The Lawman's Surrender: The Calhoun Sisters, Book 2 (30 page)

“If I had agreed to marry you, the senator would definitely have had grounds to take your badge away,” she retorted. Then her voice softened. “When I do marry you, Jedidiah, it will be forever. That I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He drew her hand through the bars and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I’ll be back before one o’clock.”

“I’ll be here,” she replied.

“
Don’t
say that!”

Chapter Twenty-One

Jedidiah’s smile faded as he left the jail. Though he had put on a confident face for Susannah, he was more worried than he let on. It struck him as just too coincidental the way the Caldwell family kept trying to take Susannah away from him.

He went back to the clinic and told Nate what had happened.

“She hasn’t said a word,” Nate said. “In fact, it’s like she’s pretending I’m not even here.”

“She’s going to have to start talking,” Jedidiah said grimly. “I’m not letting Susannah leave with Caldwell at one o’clock. I’ve got a bad feeling about this whole situation.”

“I trust your instincts,” Nate said, “but what are you going to do? Break her out of jail?”

“If I have to.”

“You must be in love,” Nate teased as he followed Jedidiah back to Mrs. Hawkins’s bedside.

“I am.” Jedidiah glanced at his friend. “I’ll do anything I have to in order to save her.”

Nate let out a low whistle. “Boy, when you fall, you fall hard.”

“Tell me about it.” Jedidiah sat down in the chair at Mrs. Hawkins’s bedside. “Mrs. Hawkins, it’s Marshal Brown.”

The woman didn’t respond.

“Mrs. Hawkins,” he said again, “Susannah is in trouble. I need you to help me save her.”

She looked at him this time, but still said nothing.

“This is getting us nowhere,” Nate said, with a dark look at the uncooperative witness. “Maybe we should just put her in a jail cell until she’s ready to tell us what she knows.”

“No, not with Caldwell in there,” Jedidiah responded.

“Yeah, I forgot about old Wayne,” Nate replied.

“Wayne Caldwell is in jail?” Mrs. Hawkins blurted, surprising both of them.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jedidiah answered. “I put him there myself. He tried to kill Susannah, twice.”

“Susannah? Why in heavens name would he do that?” Her voice rose with agitation. “She didn’t see anything. Why would he try and hurt Susannah?”

Jedidiah leaned forward. “He can’t hurt anyone anymore, Mrs. Hawkins, because I put him in jail. Now what did you mean, she didn’t see anything?”

“Well, she didn’t. I thought he would come after me.” She lay back on the pillow, staring at the ceiling. “Good Lord, all this time I thought he was after
me
.”

Jedidiah and Nate exchanged glances. “Why would he do that, ma’am?” Nate asked.

“Because I saw him. I saw Wayne kill his brother.” She looked from one to the other. “I ran away, and he shouted after me. I left town as quickly as I could. I thought he would kill me, too.”

“Caldwell killed his own brother?” Nate exclaimed.

“Wayne said something strange to Susannah,” Jedidiah reflected. “He said ‘we both know you were the only woman there that night.’ Could he have seen you running away, Mrs. Hawkins, and thought you were Susannah?”

“It’s possible. It was very dark.”

“That would explain a lot of things,” Nate said.

“Yeah,” Jedidiah agreed. “Wayne set Susannah up as the scapegoat, but he thought she had seen him, so he’s been trying to kill her before she could talk.”

“But why would Wayne kill his own brother?” Nate asked.

“Brick knew about the senator,” Mrs. Hawkins said.

Jedidiah leaned forward with interest. “What about the senator?”

The woman bit her lip and looked from one man to the other. “Senator Caldwell will kill me, too, if I tell you.”

“He won’t hurt you.” Jedidiah laid a hand on hers. “Please tell us everything, Mrs. Hawkins. If the senator is involved in this, he needs to be punished just like Wayne.”

“He’s too powerful,” she said, shaking her head. “Brick tried to take him on, and look where he ended up.”

“What do you mean, Brick tried to take him on?” Nate asked.

She shook her head again. “I can’t tell you. He’ll find me and kill me, I know it. I’m sorry.”

“Mrs. Hawkins,” Jedidiah said quietly. “I can arrest you for withholding information about a murder. But I’m not going to do that. What I am going to tell you is this: an innocent woman is going to be convicted of a murder she did not commit if you don’t help us. Senator Caldwell will get away with what he’s done, and you will never be free of him.”

“He might find out the truth someday,” Nate added. “What if it comes out that it was you who was there that night, not Miss Calhoun? The senator is a powerful man. He’d be able to find you.”

“He’ll never be arrested,” Mrs. Hawkins said sadly.

“It would be easier if we had proof,” Jedidiah agreed. “Of course, if you could tell us why—”

“Oh, I have proof,” she interrupted. “I took all Mr. Brick’s letters, the ones he hid in the floorboard of the porch. I came back early the next morning and collected them. I was sure Wayne had gotten to them, but he hadn’t found them at all.”

“What letters?” Nate prodded.

She hesitated. “If I tell you, you have to promise to protect me,” she said. “The senator might still get away with what he’s done. He has enough friends in high places to do it.”

“I promise,” Jedidiah said. “We won’t let him get near you.”

“We’ll set you up with a fresh start someplace,” Nate said. “But you’ll have to testify in court.”

“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want him to see me. I can’t do that.”

“Mrs. Hawkins, please,” Jedidiah said softly. “If you don’t do what’s right, the woman I love is going to be convicted of something she didn’t do. They will sentence her to hang.”

She hesitated.

“Please, Mrs. Hawkins,” Jedidiah pleaded. “Do the right thing.”

“It’s the only way this will ever end,” Nate added.

The battle she fought with herself was clearly reflected on her face.

Jedidiah and Nate waited for her decision as the minutes ticked by, and it grew closer to the hour when Susannah would leave for Denver.

“Time to leave, Miss Calhoun,” Sheriff MacElroy said, unlocking the door to the cell.

“Is it one o’clock already?” Susannah looked around for some sort of clock, but there was none back here among the cells.

“Closer to twelve-thirty, but the Senator’s ready to leave,” he said.

“But I can’t leave yet!” She dug in her heels, resisting to the most of her ability. Still the sheriff managed to get her from the cell block to the main office.

“You’ve got to get to Denver,” the sheriff reminded her.

“Not without Jedidiah.” She grabbed his chair, holding it with both hands as he dragged both her and the chair toward the door.

“Sheriff, what is the holdup here?” the senator asked, appearing in the doorway. He flipped open an engraved gold pocket watch and noted the hour.

“Just getting the prisoner ready to travel,” MacElroy said, smiling politely despite his difficulty in removing Susannah from the room.

“I’m not going anywhere without Jedidiah!” Susannah declared. She let go of the chair with an abruptness that made the sheriff stumble. He lost his grip on her, and she grabbed his keys off his belt and darted back into the jail. As she passed, she scooped the spare set of keys off the wall, then shut herself in the cell and locked the door.

“Miss Calhoun!” the sheriff shouted, storming after her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

She tucked the keys beneath the pillow on her cot, then sat on it, arms folded. “I’m waiting for Jedidiah. He’ll be along directly.”

“Young woman,” said the senator, following MacElroy into the cell block, “you are embarrassing yourself with this display. Have you no dignity?”

“Not a bit,” she replied.

The senator whirled on the sheriff. “Get her out of there!” he demanded.

“I can’t. She’s got the keys.”

“Then get her out another way. I don’t care how you do it, just get her out of there!”

MacElroy stared at the senator with angry eyes. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but then he spun on his heel and stalked from the jail.

Senator Caldwell turned to look at Susannah. She met the blazing hate in his eyes with a fulminating glare of her own.

“You have been entirely too much trouble, Miss Calhoun,” the senator said in a silky tone that sent dread twisting down her spine. “When this is over, you will regret ever crossing me.”

“I already regret it, Senator. You’ve turned my life upside down with your false accusations and pushy ways.”

“We’ll see how haughty you are when you’re convicted of murder,” Caldwell hissed. “I intend to put all the power at my disposal behind the prosecution.”

Fear slithered down her spine at the evil twisting his features.

MacElroy came back into the cell block. “I sent for the blacksmith,” he said. “He ought to be able to take the door off the hinges so we can get both Miss Calhoun and your nephew out.”

“Excellent.” The senator consulted his pocket watch again. “Perhaps we will get to Denver on time after all.”

“I’m afraid you may have to delay your trip, Senator,” Jedidiah said from the doorway. “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere today.”

Susannah sprang to her feet and gripped the bars of her cell. Jedidiah sent her a quick, reassuring glance, then fixed his attention back on Senator Caldwell.

“What nonsense is this?” the senator exclaimed, his silver brows arching. “Have you come to rescue Miss Calhoun, Marshal? I assure you, she’s no longer your concern.”

“I’ve come to take you into custody, Senator,” Jedidiah replied. He came fully into the room.

The senator laughed. “If this is some deluded attempt to stop me from reporting your activities to your superiors, Marshal Brown, I must say it is a pitiful endeavor on your part.”

“No, Senator, this has nothing to do with me. And I doubt my superiors will listen to a word you have to say once the truth gets out.” Jedidiah held up a packet of letters tied together with a worn red ribbon. “Do you recognize these, Senator? You should, since you wrote them.”

The senator paled, but he maintained his bravado. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Marshal.”

Jedidiah stepped forward. “Senator Morris Caldwell, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of your nephew, Brick Caldwell.”

“This is preposterous!”

“These letters are proof that your nephew was blackmailing you. He knew about a certain young lady—a
very
young lady, in fact—who had given birth to your child. Had this knowledge become public, your career would have been ruined.” Jedidiah tapped the bundle of letters with one finger. “There is also an allegation that you may have forced this young lady, who is a member of a wealthy family in Washington, D.C., to have a relationship with you by threatening to ruin her father’s reputation and his political career.”

“Lies!” the senator cried. “I’m a United States Senator. There are always young women accusing powerful men like myself of such things.”

“As I said, this is currently an allegation. However, we have letters written to your nephew,” Jedidiah stated, his voice calm though his eyes blazed. “Letters written in your own hand in which you threaten your nephew with bodily harm when he tries to blackmail you. We have a witness who was there the night of the murder, who saw Wayne stab Brick—
after
Miss Calhoun had left for the evening. A witness who overheard Wayne admit to another man at the scene that the killing was done on your orders.”

“A witness? Produce this witness!”

“In due time,” Jedidiah said. “In the meantime, Senator, you are under arrest.”

“Are you sure of your facts?” MacElroy asked. “Those are serious charges, Marshal.”

“Very sure. Sheriff, perhaps you can take the senator into custody and hold him for a while?”

MacElroy hesitated. “I don’t know, Marshal. Suppose this is just some trick you’ve cooked up because the senator wants you fired?”

“What if I’m right?” Jedidiah asked softly. “What if the senator here is responsible for both the murder of Brick Caldwell and the attempted murder of Susannah Calhoun? These charges have to be investigated, Sheriff.”

Sheriff MacElroy thought the matter over, then gave a short nod and approached the senator. “Sir, why don’t we all sit down and talk this thing out?”

“Get away from me!” the senator cried, backing away. “Marshal Brown, this has all been very amusing, but I am due at a dinner party in Denver this evening.”

“You’ll have to send your regrets.”

MacElroy reached for the senator again, but he twisted away. When he turned back, he had a tiny derringer in his hand.

“I’m not going to prison,” Senator Caldwell declared, his voice tight with fear. He pointed the gun at first one man, then the other, forcing him to back away. Then he aimed it at Jedidiah. “You’re not going to do this to me, Brown!”