Pariah Read Online Free Page A

anyone with a family rich enough to pay a ransom. That’s a particularly rough bunch run by a man named Kyle Morrow. Ever hear of him?”
    â€œI recall the name.”
    â€œThen maybe you recall all the men, women, and children he killed when he robbed that Federal Reserve bank in California? Some of those survivors wound up in Miss Gerard’s care.”
    â€œWhat’s so wrong with that?” Clint asked.
    â€œNothing, until one of Kyle Morrow’s boys came looking for someone he thought might be planning to tell what they knew to the U.S. Marshals. Shot the hell out of this whole town just to find out where Miss Gerard was. Another one of her neighbors was gunned down before me and my deputies showed up.”
    â€œIsn’t that part of your job, Sheriff?”
    Bailey nodded solemnly. “Yes, it is. There’s only one problem. Do you see any deputies now?”
    Clint took a quick look, which was mostly out of reflex. The office was quieter than an undertaker’s parlor, even with the conversation that was taking place. “No, I don’t see any deputies.”
    â€œThat’s because they were killed by that gunman who came looking for Miss Gerard,” Bailey pointed out.
    â€œIs that her fault?”
    â€œNo, sir, it isn’t,” the sheriff said with a heavy sigh. “But the folks she cares for bring in a dangerous element to an otherwise peaceful town. They gun people down. They set fire to places. One man she sheltered was set to hang for burning down part of a mining camp in the Sierras. He escaped from the lawmen, she sheltered him, and when he slipped away from her he went and set another fire. And those kids she sees to might be little angels, but a lot of them were abandoned because they have good-for-nothing parents, and when that kind comes around looking for their offspring, they tend to get rowdy. Rowdy good-for-nothings bring more trouble. You see where I’m headed with this?”
    â€œYes, I do. A woman living alone has the audacity to care for children and others in need who are trying to get away from a bad situation. When the cause of those situations comes skulking about, the law and damn near everyone else brand her as a pariah instead of helping to fix the situation before it gets worse.”
    â€œMy men were killed by an element that she brought here!” Sheriff Bailey snarled.
    Instead of backing down, Clint placed his hands on the edge of the lawman’s desk, leaned forward, and said, “The whole reason for law is to keep killers and thieves from harming innocents. You’d rather hang a woman like Miss Gerard out to dry instead of actually working for the pay you receive?”
    The sheriff had been angry, but that fire was already dying out. “I can only do so much without any deputies.”
    â€œAll of them were killed?”
    â€œThree out of five,” Bailey replied. “The other two quit after seeing their friends slaughtered in the street.”
    â€œAnd what happened to the man who killed your deputies?”
    â€œHe shot the woman he was after and rode off. It was the bloodiest day this town has ever seen. Perhaps the bloodiest for the whole county.”
    â€œAnd everyone thinks Miss Gerard brought it on?” Clint asked.
    â€œWhether folks think that or not, they’d be right in saying it wouldn’t have happened if she would have left things alone instead of hiding fugitives in her root cellar.”
    â€œFugitives?” Clint scoffed.
    Sheriff Bailey nodded. “The woman she was hiding was wanted by the U.S. Marshals for questioning regarding Morrow’s whereabouts. Instead of handing her over when the Marshals came, Miss Gerard kept her mouth shut so that fugitive wouldn’t have to put the affair to rest. Once that came out, it left a bad taste in a lot of mouths around here.”
    â€œI suppose it would.”
    â€œSo, is there anything else I can do for