the west side of town, an old barn with a broken-down corral. Close to where we were earlier.”
“I’ll keep a watch on it.”
“Won’t do any good. Luke says they rarely use the same meeting place.”
“Luke? Is that the street kid you were talking to?” Jake lifted an eyebrow. “How does he know?”
She hesitated, hoping and praying she didn’t say anything that might implicate Luke. “He . . . he’s been following the thief, trying to find out who it is, because he knows it’s the only way to convince everyone that he’s not the real thief.”
“And you’ve been keeping this from me?”
“No. I just found out tonight.”
“If he really wants to convince me he’s not a thief, he needs to turn himself in and tell me what he knows.”
Livy wrapped her arms around her waist, feeling chilled at the harsh tone of Jake’s words. “You don’t have a clue, do you? In Chicago, the law would chew him up and spit him out before they’d believe him. Then they’d sell his half-dead carcass to a sweatshop for a few dollars. There’s no way he’s going to turn himself in that easily. He’s got half a dozen, if not more, mouths to feed, and he’ll die trying to protect them from the law.”
“You were one of them, weren’t you? A street kid in Chicago?” Jake stared at her.
All her defenses were broken. She couldn’t lie in the face of an outright question about her past. She lowered her gaze and took a deep breath.
“Yes.”
* * *
Jake tilted his chair against the wall and took out his whittling knife. Whittling settled his mind and helped him think through problems. He’d escorted Livy to the orphanage and left her there. No one had reported a crime, and as far as he could tell, she didn’t have any stolen goods on her, so there’d been no reason to arrest her.
And the last thing he wanted to do was put Livy behind bars.
He wanted to take back his harsh words and tell her he was sorry. He wanted to believe that she was good and perfect and only concerned about the welfare of the boys on the streets.
But the facts were stacked against her. He attacked the block of wood with a vengeance. She’d been on the streets of Chicago. He’d assumed she’d lived with Mrs. Brooks all her life and had decided to help the older lady instead of marrying. Fresh hurt stabbed at his chest. Why hadn’t she told him?
Because she knew how you felt about street kids.
Jake scraped his blade across the soft wood. A curled sliver fell to the floor at his feet. He scowled. He didn’t have anything against the boys themselves, but somebody was stealing from the merchants. It was his job to be suspicious, especially of folks wandering around in the middle of the night.
He didn’t know what to do. Tell Sheriff Carter? Tell him what? That Livy had been delivering food to the street kids?
A thought niggled at the back of his mind. Maybe he should telegraph Chicago and ask for information on Mrs. Brooks and Livy. Sheriff Carter knew some detectives in Chicago. He’d see what the older man thought when he showed up first thing in the morning.
Jake stared at the flickering lantern on Sheriff Carter’s desk, his knife hovering over the block of wood, the long night catching up with him. He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
What if they took off in the night, leaving all those kids at the orphanage? He shook his head, disgusted at the crazy thoughts ricocheting around in his brain. Mrs. Brooks and Livy wouldn’t abandon the orphans. No matter what they might be, they loved those kids. That much he knew.
Nobody could put on that good of an act, could they? They couldn’t be guilty of wrongdoing. He’d just keep a closer eye on the orphanage, and if Livy snuck out again, he’d be watching. After all, if she was as innocent as she’d claimed, she’d need his help if she ran into trouble, wouldn’t she?
A clamor woke Jake, and he slammed both legs of his chair to the floor and shot to his feet. Gus lugged two buckets of coal in the door, banging the pails against the wooden facing.
Jake grabbed one of the buckets. “Gus, Doc told you to take it easy for a few days.”
“I’m all right, Mr. Jake.” Gus smothered a cough and lumbered out again. Minutes later, he