“No. He went alone. He was always afraid someone might recognize him, and if that happened, he didn’t want me or my brothers there too.” Izzy bit her lip. She’d prayed every night for his safe return during those weeks, but deep down, she’d known it would end at some point. She’d just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. A wave of longing coursed through her. As much as she loved it here in Crest Stone with Hale, she deeply missed her family. She blinked back the sudden tears that pricked her eyelids and gazed down the tracks where yellow flowers dotted the grasses and clumps of silvery-green sagebrush. She hoped Papa would receive her letter soon.
“I see.” Hale pulled off his hat and rubbed a hand across his face.
She looked back at him. “I don’t understand. What do you see?”
He drew in a breath and let it out, and Izzy had the feeling he was about to tell her something terrible.
“Your father had an account at a bank in Cheyenne. He filled it with stolen money, which the court took when he was found guilty.”
Izzy blinked at him. Suddenly, the world around her was very loud. The birdsong, the breeze waving the long grasses, even her own breathing. “He didn’t. He couldn’t have . . . He gave it away.”
“It doesn’t appear that he did,” Hale said gently.
“Of course he did.” Izzy couldn’t imagine her father hoarding all of that money in a bank account. He’d never used banks when her mother was alive, after all. And what need did they have for all of that money?
All of thatstolenmoney?
Her hands began to shake, and she pressed them into her skirts. “It’s not true.”
There was a sadness in Hale’s eyes as he watched her. It felt like pity, and Izzy didn’t want—or need—pity. He lifted a hand to reach for hers.
“Isabella?” he said.
She shook her head, keeping her hands where they were. This was too much to understand. How could she find a lawyer to make an appeal when they all believed Papa stole that money for himself? “It isn’t true,” she said again, her voice barely a whisper.
Hale’s voice was nothing but kindness when he spoke. “Did you ever see him give the money away?”
She shook her head. Of course she hadn’t. He’d gone alone. “No. But he told me and my brothers about it. About all of the people we’d helped. The widows and children and the ill and injured men.”
He wouldn’t have made that up. He wouldn’t have lied to them. Not her papa. It was impossible.
“I’m so sorry,” Hale said, reaching out a hand again. “Why don’t we go back? I’ll ask Tansy to make you some tea—”
“I don’twanttea.” The shock of Hale’s revelation had worn into a burgeoning anger. No one knew her father as well as Izzy and her brothers. Once she had a lawyer she could trust, she’d be able to convince him of the truth. Sheknewshe could.
“All right.” Hale’s surprise at the force of her words showed all over his face, but he didn’t lower his hand. Instead, he waited for her to take it.
Izzy stared at it. “He wouldn’t have done that. I promise you. Do you believe me?”
His shoulders sank, and he finally dropped his hand. “I know what the sheriff told me, and I know what you told me.” He paused. “It’s hard to ignore the evidence, Isabella.”
“Even if it’s false?”
“You don’t—” He shook his head, cutting himself off. “Maybe you should speak to the sheriff yourself. See the letter.”
The very thought made Izzy feel ill. The last thing she wanted to do was prod Sheriff Wright into realizing there was a missing and wanted Sutcliffe running around his town. She lifted her chin. “I don’t need to. All I need to know is whether you’re going to help me.”
Hale closed his eyes for a second, and Izzy knew what he was going to say before he said it. “Isabella,” he started, anguish written across his face. “I can’t . . . It’s not feasible. After you have time to think about it, you’ll see that it won’t work. The court will never allow a guilty man to go free.”
Izzy pressed her shoulders back. It didn’t matter what he thought, she told herself.Shebelieved in Papa. And he needed her. Carter and Henry needed her. She’d do whatever it took to help them.
“I don’t need your help. I’ll find a way to do it myself.”
She turned and walked back toward town, hurt but determined.
And she didn’t turn around, even when Hale called her name.
