Ezra approached the seated judge and sat down across from him. Travis lowered his fork and waited. “Judge Travis, may I impose on some of your valuable time?”
Orrin Travis’ left eyebrow rose. “Go on.”
“This is something of a delicate matter.” Ezra glanced around to see if anyone was listening.
“I am not in the habit of investing my money in saloons,” Travis stated, returning to his meal.
Ezra dismissed the comment with a frown. “Sir, I assure you, my business with you has nothing to do with anything so trivial.”
The statement caused the Judge’s other eyebrow to leap skyward.
“I have an acquaintance who has, through no fault of his own, ended up…”
“I know about the bounty,” Travis interrupted.
“Oh?” Ezra asked surprised.
“Vin told me.”
“I see.” Ezra’s bright green eyes became reflective.
“There isn’t a lot I can do, Ezra. Tascosa is out of my jurisdiction. I have spoken to my counterpart in that territory and the point is, without any witnesses…”
“What if we do have witnesses?”
Travis pursed his lips. “Vin said there weren’t any except this Eli Joe and he’s dead.”
“Perhaps no witnesses to the actual crime, but we have five members of Eli Joe’s gang presiding in our jail who heard Eli Joe admit he was responsible for the murder of the farmer and that he killed the man to frame Mr. Tanner.” Ezra was confident that convincing the miscreants to co-operate wouldn’t be a problem once they were introduced to Larabee. Chris could be very persuasive when he wanted to be. “These men are also witnesses to Eli Joe’s plan to hunt Mr. Tanner down to ensure he was never able to clear his name. If you were to interview these men and take statements…” Ezra left the proposal hanging.
Judge Travis‘ brow furrowed deeply as he assimilated the information. “Signed statements from witnesses who heard a confession from the guilty man.” Travis frowned. “I don’t know. I guess I would consider such evidence, but I’m not presiding on this case. It would be up to the circuit Judge in Tascosa. I don’t know him very well. There’s no guarantee he’ll believe the statements of five known outlaws.”
“But there is a chance we could convince him to clear Vin based on their testimony?” Standish pressed.
Travis pushed his chair back, exited the restaurant and marched toward the jail with Ezra at his shoulder. “A chance,” the judge conceded with reservations. His mind ticked over and the more he thought about it, the more clear cut it became. “A damn good chance……….”
