Nate said. “Judge Flinn would like nothing better than to throw you in jail. And Sheriff Neville would like nothing better than to be the one locking you inside.”
Jess nodded. They crossed the street and went inside the courtroom.
“All right, all right. Come to order.” Judge Percy Flinn rapped his gavel, silencing the murmur that rippled through the crowd. He shuffled papers and peered over the rim of his spectacles. “Jess Logan? You here, Logan?”
He and everyone else in town. Jess fought his way through the crowded aisle, feeling every hot gaze in the room on him. Damn bunch of nosy bastards, gawking at him like a circus sideshow. He wanted to slam his fist into each and every face, curse at them all until the knot in his gut unwound. Instead, he kept his eyes forward and stepped in front of the judge.
Judge Flinn gave the papers another cursory glance. “Logan, your past has brought into question your fitness to raise the children of your deceased sister. And judging from these reports, your actions of late only confirm it. What have you got to say for yourself?”
Jess squared his shoulders, blocking out the people leering at him. They were all here, Alma Garrette, the preacher, Emma Turner from the mercantile. Even Mrs. McDougal peeked in through the window. All here, all waiting to see him fail.
“Cassie was my only sister. When I found out she’d passed on I knew it was up to me to take care of her kids. I didn’t want them raised by strangers.”
The judge peered over his spectacles. “But you’d never seen them before. You’re a stranger to them, aren’t you?”
Jess shifted. “I’m their family.”
“I don’t like your past, Logan. I don’t like what happened down in Kingston.” Judge Flinn jerked his thumb toward an empty chair. “Sit down.”
Buck Neville rose and hung his fingers in his vest pockets. “I’ve got people willing to testify, Your Honor.”
“All right. Get them up here.”
Jess mumbled under his breath as Alma Garrette threw him a smug look and eased her wide frame into the chair at the corner of the judge’s desk.
“Well, Your Honor, we were all shocked that Jess Logan showed his face in town after all the trouble he’d caused here before. Wanting to raise those children—why, he never lifted one finger to help his sister and he never even laid eyes on the children before.” Alma jerked her chin indignantly. “I saw him in town with little Jimmy, and the boy looked like he hadn’t bathed in a week. His clothes were wrinkled and soiled. Jess Logan was wearing his gun, like some sort of gunslinger. I’d heard that’s what he was.”
A murmur rippled through the courtroom.
Alma pursed her lips. “I heard he’d been paid to shoot the governor of Texas a few years back.”
The crowd rumbled and Judge Flinn rapped his gavel again. “Order!”
“Well, then—then—I saw him leave little Jimmy sitting all by himself outside the Green Garter Saloon so he could go in and drink.”
Jess winced as the crowd grumbled, and Alma Garrette sailed back to her seat, her nose in the air.
Buck Neville glared at Jess. “Mrs. Turner, you want to come on up here?”
Emma, from the Walker Mercantile, took the chair. “I don’t know much about Jess since he left Walker years ago, except what I heard around town. And that story of how he disgraced that young woman down in Galveston, then refused to marry her really upset me.”
“Tell the judge about Jimmy,” Buck instructed.
“Oh, yes, that.” Emma cleared her throat uncomfortably. “The child refuses to speak, Your Honor. But Jess had him in my store bribing him with licorice to get him to talk. I just didn’t think that was right.”
The judge grunted and jotted a note on the papers in front of him. “Anybody else?”
Lottie Myers took the stand next. “Little Maggie goes to school with my Mary Beth. They’re good friends. Well, it seems Mr. Logan lets the children eat whatever they want for supper. One night all they had was cookies. And that poor child’s hair is a snarl of tangles. Cassie used to keep it so pretty. But it looks like no one is tending to her now.”
Jess’s chest tightened as Lottie stepped down. Nosy busybodies. They didn’t know what the hell they were talking about—any of them. His anger and hatred for the people of Walker grew.
Reverend Sullivan spoke next. He, at least, had the decency to offer Jess an apologetic look.
“No, Mr. Logan hasn’t brought the children to church or to Bible study. But I figured it was just a matter of him getting settled here in town.”
“Thank you, Reverend.” Sheriff Neville turned to the crowd again. “Mrs. Wakefield?”
Sarah’s heart rose in her throat as she made her way to the front of the room. Settling into the chair she chanced a look at Jess. He appeared composed, maybe even at ease. But Sarah saw the tic in his cheek, the tightness in his jaw, the blue of his eyes harden to cold, steely gray. The people of Walker were going to take the children away from him. She knew it. And it was obvious to her that Jess knew it, too.
Judge Flinn consulted his papers. “You’re the schoolmarm here in Walker. Just moved here. Is that right, Mrs. Wakefield?”
“Yes, Your Honor.” Her voice was a tight whisper.
“Speak up, ma’am.” The judge whipped off his spectacles. “What have you observed about Mr. Logan, the children, and their living conditions?”
She glanced at Jess, then cleared her throat. “Admittedly, Mr. Logan isn’t the best housekeeper I’ve ever met. And, too, there’ve been times when Maggie’s lunch could have been better. But Maggie is very happy, Your Honor. She speaks highly of her uncle. He helps her with her reading, and tells the children stories every night at bedtime. He’s very affectionate with them.”
The judge peered down his long nose at her. “Is that so?”
“Yes, Your Honor. And it’s true that Jimmy won’t talk, but that problem existed before Mr. Logan even got to town. I don’t know why he would have come here in the first place if he wasn’t interested in their well-being. He seems to genuinely care for the children. They care for him, too. And isn’t love just as important as proper meals and clean clothes?”
The courtroom fell silent. Sarah felt every gaze in the room boring into her as she took her seat again.
Jess heard his heart pounding in his ears as Judge Flinn settled his spectacles on his nose once more and looked down at him. He rose to his feet.
“Seeing as how you’re the children’s only blood kin, the court will give you time to prove you can take proper care of them. But you see here, Logan, I don’t like you and I sure as hell don’t like what happened in Kingston. I’ll be back next month, and if I hear that you’ve as much as spit downwind in this town, I’ll give those children to somebody else. Understand?”
Jess gave him a curt nod. “I got it.”
The
