“We’ll be diligent,” Amey replied as she stepped into the stall.
Tilford watched her for a moment before asking, “I have been meaning to ask you, did you find the Tiners’ cabin all right?”
“We did. Thank you for the directions.”
“No problem,” Tilford responded. “However, I would caution you against associating with Jacob Tiner.”
“And why is that?” Amey asked as she placed her saddle onto Jasper’s back.
Tilford stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Because he went and killed his wife.”
Amey’s brows shot up. “You don’t say.”
“It’s true,” Tilford replied. “Doris was planning on leaving Jacob, and he refused to let her go. So, he killed her.”
Lincoln tightened the saddle to the horse’s back. “How do you know Doris was planning to leave him?”
“It wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret,” Tilford explained.
Opening the stall door, Lincoln led his horse out. “If that was the case, then why hasn’t the sheriff arrested him?”
Tilford chuckled. “The sheriff would never arrest his own kin.”
“Do you mean to tell me that the sheriff and Jacob Tiner are related?” Amey asked in disbelief.
“Yes, ma’am. They’re cousins.”
Amey’s eyes shot to his, and Lincoln knew they had a whole slew of questions they needed to ask Jacob Tiner.
Amey pulled back on the reins, bringing her horse to a halt in front of Tiner’s cabin. She was about to dismount when Lincoln reined in his horse next to her.
“I must admit that Jasper is exceptionally fast,” Lincoln praised as he dismounted.
“He is a good horse,” she said, then paused with a smile. “When he wants to behave, that is.”
Amey dismounted and secured her horse before she stepped up onto the porch. Lincoln knocked and stepped back. After a long moment, he tried knocking again, but they were met with silence.
“Do you think Jacob is out tending to his cattle?” she asked.
“Possibly, but let’s check the barn first,” he said, pointing at a barn a few yards away. “It’s still early, so he might be busy doing his chores.”
“Good point.”
Together, they walked the short distance to the barn.
As Lincoln opened the door to the barn, he shouted, “Hello? Mr. Tiner?”
“Morning,” Jacob replied as he sat on a stool, milking a cow. “What brings you two by this morning?”
Amey walked further into the barn and scrunched her nose at the overpowering smell of manure and hay.
“We have a few more questions for you,” Lincoln said, appearing to be unaffected by the stench.
Jacob glanced over his shoulder. “Go ahead and ask them, then.”
Lincoln’s alert eyes scanned the large barn before asking, “Was it true that your wife was planning to leave you?”
Jacob’s hands stilled on the teats, and his next words were low and hesitant. “Where did you hear that?”
“It doesn’t matter who told us,” Lincoln replied. “We only care to know if it’s true.”
Dropping his hands to his lap, Jacob rose and turned to face them. “Yes, it was true,” he replied dejectedly.
“Didn’t you think that was important for us to know?” Amey asked with an uplifted brow.
Jacob placed his hand on the backside of the cow. “I loved my wife, dearly, and I didn’t want her to leave. But I couldn’t force her to stay.”
“A few people in town think you killed your wife because she wanted to leave,” Lincoln remarked.
“That’s absurd!” Jacob exclaimed. “I would never hold my wife prisoner on the ranch. I’m not that sort of man.”
“Is it true that you fought all the time?” Amey asked.
Jacob frowned. “You spoke to Mrs. Willow, didn’t you?”
“We did,” she replied, seeing no reason to deny it.
“She is the town’s busybody,” Jacob revealed.
Amey stepped further into the barn. “She claims to have witnessed a fight between you and Doris in the dining room of the hotel.”
Jacob sighed. “That is true,” he admitted. “We fought after Doris told me that she intended to visit her family for an extended time. She told me that she wasn’t happy living in Colorado, and she needed time to think a few things over.”
“Which were?” Amey pressed.
He shrugged. “I suppose she needed to decide if she wanted to stay married to me.”
“Why wasn’t she happy here?” Lincoln asked.
Jacob lifted his eyes up to the rafters and said, “She said she missed her family, and she was tired of the never-ending work of living on a ranch.” He shook his head. “I tried hiring a housekeeper to help with her chores, but that wasn’t good enough. No matter what I did, Doris was still unhappy.”
“When was she planning to leave?” Amey questioned.
He winced as he met her gaze. “The day after she turned up dead.”
Lincoln grew solemn as he asked, “Did you kill your wife, Jacob?”
Jacob’s mouth dropped open. “Didn’t we already go through this?”
Amey placed her hand on the butt of her revolver. “We did, but we need to hear it from you again.”
Tossing his arms up in the air, Jacob shouted, “No! I did not kill my wife! Even though she didn’t love me enough to stay with me, I loved her!” His eyes grew moist with unshed tears.
A long silence descended over them before Amey lowered her hand from her revolver. “I believe you.”
Jacob huffed. “I’m glad, especially since the townsfolk are convinced that I murdered my wife.”
“You must admit that the evidence is stacked up against you,” Amey replied.
“I’m well aware of that,” Jacob stated dryly. “Every time I go into town, I worry that a lynch mob might try to hang me.”
“Why didn’t you reveal that the sheriff is your cousin?” Lincoln asked.
Reaching down, Jacob picked up the bucket from the ground. “I suppose it just didn’t come up.”
“If Doris was leaving so soon, why did she buy fabric from the general store?” Amey inquired.
“My wife was planning to sew a blanket as she traveled to Boston,” Jacob said, shifting the bucket in his hand.
“A blanket?” Amey questioned.
“Yes.” Jacob started walking toward the barn door. “I know Doris loved me, but she was just confused. I have no doubt that she would have eventually
