Chapter Twenty
“THANK YOU.” THE JUDGEnodded to the woman who had escorted Izzy to his chambers. “Miss Sutcliffe, please take a seat.”
“Mrs. Darby, sir,” Izzy corrected him as she sat. She was still married, even if Hale decided he no longer wanted her.
“Yes, Mrs. Darby,” the judge said, distracted as he shifted a stack of papers from another chair to his desk. “I’m Judge Reed. How are you doing?” He leaned against the edge of the desk and peered down at her through the glasses perched on his nose.
“I am well, I suppose.” Izzy wasn’t certain how to answer that question. She’d just spent the night in a jail cell, after being taken from her home. “Given the circumstances,” she added.
“Good. That’s good.”
Izzy fought the urge to shift in her chair as the judge eyed her. Instead, she forced herself to keep her head up.
“I’d like to hear your story,” Judge Reed finally said. He looked completely at ease, with his hands clasped in front of him. It was the exact opposite to how Izzy felt.
“My story? Is this the trial?” This wasn’t anything like what she’d expected. She thought there would be a courtroom and a jury and lawyers.
The judge chuckled. “No, Mrs. Darby. This isn’t a trial. I’ve received some information recently, and I’d like to hear your side of things before I decide how to move forward.”
That horrible bounty hunter had probably made up something awful about her. “Oughtn’t I have a lawyer?”
“My dear,” the judge said with a kind expression. “I doubt there is anything you’ll tell me that I don’t already know. I only want to hear it from you.”
Well, all she could do was tell the truth. Which is what she would have done at a trial, anyway. She swallowed the fear that scratched at her throat and said, “The only things I’m guilty of are holding on to our horses and . . .”
“And?” he prompted.
Izzy pressed her hands together and stared down at them. She was a grown woman, married and capable of far more than she’d ever expected. Perhaps it was time to acknowledge the awful truth she’d learned. The one she’d tried to reason her way out of believing, but the one she knew, deep down, was factual. As much as it hurt to admit it. “I’m afraid I believed in a fairy tale.”
Judge Reed gave her a sympathetic smile. “That’s what I thought. And that’s precisely what your brother told me.”
“My brother?”
He crossed the room without answering, and then opened the door and spoke to someone outside. After a moment, he stepped aside to allow two men to walk into his chambers.
Izzy jumped up when she saw who it was. A tall, dark-haired man with a hard expression that softened the second he spotted her stood beside a shorter man with red hair and a pronounced limp. Izzy threw her hands to her mouth as she let out a squeak. She wanted to fly to Hale and bury her face in his chest, and then grab hold of Carter and never let him out of her sight again. But one look at Judge Reed, and she forced herself to remain where she was.
“You’re here,” she said instead. “Both of you.”
“They were waiting here for me before I arrived this morning. How Mr. Sutcliffe made it inside this building without finding himself under arrest is a mystery to me, but he insisted upon speaking with me. And what he told me is almost precisely what you said, Mrs. Darby.” Judge Reed paused. “It’s highly unusual—although not unheard of—for a woman to commit crimes of this nature. When your case came across my desk, I was skeptical.”
“Does that mean you’ll let her go?” Carter asked. His face was paler than usual, and he’d lost weight. He grabbed the back of a nearby chair, as if it pained him to remain standing.
“You too,” Izzy said quickly, before the judge could answer. It wasn’t right that he’d only consider her release. She turned to Judge Reed. “Please, your honor, my brothers believed they were doing good too. They didn’t know about our father keeping all of this money. They thought he was helping people with it.”
“That’s not entirely correct, Izzy,” Carter said.
“Of course it is!”
He shook his head. “We should have known better. Especially me. Even if I made myself believe what Pa said, I was old enough to know right from wrong. I went along with it anyway.”
“Carter—” Izzy started, but Carter was already speaking to the judge.
“Izzy was young. She was impressionable, and of course she’d believe anything her father said. She didn’t know any better. You can lock me up again, but it isn’t right to put her through this.”
