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Aaron was no better as he said, “I’d be glad to drop the subject, Sheriff, but Mr. MacIntyre seems reluctant to allow it.”
Asa pushed his hat back and shrugged. “Go figure.”
This was getting ugly. Elizabeth turned to Asa.
“You have no proof,” she reminded him. Without proof, they couldn’t do anything except embarrass themselves. She stared at him, willing him to let it go until they did have it. Asa didn’t seem to be getting the point.
“I have enough to know there’s no way you’ll be safe until he’s six feet under.”
“That’s pretty harsh words,” Sheriff Mulden said.
“It’s a harsh world.” Asa pushed away from the building. He encompassed the crowd in his gaze as he continued. “Of course, I wouldn’t have to dig up false proof against Ballard if Jimmy here would just confess.”
Never at a loss for words, Jimmy’s “You’re crazy!” was as immediate as his bluster.
Elizabeth shook her head. He would have been better served by making a run for it, because, while he was sputtering, Aaron moved in and locked his arms behind his back.
His “Hello, Jimmy,” was eminently cordial.
Red-faced and struggling, Jimmy demanded an explanation.
“Yeah,” Sheriff Mulden echoed. “I think that might be timely, seeing as you started by accusing Mr. Ballard and now have this one hog-tied.”
Asa pushed away from the wall. Elizabeth lost sight of him when someone jostled her. She surged forward with the crowd, trying to get a good look.
“I apologize for that, Sheriff. Needed to pass a little time while I waited.”
“Your idea of passing time is getting town folks worked up?” Sheriff Mulden didn’t sound pleased.
“He’s goddamned loco,” Jimmy protested.
Sheriff Mulden didn’t appreciate the interruption as evidenced by his scowl. “I’ll thank you to remain quiet, Jimmy. I’m basing my listening on how many times I’ve had the pleasure of a body’s company in my jail. Those that don’t disturb my Saturday nights get first shot.”
A titter of uneasy laughter rippled through the crowd. Jimmy was a regular at the tiny jailhouse. Sheriff Mulden turned back to Asa. “You said you were waiting on something, son?”
“Yeah.”
Elizabeth waited with the same breathless anticipation as everyone else.
Sheriff Mulden shifted his feet. “You planning on getting to the point before lunch?”
“You might want to hurry it along,” Aaron agreed.
She couldn’t see, but Elizabeth bet the reason for the tension in his voice was because Jimmy was objecting to being restrained. Bullies rarely enjoyed being subjected to the treatment they handed out.
“He was waiting on me,” Cougar called from somewhere behind her.
Like a scene from the bible, the crowd parted. He passed within two bodies of Elizabeth, carrying a branding iron, a bag of something, and an aura of grim purpose.
She followed his progress until he stopped in front of Asa, who asked, “That what I think it is?”
Cougar twitched the bag. “If you’re talking about this, it’s pure poison. The kind a man might want to drop in a watering hole if he’d a mind to do some damage.”
The crowd’s united gasp stirred a little breeze. The person on her left jostled Elizabeth again. She stuck out her elbow in self-defense, but she didn’t take her eyes from the drama unfolding.
Sheriff Mulden pointed to the other objects in Cougar’s hand. “Could I see that brandin’ stick?”
Cougar gave it a toss. The sheriff caught it. He studied it briefly, then frowned. “Where’d you boys find this?”
Cougar jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Stashed under Jimmy’s bedroll at the hotel.”
Speculation ran rampant through the crowd, starting with a murmur and rolling into an annoying roar that drowned out everything but bits and pieces of the conversation between the Sheriff, Asa, Aaron and Cougar, but Jimmy’s howls of innocence kept overpowering the parts she really wanted to hear. And what they didn’t drown, the crowd’s repetitions did. The best she could determine, the men were doing the same as the crowd, indulging themselves with drawn out speculation when the person with the answers sat right before them.
Finally, unable to contain her frustration, she called out, “Oh, for heaven’s sake, someone ask him why!”
The crowd chose that moment to fall silent, leaving everyone in no doubt as to who’d given the order. Well, spit!
The reactions of the men concerned were predictable. The Sheriff and Aaron frowned repressively at her. Cougar wore that halfcocked grin, and Asa merely offered, “I guess we could do that.” He said it like she was taking all the fun out of his day.
“If you don’t mind, son,” Sheriff Mulden interrupted, “I’ll be handling the questioning.”
Asa surrendered his role of interrogator with an open gesture of his hands and a nod.
The sheriff accepted the invitation and turned to Jimmy. “You got an explanation for all this?”
“I ain’t got no explanation for nothing.” Elizabeth still couldn’t manage a glimpse of his face, but his voice sure sounded sullen. “I don’t know how that stuff got under my bed, but I sure as hell didn’t poison good beef and didn’t shoot nobody.”
