'I'm going to make this quick, ' he promised. 'I just have a couple of
questions. Are you up to answering them now, or would you like a
recess? ' 'I'd like to finish now, please.' He immediately asked his
first question. 'I ordered three women brought here, and I'm curious
to know where the other two are. Do you have any information about
their whereabouts? ' 'No, I don't. When Marshal Cooper told me Grace
and Jessica were also being brought here I felt terrible, just
terrible. Their lives have been uprooted because of me. If I had told
the truth from the beginning, none of this would be happening to
them.
They've become dear friends. I expected them to be here when I
arrived, and I was looking forward to seeing them and telling them how
sorry I am. I'm sure they were just delayed. Grace wasn't feeling
well when I left her. She might have had a relapse.'
'Let's move on to the next question. You said you got on the train
with Marshal Cooper and that he left your compartment and didn't come
back.
Why did he leave? ' 'I had a pounding headache and my medicine was in
my suitcase. Because Marshal Cooper was such a gentleman, he insisted
on going to the baggage compartment to fetch it for me. If I hadn't
complained . . . if I had suffered in silence . . . he would still be
alive. It's my fault he's dead, all . . . my . . . fault.' She
buried her face in her hands and began to sob. Rafferty looked at the
jury and noticed their united sympathy for the poor woman.
He realized he had better hurry up then before a rebellion broke out.
'We're almost done, ' he announced. 'Tell me what happened when you
heard the gunshots. Do you recollect how many you heard? ' She wiped
her face with the handkerchief as she nodded. 'I'm pretty sure I heard
two shots fired. I was too frightened to find out what was
happening.
The train made an unexpected stop, and that's when I heard that poor
Marshal Cooper had been killed.'
'And then what did you do? ' 'I was afraid to get back on the train.
I didn't know what to do, ' she cried out. 'I hid in the brush and
waited until everyone had gone. I don't know how long I stayed there
.
. . It could have been hours, ' she stammered. 'When I was finally
able to pull myself together, I ran into town.'
'But you didn't go to the sheriff there, and that's one of the little
