Grace and the Guiltless

Chapter 24

Grace started shaking. Joe grasped her elbow. “Steady,” he whispered.

She was done for. They would find her. Figure it out. If they fled out the back door, the deputy would know she was guilty. And if she had to run from the law, she would never catch the rest of the Guiltless Gang.

“Brazen it out,” Joe whispered.

All very well for him to say, but his finger wasn’t the one that had pulled the trigger.

The deputy eyed each person in the room. One by one, they shook their heads. When his eyes rested on Grace, her heart pounded so hard she was sure he could hear it. But his eyes slid past, dismissing her. He narrowed in on Joe.

“No witnesses to the deed far as I can tell. But a stable hand did mention someone with long hair and a black vest hustling in through the back door immediately afterward. Not saying that’s the person who did it, but I’d like to talk to him.”

Grace clenched her hands into fists and willed her body to stop shaking. They couldn’t question Joe. Both of them had to get out of here before the sheriff discovered her or before people figured who really shot the man.

Only Reverend Byington might know what happened. And he, being a man of the cloth, would never lie. She had to disappear before the deputy found out.

“No one wants to claim the reward?” The deputy looked puzzled. “You kill one of the most wanted criminals in the country and won’t admit it?

Grace’s eyes widened. A reward? Did that mean they wouldn’t arrest her?

She glanced at Joe.

“Reward?” one of the men at the bar bellowed. “There’s a reward? Oh, uh, in that case, I’ll own up. I shot him.” He stood and puffed out his chest. “Reginald Black here. Best bounty hunter east of the Rockies.”

Another man elbowed Reginald out of the way. “When did it happen, Deputy?”

“Best I can tell, a few minutes ago.”

“Black here was sitting at the bar when I came in a few minutes ago. That reward money’s mine. I killed him.”

Another cowboy muscled him out of the way. “You couldn’t shoot straight enough to nick the side of a barn. That reward done belongs to me.”

“No, it don’t.”

The young girl’s voice was shaky, but she spoke loudly enough to be heard over the excited buzz. “This here’s who killed Slaughter.” She pointed right at Grace.

Everyone whipped around to stare, then loud guffaws filled the room.

The deputy ignored her.

“She did,” the girl insisted. “I swear it!”

The shouting and jostling in the bar reached a fever pitch, with several other men trying to claim the reward, shoving each other out of the way to get the deputy’s attention.

Grace stepped forward and stared down all the men. “That’s my money.” She deserved that reward, and she needed it. It would give her the funds to track down the rest of the Guiltless Gang and to pay Joe back. “I shot Slaughter.”

Black laughed. “Go back home, little girl.”

The wash-girl pointed to Grace and in a trembling but firm voice said, “This little girlsaved my life. She shot that man in the alley.”

The deputy shook his head, disbelieving.

Joe stepped up. “I was a witness. That reward belongs to her.”