by Natalie Dean
She felt a sudden pang of guilt at the thought, realizing that she hadn’t yet told him the truth about her past. Though she desperately wanted to keep it under wraps, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she ought to tell him. She knew she would be terribly upset if she came to find out that he had hidden something of such importance from her, but at the same time, she didn’t know how to tell him.
Barbara hurried through the dishes and gathered her shawl, wrapping it around her shoulders. She wanted to go see this theater that Jake had told her about, and though she knew that there wouldn’t be anyone there at the moment, she wanted to see the stage for herself. It had been so long since she had seen a stage, and she was desperate to see one once more.
There was something about the theater that simply beckoned to her. It was so enchanting that she couldn’t help but feel drawn to it, wondering who was going to put on a show next, wondering what story it was that they wanted to share with the audience.
As she walked up the dusty street, she couldn’t help but smile to herself. It had been so long since she had been walking to a theater, she had forgotten the anticipation of the trip. Though she knew she must keep her expectations low, she was eager to see what the western world had to offer the artistic one.
She walked the length of the main street then rounded the corner where Jake had told her the theater was, and sure enough, there was a small door leading into the side of a building. Barbara tried it and was delighted to find that it wasn’t locked. She knew that this was a quiet town, and it was unlikely anyone would harm the theater if the door were to remain open.
The room was small, much smaller than anything she would think suitable for a theater, but sure enough, there was a stage in the corner of the room, complete with homemade curtains reaching up to the ceiling. She walked into the room, closing her eyes and imagining the theater back home.
“Excuse me, Miss? But I don’t think you are supposed to be in here,” a voice said from the doorway, causing her to turn with a start.
“I apologize, my husband told me that there was a stage here in town, knowing that I absolutely love the theater, and I wanted to see it for myself,” she explained. The gentleman who stood at the doorway looked at her for a moment, then he smiled.
“You must not be from around here?” he asked as he walked into the room, and she shook her head.
“I’m from Boston, actually, just moved out this way a month ago. I’ve missed the theater though,” she turned and looked at the wooden stage, running her hand along the frame.
“That’s interesting because I am from Boston as well! I’ve only been out here for about a week, however. Did you hear about that bloke that was murdered during a show?” Her face fell at his question, and he looked at her closely.
“You might say that he and I were rather close, actually,” Barbara admitted at last. The man watched her with keen interest. He leaned back against the stage and crossed his arms.
“Is that so? But you said you were married, didn’t you? I hear that the man’s wife was the prime suspect in the case, and she just up and vanished.”
Barbara could feel the man watching her intently as he spoke, and she continued to feel more and more uncomfortable during the conversation. Fighting for composure, she looked at the man directly in the eyes.
“That is indeed unfortunate. My heart goes out to her. Anyway, I suppose I better get out of here. Sorry to barge in without permission,” she gave the man a cheerful smile and hurried toward the door. He stopped her before she walked through, however, and she turned and looked at him with raised eyebrows.
“You should come to the show tonight – it’s going to be the debut and the more people we can get to come, the better. Bring your husband!” He winked at her, and she smiled.
“I would love to,” she said.
Chapter 9 – The Attack
“Come along then! We’re going to be late!” Barbara was leaning close to the mirror, adjusting her hair, and fussing over her dress. She had brought with her but one of her nice dresses, and she now looked at herself from all angles, making sure each part of it was perfectly in place. It was one of Mark’s favorites, and she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt as she tightened the last bow.
It wasn’t the dress she was wearing the night he had been killed. She had gotten rid of that dress as soon as she possibly could. This gown was a dark purple with white lace around the throat and cuffs. When she was finally satisfied, she hurried over to the door, waiting for Jake to finish getting ready.
She could hear Jake in the back of the house, gathering his things and making himself look presentable as well. She thought he looked good no matter what he was wearing, and she was used to Mark always being ready to go whenever he was in the mood to go somewhere. It was odd to her that he had to take the time to get ready.
When he finally did appear, she found he took her breath away. Dressed in a dark suit with a tie in a perfect bow at his throat, he looked as dashing to her as any of the businessmen who walked the streets of Boston.
“My, but don’t you look handsome!” she breathed. He smiled and held out his hand to her. Putting her arm in the crook of his elbow, she allowed him to guide her through the door and onto the evening street. The light was pink as the sun was beginning to set, and Barbara was excited to reach the theater. Though it was only a short distance from the house, she felt like it was taking them an eternity to arrive.
Then, there was a line at the door – another thing she wasn’t used to facing. But, she bit her tongue and didn’t say a word as she patiently waited until they were allowed to enter. When at last it came their turn, she gave the ticket man a warm smile as Jake paid for the two of them. Then, she had to once again bite her tongue as they made their way through the sea of people to a set of open seats.
“There aren’t any assigned seats?” she asked as they drew nearer to a pair of vacant chairs.
“No, I don’t think they figure this is a large enough place for something such as that!” He chuckled as he held her chair for her, then slid into the seat beside her. Though there was no balcony to be seated on, Barbara still wished she could get up higher to watch the play. She missed her opera glasses and her gloves, and she missed being away from the stuffiness of the crowds.
But, she knew that she had no choice, and she was going to have to make do with how she was going to attend the theater from now on. After all, it was better than no theater at all.
Once the show began, Barbara had to admit that she was more impressed with the acting than she thought she was going to be. Though she couldn’t spot that strange man she had spoken with that morning, she did see several faces that she recognized from around the small town. The acting certainly wasn’t up to the same standard as she was used to, but she found it entertaining and knew that if this were the only theater she could attend, she would be okay with that.
The curtains closed, and the crowd cheered once more, each person leaning in and speaking to those around them, discussing how the play had gone so far and what they thought was going to happen next. Jake leaned in and instead of whispering to her, he gave her a light kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush.
“Back home, talking was considered quite rude during the show,” she whispered, and he smiled, patting her on the shoulder. The speaker for the show stepped out into the center of the stage and smiled. He then waived his hand in an illustrious manner and took a bow, drawing more cheers from the crowd.
“Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed, but for the drama of this next scene, we are going to shut off all the lights. It will only be for a moment, and you will see why once they are turned back on!” the crowd cheered and he took another bow, then withdrew from the stage.
Barbara could feel her heart start to pound. There was only one play that she was aware of that required the lights to be shut down, and it seemed so out of place for this one. She reached around frantically, grabbing Jake’s hand, and holding it tightly.<
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“What’s wrong?” he whispered, but she was breathing so hard she couldn’t reply. Part of her feared she was going to faint, another part of her wanted to get up and run out of the theater as fast as she could go. It was pure dark – as dark as it had been when her husband had been murdered. Barbara could feel tears in her eyes, and she was tense. Jake once again asked her what was wrong, when she suddenly felt someone grab her hair.
With a scream, she lurched to the side, landing nearly on top of Jake.
“Turn on the lights! Someone turn on the lights!” Jake shouted. There was confusion in the building, but one by one the lights came back on. Barbara scanned the crowd, looking everywhere for one man.
And that’s when she saw him – the man she had spoken with that morning running out the door.
“Stop him!” she screamed, pointing toward the door. But, when no one moved, she got up and began running for the door herself, ignoring the cries of Jake for her to stop and come back.
Barbara grabbed the knees of her skirts and lifted them as high as she dared, making it much easier for her to run. She could see the man running in front of her, fast, but not much faster than herself.
“I’ve got you now, you monster! Lord, give me wings to fly!” she gasped to herself as she picked up the pace as much as she could.
Chapter 10 – The Truth Comes Out
“Help! Sheriff! Help!” Barbara shouted as she continued to pursue the man. She could hear the sound of running from behind her, and within moments Jake had caught up to her. He tried to grab her arm, but she pulled away, pointing to the man who was quickly disappearing.
“We have to catch him! He just tried to murder me!” she cried, tears running down her cheeks. Jake looked at her as though she had lost her mind, and he shook his head.
What are you talking about? It was crowded in there – I don’t think anyone was trying to harm you. Where is this coming from?” The look he had on his face only made her all the more upset, and she wanted nothing more than to push him away.
“That man murdered my husband!” she shouted, and the people who were on the street stopped and looked at them. At the same moment, a sheriff came running up to them, looking at them both with harshness in his eyes.
“I’m going to have to ask you folks to take this indoors. We can’t have this on the street, you know that, Jake.” He shook his head as he looked at Jake, and Jake held up his hand.
“Wait a minute, there, Carl – she just said something I think you will find of great interest. What did you say?” He looked at her with the same expression the sheriff had had on his face just minutes before, and she felt her cheeks flush red. She hadn’t meant to say it so loud, nor with such passion, but she had been caught up in the heat of the moment, and she couldn’t help herself.
“That man – the tall, skinny man that I was chasing just tried to murder me, and he is the man I do believe is responsible for murdering my husband!” She put her hands up to her face, trying to fight back the sobs she felt welling up in her throat. Both of the men looked at her incredulously, but Jake was the first to speak.
“What are you talking about? You never mentioned that you had been married before – nor that you had someone who was trying to kill you.” He raised his eyebrows, and she looked at him with anger in her eyes.
“I can’t say that it was a pleasant topic for me to bring up, and I didn’t know if I was in any danger or not, which is why I left Boston to begin with.” She put her hands on her hips when the sheriff suddenly spoke up.
“Wait a minute, you’re from Boston? Now it’s all beginning to make sense. Ma’am, I am afraid I am going to have to put you under arrest, on a charge of murder.” Sheriff Carl gently put his hand on her arm, but she tried to pull away. Jake, too, stepped in.
“What are you talking about?” he snapped, and the sheriff sighed.
“This woman was being investigated for the murder of her husband. Claims he was murdered during a play they were attending, but there was no one in the box but her and him. The murder weapon was found in the box, and all evidence points to her being the one doing it. When she was running out of excuses, she did the only thing guilty people do – she ran.” Jake looked at Barbara with disbelief in his eyes, and she couldn’t bear to hold his eye contact.
“It’s not true, Jake. Yes, my husband was murdered, but I am not the one who did it! I swear, that man that you saw me chasing – he followed me here! He tried to kill me, too – right there in the theater! You have to believe me!” She had tears running down her cheeks, but Jake knew that there was nothing he could do.
“I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of there, don’t you worry! I’ll come for you first thing in the morning, and you better spend some time thinking in that cell tonight because Barbara, if you want me to help you, you are going to have to tell me everything.” Jake stood for another moment, clearly torn. It was evident that he didn’t want to leave his wife with the sheriff, but he knew that he couldn’t argue with the law until it went to trial.
She was going to have to go with him to jail, and only hope that she had enough evidence on her side to prove to him that she had nothing to do with the death of her husband.
“Now, I want you to tell me everything,” Jake said as he sat down outside the cell. Barbara felt humiliated. She couldn’t believe she found herself in this position – on one side of the bars while her husband was on the other, while her husband was trying to figure out what happened to her first husband. She had been praying ever since she arrived, asking God to guide him to evidence to prove her innocence.
“I want to be honest with you, but you said yourself that it is nearly impossible to know who is telling the truth when it comes to things like this,” she said, trying to remain calm.
“I know, but we did find a weapon at the stage last night, and that man – Bartholomew Jones is his name – has also been arrested. He’s being held in a separate room here, so you didn’t have to see him. He’s got a pretty convincing story as to why you murdered your husband and why you are trying to blame him, now I want to know your version of what happened.” Jake was speaking with a gentle tone, though it was impossible to mask the gravity of the situation. Barbara shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts.
She was immensely relieved that they had arrested the man, as well as the fact that they had found the weapon back at the theater. But, she didn’t know how the man was so good at turning the blame off of himself and pushing it onto her, nor how he was able to give them a story that was convincing enough that her own husband would dare to think that it may be true.
With a sigh, she began.
“I don’t know what this man wants with me, or why he did what he did to my husband. Mark Hill was a very kind man, one that every woman would be thrilled to marry. We kept to ourselves, we gave to the poor, we went to functions with the rest of the town. As far as I knew, Mark had no enemies.” She stopped and wiped her eyes. Jake offered her a kerchief, which she took and thanked him for.
After a few moments, she continued.
“That night, we went to see one of my favorite plays. Just like last night, there was a part of the play when the room was to go completely dark. I knew this, we’d been going for several years and had seen the play multiple times. Then, I knew something was wrong with Mark. I could feel it. I heard footsteps. When the light came back on, I saw what had happened.” She let the tears run down her cheeks, and Jake stopped writing.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I screamed – I screamed like I did tonight. I screamed for help. But, they found the weapon under my chair. I admit, I don’t know why things added up the way that they did, I know that it looks suspicious, but I did not murder my own husband, and I did not try to frame that man for doing so, either!” She had passion in her voice as she spoke, and Jake closed his tablet.
“I think that’s all I need right now,” he said as he turned to go. Barbara stopped him.
“That’s up to the jury to decide, but you can bet you have the best of the best on your side.”
Chapter 11 – The Trial
Barbara walked nervously into the room and sat down. There were quite a few people gathered in the courtroom despite its small size, and Barbara wondered if the entire town had shown up to watch. A jury had been selected and was now gathering, and the man she had seen a few days prior was now seated at the other side of the room.
To her surprise, the sheriff from Boston was also present, along with a few of his deputies. The judge stepped to the front of the room, and before Barbara had time to think, it began.
“Sheriff Baldwin, I know that you have been working on this case for some time now and that your client, Mr. Hanks, has been a pivotal step in finding Mrs. Hill out here in Wyoming.” The judge addressed the other sheriff first.
“That’s right, Your Honor. I told her that I needed her to stay in town until we were through with the investigation, and as you can see, she is a long way from New York City.” Sheriff Baldwin gave a slight smirk across the room, and Barbara intentionally looked the other way.
“Indeed. And you, Mr. Cowell, you believe that your client – who also happens to be your wife – is innocent.”
“Yes, I do, Your Honor,” Jake answered, and Barbara felt her heart skip a beat. He put a reassuring hand over hers and sat down in the chair next to her.
“They are going to be allowed to go first since they are the ones who are pushing the case. Then, it’s going to be our turn to speak. I want you to just sit down and keep silent until I tell you to talk. No matter what they say, no matter what you hear, you have to promise me you are going to do that, okay?” He looked at her with the most serious look in his eyes that she had ever seen. She nodded.