Into the Wild for His Bride (Preview)

Chapter One

“The whole town’s under attack! Help! Help! Come quick! Sheriff!”

Sheriff Caleb Hartman flew to his feet so quickly his chair fell backward onto the floor behind him. He didn’t pay it any mind, however, rushing to the door as he scrambled to put his pistol in its holster.

The frantic woman continued to shout in the street as she hurried to the door of his office. Caleb nearly collided with her as he ran through, catching her with a hand on each of her arms.

“Mrs. Jovich! Mrs. Jovich! What’s happened? What’s going on?”

He glanced around the street, seeing several other people who had stopped to look at Mrs. Jovich, but there didn’t seem to be any other disturbances taking place.

“The town is under attack, you say?” he asked as she sobbed in his arms.

“It has to be!” she insisted. “I heard gunshots coming from inside the mayor’s office, and what else could be happening save for the town being under attack? They come for your government, then they conquer the rest!”

“Jackson! Get out here, man!” Caleb shouted over his shoulder.

He was quickly understanding that the whole town wasn’t under attack, as the woman had originally claimed, but if she heard gunshots coming from the mayor’s office, there very well could have been a crime committed.

His deputy, Will Jackson, appeared in the doorway of the office. He had clearly heard the shouting, but he must not have heard her explanation.

“Didn’t you hear?” Mrs. Jovich demanded. “I said the town’s under attack! There’s gunshots in the mayor’s office, and once they come for him, they’ll come for us all.”

Deputy Jackson looked from the woman to Caleb and back again, and Caleb gave a nod toward the street behind him.

“I think it’s best if you and I go over to take a look. I don’t know what’s going on, but if there’s gunshots, there could be trouble.”

His deputy nodded and disappeared into the office for a moment before reappearing, clearly ready to take on anything that the two of them might find over at the mayor’s office.

“Mrs. Jovich, do you have to go back to your own office today?” Caleb asked her. “You’ve had quite a fright this afternoon. Perhaps it’s best if you simply go home?”

“Yes, I know it’s not wise to leave your job in the middle of your shift, but when you’ve been as upset as I am now, I just don’t think it’s safe for me to go back there. I’m sorry, Sheriff.”

“No need to apologize,” Caleb told her. “We’re on our way to see what’s going on, but I need to know you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said, putting her hand over her heart. “I’m just going to walk over to the mercantile, then I’ll be on my way home I think.”

“Very good,” Caleb said in the most reassuring tone he could.

At thirty-one years old, Caleb was the youngest sheriff the town of Melbrook had ever employed, and he took his role seriously. Though he spent a decent portion of his time checking up on situations that weren’t truly emergencies, he still treated every report with its due diligence.

Mrs. Jovich was someone Caleb dealt with frequently. Not because of any true trouble, but because she was the sort of person who saw potential trouble in a lot of things, and would often report things that weren’t necessary to report. Caleb had only once tried to tell her to calm down, and he had been met with such backlash from not only her, but her friends, too, that he chose not to do that again.

Deputy Jackson didn’t have the same patience for Mrs. Jovich that Caleb did, but as Caleb was the man in charge, his deputy didn’t ask too many questions.

The woman left, and Caleb gave Jackson a nod to follow him.

“What do you make of that?” his deputy asked as the two of them started for the mayor’s office.

“I don’t know,” Caleb said. They were walking fast, making a point of getting to their destination as quickly as they could.

“This isn’t the first time Mrs. Jovich has gotten herself worked into hysterics,” Caleb said. “You remember the last time someone wound up with a broken wagon wheel on the north side of town.”

“Then there was the time when she was upset over those kids who were jumping into the pond,” Deputy Jackson said, and Caleb nodded.

“But neither of us can in good conscience not give this the utmost attention,” Caleb said, maintaining their pace. “If something did happen, we have to be there to render aid.”

“I just hope it won’t turn into another one of Mrs. Jovich’s nonsense complaints,” Jackson muttered.

Caleb nodded though he didn’t respond. His deputy had a very real point. Through the years, Caleb had learned to take what the woman said with a grain of salt.

If he arrived and found it had all been a mistake, he could go about his day after simply giving the mayor his apology. However, if he ignored the warning and found out that something truly had happened, there was no excuse. He had taken the duties of sheriff, and that included looking into the reports he received from the others in town.

Even if those reports did happen to come from a woman who enjoyed drama.

The pair reached the section of the street where the mayor’s office was located. As Melbrook was a small town in the Montana territory, it didn’t boast a large government building like some of the larger towns had, so the mayor had been given his own office near the north end of town.

There were a few other buildings nearby, including the post office where Mrs. Jovich worked. However, the people walking up and down the street didn’t appear at all agitated or concerned.

“Excuse me, but we heard a report that there were gunshots here a short while ago,” Caleb asked one gentleman.

“I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “But I did just get into town.”

“Maybe try the baker? He’s across the street and might have heard something,” Deputy Jackson suggested, but Caleb shook his head.

“Might as well not waste time,” he said as they stopped in front of the mayor’s door. “It does seem odd that no one else is upset, and the door is locked, too.”

He’d tried the handle, and upon finding it secure, he’d knocked. Meanwhile, both he and his deputy looked over the exterior of the building to see if there was any indication of struggle or forced entry.

There were drapes over the windows, making it impossible for the men to look inside. All they could do was ask the people who passed by and hope someone would come answer the door.

No one had heard anything, it seemed, and after a few more minutes of waiting, Deputy Jackson turned to Caleb with an annoyed look on his face.

“Well, do we leave it and hope that you see the mayor soon?” he asked. “I know there’s not a lot of people about town this time of the morning, but it’s strange that no one heard the gunshots.”

“But someone did hear gunshots,” Caleb replied. “Mrs. Jovich.”

“Her being the only one?”

“While not the most likely scenario,” Caleb said, “it’s still possible. You said yourself there’s not a lot of people in town this early, and she didn’t specify how many shots she heard, either. If it was only a couple and they happened in rapid succession, then it seems reasonable she would be the only one around to hear them.”

“Do you really think that would have been enough for her to come to you with those things she was saying? The whole town being under attack?”

“I think at that point you have to consider who we were dealing with,” Caleb said with a small smile. “I understand your point, Deputy, but we have to take a serious look at this before we can say that nothing happened. So far, what we have is a woman who says she heard gunfire and no one answering the door. I think you know what that means.”

He gave his deputy a look, and Deputy Jackson nodded.

He raised his boot and kicked the door, hard. The solid wood rattled on its hinges, and both men paused to listen. When there was only silence inside the building, Caleb gave another nod to his deputy, who then repeated the motion.

That time, the door fell inside, halfway broken off its hinges. The bottom held, but the top broke, causing the door to tilt inward.

“We’ll have the carpenter come over and fix this when we’re done,” Caleb told Jackson. He turned his attention to the interior of the office, and, at first, nothing appeared amiss.

A short corridor led from the front door toward the inside of the office. A second doorway greeted them, but that door was ajar. The main part of the office was deeper inside the building, so he called out as the two of them headed inside.

Just on the other side of that doorway stood a desk. Harlan Redmond, a young man who was only a few years older than Caleb, worked as a clerk for the older mayor.

Harlan was an arrogant, narcissistic individual. He often spoke of how he was going to be the mayor of the town himself one day, though Caleb secretly hoped it would never happen. Caleb loved the little town and the people in it. He didn’t want to see someone as selfish and conceited as Harlan become the next mayor.

Mayor Langley, though also a man with an overly inflated sense of self, was far more bearable. He knew that the mayor had no intention of giving up his office if he could help it, and he hoped the people in town would continue to vote for Langley until someone more qualified than Harlan came along.

As the lawmen walked slowly toward the doorway leading into the main part of the office, Caleb called out to both men.

“Mayor Langley? Mr. Redmond? Is anyone in here?” he called out. Both he and his deputy had their weapons drawn, and they stopped to look at each other as they were met with mere silence.

“Mr. Redmond!” Caleb called louder. “Mayor Langley! It’s Sheriff Hartman and Deputy Jackson out here! We received a report of gunfire, and we’re here to see what’s going on. Is anyone else in here?”

They waited for another moment, but it quickly became evident that they were the only two in the building making any noise.

“Come on,” Caleb said.

He motioned with his hand, and together, the two ducked down slightly. There wasn’t any other sound in the building, but that didn’t mean they were safe. There could still be someone inside just waiting for them to come around the corner before they attacked.

They walked through the door, both with their guns in hand and at the ready in case they needed them. Caleb kept a keen awareness of the room around them as well, making sure nothing escaped his notice.

As soon as they rounded the corner, however, they both stopped dead in their tracks.

“What in blue blazes?” Deputy Jackson said, but Caleb was already on his knees next to the fallen mayor.

“Mayor Langley! Mayor Langley!” Caleb cried. “Jackson, go for the doctor!”

He flipped the mayor from his stomach to his back. Deputy Jackson was turning around just as Caleb moved the mayor, and it was at that moment his deputy stopped.

“Still want me to get the doctor?” his deputy asked.

Caleb hesitated, but only for a moment. “Yes,” he said. “We still need him to draw up an official report.”

Deputy Jackson gave a singular nod before he headed back up the corridor and out the front door. Caleb, for his own part, rose to his feet as he continued to look down at the mayor.

It was apparent as soon as the mayor was on his back that Mrs. Jovich had been telling the truth about the gunshots she’d heard. At the same time, it was clear there was no need to rush to fetch the doctor, either.

The mayor had been shot, that was obvious.

And he was dead.

Chapter Two

“I think it’s pretty clear what the main motive was, and what happened, but the big question now is who did it?” Caleb stated to his deputy once Will had returned with the doctor.

Doctor Dunlap walked into the mayor’s office with a grim look on his face, and he only gave a glance to the deceased mayor before sighing.

“They say the West is wild and unsettled, and I tell them it doesn’t have to be. But then something like this happens, and what do you say? There’s no need for this man to have suffered whatever he did. No reason at all,” the doctor said as he started tending to the body.

“It was clear when we arrived that he was already dead,” Caleb said. “But I didn’t want to touch him or move anything beyond putting him on his back before you had the chance to get a good look at him and the scene here.”

“I think it’s obvious to anyone who looks at this that it’s a robbery,” the doctor replied. “I know you need for me to make it official in my reports and such before you’re able to take such things to trial, but look around. There’s bloody money on the floor. There’s the safe right there. What else can you say besides this is a robbery gone wrong?”

“Who says it went wrong?” Deputy Jackson asked, and Caleb gave him a surprised look.

In response, the deputy shrugged. “I think by saying that this is a robbery gone wrong, it’s essentially saying that whoever did this didn’t want to kill the mayor. But I challenge that someone might very well have come in here with the full intention of killing the mayor, and the money they stole was just the added bonus.”

“Could be,” Caleb admitted. “There’s reasons why I don’t think this is purely an assassination, but I won’t rule anything out at this point.”

“Why don’t you think so?” Deputy Jackson asked.

“Look this over,” Caleb said as he held out his hands and indicated to the scene. “Look at the time of day in which it was done, too. If someone wanted to assassinate the mayor, they likely would have tried to get to him in the middle of the night when it was far less likely that they would have been discovered. As it is, the gunshots were heard by someone else in town. I don’t foresee that someone would have planned an assassination that way.”

“I suppose a knife would have been the better option if they were looking to do this and get away,” Deputy Jackson said as he looked over things. “So do you think that it was money motivated?”

“I think it’s more likely,” Caleb told him. “Though there’s still holes in that, too.”

“Being?”

“There’s bloody money on the ground.” He nodded to the floor. “If it were me, and I was after the money, I would want to make sure I had every dollar I could. Especially if I went to the point of taking a man’s life for it. I can’t see leaving these bloody bills lying around.”

“Unless you were pressed for time,” Deputy Jackson pointed out. “And if robbery was the motivation, then there could well have been a time problem.”

“What I think is that whoever did this was trying to steal the money, and the mayor walked in at the wrong time,” Caleb agreed. “I think that’s why he was shot in the face, which isn’t the normal way you see criminals shooting their victims. But if the criminal in question was surprised or pressed for time, then they might be sloppy.”

“As fascinating as all of that is,” the doctor broke in, “what are you going to do about it? There’s a killer on the loose, and all we have are a dead mayor and money lying about. Seems to me that you ought to be coming up with more clues than trying to figure out why they did what they did.”

“As it turns out,” Caleb replied, “I think the very first thing we need to do is pay a visit to Harlan Redmond. As soon as you’ve got our late mayor tended to and out of here, I’m going to close up the door, and we’ll go speak with the clerk. Jackson, I’m going to help the doctor with this if you would like to go get some nails from the mercantile so we can fix the door.”

Deputy Jackson left to run the new errand, and Caleb turned his attention to the doctor.

“Tell me what you need me to do, and let’s get this unpleasantness over with.”

The doctor gave orders, and Caleb did as he was told. He never enjoyed that side of his job, but there were a lot of times when he had to set aside his queasiness and tend to the task at hand.

Deputy Jackson arrived back at the office just as the doctor was leaving, and together he and Caleb secured the door once more.

“That’ll at least keep everyone out of there while we deal with the next steps,” he said.

“Do you know where this Harlan person lives?” Jackson asked. “I’ve seen him around town, but I’ve never paid enough attention to figure out where he goes after he’s here.”

Caleb laughed. His deputy apparently shared a similar opinion of the clerk as he himself did.

“Over that way, near the edge of town,” he said. “Come on. I know where.”

It wasn’t too far from the office, but still a bit of a walk for the two of them to reach the shanty where Harlan lived. Upon seeing it, Jackson snorted.

“I guess I know now why he doesn’t talk about his home. I don’t think this place is flashy enough to suit his exquisite taste.”

“I agree with you on that,” Caleb said. “This isn’t the place one lives when they’re out to impress.”

“Here’s hoping he’s home.” His deputy sighed as he knocked on the door.

They took a step back to give Harlan some space. Plenty of sheriffs tried to be intimidating when they came to someone’s house, but Caleb didn’t want to be that way. He wanted to get answers out of Harlan, and if he came on too strong, it wasn’t likely they would get anywhere. If Harlan got the idea that he needed Harlan’s help, then it would completely turn the tables and likely make the clerk uncooperative.

A few moments passed, and he started to wonder if Harlan was even home. He was about to knock again when the door suddenly opened and Harlan stepped directly outside.

“Gentlemen?” he said, looking from Caleb to his deputy and back again. “Can I help you?”

“Good morning, Mr. Redmond,” Caleb said with a cheerful smile. “Did you take the day off today?”

“Beg pardon?” Harlan asked, looking confused.

“Forgive me for being so bold, but it’s nine in the morning on a Wednesday,” Caleb said. “And with your hair wet and slicked back like that, it seems to me you must have just gotten out of the bath—unless you fell into the creek back there.”

The three shared an awkward laugh.

Caleb could sense that Harlan was uncomfortable, and that his own deputy wasn’t sure what they were doing. The mayor was dead, and Caleb was making jokes with the clerk.

However, Caleb knew exactly what he was doing, and it was incredibly suspicious that Harlan was even home. He ought to be down at the office with the mayor at this time on a Wednesday. It was certainly convenient that he would be freshly bathed, too.

If he had been there for the murder, what better way for him to hide the evidence than to go home and take a bath?

“But then, I suppose if you fell into the creek, your clothes wouldn’t be so dry,” Caleb said with a nod to the clean clothes the clerk wore.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but what’s all this about?” Harlan asked. “Sheriff? Do you make a habit of coming to people’s houses and commenting on their daily habits?”

“Only when there’s been a murder,” Caleb said.

Though it wasn’t blatant, Caleb saw the slight way Harlan reacted to his statement. It wasn’t one of shock, or even surprise. The man knew something. It was just a matter of getting the truth out of him.

Less than a second later, Harlan adopted a look of total shock. His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth then closed it again several times, as though he was trying to find the words to say and couldn’t.

“I’m—a—a murder? What are you talking about?” he asked, maintaining his look of disbelief.

“Yes, a murder,” Caleb said. “Mayor Langley was found dead in his office this morning. It’s why I ask if it’s common for you to be here and going about your day this time on a Wednesday morning. If you hadn’t, you might very well be dead right now, too.”

Caleb knew exactly what he was doing. He had come onto the other man strong, almost insinuating that he was the one to blame for the mayor’s death. But by skillfully changing his accusation at the last second, he could make Harlan think that his original fear had been for Harlan’s safety as well.

It was a gamble to attempt such a thing, but Caleb knew how Harlan operated, and if Harlan thought he was the smartest man in the room, then odds were that he would slip up in some way—and that was when he and his deputy would strike.

“My God,” Harlan said as he put his hand over his mouth. “You’re absolutely right.”

He took a step back, stumbling as he did and placing his hand on the doorframe of his shanty. “I wasn’t feeling myself this morning, which is why I didn’t go in to work. Mayor Langley knew about this last night, so he wouldn’t have been expecting me. But what happened? He must have gone into the office to find someone with sinister intentions waiting for him!”

“What can you tell us?” Caleb asked.

He didn’t for one moment believe the show that Harlan was putting on, but he felt he was on the right track. Clearly, his intention to make Harlan think he wasn’t a suspect had worked. Now it was just a matter of getting Harlan to slip up in just the right way to get what Caleb needed out of him.

That would be a little trickier, but he was heading in the right direction.

“Why don’t you come inside?” Harlan suggested, looking up and down the street. “I suppose if the killer is still on the loose, you don’t want him to see you talking to me.”

“Would he have reason to come after you?” Caleb asked. “I assumed the murder must have been politically motivated, but if you have any other information, please, by all means, share it.”

“I don’t,” Harlan said, perhaps a little too quickly. “In fact, you’re probably right. I’m sure the person who did this must have wanted to take office or something. But to shoot him in cold blood, that’s sick.”

Caleb glanced at Jackson, but Jackson was only nodding along with what Harlan was saying. Caleb wondered if his deputy had caught on to the fact that Harlan had said that the mayor was shot, yet neither he nor his deputy had mentioned how the mayor had been killed.

Convinced that he was on the right track, he stepped into the house behind Harlan. Jackson brought up the rear, looking around the place as he did. Caleb figured his deputy was looking for clues, though personally he was just hoping to see where the money was being kept.

“I know it’s early, gentlemen,” Harlan said, “but can I fix you a drink? I know my nerves are pretty shaken, and I need to steady them before I can think clearly.”

“Alright,” Caleb said. “One for each of us, please.”

“The whiskey is just in the back pantry, if you two will take a seat here at the table,” Harlan said as he motioned with his hand.

Caleb and Jackson moved to the table, and Jackson sat down as Harlan walked out of the room. Caleb wondered if Harlan was going to try to trick them and go retrieve his gun, but he soon relaxed. Harlan thought they believed the murder was political. If he thought that they were on his side, then he wouldn’t likely do something that would risk exposing himself.

With Caleb and Jackson both armed, it would be difficult for Harlan to come back into the room and try to shoot both of them without one of them being able to shoot him first. That would not only directly incriminate him, he could very well wind up dead in the process.

“I’m sorry, I’m not much of a drinker!” Harlan called out from the room he’d entered. “I’m just getting you the good stuff. I apologize about the wait.”

“No need to do anything fancy for us,” Caleb replied. “We’re only here to talk to you for a minute, then we have our work cut out for us back at the office.”

He and Jackson exchanged another look, and Jackson rolled his eyes. They both knew how much Harlan liked to put on a show, so it didn’t come as any surprise to know he was trying to find what he considered to be better whiskey than whatever he’d originally planned.

Caleb didn’t much care, however, as the extra two minutes had given him the chance to look around the small shanty.

The washtub was turned over and lying against one wall, though the water marks were clear in the room. If Harlan’s wet hair hadn’t been enough proof, there was no denying that the man had indeed bathed that day.

For how much work he would have had to do to fill that tub, bathing like that was a deliberate thing. Harlan was all about appearances. He wouldn’t have allowed himself to get to the point he’d need to bathe in the middle of the week like that.

Something wasn’t adding up.

Caleb had been a man of the law for most of his adult life. He’d started as a deputy himself when he was only eighteen, and he’d given the job his all until he’d earned the title of sheriff himself. He felt confident in his ability to read people and accurately predict how they would handle various situations.

He took the moment Harlan was out of the room to quickly look around, and that was when his eyes fell on something unusual.

The floorboards in the shanty were old and worn, except for two boards that stood out. They were considerably newer than the rest of the floor, and they were evidently normally covered by a rug thrown over the top.

The way the rug was bunched up at one end seemed to indicate that it had been shoved against the baseboards of the cupboards, which seemed a bit odd.

He knew he was going out on a limb, but Caleb felt he could explain to Harlan why he was looking under the rug. If he was right, it would give them the evidence they needed to make the arrest.

He kicked back the rug with his foot, revealing more of the two floorboards in question. With the rug pushed back, it was even more obvious that those two weren’t part of the original flooring. More than that, they appeared loose.

Caleb grabbed one and pulled it up, then flipped over the other before looking up at Jackson. His deputy was leaning forward, watching what Caleb was doing. As soon as they made eye contact, both men knew they were going to be making the arrest that day.

There was a box in the space under the floorboards, but Caleb didn’t need to even open it to know what it contained.

Beside the box was a bundle of bloody clothing, with several bloody bills lying about.

It took only a second for him to see that Harlan had stolen the money from the mayor, and after he’d come home, he’d gotten rid of his bloody clothing and the money before bathing. He likely had planned on getting rid of the rest of the evidence, but by the time he had bathed and changed his clothes, Caleb and Jackson were on his doorstep.

Caleb was so enraptured with the discovery that he’d stopped listening to what Harlan was saying.

As Harlan stepped back into the main part of the home, he stopped walking and talking at the same time. He looked at the floorboards and the money in Caleb’s hand, then he looked at Caleb and Deputy Jackson directly.

He had a bottle of whiskey in his hand, and he immediately threw it at Caleb as hard as he could.

Caleb ducked, moving out of the way in the nick of time. The heavy bottle sailed past his head and smashed into the cupboards behind him, sending whiskey and shards of glass in all directions.

Caleb was already scrambling to his feet, however, dashing for the door that Harlan had just run through.

Harlan was making a run for it, and Caleb and Jackson had to give it their all. The evidence all pointed to Harlan Redmond being their man. He was the murderer.

They couldn’t let him escape.