Judith French - Morgan's Woman

The witness leapt up, overturning his chair, and fled up the steps behind the judge's table. Pandemonium erupted as Sheriff Roy Walker and Ash both tore off after him.

The livery owner ducked into one of the rooms on the second floor. Seconds later, Tamsin heard glass breaking, then a gunshot.

The entire jury produced pistols and joined the chase. Women screamed, King cursed, and Sarah Steele laid her head on Henry Steele's chest and began to sob loudly. Judge Marlborough shouted for order, but no one paid him the slightest attention. Some of the onlookers pushed past the judge and ran upstairs; the rest spilled through the saloon doors into the street.

Dimitri pulled a derringer from his satchel, took Tamsin's arm, and escorted her through the confusion into a back office.

Buckson Marlborough followed, a Colt.45 in one hand and a bottle of good whiskey in the other. "Don't think your client's going to escape," he said sternly.

Dimitri motioned Tamsin to a chair and took two glasses from a shelf in the corner. "Your honor- Bucky -does it seem to you as though Mrs. MacGreggor is attempting an escape?"

The judge muttered and poured both glasses half full of the spirits. Dimitri clicked his glass to Marlborough's and took a sip.

Tamsin chewed at a fingernail and watched the door.

Two hours later, the trial resumed with a courtroom cleared of everyone but Ash, the sheriff, the accused, counsel, witnesses, the jury, and the presiding judge.

Sheriff Walker testified. "Edwards… I guess his name is really Edward Jackson, is under arrest and being held in my jail for Missouri. He was apprehended by Morgan, who's claimin' the two-hundred-dollar reward. I'm also plannin' on askin' him some hard questions on the death of his stableboy, Javier Chispero."

Marlborough glanced at King. "Do you have any further remarks about that witness?"

King shook his head. "No, sir. His true identity was unknown to any of us. Edwards-Jackson-has lived in Sweetwater for three years. We had no way of knowing-"

"Yes, yes, I understand that. Do you have anything else to say about Samuel Steele's murder?"

"No, sir. Prosecution rests."

Marlborough grunted. "I hope so. Dimitri?"

Tamsin's lawyer rose. His eyes were a little brighter, his stance somewhat rigid. Other than that, Tamsin thought, no one could have guessed he'd just downed five shot glasses of sipping whiskey, one less than the judge.

Dimitri gestured toward the empty witness chair. "I'd like to call Mrs. Steele, if it please the court."

The judge frowned. "Not much, it doesn't. Can we get this over with, son?"

A pale Sarah Steele took the stand.

"Mrs. Steele," Dimitri began. "I won't make this any more difficult than it already is for you."

She brought a handkerchief to her eyes and sniffed.

"Do you see my client?"

Sarah nodded.

"Is she a lady, would you say, Mrs. Steele?"

Sarah's reply was too low for Tamsin to understand.

"Could you repeat that, please?" Dimitri asked. "Is Mrs. MacGreggor a lady?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know." Dimitri put his hands behind his back and walked over to the jury. "I'm sure these gentlemen would have no difficulty in deciding that question."

"Objection," King complained.

"What's he doing?" Tamsin whispered to Ash. "He'll antagonize them."

"Shhh," Ash answered. "Wait and see what he's getting to."

"Well, then, Mrs. Steele, would you describe yourself as a lady?"

"Objection!"

"Yes, I would," Sarah replied. She was visibly trembling.

"Do you know what the penalty for murder is?" Dimitri asked quietly.

Sarah nodded.

"And it will not bother you to see this innocent woman hanged by the neck for-"

"No. No," Sarah cried. "I can't, Henry. I just can't. I'm sorry, but-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Henry Steele demanded, rising to his feet.

"Order! Order in this court!"

"Who did kill your husband?" Dimitri asked.

Sarah covered her face with her hands. "I did," she said. "I killed him."

"You don't know what you're saying!" a stunned Henry shouted.

"She did it?" Tamsin cried. "Sarah shot him?" Tamsin flung herself into Ash's arms.

"I knew all along you couldn't have done it," he teased.

"Did you?" She drew back and pummeled him halfheartedly in the chest. "If you did…" She tried to gain control of herself "If you did," she repeated, "you sure had a strange way of showing it."

"I'll have order in this court, or I'll lock you all up for contempt," Judge Marlborough said, slamming his Colt on the table.

Henry Steele's face whitened to chalk. "You killed my brother?" he rasped.

Dimitri laid a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Would you like to continue?" he asked. "Tell us exactly what happened."

"Shut up, Sarah!" Henry shouted. "Don't say-"

"Get him out of here," Marlborough ordered, pointing to Judge Steele. "Sheriff! Do your duty or find another job!"

Walker hustled a protesting Henry toward the swinging doors.

"Please," Sarah begged. "Let him stay. I want him to hear. I don't know if I can tell it again, and Henry must know why."

Walker glanced back at Marlborough. "He can stay," the presiding judge consented. "But one word out of you, Henry," he threatened, "one word, and I'll shoot you myself."

"Sam and I," Sarah began brokenly. "It was a mistake, from the first. My mistake. Sam was a hard man, very hard. He hit me whenever I…"

Dimitri took Sarah's hand. "You don't have to go on if you don't want to."

"No, if I don't tell it now, I never will," she insisted. "Henry and I… I love Henry, and I think he loves me." She looked at him, and he nodded.

"Sam found out about us, about the baby… Henry's baby. He said he was going to kill Henry. He said it, and he would have." She was speaking to Judge Steele, as if they were alone in the room, Tamsin thought.

Sarah inhaled deeply and went on. "I followed him to the barn that night." She glanced at Tamsin. "They were her horses. I'm sure of it. Mr. Edwards stole horses and sold them to Sam. They always had bills of sale. Sam made them himself. It was one of the reasons Sam's ranch was so successful. He always had good horses to sell in Denver."

"Go on," Dimitri urged.

"That night, I was leaving him. I'd sent a note to Henry, asking him to come for me. But somehow, Sam found out. He let the cowboy deliver the letter, but he was waiting in the barn for Henry to come. He said he was going to shoot Henry first, so I'd know he was dead. First Henry, and then me. I couldn't let him do that."

"So you followed your husband to the stable," Dimitri supplied.

"Yes, I did. I told him I was going to stop him the only way I knew how. I had to protect Henry and our baby, you see. Who else could do it?"

"Yes," Dimitri urged. "Then what?"

"He laughed. Sam laughed. He said I was… He called me a filthy name. He said I didn't have the guts to shoot him. And then he turned his back on me."

"And you shot him," Dimitri finished.

"Yes."

"You intended to kill him, or you intended to frighten him. Which was it?" Dimitri asked. "Think very carefully, Mrs. Steele. Remember back to that terrible night. You were in the stable on a dark, stormy night. You were upset, frightened. Are you sure you meant to pull the trigger? Or is there a possibility that it could have gone off accidentally?"

Sarah looked up into Dimitri's face. "It could have been an accident."

"There," the little lawyer declared. "There you have it, gentlemen." He whirled on the jury. "This frail woman, a woman already traumatized by beatings and the threat of being murdered. She goes to the barn and tries to frighten her husband by pointing a gun at him."

"And the weapon simply discharged." Marlborough slammed his Colt on the table. "Sheriff. Arrest this woman. She is to be delivered to my court in Denver for trial two weeks hence."