Oklahoma's Gold Read Online Free Page A

still don’t know who the heck you are. And who’s Miss Emma?" She pushed Daniel’s arm away.
     
    "Look, ma'am. I’m just trying to do my job. What I was asked." He was losing patience. What was wrong with this girl anyway? By now he could see she was younger than he’d first guessed. Twenty or so. About ten years younger than he. And definitely acting it. "Ma’am, if you’ll just do what …"
     
    "No. I want some questions answered before I go anywhere." 
     
    Lord, is she stubborn . He decided to try and be a bit more patient. "Okay. Shoot."
     
    "All right. Thank you. Now, why didn’t anyone call to let me know?" she inquired.
     
    "Because you would have already been on the road when it happened, I guess. Besides, with all the commotion going on, Miss Emma just remembered this morning that you were coming. She sends her apologies. Would have said them to you herself, but to tell you the truth, she won’t leave your uncle’s bedside."
     
    Jess seemed to be reflecting on all this, Daniel noticed. So he waited for her to speak. During the silence he took in the details of her appearance. She was tall and thin, probably five-eight or five-nine, he estimated. Her hair was long and wavy, which she had managed to pull back in a ponytail save for a few stubborn strands curled over her forehead. Her tanned face wore a splattering of freckles, covering her nose and cheeks. Then there were her eyes. They impressed Daniel the most. The color, like the turquoise of Indian jewelry but a deeper, stronger blue, intensified with her anger, he had noticed only a moment ago. This girl, or woman, had fire in her, and surprisingly he realized how much he liked that.
     
    "Oh, my!" Jess exclaimed softly, and then sat down right where she’d been standing on the ground.
     
    Everything he’d said must have finally sunk in, Daniel guessed.
     
    "If you’d like me to take you to the hospital first, I could," he offered. "I just thought you might want to freshen up after your long drive and all."
     
    "No. No. It’s okay. You’re right. I’m just not thinking straight," she said and looked at Daniel inquiringly. "What happened?"
     
    He then told her how Fred was attacked. They had taken Joseph Whitedeer, a local Choctaw Indian and sometimes-ranch hand, into custody. Daniel explained how someone had seen Joseph hanging around the ranch, drunk as usual. He’d gotten his ranch hand pay that morning, cashed it, then gone straight to the bar and drank away the afternoon. He’d been stumbling aimlessly back to the bunk house, shouting obscenities, when Fred had come out of the house and warned Joseph to be quiet and to go sleep it off. That was the last any of the hands had seen of Fred till after the attack.
     
    "But how could that be enough evidence to accuse and arrest Joseph?" Jess asked.
     
    "They also found a necklace belonging to Joseph in your uncle’s bedroom where the attack occurred," Daniel explained.
     
    "Are they’re sure it belongs to him?"
     
    "Unfortunately, yes. You see the necklace has distinctive markings of Choctaw craftsmanship. And Joseph has been seen wearing the necklace. So there’s really no room to doubt it’s his," Daniel confessed.
     
    "Is he … a friend of yours?" Jess asked.       
     
    Daniel guessed the reasoning behind her question. Joseph was Indian and he, Daniel, looked Indian. After all, don’t all Indians know each other? One Indian is just like any other, or … The comments were numerous; Daniel was well aware, and tiredly impatient as he responded.
     
    "Joseph is Choctaw. I’m part Cherokee. No, we’re not related. No, we’re not friends," he informed her with coldness in his voice.
     
    "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way." Jess stumbled over her words to apologize.
     
    "It’s okay, Miss Clinton," he said formally, reaffirming the distance between their positions.
     
    "If you’ll just …" he gestured toward the car.
     
    "Yes, of course." Jess anxiously