Knock, knock. A persistent knocking woke Carsten up. He groaned and rolled out of bed, cradling his left arm. “Who’s there?”
“Doc Close.”
He stepped down with a groan. “Say a few more words, please, doctor.”
“You need to be careful; I understand that. Have you been able to rest?”
He was the doctor. Not an imposter. Carsten opened the door and let him in.
“Looks like I woke you up.”
“You did,” Carsten answered. “I’m a bit better, though. Did Luella go out to see my ma?”
“See for yourself.”
Ma stepped into the room and folded him into a hug. “I was so worried when you didn’t come home. I don’t want to know what you did. I’m happy you are all right.”
“Me, too, Ma.”
Dr. Close poked and prodded Carsten. “How’s the head feel?”
“It hasn’t hurt since I woke up.”
“Good. Give it a bit more time. It might not stay feeling fine, but I think you’ll be all right. I’ll check on you again after lunch, and then you’ll be free to go home when the Rangers say you are.”
“Thank you, Doc,” Carsten said.
Dr. Close left.
“What were you thinking?” Ma asked.
“I wasn’t,” Carsten said. “I… I was upset.”
“Why? You don’t usually get this upset over anything.”
“I know. It wasn’t smart. I won’t do it again. I was impatient and then Edmund said something that got me a little angry, and it all boiled up into this. But I’m fine now, and I want to put it all behind me.”
Ma nodded. “Do you need anything to eat?”
Before Carsten could open his mouth, his stomach growled.
Ma laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes and go get you something.”
“Don’t spend too much. Something simple is fine.”
“I’ll spoil my son if I want to. Within reason, of course. I know we’re low on money.” Ma left.
Carsten sat down on the bed, then leaned his back on the headboard. Now if only Lonzo would come back with word that they caught everyone in the counterfeiting ring. And also if he could tell Carsten about the man he had borrowed the palomino from, his day would be complete. But it was still early. Carsten hoped the marshal hadn’t gone to all of his conspirators and convinced them to flee.
What would Mr. Graves do? He would have to hire someone else when they arrested Carey. Why was Carsten worrying about Mr. Graves? Of everybody, he should worry more about Luella. What would her ma and she do? He would help if he could. The church would help, too. He hoped.
Even if Carsten’s innocence was declared, he wanted to find out about the horse’s owner. What if Carsten had caused the palomino’s owner to die? Would he go to jail or worse?
A gentle knock came through the door.
“Come in.”
Ma entered with a plate of food. “The hotel owner told me the Rangers were paying for everything to do with your stay, including the food.”
“That is kind of them but unnecessary.”
Ma shrugged. “I agree, but if you have an issue with it, you can talk to your Ranger friends. After you eat.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Carsten took the plate and dug into the food after a quick prayer. Chicken wasn’t his favorite, but today it was perfect. He was too hungry to worry about personal preference.
“Will you be able to harvest the alfalfa?”
Carsten’s heart sank. His shoulder throbbed more than it had when he left home last night. “I don’t know. I doubt it. It’s too physical of a job for this bum shoulder of mine.”
Ma sighed. “No matter what happens, we’ll figure out something. Maybe you can barter with someone. You do one-armed work for someone, and they harvest the alfalfa when it’s ready.”
“What about the weeding?”
“Your friends were out helping a few days ago. Perhaps they could come again.”
Carsten shook his head. “We’re not on good speaking terms at the moment.”
Ma looked at him, concern in her eyes. “Why?”
He told her about the argument. “I know I was wrong. I don’t think he really meant it. But it stung, and I was rather harsh in my response.”
“You have been under a lot of stress. I think they will forgive you. Especially if you go and tell them you forgive them.”
Carsten put his feet over the edge of the bed and leaned to give Ma a hug. “You are a wise woman, Ma. Thank you.”
* * *
It was nearing dinnertime when Lonzo returned to the hotel room. “We caught everybody. There were four—the town marshal, Mr. Baumgartner, Mr. Comstock, and Mr. Eldridge. Mr. Comstock gladly gave up everyone and their likely hiding places.”
“How did you manage that?” Carsten asked. Ma sat next to him on the bed and patted his hand.
Lonzo smiled. “Zachariah offered him a lighter sentence. We think any judge will gladly take our recommendation since he was forthcoming on their operation.”
“He wanted to be out sooner,” Carsten said, “so he can still see his wife and daughter.”
“Yes. We have also found most of the counterfeit money except whatever has already circulated in town. Carey admitted that he stole the paper at the marshal’s insistence so they could frame you. They thought people were going to figure out what they were doing and had to find someone else to blame.”
“Instead, they got me and my friends curious enough to figure it out when we wouldn’t have otherwise.”
“Exactly,” Lonzo said. “I’m still looking into that other matter but have one other place to check. I’m headed over there now, and then you will be free to go home.”
“Thank you.”
Lonzo left again.
Ma turned to Carsten. “What matter?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Carsten said. “That was all excellent news.”
“Mm-hm. I’m going home to make a celebratory supper for you.”
“Thank you, Ma. I love you.”
“I love you, too, dear. Be careful with that arm of yours.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She left, and Carsten stood. Now that he knew no one would ambush him anywhere in town, he wanted to stretch his legs.
Carsten left the hotel room, then went down the stairs and out into the bright sunlight. Before he knew it, he had unconsciously walked to Luella’s home. Carsten slumped. He was the last person she would want to see. Why had he come this way? One more bad decision in less than a day. He turned and took two steps before hearing his name.
“Carsten, wait!”
He spun to see Luella heading toward him. “Luella. I didn’t mean to come here…”
“Why not?” Luella stopped in front of him. “I knew before the Rangers came that Papa would get arrested. It had nothing to do with you.”
“It had everything to do with me.” Carsten ducked his head.
Luella used one finger to lift his chin. “Papa made his own choices. And we now have something else in common. If anything, I need to apologize to you. Come, let’s sit on the porch swing.”
Carsten placed Luella’s arm around his good one and walked with her to the swing. “Why do you need to apologize?”
“For believing all the lies going around town about you. I know you better than that. I never should have thought you could do something like that. Steal paper? That isn’t what you did back when you were stealing things. I had my doubts, but I buried them because I wanted my papa to be right. I am so ashamed.”
“Don’t be. I was ashamed after my pa’s arrest too. It took me a while to realize that just because your parents make mistakes doesn’t mean you will make those same mistakes. You need to learn from your parents and trust that, with God’s help, you can make better choices.”
Luella smiled. “You really think so?”
“I know so. If the last few weeks have taught me anything, it’s exactly that.”
“Thank you, Carsten. You’re a very wise man.”
Carsten laughed. “Not all the time. Last night, I was very unwise.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Luella teased.
“Especially me.”
They sat in silence for a while before he sighed. “I should go back to the hotel. Lonzo was looking into the palomino owner’s death and should have answers soon.”
“Let me know what he finds out.”
“Would you want to come with me?”
Luella hesitated. “Let me ask Mother first.”
“Of course. How is she doing?”
“She took it hard, but Papa was able to talk to her, and she’s doing better now.”
“Good. I’ll wait until you come out.”
“Thanks.” She darted into the house.
He stood so they could leave when she got back.
Two minutes later, Luella came out, a shawl around her shoulders. “Mother said yes, as long as I wore a shawl in case it got chilly.”
“Sounds like your ma. Always worried about you.”
“Yours too.”
“True.”
They walked in the direction of the hotel.
“Tomorrow is going to be a hard day,” Luella said.
“Why?”
“We have to tell our cook and maid we can’t afford to have them work for us. They rely on us to support their families. I don’t know what they’ll do.”
“Mr. Graves will be looking to hire someone to replace Carey. Maybe one of them could take his place.”
Luella smiled up at him. “I’ll suggest it. Do you think he’d hire a woman?”
Carsten shrugged. “I don’t know. He hired a former thief accused of stealing paper. He also was one of the few who believed I could be innocent.”
“Do you think he knew somehow that Carey was involved?”
“I think Mr. Graves is a very trusting man who doesn’t get suspicious about things. It was only after we discovered the counterfeit money that I suspected Carey.”
They reached the hotel and found Lonzo waiting outside.
“There you are,” he said. “Miss Comstock, a pleasure to see you again. Carsten, can we talk?”
“Sure. You can say anything about it in front of Luella. She knows and is the one who encouraged me to talk to a Ranger about it.”
Lonzo looked around. The townspeople were all preparing for dinner, so the streets were fairly empty. “The owner of the horse died of natural causes here in town. I talked to Dr. Close, and he remembered the man. He said one of the maids at the hotel found the man in his room. He died in his sleep after living a long and full life. In fact, his horse is still in Dr. Close’s care.”
“Dr. Close’s care? Why?” Luella asked.
Lonzo handed Carsten a piece of paper.
“What’s this?” Carsten asked.
“A note from the man to the ‘boy who took excellent care of my horse.’”
Carsten looked from the note to Lonzo. “He saw me?”
“Yes. He explains everything in the note. I think he knew he was about to die.”
Carsten shook Lonzo’s hand. “Thank you for everything. You have no idea how guilty I have felt the last four years.”
Lonzo grinned. “I have an idea, but that is a long time to not know what’s going on. Can I come out to your farm someday?”
“Sure. Are you sticking around?”
“Someone needs to be the law and order ’round here, and Zachariah told the mayor he’d be happy to let me stay until they find someone else.”
“I’m glad,” Carsten said. “You’ll do a great job.”
“Thanks,” Lonzo said as he headed to the marshal’s office.
Luella tugged on Carsten’s sleeve. “What does the note say?”
Carsten chuckled. “Impatient, are you?”
Luella smirked. “Aren’t you curious?”
“Of course.” He unfolded the paper and started to read. “‘To the boy who took excellent care of my horse, I saw you mount up and start a ride and thought maybe you were a horse thief. But the way you approached my beloved Stardust made me question myself. So I waited. You weren’t gone long. Out of curiosity, I waited until after you tied her up. To my surprise, you brushed her down and left her in better shape than you found her. If you get this and I’ve passed on, I’d want you to become the owner of my sweet Stardust.
“‘Jesse Sween.’” Carsten looked up, astonishment filling his chest. “Did I read that right?”
Luella took the paper from him and skimmed it. “You did. You own the horse you coveted. Oh, Carsten, you deserve this and so much more.”
Carsten took a deep breath. “I think I’ll come back into town tomorrow to talk to Dr. Close about it.”
“Did I hear my name?” a jovial voice asked.
Carsten turned as the doctor stepped up next to him. “You did.”
“Is this about the fair horse in my stable?”
Carsten nodded.
“Excellent. I know you may need to take a few days before you can care for Stardust, so when you’re ready, come by and get her.”
“Thanks, Doc. I need to get home to Ma.”
“I know. But first, I want to check that you’re still all right.”
Carsten consented to another poking and prodding.
After a minute, the doctor declared him fit as a fiddle.
“Thanks, Doc. Can I go home now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll see you soon, Luella.”
Luella waved. “Bye, Carsten.”