“How good a word?” Peters didn’t uncross his arms, but he suddenly looked less menacing.
“Depends on how useful your information is. I thought you were mad at being unpaid. Doesn’t seem right that you’re in here and the fellows who owe you aren’t.”
Ruthann looked back at the man in the cell. He slowly uncrossed his arms, and she held her breath. If he named Sissy, this would be easier than she’d thought.
Although how would Sissy know about the sheriff searching for outlaws in the hills outside of town?
“It was made up,” Peters said. “The outlaw gang.”
Ruthann glanced at the sheriff, who looked just as surprised as she felt.
“What do you mean?” Sheriff Young asked.
Peters’ mouth curved up a little, as if this all amused him. “This other fellow mentioned to one of your deputies that there was trouble with a lady near the edge of town, and happened to think it was caused by a gang wanted out of Denver.”
“But it was fabricated,” Stuart said from behind Ruthann. “To get the sheriff out of town.”
“And Nate,” Ruthann added. She looked the man right in his eyes. “You knew they’d ask Nate to come along because of his background in the cavalry.”
Peters shrugged but he didn’t deny it.
“You purposefully endangered my sister?” Stuart was beside Ruthann now, his voice lowered.
She laid a hand on his arm. Getting angry at the man would do them no good. “You wanted to scare me. That much I heard you say the evening you and the other man were in the studio.”
“That’s about the gist of it.” Peters flicked a glance at Stuart. “The lady wasn’t ever in any danger. We ain’t like that. Not me or the Sergeant. All we wanted was to get paid, not hanged.”
“The Sergeant?” Sheriff Young asked.
“The one who was with me that night. Don’t know his real name, and that’s probably for the best. All I know is he was in the cavalry some time back so everyone calls him Sergeant. He’s the one who got me and this other fellow called Jonesy—don’t know where he’s got off to since he got into it with Harper in the street—involved. Said it was good money.” He paused. “Ain’t seen any of that money yet, though.”
Ruthann exchanged a glance with Stuart. If this Sergeant had been in the cavalry, he might have known Nate . . . and what had happened to him.
“Was it this Sergeant who orchestrated the break-in at the studio?” Sheriff Young asked.
Peters paused. He looked off to the side as if he were weighing what to tell them.
“You could move on over to the Territorial Prison tonight, if you’d be more comfortable there,” Young said with a steely edge to his voice. “I’ll walk you right on over there myself. While whoever it is that didn’t pay you gets to run free.”
Peters worked his jaw. “It wasn’t the Sergeant. He got taken in, same as me and Jonesy.”
Ruthann chewed her lip, waiting for him to speak Sissy’s name. When he finally looked back toward her and Stuart, all she could think about was how quickly this could end for Nate. The sheriff could arrest the other men involved, and while Ruthann didn’t know what would happen with Sissy, Nate would finally be free to build his business without looking over his shoulder.
They could talk. Perhaps she could even convince him to trust her with whatever darkness it was he carried with him. Whatever it was that this Sergeant seemed to know about. Perhaps—
“Right. He’s a finely dressed fellow, younger than he looks, but don’t really have money. He puts on airs, all because of this lady he’s courting. She’s the one with the money. He keeps saying he’ll get it from her, but to be honest, I doubt she’s going to give it to him. Especially when she finds out what he’s been doing. He’s the one that sought out the Sergeant.”
Ruthann blinked at him. It wasn’t Sissy at all.
“It’s her new beau,” she said.
“Do you know his name?” the sheriff asked her and Stuart.
“Paul,” Ruthann said, pulling the name from when she’d run into Sissy at the general store. “That’s what she called him.”
“I’m going to the Flaglers’,” Sheriff Young said. “I can’t leave Peters here alone and I need Caldwell with me. Stuart, would you—”
“Happy to,” he replied.
