“What?!” Jessica gasped, choking on a mouthful of bread. “But she couldn’t have. Didn’t Pitman search the houses and wasn’t she home sleeping?”
“So were you, Jessica,” Alex said calmly, sipping his cognac.
“All right, give me the details. What did that idiot girl do to get herself thrown in jail?”
“She started telling people that she was the one who saved the Raider. And as proof she showed where her hair had been singed off by the explosion.”
“Didn’t she realize that when Pitman heard, she’d be arrested?”
“I don’t think she thought that far ahead.”
“Probably not,” Jess said. “She probably only thought of getting the Raider’s attention. But surely she knew the Raider’d know she wasn’t the one who saved him?”
Alex shrugged. “Who knows what she thought? You haven’t said much about that night. Was the Raider very grateful to you?”
She ignored his question. “So, what’s to be done about Abigail? We can’t just let her rot in prison. What will Pitman do to her?”
“Maybe we should let the Raider save her since he’s the one she wants.”
“Alex, don’t start being jealous again. I’m sorry Abby is in love with the Raider and I know you courted her for a while, but you wouldn’t really want her. She doesn’t have a brain in her head. As this episode proves. Now, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t think we should do anything,” he said sternly. “Jess, haven’t you learned your lesson yet? You nearly destroyed your family’s home by running off to help the Raider. Abby has gotten herself in trouble and it’s not your responsibility or problem to get her out.”
“The only way she’ll be released is if I step forward and confess that I was the one who helped the Raider.”
“Over my dead body,” Alex said with feeling. “And maybe over your own dead body if that’s what it takes.”
“I will do as I see fit!” she snapped.
“No, you won’t,” Alex said calmly. “I’ll get you out of this as I always have.”
“You? What have you ever saved me from?”
Alex looked at his cognac. “So soon they forget. The hangman’s noose after you threw the rope and saved the Raider when he stole Pitman’s money. Then I saved your house from being burned after you saved the Raider from the gunpowder. Did it ever occur to you, Jess, that this Raider you care so much about, is a particularly incompetent fellow?”
“How can you say that after what he’s done to help this town? At least he’s doing something to stand up against Pitman. He’s making a stand when no one else is.”
“It’s a stand that usually seems to catch fire—and you’re always there with a bucket of water to douse the flames.”
Jess tried to control her anger. “I resent your saying these things, Alex. The Raider, I’m sure, meant well when he went into the gunpowder, it just happened to be a trap. Do you realize that right now he could be dying somewhere? I don’t know how badly he was hurt and he couldn’t go to someone for medical help or they’d know who he was. The man deserves more respect than you’re giving him.”
“Or maybe not as much as you give him. Jess, let’s not fight. Abigail is the proble
m here. I did have an idea of how I might be able to save her from being hanged.”
She was still smarting from his words against the Raider. “All right, let’s hear it.”
“If we got someone, a man, to admit that he was with Abby that night, we could—”
“You mean the Raider?” she gasped. “Have the Raider come forward and say he spent the night with her? He was with me that night.”
Alex’s eyes turned angry. “Can’t you get that man off your mind for even a few minutes? I meant any man. A sailor. A store clerk. A male pelican for all I care. Just so he can talk. If he came forward and told the court that he was with Abby that night and it was a secret because he didn’t want her parents to know, she might be excused.”
“But what about her hair? Stupid girl! The Raider protected me with his own body. Not a hair of mine was singed. Of course he—”
“Jess!” Alex stopped her. “Her hair was singed when they rolled too close to the campfire.”
Jess smiled. “Alex, that’s awful. Abby will never be able to hold her head up again in this town.”