“Wait here,” one of them said and quickly went inside the building.
Adam just replaced his gun in its holster when the man came out and nodded for him to go in. Adam strode into the banking hall, noticing and not caring at the animosity he saw in the eyes of everyone present there. Swiftly he climbed up the stairs with the guards close at his heels.
A smile crossed his face when he saw the thick frown on the banker’s face when he got to his office.
“Gabe Winters, you’re under arrest,” Adam announced with relish.
The older man sighed. “Have you come here to waste your time and mine again, Marshal?”
“Silence!” Adam barked. “You will come with me right now without any resistance to answer for your crimes.”
Gabe looked as if he was about to say something, then he shook his head, pushed back his chair, and rose. He nodded at his men.
“Get my lawyer.”
Grinning with satisfaction, Adam said, “Thatwould be a waste of time because the judge isn’t in town.”
Gabe cocked his bushy brows. “Is that so?”
Adam had expected the man to be appalled at the news, and then try to resist arrest. But Gabe simply shrugged with a smug look on his face. The banker put on his coat and slowly walked out of the office with Adam. They were the cynosure of all eyes as they walked out of the bank and then rode through the streets to the jail. They didn’t say a single word to each other until they reached the sheriff’s office and dismounted from their horses.
“Welcome home, Banker,” Adam mocked as he led the older man into the building.
“Take him to jail,” Adam instructed the deputies with satisfaction.
The men looked at each other with bewilderment. Before Adam could ask them if they wouldn’t do his bidding, the sheriff burst walked out of the office with a face redden with anger.
“What is the meaning of this, Marshal? Why would you arrest a law-abiding citizen?”
Turning to the furious man, Adam grinned. “Please stop with the dramatics, Joe. It’s uncalled for. I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone else. Take him to jail or I’ll do it myself.”
One of the deputies nodded and led Gabe Winters away.
“You’ve just bitten more than you can chew, Marshal!” the sheriff told him.
Adam snorted and walked away. With joy swirling inside him, Adam returned to his office to enjoy the blackberry pie Mrs. Goodson gave him that morning. Done with it, he drank a large gulp of water and decided it was time for him to interrogate the banker.
Striding like a man who had the whole world at his feet, he got to the jailhouse and was shocked to see the cells empty. With intense rage contorting his face, he matched to the sheriff’s office.
“Where is he??” he bellowed at the deputies. “Did you allow him to escape or you released him?”
With a smug look on his face, the sheriff strode out of the office. “No. He simply made bail.”
Adam’s jaw dropped. He had been gone in less than an hour. How was that possible? Besides, the judge wasn’t even around.
As if reading his thoughts, the sheriff said, “Judge Matheson is back.”
Angered by the obvious conspiracy going on, Adam hurried out of the building to the courthouse where he found the judge. The man appeared nonchalant about what he had done.
“You arrested him without a warrant? Besides, what proof do you have that he committed all the crimes you labeled against him? Bring me proof and I’ll personally have him arrested.”
Adam, too incensed to say anything lest he cussed the judge out and found himself in contempt of the law, walked away. He had already conversed with the judge and told him the information he had gathered thus far. But without anyone to collaborate his words and not wanting to put Olivia in more danger than she was already, Adam felt defeated.
He would have to write another report to the U.S. Marshal Service requesting for assistance as he still hadn’t been able to find men to be his deputies. He would also file charges against the corrupt sheriff and judge.
With a heavy heart, he walked back to his office.
Chapter 31
