A Place Called Harmony Read Free Page A

go.” Clint had nothing else to do anyway. He could be packed in an hour. “But I make no promises that I’ll stay two years.”
    The sheriff nodded as if they’d made a bargain. “Oh, I forgot, you have to take one thing with you.”
    “What’s that?” He was thinking maybe his own horse, or rifle.
    The sheriff smiled and added, “A wife.”

Chapter 2

    H UNTSVILLE , T EXAS
     
    Clint Truman finally sobered up enough to realize just how crazy the sheriff’s plan was. He didn’t mind traveling across the state to look for work, but picking a wife from the women being released from prison tonight was loco.
    Yet somehow, here he was standing next to a mountain of a lawman waiting for the prison gates to open.
    Sheriff Lightstone stood close, probably making sure he didn’t run. The night seemed smoky with low clouds, and so much moisture lingered in the air Clint could feel it on his face.
    “Now it’s not that hard, Clint. I’ve seen fellows do this before. Last month a man I’ve known for years met a little pickpocket outside these gates. He never had much luck with women, but they talked all night, then at dawn woke up a preacher. She had to pay, of course. Somehow my old friend couldn’t find his money.”
    Clint didn’t laugh. He had no idea if the sheriff was telling the truth or making a joke.
    “Way I see it,” Lightstone continued, “marrying you will look better to a woman on her own than her taking the only other choice.” He pointed with his head at a wagon pulling up twenty yards away. “If no one picks them up, that guy, who goes by Harden, offers them employment at a whorehouse down near Houston. He makes regular runs picking up women leaving prison. Once they step in that wagon there’s no going back to a regular kind of life.”
    Clint looked at the two women waiting in the back of the wagon as the sheriff continued, “He bailed them two soiled doves out an hour ago from county jail. One knifed a guy. They kept her in jail until they were sure her customer wasn’t going to die. The other lady of the evening stole money from a patron at Harden’s place. She looked fine when Harden picked her up, but judging from the bruises on her face he made her sorry she caused him trouble. Women leaving prison and climbing in that wagon know exactly where they’re going.”
    As Clint stared, the one with a black eye lowered her head. Neither woman looked to be eighteen, but both were worn down by life. He doubted either would make it to thirty.
    Several other people waited around the gate, looking more like mourners than greeters. One man sat on a bench playing with his knife, striking it again and again into the corner of the bench. Clint noticed an old couple and a kid of about sixteen close to the locked door.
    The gate rattled and a guard stepped out.
    “Might not be many tonight,” Lightstone whispered. “Sometimes there is trouble in the prison and they don’t let out many. Used to let them out in the morning, but too many people complained about them walking the streets. County gives each enough money to take the stage out of town, but some spend it on drinks the first few hours they’re out.” He frowned. “I was kind of expecting one woman to be released tonight. She’d be worth considering even if we have to come back next week.”
    Clint had already decided that he wouldn’t be coming again. This idea was far too crazy to repeat. Once the sheriff saw there was no wife material here, he’d drop the plan.
    “This is a bad idea. Getting married because the job description says to bring a wife just doesn’t seem right,” Clint mumbled to himself, guessing the sheriff wouldn’t be listening. “How do I know one of these women hasn’t killed someone, like maybe her first husband?”
    “I doubt any have done more than they had to, or more than any one of us did during the war. Toward the end we all stole to eat and killed to stay alive. I’m guessing they did the