Page 52 of A Dangerous Heart
Danna knew there was more to it. It was there in her pause before she said, “We’d better get a move on, then. Clare, can you identify him?”
“I saw him,” Isaac blurted. “I’ll go with you. Clare needs to stay with Ben.”
Danna’s raised brows were almost hidden under her hat brim. He knew why. He’d turned her down flat when he’d returned to town and she’d asked for his help. Now he was volunteering.
Danna glanced over his shoulder, through the doorway to where Ben was chattering to Hattie. He seemed just fine. But there was no way Isaac was letting one of Victor’s gang near Clare. Not a chance.
“Fine,” Danna said. “If you’re sure that’s the way you want to do this.”
He wasn’t sure, but he moved to follow the marshal to the door.
Clare snagged his hand and tugged him to a halt. “Please, be careful,” she said, her eyes pleading.
“Doc keeps a hunting rifle in the back storage room,” he told her. “Just in case.”
Clare looked like she wanted to say more, but there wasn’t time. He squeezed her hand and followed Danna down the hall and out the door.
Standing in the marshal’s office a few minutes later, listening to Danna brief two deputies and her husband Chas, Isaac felt the panic rising to choke off his air supply. What was he doing?
“McGraw—Isaac.”
His eyes flashed to Danna. The door was open, and the deputies had already moved onto the boardwalk after digging up an old Wanted poster for Lyle. It was a decent likeness, close enough to help the lawmen spot the outlaw in a crowd.
“I need you in your right mind for this. I don’t want to lead my men into an ambush.”
The door banged shut. Isaac tensed. Danna handed Isaac a gun belt strapped with a revolver.
It felt like a thousand-ton weight in his hands.
“Strap it on, McGraw. If you spotted one of the Barlow Gang, there are probably more on the way. I need all the help I can get.”
He stood frozen, staring at the stupid gun belt as if it were a rattler.
In his mind, he saw his hands shaking on the rifle stock, unable to shoot the man who’d almost killed Rebekah. Unable to shoot the bear when the boys had needed him to.
He laid the gun belt on the desk.
“I can’t shoot,” Isaac said, swallowing back the shame. It was the first time he’d admitted it out loud, though Clare knew. “I can identify the Barlow man, but I won’t go armed.”
Danna studied his face for a long time. Humiliation burned inside him, but he clenched his jaw and kept it at bay.
She gave a quick nod. “Let’s go.”
His pulse rushed in his ears as he followed Danna onto the boardwalk.
Chas O’Grady and another man Isaac didn’t know strode down the boardwalk, away from them.
Danna waited, brows raised, until Isaac fell in step with her.
She led the way across the street and turned in the same direction as Chas, walking parallel. “We’ll check each establishment,” she said. “If we spot him, we’ll signal the others.”
It was a sound plan. Lyle wouldn’t know that he’d been spotted, that the law was aware of his presence here. Danna would want to catch him unawares, keep any store proprietors or shoppers out of the line of fire.
Children’s laughter floated on the brisk breeze, and Isaac realized it was a school day. It must be recess time. Kids playing.
But his mind used the sound and took him right back to the dusty street on the day Cody had died.
A tall form rounded the nearest building, and Isaac startled badly enough that Danna whirled to look at him.
