When Joe is reacquainted with a childhood friend, tragedy follows. Struggling to recover from serious injury, he finds himself on trial for murder.<\/p>\n
Rated: T \u00a0WC \u00a018,000<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Secrets and Lies<\/strong><\/p>\n Is the truth worth dying for?<\/p>\n Pa has always had us believe it is.\u00a0 There are some values, he says, that a man must fight for, and even die defending. \u00a0Truth is one.\u00a0 Justice is another.\u00a0 My father is a man of high principles and strong determination.\u00a0 I admire him for that.\u00a0 All my life, I\u2019ve tried to be the kind of man he is, a strong man who upholds fairness, honesty and integrity; a selfless man who won\u2019t allow himself to be swayed by public opinion or his own emotions.<\/p>\n Until now.<\/p>\n Now, waiting here in this hotel room, I realize I don\u2019t know any more.\u00a0 All that\u2019s happened in the last few weeks has left me questioning every conviction I ever held.\u00a0 After all, if I hadn\u2019t been so insistent that the truth be told, would we be here now, the three of us?\u00a0 Waiting to watch Joe hang tomorrow?<\/p>\n I still find it hard to believe that this whole thing began with such a simple, innocent event.\u00a0 If I had known what that chance meeting on a spring afternoon would lead to, I never would have gotten out of bed that day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n Virginia City was bustling, glowing in the warm sunshine as if the town was smiling to have finally shrugged off its winter coat.\u00a0 Pa and I were loading sacks of feed onto the buckboard.\u00a0 Joe crossed the street with a parcel under his arm. \u00a0He was whistling as he walked. It was that kind of a day.<\/p>\n \u201cHow long\u2019s it take to pick up a shirt?\u201d I teased him as he tossed the parcel onto the seat.<\/p>\n \u201cDepends how good you wanna look.\u201d He gave me a lopsided grin.\u00a0 \u201cThose girls at the dance on Saturday night ain\u2019t gonna know what hit \u2019em.\u201d<\/p>\n I raised my eyebrow at him. \u201cNor will you if you don\u2019t lend a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019s Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGetting his boots fixed.\u00a0 Said he might as well since we were in town. We\u2019re going to meet him over in the Silver Dollar before we head home.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa straightened his back and tipped his hat to a small group walking past, an older woman in a cream bonnet, a younger one in a straw hat tied with a green ribbon, and a boy of about fourteen or so with a dark shock of untidy hair.\u00a0 I recognised them vaguely, and then Pa said, \u201cAfternoon, Harriet,\u201d and I remembered who they were.\u00a0 Harriet Donohue.\u00a0 Her daughter had been friends with Joe when they were kids at school together.<\/p>\n Her daughter.\u00a0 I looked again at the younger woman.\u00a0 Was this dark-haired beauty the little tousle-headed imp who used to run wild with Joe?<\/p>\n \u201cBen Cartwright,\u201d said Harriet.\u00a0 \u201cGood to see you again.\u00a0 Do you remember my children, Josie and Danny?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI certainly do,\u201d smiled Pa.\u00a0 \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t have recognized either of them; they\u2019ve grown up so much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Jo,\u201d said Joe.<\/p>\n Jo.\u00a0 Of course!\u00a0 The instant I heard the name, I recalled the first time I\u2019d met her.\u00a0 I\u2019d thought I was being introduced to another Joe, another nine-year-old tornado hurtling around the ranch with my little brother.\u00a0 She had looked just like a boy in her old shirt and scuffed overalls, with her pigtails hidden inside her hat, and dirt all over her face.\u00a0 Joe and Jo.\u00a0 Double trouble.\u00a0 Then she had whipped off her hat and grinned at me, and I\u2019d realized my mistake.<\/p>\n No mistaking her for a boy now, I thought.\u00a0 She was pretty even though the pale green dress she wore was plain and faded.\u00a0 She had heavy, shining ebony curls held back from her face with a simple clip.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe!\u201d\u00a0 The dark eyes lit up and the full mouth broke wide as she recognized him.\u00a0 I was not above feeling a slight stab of regret that I wasn\u2019t the old friend she\u2019d just met again.<\/p>\n \u201cHaven\u2019t seen you in ages,\u201d said Joe.<\/p>\n The girl\u2019s eyes flicked to her mother.\u00a0 Her smile faded fractionally.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been busy.\u00a0 Ma\u2019s married again, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u00a0 I heard.\u00a0 Congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n Harriet dropped her eyes.\u00a0 \u201cWell, it was a while ago now, Ben.\u00a0 But Zach\u2019s a good man, and he works hard.\u00a0 After Walter died, things fell apart some.\u00a0 It makes a difference, a man\u2019s hand around the place.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nodded, and we all smiled and said nothing about the state of the place even when Walter had still been alive.\u00a0 We all remembered Walter and his reputation as the town drunk.<\/p>\n Joe grinned at Josie. \u201cWhy don\u2019t you come to the dance here Saturday night?\u201d<\/p>\n I have to admire Joe.\u00a0 Plenty of boys his age are too awkward and shy to approach a girl, but not my brother.\u00a0 I flatter myself he acquired this particular skill from me, but truth is, he\u2019s bolder than I was at his age.<\/p>\n Josie looked at her mother again and dropped her eyes to the ground. \u201cI don\u2019t know, Little Joe.\u00a0 My stepfather\u2026 doesn\u2019t really approve of dances.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSee if you can persuade him.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Josie could reply, her brother stepped in. \u201cHe says fellas only have one thing on their mind at a dance, and it ain\u2019t dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDanny!\u201d\u00a0 Harriet looked horrified.<\/p>\n I tried to disguise my smile. \u201cI\u2019m sure my brother\u2019s intentions are strictly honourable,\u201d I informed Danny.<\/p>\n Harriet\u2019s face had flushed a deep pink.\u00a0 \u201cZach\u2019s only got your best interests at heart,\u201d she told her daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cI could pick you up,\u201d offered Joe, undaunted.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps another time.\u201d \u00a0Distracted, Harriet peered around Pa, up the street.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re meeting my husband for tea,\u201d she explained.\u00a0 \u201cHe goes to a prayer meeting Thursday afternoons, but we all came into town today specially, because it\u2019s Danny\u2019s birthday.\u00a0 I promised him a new knife.\u00a0 Come along, you two.\u00a0 We mustn\u2019t keep your step pa waiting.\u00a0 Good to see you again, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n We touched our hats as Harriet took Danny by the arm and moved away.\u00a0 Josie hesitated and looked at Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I can get there, I will, Little Joe.\u00a0 Watch out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbout time that woman had some luck,\u201d said Pa, as Harriet and her children walked away along the street towards Rosie\u2019s tea shop.\u00a0 \u201cHeaven knows she\u2019s had enough misery.\u00a0 I hope it works out for her this time.\u201d<\/p>\n I picked up the last sack and hefted it onto the wagon, brushing the dust from my hands.\u00a0 \u201cWell, whoever she\u2019s married, he can\u2019t be as bad as Walter.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa looked down the street.\u00a0 Harriet and her two children were almost at the tea shop.\u00a0 \u201cOh, Walter wasn\u2019t always that bad.\u00a0 He turned to drink after his boy died.\u00a0 The youngest one.\u201d<\/p>\n Sam,\u201d said Joe.<\/p>\n I hadn\u2019t heard this story before, but the pretty Josie had me interested.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019d he die?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMeasles,\u201d said Joe.\u00a0 \u201cHe was only about three when it happened. They all got sick, Jo, Danny and Sam.\u00a0 But Sam went down the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve got some good land,\u201d Pa went on, \u201cbut after the child died, Walter just fell apart.\u00a0 Started drinking and gambling.\u00a0 And the place fell apart too.\u00a0 I guess there was no money left.\u00a0 When little Josie came round with Joe, I used to get Hop Sing to fix her something to eat because she was always hungry.\u00a0 Bit of a tearaway, I seem to recall.\u201d\u00a0 Pa fixed Joe with an amused smile.\u00a0 \u201cGot you into trouble a few times, if I remember rightly.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe smiled.\u00a0 \u201cNothing serious.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head, remembering.\u00a0 \u201cMostly we were out on our horses.\u00a0 Boy, she sure could ride!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t give Josie another thought until that Saturday night at the dance.\u00a0 I\u2019d got talking to Beth Winsley.\u00a0 Her father was a lawyer and her family new in town.\u00a0 Willowy, elegant and fair-headed, she reminded me of a swan in her white silk dress.\u00a0 She was the kind of girl who turned heads when she walked into a room.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe my luck when she accepted my invitation to dance.<\/p>\n It was only as we were dancing, and I found myself almost shoulder to shoulder with Josie that I realised she was there.\u00a0 Joe, holding onto her, flashed me a jubilant grin.<\/p>\n \u201cGlad you managed to persuade your stepfather.\u201d<\/p>\n Josie returned my smile with one of her own.\u00a0 She was dressed in the same plain green dress we\u2019d seen her wearing in town.\u00a0 I wondered if money was still tight for the family since Walter\u2019s death and Harriet\u2019s remarriage.\u00a0 But with hair as beautiful as hers, and her wide dark eyes, it wouldn\u2019t have mattered if she had been wearing a horse blanket; she would still have been pretty.\u00a0 Her rich, deep curls were fixed with a simple ribbon, but that was enough.<\/p>\n The music drew to a close, and since we were together, I offered to fetch drinks for both ladies.\u00a0 Much to my delight, Beth accepted.\u00a0 It seemed likely I would have the next dance too.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I ought to be going,\u201d said Josie, flicking a glance towards the door.<\/p>\n Joe looked disappointed.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s only been three dances,\u201d he protested.\u00a0 \u201cAt least stay for one more.\u201d<\/p>\n She looked back at him, and then once more at the door.\u00a0 \u201cAll right,\u201d she agreed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll have a drink and one more dance, and then I really have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n He grinned, and I could see he thought he would be able to persuade her otherwise when the time came.<\/p>\n Joe and I went to fetch drinks and when we came back the two girls were laughing together.<\/p>\n \u201cJosie was just telling me about the time you landed in the mud, Little Joe,\u201d said Beth, her blue eyes dancing with fun.<\/p>\n Joe grinned.\u00a0 \u201cJust the one time?\u00a0 Seem to recall I was always the one to land flat on my face when she had one of her hare-brained schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe were jumping the creek, remember?\u201d said Josie.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was your idea, as well,\u201d Joe reminded her.\u00a0 \u201cJo thought we should get our ponies to jump the creek, wider and wider.\u201d\u00a0 He shook his head, remembering.\u00a0 \u201cTrouble was, my pony had other ideas.\u00a0 He stopped dead and I carried on.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t have been so bad if there had been some water in the creek, but it was just mud at the time.\u00a0 She laughed at me all the way home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t help it.\u00a0 Every time I looked at him, it just started me off again,\u201d Josie recalled, laughing even now.\u00a0 \u201cWith his hair sticking up all over his head!\u00a0 There was mud in his ears and mud up his nose!\u00a0 And as we were riding back, the sun was drying him out, and all his clothes were going stiff like they were made of clay.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d forgotten that little incident until Josie recalled it to me.\u00a0 At least I remembered Joe riding back into the yard and Pa\u2019s look of despair when he saw the state of his youngest son.\u00a0 I grinned too. \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u00a0 I remember you arriving home.\u00a0 You looked like a mud-baked scarecrow!\u201d<\/p>\n As Josie giggled, I caught a glimpse of the mischievous nine year old tomboy again. Strange how she and Joe had been such close friends for a couple of years, always out on their horses together-\u2013 the one as reckless as the other — and then she had faded from the sphere.\u00a0 Was that just because they were both growing up, and the gender difference had finally intruded between them?\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t remember when she had ceased to be part of Joe\u2019s life.\u00a0 With twelve years between Joe and me, I never really took much interest in his friends.\u00a0 Now, remembering what Pa had said, it must have been about the time her brother died and her father\u2019s downward spiral began.\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t even noticed her absence, yet now I found myself wondering how her life must have been changed by circumstances beyond her childish control.\u00a0 Jerked without warning from carelessness to responsibility.\u00a0 I felt a sharp pang of regret, and realised I was thinking of my own childhood.\u00a0 As far back as I remember there was always Pa to worry about.\u00a0 Then Hoss, then Joe.\u00a0 How I\u2019ve envied Joe the freedom he had to be<\/em> a child.\u00a0 He never had to grow up too fast.\u00a0 Sometimes I\u2019ve rolled my eyes and despaired if he would ever actually grow up at all!<\/p>\n Ironic really.\u00a0 He\u2019s not going to have the chance now.<\/p>\n That night, at the dance, I could see that long ago friendship between them had never really died.\u00a0 The spark was there again in both their faces.\u00a0 There was something more in Joe\u2019s too.\u00a0 My brother is like an open book, never able to keep his feelings from showing in his face.\u00a0 I could see the glow in his eyes whenever he looked at Josie.\u00a0 I could sense a similar glow inside me whenever I looked at Beth, but I knew nobody would read that as easily in my face.<\/p>\n The band struck up for the next dance, and Joe put down his glass and reached for Josie\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, Jo.\u00a0 Let\u2019s dance.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExcuse us,\u201d said Josie, turning to flash a smile at me and Beth.\u00a0 The smile froze on her face, her mouth fell open and her eyes widened with horror.\u00a0 I turned to look where she was looking.\u00a0 In the same instant I was barged roughly aside by a bulky shoulder, and a huge man pushed past me and seized Josie by the arm.<\/p>\n \u201cOutside!\u201d\u00a0 He had a broad, heavily-chiselled face and the build of a wrestler.\u00a0 His barked order did not invite protest, but Josie resisted all the same.\u00a0 Obviously she hadn\u2019t lost any of the feistiness she\u2019d possessed as a nine-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a child!\u201d she said, attempting to twist her arm out of his grasp.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m afraid you are.\u00a0 You\u2019re certainly behaving like one right now.\u201d<\/p>\n She tried again to pull her arm fee, but the big man jerked it up behind her back.\u00a0 She let out a sharp cry of pain.<\/p>\n \u201cHey!\u201d said Joe, who still had hold of her other hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re hurting her.\u201d<\/p>\n The man flashed him a cold look.\u00a0 \u201cMind your own business, sonny.\u00a0 Now, Josephine, outside.\u201d\u00a0 He gave her pinned arm another twist and she sucked in a sharp breath of pain.<\/p>\n I was torn.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like to stand by and watch a man deliberately hurt a woman, but I could only assume this was Zach McKenzie, Josie\u2019s stepfather, and I wasn\u2019t sure I had the right to intervene.<\/p>\n Joe, however, let no such reservations stand in his way.\u00a0 \u201cLet her go. You\u2019re hurting her.”\u00a0 He frowned, and reached to grab McKenzie\u2019s arm, the one that held Josie.<\/p>\n Instantly, McKenzie\u2019s other arm flew out and Joe sailed backwards, colliding with several unsuspecting couples on the dance floor, and landing sprawling amongst their feet. A murmur of dismay rippled through the room, and the music stalled momentarily.\u00a0 While we were still gaping, the big man shoved Josie ahead of him, out of the room.<\/p>\n A brief, stunned silence stilled the dance floor.\u00a0 Almost instantly, the band recovered and picked up the rhythm again.\u00a0 Those furthest away began once more to dance, as though nothing had happened.<\/p>\n James Drew and Philip Huldon were helping Joe to his feet.\u00a0 He looked dazed and unsteady.\u00a0 Quickly I stepped over and took his arm.\u00a0 Hoss pushed his way through the throng of dancers, his face anxious and creased.\u00a0 \u201cWho was that?\u00a0 What did Little Joe do to upset him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI imagine that was Josie\u2019s stepfather,\u201d I answered.<\/p>\n \u201cZach McKenzie,\u201d said Beth.\u00a0 \u201cOne of my father\u2019s clients.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get Joe outside, into the fresh air,\u201d I suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was a big fella,\u201d muttered Hoss as we led Joe out into the street between us, \u201ceven by my reckoning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s going to be a nasty bruise\u201d said Beth, pulling a face, as I sat Joe down against the wall.<\/p>\n Joe rubbed gingerly at his temple. \u201cBoy, I sure didn\u2019t see that coming. \u00a0What was eatin\u2019 him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI get the impression he wasn\u2019t happy to find Josie at the dance,\u201d I told him.\u00a0 \u201cPresumably she didn\u2019t have permission to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe moved his head slowly from side to side, as though worried it might have come loose.\u00a0 \u201cShe didn\u2019t.\u00a0 She already told me that.\u00a0 That\u2019s why she wanted to get away quickly.\u201d\u00a0 He looked aggrieved.\u00a0 \u201cThere was no call to go hurtin\u2019 her though.\u00a0 Or me!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFellas only have one thing on their mind at a dance, and it ain\u2019t dancing,\u201d I reminded him, and gave him a grin to cheer him up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was no avoiding Pa\u2019s questions when we got back to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 A purple bruise was already darkening the side of Joe\u2019s face and threatening to encompass his left eye.\u00a0 Hoss jumped quickly to Joe\u2019s defense when he saw Pa\u2019s craggy brow draw down ominously.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wan\u2019t his fault, Pa!\u201d<\/p>\n I refrained from adding, \u201cfor once,\u201d because Joe didn\u2019t look like he\u2019d appreciate the comment with Pa\u2019s hawk eyes trained on him.\u00a0 Pa looked first doubtful, then puzzled as we related what had happened.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a big fella,\u201d I told Pa.\u00a0 \u201cBuilt like a grizzly.\u00a0 Could give Hoss here a run for his money.\u00a0 Lucky he didn\u2019t knock Joe\u2019s head off!\u201d<\/p>\n Joe gave me an indignant look.<\/p>\n Pa shook his head. \u201cI guess he was worried.\u00a0 If Josie had disobeyed him, it\u2019s understandable he\u2019d be angry.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was still looking hurt.\u00a0 \u201cIt was only a dance, Pa.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t doing any harm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf she\u2019d been told she wasn\u2019t to go, then she was bound to get into trouble. \u00a0She never did shy away from trouble, that one.\u201d \u00a0Pa held up a hand to stall Joe\u2019s protest.\u00a0 \u201cWe can\u2019t judge other people, Joe.\u00a0 That family\u2019s been through difficult times, and now they\u2019re learning to settle down all over again.\u00a0 It might sound hard to you, but Zach McKenzie probably has very good reasons for taking a firm hand with those children.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t get too much discipline when they were younger, after all.\u00a0 My advice to you, Joseph, is not to interfere.\u00a0 Her stepfather\u2019s not likely to take kindly to it.\u00a0 Steer clear.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go looking for trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t help raising my eyebrow at the irony of those words.\u00a0 To Joe.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go looking for trouble.\u00a0 Seems to me, Little Joe never has to go looking for trouble.\u00a0 Trouble just finds him anyway.<\/p>\n Big, big trouble.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n I got an opportunity to renew my acquaintance with Zach McKenzie only two days later.<\/p>\n Pa and I had our heads down over the accounts, working through them in our usual meticulous fashion.\u00a0 It was a task that required concentration and was more efficiently achieved without constant interruptions, so Pa had sent Hoss and Joe away with enough fence mending to keep them occupied until sunset.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody\u2019s riding in,\u201d I said to Pa, lifting my head from the paperwork to listen.<\/p>\n \u201cSee who it is, will you?\u201d\u00a0 Pa was in the middle of adding figures, so I got up and went to the door.<\/p>\n \u201cMister McKenzie.\u201d\u00a0 I took a few steps out onto the porch as he climbed down off the back of a big grey gelding and turned to greet me with an unsmiling nod.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re one of the Cartwright boys, are you?\u00a0 Your father at home?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Adam Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 Ignoring the implied dismissal, I held out my hand and met his hard gaze with my own.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t about to be intimidated by this man, not outside my own house, even if he was twice my size.\u00a0 He took my hand, a little grudgingly.\u00a0 I could feel the hard callouses of his palm against mine.\u00a0 \u201cMy father\u2019s inside.\u00a0 Won\u2019t you come on in?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa looked up as we entered and I saw his eyebrows twitch upwards as he took in Zach McKenzie\u2019s vast proportions.<\/p>\n \u201cPa,\u201d I said, \u201cthis is Mister McKenzie, Josie\u2019s stepfather.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa got up to shake hands and wave our visitor into a seat.\u00a0 He offered coffee but McKenzie declined with a shake of his head.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not here to keep you from your business, Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 What I have to say won\u2019t take long.\u201d\u00a0 His broad-boned features were stern and hard, like they had never been designed for smiling.\u00a0 \u201cAs you probably know, Harriet and I were married only a few months back.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nodded. \u201cYes, I heard.\u00a0 Good news for Harriet.\u201d<\/p>\n McKenzie acknowledged that with a nod.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s been a deal of work to do to bring that place back to any kind of order, but it seems to me it\u2019s finally coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nodded again, as if he was wondering where McKenzie was leading.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve done a fine job, Mister McKenzie.\u00a0 The place is hardly recognizable from how it used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI try, Cartwright, I try.\u00a0 But that\u2019s only one part of it.\u00a0 The hard part\u2019s bringing some order to those two young ones of Harriet\u2019s.\u00a0 You\u2019re a parent, Cartwright, you appreciate how hard it is to raise children.\u00a0 And these aren\u2019t my own which makes the task doubly difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can see it\u2019d be a challenge,\u201d Pa agreed.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the name\u2019s Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell Ben, those two children, they\u2019ve been left to run their own ways for too long now.\u00a0 Their late father set a poor example; and their mother — she\u2019s a kind and caring woman, but she\u2019s let them take advantage of her good nature.\u00a0 They\u2019ve lacked discipline and guidance, and I intend to put that right and turn them back onto a straight path.\u201d<\/p>\n I gave Pa a sideways glance.\u00a0 I could see the little frown beginning to dent his forehead.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a man who believes deeply in the Good Book, Ben.\u00a0 As I\u2019m sure you do too.\u00a0 \u2018The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s frown had deepened.\u00a0 \u201cMister McKenzie, exactly what is it you came here to talk to me about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbout your son, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cYour other son,\u201d said McKenzie.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe, I believe he\u2019s called?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, Joseph, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour sons may have told you of the little altercation we had on Saturday night in Virginia City.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey certainly did.\u201d\u00a0 The stern lines in Pa\u2019s face deepened.\u00a0 I knew he was thinking about the colorful bruise Joe was still wearing as a token of that altercation.<\/p>\n It was McKenzie\u2019s turn to frown.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a presumption on his part, Ben, to interfere in business that didn\u2019t concern him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was simply trying to defend a friend,\u201d I intervened, and McKenzie looked at me in some surprise, as if I had no right to join in the conversation.\u00a0 \u201cHe didn\u2019t like seeing Josie get hurt.\u00a0 None of us did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo harm came to my stepdaughter, I assure you.\u201d\u00a0 McKenzie\u2019s eyes, fixed on my face, were iron grey.\u00a0 \u201cShe had been told she would not go to the dance and she chose to disobey.\u00a0 She is a very willful girl with little respect for any authority and needs to learn to do as she is told.\u00a0 The Good Book commands children to obey their parents.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s mouth tightened.\u00a0 \u201cI think you\u2019ll find, Mister McKenzie, that the same passage also advises parents not to provoke their children.\u201d<\/p>\n McKenzie was silent for a moment while he measured Pa with his colorless gaze.\u00a0 I was surprised when he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re right, Ben.\u00a0 I pray continually for guidance in dealing with those children, and it never was my intention to provoke the child.\u00a0 But sometimes young people cannot see that the things we do for them are for their own good, for the good of their futures, their characters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s certainly true.\u201d\u00a0 I could hear in Pa\u2019s voice he was trying to remain courteous, but his patience was wearing thin. \u201cBut what is it you want from me, \u2018Mister McKenzie?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would like you to tell your son, Joseph, to stay away from Josie.\u00a0 I have been informed by several reliable sources that his reputation is -\u2013 how shall I put it? -\u2013 dubious. Sorry as I am to have to say it, association with your son could compromise a respectable girl\u2019s character.\u201d McKenzie held up his hand to forestall Pa\u2019s protest. \u201cI was young once, Ben.\u00a0 I know what goes on in the heads of young men.\u201d\u00a0 He spared me a disdainful glance as though I too was a vessel of licentiousness.\u00a0 \u201cMy advice to you would be to keep a tight check on that boy of yours before he brings your name into disrepute.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s mouth fell open.\u00a0 He snapped it shut again.\u00a0 \u201cThank you for your advice, Mister McKenzie, but I have faith in the honor and integrity of all my sons.\u201d<\/p>\n McKenzie rose.\u00a0 \u201cI hope you won\u2019t find your faith misplaced, Ben.\u00a0 As long as he stays away from Josie, there won\u2019t be any more misunderstandings.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa shook his hand in stony silence, and followed him to the door.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure whether to be amused or affronted.\u00a0 As Pa closed the door and turned back to me, I couldn\u2019t suppress a smirk.<\/p>\n Pa gave me a hard look.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s no laughing matter, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAw, come on, Pa!\u00a0 The girls flock around Joe, sure, but he\u2019s hardly disreputable!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople haven\u2019t forgotten about Julia.\u201d\u00a0 I could see McKenzie\u2019s words had opened an old wound for Pa. Joe\u2019s affair with Virginia City\u2019s most renowned prostitute had cut deep.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also public knowledge, Pa, how Joe tried to make that respectable.\u00a0 He asked Julia to marry him.\u00a0 She declined.\u00a0 McKenzie can hardly hold that against him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a daughter to think about.\u00a0 If I had a daughter, maybe I\u2019d feel the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n We never talk much about Julia in our house.\u00a0 Any mention of her name always seems to end a conversation.\u00a0 It\u2019s like a scar that won\u2019t heal, and it\u2019s inside both Pa and Joe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5<\/p>\n \u201cQuit your dreamin\u2019 Adam an\u2019 hold this post, will ya?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss was rarely grumpy, but this was one of the rare days, and it was mostly down to his being hungry.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t helping his mood much, distracted as I was.\u00a0 Last night I\u2019d taken Beth out to dinner, to the little French restaurant in Virginia City.\u00a0 All evening we\u2019d talked like we\u2019d known each other for years.\u00a0 Not only was she beautiful, she was intelligent and articulate, with a quick wit and a bubbling laugh.\u00a0 It was easy to laugh with her too.\u00a0 Afterwards, when I drove her home in the buggy, she let me kiss her.<\/p>\n It was that glorious kiss I kept reliving.\u00a0 I still felt as if I was floating inches off the ground when I thought of it.\u00a0 The soft coolness of her mouth and the scent of her perfumed skin as she leaned into me.\u00a0 Even putting up a fence couldn\u2019t bring my feet back down to earth.\u00a0 I kept catching myself grinning inanely at nothing in particular. Hoss had humored me so far, but I could tell his patience was wearing thin.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry, Hoss.\u00a0 I was thinking…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAbout Beth,\u201d Hoss finished for me.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, I know.\u00a0 Here hold this, will ya?\u00a0 Between you and Little Joe, I might as well be working on my own.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe was the real cause of Hoss\u2019s resentment.\u00a0 He was supposed to have been down to lend a hand with the fence, and, more importantly to Hoss\u2019s mind, brought our lunch with him.\u00a0 It was now four o\u2019clock and there was still no sign of him.\u00a0 Resigned by then to going hungry, in my state of heady distraction I\u2019d hardly noticed, but Hoss was not happy.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe Pa decided to send him off on some other errand,\u201d I suggested, my mood inclining me to generosity toward my wayward youngest brother.<\/p>\n Hoss grunted as he hammered the post.\u00a0 I got the distinct impression he would have liked to hammer Little Joe instead.<\/p>\n \u201cMore likely he\u2019s slacking off again.\u00a0 Like he did last week when he was supposed to be helping us move that cattle and he never showed.\u00a0 How come Pa lets him get away with it all the time?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAw, come on, Hoss.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s always getting an earful from Pa for something or other.\u00a0 It\u2019s just his mind\u2019s always off on other things.\u00a0 You know Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n “Seems everyone\u2019s head is off on other things today.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss picked up a fence rail.\u00a0 The little frown gradually eased from his face.\u00a0 He could never hold a grudge for long.\u00a0 \u201cSo when are you planning on seein\u2019 her again, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n Cochise was in his stall when we got back.\u00a0 I loitered in the barn, deliberately slow in rubbing down my horse, while Hoss stumped off in search of our errant little brother.\u00a0 I was still reliving the night before in my head and I was reluctant to spoil my euphoria with a petty argument.\u00a0 I could hear the raised voices in the house, even from that distance, and then yelling in the yard, and Pa\u2019s voice bellowing for a ceasefire over the top of Joe\u2019s protests. Then there was a loud splash and a shrill squawk from Joe.\u00a0 I finally deemed it safe to emerge from the barn, in time to see an indignant Joe scrambling out of the water trough, and Hoss marching away towards the house, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction.<\/p>\n \u201cLook what he did!\u201d Joe held up his hands to give me a better view of his sodden state. Seeing I was unmoved by his predicament, he rolled his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cSo where were you?\u201d I asked him.<\/p>\n He pulled off his boots to empty them of water. \u201cSorry, Adam.\u00a0 I guess I forgot.\u00a0 Boy, Hoss sure was mad!\u201d<\/p>\n Hands on his hips, Pa was watching us from the porch.\u00a0 Joe peeled off his shirt and wrung it out.<\/p>\n \u201cI take it you weren\u2019t where you were meant to be, Joseph,\u201d said Pa, looking stern.<\/p>\n Still dripping, boots in hand, Joe headed for the house.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, Pa.\u00a0 I forgot, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n He was brought up short in front of Pa, who hadn\u2019t moved at all, his formidable frame blocking the doorway.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not good enough, leaving your brothers to do all the work.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe hung his head.\u00a0 Bedraggled and wet, he looked suitably pathetic.\u00a0 Hoss was right, I thought.\u00a0 Joe can rile Pa like no one else, but when he wants to, he can wrap Pa around his finger with those mournful eyes he pulls, like a little lost dog.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Pa,\u201d he repeated, as the water dripped from the curls clinging to his head and ran down his face like contrite tears.\u00a0 \u201cIt won\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa let out an exasperated sigh.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure whether it was aimed at Joe or at himself for giving in yet again to those sad, angelic eyes.\u00a0 \u201cMake sure it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 Go on. Go and get dried off.\u201d<\/p>\n And then, the very next week, it happened again.<\/p>\n It was Thursday morning.\u00a0 Hoss and I were shoeing the horses, outside the barn.\u00a0 Joe was splitting logs by the house.\u00a0 Pa was meant to be resting.\u00a0\u00a0 One of our big cart horses had trampled his foot the day before, and left it bruised and swollen to twice its normal size.\u00a0 We suspected he had some broken toes too.\u00a0 Pa hates being laid up.\u00a0 His mood was as black as his foot with the enforced inactivity.<\/p>\n He hobbled out of the house, leaning heavily on a stick and waved a sheet of folded paper in the air.\u00a0 \u201cI need one of you to ride into Virginia City and send this telegram.\u00a0 It\u2019s important.\u00a0 There\u2019s a note for the bank too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll go,\u201d I said swiftly, deliberately keeping the eagerness out of my voice.\u00a0 A ride into town gave me an excuse to call on Beth.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I bet you will,\u201d murmured Hoss, under his breath, and gave me a crooked grin.\u00a0 Obviously I was more transparent than I imagined.<\/p>\n Joe looked piqued that I\u2019d beaten him to the task.\u00a0 A ride into town was always preferable in his mind to chores around the house.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve nearly finished these logs.\u00a0 I could go instead,\u201d he volunteered.<\/p>\n Pa was in no mood to be gainsaid that morning and gave Joe an abrupt response.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve got plenty to be doing round here.\u201d\u00a0 He made to turn back into the house, but a thought struck him and he turned back.\u00a0 \u201cSince you\u2019re so keen to be in the saddle, you can take some supplies up to Ol\u2019 Trapper.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been up there in a while and now, with this foot, it\u2019s going to be a good while longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s face fell.\u00a0 \u201cOh no, Pa!\u00a0 Can\u2019t Adam do that and I\u2019ll do the bank?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s expression hardened. \u201cIt won\u2019t hurt you to do something neighborly.\u00a0 Ol\u2019 Trapper\u2019s been suffering with his back the whole winter.\u00a0 You can take the supplies up to him and help him out with any chores that need doing.\u201d<\/p>\n I almost laughed at Joe\u2019s expression of disgust.\u00a0 Ol\u2019 Trapper lived a reclusive existence in a shack up on the mountain, doing as his name suggested.\u00a0 We\u2019ve always called him Ol\u2019 Trapper, and if he ever had another name, I\u2019ve never heard it.\u00a0 Pa has a real soft spot for the old hermit.\u00a0 Ol\u2019 Trapper began his working life as a cabin boy on a ship, and was a sailor for countless years before drifting west and settling here, and maybe that\u2019s why he and Pa have that connection.\u00a0 Ol\u2019 Trapper and Pa get along real fine, but the old man is of the strong opinion that good character in a young man is directly proportional to the amount of work he is given to do.\u00a0 When Pa takes supplies up to Ol\u2019 Trapper, the two of them sit and drink coffee and swap tales of the sea.\u00a0 When Hoss, Joe or I go, he feels it incumbent upon himself to find as many chores as he can for us to complete.<\/p>\n Ol\u2019 Trapper\u2019s health had been failing in the last year, but nothing would persuade him to move down off that mountain where life would be easier.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone\u2019s gotta die somewhere, so I might as well die here an\u2019 die happy,\u201d he would say whenever one of us mentioned the idea.<\/p>\n Joe wasn\u2019t about to give up easily.\u00a0 \u201cWell, what about Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s brows drew down ominously. \u201cHoss has those horses to finish.\u00a0 You\u2019ll be done with those logs in an hour.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get Hop Sing to pack up some supplies.\u201d\u00a0 Without waiting for any more argument, Pa turned back into the house, banging his stick hard into the floor with every step to express his irritation.<\/p>\n Joe scowled.\u00a0 Hoss looked at him with an impish smile on his face.\u00a0 \u201cNever mind, younger brother,\u201d he said to Joe, his voice teasing. \u201cIf you\u2019re\u00a0 lucky, Ol\u2019 Trapper may just have had his annual wash.\u201d<\/p>\n He ducked just in time to avoid the chunk of wood Joe hurled at him then.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6<\/p>\n It took only a short time to send the telegram and sort out the business at the bank, leaving me plenty of time to call on Beth.\u00a0 We took a short walk together and when we were out of sight of the town, she let me kiss her again, almost as if we both needed to reassure ourselves that last night hadn\u2019t been a dream.\u00a0 Her lips were as soft and cool as I remembered, and maybe even a little more yielding.\u00a0 After that, we had tea with her mother and sister, and I set off back to the Ponderosa, more light-headed than ever.<\/p>\n The stupid grin was back on my face.\u00a0 My lips were still tingling.\u00a0 We had known each other barely a month, but already I was in love.\u00a0 How could I not be?\u00a0 I could not get her out of my head.\u00a0 How to know if she felt the same way though?\u00a0 Was it too early to say something to her?\u00a0 Would I scare her away if I did?<\/p>\n I had left the road a while back, cutting cross country towards home.\u00a0 With less than five miles to go, I spotted a movement in the rocks ahead.\u00a0 Pulling up my horse, I leaned forward to get a closer look.\u00a0 For a moment there was nothing; then I saw it again.\u00a0 No mistaking it this time.\u00a0 Slinking between the rocks, sleek and sinewy, was a big mountain lion.\u00a0 I reached for my rifle.\u00a0 The calves we\u2019d lost in recent weeks, I figured I\u2019d just spotted the culprit.<\/p>\n The cat hadn\u2019t seen me.\u00a0 It slipped down easily through the rocks, heading for the creek.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t take my horse down the steep rocky drop, and if I clambered down on foot, the cat was sure to spot me and take off.\u00a0 I wheeled my horse about quietly and backtracked a hundred yards to where a narrow trail wound down through the scrub.\u00a0 With luck, I could head it off before it reached the bottom of the gully and get a good shot from below.<\/p>\n I nudged the horse down the slope.\u00a0 We had the cover of the brush for fifty or so yards, and then the path opened out and I could see the creek below, fringed by new spring grass.\u00a0 I scanned the left hand slopes for any sign of the lion, but my eye was caught instead by a movement on the other bank.<\/p>\n A black horse, nose down, grazing, and just behind it, another horse, white and black, with unmistakable markings.\u00a0 I frowned as my eyes moved on.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t have to look far. Behind the grazing horses, I could clearly see two figures, stretched out on the grass together. There was no mistaking my brother, and it took me only a moment to identify the girl in his arms. \u00a0A girl, dressed like a boy, but with long waves of black hair that glinted darkly in the sunlight.\u00a0 I was close enough that I could have thrown a stone and hit Joe on the shoulder, but they hadn\u2019t seen me; they were too wrapped up in each other.<\/p>\n I bit my lip and backed into the brush cover again.\u00a0 At that moment, I didn\u2019t know whether to be exasperated or amused with my little brother, but my head was still full of Beth, and I was inclined to the latter.\u00a0 If I was in love, why shouldn\u2019t Joe be too?<\/p>\n Was this the explanation for Joe\u2019s mysterious absences?\u00a0 I thought back, and pieces fell neatly into place.\u00a0 It was Thursday afternoon.\u00a0 If memory served me correctly, it was Thursday afternoons he\u2019d vanished before with no explanation.\u00a0 Now it made sense.\u00a0 On Thursday afternoons, Harriet had said, her husband went to a prayer meeting in town.<\/p>\n I had been there the evening after Zach McKenzie\u2019s visit to the Ponderosa, when Pa told Joe that he needed to stay away from Josie if he wanted to keep his face intact.\u00a0 Well, Pa didn\u2019t phrase it quite like that, but that was the gist of the warning.\u00a0 So now it seemed they were resorting to secret meetings.\u00a0 The kid was asking for trouble!<\/p>\n The image of the two of them played on my mind as I rode on home.\u00a0 I knew Joe wouldn\u2019t appreciate any interference on my part in his affairs with the opposite sex.\u00a0 But there had been an element of truth in what Zach McKenzie had had to say about my little brother, and \u00a0while that seemed to sit lightly with Joe, it gave Hoss and me -\u2013 and Pa especially — plenty of cause for disquiet.\u00a0 I would have to have a quiet word with Joe, I decided, before he and Josie found themselves in more trouble with Zach McKenzie.<\/p>\n Joe wasn\u2019t back for dinner.\u00a0 Pa and Hoss weren\u2019t surprised because they knew Ol\u2019 Trapper.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t surprised because I knew the real reason he was late.<\/p>\n \u201cProb\u2019ly got Joe puttin\u2019 whole a new roof on his shack,\u201d grinned Hoss, enjoying his own mental images of Joe\u2019s sufferings.<\/p>\n I said nothing to Pa and Hoss about what I\u2019d seen down at the creek.\u00a0 Pa\u2019s mood was still marred by his injury, and not simply because it restricted his usefulness around the ranch.\u00a0 I could tell he was in more pain than he would ever admit.\u00a0 Learning that Joe had deliberately countermanded his instructions would only have soured his temper further.\u00a0 And it seemed right that I should talk first to Joe, and find out what he had to say for himself.<\/p>\n By ten o\u2019clock, I could see Pa glancing at the clock and becoming restless.\u00a0 Shortly after that we heard sounds outside and I saw relief sweep briefly across Pa\u2019s features, until we realized it was not the sound of one horse, but several.\u00a0 And the rattle and rumble of a wagon too.\u00a0 I went to the door, Hoss right behind me.\u00a0 Out in the yard was the sheriff with one of his deputies, on horseback, and a second deputy driving a wagon.\u00a0 I looked at Hoss and saw the same apprehension in his eyes as I knew was in mine.<\/p>\n \u201cRoy,\u201d said my father, from his armchair. \u00a0\u201cWhat brings you out here at this time of night?\u201d\u00a0 There was alarm in Pa\u2019s face too.\u00a0 The same dread was in all our minds.<\/p>\n \u201cBad news, I\u2019m afraid, Ben.\u201d\u00a0 Roy\u2019s face was grim.\u00a0 \u201cJust been out to a body.\u00a0 On your land.\u00a0 A few miles down the road, down by the creek.\u00a0 A girl.\u00a0 Josie McKenzie.\u201d<\/p>\n My heart took a horrible leap into my throat.\u00a0 I had dreaded the sheriff might have another name on his lips.\u00a0 I should have been relieved, yet the shock hit me like a blow to the belly.\u00a0 \u201cJosie!\u201d<\/p>\n Roy turned his face to me.\u00a0 \u201cYou know her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe know her,\u201d said Pa.\u00a0 \u201cShe and Joe were at school together.\u00a0 They were friends.\u00a0 What happened, Roy?\u201d<\/p>\n Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure.\u00a0 Head smashed open on a rock.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss grimaced.\u00a0 \u201cShe fall from a horse?\u201d he asked, but Roy shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t think it was as simple as that.\u201d\u00a0 His mouth tightened. \u201cShe\u2019d been attacked.\u00a0 Wa\u2019n\u2019t a pretty sight.\u201d He jerked his head in the direction of the door.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re takin\u2019 her body back into town with us now. \u00a0See what the doctor can tell us. Since we were passin\u2019, I thought I\u2019d call in and see if any of you had seen or heard anythin\u2019.\u00a0 And as this has happened on your land, Ben, thought I oughta let you know that I\u2019m gonna have to come back with some men tomorrow and have a proper look around in the daylight.\u00a0 I\u2019ll need to talk to your men too.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa had paled. \u00a0I imagined, like me, he\u2019d been hit by that same blast of instant relief followed by stomach wrenching shock.\u00a0 \u201cWhat can we do to help?\u201d\u00a0 Pa gestured at his injured foot.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m afraid I\u2019m not much use at the moment, Roy, but if my boys can help, or if you need any men…\u201d<\/p>\n Roy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThanks, Ben.\u00a0 I might take you up on the offer.\u00a0 See what daylight brings.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen did this happen?\u201d\u00a0 I had to force my voice out.\u00a0 I hoped it sounded level.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not sure yet Adam.\u00a0 \u2019Safternoon, I\u2019d guess.\u00a0 When she didn\u2019t show up for dinner, her ma said she was ridin\u2019 down by the creek an\u2019 Zach McKenzie went lookin\u2019 for her there.\u00a0 He was the one who found her.\u00a0 He\u2019s gone back to break the news to her ma.\u00a0 Poor woman!\u00a0 As if she ain\u2019t had enough tragedy!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can ask around the hands here.\u00a0 Find out if anyone saw anything,\u201d Pa offered.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Ben.\u201d\u00a0 Roy looked round at us all.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d best be on my way.\u00a0 Need to get the girl back to town.\u00a0 Where\u2019s Little Joe tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe rode on up to Ol\u2019 Trapper\u2019s with some supplies.\u00a0 He\u2019s not got back yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry I had to bring such bad news about an old friend of his.\u201d\u00a0 Roy nodded at Pa. \u00a0\u201cI\u2019ll speak to you tomorrow, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss went to the door to see the sheriff out, to save Pa hobbling any more than he needed to on his injured foot.\u00a0 I was glad he went.\u00a0 The thought of Josie lying dead in that wagon filled me with inexplicable dread.<\/p>\n We heard the sheriff\u2019s convoy ride away and Hoss came back inside and closed the door.\u00a0 He looked at me and frowned.\u00a0 \u2018\u201dYou a’right, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n I sank down in the armchair.\u00a0 I must have looked as white as I felt.\u00a0 Without saying another word, Hoss poured each of us a brandy.\u00a0 I accepted mine gratefully, while my mind wrestled in a knot of indecision.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw Josie,\u201d I said, finally, gathering my resolve, \u201cthis afternoon.\u00a0 Down by the creek.\u2019\u201d I could feel Hoss and Pa staring at me in puzzled surprise.\u00a0 \u201cShe was with Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d\u00a0 Pa shook his head. \u201cJoe was up at Ol\u2019 Trapper\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, he wasn\u2019t Pa. That was where he was supposed<\/em> to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDown at the creek?\u201d \u00a0I could hear the hollow realization in Hoss\u2019s voice.\u00a0 \u201cWhen was that, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn my way back from town.\u00a0 About two o\u2019clock I guess.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t see me, but I saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n Nobody said anything for a few moments.\u00a0 I knew we were all having difficulty grasping the implications of what I\u2019d just told them.\u00a0 Pa stared hard into his brandy glass, his brow furrowed deeply.\u00a0 Then he looked up at me, dark eyes filled with dread.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat were they doing when you saw them?\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t want to have to tell him, but I\u2019d already started rolling this snowball down the mountain.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t stop it now.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were… pretty well entwined.\u201d\u00a0 I felt like a traitor, but I couldn\u2019t lie, not to Pa.<\/p>\n \u201cDang!\u201d said Hoss, and it seemed an understatement to me. \u201cThat ain\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever Adam saw,\u201d Pa said, his mouth set in a hard straight line, \u201cwe know that Joe didn\u2019t hurt Josie.\u00a0 When he gets back, we\u2019ll be able to clear this up.\u201d<\/p>\n There was no point in any of us going up to bed.\u00a0 We knew we wouldn\u2019t sleep.\u00a0 We made pretenses of dozing in our chairs.\u00a0 Hoss poured a second brandy for each of us.\u00a0 I tried to read a book but the sentences remained incoherent on the page as my mind focused on the night outside, straining for the slightest sound that might indicate Joe\u2019s return.<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019s sharp ears caught it first. At half past midnight, I saw his head jolt up.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pa made to rise from his chair, grimacing with the pain of his foot.\u00a0 I held up a hand to stall him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go get him, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe had just put Cochise into his stall.\u00a0 He jumped when he saw me behind him in the barn.\u00a0 \u201cAdam!\u00a0 I thought you\u2019d all have gone to bed.\u00a0 It\u2019s late.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n He saw my face and rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe how much Ol\u2019 Trapper had for me to do.\u00a0 And then, on the way back down, Cochise threw a shoe.\u00a0 I\u2019ve just walked the last six miles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d better come inside. Pa wants to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n He pulled a face, but he looked resigned.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be in, in a few minutes, once I\u2019ve seen to Cochise.\u201d\u00a0 He had unbuckled his saddle by then.\u00a0 I reached over and lifted it from the horse\u2019s back.<\/p>\n \u201cLeave Cochise.\u00a0 Pa wants to see you now.\u201d<\/p>\n Anxiety flickered in his eyes.\u00a0 He gave me a little frown, but I guess something in my face or in the tone of my voice conveyed my seriousness, because he followed me across to the house without any more argument or protest.<\/p>\n “What\u2019s happened?\u201d he asked as soon as he saw the expression on Pa\u2019s face.<\/p>\n \u201cSit down,\u201d said Pa.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s frown deepened but he did as he was told. Pa took a deep breath.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph, Josie\u2019s dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at Pa in disbelief and gave a little laugh, like Pa was making a terrible joke.\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cNo, she\u2019s not.\u201d\u00a0 When Pa didn\u2019t respond, Joe swallowed hard and the color drained slowly from his face.\u00a0 \u201cWha… what do you mean, she\u2019s dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSheriff Coffee came by earlier this evenin\u2019,\u201d put in Hoss, staring hard at the rug on the floor.\u00a0 \u201cTold us they\u2019d found her body.\u00a0 Down by the creek.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe turned to me, as if I would tell him this wasn\u2019t true, but I couldn\u2019t say anything.\u00a0 My voice was stuck somewhere in my throat.\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 I could see his chest rise and fall as his breathing grew harder.\u00a0 He tried to say something and failed. Rising from his chair he headed for the stairs.<\/p>\n I called after him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, you were with her, weren\u2019t you?\u00a0 Earlier.\u00a0 I saw you down by the creek together.\u201d<\/p>\n He spun around and gaped at me, his eyes oddly dark in his white face.\u00a0 \u201cYou saw us?\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded.\u00a0 \u00a0I felt vaguely sick.\u00a0 I thought he would say something more.\u00a0 Offer some explanation, make some excuse.\u00a0 But he just stood there, like a ghost, silent and staring.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d said Pa, eventually, when the silence had stretched so tight, I could almost hear it jangling.<\/p>\n Joe turned his hollow face to Pa\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want to tell us what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked at him blankly.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you met Josie earlier today.\u00a0 What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe shook his head.\u00a0 He opened his mouth to answer, but again no words emerged, just a strange little choking noise in his throat.\u00a0 He took hold of the stair rail as if to steady himself.\u00a0 I saw then that he was trembling. \u00a0\u00a0He finally forced his voice out, hoarse and unsteady.\u00a0 \u201cWhat happened?\u00a0 How did she die?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure, Little Joe.\u00a0 She…\u201d \u00a0He faltered and looked at Pa.<\/p>\n I saw Pa\u2019s jaw tighten. \u2018The sheriff says she\u2019d split her head open on a rock.\u2019<\/p>\n The emptiness in Joe\u2019s eyes was replaced by a tremor of pain, as though he finally grasped the truth of what we had been trying to tell him.\u00a0 \u201cShe fell?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa shook his head. \u201cWe don\u2019t know for sure.\u00a0 Seems somebody attacked her.\u201d<\/p>\n For a fleeting moment, I thought Joe might actually faint.\u00a0 His hand gripped tighter on the stair rail, and he swayed unsteadily.\u00a0 Then he seemed to gather himself back together.\u00a0 \u201cWhen did this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I was with her then.\u00a0 She was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you leave her there, by the creek?\u201d I asked him, and he swung pained eyes in my direction.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 She rode off home.\u00a0 I watched her go.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat time was that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMust have been near enough four o\u2019clock.\u00a0 She wanted to get back before her step pa got home and found she was missing.\u00a0 She was real worried because she was late.\u00a0 We… we fell asleep.\u201d\u00a0 His voice crumbled on the last few words.\u00a0 He cleared his throat and dropped his head.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd all the time you were together, she was all right, was she?\u201d asked Pa.<\/p>\n Joe gave the smallest shrug of his shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cShe was fine, to begin with.\u00a0 But then she got upset.\u00a0 And then she fell asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was she upset?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa frowned. \u201cJoseph, you… you didn\u2019t do anything to her, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at Pa in horror.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u00a0 You think it was me<\/em> killed her?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think that.\u00a0 I just…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen why are you asking me all these questions?\u00a0 I already told you she was fine when she rode off.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to find out what happened,\u201d I told him, keeping my voice deliberately calm.<\/p>\n He rounded on me.\u00a0 \u201cWell, you know<\/em> what happened!\u00a0 You were the one spying on us?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t spying.\u00a0 I was just…\u201d<\/p>\n He turned his back on me and had climbed three stairs by the time I managed to grab his arm.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t just walk away, Joe. \u00a0We have to know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u00a0 Don\u2019t you believe me when I tell you she was fine?\u201d\u00a0 I knew he was struggling to keep back the tears; I could hear it in his voice.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no way I\u2019d ever hurt Josie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, the sheriff\u2019s going to ask you all this tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n He wrenched his arm out of my grasp.\u00a0 \u201cFine. Then I\u2019ll talk to the sheriff.\u00a0 \u00a0Now leave me alone.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7<\/p>\n For the remainder of that night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.\u00a0 Dawn was close when I finally dozed off, but my respite didn\u2019t last long. I was woken by a sound that didn\u2019t at first register in my weary brain.\u00a0 Then I realized it was a door opening and closing that had woken me.\u00a0 After all these years, the creaks of our floorboards are as familiar to me as the scars on my own body, and I was out of my bed in an instant.\u00a0 Whoever it was, was heading for the main stairs.<\/p>\n The first pale light of day was just nudging through the window.\u00a0 There were sounds from downstairs.\u00a0 I rushed to the top of the stairwell and peered down.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe!\u201d I yelled.<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t answer.\u00a0 I ran halfway down the stairs and saw him by the door, buckling his gunbelt around his middle.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are you going?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked up at me.\u00a0 His face was pale and hard. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Adam, I\u2019ll be back to talk to the sheriff.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, wait!\u201d<\/p>\n But Joe had gone, pulling the door behind him.\u00a0 Cursing, I ran back up the stairs and bumped into Hoss at the top.\u00a0 He looked like he\u2019d been startled out of his sleep too, probably by my yelling, and even more startled to collide with his naked older brother on the landing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 He\u2019s got something on his mind.\u201d\u00a0 I realized Pa had appeared in his doorway too, leaning heavily on his stick.<\/p>\n \u201cGet after him, Adam,\u201d he said urgently.<\/p>\n I nodded.<\/p>\n Hoss said, \u201cI\u2019ll go with you.\u201d<\/p>\n I hauled on my clothes and was still fastening buttons as I reached the door.\u00a0 Hoss leaped down the stairs behind me, shirt tails flying, hair all awry.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s horse was gone from the barn.\u00a0 Hastily we saddled our own.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t gotten much of a start on us, but he\u2019d ridden off at a lightening pace. We could see no sign of him ahead once we\u2019d cleared the ranch buildings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhich way?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss was staring down at the ground below us.\u00a0 He pointed west.\u00a0 \u201cThat way.\u201d<\/p>\n It was still barely daylight.\u00a0 At least Joe\u2019s tracks were fresh which made it easier to follow him, but even so, we had to stop and check several times. \u00a0I realized suddenly where we were heading.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Donohue\u2019s place,\u201d I said aloud.<\/p>\n Hoss looked at me in dismay.\u00a0 \u201cWhy would he be going there?\u201d<\/p>\n I shook my head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I hope I\u2019m wrong.\u00a0 But I bet that\u2019s where we find him.\u201d<\/p>\n From the Ponderosa, the approach to the Donohue\u2019s homestead brought us down through a belt of pine forest that marked the eastern edge of their property.\u00a0 Once clear of the trees, we could see the house about half a mile away across the intervening meadow.\u00a0 There was a small corral and a couple of barns with the house behind.\u00a0 As we kicked our horses to a gallop, I spotted Cochise tied to the rail of the corral, and my heart beat faster.<\/p>\n \u201cDang, Adam, look over there by the barn!\u201d<\/p>\n We were riding fast but I could still see what Hoss had spotted. A burly man, hurling something at the barn wall.\u00a0 It might have been a sack of grain. But it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was my brother.<\/p>\n There was no plan.\u00a0 Hoss and I fell back on instinct as we charged our horses into the yard and launched ourselves out of our saddles at the vast bulk of Zach McKenzie.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even remember clearly the sequence of events of the next few moments.\u00a0 I know I registered with horror the sight of my brother sprawled against the barn wall, and McKenzie\u2019s animal grunts as his boot thudded repeatedly into Joe\u2019s unresisting body.\u00a0 I know I caught a glimpse of Harriet McKenzie, white-faced and sobbing on the porch, her arms wrapped around her terrified son. \u00a0I know I somehow had McKenzie\u2019s huge meaty arms in my grasp, hauling him back with all the strength I possessed, knowing instantly I was no match for his weight and strength, but determined that he would not touch my brother again.<\/p>\n McKenzie was bellowing in fury, like a mad bull, trying to shake me off.\u00a0 I knew I would not hold him for more than a few seconds.\u00a0 We staggered backwards, and he tried to swing me off.\u00a0 His weight was too much for me, but he was clumsy and somehow we both went sprawling in the dirt, McKenzie on top.<\/p>\n It was like being hit by a falling tree.\u00a0 For a second I was rendered completely helpless, every ounce of breath knocked from my body.\u00a0 The bull though was back on his feet and lunging again for Joe.<\/p>\n Hoss stepped in the way.\u00a0 I had a brief vision of two giants face to face, then Hoss\u2019s fist swung in one mighty punch, and McKenzie flew backwards and crashed heavily against the corral rails.\u00a0 There was a loud splintering as the spars gave, and McKenzie tumbled to the ground amid the broken wood.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, get Joe!\u201d Hoss yelled, heading after McKenzie.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t wait to see whether the angry McKenzie would rise again or not.\u00a0 Still gasping for breath, I staggered the few yards to the barn and dropped down beside Joe.<\/p>\n He lay on his side in a crumpled, unmoving heap.\u00a0 His shirt was ripped.\u00a0 There was blood all over his face and blood in the dust beneath his head.\u00a0 I leaned over him and saw the back of his head was a matted red mess.\u00a0 At that moment, I didn\u2019t even know if he was dead or alive.<\/p>\n Suddenly Harriet McKenzie was crouched by my side, clutching at my arm and weeping hysterically.\u00a0 \u201cGet out of here!\u00a0 Get out of here!\u201d she sobbed, over and over.\u00a0 I glimpsed Danny, standing behind her, deathly pale.<\/p>\n \u201cYou should go, Mr Cartwright,\u201d he whispered, \u201cbefore my step pa gets back on his feet. He says Joe killed Josie.\u201d<\/p>\n I put my hand over the back of Joe\u2019s head.\u00a0 The blood seeped instantly through my fingers.\u00a0 Harriet McKenzie stared in horror, her sobs frozen momentarily.\u00a0 Then she fumbled with the ties of her white apron, dragging it from her waist.\u00a0 Folding it clumsily, she pressed it to Joe\u2019s head.<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s shirt was already torn. \u00a0Almost without thinking, I tugged at the ripped fabric and dragged a strip away, noticing even in my distraction that his right arm was bent strangely beneath his body.\u00a0 I wrapped the torn strip over the folded apron and tied it tightly around Joe\u2019s head.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s get out of here, Adam.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss was back by my side, breathless and perspiring.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t reckon he\u2019ll stay down for long.\u00a0 Get your horse.\u00a0 I\u2019ll hand Joe on up to you.\u00a0 Quickly!\u201d<\/p>\n I sprang for Sport.\u00a0 I still felt as if I couldn\u2019t breathe, but it was nothing to do with being winded now.\u00a0 Hoss bundled a limp Joe across my saddle, and I hauled him up against my own body.<\/p>\n \u201cGet him home, Adam.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna ride for the doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n It was less than ten miles home, but it was one of the longest journeys of my life.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s deadweight slumped in my arms so that my muscles burned, but I would not stop or let go even for an instant.\u00a0 I was too scared that, if I did stop and look at him more closely, I would find that he had already died in my arms.\u00a0 He made no sound or movement the whole way back, and even when I rode into the yard, and Pa came hobbling out of the house, all the anxiety of his enforced wait written plain in his face, and I slid Joe down into his waiting arms, the boy did not flinch or murmur.<\/p>\n I carried Joe upstairs, with Pa limping behind. Unfastening the makeshift bandage from his head, I was relieved to find the bleeding had stopped.\u00a0 Beneath the knotted tangle of blood and dust in Joe\u2019s hair, I could feel a deep depression in his skull, and a gaping gash.\u00a0 Bruises were beginning to darken on his face, his eyes and lips puffed and swollen.\u00a0 But it was only when we got him undressed that we saw the full extent of the beating he\u2019d taken.\u00a0 Several of the deepening bruises across his torso and legs bore the clear imprint of a boot sole.\u00a0 His right forearm was twisted at an unnatural angle, twice its normal size, livid blue and purple.<\/p>\n I fetched water and cloths and Pa and I cleaned him up as best we could while we waited for the doctor, but still Joe made no sound or movement.\u00a0 I left Pa watching over him and went back outside to see to my horse, waiting patiently in the yard.<\/p>\n It was only after I\u2019d finished unsaddling and rubbing down Sport that I discovered I was trembling.\u00a0 I sank down in the straw and hugged my knees in an effort to still the tremors, but the uncontrollable shivering would not cease.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t simply the horror of all that had already happened that was shaking me, but the dread of what had still to come.\u00a0 We were in a dark place now, but I had a terrible premonition that it was about to get darker still.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8<\/p>\n Doc Martin examined Joe carefully and his face was grim.<\/p>\n \u201cLast time I saw someone this bad, he\u2019d been trampled by a stampede,\u201d he told us. \u201cAre you telling me one man did all this?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBig fella,\u201d said Hoss.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you think, Paul?\u201d asked Pa.<\/p>\n The doctor looked grave.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a waiting game, Ben.\u00a0 I\u2019ll stay on here for a while. \u00a0The sooner he comes round, the happier I\u2019ll feel.\u00a0 That arm\u2019s going to need fixing.\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to stitch up that gash in his head.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not going to help any damage that\u2019s happened inside.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI left a message for the sheriff, Pa,\u201d said Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cDeputy said he\u2019d already left for the McKenzie\u2019s jus\u2019 after sun up.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe said he\u2019d call round later anyway,\u201d said Pa, his eyes never moving from Joe\u2019s swollen face. \u201cYou\u2019ll need a hand, Paul.\u00a0 Just tell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll need to cut his hair away from around the wound,\u201d said the doctor.\u00a0 \u201cYou start with that, while I get the other equipment I need.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cJoe ain\u2019t gonna be pleased when he wakes up and finds a bald patch in the middle of his head, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa tried to smile.\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s going to be real mad.\u201d<\/p>\n ***\u00a0 ***\u00a0\u00a0 ***<\/p>\n Hop Sing made us sandwiches, although I might as well have been eating sawdust, for all I noticed what they tasted like.\u00a0 Hoss and I were in the great room downstairs and Pa and the doctor were still upstairs with Joe when the sheriff finally arrived.<\/p>\n Roy Coffee\u2019s face looked tired and lined as I invited him in and offered him some coffee and a sandwich.\u00a0 He accepted wearily.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Fraid I\u2019ve only got more bad news, Adam.\u00a0 Zach McKenzie\u2019s claimin\u2019 it was Little Joe killed Josie.\u00a0 Says his wife told him last night they\u2019d been meeting in secret.\u201d<\/p>\n I put down the sandwich I\u2019d been eating, feeling suddenly sick.\u00a0 \u201cThey were together yesterday afternoon.\u00a0 I saw them.\u201d<\/p>\n The sheriff looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cYes\u2019erday afternoon?\u00a0 Why didn\u2019t you say when I came by last night?\u201d<\/p>\n I shook my head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know, Roy.\u00a0 I guess I should have.\u00a0 Only Joe didn\u2019t know then that I\u2019d seen them together, and I thought he should be the one to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou know he didn\u2019 do nothin\u2019, Roy,\u201d put in Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe\u2019d never hurt Josie.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy put his coffee cup down on the table. \u201cThink I\u2019d better speak to Little Joe myself, boys.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s going to be difficult,\u201d I told him.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s still unconscious after the beating he took from Zach McKenzie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnconscious?\u201d\u00a0 Roy frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI just been over to the McKenzie place.\u00a0 Zach McKenzie said the boy had the gall to turn up on his doorstep.\u00a0 Said he\u2019d given him a hiding he wouldn\u2019t forget in a hurry, but nobody said anythin\u2019 about unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d better come and see for yourself,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n ***\u00a0 ***\u00a0\u00a0 ***<\/p>\n Roy stepped back from Joe\u2019s bed and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cThat sure was some hidin\u2019 McKenzie gave him, Ben.\u00a0 But it don\u2019t change the facts.\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019s been accused of murderin\u2019 Josie; an\u2019 as sheriff, I can\u2019t ignore that.\u00a0 \u2019Specially now Adam tells me they were together yesterday afternoon, and down by the creek, a\u2019most right where we found her body.\u00a0 It don\u2019t look good, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean he killed her.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy acknowledged that with a brief nod.\u00a0 \u201cNo, it don\u2019t.\u00a0 But I\u2019m still going to have to take him into custody.\u00a0 Soon as the doc here says he\u2019s fit to travel.\u201d<\/p>\n The doctor finished tying the splint to Joe\u2019s arm.\u00a0 He looked up at the sheriff and pulled a face.\u00a0 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t hold your breath, sheriff.\u00a0 That hammering he took to his skull \u2013- well, right now, I don\u2019t even know if this boy will wake up again.\u00a0 And if he does, whether he\u2019s going to be capable of telling anyone anything, ever again.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 9<\/p>\n I\u2019ve always joked that my youngest brother has the hardest head in this family, but I\u2019d never prayed so fervently for that to be true.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t pray much.\u00a0 Sure, I join in with those recited lines and those mumbled \u201camens\u201d in church, like everybody does, but I rarely plead with my whole heart the way I did during those hours Joe lay so still and silent, after McKenzie beat him near to death.<\/p>\n If I hadn\u2019t known it was my brother lying there, I wouldn\u2019t have recognized him.\u00a0 With his head swathed in bandages and his face discolored and swollen, he looked like a stranger.\u00a0 A very sick stranger.<\/p>\n The sheriff questioned me closely about everything I\u2019d seen the previous afternoon.\u00a0 Like a traitor, I answered him and described the scene.\u00a0 I knew Roy Coffee to be a fair man, but even I couldn\u2019t help but hear the death knell in the evidence I was providing.<\/p>\n \u201cI know it doesn\u2019t look good, Roy,\u201d I said as I finished relating what I\u2019d seen, \u201cbut you know as well as I do that Joe wouldn\u2019t do a thing like this.\u201d<\/p>\n The sheriff rubbed a hand over his moustache.\u00a0 “I know how you mus\u2019 be feelin\u2019 Adam.\u00a0 An\u2019 I appreciate your honesty.\u00a0 An\u2019, like you say, I don\u2019t think Little Joe would do somethin\u2019 like this.\u00a0 At least, not deliberately.\u201d<\/p>\n I frowned at his words.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean, deliberately?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell.\u201d\u00a0 Roy nodded his head towards the stairs.\u00a0 Pa and the doctor were still with Joe.\u00a0 \u201cThe doc says the head injury that killed Josie might have been an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut you said she\u2019d been attacked.\u00a0 You don\u2019t attack someone by accident.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope.\u00a0 No denying that part.\u00a0 The bruises speak for themselves.\u00a0 But if things had got a bit rough, say.\u00a0 Then she fell back, hit her head\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n I felt the bile rise in my throat.\u00a0 The sheriff rose from his chair and put a hand on my shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cJus\u2019 sayin\u2019, Adam.\u00a0 Nobody knows the facts yet.\u00a0 When Little Joe wakes up he can tell us his side of the story.\u00a0 Meanwhile I\u2019m gonna keep lookin\u2019.\u00a0 Nothin\u2019 else I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n Several hours later, towards evening, Joe finally came round.\u00a0 I think he probably wished he hadn\u2019t since there wasn\u2019t a scrap of his body that couldn\u2019t have been hurting.\u00a0 With his face so badly swollen, it was difficult to tell if his eyes were open or not.\u00a0 His lips, puffed and disfigured, could barely form intelligible words.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t cry,\u201d I thought I heard him mumble.\u00a0 Pa and I were sitting by his bed.\u00a0 We looked at each other puzzled.<\/p>\n \u201cGet the doctor back,\u201d said Pa, reaching out to touch Joe\u2019s good arm, so he would know we were there.<\/p>\n The doctor was downstairs, having a bite of supper before heading back to town.\u00a0 He hurried back upstairs with me.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said it again,\u201d Pa told us.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t cry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe he\u2019s talking to Josie,\u201d I suggested, recalling what Joe had told us.\u00a0 \u201cHe said she was upset.\u201d<\/p>\n The doctor leaned over Joe.\u00a0 My brother showed no sign of recognizing anyone or anything.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to be groggy and confused.\u00a0 That\u2019s normal after a blow to the head like he\u2019s had.\u00a0 It might take a while for his thoughts to get straight again.\u00a0 The important thing is that he\u2019s awake.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good sign.\u00a0 Just keep a close eye on him, and I\u2019ll be back in the morning to see how he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n We took turns to sit with Joe all that evening and through the long night.\u00a0 Relief that he had regained consciousness was soon replaced by a growing anxiety over his incoherent mutterings and his lack of response to his surroundings.\u00a0 The doctor had warned us about possible damage to his brain as the result of the head injury, and whenever I thought about that, my stomach clenched in a tight knot of dread. \u00a0I sat beside him and willed him to open his eyes and know me for who I was.\u00a0 Poor kid!\u00a0 He could barely open his eyes at all.\u00a0 It was painful even to look at his mangled face.<\/p>\n \u201cGod, Joe,\u201d I murmured into the lamplight, as dawn crept stealthily closer.\u00a0 \u201cWhat have you got yourself into this time?\u201d\u00a0 I rubbed my palms over my weary face.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n I dropped my hands and stared.\u00a0 His face was turned towards me.\u00a0 All that was visible between his bloated eyelids were two slits of green, but they were definitely focused on me.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe!\u00a0 Can you see me?\u00a0 Do you know where you are?\u201d<\/p>\n His voice was thick, as if his mouth had been stuffed with cotton, but I still smiled to hear it.<\/p>\n \u201cBed,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Then he groaned and closed his eyes. \u201cHurts!\u201d he muttered.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d I told him, giving his good shoulder a gentle squeeze.\u00a0 \u201cI know it does, Joe.\u00a0 But I\u2019m sure glad you can tell me that!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10<\/p>\n Hoss stuck his head around Joe\u2019s bedroom door.\u00a0 \u201cSomeone to see ya, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n It was late morning.\u00a0 I was on duty again.\u00a0 It would be some time before we could leave Joe unattended, so I was slumped in the armchair with a book in my hand.\u00a0 The doctor had called in earlier and changed Joe\u2019s dressings.\u00a0 He seemed pleased with his progress.\u00a0 \u201cBut it\u2019s going to take time,\u201d he reminded us.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t expect too much too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked up at Hoss, lifting my eyebrows.\u00a0 \u201cWho is it?”<\/p>\n Hoss couldn\u2019t suppress a mischievous grin.\u00a0 \u201c\u2019S Beth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeth?\u201d\u00a0 I looked at Joe.\u00a0 It was difficult at a glance to tell if he was awake or asleep, but he hadn\u2019t moved so I assumed he was sleeping. \u201cDo you want to stay here with Joe?\u00a0 I\u2019ll go down and see her.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss gave a little backwards jerk of his head and scrunched his face.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s right behind me.\u00a0 Wants to see how Little Joe is.\u201d<\/p>\n I sprang out of the chair faster than I\u2019d intended, running my hands over my hair, the blood rising in my face.<\/p>\n \u201cCan she come in?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEr\u2026 yeah.\u00a0 Yes. Er\u2026\u201d Flustered, I adjusted Joe\u2019s sheets around him, straightening up as Beth entered the room.\u00a0\u00a0 She wore a dress of primrose yellow, and there was a pink flush on her porcelain cheeks.<\/p>\n \u201cHello, Adam,\u201d she began. \u00a0\u201cI\u2026 oh!\u201d<\/p>\n She caught sight of Joe and the rose faded from her face.\u00a0 She drew in a sharp breath. \u00a0I reached out for her arm and she let me take it, her stare still transfixed by my brother.<\/p>\n Making a concerted effort to pull herself together, she dragged her eyes from Joe\u2019s face to mine.\u00a0 \u201cI just wanted to tell Little Joe I hoped he would soon feel better.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s asleep. \u00a0But when he wakes up I\u2019ll tell him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIs that what Mister McKenzie did to him?\u201d<\/p>\n I nodded.<\/p>\n Beth was silent for a moment, while she looked once more at Joe.\u00a0 I read horror and disbelief in her face.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t realize.\u00a0\u00a0 Pa said there had been a fight at the McKenzie\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot sure how much of a fight it was,\u201d I told her.\u00a0 \u201cMore of a beating.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa didn\u2019t say that.\u201d She hesitated and looked back at me.\u00a0 Her eyes were cloudy.\u00a0 I still held her arm, but she kept her distance.\u00a0 \u201cIs something wrong?\u201d I asked her.<\/p>\n She pursed her lips and dropped her eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2026 er\u2026 I had to come out and see you Adam.\u00a0 Pa didn\u2019t want me to but I had to come.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t not say anything.\u201d<\/p>\n I felt like a wintry draught had blown over my skin, turning it cold.<\/p>\n Beth took a deep breath. \u201cI can\u2019t see you any more, Adam.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n Just like that.\u00a0 I can\u2019t see you any more.\u00a0 I\u2019m sorry.<\/em>\u00a0 Maybe my mind was already numb from too much reeling, but for a moment I could think of nothing to say.\u00a0 And when I did manage to speak, my voice sounded weak and pathetic.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n She had the grace to look awkward.\u00a0 \u201cWell, you know my father is Mr McKenzie\u2019s lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n I must have looked blank because she pulled a face that said I should have understood.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this case going to trial, we can hardly carry on seeing each other, can we?\u201d<\/p>\n Going to trial?\u00a0 My brain seemed to have ground to a slow crawl.\u00a0 I heard what she said, but the words made no sense to me.\u00a0 She looked almost impatient.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you expect Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2026.\u201d \u00a0I shook my head as if that would start the cogs of my brain working again.\u00a0 \u201cBut Joe didn\u2019t do anything, Beth!\u201d<\/p>\n “That\u2019s not what everybody\u2019s saying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Everybody?<\/em>\u00a0 I stared at her in growing dismay.\u00a0 We had been so caught up with our own immediate troubles on the Ponderosa, I hadn\u2019t spared a thought for what was going on in the town.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are they saying?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you think?\u00a0 Seems like Joe already has something of a reputation in the town as far as girls are concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n I remembered myself quickly and took her by the arm again, wheeling her firmly onto the landing.\u00a0 \u201cSssh,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cKeep your voice down.\u00a0 Joe doesn\u2019t need to hear this right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, he\u2019s going to hear it sooner or later.\u00a0 Mister McKenzie\u2019s accused your brother of murdering Josie, and my father will be helping to bring the case against him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMy brother does not attack women!\u201d<\/p>\n I watched the blood rush swiftly to Beth\u2019s cheeks.\u00a0 She dropped her eyes so she wouldn\u2019t have to meet mine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what any of us thinks.\u00a0 With things the way they are, we can\u2019t see each other any more.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I came out here today, to tell you that.\u00a0 And to say sorry.\u201d \u00a0She hesitated. \u201cGoodbye, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n She turned away; then half turned back and threw a glance at the bedroom door behind me.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I really do hope little Joe gets better soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Bitter gall was rising in my throat.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u00a0 So you can watch him swing from a gallows?\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes met mine for an instant, then she looked away embarrassed.\u00a0 \u201cGoodbye Adam,\u201d she repeated in a flat voice.<\/p>\n I watched her walk down the stairs before I turned back into Joe\u2019s room and crossed to the window.\u00a0 I saw her climb into her rig and take up the reins.\u00a0 I watched as she headed away along the road, the yellow of her dress visible long after the rest of her had vanished into the distance.\u00a0 Behind me Joe stirred and muttered.\u00a0 I sat down on the edge of his bed and picked up a cup from the bedside table.\u00a0 With a spoon I carefully trickled water between lips too swollen to drink.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, brother,\u201d I murmured as he swallowed painfully.\u00a0 \u201cIf I\u2019d just kept my big mouth shut, they\u2019d be looking for the real culprit now.\u201d<\/p>\n I could see he was looking at me but there was no way of knowing whether he\u2019d understood.\u00a0 I spooned more water into his mouth.\u00a0 \u201cMcKenzie\u2019s accusing you of murdering Josie.\u00a0 There\u2019s going to be a trial.\u00a0 You need to get better, Joe, so you can tell them what really happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe blinked.\u00a0 Although his face was incapable of expressing anything, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes. \u00a0Puzzlement maybe.\u00a0 \u201cHuh?\u201d he grunted.\u00a0 And it was impossible to know what it was that he didn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Later that day, Hoss and I rode out with the sheriff to the spot by the creek where I had seen Joe with Josie on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cRight there,\u201d I told Roy, pointing.\u00a0 \u201cIn front of that flat rock, that\u2019s where they were lying.\u00a0 The horses were just down here, by the water.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy looked where I was pointing, then he walked six paces downstream to another boulder.\u00a0 \u201cAn\u2019 this is where we found Josie\u2019s body.\u00a0 There were traces of blood and hair on this rock.\u00a0\u00a0 You sure you ain\u2019t mistaken, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure.\u201d\u00a0 I walked to the place where I knew they had been. The image of the two of them, wrapped together, had implanted itself deeply into my brain.\u00a0 \u201cLook, the grass is still flattened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, it ain\u2019t far.\u201d\u00a0 Roy measured the short distance with his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cThey coulda moved across there without much thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n I stared at him in disbelief.\u00a0 \u201cRoy, you sound like you think he\u2019s guilty.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, Adam.\u00a0 I\u2019m jus\u2019 thinking like a jury is gonna think, that\u2019s all.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been over and over the tracks leading in and outa here.\u00a0 There\u2019s your brother\u2019s, and Josie\u2019s, and Zach McKenzie\u2019s, but there ain\u2019t no others.\u00a0 See for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss had crouched down, ruffling through the flattened grass with his fingers.\u00a0 He scraped at something in the dirt.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, Roy, look at this.\u201d\u00a0 He lifted his hand.\u00a0 Between his fingers dangled a small gold locket swinging on a broken chain.\u00a0 He got to his feet and handed it to Roy.<\/p>\n The sheriff wiped the dirt from the chased gold, and opened the thin casing.\u00a0 There were two miniature portraits tucked neatly into the locket.\u00a0 One was unmistakably Harriet McKenzie, the other her first husband, the late Walter Donohue.\u00a0 Roy pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cMus\u2019 be Josie\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n We were all silent for a minute as we stared at the sombre memento of a dead girl.\u00a0 At least, it showed that the place I had seen Joe and Josie was not the spot where she had met her death, close as it was.\u00a0 I looked from one rock to the other with a heavy heart.\u00a0 It was close, though.\u00a0 Much too close for comfort.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 11<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s recovery was a two-edged sword.\u00a0 After a few days the swelling on his face subsided, and his bruises began to heal and turn all colours of the rainbow.\u00a0 But as he began to look better, so the dark shadow of jail and a trial loomed ever nearer and ever darker. The sheriff came back to ask Joe questions.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re looking better, son,\u201d he said, as he sat down on the end of Joe\u2019s bed.\u00a0 \u201cYou up to a few questions?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe drew down his brow in a small frown. \u201cQuestions?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa had already warned Roy downstairs that Joe was functioning erratically.\u00a0 The sheriff nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI need to ask you about what happened down by the creek on Thursday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n “Thursday afternoon?\u201d\u00a0 Joe\u2019s frown deepened.<\/p>\n \u201cYou met Josie, d\u2019you remember?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJosie.\u201d Joe thought for a few moments then gave a small nod.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, Jo and I went for a ride. Was that Thursday?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, that was Thursday.\u00a0 Can you remember exactly what you did?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at him with a blank expression.\u00a0 Roy tried prompting him.\u00a0 \u201cYou went for a ride.\u00a0 What did you do then?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe didn\u2019t answer.\u00a0 The sheriff leaned forward. \u201cListen, Little Joe.\u00a0 Josie\u2019s dead.\u00a0 We need to find out who killed her.\u00a0 You have to tell me what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe swallowed hard and his eyes misted over.\u00a0 Pa put his hand on the sheriff\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s not ready for this Roy.\u00a0 Give him a day or two.\u00a0 It\u2019s there in his head.\u00a0 He just hasn\u2019t pieced it all back together yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to get to the truth as soon as possible, Ben.\u201d\u00a0 Roy looked back at Joe.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, son, I know this is difficult but you gotta try and think.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at Joe and saw a tear slide down his cheek.\u00a0 He closed his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI only wanted to help,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n Roy\u2019s cocked his head.\u00a0 \u201cHelp with what, Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was crying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was she crying?\u201d asked the sheriff when it became plain Joe was not about to volunteer any more.<\/p>\n Joe shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy reached in the pocket of his vest and drew out the locket on its thin gold chain.\u00a0 \u201cDo you recognize this, Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared and gave a small nod.\u00a0 Another silent tear rolled from his eye. \u201cIt\u2019s Josie\u2019s,\u201d he said, his voice cracking.\u00a0 \u201cShe showed it to me.\u00a0 It has a picture of her pa inside.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe was wearin\u2019 it on Thursday?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI… I think so.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really remember.\u201d<\/p>\n We left Pa with Joe and went downstairs with the sheriff.\u00a0 He looked solemn.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not good, boys,\u201d he told us. \u00a0\u201cIf Little Joe can\u2019t tell us more \u2019bout what happened, we\u2019ll have to go on what you saw, Adam, and what the McKenzies have to say.\u00a0 It\u2019s beginning to look like the best we can hope for is a terrible accident.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head with certainty.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sheriff, if that\u2019s what\u2019d happened, Little Joe would\u2019ve told us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou sure of that Hoss?\u00a0 He didn\u2019t tell you he\u2019d been seein\u2019 her in secret, did he?\u00a0 I\u2019m fond of your brother, boys, but I can\u2019t pretend he ain\u2019t got a big appetite for women. It\u2019s common knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n I saw Hoss bristle. \u201cYeah, but he ain\u2019t never hurt none.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy held up a hand as if we might have been about to hit him.\u00a0 \u201cAn\u2019 maybe he never meant<\/em> to hurt Josie.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 12<\/p>\n Sometimes I wonder if the law has anything to do with truth and justice.<\/p>\n Pa, Hoss and I sit in this hotel room and stare silently at the carpet, the walls, the beds, the windows, and we see none of it.\u00a0 We no longer know what to say to each other.\u00a0 All the hours we\u2019ve sat in that hot, muggy courtroom these past few days are like a nightmare from which we will never escape.\u00a0 And tomorrow, Joe will hang for the murder of Josephine McKenzie.<\/p>\n When the sheriff took him away from the Ponderosa, we knew he still wasn\u2019t right, even though little visible evidence of his injuries remained.\u00a0 True, his arm was still in a sling, but his hair was already growing back over the jagged scar on his head and his clothes hid the fading ravages to the rest of his body.\u00a0 Doctor Martin promised Pa he would visit Joe every day in the jail and make sure he was well enough to attend the trial.<\/p>\n The judge said that if Joe was fit enough to walk to the courtroom and sit in a chair, he was fit enough to stand trial.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve watched my brother at the mercy of the judge and the lawyers for the last three days.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched him battle pain, fatigue, and the constant confusion of his aching head.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched the whole town judge him and pass verdict before they\u2019ve even heard all the facts.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched the doubt and embarrassment in the faces of friends, and I\u2019ve watched Beth cross the street to avoid me, averting her eyes so she won\u2019t have to meet mine.\u00a0 Worse, I\u2019ve had to stand up in front of the court and relate what I saw that day by the creek.<\/p>\n I wish I had never opened my mouth.<\/p>\n Always tell the truth, Pa taught us.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s better to be punished for the truth than to hide behind a lie.<\/p>\n But Joe can\u2019t remember.\u00a0 And every time he hesitates or slurs, or shakes his head at a question, I can sense the antagonism in the courtroom.<\/p>\n The prosecution brought in character witnesses to testify to what was described as \u2018the dissolute side\u2019 of Joe\u2019s nature.\u00a0 Mainly, of course, they focused on Julia.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see they think he\u2019s lyin\u2019,\u201d said Hoss after the first round of questioning. \u201c\u2019Tain\u2019t fair, Pa.\u00a0 How can he defend himself when he can\u2019t remember?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s very quiet right now.\u00a0 He\u2019s walking without the stick at last, but his shoulders are stooped, like the stick\u2019s still there. It scares me to see him looking so old.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cJoe,\u201d said the prosecutor, \u201cwhat happened after you and Josie rode to the creek and you got down from your horses?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was frowning.\u00a0 He\u2019d had to work hard to keep his mind focused on the events of that day, but with the help of the sheriff\u2019s collective statements, we had ascertained that he and Josie had met twice before, in secret, although Josie had confided her whereabouts to her mother.\u00a0 Harriet McKenzie, appearing in the courtroom only long enough to give her evidence, had confirmed that.\u00a0 They\u2019d ridden out together like they\u2019d done as children, while Zach McKenzie was at a prayer meeting in town.<\/p>\n \u201cI kissed her,\u201d said Joe, finally.<\/p>\n \u201cHad you kissed her before, on the other two occasions?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 That was the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow did she respond?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cWhat d\u2019you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid she want you to kiss her?\u00a0 Did she back away?\u00a0 Was she offended?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe frowned and shook his head slowly.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 She… she kissed me back.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCarry on.\u00a0 What happened then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe sat down on the ground together.\u201d\u00a0 Joe squeezed his eyes shut as he struggled to piece the events into order. \u201cWe kissed some more.\u201d<\/p>\n The attorney nodded.\u00a0 \u201cAnd then?\u201d<\/p>\n The room was stifling.\u00a0 Even the flies buzzing against the windows seemed sluggish.\u00a0 My chest was tightening as though the air was heavy enough to crush it.<\/p>\n Joe didn\u2019t answer.\u00a0 He dropped his head into his hands and pressed his palms against his temples. His skin looked pale and clammy.\u00a0 The judge nodded at the doctor who stepped forward and leaned down to speak quietly into Joe\u2019s ear.\u00a0 I saw Joe shake his head.\u00a0 The doctor looked up at the judge and gave a quick nod of his head, then slipped back to his seat.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you want to know?\u201d asked Joe, looking up again, his eyes dull and confused.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were kissing Josie, sitting on the ground.\u00a0 What happened next?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe was still silent.\u00a0 His gaze had dropped to the floor and he seemed mesmerized by the wooden boards.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe,\u201d said the judge, and my brother\u2019s head snapped up.\u00a0 \u201cAnswer the question, please.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at him as if he\u2019d forgotten the question again. \u00a0It was the judge\u2019s turn to frown.\u00a0 Frank Winsley rose in his seat.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s stalling, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n The judge held up his hand and Winsley sat back down.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe,\u201d said the prosecutor, fixing Joe with a direct gaze, \u201cdid you do more than just kiss Josie McKenzie?\u201d<\/p>\n I tried to take a deep breath to calm my racing heart and quell the sickness rising ever higher in my throat, but it was as though the air in the room was no longer breathable.\u00a0 Lie, Joe, <\/em>I willed him.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell them the truth.\u00a0 Tell them you and Josie paddled in the creek.\u00a0 Tell them you got up and went home.\u00a0 Tell them you recited poetry together.\u00a0 Tell them anything, but don\u2019t tell them the truth!<\/em><\/p>\n Joe was staring at the attorney, but his eyes looked glazed, as if he really saw nothing. \u00a0\u201cI… I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I… I don\u2019t remember.\u201d \u00a0He paused and ran his hand over his face.\u00a0 \u201cShe was crying.\u00a0 I remember she was crying.\u201d<\/p>\n He was fumbling, struggling to keep the pictures in his mind.\u00a0 Sweat trickled down between my shoulder blades as I watched him.\u00a0 Tension had built to such a pitch in me that I\u2019d begun to tremble.\u00a0 Hoss, beside me, gave my forearm a gentle squeeze.\u00a0 I glanced at him and saw his face was as beaded with perspiration as my own.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy was she crying?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you do?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI… I didn\u2019t know what to do.\u00a0 She just kept crying.\u00a0 So I put my arms around her.\u201d\u00a0 Joe screwed his face as though he was in pain and pressed his hands again to his head.\u00a0 Every eye in the room was fixed upon him, but he didn\u2019t seem to be aware of that.\u00a0 He was struggling with something inside.\u00a0 \u201cShe…she wouldn\u2019t say anything.\u00a0 She was just sobbing, like her heart was fit to break.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you were just holding her?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what happened then?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe thought hard.\u00a0 \u201cShe… she fell asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n The prosecutor looked as if he was waiting for Joe to continue, but Joe had fallen silent again.\u00a0 \u201cWhat did you do then?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cI fell asleep too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing else happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike what?\u201d\u00a0 The confusion on Joe\u2019s face was genuine.\u00a0 The man gave him a hard look.<\/p>\n \u201cJosie McKenzie was murdered, Joe.\u00a0 We\u2019ve already heard from your brother how intimate you already were with Miss McKenzie.\u00a0 Did you take advantage of the situation while she was asleep?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s face was very white.\u00a0 I wished he wouldn\u2019t look so scared and uncertain.\u00a0 \u201cN… No,\u201d he stammered.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo nothing else happened between you?\u00a0 When you woke up, Josie was anxious to get home because she was late, and you watched her ride away.\u00a0 And that was the last you saw of her?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s eyes were blank again.\u00a0 Exhaustion had drained the color from his face.\u00a0 Even his lips looked pale.<\/p>\n \u201cThe statements from your family say that that was what you told them when you got home that Thursday night. So how is it, Joe, that Josie\u2019s body was discovered lying less than twenty feet from the spot where your own brother saw the two of you lying together?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe dropped his head between his hands and his fingers clenched at his hair.\u00a0 \u201cI… I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n \u201cAw, come on Roy!\u201d\u00a0 Hoss paced the sheriff\u2019s office that evening, while Pa went into the cells to see Joe.\u00a0 \u201cWould he do somethin\u2019 like that to Josie an\u2019 then mosey on up to Ol\u2019 Trapper\u2019s an\u2019 dig out his outhouse like nothin\u2019 had happened?\u201d<\/p>\n Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not likin\u2019 this any more than you, Hoss.\u00a0 But unless Joe comes up with somethin\u2019 more, it don\u2019t look good.\u00a0 We\u2019ve only got his word that she was fine when he left her.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat if she was<\/em> fine then?\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if she rode away fine but then she came back again, after Joe had left?\u201d<\/p>\n “Why\u2019d she come back?\u00a0 You said Joe told you she was already frettin\u2019 that she was late.\u00a0 That Zach would have her hide for bein\u2019 out when she wa\u2019n\u2019t supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe locket,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if she realized she\u2019d lost it and she came back to try and find it again?\u201d<\/p>\n “You think she\u2019d go back even though she was already scared she was gonna get a thrashin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFor a picture of her pa?\u201d said Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d go back if it was my ma in that necklace.\u201d<\/p>\n Roy pursed his mouth.\u00a0 \u201cWell, maybe.\u00a0 But Joe\u2019s not denyin\u2019 anythin\u2019, Hoss. \u00a0That don\u2019t help his case none.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not denyin\u2019 it \u2019cos he can\u2019t remember,\u201d pointed out Hoss.\u00a0 \u201cAn\u2019 he can\u2019t remember \u2019cos Zach McKenzie beat him to a pulp!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 13<\/p>\n Pa gets to his feet. There\u2019s still a slight limp in his step as he crosses to the door and takes his coat off the hook.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going across to the jail,\u201d he tells us.\u00a0 \u201cRoy said to come back after supper.\u201d\u00a0 Pa looks grey and stooped.\u00a0 I want to go to him and put my arm around his shoulder, but somehow I can\u2019t.\u00a0 Hoss gets up too.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 I\u2019ll come too.\u00a0 Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n I heave myself out of my chair.\u00a0 I know I have to go, but I wonder how I\u2019ll meet Joe\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 I\u2019m the brother who betrayed him.\u00a0 If I hadn\u2019t spoken up, none of this might ever have happened.<\/p>\n When we reach the jail, the doctor is there again.\u00a0 Roy has called him back.\u00a0 Joe lies on the bunk like a pale, thin ghost.<\/p>\n Pa sinks down beside him.\u00a0 I almost wince to hear Joe trying to sound bright as he tells Pa, \u201cI\u2019m all right, Pa.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a headache.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa squeezes his hand.<\/p>\n Joe says, \u201cI didn\u2019t kill Jo, Pa.\u00a0 I know I didn\u2019t. I\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nods his head and speaks with difficulty.\u00a0 \u201cI know you didn\u2019t, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe looks past Pa and finds my face.\u00a0 There\u2019s a tight pain in my chest.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t hurt her Adam. I was with her that day but I didn\u2019t hurt her.\u201d<\/p>\n I cannot bear to look at my younger brother and know that my evidence has done this to him.\u00a0 I elbow my way past Roy and out onto the dark street.\u00a0 I can hear the sounds of laughter and music from the saloon.\u00a0 It feels unreal to me.\u00a0 I hunch against the wooden planks of the sheriff\u2019s office and the tears burn my eyelids as I try and force them back.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d\u00a0 Hoss\u2019s voice is soft in the darkness.\u00a0 I can\u2019t speak to him right now, but he seems to know that.\u00a0 He puts his hand on my shoulder.\u00a0 His presence gives me the strength I need to control my grief.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t do this, Hoss,\u201d I whisper once I\u2019m sure I can trust my voice.<\/p>\n \u201cYes you can,\u201d says my brother.\u00a0 \u201cYou have to, for Little Joe\u2019s sake.\u00a0 And Pa.\u201d He takes my arm and leads me back to the door.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, Adam. \u00a0There\u2019s nothin\u2019 else left to do now.\u201d<\/p>\n None of us sleeps that night; I\u2019m sure of that.\u00a0 I can think of nothing but Joe, lying in the jail, knowing he will hang at noon tomorrow, in front of the whole town.\u00a0 When the light starts to brighten the rectangles of the hotel windows, I get out of my bed and stand looking down on the deserted street below.\u00a0 Thankfully, from here I can\u2019t see the platform they\u2019ve built in the street outside the jail.<\/p>\n Gradually the city wakes up and people begin to move about, just as though it were an ordinary day.\u00a0 I watch a buggy drive down the street below me and my heart jumps when I see Danny McKenzie driving it, and his mother on the seat beside him.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen her since she gave her brief evidence in court.\u00a0 I\u2019ve wondered vaguely about her absence and put it down to her not being able to face it.\u00a0 But it looks like she\u2019s ready to watch my brother swing from a rope.\u00a0 Why else would she be riding into town today?\u00a0 Not too squeamish for that then.<\/p>\n Plenty of people will be hurrying to Virginia City today.\u00a0 Everyone loves a good hanging.\u00a0 And a Cartwright?\u00a0 There are enough people in this town who resent Pa\u2019s success, the wealth he\u2019s worked so hard to earn and keep.\u00a0 Plenty of people who will extract huge satisfaction from seeing a Cartwright swing.<\/p>\n We drink coffee in our room.\u00a0 We can\u2019t contemplate food.\u00a0 I try to think ahead to what will happen after Joe\u2019s hanged.\u00a0 Will we ever feel hungry again?\u00a0 Will we ever enjoy a meal?\u00a0 Will we laugh again?\u00a0 Enjoy the sunshine on our backs?\u00a0 I cannot imagine that we will ever return to our old lives after what has happened to Joe.<\/p>\n We talk only in short, strained sentences.\u00a0 There is nothing to say.\u00a0 I know we must go back to the jail.\u00a0 See Joe again.\u00a0 See him for the last time before he climbs the steps to the scaffold.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t had the courage yet to question Pa on whether we will be there, to watch it happen.\u00a0 To see Joe die.\u00a0 I know somehow that has to be Pa\u2019s decision.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go back to the jail.\u00a0 I love my brother, but I don\u2019t want to go back to the jail.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to go back to the jail because<\/em> I love my brother, and I don\u2019t want to see the fear in his eyes.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t want him to see the guilt in mine.<\/p>\n The coffee tastes bitter on my tongue.\u00a0 There\u2019s a knock on the door.\u00a0 It\u2019s the sheriff.\u00a0 He takes off his hat and looks around at us all with an odd expression on his face.\u00a0 For a fleeting instant, I think he\u2019s come to tell us that Joe\u2019s already dead, and I confuse myself with the sense of relief that wells up unexpectedly inside me.\u00a0 What is happening to me?\u00a0 But Roy shakes his head and rubs his chin.<\/p>\n \u201cJudge is reconvenin\u2019 the court.\u00a0 Hanging\u2019s postponed \u2019til tomorrow. Don\u2019t ask me why, Ben.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019s come up, that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n I see the hope dawn in Pa\u2019s face and I want to howl.\u00a0 Is this a reprieve or more torment?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 14<\/p>\n It’s just as hot and stuffy in this room as it was yesterday.\u00a0 There\u2019s been a mixed response to this unprecedented turn of events.\u00a0 Lots of curiosity, but just as much disgruntled muttering.\u00a0 Nobody seems to know why we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n The doctor sits next to Joe today.\u00a0 Paul has hold of Joe\u2019s arm.\u00a0 I wonder if he\u2019s propping him up.\u00a0 Joe has a glass of water in front of him.<\/p>\n The judge enters.\u00a0 We all rise then we all sit again, and everyone waits to hear what the judge will say.\u00a0 He clears his throat and looks around the courtroom.\u00a0 \u201cThis court has been reconvened to hear new evidence in this case.\u00a0 If this additional evidence warrants it, I have the power to overturn the sentence passed yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a brief disturbance at the back of the room and the sheriff and a deputy appear.\u00a0 Harriet McKenzie and her son are with them.\u00a0 They walk together to the front of the court.\u00a0 Danny holds his mother\u2019s arm.\u00a0 Harriet McKenzie is trembling visibly and her face is as white as Joe\u2019s.\u00a0 Harriet sits down in a chair and it is the boy who follows the sheriff to the judge\u2019s stand.<\/p>\n He\u2019s just a boy with untidy dark hair.\u00a0 He\u2019s reached that age when his arms and legs have outgrown the rest of his body and his voice can\u2019t decide whether to pitch itself as a man or a child.\u00a0 He looks skinny and scared, but he also looks determined.\u00a0 I have a brief recollection of him, white-faced and terrified the morning Zach McKenzie beat up my brother.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I should have come forward before,\u201d he says, in a wavering voice.\u00a0 \u201cMe and my Ma.\u00a0 The reason we didn\u2019t is that we didn\u2019t think Joe Cartwright would be found guilty, see.\u00a0 My step pa wouldn\u2019t let us come to the trial so we didn\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 He stops to take a breath and summon courage to go on.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not right to hang a man who\u2019s not guilty, and Joe didn\u2019t kill Josie.\u00a0 Ma and I knew she was meetin\u2019 him, but my step pa would have beaten her if he\u2019d\u2019ve found out so we didn\u2019t tell him.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t tell him ’til we heard Josie was dead, then he hit my ma ’til she told him where Josie had been.<\/p>\n \u201cMy sister kept a journal.\u00a0 It was supposed to be a secret. \u00a0She didn\u2019t think anyone knew, but I did.\u00a0 I saw her writing in it, and… and after she died…\u201d\u00a0 Danny\u2019s voice wavers, but he sticks out his chin and pushes on. \u201c…After she died, I went and found it. I brought it to the judge so he can see for himself.\u201d\u00a0 His voice founders in an audible gulp.\u00a0 Tears spring in his eyes and his shoulders shake.\u00a0 The judge leans forward and speaks to him gently.<\/p>\n \u201cSit down, boy.\u00a0 You spoke well.\u201d<\/p>\n As Danny, in tears, takes a seat next to his mother, the judge holds up a small fabric bound book.<\/p>\n This is the journal Danny brought to me, written in Josie\u2019s own hand.\u201d\u00a0 He places the book back down on his desk, but he keeps his hand pressed to it.\u00a0 \u201cI am not going to read the contents of this journal publicly, but I have read it, and it contains disturbing accounts of Josie\u2019s life with her stepfather.\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. McKenzie is now weeping too, as she holds her son close to her. I realize at that moment that Zach McKenzie is missing from the courtroom, for the first time since the start of the trial.<\/p>\n The judge is looking very sober.\u00a0 \u201cIf it were possible for a victim to return from the grave to give evidence with her own voice, then that is precisely what Josie McKenzie has done today.\u00a0 If indeed Josie did ride away unharmed from her meeting with Joe Cartwright, then logic dictates she must have returned to the creek, for whatever reason, and was there attacked by the only other person to have been present in that place on that evening: her stepfather. Zach McKenzie has already been detained as a precaution, in the interests of protecting the witnesses here in this court.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa sags beside me, whether from relief or exhaustion, I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 My own head is spinning.\u00a0 I place my hand on his arm.\u00a0 He lifts his head to me and there are tears in his eyes. \u00a0He reaches out and puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me towards him.\u00a0 \u201cThank God, Adam!\u201d he mutters as he hugs me, and his deep voice breaks as he says it.\u00a0 \u201cThank God!\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss, on the other side of me, has gripped my arm, just above the elbow.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he realizes it, but he is squeezing so hard, I will have a bruise for sure.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t care.\u00a0 Right now I wouldn\u2019t care if he broke my arm, my relief is so intense, so overwhelming.<\/p>\n The courtroom is emptying.\u00a0 It seems to have happened magically.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember the judge leaving. \u00a0Pa pulls back from me and looks round at Hoss and he actually laughs.\u00a0 The sound takes me completely by surprise.\u00a0 I can\u2019t remember when I last heard any of us laugh.\u00a0 I look across at Joe.\u00a0 He is still in his chair.\u00a0 Roy Coffee is talking to him.\u00a0 Or talking at him. Joe\u2019s eyes are hollow. His face looks… empty.\u00a0 I rise at the same moment as Pa and Hoss.\u00a0 Joe lifts his blank face to us as we approach.\u00a0 Pa grabs him by both shoulders and almost lifts him into the airs he embraces him.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s blank expression is replaced by a confused one.<\/p>\n Roy says, \u201cYou can take Little Joe home, Ben.\u00a0 The evidence against Zach McKenzie is overwhelming.\u00a0 Good enough for me, anyways.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss\u2019s face splits into a grin.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go an\u2019 get the rig an\u2019 bring it round,\u201d he tells Pa, wasting no more time.<\/p>\n I realize the courtroom hasn\u2019t emptied completely.\u00a0 Harriet and Danny McKenzie are still here.\u00a0 They have their arms around each other and I am not certain who is supporting whom.\u00a0 Harriet detaches herself from her son and crosses to join us.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe,\u201d she says.\u00a0 He turns to face her.\u00a0 She is trying to hold herself together, we can all see that. \u00a0\u201cLittle Joe, I\u2019m so sorry!\u00a0 I can never forgive myself for what I\u2019ve done to Josie, or to you.\u201d \u00a0Her voice trembles. \u201cYou know, it was the first time Josie smiled -\u2013 really smiled -\u2013 in a long time, the day she met up with you again.\u00a0 You made her happy again, Little Joe.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I let her go, even though I was scared he\u2019d find out.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe shakes his head very slowly.\u00a0 \u201cI should have stayed with her.\u00a0 I should have ridden back with her.\u00a0 I… I knew there was something wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 None of it\u2019s your fault, Little Joe.\u00a0 It\u2019s mine.\u00a0 I should have known.\u00a0 I should have…\u201d Harriet\u2019s face crumbles and she breaks down.\u00a0 Danny wraps his arm around her.<\/p>\n Pa puts out a hand and takes her by her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cHarriet, I\u2019m so sorry about Josie.\u00a0 About everything.\u00a0 But you have to take strength in the fact that Josie was a wonderful girl.\u00a0 Beautiful, strong-minded, tough.\u00a0 And you have a son to be proud of too.\u201d\u00a0 He looks at Danny.\u00a0 \u201cIt took courage to do what you did today, Danny.\u00a0 Josie would have been proud of you.\u00a0 And you saved Joe\u2019s life.\u201d\u00a0 He holds out his hand and the boy grasps it.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever you decide to do next,\u201d Pa says, \u201cI\u2019ll help in any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n We move on out into the morning sunshine.\u00a0 There are still crowds of people milling about outside the courthouse.\u00a0 I see a figure standing alone on the other side of the street and my heart does a small flip.\u00a0 Beth Winsley.\u00a0 She is looking across at me, a nervous smile on her face.\u00a0 I catch her eye and she starts to cross the street towards me. By my side, Joe staggers drunkenly and I catch hold of him in time to stop him stumbling. \u201cSteady,\u201d I say.<\/p>\n He looks exhausted.\u00a0 I wrap my arm around him to prop him up.\u00a0 Beth is drawing closer.\u00a0 She\u2019s wearing a blue and lilac print dress.\u00a0 Her blonde hair shines like the sunlight.\u00a0 She is as beautiful as ever.<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, little brother,\u201d I say to Joe as I turn my back on her and lead him away in the direction of the livery stable.\u00a0 I don\u2019t need to look back to know her eyes are following me.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to look back. \u00a0Instead I look at Joe.\u00a0 And I smile.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/em><\/p>\n *******<\/p>\n Thanks for reading.\u00a0 If you enjoyed this story, please consider leaving a review, however short.\u00a0 I’m always pleased to receive comments via PM too.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nWe were still worried too.\u00a0 Although his body showed signs of healing, Joe\u2019s mind was confused.\u00a0 Doctor Martin said that was only to be expected, but his reassurances didn\u2019t lessen our concerns.<\/p>\n