Twenty-five
In Guthrie, when Jake Harkner would ride into town, towing killers and thieves and violators of women behind him, crowds always gathered, following him like the Pied Piper, wanting to get a look at him and be able to say they knew the man. Today is much the same.
Jeff scribbled the note as fast as possible in his own form of shorthand. He’d grown used to writing while walking, and Jake had insisted on walking the several blocks to the courthouse. The whole family was enjoying the chance to get out in fresh air and sunshine. So many people surrounded them that it was almost like a parade, and Jeff saw the event as the continuing story of Jake Harkner that could be serialized in his newspaper column. He would write about this with that in mind, giving more details than a normal news article. He just hoped that wouldn’t mean writing about a hanging.
Police are all around. Jake is in the lead with his arm around his wife, who looks ravishing today in a beautiful yellow dress. Behind them is his son, miraculously able to walk but looking thinner and obviously in pain. He came most of the way by buggy but wanted to walk the last block with his father. He is supported on one side by his sister, Evie Stewart, and on the other by his wife, Katie. Following is Evie’s husband, Brian, holding hands with a very fidgety Little Jake, seven now, and with Lloyd’s son, Stephen. Out ahead of Jake is his adopted son, Ben, and on either side of Jake and his wife are two of J&L’s cowhands, who seem to be posted there to protect Jake and his wife.
“Mrs. Harkner!” someone shouted. “What’s it like living with a man like Jake Harkner?”
Jake kept a tight arm around Randy. “Terrible!” Jake answered for her with a wide grin. “I beat her every night! That’s why she’s stayed with me for thirty years!”
The crowd laughed, most of them seeming to highly enjoy watching the entourage.
Jake is in a surprisingly jovial mood, Jeff noted. I am guessing it’s a cover in order to lighten the gravity of this situation for his family.
Jeff stayed behind the family with Peter.
“Hey, Jake, who has your guns?” another man yelled.
“I’m not sure, but whatever happens today, my family had better get them back! Those guns are willed to my grandson, Little Jake!”
Little Jake jumped up and down, looking up at his father and grinning as more laughter moved through the crowd.
“You behave, Little Jake,” Brian warned. “Once we get in that courthouse, it’s very important that you sit still and be very, very good, understand?”
“I will, Daddy,” the boy answered, upon which he jerked away from Brian and ran up to walk proudly in front of Jake alongside Ben.
Jake spotted Gretta in the crowd, wearing a dark green ruffled dress and carrying a parasol with ruffles around the edge. Her red hair was piled into neat curls, and the bodice of her dress was cut just low enough to give a man a good idea of what she had to offer. “Gretta!” Jake shouted. “Come on over here and walk with us!”
There was a mixture of gasps from women and laughter from the men. Gretta marched right up to Jake, and he put his free arm around her.
“If I end up in prison or worse,” Jake told the crowd, “I might as well go down with two beautiful women in my arms!”
More roaring laughter.
“The man knows how to win over a crowd, doesn’t he?” Jeff told Peter.
“Jake Harkner does and says exactly what he wants to,” Peter answered. “There is never any doubt about where he stands on anything. I just hope that doesn’t hurt him today, because the prosecutor is going to bring up all kinds of things to get a reaction out of him. And I’m wondering if the prosecutor plans to use Gretta in some way.”
“Hey, don’t it bother Jake’s wife that he has his arm around a notorious prostitute?” one man asked as he rushed up alongside Peter.
Peter looked over at Jeff. “You want to answer that one?”
Jeff laughed. “No, it doesn’t bother her. Jake is just being Jake. You have to know him well to understand, and nobody knows him better than his wife.”
The man shook his head. “Complicated man, but he sure attracts people like a magnet.”
“Now there’s a good description,” Jeff answered. “Magnetic. I never seem to run out of adjectives to describe the man.”
“Jake! We’re all rooting for you!” another man shouted.
The walk to the courthouse had turned into a circus atmosphere. Some of Gretta’s girls followed along, as did a few well-known cattlemen and businessmen. A group of women standing on a little stage near the courthouse began singing “Amazing Grace.”