The Accidental Mail Order Bride Page 16

  “Where did you come from?” Carl asked, scratching the dog behind its ears.

  The dog panted in response, seeming to smile at the attention.

  “You’ve got to be one of the most docile dogs I’ve ever seen,” he murmured. “I wonder where your owner is.”

  The dog, of course, had no way of telling him.

  “Well, maybe your owner will come looking for you. In the meantime, you can stay here.” He waved the dog in, but the dog remained seated. “Come in. Come on, girl.”

  The dog stayed in place.

  How could he encourage the dog to come in? After a moment, he went over to the container resting on the shelf above his potbelly stove and took out a piece of jerky. He showed it to the dog.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  The dog sauntered into the cabin and stopped in front of him. It sat down then got up on its hind legs.

  “Whoever you belong to did a good job of training you,” he said as he broke off a piece of the jerky and fed the animal. “You’re clean, too.” He petted the dog and smiled. “You know, it’s been a long time since anything good was in this place.”

  He gave the dog the rest of the jerky, and the dog was more than happy to eat it.

  Something hard pressed into the back of Carl’s head, and he froze. A metal click let him know he was on the receiving end of a gun. He cursed his foolishness. He never should have turned his back on the open door!

  “Ginger,” the man behind Carl whispered to the dog, “leave.”

  The dog whined for a moment but then turned and left the cabin.

  “Now,” the man whispered in Carl’s ear, “I’ve had enough of waiting. Get over to that desk and write a letter confessing to Lydia’s murder.”

  Carl tried to glance over his shoulder to see who was behind him, but the man struck him on the side of the head with the butt of the gun. Wincing, Carl cried out and touched the fresh wound. When he inspected his fingers, he saw blood on them.

  After a moment, Carl steeled his resolve and straightened up to his full height. He was tired of quivering in fear, and he was tired of fighting the inevitable. Of all the things he’d done in his life to mess it up, confessing to a murder he didn’t commit wasn’t going to be one of them.

  “Do what you have to do,” he told the man behind him, “but I’m not writing that letter.”

  The man swore, and this time Carl made out who it was. Jerry Conner. Somehow being able to put a voice with a face emboldened him to act. He swung around and punched Jerry across the jaw. The gun went off, and Carl went to the floor, sure he’d been hit. But the absence of pain let him know Jerry had missed.

  From outside, the dog started barking, and Carl scrambled to his feet, searching for something—anything—he could use as a weapon. He found a letter opener on the desk and turned to face Jerry. He would have lunged at Jerry had Jerry not been pointing the gun at him.

  The two stood still. Both staring at the other. Carl’s fist tightened around the letter opener. Maybe if he threw it and ducked, he could catch Jerry by surprise.

  The dog stepped into the cabin and barked in Jerry’s direction. Jerry glanced at the dog, and Carl took that as his cue. He threw the letter opener, aiming for Jerry’s forehead. Then he ducked.

  Jerry, however, also ducked. And worse, another gunshot rang through the air, followed by shattering glass. Carl squeezed his eyes, fully expecting a bullet to hit him. But it didn’t. Parting his eyes enough so he could see his body, he noticed he was fine. Then he opened his eyes all the way and looked over at Jerry, thinking for sure Jerry would be standing right over him.

  But Jerry was face first on the floor, a pool of blood beneath him. Glancing at the back of Jerry’s head, Carl saw the bullet wound.

  The dog went over to Jerry and sniffed him, whining as it did so.

  “It’s alright,” came Travis’ voice.

  Carl glanced over at the doorway as Travis and Eric came into the cabin.

  “We didn’t want to risk shooting you,” Eric said, “so we had to wait until we had a clear view of him.”

  Shaking, Carl asked, “How did you know he was here?”

  “I thought I saw someone coming on this property on my way here,” Travis said, “so I pretended to leave and kept watch until I saw Jerry and the dog. I followed them up here and waited to see what would happen.” He pointed to Eric. “He happened to meet up with me along the way.”

  “Ida found Jerry with Lydia’s dress,” Eric said. “He was hiding it in his wagon. I’ve searched his wagon. It’s not there anymore. My guess is that he burned it, and since Ida wouldn’t stop talking about the affair he was having, he got desperate and made another attempt to pin the murder on you.”

  Carl released his breath, unaware he’d been holding it.

  “It’s going to be alright,” Eric told him. “The important thing is you don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  “I’ve never been through anything like this before,” Carl said.

  “You’ll be shaken up for a while, but things will calm down.”

  “I’m just glad we got here in time,” Travis added.

  “If only every incident ended so well,” Eric agreed, slipping the gun in his holster.

  Carl didn’t understand it. He’d heard of Jerry. Even seen him when he was in town on occasion. His wife had the reputation as a good and faithful spouse. Why would he have an affair with Lydia?

  “My list wouldn’t have done any good,” Carl told Travis. “I didn’t know about Jerry.”

  “As much as I hate to admit it,” Eric began, “I’m glad Ida didn’t keep her mouth shut. I didn’t think Jerry was capable of such a thing.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s hard to know anyone,” Carl replied. “People are good at pretending to be something they aren’t when they want to keep a secret.”

  After a long moment of silence, the three men loaded Jerry onto Carl’s wagon and took the body into town.

  ***

  “I’m sorry,” Eric told Violet later that day in her parlor while Ida watched her two children.

  Violet wiped the tears from her eyes. “I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t want to admit it.”

  “I wish I didn’t have to bring you such bad news. No woman wants to think her husband is an adulterer and a murderer.”

  She took a deep breath and released it. “How much will the others in town know about this?”

  “Right now, it’s just me, Travis, and Carl who know the truth, and we can be discreet. You don’t have to worry the details will be exposed.”

  After a moment, she set her handkerchief on her lap, her gaze meeting his. “It’s not me I worry about. I can handle the rumors. I just worry about my children. They’re only eight and six.”

  From beside her, her dog rested its head on her leg and peered up at her. One thing Eric admired about dogs was their loyalty to their owners, even when the owners didn’t deserve it.

  “I know this is painful for you to talk about,” Eric said, his voice soft, “but something has been bothering me. I was wondering if you could shed some light on it.”

  Petting Ginger, she asked, “What do you want to know?”

  “When Lydia saw me before she was murdered, she had on that green dress Ida saw your husband hiding in the wagon. By the time I found her dead body, she was wearing red. Do you have any idea why she might have changed into a dress that wasn’t hers?”

  “Jerry’s favorite color was red. Maybe she put it on to please him.”

  He nodded slowly, hoping she would pick up on the fact that he wasn’t fully convinced.

  “You think there might be another reason?” she asked.

  “I think the dress being his favorite color might have been part of it. He took her far enough out of town that it would have taken us months to find her if a couple of women hadn’t been taking a walk out that way. Anyone on a horse would have missed her because she was too far into the ravine to see from that angle.
And if someone was in a carriage, they wouldn’t be able to see her, either.”

  “I don’t understand. What are you getting at, Sheriff?”

  “I’m wondering if he might have had her change into a dress she didn’t own in the hopes that her body would be so decayed no one would have recognized her. It was no secret Lydia was miserable. If we hadn’t found her body, we might have assumed she ran off to another town just to get away from her husband.”

  “Yes. Probably.”

  “That leaves another question, though.”

  “Oh?”

  “Where would he get the dress? That dress fit Lydia perfectly, and when I talked to Carl while coming into town, he verified that Lydia didn’t own any red dresses.”

  She glanced down at the dog, and in doing so, Eric knew he’d put her in a difficult position. This was the hard part. He liked Violet. He had liked Jerry, too. And he was going to have to do one of the toughest things he’d ever done during his entire time as sheriff.

  He leaned forward in the chair, his elbows resting on his knees. “Violet, I know you didn’t push Lydia off the wagon. Jerry did. But only a woman would know how to give a man a dress that would fit another woman.”

  Her lower lip trembled and a tear slid down her cheek.

  “Since you didn’t commit the actual murder, the judge will go easier on you,” he softly said. “But since you helped Jerry, you still have to share your part of the guilt.”

  She swallowed and ran her hand along the dog’s head. “He was only with Lydia once. It was almost six months ago, and he and I had had a fight. He went out to get drunk, and she happened to be riding her horse along a deserted path as he was walking out of town to clear his head. He said it was all a blur. That one thing led to another and before he knew it, they’d,” she gulped, “been together.”

  He watched as she struggled to keep her composure, but her hands trembled while she wiped another tear from her cheek. He quickly handed her a handkerchief and waited for her to continue.

  “He told me right away,” she said. “He was so ashamed, and I was so angry. He’d been faithful all these years in our marriage, and I had no reason to think he’d do anything with the town whore.” She wiped more tears away. “I tried to forget it, to put it out of my mind. We tried to put that night away from us, but a month ago, Lydia told him she was expecting his child. She threatened to expose the affair if Jerry didn’t give her money and take her out of town so she could start a new life elsewhere.”

  She took a deep breath then released it. “If it hadn’t been for the timing of the conception, we wouldn’t have worried about the threat, but Jerry panicked. We stood to lose everything, and we didn’t have enough money to get her started on a new life in another town.”

  “So,” she continued, “we came up with the plan to get rid of her. The dress was my idea. If someone happened to see him taking her out of town, we could claim it was me. He had her wear a bonnet that covered her face. He said he was taking her to the next town and would give her money for a ticket to go anywhere she wanted.”

  She took a shaky breath.

  “The plan was for him to push her out of the wagon so she’d fall down the ravine,” she added. “Then he was supposed to go back the next night and bury her. We were too afraid someone would find him if he lingered out there too long. We didn’t think anyone would find her in only one day. He’d been careful to push her off at the right spot.”

  All the missing pieces had fallen into place, and now Eric could put this murder to rest. “I know that was hard for you,” he replied, thinking over how much guilt she’d been carrying around with her all this time. “And I know this is going to be difficult, but we have to tell the judge.” He rose to his feet and waited for her to get up.

  She remained sitting for a couple minutes, just petting the dog and crying. But then, she stood up, sniffed back more tears, and wiped her face dry. “Sheriff, if it was just me, I could handle anything the judge wants to do with me. My concern is for the children. Do they have to know the details?”

  “No, no they don’t. We can tell people you needed to take care of a sick relative in another state and that you’ll be back when the relative gets better. We’ll tell your children the same thing. I have a feeling Ida won’t have any problems keeping the secret since we’re doing this for your children.”

  “Thank you,” she replied.

  In silence, he took her by the arm and led her to the door.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The next day, Allie took a break from weeding the flowerbed so she could bring Travis a glass of lemonade, thinking it would do more to quench his thirst than a hot cup of coffee would. When she stepped into the building, she saw that he was working on the coffin.

  “The kitchen table and chairs were better projects,” she said as she walked over to him.

  He glanced up at her. “It’s a good reminder that life’s short. I can’t help but think of my own mortality every time I’m asked to make a coffin or burn a body.”

  “Do you do that often?”

  “More often than I want to.” He put down his carving knife and accepted the lemonade. “In the past when I did this, I used to think my life had no purpose. I mean, beyond giving people scraps of junk to use or making things like furniture. And I suppose someone has to take care of people when they die, even as gruesome as the task is.”

  “Everything you do is necessary. You do have a purpose.”

  “Yes, I suppose I always did. But now that I have you, I have a reason to want to live.”

  On impulse, she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. “I’m glad to hear it. I want you to be around for a long time so we can enjoy many years together.”

  He smiled and lowered his head, ready to return the kiss, when they heard a horse neighing. His eyebrows furrowed, he took her hand and led her to the doorway. Her face flushed with pleasure. Now that he had opened up to her, he had no trouble showing her how much she meant to him. And that was nice.

  When she saw that Eric was coming up to their property with two girls and a dog in the wagon, she glanced at Travis. “Does this have something to do with what happened yesterday?”

  “Well, those are Jerry and Violet’s daughters,” Travis replied. “Carl took them over to Ida while Eric talked to Violet.”

  She didn’t know much about what had happened, except that Jerry had been the one who murdered Lydia. Otherwise, the details eluded her, and she figured it was better that way. She didn’t need to know them.

  She followed Travis out to the clearing between the building and the cottage and waited for Eric to pull the wagon to a stop.

  “Good afternoon,” she called out.

  Eric tipped his hat in greeting then helped the two girls down. The dog jumped down from the wagon and stood by the two girls.

  “Should I get some lemonade to drink?” Allie asked.

  The girls stood next to the wagon, their gazes going between Allie and Travis.

  “Maybe in a moment,” Eric said. “Girls, will you stay here while I talk to Mr. and Mrs. Martin?”

  The oldest nodded and held her sister’s hand.

  Allie’s heart went out to them. The poor things. They looked scared.

  Eric came up to her and Travis. “Can we talk in there?” he gestured to the building.

  “Sure,” Travis replied.

  Once they were in the building, Eric turned to Allie. “Did Travis tell you what happened yesterday?”

  “Some of it,” Allie slowly replied. “I know Jerry killed Lydia Richie.”

  “Yes, he did. And his wife, Violet, helped him. Violet will have to go to jail in a town north of here. The judge has decided she’ll be there for five years. I promised Violet I wouldn’t tell anyone else about her part in the murder. She doesn’t want the children to know since they have to stay in this town.” He paused and glanced out the window.

  Allie followed his gaze and saw the oldest was trying to comfort the younger o
ne who was wiping her eyes. The dog remained with them.

  “The girls are Lilly and Janice,” Eric said. “I told them and everyone else in town that their mother needs to visit a sick relative. It’s bad enough they know what happened with their father. I don’t see any reason they should have to know about their mother, too.”

  “I don’t blame you,” Allie replied. “They’re going through a hard enough time as it is. But since you brought them here, do you want me and Travis to take care of them?”

  “I know it’s a lot to ask. I thought since you two are better isolated than anyone else, they stand the best chance of being protected from the talk in town. Even if they weren’t the ones who killed Lydia, they’d have to put up with the stares and whispers. Some of the children might even harass them about it. I thought this would be the best place for them to get peace from all of that.”

  Allie glanced at Travis, wondering what he thought about it. If it was just her, the answer would be easy. She’d take them. But Travis was so shy around people. “What do you think?” she asked him.

  Travis looked at the girls for a long moment, and she could tell he had mixed feelings about the proposition. Finally, he asked, “What do they think about us taking care of them?”

  “To be honest, I didn’t ask,” Eric replied.

  “We should ask,” Travis said. “They’re going through a hard enough time as it is. They shouldn’t be stuck with someone who scares them.”

  Before either Eric or Allie could reply, he left the building. Curious, Allie followed him, Eric close behind.

  When they reached the girls, Travis paused then took off his hat and knelt in front of them. “The sheriff would like you two and the dog to stay with me and my wife while your mother’s gone.” He glanced at Allie. “And that’s fine with you?”

  Allie nodded and smiled at the girls. “I’d be happy to have you and your dog here.”

  “I would, too,” Travis added, turning back to them. “But it’s important that you want to be here. I know I can seem scary. If you’re afraid of me, we won’t make you stay. I’m sure the sheriff can find another family for you to stay with instead.”