Reaching the sheriff’s office, David opened the door and stood back, motioning for Mary to precede the men. She did, and soon the three of them were ensconced in the small room, along with Tobias and two of the other deputies, including Keith.
“You found a man you think might be the Swigert perpetrator?” David asked the sheriff, who answered with a nod.
“Where did you find him?”
“It isn’t Hobbs, is it?” Dwight asked, and Mary was extremely glad that Tobias answered with a flat, “No,” before answering David’s question, “Just past the county line, near Talmage. We got word that a man matching the description of the Swigert attacker was seen squatting at an abandoned farm. We found him and when we asked his name and what he was doing there, he took off running for a horse, a beautiful black stallion, by the way. We caught the man and brought him back, but he refuses to tell us his name. He matches the description Mr. Swigert gave—dark hair and dark blue eyes. He’s the right build, too.”
“We were just going to take him out to Swigert’s place to see if he can make a positive identification,” Sheriff Dave added. “If you’d like to come along, I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Yes, I’d like to, but…” Dwight began, turning to Mary. “But, Mary, I think it might be better if you went back to Doc’s. I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to ride that far in a buggy right now, do you?”
Mary shook her head. “No, you’re right, Dwight. Plus, I don’t care to have any close contact with a disreputable man like that anyway.”
Tobias and Keith had already disappeared down the hallway to the jail cells and Mary could hear the keys rattling and the squeak of the door opening as Keith’s voice ordered the prisoner to come out and turn around.
“That’s my girl,” her husband was saying. She was standing near the outer door and Dwight leaned in to give her a kiss on her cheek, his warm lips lingering as if he were thinking of doing more, but after a few moments, he pulled back a bit. “We won’t be long, and then I’ll come by the house and let you know what Swigert said.”
“All right,” she agreed, smiling up at him. On impulse, her hand reached up and caressed his cheek when she noticed that he had nicked himself that morning when he’d shaved in her room—as was now his custom. “You should be careful with that razor. It’s sharp, you know.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “I found that out.”
Just then, Tobias came back through the hallway’s entrance; a man in handcuffs right behind him.
Mary turned her head that way as she straightened her cloak in preparation for going back out into the wind, but as Tobias took one more step, she caught a glimpse of the prisoner, and she couldn’t stop the squeal that burst from her lips.
“Hank!”
She couldn’t believe her eyes! It was her long, lost brother!
Chapter 13
F orgetting all else, Mary ran the few steps to her brother and threw her arms around his neck. Tears immediately filled her eyes and spilled over her cheeks. Hank! She couldn’t believe it! After all these months! Thank You, Jesus!
“Mary?” he croaked next to her ear. “What are you doing here?”
Finally leaning back, swiping at the tears with her fingers, Mary grasped onto her brother’s arms and looked up at him, as he was considerably taller than her. She could see he’d lost weight, his hair was long and unkempt, and his face exhibited a week’s worth of whiskers, but she had known him instantly. Those sapphire blue eyes, so like hers and their father’s, glimmered back at her in shock.
Now, it was those very eyes that searched hers for a few moments before they dropped to her linen-covered belly that was situated prominently between them. “You…you’re gonna have a baby?” he then asked, his voice wrought with disbelief. “But…what—” he began, but Sheriff Dave interrupted.
“This is your brother, Mary?”
Still clasping one of his arms, Mary turned toward the sheriff before taking in the rest of the stunned faces in the room.
“Yes, it is. This is Hank—or rather, Henry Robinson. He’s my brother. I haven’t seen him since last March,” she added, glancing first at Dwight’s shocked but pleased expression, and then back to her brother.
“Now, can one of you please take those handcuffs off of him?” she added, flicking a look at Keith, who was hovering nearby.
The sheriff drew near as well. “I’m afraid we can’t do that, Mary. Your brother is being held on suspicion of attempted murder.”
“Attempted murder!” Hank exclaimed; his eyes wide. “What’re you talking about?”
Tobias stepped closer, placing one hand on Hank’s other arm, his eyes and words aimed at Mary. “We have to be sure, Mary. We have to take him out and let Swigert see if he’s the one.”
“Is that the farmer on the outskirts of town? The one you asked me about? I didn’t try to murder him,” Hank insisted, his fearful eyes were moving from one to the other of the men. “I was asleep in the loft, in the middle of a dream even, and all of a sudden a sound woke me. I jumped up and saw this man with a pitchfork in his hand. I hollered in surprise, he hollered in surprise, and the next thing I know, he was tumbling out the window. He’d dropped the pitchfork and tripped on it, I think. But I didn’t push him or
