He glanced in the alley and observed as the undertaker oversaw moving the body while Dugan watched and Seth kept the crowd back.
Tully hurried down the alley and cut across a few yards to the lumberyard. With darkness falling, it was easy to reach Ian and Maggie’s home unseen. Not that he felt he was doing anything wrong, but he didn’t want to set a precedent for future arrests. He certainly wouldn’t have allowed any of his male suspects to go home and take a bath before he locked them up.
Nonetheless, it would be hard enough to keep Brianna in jail, so he wanted to make things as easy for her as possible.
He tapped on the back door and opened it then stepped inside. Ian poured tea into a cup on the counter and held up the pot in his hand. “Want a cup?” he asked.
“Sure,” Tully said, setting the clothes he’d brought on the counter.
Ian poured a cup of tea for Tully and set it in front of him then motioned to the sugar bowl and pitcher of cream on the kitchen table. “Help yourself,” he said, before he dashed out of the room with Brianna’s clothes.
Gone only a moment, he returned and added sugar to a cup of tea, taking a seat beside Tully at the table. “Maggie said they’ll be down soon. Brianna hasn’t said a word. What do you think happened?”
“I think someone wanted Davis dead and decided to make it look like Brianna did it. It seems awfully strange he was shot in the chest the same day she purchased that gun.”
“Who would do such a thing?” Ian asked, sitting forward in his chair. “What kind of person would pin the blame on an innocent woman?”
“A spineless coward or a deranged monster.” Tully had seen far too many of both during his years as a lawman. He drank his tea and glanced up when Maggie walked in with Brianna.
Tully stood and waited for the two women to take a seat at the table. Ian poured tea for them both and carried the cups over to the table.
Maggie gave hers a liberal spoon of sugar, but Brianna picked hers up and mindlessly sipped the hot brew. She returned the cup to the saucer and looked at Tully. “I didn’t kill Davis.”
Tully reached across the table and patted her hand. “I know that, Brianna, but it was your gun that killed him and you were the one in the alley with his blood all over your hands. The evidence looks bad and no matter what I want to do, I have to take you in.”
“But I didn’t kill him. Even if I wished he’d disappear, I wouldn’t kill him.” Brianna lifted her chin, a hint of defiance returning as she sat a little straighter.
“We’ll figure out who did, but I have to get you back to the jail.” Tully took another swig of his tea and stood.
Brianna sighed and rose to her feet, holding out her wrists. “Just cuff me and get it over with.”
Tully took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “That won’t be necessary, but I do need to get you to the jail.” He looked to Maggie and Ian. “Thank you for your help.”
“It’s the least we could do,” Maggie said, giving both Brianna and Tully hugs. “If there is anything at all we can do to help, please ask.”
“Do you think Brianna could borrow a blanket and a pillow? She won’t want to use what we’ve got in the jail.”
“We’ll gather some things and be there soon,” Ian said, giving Brianna a kind smile.
“Thank you,” she said, following Tully out the door and across the meadow.
He kept to the shadows and guided her to the back of the jail. After waiting for a wagon to pass, he hurried her around the side of the building and inside his office.
He’d just locked her in a cell when Dugan returned.
“Where’s Seth?” Tully asked as Dugan closed the office door behind him.
“There’s still a crowd lingering near the alley, so he stayed to keep people out of it. I figured you’d want to take a look at the area in the morning, in the daylight,” Dugan said, grabbing a box of cartridges from the desk drawer and shoving it in his pocket.
“Are you planning on a shoot-out?” Tully gave him a speculative glance.
“Nope, but I don’t plan to find myself in need of more and not have them handy, especially with a bunch of men drinking at the saloon down the street. I told Seth I’d be right back, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t need anything.” Dugan looked around the doorway to the jail cells where Brianna stood in numbed silence in the first cell. The deputy dropped his voice and moved closer to Tully. “Is she gonna be okay, boss?”
“Eventually. We need to figure out who did this, and I want to keep it quiet that we’re searching. For now, you and Seth get the word out that it was her gun and she was found with the body.”
Dugan gave him a knowing look. “So whoever did it thinks we aren’t looking for him. Is that the idea?”
Tully nodded. “I knew you were smarter than you look.” He thumped the deputy on the back as the younger man opened the door. “You two be careful out there and if you need me, send someone to get me.”
“Will do.” Dugan disappeared down the street.
Tully had barely closed the door when Maggie and Ian arrived.
“Open her cell, Tully,” Maggie ordered as she and Ian stood with full arms. “And for goodness sakes, take that filthy mattress out of there. Do you want something nasty to crawl on her?”
“I’ll have you know I keep these cells spotless and vermin free.”
Ian chuckled. “At least when they aren’t occupied.”
Tully unlocked the cell and opened the door. He pulled out the mattress and tossed it in one of the other cells.
Maggie examined the cot frame to make sure it was free of bugs before Ian plopped a feather mattress on it. She covered the mattress with a blanket, added a fluffy pillow, and left a second blanket at the foot of the bed. “That should at least get you through the night, Brianna. I’ll bring more things in the morning. If there is anything you need, I’ll get it for you.”
“I don’t know what I ever did to deserve such wonderful friends.” Brianna sniffled and hugged Maggie. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Try not to fret. Tully will make everything right.” Maggie patted her shoulder then she and Ian left.
Every single part of Tully wanted to pull Brianna into his arms and offer her comfort. He wanted to shield her from whatever might come, protect her from what she’d already experienced.
Instead, he shut the cell door. If he gave in to his need to hold her, to touch her, he’d never be able to let her go.
Right now, what she needed was a sheriff who found the real murderer, not a shoulder to cry on. Their friends could provide that.
“Try to get some sleep, Brianna.”
“I don’t think I can.” She grasped the bars of the cell door in her hands, as if she needed something sturdy to keep her upright. “If I close my eyes, I see Davis.”
“Do you feel up to talking about what happened?” Tully asked.
At her nod, he opened the cell door again and took her hand, leading her to one of the chairs in front of his desk.
For her safety, he locked the exterior door then took a seat at his desk and picked up a pencil and a sheaf of paper.
“Let’s start at the beginning. How do you know B. Davis Gordon?”
“My father and his father were friends. His father owns the bank where we do business. Davis is the vice president of the bank and extended Father the loan that I must pay back soon.” Brianna clasped her hands in her lap, chilled even though the air was still warm from the heat of the day. “I’ve known Davis my whole life.”
Tully scribbled a few notes. “When did you become romantically involved with him?”
Her head snapped up. “I’ve never been romantically involved with him. Not the way you mean. He began pursuing a courtship with me about three years ago. Not long after Father had to take out the loan, Davis asked me to marry him. Father told me not to accept his proposal, but I worried Davis might make things difficult with the loan. Reluctantly, I agreed to an engagement and kept puttin
g him off whenever he wanted to set a date.”
Tully studied her for a long moment. “You are not now nor have you ever been in love with Davis?”
Brianna shook her head. “No. Not ever. I despise the man. He’s nothing like his father and I’ve never liked him. Father always said he was too pampered and spoiled to grow up to be anything but completely rotten.”
“Can you recall the details of the day your father died?”
“Father was on his way to the bank to make the final payment on the loan. He was only a block from the bank when he was stabbed and the thief made off with the money.” Brianna fell silent and brushed at the tears that trickled down her cheeks. Tully handed her a clean handkerchief he pulled from a desk drawer. She wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath. “Davis arrived at the house not long after it happened to tell me Father had been killed. His assistant was the one who found Father’s body in the alley next to the bank.”
“And you said he was stabbed?” Tully asked.
“Yes, once in the back and once in the chest.” Consumed by her memories, an important detail came to mind. “A police officer did come by the house to ask a few questions that evening. It was after Davis and his father had left. He said the stabbing matched several other murders in the area, which I assumed meant they were also victims of robberies.”
“What else do you remember?” Tully asked, taking thorough notes.
“The day of the funeral, a dinner was held at our home. I just wanted everyone to leave, but Davis insisted it was important to put on a brave face, as he called it, and mingle with the guests. Finally, I couldn’t take anymore and went up to my room. I’d moved all of Father’s papers and ledgers he kept in a safe in the library up to my room to read when I couldn’t sleep. Anyway, I was studying several letters and came across the partnership and correspondence between Father and Clive Fisher. By then, the guests had all departed, or so I thought. I went downstairs to the library to find a map because I didn’t even know where Baker City was located. I was outside the door when I heard Davis and his assistant talking. It sounded like they were looking through drawers, rifling papers. Davis said some rather disturbing things and that’s when I decided to leave.”
Tully looked at her. “What kind of disturbing things?”
When she didn’t answer, he stared at her until she met his gaze. “What did he say, Brianna?”
Uncomfortable with the direction the conversation headed, she shifted on the chair. “He indicated that he, um… that he planned…”
“Come on, darlin’. We’ve talked about your corsets and bloomers, it can’t be worse than that.” Tully’s teasing grin failed to make her smile.
Nervous, she kept her gaze on her lap, twisting her hands together. “He said that if I didn’t marry him by the end of the week, he’d take what he’d always wanted from me. Davis said if he ruined me in the process, I’d make a wonderful mistress.”
Tully’s jaw clenched and angry sparks shot from his eyes. It was a good thing Davis was already dead because he wanted to throttle him. Forcibly tamping down his fury, he cleared his throat. “Go on.”
“I snuck upstairs and packed one truck and my bag. Early the next morning, before any of the staff awakened, I called for a ride to the train depot and bought a ticket that brought me here. No one saw me leave, so I hoped to escape Davis. I needed to get as far from him as possible until I could figure out what to do. Baker City seemed like a place he’d never search for me and I really did hope to be able to acquire enough cash from the mine to pay the remainder of Father’s loan. It’s important to me to do so.”
Remorse settled on her features and she released a long breath. “I made the mistake of submitting an article to a newspaper in New York and Davis happened upon it. That’s how he located me.” Brianna fiddled with the handkerchief in her hands. “I don’t believe he came here because he wanted to marry me. I think there was something in my Father’s ledgers or paperwork that he wanted.”
“You brought them with you?” Tully asked. Hope filled him that a motive for the whole mess would be easy to detect in a review of the accounts.
“I did, but they were in the bag that was stolen.”
Deflated, Tully slumped back in the chair. “Okay. What about today? What drove you to purchase the gun?”
“Obviously, I was distressed to find Davis here and I worried that he might make good on his plans to… well, you know… I thought the safest thing to do was to go along with the ruse of being his devoted fiancée until I could either figure out why he came or a way to get him to return home.” Brianna looked up at Tully with her heart in her eyes. “I never meant to hurt you, Tully, or lead you on. The time we spent together was unbelievably special to me. I need you to know that.”
Unable to speak without confessing his love for her, he nodded his head.
Brianna looked wounded, but she continued her story. “Today, I’d had all I could stand of Davis’ constant blathering and recalled his fear of horses. I told him I had to ride out to a mine to work on an article. I did have an article I wanted to finish for Mr. Packwood, but I merely needed a quiet hour to write it. At the livery, I rented a horse, knowing he wouldn’t go with me. I ended up at Maggie and Ian’s house where I spent the afternoon in blissful silence. After I finished the article, I returned the horse to the livery, delivered the article to Mr. Packwood, and adjourned to the park where I ran into Sammy. We went to get a dish of ice cream at the drugstore near the park.”
Tully knew most of what she shared from spying on her a good part of the afternoon. In spite of that, he had no idea she truly despised Davis, and with good reason.
“When did you meet back up with Davis?” Around suppertime, he’d seen her head to the hotel, but lost track of her after that until he heard the gunshots.
“I returned to my apartment to change after I parted ways with Sammy. There would have been no end to Davis’ complaints if I showed up for dinner smelling like a horse. While I was changing, I thought I heard the back door rattle, like someone tried to open it. I didn’t think anything of it until I went downstairs and heard Davis speaking to someone in the alley by the door. He restated something very similar to the comments I heard the day of my father’s funeral. I did hear him tell the man he was with to get what they came for while he distracted me. They walked off. I didn’t hear the other man’s reply or see what he looked like. As soon as I thought I could leave without either of them spotting me, I made my way to the mining supply store down the street from the livery and purchased the revolver.”
“From McIntosh?” Tully asked.
“Yes, I believe that was the gentleman’s name. He has bright red hair and a big mustache.” She used her index fingers to draw the bushy lines of the man’s facial hair on her own face.
“That’s McIntosh. What did you plan to do with the gun?”
“I mostly planned to frighten Davis with it. Honestly, I thought if he threatened me, I’d pull the gun on him and he’d most likely faint. He wouldn’t have attempted to wrest it away from me, of that I’m sure. If necessary, I was prepared to shoot him in the leg or arm to stop him from carrying out some detestable act against my person. However, I never, not even for a moment, entertained the notion of killing him.”
“You purchased the gun then met him for dinner at the hotel. Is that right?” A big piece of the puzzle was missing, but Tully couldn’t put his finger on it.
“Yes. I suffered through another meal with him. When we finished, he suggested going for a stroll, which I found unusual. He much prefers to sit indoors and talk than move around outside. He directed me toward Maggie’s shop, saying he wanted to see the apartment. When I resisted, he pulled me into the alley and…”
Brianna blushed, hesitant to continue.
Tully’s jaw clenched again. “What did he do to you, darlin’. You need to tell me everything.”
“He forced a kiss upon me. I struggled against him and drew back. The next thing I remember is
awakening with a headache and feeling nauseous.”
“Chloroform.” Tully eyed her. “When you struggled with Davis, did you smell something sweet?”
“Yes, but I thought it was his cologne.”
“That’s chloroform. Davis had an accomplice. My hunch says the man who was supposed to help subdue you turned on him. We just need to figure out who that man is.” Tully leaned back in his chair. If he hadn’t been so mad at Brianna for being engaged and flouncing around town with Davis, he might have noticed a stranger lurking in the shadows. “Did you see anyone with Davis? Someone you recognized from home?”
“No. I didn’t see him with anyone except people who live here.” She sniffled and fought down more tears. “I didn’t want Davis to die, Tully, and I really don’t want to go to prison for something I didn’t do.”
The quiver of her bottom lip was his undoing. Tully rose from his seat at the desk and pulled her into his arms. He kissed the top of her fragrant head, still slightly damp from the bath she’d taken at Maggie’s. Her hair hung down her back in a long braid, but tendrils already escaped to wave temptingly around her face.
Comfortingly, he rubbed his hands up and down her back then along her arms. Before he could think about his actions, he lifted her up until their lips met in an urgent, needful exchange.
Unaware of anything except her glorious, fervent kisses, Tully failed to hear a series of knocks on the office door.
“Tully! What in glory’s name are ye doing in there?” Ian’s brogue carried into the office as he pounded the door with his fist.
Tully grinned at Brianna then set her on her feet and hurried to unlock the door.
Ian barged inside with a gun in one hand and a large basket in the other. He took in the fact Brianna was not in a cell and tried to hide her red-cheeked, just-kissed face. Pleased, he smiled. “Maggie thought you might need coffee and she sent along sandwiches and cookies.” He set the basket on Tully’s desk.
“And why is it you’re toting a gun around?” Tully asked, knowing the Scotsman preferred not to carry one unless it was absolutely necessary.
Corsets and Cuffs: (Sweet Historical Western Romance) (Baker City Brides Book 3) Page 24