V

     Jason Bolt walked out on deck just as the sun peeked over the horizon. He took long sips of Clancey's coffee as he gathered his thoughts about him before the events of the day began. This was a long established habit of his, one that usually brought about a certain peace of mind. This morning was an exception. All of his thoughts were centered on Kate Macready and none of them brought feelings of serenity.

     Once she testified, Kate was going to find herself the enemy of some very dangerous people. Was there anything he could do to lessen the danger for her? If she returned to Chicago right away, she might be safe, but she'd already told them that the ties from Chicago to San Francisco were strong. No, Katie might never be able to return to Chicago. The only thing he could do was offer her an all expense paid trip home to Seattle. She had become so used to city life, could life in Seattle satisfy her ambitious nature?

     "Thinking deep thoughts, Mr. Bolt?" Katie appeared so unexpectedly at his side that he jumped. She laughed, "Hey, I'm supposed to be the nervous one."

     "Are you?" He smiled down on her.

     "Actually, I feel pretty confident this morning." She took a deep breath and leaned up against the rail.

     "You look it." Jason studied her as she surveyed the city. Her flaxen hair shimmered in the early morning light. The dress he had thought was so plain the night before suddenly seemed neat and trim on her. Little Cricket Macready had become what the loggers called "a real looker". All he said was, " It's nice to see that someone has convinced you that you would look quite attractive in a dress."

     Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm going to assume that was a compliment."

     "It was." Jason placed his hand over hers on the rail and together they observed the townspeople bustling about before them. Storeowners opened their shops as their wives swept up the walks. Children headed off to school grabbing apples and oranges off the fruit wagons as they passed by.

     "These people," Kate murmured, "are trusting in criminals for protection. They're caught in a gigantic web of corruption and they can't do a thing about it but look the other way if they want to give their families any kind of happiness. It's all so very...pathetic."

     "Cricket," Jason began but she cut him off.

     "My pity won't do them any good but my testimony might. Let's head over to Mr. Jordan's office."

     "Dan thought it would be safer if you met him at the courthouse later today."

     Kate's eyes sparkled. "Safer? Is that what he told you?"

     "Yes, that's what he said."

     "Dan and I have a bet running between us. Which ever of us gets the most information after the verdict is read gets top billing on the bi-line of our article. Mr. Jordan has plenty of information and I'm not about to stay hidden away in the hold of this boat while he out hustles me. Come on Jason, let's go."

     As they walked, Kate chose to interview her friend. "So tell me Jason, which of the Bolt brothers is married?"

     "Married? What makes you think any of us are married?"

     "The Captain has a very nice tintype in his cabin. You were in it along with a blonde fellow I figure is Joshua and a young man with a crooked smile who has to be Jeremy."

      "Right on both counts."

     "The older woman is the lady you wrote us about. Lottie Hatfield, isn't it?"

     Jason was impressed. "You should have been a detective instead of a reporter."

      "Thank-you," she smiled, "but who is that pretty lady in the picture?"

     "Jealous?" Jason teased.

     "Incredibly," she grinned.

     "Her name is Candy Pruitt. She's engaged to Jeremy."

     Kate shook her head in amazement; "Pipsqueak is getting married! He was only eleven when I saw him last. I just can't imagine him as a husband."

     "Not only that, but he'll be a father of sorts as soon as he marries Candy."

     "Really?"

     "Candy's raising her younger brother and sister, Christopher and Molly. Jeremy's become a father figure to them in the past year."

     "Amazing!" Kate was trying hard to replace all of her old memories of the Bolts with these new images that Jason was providing. "And what about Josh? Is he engaged too?"

     "No. Unfortunately, relationships always fall apart for him before they get too far along."

     Kate's eyes twinkled mischievously. "I always knew he'd have trouble getting a girl. He's just too ornery for any woman to put up with. I should know!"

     Jason's laughter made the busy citizens look up from their work and smile.

     "You two were terrible to each other. What was it that you used to call him?"

     "Squid." Kate smiled. "He looked just like one when he went swimming in the lake. Those long arms and legs of his splashing through the water and all that blonde hair streaming behind him."

     "That's right. You called him 'Squid'" and he called you 'Brat'."

     "Yes, he did and I'd pound him every time he did, until I couldn't catch him any more. Those darn legs of his kept growing!"

     "You wouldn't know Josh now. He's become Mr. Levelheaded. He keeps our books, writes our contracts, draw up plans, and corresponds with businesses in the territory. Jeremy and I would be lost without him."

     "So there were advantages to my leaving Seattle after all. Josh was finally able to find the time to study once he didn't have me around to torment him."

     Jason glanced at her as they turned the corner and headed for the law offices. "Josh will have a hard time believing that you, the Queen of Truancies, have graduated from college."

     "Sometimes I have a hard time believing it myself," she admitted. The two friends stopped before a tall brownstone building. "This is it."

     Jason opened the heavy oak door, which led them down a long hallway lined on both sides with identical oak doors. Behind these doors prestigious looking men scribbled away at their prestigious looking desks. Kate walked directly to the fourth door on the right. The bronze nameplate read "James L. Jordan, attorney-at-law" Kate turned the handle, but before she could give it a push it was pulled out of her hand by someone on the other side.

     "What are you doing here, Macready?" Dan Sullivan demanded. "You're supposed to meet us at the court house later." His tone was brusque but the look in his eyes was tender. Jason had seen that look often enough in the men of Seattle to know that Mr. Sullivan had more than a professional interest in Kate Macready.

     His manner never phased Kate who just brushed past him. "I want Mr. Jordan to hear everything I know before the trial. Besides, I wasn't about to let you win our bet."

     "It's risky for you to be on the streets." Dan tried to reason with her while glaring at Jason for his inability to keep Katie on the ship. Jason shrugged pointing at Kate as if to say there was no stopping her. Dan turned to the attorney.

     "James, is it absolutely necessary that Kate testify? Now that Chang-tu has been murdered, won't that be enough evidence to put these three away?"

     Kate frowned. "Why shouldn't I testify?"

     "Because your life wouldn't be worth the price of the paper we use to write your obituary if you do. James has proof that this political corruption runs even deeper than we suspected."

     "So?" She asked calmly.

     "So?" Dan's nerves were on edge. It had been a rough week and he had had little rest. He'd spent every waking hour gathering information from any source he could. The last thing he needed was to have Kate push what little patience he had left. He turned to Jason.

     "She couldn't always have been this hard-headed."

     "I was much worse." Kate quipped. "Listen, Dan, I don't want to be a walking target for anyone who wants revenge, but if what I know will rid San Francisco of creeps like Barrows and Whitely, then I can't keep quiet."

     Jason had been watching the attorney during this exchange. "What do you think, Mr. Jordan?"

     The lawyer was in his mid-fifties, gray, tall and soft-spoken but he possessed an iron will which made people who might otherwise ignore him, take notice.

     "Well, I'm glad to know someone here values my opinion." He gave Kate and Dan a caustic glance, which subdued them immediately. "The way I see it, until I know exactly what it was that Miss Macready here saw last night we might not even have a case. This district attorney has pulled some strings and we're back to square one. So," He pulled out a chair and motioned to Kate to be seated. "Start explaining young lady."

     Kate gave the men a detailed account of what she had witnessed the day before. When she was through, Mr. Jordan praised her thoroughness but told her. "Unless we have actual proof that these men killed Lin Chang-tu, and that Barrows or Whitely ordered his murder, it'll will be your word against the defendant's. You know who will win, don't you?"

     "I do have proof Mr. Jordan." Kate said. "Late last night, I realized that Mr. Chang-tu's body would not be sitting in that warehouse in the morning so I went back and saw where they'd buried him. I also saw what they did with the gun they used. "

     "What?" Jason was astonished. "You went back there, alone?"

     Kate nodded, "I had to find something. When someone's murdered in any other town, the police gather the evidence at the crime scene. Last night, I realized no one was going to do that so I went back."

     "Where's the body, Kate?" Mr. Jordan asked.

     "Buried out by the oak on the hill behind the warehouse. I watched them bury him from on top of the warehouse. They never saw me. They put their shovels in a nearby shed when they were through. I'd bet the dirt is still on them."

     "Where'd they put the gun?"

     "One of the officers threw it in a trash bin."

     The men looked at one another incredulously.

     "The trash bin?" Dan asked.

     "He wasn't the brightest of the three." Kate smiled.

     Mr. Jordan shook his head in disbelief. Stupid criminals always made his job easier. "If you gentlemen will excuse us, Miss Macready and I have a few details to discuss before court is in session." He called to his secretary who had just come in to work. "Mr. Lowell would you go down the hall and get the territorial marshal for me. Ask him to come to my office and bring some trusted officers with him." Turning back to Jason and Dan he nodded. "Go get some breakfast gentlemen. We won't be able to join you for awhile."

      "Then Kate is going to testify?" Dan asked.

     "I'm afraid we have no choice. Once we present the evidence to the jury, we'll need her eyewitness account to get a conviction."

     Dan rubbed his tired eyes,"But as soon as she takes the stand...."

     "You'll both have to leave the city." Jordan advised.

     "What about you? You won't be immune to revenge will you?" Kate asked.

     Jordan smiled, "The governor and I are good friends. In fact, we're more than that; we're cousins. Most of the lawless individuals in town know this and keep their distance." He rose from his desk and gestured to the door. "Now if you two will leave us, we'll get to work."

     Dan and Jason stepped out onto the sidewalk where they found Clancey pacing back and forth. Jason introduced the two men then filled the Irishman in on what had taken place inside. When they told him about Kate's trek back to the crime scene he was amazed.

     "How did she get off the Seamus without my seein' her? The little monkey!"

     Jason clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Don't let it bother you Clancey. No one but my mother could ever keep Katie somewhere she didn't want to be. She is an expert at disappearing. Think of it as a gift."

     Clancey noticed the absent look in Dan's eyes as they walked toward the courthouse. "Don't you go worrying about anything, young fella. You'll get a conviction sure enough."

     "Oh, I'm certain we will," he answered softly.

     "Katie will be fine." Jason assured the young man although he knew it was a promise that he couldn't really give.

     "If anyone can escape trouble, it's Kate," he agreed.

     "Then what's troubling you, lad?"

     "I've never worked on any other paper but the Register. Where am I going to go until all this blows over?" It had just occurred to Dan that he might be out of a job.

     "Is that all?" Clancey grinned. "Come back to Seattle with us. We're settin' sail on Saturday."

     "Do you have a paper there?"

     "No," Jason answered, "but that's where you and Katie can help us. Seattle has gotten so large now that we really need our own paper. There just isn't anyone around who knows how to get something like that started successfully."

     Dan walked along in silence for a while. "It's an idea. Kate and I make a great team. You wouldn't believe the stories we've gotten in the past three months. She's an incredible reporter even if her methods do drive me crazy sometimes. Maybe..." His voice trailed off as the future suddenly took on a most interesting turn. "I'll think about it," was the only thing he would say about the plan.