To show she meant business, she raised the sight of the rifle to her eye and clicked the hammer back with her thumb.
"When will he be back?" the stranger asked, as if he wasn't the least bit worried about the possibility of being shot, even though she did notice he was sitting a little straighter in the saddle.
Should she tell him the truth? For a moment or two, she thought about it, then decided that it was none of his business. She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Then I'll wait, if you don't mind."
Damn right she minded! She wanted none of Caleb's friends anywhere near her homestead. Besides, he'd be waiting until doomsday before Caleb came back. "You can wait as long as you like," she said, "as long as you do it someplace else. Not on my land." Her curiosity got the better of her. "What do you want to see him about, anyway?"
"I apologize, ma'am," the stranger said, the corners of his lips lifting in the beginnings of a smile. "I should've introduced myself properly. The name's Langford. Jake Langford. I'm a deputy U.S. marshal."
The law.
Maddie couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped from her lips. Where was the law a few weeks ago, when she could have used some help? "You're a lawman."
"Yes, ma'am."
"If you've come to arrest him, you're too late. He's dead." And good riddance, she added silently. "So you might as well just turn that horse around and head on back where you came from."
He didn't leave. Didn't even budge. Instead, he just sat there, watching her. Then he leaned forward and rested his hands on the saddlehorn as if he was having a pleasant conversat
ion with a friend instead of facing an armed woman with a shaky trigger finger.
"Dead? What happened?"
Maddie kept her eye squinted through the sight, the barrel aimed at the third button on his dark blue shirt. "Got caught a few weeks ago sneaking out of a woman's house in town. Her husband took exception."
"My sympathies," Jake said softly.
"It's done and over with," she murmured, as much to herself as to the marshal.
The marshal eyed her curiously. "Can I get down and speak to you?"
"I have nothing to say to you."
"It's important."
Maddie didn't answer for a few moments, considering the consequences if she allowed him to set foot on her land. Marshal or not, he was still a man, and she was a woman with no husband to protect her. The last time she'd relented and allowed a man - one of her neighbours, no less - to dismount, she'd ended up having to chase him off with a pitchfork.
"You say you're a federal marshal."
"A deputy marshal, but yes, ma'am, federal."
Maddie noticed the slight movement of his hand towards his open jacket, and her heart began to thump. Was he reaching for a gun?
"Hold it!"
The marshal's hand stopped. Then he lifted both his arms and held his hands with his palms open, facing her. "I was just going to show you my badge."
Maddie motioned with the barrel of the rifle for him to go ahead. "Slowly."
The badge pinned to his flannel shirt glistened in the afternoon sun.
"You mind if I get down now? I've been on this horse for two days and I'm a bit saddlesore."
She considered his request, then finally, she shrugged. She wasn't about to let the rifle out of her grasp, but she did lower it to waist level, keeping the barrel aimed at him. "I'm warning you. Don't you come within ten feet of me, or I'll blow so many holes in you they'll be using you to sift flour."
"Fair enough."