Laura’s skirt and pitched him unceremoniously on the bed. Then she grabbed her coat. “If you’re so set on not staying, then I’ll walk you back.”
“There’s no need of it.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll do it, anyway.”
“I heard,” Laura said as they marched along through the slush, “that there’s a real lady in town.”
“Yep. She came in on the supply wagon today.”
“Everybody over at Ongewach’s is talking about her. They say she’s got eyes like cornflowers and hair like sunbeams and a waist no bigger around than a willow tree.”
“That’s what they say, all right. Everybody’s talking about her everywhere you go.”
“Wish somebody would talk about me like that,” Laura said longingly.
Uley sighed. It was a deep, hollow sigh that reached down to her very soul.
* * *
The Gold Cup Mine, owned by Captain Hall and Carl Hord of the Bald Mountain Mining Company, was the first of the fifty-six mines in the valley to call off operations on Thursday. All the miners wanted to be at the Tin Cup Town Hall, supporting Uley Kirkland as the kid testified against the man who’d tried to murder the marshal.
Hord announced the Gold Cup’s schedule at 9:20 on Wednesday morning. An hour later, others were announcing the plan, as well. The Spotted Tail would be closed. The Little Fred would be closed. So would the Ontario, the Jimmy Mack and the Anna Parallel.
“Can’t