our jobs." A man near the middle of the group shouted, "Give us the
women. We'll get them to talk." Curious, Cole shouted, "How are you
going to do that? " "We'll hang them, that's how, " he answered in a
bellow.
"That makes a lot of sense, " he muttered to Ryan.
Ryan glanced over at him. "You can't reason with angry people. "
"They aren't angry. They're just a little riled up. That's all. You
want angry, go back inside and let those women out. They're going to
flay you alive." Ryan hid his smile. "All right. You take care of
this crowd, and I'll take care of the women."
"Deal, " Cole agreed.
He stepped forward to address the men. "No one's going to hang
anyone.
You've all been listening to idle gossip. We don't have a witness. "
, We read it in the paper that you do, " a man in front shouted.
"The paper's wrong."
"Then why did the sheriff lock those women up?
" someone yelled.
"You'll have to ask him, " Cole replied. "Now go back home."
"Why don't you and the other marshal go home and let our sheriff take
care of the women? He'll get them to talk." Before Cole could answer,
a man in front stepped forward and turned around to face his friends
and neighbors. He put his hands in the air to hush them. "I know for
a fact that the lady with the funny accent was in the bank before it
got robbed. I stood in line with her, and I heard her talking to the
teller."
"Then it's got to be one of them other two, " yet another man called
out. "Did anyone see either one of them in the bank? " "I did, " a
man in the back shouted. "I seen the yellow-haired woman when I was
getting change for my bills from Malcolm. I remember her real good
cause she was about the prettiest thing I ever laid my eyes on." A
snicker rolled through the crowd. "What about the woman with the
baby?
" "I seen her, " a man called out. "The boy made MacCorkle angry
because he was swinging on his gate, and his mama had to get out of
line to fetch him. She blistered old man MacCorkle good for raising
his voice to her young'n."
"If all of them women were seen in the bank, then it don't appear we
got a witness after all, " the placater, waving his hands in front of
the crowd, concluded.
"Maybe one of them sneaked back inside to hide under the desk, "
someone else suggested.
"These people aren't real bright, are they? " Cole whispered to
Ryan.
"Sloan has gotten them all worked up, " Ryan said.
"All right, " Cole shouted to the group. "Here's what's gonna
happen.
All of you are going to go home. I want you to think about what you
were doing on the day of the robbery. If any of you saw or heard