Whispers on the Wind (34 page)

“Blood was everywhere! And
I could do nothing but stand there and watch. It was as if I were
stone,” Mary sobbed. “Tears streamed down my cheeks. I wanted to
help Jim, but my arms wouldn’t move. Even though I couldn’t stab
Jim, his brother was still very much in control of me.

“When Big Jim fell to the
floor at my feet, John grabbed my arm. He snarled, ‘You little
bitch, you’ll follow my commands one way or the other.’ He touched
my head and I quit crying.

“I still had the knife
clutched in my hand. He forced me to kneel down, then he jerked my
arm over my head and forced it with a mighty thrust into Big Jim’s
body. I remember the warm b-blood spattering my face. Over and over
again, guided by John, I stabbed Big Jim.” Mary was crying harder
now. “I—I couldn’t stop. John wouldn’t let me. I had blood all over
me, too.

“John told me I was the
one who killed Big Jim, and I would always remember his murder, and
the blood. But if I was asked what happened, my mind would go blank
and I wouldn’t be able to remember anything.

“I
grabbed for his coat and tore a small piece of the green material
as I begged him to let go of my arm, but he kept pushing my arm
with the knife into Jim. Then he made me help him drag Jim in front
of the fireplace. I could hear gurgling coming from Jim’s throat,
and I knew he wasn’t dead yet. And I couldn’t do anything for him.
Nothing!”

Mary paused to gather her
composure. She took a few deep breaths, then continued, ‘John
grabbed my wrist and led me to my bedroom, where he pushed me,
still clutching the knife, onto my bed. His last words were to hang
onto that knife all night. I—I don’t remember anything else. When I
woke up in the morning, I didn’t know what had happened.

“I was scared. I knew I
looked guilty. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran,” Mary finished
with a sob.

“I have no more questions,
Your Honor,” Thunder said softly, patting Mary’s hand.

The judge looked at the
prosecutor. “Do you have any further questions?”

Bryan slowly rose. “How do
we know she isn’t a very good actress”—he waved his hands in a big
circle—“and making up this entire story to protect her own
skin?”

“That’s a very good
question,” Judge Parker said. “However, if she is telling the
truth, then we have an entirely different case.” He paused, rubbed
his forehead, and looked up at the bailiff. “Bring in
McCoy.”

A few moments later, the
bailiff escorted McCoy into the courtroom.

“What’s going on?” McCoy
asked.

Mary watched the slimy worm
walk into the court with all the confidence in the world, and he
looked so innocent. If she hadn’t been in the cabin the night of
the murder, she might be inclined to believe him rather than her
preposterous story. But she knew what he had done. And if she’d had
a gun right now, would have done everything she could to even up
the score.

The judge turned to McCoy.
“Mr. McCoy, you realize that you are still under oath?”

McCoy nodded. He wasn’t
sure what had gone on while he had been outside with the others,
but he knew he had control over the girl and she’d never remember
anything. They didn’t have anything on him.

“While you were out, we
had Miss Costner hypnotized and she revealed some very interesting
facts.”

“By who?” McCoy snapped
the words out He’d never thought about them finding another
hypnotist But would the new man be able to undo his
suggestions?

“By Dr.
Delaney.”

McCoy appeared confident as
he asked, “And what were those interesting facts?”

“The small fact that you
killed your own brother.”

“What nonsense!” He gave a
half laugh. These people were bluffing. “You have no
proof.”

Carter tapped Thunder on
the arm and whispered, “Mary doesn’t look like she’s feeling well.
Let’s ask for a recess.”

“Your Honor, I would like
to request a recess so that I can obtain some additional
information.”

“I could use a breather
myself,” Judge Parker admitted. “However, in light of this very
unusual case, Bailiff, I’d like to take Mr. McCoy into temporary
custody. You can hold him in a hotel room.”

“That ain’t right, Judge.
I ain’t done nothing,” McCoy protested.

“Time will tell,” the
judge said. He stood and banged the gavel. “Court is adjourned. It
will reconvene tomorrow at noon.”

All rose as the judge made
his way to the side chamber. Then Mary was taken back to
jail.

Carter, Thunder, and
Delaney left the courtroom. After the revealing information, all
three of them needed the fresh air and time to plan what they were
going to do next.

They hadn’t gotten very far
down the sidewalk when a woman came running up to them, throwing
herself into Thunder’s arms.

Carter arched a brow. The
woman was beautiful. “An admirer?”

Thunder chuckled. “I sure
hope so.” He eased the woman’s arms from around his neck. “This is
my wife, Brandy. Brandy, this is Carter Monroe, the marshal Mary
has been staying with.”

Brandy gaped at Thunder.
“Why was she staying with him?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll
tell you later.”

Brandy glanced at Carter,
then extended her hand. “Sorry for being so rude, but Mary and I
have had problems with the law in the past It’s nice to meet
you.”

“Your reaction was very
similar to Mary’s when she first learned I was a lawman. I’ve heard
a lot about you and your family,” Carter said with a smile. “I
think you and Mary are probably more alike than you
think.”

Brandy laughed. “Well,
don’t tell Mary. If she was talking about me, just remember it was
probably a lie. I’m not that bad. Now, tell me what was going on in
there and why we have been barred from the courtroom. I didn’t like
that one bit.”

“I’m sure,” Thunder said.
He smiled, and then looked around. “This is Delaney, a friend of
mine.” After Brandy shook his hand, Thunder asked, “Where is
everyone else? I’m sure they want to hear this, too.”

“Come on, they are in the
lobby of the hotel,” Brandy said, and tugged on Thunder’s
hand.

Everyone went to the hotel,
where Thunder told his family what was happening. They seemed a
likable group, Carter thought as he watched each one.

“So, what are you going to
do?” Scott asked Thunder.

Thunder glanced at Scott
and smiled. “That is what we are getting ready to
discuss.”

“Delaney, what will happen
when we return to court? Will you have to hypnotize Mary again?”
Thunder asked.

“I don’t think so. I’m
sure she’s told us everything she knows. What you need is some hard
evidence or a witness. The only witnesses are Mary and McCoy, so
that’s a dead end.”

“What about the coat?”
Carter asked. “She mentioned the coat as she remembered. The coat
has to be the key.”

“The coat is a key,”
Thunder agreed. “We need to find McCoy’s wagon.”

Brandy turned. “Who is
McCoy?”

“A snake oil salesman and
Big Jim’s half brother,” both Carter and Thunder
answered.

Helen walked over to where
they were s
tan
din
g
.“When
we came into Appleton, I saw a wagon outside of town,” she told
them. “There was some funny writing on the canvas, like ‘World
Famous Medicine.’ It was red and yellow and very hard to
miss.”

“Sounds like what we’re
looking for,” Carter said, then glanced at Thunder. “Kind of glad
your family came to see you.”

Thunder chuckled. “Delaney,
I know you’ve had a long trip. Why don’t you go ahead and get your
room. Carter and I are going to check out the wagon.”

“Yeah, I’m kind of tired.
But I’ll be ready when it’s time to go back to court”

Scott and Willie walked up
to them. “Can we ride out with you?”

“Sure,” Thunder said,
ruffling Willie’s hair.

As they rode out of town,
Carter said to Thunder, “I brought the green coat we found at Big
Jim’s cabin with me. Mary said in there that John McCoy was wearing
the coat. I hope she isn’t confused in her facts. Maybe Big Jim was
wearing the jacket and she got the cloth from him. I sure hope that
isn’t the case. But I do think the jacket is the key.”

“But how could she see the
coat when it has hanging in Big Jim’s closet?” Thunder thought out
loud.

“Unless there were two
coats,” Carter said with a smile.

“Good point.” Thunder
nodded. “Hope you’re right”

When they reached the
wagon, the four of them all but turned the wagon upside down as
they searched, but the only things of interest they found were a
couple of books on hypnotism.

The tension finally got to
Carter. He threw a bottle of elixir out the back of the wagon. “I
could have sworn that there would be two jackets. Now we’re back
where we started.”

Willie marched up beside
them. “Does this mean they are going to hang Mary?”

“Not if we can help it,”
Thunder said

“I can guarantee you
she’ll not hang,” Carter assured Willie. “If it comes down to it, I
might have to break the law to free her, but I will get her out of
jail one way or the other.”

Thunder glanced at Carter.
“You love her, don’t you?”

Carter nodded. The idea was
still too fresh to put into words.

Scott walked up to where
they were. “This coat we’re looking for,” Scott said, “if Mary said
she saw a man in the green coat, then I believe her. But I heard
Carter say she was in a group of people, so wouldn’t somebody else
have seen the man?”

“Rick, my deputy.” Carter
paused. “That’s it! It isn’t much, but Rick said something about
the man in the green coat. So he’d have to have seen
somebody.”

“How long will it take for
him to get here?” Thunder asked.

“If he rides all night,
he’ll be here by noon tomorrow.”

“Well, what are we waiting
for? Send him a telegram. It isn’t much, but it’s
something.”

Mary heard a noise in the
front office. When she looked up, three women were being escorted
in by the sheriff. He opened the door so they could enter the cell.
She grinned as she recognized Brandy, Helen, and Ellen.

Mary hugged Helen first and
was comforted by her warm, motherly bosom. “It’s so good to see
you,” Mary said.

“It’s good to see you,
too, but not like this.” Mary hugged Brandy and Ellen. “Thank you
so much for coming. I was surprised when I saw you enter the
courtroom.”

“Thunder told us about the
trial,” Brandy said. “They wouldn’t let us in. I still don’t
understand why the family could not be present, and I’d tell that
judge exactly what I think if I could find him,” she said
indignantly. Then she paused. “However, I find it hard to believe
that someone was controlling your mind. Lord knows, I never could
control you.”

Mary chuckled. “Thank you.
I can’t remember when I’ve last laughed. I’m finding everything
hard to believe. I feel like I’m in the middle of a nightmare, and
I want someone to wake me up and tell me it has all been a very bad
dream.” She sobered. “I don’t think things are looking very good
for me right now.”

Brandy gave Mary an
encouraging smile. “Remember, my trial didn’t look too good either.
And I know I killed the man. Thunder will think of
something.”

“I do remember. I’ll just
be glad when everything is back to normal.”

“What will you do then?”
Ellen asked as she sat down on the small cot with Helen.

“Hire someone to run the
mine,” Mary said. “My mining days are over.”

“And about time,” Helen
said.

“But what are you going to
do?” Ellen asked again. “Come back to the ranch?”

“No. I’m going to take
some of that hard-earned money and buy a house.”

“And settle down with that
Marshal Monroe?” Brandy asked with a sly smile.

Mary looked at her sister,
wondering how she would even know that they had some kind of a
relationship, however strange it might be. “What made you say
that?”

“We met him after the
trial. He said you’d been staying with him. And he seemed very
worried about you.”

“He is so good looking,”
Ellen said.

Mary smiled. “Yes, he is
something to look at, but he’s the marshal that brought me in.” She
motioned toward the cot for Brandy. “Sit down and let me tell you
the rest of the story.”

Nearly an hour passed
before Mary had filled them in with all the details.

“Oh my,” Brandy said when
Mary finished with her story.

“So you see, Carter was
only doing his job by bringing me in,” Mary said with a sad
frown.

“But he is still here,”
Helen pointed out “If his job is over, there is nothing to hold him
here—unless it’s you.”