Page 60 of A Secret Heart
“I will.” Ed rounded the wagon to stand near her, appreciation written all over his face in the most delightful way. “As soon as we get you settled.” He scanned her, squinting as if he’d picked up on her anxiety. “And after I help Tillie and Jo pick out a gift at the general store for Isaac’s birthday.”
“And those candies for Ma.” Tillie bounced on her heels, oblivious to the tension between the two adults.
“I don’t know how some candy is going to help her stomach.” Jo crossed her arms.
Ed flicked Jo’s braid. “Don’t grouch about it.”
“She’s still not totally recovered from the well incident?” Rebekah began the walk toward the newspaper office with her arm looped in Ed’s, the girls close beside them. The tension in her shoulders eased as he crowded close to her, still scanning the street.
“Kaitlyn’s stomach upset comes and goes…” His voice trailed off as he stilled in front of the cracked-open door of the newspaper office. “Mr. Sullivan here?”
Rebekah couldn’t understand for a moment as he held his arm to block her entrance. “Not supposed to be. He should be soon though.” She spied the splintering in the door, as if it had been forced open. “What?—”
She looked past him. Her desk lay on its side, papers strewn everywhere.
Tillie and Jo had crowded in close, and Jo gasped while Tillie cried out.
“Don’t look,” Ed ordered.
Behind him, a knife protruded from the door, stuck in a newspaper article.
Ed turned to follow Rebekah’s line of sight. He put his shoulders between her and the knife. “We need to get the marshal.”
Rebekah gulped for air. How was this happening? Where was Mr. Sullivan? Tillie moved close, and Rebekah wrapped an arm around her, reaching her other one out to pull Jo close too.
Ed pushed the door open the rest of the way. The familiar bell never jangled. Instead, it lay broken on the floor. Ed bent to pick it up, scanning the ransacked office.
Everything was silent except for the sound of her harsh breathing in her ears.
“Whoever did this is gone.”
“Uncle Ed?” The rise in Jo’s voice held a mountain of nervous questions.
Tillie’s eyes were huge in her face.
“Why would someone do this?” Her desk had been turned on its side, all the drawers opened and pillaged. Pencils lay scattered across the floor.
He reached to pull her back from the doorway. “I need to get you to the marshal’s.”
“Mr. Sullivan—” she started, but Ed interrupted.
“I don’t think whoever did this cared about Sullivan.”
She stood on her tiptoes to see the headline. Her headline, from the Cheyenne paper. “Mysterious Tattoo Clue to Bandit.”
She pressed her fingers to her forehead in an effort to stop the pounding. She’d written that story. And now someone had broken into the office, the wood by the handle marred where they’d busted the lock.
“Rebekah, come on,” Ed said gently. “Let’s go to the marshal.”
The back door opened, and Mr. Sullivan stared across the expanse of mess.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“I don’t know,” she breathed.
“The door was ajar when we arrived,” Ed added.
Mr. Sullivan’s feet crunched in the glass strewn across the floor. He paused and bent to examine the press, lying on its side, smashed. Tears smarted Rebekah’s eyes. They were supposed to go to print with a new issue tomorrow.
