Page 81 of Inventions of the Heart

“We’ve got someone here to see you, Benteen.” The sheriff rattled the bars.

Jarvis turned to look, and his eyes went straight for Michelle. For the first time Zane wondered how he got that ugly scar on his face. Beyond that scar he was a decent enough looking man, dressed in fine clothes, though western clothes, not city suits.

Right now, he looked terrible. His clothes ripped to bloody rags. Zane could see the gold tooth was missing. The scar was the least of his problems.

Swinging his legs off the cot, he sat up, still staring. Zane suspected the man had regrets. Not that he’d kidnapped a woman. Not that he’d punched her. But he sure as certain regretted getting caught. And here stood proof of his guilt.

Jarvis gave the sheriff an arrogant smirk as he rose to his feet. “I won’t spend a single night in jail. I’ve got friends.”

The exact words he’d said last time. Last time he’d been right.

Michelle crossed her arms. “You can’t blame him for believing that, Sheriff.”

“He’s not getting out, ma’am.” Sheriff Stockwood didn’t show an ounce of worry over Jarvis’s confidence.

“You’re sure you’ll be able to hold on to him this time?” Michelle sounded stern and skeptical.

Jarvis’s getting out before wasn’t Hugo’s fault, but Zanedecided he liked Michelle scolding someone besides him. And besides, he wondered the same thing.

Zane knew Horace owned a vast tract of land right next to Annie’s ranch. When the man wanted to expand, there was one prime piece of pastureland nearby, and he coveted it. He also owned a house in San Francisco and who could say where else. But that was Horace. A separate problem. Jarvis they had a firm grip on this time.

“I’m expecting my men in town anytime,” Marshal Irving said. “Now all they need to do is keep you under guard on the long ride to Sacramento.” Irving went up to the bars. “You’re guilty of kidnapping and assault. You did it right in front of witnesses, including me and the sheriff. And I fired the judge who let you go last time. Matter of fact, I fired him, then arrested him. He’s in Sacramento right now awaiting trial. And the governor appointed a new judge. The new judge is a personal friend of Governor Booth. He won’t be siding with your pa. Maybe you can share a cell with the old judge in San Quentin.”

Jarvis’s arrogant smirk slipped. His eyes again went to Michelle. “You can’t blame me for running scared from the Red Boot when you two opened fire on me and my men.”

“You bet we can.” Stockwood leaned against the wall straight across from the locked cell door, his thumbs hooked into his belt. “Running when a lawman tells you he’s got a warrant for your arrest is a crime. The least of yours.”

“And yep, I grabbed ahold of her, but here she stands. It ain’t kidnapping if you get her back this fast.”

Stockwood and Irving both turned to look at the swelling on Michelle’s face.

“For a fact, itiskidnapping.” Irving leaned right on thebars of the jail, his left hand raised to hold a bar as casual as if he were standing in someone’s kitchen chatting.

“And she fell off the horse. That’s not assault.”

“I know the law, and if she gets kidnapped and gets hurt in the course of that, it’s assault, but I saw you punch her. I saw it, the sheriff saw it, her husband saw it, and she was right there and lived to tell us all about it. You knocked Red cold, too. That’s another assault.”

“Stole a horse, too.” Stockwood shook his head. “You’ve had a bad day, Jarvis. You may not make it to San Quentin. They may decide to hang you instead.”

“Hang?” Jarvis lunged for the bars and clung to them. “No!”

“I’d say thebestyou can hope for is spending the rest of your life in San Quentin, though I think the judge you’re going before in Sacramento may decide hanging is a better punishment to fit all these crimes.” Irving laughed, and it was the coldest thing Zane had ever heard.

“You’re listening now, aren’t you, Jarvis? Yep, hanging. And if kidnapping and stealing a horse isn’t enough, they’ll hang you for attacking Todd and Annie Lane’s ranch. Especially because Todd Lane is dead. That’s what Zane brought you in here for to begin with, figuring you’d broken into his house to finish the job of killing the Lane family. Those charges are going to hold.”

“I didn’t kill Todd Lane.”

“There’s some that say you did. Those men who had the guts to stand and fight at the Red Boot tell a different story.”

Since Zane knew they were dead as fence posts, he realized Irving was trying to get a confession out of Jarvis.

“I didn’t kill anyone! Those men are lying to shift blame for a murder onto me. Pa sent two of his men on ahead.Two-Toes was one of them. Pa and I stayed back at the ranch.”

And that was it. Zane relaxed just a bit, though all he had to do was look at Michelle to get upset again. But Jarvis had just told them that his pa had ordered murder, and in the eyes of the law, that was the same as committing the murder yourself. That was enough to arrest Horace Benteen, already a wanted man, but now he’d be wanted for murder.

“Two-Toes? You said a couple of men. Who else, Jarvis?” Stockwood’s face didn’t show a flicker of the satisfaction this confession must give him. “You’d better get your side of the story in before those two are done with the doctor.”

“Pa’s got gunmen hired. Len Beedle and Two-Toes Parker. It’s them that were sent ahead. Beedle’s out at the ranch. Two-Toes and Nevada Miller were with me in town.”

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