Soiled Dove (31 page)

Sheriff Beutler leaned back in his chair when they entered. His deputy, Monroe Hardcastle, leaned against the door leading to the prisoners’ cells.

“What can I do for you?” Beutler asked.

Ripley removed his hat and dropped it on the sheriff’s desk. “My name is Ripley Sinclair and I’m here to speak to my client, Miss Clare McIlhenney,”

he announced.

Beutler looked over his shoulder at Hardcastle. “Is that right? I didn’t know Clare had hired an attorney.”

“My associate and I need to speak to her privately.”

“What about her?” Beutler asked, pointing at Loretta.

“Miss Digby is here in case we need a few points clarified,” Ripley answered smoothly. “Otherwise she will remain here.”

“You got any credentials?”

Ripley reached into the inside pocket of his coat and handed the sheriff a folded copy of his license to practice law as well as an order from a Denver judge which gave him permission to practice in Colorado.

Beutler read over the two documents and handed them back to Ripley.

“Let ‘em in to see the prisoner, Monroe.”

Hardcastle pushed the door open and motioned them inside. “Can’t miss her. She’s the only prisoner,”

he said as he closed the door behind them.”

As soon as they were alone, Jo stepped in front of Ripley and walked to a cell two down from the entrance. Clare was lying on a cot, her back to the cell door.

“Miss McIlhenney?” Jo asked.

“Go away,” a voice answered.

“My name is Josephine Barclay. I’m an attorney from St. Louis. My associate is Mr. Ripley Sinclair.

We’ve been hired to defend you.”

Clare rolled over and stared at the two attorneys.

“I didn’t hire an attorney and I don’t want one. You made a long trip for nothin’.”

“Truthfully, we were hired by Loretta Digby to work on your behalf,” Jo explained. “She’s convinced you’re innocent and wants you to receive a fair trial.”

Clare launched her body off the cot and grabbed the bars of the cell. Jo was startled when she saw her client face-to-face for the first time. “I heard you had been shot. What happened to your face?”

“I tripped.”

“And you fell on your face, apparently more than once.” Clare’s nose looked as if it had been broken without being reset and a puffy face surrounded two black eyes. Dried blood caked her split and swollen lower lip. “Ripley, we need to get the doctor here right away.”

“He can’t do nothin’ for me,” Clare snapped.

“Your nose is broken. He can reset it unless you want to spend the rest of your life breathing from your mouth.” Jo looked at her associate. “Now, Ripley.”

Ripley left the cell area quickly. When he was gone Jo said, “Now do you want to tell me what really happened?”

“I slipped and fell into the bars with my face.”

“Who helped you do that?”

Clare gave her a lop-sided grin. “A couple of real pissed off, law-abiding citizens.”

“Where was the sheriff when this attack occurred?”

“Makin’ his rounds and havin’ a beer over at the saloon, I suppose.”

“He left you alone in the jail. For how long?”

“An hour or so.”

“The doctor’s on his way,” Ripley said when he returned to the cell. “Miss Digby is upset and a little adamant about coming in.”

“No!” Clare said loudly. “I don’t want her in here.

That’s my right isn’t it? Not to have any visitors?”

“Well, yes, but surely you want to see Loretta.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Is there a photographer in this burg?”

“I think so. Why?”

“I need to have pictures taken of your face so I can press charges against the sheriff for negligence.”

Clare laughed. “No judge will accept that case and you know it.”

“Colorado is a state now, Miss McIlhenney. There are laws in place to protect citizens from assault, no matter the circumstances.”

Doctor Wayne arrived at the jail and examined Clare’s injuries, old and new. “I’ll have to re-stitch the bullet wound on your leg, Clare.”

“Please don’t reset the nose until I tell you to, Doctor,” Jo requested.

Jo and Ripley left the cell area and rejoined Loretta in the office. Jo whispered to Loretta, who nodded and left. She returned half an hour later accompanied by a middle aged man carrying a camera over his shoulder.

“What’s this shit?” Beutler demanded.

“I believe this gentleman is a photographer with the local newspaper. He’s here to photograph your prisoner, Sheriff. Apparently, she’s the clumsy type. I want her injuries documented for the record, just in case she should accidentally run her face into the bars after we leave,” Ripley explained.

The photographer, a man named Lester Pennington, looked nervously at Beutler as he followed Jo and Ripley into the cell area.

“All right, doctor,” Jo said after Pennington was gone. “You can reset her nose now. Can you estimate how old the injuries to her face are?”

“Less than twenty-four hours I’d guess,” Wayne said as he snapped Clare’s broken nose back into alignment. “It’ll be about a week before the bruising fades and the swelling goes down,” he said. “She has numerous bruises on her torso as well and they weren’t there when Beutler brought her here. She couldn’t possibly have gotten them by tripping and falling. If you need me to I’d be more than happy to give a statement or testify to that.”

“Ripley, take the doctor’s statement while I confer with our client,” Jo said in a low voice. “Use one of the empty cells.”

Clare leaned back against the cell wall behind her cot. Jo pulled a wooden crate closer to the bunk and sat down. “Clare, I need to hear your version of what happened the night Thaddeus Garner and Jack Coulter were killed.”

“I shot them before they shot me,” Clare answered.

“Why would they want to shoot you?”

“I had a fight earlier that day with Garner’s son. I caught him in my house where he was attempting to rape my housekeeper.”

“Loretta Digby,” Jo said rather than ask.

“I guess so. She told me her name was Loretta Langford and that she was Reverend Langford’s sister-in-law when I hired her. I learned the truth that same day.”

“Did you go looking for Garner?”

“No. I came to town looking for Coulter. Garner was a bonus.”

“Did he attack you for fighting with his son earlier in the day?”

“He had a couple of his men rough me up some then told me to get my rifle. I’m not sure what he had in mind, but it probably wasn’t getting killed.”

“According to the report of the incident, Garner didn’t have a chance to draw his weapon.”

“That’s right. Obviously he wasn’t fast enough.”

“Witnesses say you shot him twice before the others had a chance to open fire. Is that correct?”

“Sounds about right.”

“So you don’t deny you killed him?”

“No.”

“Truthfully, Clare that isn’t going to help your case.”

“Thaddeus Garner was the leader of a bunch of marauders who attacked my family twenty years ago.

They murdered my parents and my eight-year-old brother. He was carrying my father’s pocket watch the night he died. I couldn’t believe the damn thing was still working after all those years. When I saw it that night I took justice and I’d do it again in a minute. I gave him a better chance than he gave my family.”

“You can’t take the law into your own hands.”

“Sometimes that’s the only kind that works. Thad Garner was a powerful man around here. He’s been trying to run me off my property since the day he came to Trinidad.”

“What about Coulter?”

“He came to town a few days before I shot him looking for someone he said had worked for him and stolen money from him. He wanted to have her arrested and sent back to St. Joe to stand trial. Once he started asking questions around town, it would have destroyed Retta’s reputation as well as that of Reverend Langford and his wife and the young girl living with them. At the very least they would have been forced out of town.”

“What do you know about Loretta’s past before she came here?”

“Nothin’. After she was attacked by Clement she told me she was a prostitute and worked for Jack Coulter, but had never stolen money from him. I believe her. No matter what happens to me, I don’t want any of them dragged into it.”

“They may have to testify at your trial.”

“No! I’ll plead guilty. If you want to waste your time defending me then fine. But the minute you ask them to be a witness, I’ll stand up in court and confess. I admit I shot at Jack. But that was after he’d already shot me. At best my shot was a wild one.”

“The record shows he was shot in the back.”

“The bullet must have gone through him and the doctor was confused. No one else but me could have shot him.”

“Without witnesses to the whole incident you haven’t left me with much to work with,” Jo sighed.

“The prosecution will almost certainly call Clement Garner to testify against you. If Jack told him about Loretta’s past the town will learn the truth anyway.”

“Guess I should have killed him too instead of just wounding him.”

“That sounds pre-meditated, Clare. Don’t say that to anyone else. You’ve given me quite a few things to look into and I’ll do the best I can to prevent a hanging. You sure you don’t want to see Loretta?”

“Positive. Everyone in town thinks I’m crazy already. I can’t think of any reason to change their minds now.”

“Not even to save your own life?”

“I don’t have a life any more. I thought I did for a while, but it was only wishful thinking.”

“Do you love Loretta?”

Clare barked out a laugh. “If I admitted something like that, I’d be hung as a pervert and you know it.”

“She’s a beautiful woman.”

“She’s a
girl
and confused. She was temporarily led astray by an older woman who took advantage of her.” Clare’s voice was resigned and bitter. She lowered her eyes and rubbed them with the heel of her hands. “She’ll find a good man to care for her when this is all over and live a normal life. I’m tired and would like to get some rest now.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow,” Jo said as she stood up.

“By the way, was there an inscription on your father’s watch?”

“Some initials and a date. T. M. from A. M. 2/14/

1856. It was a gift from my mother the year we moved west.”

LORETTA WAS DISAPPOINTED when they

returned to the hotel a few hours later. She hadn’t been allowed to see or speak to Clare since her arrest.

Jo placed her satchel on the bed and removed her hat.

“Ripley, would you be a dear and let me speak to Retta alone for a few minutes?”

“I’ll look over the notes I took today and make of list of witnesses we need to speak to.”

“Good. See if you can arrange meetings with them sometime this week.”

Ripley gathered a few papers and stuffed them into his briefcase and left the hotel room.

Jo poured water into the bowl on the dresser and washed her face, drying it slowly with a small towel.

“Clare doesn’t want to see you, Retta.”

“But why?” Loretta said, exasperated. “She knows how much I care about her.”

“She’s trying to protect you,” Jo answered with a slight grin. “Or at least protect your reputation.”

Loretta laughed bitterly. “It might not sound very lady-like, but I’d say that was already shot to shit.

Jack’s told everyone I’m a whore and a thief. I haven’t been involved with anyone other than Clare since I arrived here last May.”

“ Jack’s dead and he can’t repeat it now.”

“People will believe him. Hell, Clement Garner believed it enough to attempt to rape me and he’s still alive to spread the rumor.”

“Did he give you money or offer to?”

“Not this time. He tried to buy my services months before he met Jack. I turned him down then, but if Clare hadn’t returned to the ranch when she did, he would have gotten what he wanted anyway after he’d spoken to Jack.”

Jo stood next to Loretta and caressed her face.

“You are a lovely young woman, Retta. Any man would want you. I can easily understand that.” She removed her hand, leaving Loretta’s face suddenly cold, and sat on the edge of the bed. She leaned forward and rested her elbow on her knees. “I have to be honest with you, Retta. I’m not sure I can save Clare and your reputation.”

“I don’t give a damn about my reputation!”

“Reverend Langford, his wife, and Amelia might be hurt as well. Clare doesn’t want anyone to be injured by her actions. I’ll need to speak to them.

Clare has forbidden me from calling you as a witness.

She’ll confess to murder if I attempt it. She’s tying my hands as far as her defense is concerned. I think we might be able to win on the murder charge involving Thaddeus Garner, but she’ll probably be found guilty for murdering Jack Coulter. I can’t defend her against that charge without involving you and the Langfords.”

“Cyrus would be forced to leave Trinidad,”

Loretta said solemnly.

“It’s an extremely complex case. No matter what I do, someone will lose.”

“What can I do, Jo?”

“I don’t know yet. Give me and Ripley a few days to investigate. I’ll be pressing charges myself against Sheriff Beutler.”

“Sheriff Beutler hates Clare. He worked for Thad Garner,” Loretta said.

“I figured something was going on between them.” Jo took Loretta’s hands in her own and held them. “Beutler left Clare in her cell alone and the office unlocked. While he was gone someone went in and worked Clare over. Doctor Wayne has given us a statement about her injuries, none of which she had the day before. Ripley has sent a telegram to Denver requesting extra protection, but that might take a few days. Or it might never happen.”

“I can get Ino or some of Clare’s men to come into town and guard her.”

“What exactly is your relationship with Clare? She refuses to discuss it.”

“Suffice it to say it’s of a personal nature.”

“That’s another subject of concern. If a jury learns you and Clare are intimately, sexually, involved, I can guarantee she won’t have a chance at trial. She could get the death penalty for that alone. In a bigger city, I might be able to defend it, but that’s unlikely in Trinidad.”