Wyatt closed the curtains and took his place on the floor behind the desk. Even if a stiff wind blew through and lifted them out of place, there would be no evidence he was there.

The office door opened, and Wyatt held his breath. No one was supposed to come in here without the boss. That was an unbreakable rule in the Gentry house.

He palmed his pistol and waited for the intruder to show himself. Light steps moved toward the desk and halted.

A moment later Justine peered around the edge of the desk. Though she’d been dressed like a normal nine-year-old when he saw her in the parlor earlier, now she wore a pale green ball gown several sizes too large that was very likely borrowed from Mrs. Gentry or Eliza. White gloves covered her hands, and a bridal veil tucked into her ponytail completed the ensemble.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered.

“I could ask you the same thing.” He slid out of his hiding place and stood. Turning the girl around, he marched her to the door. “You are not supposed to be in here when Mr. Gentry isn’t here.”

She halted just before the hallway and looked up at him with a suspicious expression. “Neither are you.”

“That is where you’re wrong. He asked me to wait for him here while he had a meeting.”

Her expression went solemn. “I know. He’s meeting the man Eliza married. I don’t like him.”

“That seems to be a popular opinion around here.”

She shrugged. “I told Trey not to trust him with that necklace. I bet he stole it.”

“What necklace?”

Justine gestured to her neck. “The one Trey always wore since he was young. I heard them talking the night before Trey went off on that ship to sail to China for a year. He said he didn’t want anything to happen to his prize possession so Ben ought to give it to Eliza for him.”

Wyatt glanced back at the window to be sure no one had arrived on the porch yet and then turned back to Justine. “Why didn’t he just give it directly to Eliza?”

“He tried, but she wouldn’t take it. She said he had to keep it because then every time he wore it he would think about home and family and he wouldn’t want to stay gone too long. I asked her where it was the next time I thought about it, but she said Trey was wearing it. We argued about that, and she didn’t believe me.”

It made no sense that Ben Barnhart would want a basically worthless shark’s tooth that Trey had been wearing since he was ten. “If Eliza didn’t believe you, why should I?”

Justine didn’t look the least bit bothered by the question. “Because it happened and I heard it. After Eliza and I went up to bed, I heard Trey talking to that man outside on the porch. That’s what they said.”

Who knew what Ben might be doing with Trey’s necklace? Probably nothing, but with a Barnhart one never knew.

Wyatt mentally filed away the information for future use. He’d learned that any given random fact could potentially be what broke a case wide open.

“Thank you for telling me this, but you must leave now.” He moved her out into the hallway. “I have to wait for your uncle, and you probably should put that ball gown and veil back where you found them before Mrs. Gentry sees them.” He paused for effect. “They’re her favorites.”

Justine’s eyes widened. “Are they? I didn’t think she would notice.”

He glanced past her, then looked down at the girl again. “Oh, trust me. She will notice. Now scoot.”

She took off running, holding the dress up with one hand and her veil with the other. This time when the door shut, Wyatt made sure to turn the key and lock it. He barely made it back to his listening post before he heard several sets of boots scuffling across the wood planks of the porch.

“Thank you, Deputy. I’ll signal when it’s time for you to escort him off the property,” Mr. Gentry said.

One set of boots walked away and left the porch, followed by the sound of chair legs scraping over wood. Finally, there was silence.

The wind lifted the edge of the curtain, revealing a slice of blue sky off in the distance. Wyatt shrank farther down out of the way and waited for the men to begin speaking.

“Before you say anything,” Eliza’s father began, “I want you to know that the deputy over there believes you’re not worth the bullet it would take to shoot you, but I told him I’d look the other way if he changed his mind.”

Ben’s chuckle finally split the silence that followed. “You’re good at looking the other way, aren’t you, old man?”

A scrape of boots, a soft thud, and then the sound of a chair turning over followed. Ben laughed again, but this time his laughter held no humor.

“I don’t suppose your deputy friend would admit to seeing you punch me just now.”

Another scrape of boots and William Gentry was presumably back in his chair. “Frankly, I don’t care if he does or he doesn’t. And you can go ahead and brag to whoever you’d like that Eliza’s pa gave you that black eye.”

“I’ll mention that to your daughter when I get back to the hotel.”

Silence fell between them.

“Look,” Ben finally said. “I didn’t expect you’d be happy to see me, so I won’t hold that punch against you.”

A chair squeaked, and Wyatt assumed the older man was shifting positions. “I don’t care if you do. Did my daughter send you?”

“She has no idea I’m here.” Ben paused. “Although she will probably figure out where I’ve been when she sees me.”

“Oh, come on, Barnhart. I can’t be the only man who wants to punch you. Just get on with whatever brings you here so you can leave again. I only have so much tolerance for sitting here being civil.”

“I could argue civility with you, sir, but I won’t.” The sound of paper rustling drifted toward Wyatt on the breeze. “I’ll just leave you with a look at this.”

“What is it?”

“The license authorizing my marriage to your daughter.”

For a moment, silence fell between the men on the porch. Wyatt shifted positions and waited.

“It’s legal,” Ben added.

“Why’d you do this?” William Gentry asked, his voice rough. “I let you get away with murder when you were just a boy, and this is how you repay that? You steal my daughter away in the middle of the night and would’ve killed Red if the good Lord hadn’t seen fit to make it look like he was already gone.”

“Don’t you see, old man? That’s exactly why I had to marry her.”

“I don’t follow.”

“You weren’t there when Creed was shot. You didn’t see me pull the trigger, and yet you think you let me get away with murder. How do you know it wasn’t Wyatt? His pa beat him all the time when he was drinking, and everybody in camp saw he was drinking that night.”

“Because Wyatt Creed didn’t do it. If he was going to kill W. C. Creed, he would have done it long before that night, and he sure wouldn’t have done it on a trail ride with a dozen and a half others nearby. You, on the other hand, were and always have been possessed of a shortage of temper and good sense.”

“You have it all figured out, don’t you?”

“WC probably said something you didn’t like, so you shot him. That’s what I believe.” He paused. “Why involve Eliza nine years down the road?”

“Because Wyatt Creed isn’t dead. I sat across the table from him at the Driskill Hotel this morning.” He laughed. “You look surprised. Did you think I wouldn’t know it was him? That scar on his neck gave him away. Well, that and the way he makes moon eyes every time he’s around Eliza. And that is why I had to marry her. She doesn’t know yet, but she will figure it out eventually.”

Wyatt’s fingers curled. It took everything he had to remain in place.

“You’re talking nonsense,” Mr. Gentry told Ben. “Pure nonsense.”

“Am I? You’re treading dangerous ground encouraging Creed to spend time around Eliza. She’s a smart girl. It wouldn’t have taken long until she figured it out too. Or he told her.”

“He wouldn’t have. In exchange for his life, Wyatt made a promise to me, and he’s kept it.”

“But you didn’t keep your side of the deal, did you, Gentry? When you hired him to watch your wife and daughter in New Orleans, you were hoping Eliza would recognize her old friend, weren’t you?”

“No, I didn’t think she would. But I knew how to find him. I always did. I made him promise that too. And when it came to hiring someone to keep you away from Eliza, I couldn’t think of anyone better suited for the job.”

“Yet he failed.”

Three words that struck Wyatt in the gut. He had failed. He’d bet that keeping tabs on Ben would keep him away from Eliza, and he was wrong.

“But see,” Ben continued, “I had to marry Eliza because if I hadn’t, he would have. She might not know who she was really marrying, but she would have married him. Then eventually his secret would have come out. They always do between husbands and wives. Once that happened, where would that leave me? You know your daughter. Do you believe for a minute that she would allow the man she loves to remain accused of a crime he didn’t commit?”

“No,” Eliza’s father said. “She wouldn’t stand for it.”

A chair scraped across wood. “Now that she’s married to me, I hope you don’t go entertaining any thoughts of telling the story of what happened out on the trail that night. I’ve got a campaign to run, and it would be a pity if I had to claim that I had no idea my wife’s father let a murderer get away.”

“But I did,” he said. “You.”

“You’re hardheaded but you’re smart, Gentry. Just let it be. Stay away from my wife, and I won’t say a word about who Detective John Brady really is. Nor will I mention that you, Wyatt, and my wife conspired to cover up a murder.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would,” Ben said. “And the word of a state senator will be taken more seriously than the word of a man who helped his daughter’s friend get away with murder. You’d all go to jail, Eliza included. Is that what you want for your precious daughter?”

“You’re not a senator yet,” William Gentry snapped. “And if I have anything to do with it, you won’t be.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I would think you had more concern for your future grandchildren than to see their mother in jail.”

Wyatt heard paper crumpling. “Take this license and go,” Eliza’s father told him. “You’ve made your point.”

“I hope I have.” Ben paused. “I realize there’s nothing I can say to Eliza to keep her away from her family, so I will leave that up to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you love your daughter and want the best for her, you will figure out a way to convince her that she’s better off with me than you.”

“And just how do you expect I will manage to tell her mother she’s lost the only daughter she has?”

The anguish in William Gentry’s voice was heart wrenching. Again Wyatt had to force himself to remain in place when everything in him wanted to go after Ben Barnhart.

“Does she know what happened on the trail nine years ago?”

The curtain rose and fell on a breeze, once again allowing Wyatt a glimpse of the sky above. He waited to see how Eliza’s father would respond.

“I told Susanna everything.”

“Then it’s your fault my wife can’t see her mama. You’ll explain it just fine, I’m sure.”

“Deputy,” he called, “escort this man out while he’s still walking. I won’t be responsible for what happens to him if you don’t get him out of my sight immediately.”