Hale stared at him. Then, after giving a quick glance around to ensure no one else was in the vicinity, he nodded quickly at the door. “Come inside.”
Tansy gave him a worried look as he led Carter down the hallway to his office. He’d have to fill her in later, but for now, it was best if he spoke to Isabella’s brother alone. He locked the office door behind him, and Carter sank awkwardly into a chair.
Hale was too worked up to sit, so instead, he stood against the wall opposite Carter. The younger man was stretching out his leg as if it pained him.
“You’re the one who was shot,” Hale said. “Isabella worried about you.”
“I wish I could have let her know I was healing,” Carter said.
“First things first, how did you get here?” Hale asked.
Carter told him of escaping from the hospital, of the painful climb aboard a southbound train, of hiding during the day and traveling at night, and of nearly passing out while riding a horse to Crest Stone.
“It was risky, going to a livery like that,” Hale said.
“I didn’t go to a livery.” Carter gave him a rueful look.
“Right.” He would think through the morality of all of this later, after she was safe. “What made you come here?”
“I heard the nurses talking about how there had been a letter from Izzy sent to the prison for our father. It had come from a post office in Crest Stone, Colorado. They couldn’t get over the fact that the boy the law was looking for was actually a girl, and that she’d managed to get herself married.”
Hale dropped his head. Isabella had sent her father a letter without telling him. He could have warned her. And now it was too late.
“I admit that despite the situation, it gave me a laugh, thinking of my little sister as someone’s wife. She spent most of her time in men’s britches and never once said anything about wanting to settle down.” Carter grinned.
Hale crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall. While he had Carter here, he might as well confirm everything he believed to be true. “She told me all she did was watch the horses.”
The other man nodded, frowning as he flexed his leg. “Held the horses and kept an eye out for the law. Truthfully, I never liked it. She ought to have stayed home, but our pa said we needed her, and when he asked her, she agreed to help.”
Because she believed his lies, Hale thought. “What about the money?” he asked. “What happened to the money you took?”
Carter’s shoulders drooped. “Pa always said it was for the poor. I went along with it. I wanted to believe him, I suppose, but I was the oldest. Honestly, I think I knew better, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I didn’t want to confront him. After losing our mother . . .” His brow crinkled as he looked up at Hale. “I guess I didn’t want to lose him too.”
Hale nodded at Carter’s honesty.
“One of the nurses told me that they’d found a bank account, full of money Pa had deposited over time. I knew it was true, the second she’d said it.” He shook his head. “I hated myself then. I knew better, but I’d been too cowardly to confront him. And I let Henry and Izzy believe it. If I could go back . . .” Carter started to push himself up to stand.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get my sister.” He paused as he stood, closing his eyes as he caught his breath. “I don’t care if it kills me, I’m not letting her go to prison because of our father’s greed. Maybe I’m just as guilty as he is. Maybe Henry is too, even if he believed it. But Izzy never once stole anything.”
“You can’t do anything about it tonight.” Hale wanted to make the man sit down again. His face was pale, and he held onto the back of the chair to stay upright. “You need rest, or you won’t be good to help anyone. There’s no train out until tomorrow, and I plan to be on it.”
Carter stood there a moment, seemingly thinking through Hale’s words. “I’m coming too.”
Hale found the man a room for the night, filled Tansy in on everything that happened, and the next day—with Carter’s hair hidden under that giant hat—they boarded the train out to Cañon City.
All he needed now was a plan.
