Warmth spread throughout Adam’s body. Mrs. Barker had always acted motherly toward him.
“Thank you, Mrs. Barker,” he returned with heartfelt emotion.
“Now that I have seen you, I’ll bake you your favorite blueberry pie tomorrow. Just come around here tomorrow and I’ll have it ready for you.”
Adam laughed. He had missed the woman’s delicious pies.
“I’ll sure swing by, Mrs. Barker.”
“Be sure you do.”
Adam tilted his hat at her again and continued down the main street of the town. His eyes took in the small town that boasted of two saloons, a grocery store, two dressmaker’s shops, a small bank, a post office, a courthouse, and a dry goods and feeds store. An orphanage was on the outskirts of the town.
In the time that he had been away, a small school and a few houses, and a sweets shop had added to the growth of Ruby Rock. Seeing the place he loved so much brought a bright smile across his face.
Originally a cattle town, the town had grown more commercial. They used to build the shops with roughly hewn woods but things had changed––most of the shops had glass-plated windows with sturdy mahogany woods encasing them. The dressmaker’s shops had wooden hangars displayed outside with dresses on them. Adam even spotted a couple of two-storied buildings.
Swiftly, he shifted his gaze from the saloon balcony, where ladies of the night reclined, smoking thin cigars.
Adam raised his hand and waved at the people across the street that sent greetings his way. Indeed, it felt good to be back home. In all the time he was away, his thoughts had never been far from this place. Now, coming back to Ruby Rock as the new marshal made him feel honored.
He had been surprised when he received the letter of his appointment and saw that it was the town he had grown up in.
“You deserve it, Lancaster,” the mayor of his former county of residence had told him. “You have been exemplary in carrying out your duties as a sheriff. I put in a good word for you. Alas, they sent you somewhere else instead of keeping you here.”
Adam had been sorry to leave Red Hollow in Idaho where he was a sheriff for two years but being here was sure better and he was eager to serve.
He decided he would stop at the courthouse later to see if he had some paperwork to work on there. But he would first go to his office and acquaint himself with the sheriff and the deputies. He would have to look for law-abiding townsfolk to be his deputies. He could only hope that it wouldn’t be an arduous task.
Adam continued his journey down the street to the green building that was the sheriff’s office with a jail attached to it. Beside it was his own office building.
Adam strode into the sheriff’s office and the sight he saw startled him a bit. Three men sat at a table with a bottle of whiskey and three cups.
Wasn’t it too early in the day for the men to be bending an elbow? And how dare they do it in the office?
Adam cleared his throat as he stepped into the office. The three men looked at him lazily. Their eyes widened when they saw the shiny star on his shirt. They rose abruptly.
“Good morning. I’m Adam Lancaster. The new marshal,” Adam said in a clipped tone and stared pointedly at the bottle of liquor.
Reddening, one of the men took the bottle and placed it under the table. They all looked so shamefaced at being caught drinking on duty that Adam decided not to have a talk with them on workplace principles. It was only his first day as marshal. He didn’t want to start it by raising sand.
It couldn’t be easy being a lawman in a relatively peaceful town like Ruby Rock. They had very few cases of crime except for some outlaws who passed through sometimes.
At first, he had wondered why they would send him to peaceful Ruby Rock as marshal until he heard there might be an Indian uprising in the area. It was his duty to carry out investigations and put a stop to such a thing happening.
“Begging your pardon, Marshal,” one of the men finally said and strode forward after staring at him. “Amos Sanders.”
Adam shook hands with him and the other men. They nodded toward the inner office when he asked for the sheriff. Adam was a little surprised that the sheriff was in there, yet the men didn’t mind pouring scamper juice down their throats.
“Well, if it isn’t the new marshal in town,” Sheriff Joe Tate drawled once Adam entered his office.
Adam noted the man didn’t rise from the chair he was sprawled on with his legs crossed at the ankles on the table. He didn’t take it to heart, though. Joe Tate was in his forties and had moved into Ruby Rock to become sheriff just when Adam had left to become the sheriff of Red Hollow. He didn’t know much about the man, but he hoped they could be friends and work well together.
Adam removed his hat and ran a hand through his midnight black hair. He strode forward with his hand outstretched. The potent smell of liquor hit his nostrils. He was taken aback for a moment. His gray eyes fell on the cup on the table, and he recognized the yellow liquid in it.
Disappointed that the sheriff had joined his deputies in drinking in the office, Adam shook the man’s hand and took a step back.
“I came to tell you that I have resumed duties, and I hope that we’ll work well together,” he told the man who was regarding him with an expression he couldn’t quite read.
