Lynna Banning - The Lone Sheriff

“What a pretty little town this is.” She gestured across the street. “Just look at all those lovely green trees.”

He grunted. She might talk a lot, but again he noted her gaze was always moving, taking in everything from the street to the boardwalk to the storefronts.

Jericho only half listened to her chatter. “...in Philadelphia, where I was raised...and then Papa...I guess you could say that I ended up in a fancy cage with a rich, very dull banker. Just when I couldn’t stand it one more minute, he caught pneumonia on a sleigh ride and made me a widow.”

She paused for breath. “My goodness, what smells so sweet?”

“Honeysuckle. Along the boardinghouse fence.” He gestured with his sling arm, then winced.

“Do you think the owner would mind if I picked some for my room? What heaven, to smell that delicious fragrance all night long.”

“The owner is Mrs. Sarah Rose. Lost her husband at Antietam. She won’t mind, she picks it herself when somebody’s ailing or havin’ a baby.”

She stepped off the boardwalk and darted across the street to the white picket fence. From somewhere she pulled out a tiny pair of scissors. After a few delicate snips, she returned to his side clutching a straggly bouquet in her gloved hand.

“Oh, look, there’s the mercantile. I must visit the mercantile, and I must find a dressmaker, as well.”

Jericho groaned. A woman could spend hours in the mercantile choosing flower seeds or fabric or...whatever women bought. He followed the lady detective inside, where the proprietor, Carl Ness, slouched behind the counter reading a newspaper. At the sight of Maddie, he straightened up, ramrod stiff.

Jericho didn’t like the way Carl was staring at her, but Maddie seemed unperturbed. Her gaze scanned each shelf.

“Have you any scented bath soap?”

Carl sent Jericho a puzzled look. “What kinda scent?”

“This is Mrs. O’Donnell, Carl. She’s my...”

Maddie turned her attention to the proprietor. “Gardenia is my favorite. Have you any gardenia-scented soap?”

“Nope.”

“What about carnation?”

“Nope.”

She bit her lip. “Heliotrope? Rose?”

“All I got is lavender, ma’am. Take it or leave it.”

“I will take half a dozen cakes. Large ones.”

Jericho bit back a laugh. Half a dozen! She’d be the cleanest person in Smoke River.

Carl wrapped up her purchase in brown paper and tied it with string. “Anything else?”

The answer was immediate, and for a moment Jericho thought he hadn’t heard right.

“Yes. Three boxes of thirty-two-caliber cartridges.”

Carl stared at her, then turned his widened eyes on Jericho. “That all right with you, Sheriff?”

Hell, no, it wasn’t all right. Damned fool woman, what did she think she’d do with bullets, hold up the hold-up gang?

Maddie didn’t wait for his answer. “Double-wrap them, please. So they won’t get wet.”

“Wet?” Jericho exploded. “You gonna go swimming on your way back to Chicago, cousin?”

“Of course not. But it might rain while I—”

“Hold it!” Jericho had had enough for one night. “We’re goin’ back to the hotel. Now.”

“But what about the dressmaker?”

“What about her? Name’s Verena Forester and she opens up at eight o’clock every morning. Your train back to Chicago leaves at noon.”

Jericho smiled. Maddie practically spit sparks when she was mad. Before he knew it, she’d latched on to his good arm and drawn him off to one side.

“I absolutely must see the dressmaker,” she whispered. “Tonight, if possible. I am, well...out of...some things.”

“Huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “I...um, I have no extrasmall clothes,” she intoned. She waited a beat. “You know, camisoles and bloomers and...things.”

He stonewalled.

“Lingerie,” she muttered.

He enjoyed baiting her. He also enjoyed imagining what her lingerie looked like. Silky, with lace? “How come you’ve got no underthings?” he asked blandly.

“My valise was lost when I changed trains in St. Louis. All I have with me is a very small travel case, and it carries only the minimum garments. So you see—”

“Tough.”

“Really, Sher—Cousin Jericho,” she murmured. “What would Aunt Bessie say about that?”

“Bad luck, I guess. Who’s Aunt Bessie?”

“My mother.”

Jericho almost laughed out loud. “Aunt Bessie would probably say ‘plan ahead.’” He looked up at the ceiling and noted the avid interest of the mercantile owner.

“Come on, let’s vamoose.” He pulled her toward the door.

“Hey,” Carl yelled. “What about my money?”

“Put it on my tab, Carl. Cousin Maddie always pays me back.”

Outside the heat had diminished, though the night air was still warm and soft. Jericho drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, looking up at the stars. Hell, he’d like a drink. Talking Mrs. O’Donnell out of something was like pushing a pig into a pillowcase. She was nosy and outspoken and attention-getting, and he’d be glad when she was gone.

In silence they started back to the hotel. Up ahead, Jericho spotted Lefty Dorran in the alley between the mercantile and the barber shop. Lefty was a big overgrown almost-man, and Jericho had arrested him twice this summer for assault. He caught the glint of metal and instinctively put Maddie on the other side of him.

Too late. Lefty had a sharp eye for a pretty woman, and even the fact that she was walking with the sheriff didn’t deter him. The kid burst out of the alley onto the sidewalk and sidled up to her.

Jericho tried to block him with his left shoulder, but Maddie stepped to one side and then faced the towering hulk with a perfectly serene expression on her face.

Lefty kept coming. Maddie neatly stepped into his path, pivoted on one foot and swept her other leg around behind him. Then she hooked the toe of her shoe around the back of his knees. The next thing Jericho saw was Lefty’s hulking body sprawled facedown in the street.

Maddie dusted off her white gloves and smiled up at him. “I told you I would prove you needed me. You owe me one breakfast. Eight o’clock sharp.”

All the way back to the hotel and up the stairs to Room 14, Jericho thought over what she had just done. Didn’t seem possible that a slim woman like Maddie had laid that big galoot out flat. Some kind of Oriental trick, maybe. Lord, the woman was downright dangerous.

At her hotel room door she slipped the key into the lock and turned to face him, her soft-looking mouth quirked up in a smile.

“It has been a most interesting evening, Sheriff. I would not have missed it for anything.”

“Sure wish I could say the same, ma’am.”

“Good night, Cousin Jericho. Do get some rest. You are looking quite peaked.”

Chapter Three

“Sheriff? Sheriff, wake up!”

Something joggled Jericho’s shoulder. “Go ’way,” he mumbled.

“Can’t, Sheriff. You gotta wake up.”

Jericho cracked open one eyelid to see his deputy standing over him. The kid better have a good reason for breaking into a damn good dream.

“Why do I?”

“Sorry, Sheriff. Maybe you forgot you’re s’posed to meet that detective lady for breakfast?”

Jericho shot upright and instantly regretted it. His temples pounded and he snapped his lids closed against the bright light. “You sure?”

“Eight o’clock, Sheriff. Least that’s what you said last night. But that was before—”

“Yeah? Before what?” The kid’s face seemed kinda out of focus.

Sandy studied his boots. “Uh, before you polished off that bottle of whiskey.”

Jupiter, now he remembered. Sort of. His head throbbed and his mouth felt as dry as an empty well. And his stomach—