Feeling emboldened by her pretty new attire, however, she moseyed over to her husband’s desk to practice wifely flirtation. “May I ask what you’re working on?”
Dwight met her eyes and then leaned a bit to one side to make eye contact with his boss, who apparently indicated the go ahead. Her husband smiled up at her, and her heart fluttered as always in response to the impact of his cute, dimpled smile.
“I’m looking through previous cases to find one that David remembers—a precedent for the one we are handling now—only I haven’t found it yet. I, um…haven’t been able to concentrate too well this morning,” he added, sounding a bit sheepish, she thought.
She moved closer to view the page, her skirt brushing his arm and she thought she saw him quiver. Hmm…does that mean he’s as affected by me as I am by him? The thought sent a thrill straight down her body and she held back a grin.
“A precedent? That’s like an example or pattern, right? An example of what?”
Dwight seemed to be astonished at her comment, and she was secretly thankful for Pauline’s continued tutoring. She had only learned that word a week before when Pauline had created a study sheet of legal terms, upon Mary’s request.
“Well, um…” he paused as David got up and retrieved a chair from against the wall, brought it over, and placed it next to Dwight’s desk with a show of chivalry, murmuring, “Have a seat, my dear.”
Mary thanked him sincerely, since lately her lower back would ache when she stood for longer than five minutes. Settling down onto the chair, she suppressed a sigh of relief before turning back to her husband. He was looking at her rather shamefacedly.
“Sorry I didn’t think of getting you a chair, Mary,” he mumbled, but she reached out and touched his hand with a gentle smile to let him know not to worry.
“To answer your question, the case we’re working on has to do with two landowners,” he continued. “Two farms, side by side, on the road to Nemaha. Seems the two got into an argument over boundary lines, or rather, boundary stones, and landowner A hired a surveyor to come from Nebraska City. His conclusion differed from the stones by about twenty feet, putting into jeopardy the new hog pen that had been built by landowner B. So, landowner A hired us to settle the matter. I’m looking for a similar case recorded in these books from a few years back, to see how the judge ruled.”
Mary thought about that for a moment. “Well…why would the survey say different?”
Dwight grinned at her. “That’s the question.”
Remembering an incident from her childhood, Mary hesitated to mention it as it seemed rather simple, nonetheless, she decided to continue. “Unless…” she glanced at Mr. Mincer, who was listening and looking her way. “Unless the boundary stone was moved and neither of the landowners did it. It could have been moved by say, one of their children? That happened one time when I was small. We lived in Omaha in a boarding house,” she went on, “and one day Hank and I were playing out in the backyard. Well, he found a large stone and rolled it into the yard of the boarding house, to add to a pile he was using to make a fort. Turned out it was a boundary stone between the boarding house and the farm behind it. Oh my, Papa wore out the seat of Hank’s britches over that one,” she added with a laugh, remembering the incident clearly.
When she looked back at Dwight, he was gaping, wide-eyed at his boss, who was staring back at him.
“Why didn’t we think of that? That’s got to be it!” Dwight exclaimed.
“Both parties do have children…” Mr. Mincer agreed. “Dwight, I think tomorrow you should ride out there and ask a few pertinent questions.”
The two men turned back to her with grins as large as Cheshire cats.
“Brilliant deduction, my dear. I think you might have just solved the case for us,” Mr. Mincer laughed.
“Smart as well as beautiful, that’s my wife,” Dwight teased. “You seem to be emitting a glow, pretty Mary. I thought perhaps it was your new dress, but maybe that’s your cleverness shining from within.”
“I agree, except they say all women who are in the family way produce a kind of glow. I noticed it each time with my wife, as well,” David commented.
Mary felt herself blush at all of the compliments, and when she peered askance at her husband again, he stated for her ears only, “Maybe so…but in my eyes, you would outshine them all.”
Suddenly bashful and tongue-tied, she scrambled for something to say to that.
Then, they all heard the vestibule door open and a young boy tucked his head in the inner doorway. “Mr. Mincer, Sheriff Dave sent me to fetch you to the jail. He said to tell you they caught a trespasser hidin’ in a barn and he might be the man who hurt Mr. Swigert.”
Mary gasped, and for a moment her heart accelerated, thinking it was the scoundrel, Hobbs. But surely he was long gone from the area…
Dwight and his boss were shrugging into their outer jackets, and then Dwight turned to her. “Would you like to come, Mary? Or, would it upset you…”
No, she’d enjoy seeing the person who could do such a horrid thing to Mr. Swigert be brought to justice. “I want to go, DJ.”
“Come along then,” he reached out to help her into her cloak, and then gently grasped her arm and escorted her out with them.
Hurrying along the boardwalk, Mary tugged the edges of her cloak close against the cool breeze blowing in from the river, since the law office was on Main Street. Once or twice,
