Millie screamed, twisting in his grip. The coat tore. The deputy laughed, yanking her back so hard she fell to her knees in the slush. "Look at this! " the deputy yelled to the street. The little [ __ ] came back.
The street went quiet. People stopped their wagons. Shopkeepers came to their windows. The silence was sudden and heavy. Jonah stopped.
He turned. He saw Millie on her knees. The deputy's hand twisted in her collar. He saw the humiliation on her face. The way the crowd watched with a mix of curiosity and cruelty.
The rage that surged in Jonah was blinding. His hand went to the colt at his hip. He could drop the deputy before the boy blinked. He could end the humiliation in a spray of red. But he saw Millie's eyes.
She was looking at him, terrified not of the deputy, but of what Jonah might do. If he shot a law man. The story was written. Jonah Crow, the mad dog killer. Millie Laroo, the woman who lured him to it.
Pritchard would win. Jonah took his hand off the gun. He raised both hands in the air. Let her stand. Jonah roared.
His voice was a cannon shot in the silence. I said, "Let her stand. " The deputy flinched, his grip loosening slightly. Jonah did not advance. He stood his ground in the center of the muddy street. "Judge Thaddius! " Jonah shouted at the upper windows of the hotel.
"Judge Thaddius, I am calling on you. " The sheer audacity of it held the crowd. A mountain man shouting down a judge in the middle of the street. A window on the second floor of the hotel opened. A man with white hair and a stern, lined face looked out. "Who is disturbing the peace? " the judge called down.
Jonah pointed at the deputy. "This man is assaulting a witness," Jonah yelled. "I have evidence of murder and theft by Silas Pritchard, and your sheriff is trying to bury it. " The deputy panicked. He tried to haul Millie up. "Shut your mouth, Savage! " "No! " Clara's voice cut through the air.
Clara pushed through the crowd. She walked straight to Millie and the deputy. She carried her medical bag like a shield. "Let her go," Clara demanded. The deputy hesitated.
Clara knelt beside Millie. She turned to the crowd. To the judge watching from above. "Look at her! " Clara shouted. She pulled Millie's sleeve up, revealing the old yellowing bruises on her wrist.