Rubies for Whitney

FIVE

Whitney's leg ached terribly from the fall. Why hadn't she been more careful where she was walking?

She sat on the edge of her bed with a cloth full of ice resting over the twelve-inch scar on her leg. Usually, when the weather changed or she overworked her leg, this was where it ached terribly. She should be used to the pain by now. But it wasn't the pain that had her mind spinning and questioning the events from earlier. What was he doing here? Out of all the people to run into, why did it have to be Marshal Sterling?

The beating of her heart increased, making her head throb with worry. Was he chasing her? If so, she was certainly going to jail. It wasn't until Whitney said his name, when she realized how much she had messed up. He had called himself Starling, yet her mouth blurted out his real name without thinking.

Of course, now she wondered why he had used a different name. Did the man actually think she wouldn't notice him?

Connie hadn't got back from running errands, so Whitney had no one to complain to. Maybe it was best to forget returning the Liberty Bell statue and just go into hiding until Marshal Sterling left town. Thankfully, Connie had picked a different hotel for them to stay in, so there would be no way she would accidently run into the marshal again. Her hotel was on the other end of town.

Whitney had been watching the marshal after he left her on the bench. She had quickly hobbled into the nearby shop and watched out the window to see where he went. No doubt he had noticed her mistake by calling him the correct name. There was no way she wanted to explain to him how she knew him, especially if he couldn't remember.

Groaning, she rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. Jake Sterling was going to ruin everything. A year ago while she was recovering from her accident, she had thought of the marshal quite often. Although she had just met him at Mrs. Crowley's birthday party, Whitney had wished they'd met under different circumstances. But he was a law enforcer, and she... well, she had been breaking the law.

The way her leg was hurting, there would be no way she could return the statue tonight without getting caught. Should she leave Connie to do it? No, Whitney's friend would never go for that. Connie was best as a lookout and found the quickest ways to get out of the areas without them being seen.

But staying locked up in this hotel room would be unbearable. She had already spent months locked up, in bed, recovering. That was torture.

The ice had melted, so Whitney tossed the wet cloth into the basin, and pulled out her dark men's clothing for walking at night. There was something going on, a shipment that Cora, the mayor's wife mentioned. Whitney needed to find out more about it, and since Connie hadn't returned, Whitney needed to be the one to check it out.

She changed into the men's clothing. She pulled back her hair into a tight bun, then slid the cowboy hat on her head. A few months back, she fashioned a fake mustache, too, and found that when she wore this outfit, she looked like a weak older man, but a man, none the less. That allowed her to mingle in bars and look for the rich man who was gambling his life away. Men who had consumed too much alcohol made it easy for her to relieve them of most of their winnings.

A soft knock came on her door. It was the coded knock that alerted her to Connie's presence. Whitney limped to the door and opened it, letting Connie inside.

Connie's gaze ran up and down Whitney. "Why are you dressed to go out already? It's not after midnight yet."

"I discovered something," Whitney replied. "In a couple of days, a shipment will arrive at the docks. Something of great importance is on one of the steamboats. I also found out that the mayor's wife is taking more than she needs from these people who work an honest living."