[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
"she won't have anybody at all." "She'll be all right," John assured her quietly. "We've promoted her to assistant manager of the feed store. It comes with a raise in salary. And if she ever needs help, she'll get it. I promise." She turned her head like a bird watching him. "You have an honest face," she said after a minute. "Thank you, Mr. Taggert." He smiled. "She's sweet." "Sweet and unworldly," she said heavily. "This is a good place to raise children, but it doesn't give them much sense of modern society. She's a babe in the woods, in some ways." "She'll be fine," he assured her. "Sassy may be naïve, but she has an excellent self-image and she's a strong woman. If you could have seen her swinging on Tarleton," he added on a chuckle, with admiration in his pale eyes. "She hit him?" she exclaimed. "She did," he replied. "I wish they'd given her five minutes alone with him. It might have cured him of ever wanting to force himself on another woman. Not," he added darkly, "that he's going to have the opportunity for a very long time. The police chief has him in jail pending arraignment. He'll be brought up on assault charges and, I assure you, he won't be running around town again." "Mr. McGuire should never have hired him," she muttered. "I can assure you that he knows that." She bit her lip. "What if he gets a good lawyer and they turn him loose?" "In that case," John chuckled, "we'll search and find enough evidence on crimes in his past to hang him out to dry. Whatever happens, he won't be a threat to Sassy ever again." Mrs. Peale beamed. "Thank you for bringing her home." "Do you have a telephone here?" he asked suddenly. She hesitated. "Yes, of course." He wondered at the hesitation, but not just then. "If you need anything, anything at all, you can call me." He pulled a pencil and pad out of his pocket, one he'd bought in town to list supplies, and wrote the ranch number on it. He handed it to Mrs. Peale. "Somebody will be around all the time." "That's very kind of you," she said quietly. "We help each other out back home," he told her. "That's what neighbors are for." "Where is back home, Mr. Taggert?" she asked curiously. "The Callisters we work for live at Medicine Ridge," he told her. "Those people!" She caught her breath. "My goodness, everybody knows who they are. In fact, we had a man who used to work for them here in town." John held his breath. "You did?" "Of course, he moved on about a year ago," she added, and didn't see John relax. "He said they were the best bosses on earth and that he'd never have left if his wife hadn't insisted she had to be near her mother. Her mother was like me," she added sadly, "going downhill by the day. You can't blame a woman for feeling like that. I stayed with my own mother when she was dying." She looked up. "Are your parents still living?" He smiled. "Yes, they are. I don't know them very well yet, but all of us are just beginning to get comfortable with each other." "You were estranged?" He nodded. "But not anymore. Can I do anything for you before I leave?" "No, but thank you." "I'll lock the door on my way out." She smiled at him. "I'll be out this way again," he said. "Tell Sassy she doesn't have to come in tomorrow unless she just wants to." "She'll want to," Mrs. Peale said confidently. "In spite of that terrible man, she really likes her work." "I like mine, too," John told her. He winked. "Good night." "Good night, Mr. Taggert." He drove back to the Bradbury place deep in thought. He wished he could make sure that Tarleton didn't get out of jail anytime soon. He was still worried. The man was vindictive. He'd assaulted Sassy for reporting his behavior. God knew what he'd do to her if he managed to get out of that jail. He'd have to talk to Chief Graves and see if there was some way to get his bond set sky- high. The work at the ranch was coming along quickly. The framework for the barn was already up. Wiring and plumbing were in the early stages. A crew was starting to remodel the house. John had one bedroom as a priority. He was sick of using a sleeping bag on the floor. He phoned Gil that night. "How are things going at home?" he asked. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |