Page 84 of The Rancher's Wedding

“How are you doing this afternoon, Sheriff Ron?” Michael called.

The sheriff nodded. “Just fine,” he said, terse and without bothering to ask Michael how he was doing in return. He gestured toward the man in the suit. “This is James Harrison, our local prosecutor.”

“How do you do?” James asked, clearly more animated than the sheriff with his friendly smile. Michael shook his hand.

“My job as sheriff is to enforce the law,” Sheriff Ron said, “not to understand its idiosyncrasies. Mr. Harrison has a broad knowledge of local and state legislature and is here to help assist me. I can’t enforce the law without proper context.”

“I understand,” Michael said.

“Is that the man in question?” Sheriff Ron asked, pointing to the tree where Ethan was tied.

“That’s him,” Michael said.

Ethan shouted, “Sheriff, this has all been a big misunderstanding, if you’ll let me explain—”

“I’d stop talking if I were you,” James said. “Any words out of your mouth right now can be used to send you to jail.”

Ethan took his advice and shut his mouth.

Richard stepped forward. “On the way here, James was telling me that Ethan may very well be wanted throughout the country. But based on what’s been going on in town since he arrived should be more than enough for him to serve jail time here.”

“Those weren’t my exact words,” James said.

“What has he done?” Estelle had come up behind Michael.

“Well, it’s a sad thing that some people don’t learn from their mistakes,” James said. “It would seem that Mr. Fitzgerald’s been passing phony bills. I imagine he believed he was going to be in and out of town before anybody noticed, but he didn’t count on the expertise of our banker, Mr. Ross, who spotted them right away.”

“So he’s going to jail?” Michael asked.

“Well,” James said, “probably, but the evidence we have is merely hearsay at this point.”

“It seems highly unlikely,” Sheriff Ron said, “that it’s merely a coincidence that a convicted counterfeiter arrived in town at the same time.”

“I agree,” James said, “but a recent verdict from the supreme court established the concept of proof needing to be ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ in order to determine guilt and I’m afraid we just don’t have it.”

Sheriff Ron gave James a glare so intense, it must have burned.

“This is why you invited me along, Sheriff,” James said with a grin.

Sheriff Ron dropped his glare and nodded, returning to business.

“I suggest you search him,” James continued. “If he has counterfeit bills on his person, that should be more than enough to dismiss any reasonable doubt.”

“Easy enough.” The sheriff nodded and walked over to the tree.

Michael kept a careful eye on Ethan. After a lifetime of giving people the benefit of the doubt and trusting them, Michael had to force himself to go against his nature when it came to Ethan. He didn’t know how to act around fraudsters. Perhaps he was being too careful — after all, the sheriff knew what he was doing — but he didn’t want to glance away from Ethan for even a second.

“I’m Sheriff Ron Jericho,” Sheriff Ron said, “and I was told that you were a gentleman who would cooperate with us. Do I have that correct?”

Ethan smiled in that way that made Michael not want to trust him and said, “Yes, sir.”

“Do you have a billfold on you, Mr. Fitzgerald?” Sheriff Ron asked.

“In my right jacket pocket,” Ethan said.

Sheriff Ron nodded at him. “I’m going to need to loosen these ropes to get it, then aren’t I?”

Michael didn’t like that one bit. He walked forward to assist the sheriff. “I’ll keep a close watch on him while you get the billfold,” Michael said. “If he tries anything, I won’t let him get far.”

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