Murder at Thumb Butte Read Online Free

here. Take Jeremiah to Belleville until he’s well enough to travel to Carson City.” I glanced at Jeremiah to see how he took to the idea, but he looked resigned to whatever his fate might be.
    Sharp leaned across the table to emphasize his point. “That’s what I’m thinkin’. There ain’t nothin’ here for us ’cept trouble.”
    “ Jeremiah?”
    He looked furtively toward the kitchen. “I’m just hungry.”
    Before I made a decision, I needed to ask a question. “Jeff, is there anything else you’re not telling me?”
    “ Nothin’ that … oh hell, Steve, ya don’t want to know.”
    “ I do.”
    Sharp gave me a hard stare before saying, “Jenny’s part of this.”
    “ Jenny? How?”
    “ This is her doin’.” Sharp leaned back and looked sad. “She might be tryin’ to hurt ya by destroyin’ yer friends, or she could just be takin’ over the state. Ain’t privy to her thinkin’.”
    Jenny Bolton had been an infatuation—one that had gotten me in real trouble. Escaping her charms had required me to see her for what she really was—a terribly disturbed woman who masked her emotional wounds with stunning good looks and girlish effervescence. I had broken it off last autumn and had seen her only from a distance during my long winter in Carson City.
    “ I don’t understand. Why would she want to hurt me? She never cared about me.”
    “ Maybe she did, maybe she didn’t, but she sure as hell didn’t like ya dumpin’ her in front of her hands.”
    “ Damn.”
    After a long silence, Sharp said, “Ya can’t fight her.”
    Sharp looked at me with sympathy. Before I became too embarrassed, Mary brought over a huge plate of food, snapping it down directly in front of me. I stood and shoved the plate aside. “Not hungry anymore. Jeremiah, don’t let my meal go to waste.”
    I bolted out of the café and raced after the marshal. I figured his heavy gut would have him breathing hard after a single flight of stairs, but I chased him all the way to his office before I caught up.
    “ Marshal, I want to talk in private,” I said.
    Clive nodded toward his office and bounded up the three steps with surprising agility.
    Once inside, I decided not to waste time. “Clive, how would you like to run this town again?”
    “ Go on.” He tried to sound indifferent, but I saw a light come into his eyes.
    “ This Sheriff Madison, he do anything wrong, anything you could arrest him for?”
    “ Me?”
    “ You, and a few friends.”
    I could see he liked the idea. “How many friends?”
    “ Four. Me, Sharp, and two of his toughest guards.”
    He rubbed his chin. “Five against three ain’t bad, but they don’t fight fair. One of the deputies always comes up from behind with a shotgun.”
    “ Then we know how they work. But I want to arrest them for a legitimate crime, one that would put them behind bars for years.”
    “ You want to arrest them? Who put you in charge?”
    “ You’re the marshal, and we’ll be your deputies, but if you ignore my counsel, we’ll ride out of town and leave you to deal with this mess.”
    Clive casually leaned back in his swivel chair and rocked a bit. “Agreed.” He didn’t hesitate. “With enough gun hands backin’ me, there won’t be any problem gettin’ witnesses to extortion, larceny, assault, and possibly murder.” He swung his chair up straight with a snap and leaned over his desk. “What do I get?”
    “ Everything you had before, except for the hotel.”
    He thought a second. “I want clear title to Ruby’s.”
    “ I thought you always had that.”
    “ Nope. Washburn owned half. After you killed him, somehow that weasel banker got hold of his half. You want to set things right for your friends, then I want full ownership of that flea-infested whorehouse.”
    “ How about Peter? Anything?”
    “ Malfeasance. But once we get him locked up, we can search his books for embezzlement.”
    I wasn’t so sure about embezzlement, but malfeasance as