“She thought it best to go quickly.” Tessa turned to face him. “Before I changed my mind.”
Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen from crying.
“You’re crying because my sister left?”
“No.”
Prickles of alarm lifted the fine hair on the back of David’s neck. Few things had the power to make Tessa cry. But Coalie was one of them. “Where’s Coalie?” He looked around. “Has something happened to him?”
“I sent him away.”
“You sent Coalie away?” David stood up, then raked his fingers through his black hair. “Where?”
Tessa smoothed her hair back off her face and rubbed at the wrinkles in her skirt. “I don’t know,” she said evasively. “I told Mary to take him someplace safe. Away from here. I didn’t ask where.”
“But you love him,” David replied. “Why send him away?”
“Because I love him,” Tessa answered fiercely, grabbing hold of one of the crates. “Because I’ll do anything to protect him.”
“Protect him from what?”
She shoved the crate with all her might. “Liam Kincaid.” Tessa glared at David. “He wants to take Coalie away from me.”
David caught the crate before it slid off the back of the wagon. “Why would he want to do that?” he asked. “Why would a bartender want to take a boy away from his mother?”
He knew. David knew. Something in his tone of voice warned Tessa he had learned her secret. And now that he knew, would he continue to help her or hold it against her?
“Tessa, answer me. Why would Lee…Liam want to take Coalie away from you?”
“I don’t know,” she answered defensively. “I just know he does.”
“I don’t think so.”
Tessa shot him an angry look. “I don’t care what you think. He’s after Coalie. I know it. He followed us from Chicago. He was on the same train.”
“It could have been a coincidence. There were lots of people on the Chicago train.” David had heard Lee’s version of the story. Now he hoped Tessa would trust him enough to give him her version. He didn’t want to believe she would deliberately implicate Lee any more than he wanted to believe Lee would point a finger at Tessa.
“And most of the passengers got off in Cheyenne,” Tessa informed him. “Only three people left the train in Peaceable. Me, Coalie, and Liam Kincaid.” She threw David a smug glance. “He followed us.”
“You could have followed him,” David suggested.
“Don’t be daft. I came to Peaceable because I thought—” She stopped abruptly, ending the discussion.
David picked up one of the crates and carried it into the office, then returned to the wagon for another one. This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for. David knew he could press Tessa for the answers he needed. Tessa knew it as well. But he decided not to press her. He decided to be patient long enough for Tessa to tell him her story on her own. That was what he wanted. He wanted her to trust him.
Taking a deep breath, David decided to change the subject. “Maybe it’s best you sent Coalie away.” He’d tried to think of a better way to tell her, but the words slipped out with no warning. “Your hearing’s a week from today.”
Tin cans rolled in every direction as a box of canned goods slipped from her grasp. “So soon?”
“The circuit judge is making his rounds. He’ll hear all the cases since his last visit, including yours.”
“What will happen?” Tessa knelt in the bed of the wagon and began gathering the cans.
“The attorney for the territory will submit the evidence against you. We’ll present ours. Then the judge will decide if there’s enough evidence to hold you for trial.” David picked up a can and handed it to her.
“Is there?” Tessa asked.
“I’m afraid there might be,” David answered truthfully. “We’ll need all the help we can get. I need your help,” he added gently.