'And it will not bother you to see this innocent woman hanged by the neck for-'
'No. No,' Sarah cried. 'I can't, Henry. I just can't. I'm sorry, but-'
'What the hell are you talking about?' Henry Steele demanded, rising to his feet.
'Order! Order in this court!'
'Who did kill your husband?' Dimitri asked.
Sarah covered her face with her hands. 'I did,' she said. 'I killed him.'
'You don't know what you're saying!' a stunned Henry shouted.
'She did it?' Tamsin cried. 'Sarah shot him?' Tamsin flung herself into Ash's arms.
'I knew all along you couldn't have done it,' he teased.
'Did you?' She drew back and pummeled him halfheartedly in the chest. 'If you did…' She tried to gain control of herself 'If you did,' she repeated, 'you sure had a strange way of showing it.'
'I'll have order in this court, or I'll lock you all up for contempt,' Judge Marlborough said, slamming his Colt on the table.
Henry Steele's face whitened to chalk. 'You killed my brother?' he rasped.
Dimitri laid a hand on Sarah's shoulder. 'Would you like to continue?' he asked. 'Tell us exactly what happened.'
'Shut up, Sarah!' Henry shouted. 'Don't say-'
'Get him out of here,' Marlborough ordered, pointing to Judge Steele. 'Sheriff! Do your duty or find another job!'
Walker hustled a protesting Henry toward the swinging doors.
'Please,' Sarah begged. 'Let him stay. I want him to hear. I don't know if I can tell it again, and Henry must know why.'
Walker glanced back at Marlborough. 'He can stay,' the presiding judge consented. 'But one word out of you, Henry,' he threatened, 'one word, and I'll shoot you myself.'
'Sam and I,' Sarah began brokenly. 'It was a mistake, from the first. My mistake. Sam was a hard man, very hard. He hit me whenever I…'
Dimitri took Sarah's hand. 'You don't have to go on if you don't want to.'
'No, if I don't tell it now, I never will,' she insisted. 'Henry and I… I love Henry, and I think he loves me.' She looked at him, and he nodded.
'Sam found out about us, about the baby… Henry's baby. He said he was going to kill Henry. He said it, and he would have.' She was speaking to Judge Steele, as if they were alone in the room, Tamsin thought.
Sarah inhaled deeply and went on. 'I followed him to the barn that night.' She glanced at Tamsin. 'They were her horses. I'm sure of it. Mr. Edwards stole horses and sold them to Sam. They always had bills of sale. Sam made them himself. It was one of the reasons Sam's ranch was so successful. He always had good horses to sell in Denver.'
'Go on,' Dimitri urged.
'That night, I was leaving him. I'd sent a note to Henry, asking him to come for me. But somehow, Sam found out. He let the cowboy deliver the letter, but he was waiting in the barn for Henry to come. He said he was going to shoot Henry first, so I'd know he was dead. First Henry, and then me. I couldn't let him do that.'
'So you followed your husband to the stable,' Dimitri supplied.
'Yes, I did. I told him I was going to stop him the only way I knew how. I had to protect Henry and our baby, you see. Who else could do it?'
'Yes,' Dimitri urged. 'Then what?'
'He laughed. Sam laughed. He said I was… He called me a filthy name. He said I didn't have the guts to shoot him. And then he turned his back on me.'
'And you shot him,' Dimitri finished.
'Yes.'
'You intended to kill him, or you intended to frighten him. Which was it?' Dimitri asked. 'Think very carefully, Mrs. Steele. Remember back to that terrible night. You were in the stable on a dark, stormy night. You were upset, frightened. Are you sure you meant to pull the trigger? Or is there a possibility that it could have gone off accidentally?'
Sarah looked up into Dimitri's face. 'It could have been an accident.'
'There,' the little lawyer declared. 'There you have it, gentlemen.' He whirled on the jury. 'This frail woman, a woman already traumatized by beatings and the threat of being murdered. She goes to the barn and tries to frighten her husband by pointing a gun at him.'
'And the weapon simply discharged.' Marlborough slammed his Colt on the table. 'Sheriff. Arrest this woman. She is to be delivered to my court in Denver for trial two weeks hence.'
'Marlborough-'Judge Steele began.
'Shut up, Henry,' Marlborough said. He rapped the table again. 'Henry Steele to pay the fine of one hundred dollars for contempt of court.'
'One hundred dollars?'
'Make that five hundred dollars. Fine dismissed if Judge Steele provides this court with proof of his marriage to Mrs. Samuel Steele within twenty-four hours.'
'That's blackmail,' Henry retorted.
Judge Marlborough fixed him with a steely, if somewhat unfocused, gaze. 'Will you or will you not do the honorable thing by this lady?'
'But you're going to try her for murder.'
'I am. But that doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility toward her child.'
Sarah looked at Henry hopefully.
'I will, damn it,' Henry replied.
'Good.' Marlborough stood up unsteadily. 'Dimitri, your client is free to go.'
'Which client, your honor?' Zajicek asked. Bucky Marlborough chuckled. 'Mrs. MacGreggor. You'll have a more difficult job defending the other one.'
'Perhaps,' the lawyer replied. 'But there are extenuating circumstances.'
'Aren't there always?' Marlborough slammed his Colt down a final time. 'This court is no longer in session.'
Chapter 25
Tamsin and Ash returned with Dimitri to the boardinghouse, where his wife, Helen, joined them for a celebration supper. The owner had set up a private table for the four of them in a small chamber off the main dining room.
'How brilliant of you to suspect Mrs. Steele,' Helen remarked.
Dimitri smiled and patted his wife's hand. 'Hardly brilliant. We were running out of suspects, and Mrs. Steele had as much reason to want to be rid of her husband as Judge Steele did. And she seemed entirely too sympathetic toward Mrs. MacGreggor. Naturally, if Ashton hadn't identified the livery owner as a wanted criminal using an alias, we would have been in a difficult position with that jury.'
'Edwards's escape attempt didn't do us any harm either,' Ash put in.
'I don't care. You're still a brilliant lawyer,' Helen said. 'You would have thought of something. You always do.'
'Thank you, my dear. I'm glad you think so,' Dimitri answered, and then went on to explain the details of Sarah Steele's confession.
'But how will you defend her?' Helen asked. 'Since she's already confessed to the shooting.'
'Extenuating circumstances,' Tamsin put in.
Dimitri nodded. 'Exactly.'
Ash hardly heard a word. He was as jittery as a steer at a barbecue, and he couldn't take his eyes off Tamsin. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much that they needed to settle as soon as they were alone together. But he couldn't be rude to Dimitri and his wife by refusing their hospitality after all they had done for
