A gust of wind blew in off the harbor, causing the skeleton-like tree limbs to sway and moving the shadows spread against the forest floor.
Isaac blinked again. As soon as the wind died, all seemed calm. The movement had probably been the wind jostling the trees, but it was still worth checking on.
He hunkered into his coat and turned to walk along the tree-lined path back to town. He and Thomas could double back once they reached the sheriff’s office. Maybe if someone waswatching, they’d head back in the direction they’d come, and he and Thomas could return and follow the tracks.
“I have a feeling that single window is because O’Byrne doesn’t want anyone seeing what goes on in there.” Thomas rubbed a hand over his chin. “But windows or not, I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I.” Isaac shook his head to clear it of images of shadows and thieves, only to have new images spring up. Alice curled onto Thomas’s lap, and Jack setting his jaw and staring down his father. “But am I crazy for being just as concerned about those children as anything O’Byrne knows?”
“No. It’s hard seeing them there, especially when they were doing so well with your brother and sister-in-law.”
“The first mistake he makes, the first sign of him not caring for those children, and I’ll see to it he never gets them back.”
Thomas’s hand landed on his shoulder. “Can you do that? Legally, I mean?”
Isaac’s throat closed. “I don’t know. Sometimes legally right isn’t the same as morally right, but that doesn’t mean a person should turn their back on the moral part of things.”
Especially a person like him. He hadn’t been able to save his pa, but maybe, just maybe he could help save the O’Byrnes. And Miss Brogan.
Or maybe he’d be as big a failure at saving them as he’d been with his father.
“Are we headed to your office?”
“What?” Isaac looked up to find himself headed down North Street and almost across from the telegraph office. “Oh. Yes.”
At least for a few minutes.
“Mr. Dowrick. Mr. Dowrick!” The door to the telegraph office flew open, and Mrs. Runkle came running outside, never mind her lack of coat in the bitter winter air. She waved a missive inher hand and headed straight for Thomas. “This just came for you.”
Thomas reached for the paper and scanned it, his face turning dark. Then he shoved the note at Isaac.
Land dispute over hotel. Man claims never sold property to bank after fire. Has deed. Come quickly. Court date set for Jan. 14. –Bernard
“Looks like you’ll have to finish up this sheriff business on your own.” Thomas’s jaw was hard as he spoke. “I’m needed in Deadwood.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Thomas yanked open the drawer to his dresser, scooped up his clothes in one giant heap, and plopped them into the carpetbag on the bed. Did he need anything else, or was that it?
“You’re leaving so soon?”
He glanced over to find Jessalyn leaning against the doorway, the telegraph clutched in her hand. “Where are the girls? I want to say goodbye before I head out.”
“Olivia’s sleeping in her room. She still has a fever from the earache, but Claire and Megan are sledding with the Oaktons and O’Byrnes.”
“I’ll stop by the hill on my way out of town.” He turned back to the dresser, where he grabbed his shaving supplies and tooth powder.
“Or you could wait until tomorrow to leave.” Hope threaded Jessalyn’s voice.
“Want to see how far I can get before dark.” If the telegram had come first thing that morning, he could already be part way to Calumet.
“I don’t like it.” Jessalyn came to the end of the bed, crumpling the edge of the telegram where her fingers curled around the paper.
He heaved out a breath, took Jessalyn by the shoulders, and rested his forehead against hers. His hotel or his family. He was finally supposed to have the two of them together, yet a day after he’d won his wife back, he’d turned around to find himself in danger of losing his hotel. “I don’t like leaving you either, but…”
Wait. He didn’t have to leave her behind. He dropped his hands from her shoulders and headed to where her extra dress hung on a peg.
Jessalyn narrowed her gaze at him. “What are you doing?”
