“Jeremy!” Stuart whispered just before another thud sounded. “What was on the train that night?”
Jeremy wrinkled his forehead and then nodded in understanding. “Nothing. I told Maddox there was a large shipment of jewelry going to a shop in California, but I’d made it up.”
“Why? What were you doing there that night?” Stuart asked.
But Jeremy didn’t answer. The front door crashed open and Ruthann shoved the darkroom door closed.
“There he is!” an unfamiliar voice called across the room.
Norah choked back a sob, and Stuart reached for her in the dark, drawing her close to him. She buried her face in his chest and he held her to him as he listened to the commotion outside.
“There’s no need for force,” Nate said. “He isn’t fighting you, and he isn’t armed.”
Sheriff Young echoed Nate’s request, clearly irritated with whomever had come from the prison to find Jeremy. Norah’s fingers dug into Stuart’s arms, and he rubbed a circle on her back as he listened.
“Are these the people responsible for hiding him here?” a gruff voice asked.
“I’m sure—” Sheriff Young began, but Jeremy interrupted.
“They’ve done nothing wrong. I snuck in myself. I didn’t think anyone was here,” Jeremy said.
“And yet here they are, not opening the door when asked and not turning you out. Sheriff, I demand you place these people under arrest.”
Stuart scowled into the darkness as Nate attempted to tell the story he’d concocted about Jeremy believing Ruthann was gravely ill.
But none of it made a bit of difference, because with an apology in hand, Sheriff Young placed Nate under arrest.
When the man from the prison insisted Ruthann be taken off to jail too, the sheriff’s patience ended entirely. “You’ve got what you wanted. I’m not taking the lady to a jail cell.”
“Thank you, Sheriff,” Ruthann said softly. “But I insist on accompanying you. I’d like to see after my husband.”
There was some scuffling, and then finally the door shut. The silence somehow seemed louder than the commotion that had preceded it.
“They’ve left,” Stuart whispered, still not entirely trusting the situation. He loosened his grip on Norah and, very carefully, cracked the door open. Not a soul remained in the studio.
“What do we do now?” Norah asked as she stepped out.
Stuart went to the broken front door, assessing how much effort it would take to fix. He wasn’t about to leave Ruthann and her child in a home with a door that didn’t shut all the way, much less lock. “We fix this door. And then we figure out why Jeremy was at the depot the night of the robbery.”
