Read Online Stealing Jake by Pam Hillman - Free Book Online

come out one morning and find him buried under the remains of the shack.
    But Gus refused. Said the cabin with its lean-to was all he and Little Bit owned.
    Jake heard the humming before he dismounted and tied his horse to a low-lying tree limb. Another Christmas carol.
    “Hello, the house?”
    The humming stopped, and silence descended. But Gus didn’t answer his call or come to the door.
    “Gus, it’s me. Jake. I need to talk to you.”
    After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked open, and Gus squinted out through the sliver of a crack. “Mr. Jake?”
    “Morning, Gus.” Jake smiled to put the old feller more at ease. A two-day-old colt couldn’t be more skittish. But Gus had a right to be cautious. Not much more than five feet tall, he’d been the brunt of more than one mean-spirited joke in his sixty-odd years. “Mind if I come in?”
    A look of surprise jumped across Gus’s face, and Jake brought himself up short. He stopped by to check on Gus often, but he’d never once invited himself inside. A shy smile replaced Gus’s confusion, and the door eased completely open.
    Jake stepped inside the doorway and swept his eyes across the room, taking in every aspect of the man’s abode. He didn’t know what he’d expected to find inside Gus’s cabin, but it wasn’t this. A cheery fire burned in the fireplace, keeping the one-room dwelling toasty. A small table and single chair sat to the left of the fireplace, while a cot, neatly made up with a patched and fading quilt, took up most of the opposite wall. Rough lumber shelves held a few canned goods and other odds and ends. All in all, the place looked as clean as Jake’s mother’s house, if a good bit smaller.
    Swinging his gaze toward Gus, Jake found the old man grinning from ear to ear, his hands on top of the straight-back chair. He pushed the chair forward. “Sit here, Mr. Jake.”
    Jake wanted to refuse, seeing as Gus only owned one chair, but he didn’t want to offend his host. He took off his hat, placed it on the table, and eased down onto the rickety chair. Gus started humming and bustled over to the fireplace to pour a cup of coffee from a battered pot. He shuffled the few feet back to the table and offered the brew. A lump formed in Jake’s throat as he accepted the mug. “Thanks, Gus.”
    Gus hummed as Jake sipped his coffee, surprised to find it good, if a tad weak. He didn’t know how to broach the subject of the robbery. Gus seemed to be beside himself with joy over having a visitor. Jake didn’t want to destroy the old man’s happiness.
    “How’s Little Bit, Gus?”
    Gus hurried over to a shuttered window between the fireplace and the bed. He opened the window and whistled. Little Bit brayed and poked her head through the opening. Gus scratched her between the ears and she butted against his chest.
    Jake laughed. “Well, at least you know she’s okay, since she’s right here.”
    Gus grinned his shy smile again and pointed to the fireplace and the lean-to at the back of the cabin. “And she’s warm.”
    “That she is.” Jake eyed the setup. “That’s a good idea, Gus. To use the heat from the back of the fireplace for Little Bit’s lean-to. Where’d you come up with that?”
    The man scratched his scraggly beard and shrugged. “I dunno. It just happened.”
    “Well, it’s a good thing, no matter.” Jake stood and scratched the donkey behind her ear. “Gus, I need to ask you something. Yesterday, you helped Mr. McIver out at the mercantile, didn’t you?”
    Gus nodded.
    “Do you remember if you locked up the storeroom at the end of the day?”
    “I don’t remember.” Gus screwed up his face in concentration. “Maybe Will did, but he was in a bad mood yesterday.”
    “I know. McIver told me.”
    “He told you? Why would he do that?”
    “Somebody robbed the mercantile last night.”
    Gus’s face went pale, and he backed away. “I didn’t do it, Mr. Jake. I didn’t steal nuthin’.” When the backs