Chương 13
“Sit down,” the judge ordered.
She did, but others began speaking. A ranch hand complained of missing wages. A farmer said Voss had charged him for seed never delivered. The schoolhouse filled with voices.
Public courage came late and untidy. Some accusations contradicted others. One man blamed Voss for a mule’s death that clearly had no connection. Another defended him, reminding everyone who had paid to rebuild the bridge.
Judge Cross threatened to clear the room.
Silas watched Voss’s face. Anger was there, but beneath it lay calculation. The man was not finished.
Voss raised one hand.
The room quieted from habit.
“You want a villain,” he said. “Very well. But understand what follows. The freight line closes. Credit ends. The Double V dismisses thirty men. Notes come due according to their terms. By winter, half the people accusing me will beg for the arrangement they now call tyranny.”
No one answered.
That was his true leverage, and everyone knew it.
Judge Cross said, “Economic influence does not grant immunity.”
“No,” Voss replied. “It grants consequences.”
Silas looked at the men on the benches. Several lowered their eyes. Voss had reminded them that justice could be hungry.
Samuel Reed leaned toward Nora. “The judge may accept restitution and a suspended sentence if you cooperate.”
“And the children?” she whispered.
“Custody is separate.”
Voss’s attorney stood again. “On that matter, we submit that Mrs. Kincaid is unfit. She is a confessed thief and forger, without residence or lawful income. Her son has a paternal aunt prepared to receive him. Her daughter’s paternity is uncertain, and Mr. Rourke is a transient cattle hand with a violent history.”
Mae gripped the edge of the bench.
Silas had expected the attack. Expectation did not lessen it.
The attorney continued, “Mr. Rourke abandoned Mrs. Kincaid while she was pregnant.”
Silas stood.
Samuel Reed caught his sleeve. “Wait.”
The attorney looked pleased. “Do you deny it?”
Silas faced Judge Cross.
“No.”
Nora turned toward him.
“I left before I knew she was pregnant,” Silas said. “But I left. I wrote three letters and accepted silence as permission not to try harder.”
The attorney said, “You have no home.”
“No.”
“No property.”
“A horse.”
“Employment?”
“Seasonal.”
“Experience raising children?”
“None.”
“Then what basis have you to claim this girl?”
Silas looked at Mae.
She sat beside Jonah with her doll in her lap, the torn seam still open. Her face was stiff with the determination not to cry in public.
“I have no basis to claim her,” he said.
Nora’s finger slipped from his hand.
The attorney smiled.
Silas continued, “She is not property. I am asking for the chance to become someone she may choose to know.”
The smile faded.
Judge Cross leaned forward. “That is admirable language, Mr. Rourke, but the court must decide where the child sleeps.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What do you propose?”
Silas had spent the morning considering answers. None were good.
“I sold my cattle contract to Harlan Price,” he said. “He has offered me permanent work managing winter stock. I rented the Mercer cottage on Willow Street for six months.”
Nora stared at him.
“You did what?” she whispered.
He kept speaking to the judge. “Mrs. Pike has agreed to stay nights until Nora recovers. Doctor Vale says she may work within a month if the fever does not return. I will repay the thirty-eight dollars today.”
Voss’s attorney said, “With money from the cattle contract?”
“Yes.”
“Leaving how much?”
“Twenty-one dollars.”
The attorney laughed. “For four people?”
“Five,” Mrs. Pike called from the benches. “I eat.”
Judge Cross rubbed his forehead.
Silas said, “It is not enough. But it is a beginning.”
Voss spoke quietly to his attorney. The man nodded.
“Your Honor,” the attorney said, “Mr. Rourke’s plan assumes Mrs. Kincaid remains free. Her admitted crimes justify imprisonment.”
“They may,” the judge said.
Nora’s hand found Silas’s again.
Judge Cross reviewed the documents for a long time. Outside, rain began against the schoolhouse windows. The caged hen belonging to the clerk clucked beneath the teacher’s desk.
At last the judge said, “I find sufficient evidence of systematic fraud to order the seizure of the Double V business records, the suspension of Justice Shaw, and a territorial investigation. Sheriff Dugan will retain his office temporarily under supervision of Deputy Mercer.”
Mercer looked alarmed.
“Regarding Mrs. Kincaid,” the judge continued, “her confession is credible precisely because it does not flatter her. She participated in crimes that harmed others. Coercion and necessity mitigate but do not erase responsibility.”
Mae leaned forward.
“I sentence her to one year’s imprisonment,” the judge said.
Nora stopped breathing.
Silas stood so abruptly the bench struck the floor.
Judge Cross raised his voice. “Suspended on condition of full cooperation, restitution where possible, and no employment involving financial accounts during that year.”
Air returned to the room.
“Regarding the children,” he said, “I see no evidence that separation serves them. Temporary custody remains with their mother. Mr. Rourke may reside in the household only with Mrs. Kincaid’s consent.”
Nora looked at Silas.
He did not assume the answer.
Judge Cross turned to Voss. “Mr. Gideon Voss, you will surrender all ledgers, correspondence, contracts, and property records to Sheriff Dugan by six this evening.”
Voss rose.
“No,” he said.
The room went silent.
Judge Cross’s expression hardened. “You mistake this proceeding for negotiation.”
“I heard you.”
Voss buttoned his coat.
Silas saw his right hand move toward his pocket.
Dugan saw it, too.
“Gideon,” the sheriff said.
Voss pulled not a gun but a folded sheet of paper.
“This is a deed transferring the Double V cattle and freight holdings to the Western Agricultural Company of Denver,” he said. “Executed yesterday.”
His attorney closed his eyes.
Judge Cross took the document.
Voss continued, “You may seize empty desks. The assets are no longer mine.”
A murmur spread.
May you like
Nora whispered, “He knew.”
Silas studied Voss. The man had prepared for the possibility of exposure. The transfer might be fraudulent, but untangling it could take months. In that time, records could vanish and families could be removed from their land.
