AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seth didn’t say a word. But the sheriff was treading on dangerous ground. No one, not even another lawmaker, was permitted to talk bad about their bride.
“I’m here to capture Calvin Smith and take him back to Waco and if that means cleaning up the town, then so be it. No one is going to continue to harass Lily Parker any longer unless they want to face our guns.”
“Whoa, I’m on your side and I would appreciate any help you can give me in cleaning up this town. Jim White needs to go.”
Why did Seth get the feeling the man was talking out of both sides of his mouth?
He stood, needing to get out of this dirt hole office. “If you learn anything about Garza’s killer, let me know. We’re going to give him a decent burial, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. I’m looking for his killer.”
“Good luck, Ranger,” the sheriff said as Seth walked out the door. He got the feeling that Jim White owned the law in this town. He doubted the sheriff would ever look for the man’s killer. And more importantly, why did he think that the hired guns were there to convince the sheriff to help them take the Sweet B?
As he walked across the street to the bank, he couldn’t help but think back to the day they met Lily, running out of the bank with the sack of cash in her hand. He’d been shocked to see a woman bank robber, but then the banker cleared things up.
As he walked inside, his spurs jangling, two tellers sat behind cages helping customers and doing bookkeeping. The safe was behind them encased behind a large door.
“Is Mr. Elam available,” he asked a man sitting in the lobby at a desk.
“Let me check. And who shall I tell him wants to speak with him?”
“Texas Ranger, Seth Ingram,” he said, watching the way the bank operated and wondering how any criminal could think he would get away with robbery.
“Ranger,” Mr. Elam said, coming out of his office. “Please, come in.”
Seth took off his hat and entered the office.
“Have a seat,” he said, sitting behind a big heavy oak desk. "I’m just so thankful to you and Miss Bradley for stopping the robbery."
“The man that robbed your bank was Calvin Smith. Lily Bradley identified him. Can you tell me anything about him?”
The banker sighed and shook his head. “He’s a hired gun that Jim White uses to intimidate the town folk around here. If you own a business and refuse to sell to Jim, then Mr. Smith pays your business a visit. A not too friendly visit.”
That was interesting, but was it true?
“Was he trying to purchase the bank from you?”
“Yes, he made me an offer and I refused. Why in the world would I sell my bank to a man who would do nothing but run up the interest rates on the people in town? Also it would give him access to all the loans. He could force them to sell and take the land.”
Seth had never considered that Lily might have a loan on the land.
“What about Lily Bradley, who is now Lily Parker. Is there a loan on her ranch?”
“Oh no, Joe Bradley did not owe anyone. That’s why Jim White has not been able to get his hands on his land. The property is free and clear.”
As Seth sat in the banker’s richly decorated office, he wondered if he was telling him the truth. Both the banker and the sheriff had told him that Jim White pressured the ranchers to sell, even the business owners in town.
“Yet, Lily said that you refused to give her money out of her father’s account.”
“Yes, I was waiting for her to marry.”
That didn’t make any sense.
“But there was no husband in her future. How did you expect her to live, to eat?”
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair and then he sighed. “Jim White said she was going to marry his son, Matt. That just any day now an engagement would be announced and that I was not to release any money to her.”
It was all Seth could do not to punch the man in the face.
“Did you ask Lily if this was true?”
