Love’s Sweet Revenge(106)

A few gasps spread through the room, mostly women, while a couple of men chuckled. Jake reached under the table to take hold of Randy’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Your Honor, what on earth can Miss MacBain paying Jake Harkner a visit in a clothing store have to do with the shooting in question?” Peter interrupted.

The judge looked at Prescott. “You want to answer that?”

“I am establishing Mr. Harkner’s well-known penchant for running with lawless, sinful people of ill repute, Your Honor.”

The judge frowned, and Jake rubbed at his mouth in an effort not to laugh.

“I still fail to see a connection,” the judge told Prescott.

“Judge, men who run with the worst of them might think nothing of murdering someone. It’s all part of their lifestyle.”

The judge shook his head. “Step down, Mr. Porter.”

“But…that man spent time alone in my back room with Denver’s most famous harlot!” Porter argued.

“Step down!” the judge said louder.

A shaking Henry Porter left the stand, and Judge Carter frowned at Prescott. “I want an explanation.”

Prescott sighed, his face flushed. He was a thin, balding man with not an ounce of fat on him, which made his face muscles visibly flex in his frustration. “Your Honor, Jake Harkner has run with the worst of them. Practically the first thing he did after coming to Denver was meet up with none other than Gretta MacBain, and the next thing you know he blows a man’s brains out in front of a crowd of innocent people. I am just showing his basic makeup, an ex-outlaw who once rode with the worst of humankind and had a bounty on his head.”

Peter rose. “Your Honor, this is enough! Mr. Harkner’s past is his past, something he paid for years ago. He’s broken no laws since then.”

“I agree,” the judge told Peter. “Do you want to cross-examine Mr. Porter?”

Jake wrote something on notepaper and shoved it in front of Peter. Peter turned to him with a frown. “You sure?”

Jake motioned for him to lean closer. “How well do I know women like Gretta?” he spoke quietly in Peter’s ear.

Peter sighed. “I won’t argue that one.”

“Call her as a character witness. Ask her why she was in that dressing room.”

Peter hesitated, and Jake just grinned. “Ask her.”

Peter straightened and faced the judge. “No, Your Honor, I have no questions for Mr. Porter. I think we’ve established that he’s a useless witness.”

A few people snickered, and the prosecutor glared at Peter.

“I would, however, like to call Gretta MacBain to the stand,” Peter added.

That brought a mumbling throughout the crowd, and the judge pounded his gavel to quiet them. A few women gasped with indignation when they realized Gretta was indeed in the room, sitting in the balcony. Some of the women got up and left, as though Gretta would somehow taint them. Gretta marched down the steps to the main room and up to the witness stand, swearing to tell the truth. She looked at Jake and smiled. Peter remained seated as he questioned her.

“Miss MacBain, I think most people in this room know who you are and what you do, so I’m not going to ask you to repeat either one.”

Gretta scanned the crowd. “A lot of men in this room are very familiar with who I am and what I do,” she answered, grinning at a round of nervous laughter. A few women glanced at their husbands questioningly. Even Peter grinned. Again, the judge had to pound his gavel.

“Miss MacBain, tell us in your own words about meeting Jake Harkner in that clothing store.”

“Sure.” Gretta crossed her legs. “I looked him up. Jake didn’t seek me out. He was very gracious, and he didn’t chase me out of that dressing room because he is well acquainted with women like me, but not for the reasons the dirty-minded men in this room are thinking. Anyone who’s read the book about Jake knows he grew up with women like me. They often took him in as a boy and protected him from a brute of a father who beat him regularly, so he sees women like me as friends and even as good people.”

“And why did you go looking for Jake?” Peter asked.

“Because I knew he was in town to sell cattle, and not long before that, I’d had a customer named Mike Holt, who—” Gretta hesitated and lost her smile, glancing at Evie. “He bragged about the fact that he was going to go after Jake’s son, Lloyd—claimed Lloyd had shot his brother in the back. He also bragged about…things he’d done to Jake’s daughter in Oklahoma. Vile things no woman should have to suffer, not even women like me. I thought Jake should know Holt was out there somewhere looking for his son, so I followed him into that clothing store to warn him. That’s all there was to it.”