Excerpt from The Wedding

Taking Angelica by the hand, Joe led the way up the stairs and down the long hall to the room. He knocked, and almost instantly the door opened. Right inside stood a small man, hardly five feet, with a thin face and a head of thinning, silver-gray hair.
"Looking for Judge Parker," Joe said.
"You've found what's left of ’im!" the little man answered in a loud voice.
"Judge Parker," Angelica began, "we would like to talk to you ‘bout the three boys over in the jail."
"You mean those rustlers?" his voice was gruff.
"Yes. We’d like to drop all the charges against them."
The short man’s face flushed red, then went cold and hard. "What do you mean?"
They entered the room taking a seat in chairs around a small table piled high with scattered papers. Then in a low, even voice Angelica explained to the Judge what she wanted to do.
After hearing her plea for mercy, the hard-faced judge jerked to his feet. "Impossible!" he shouted. "Mrs. Edwards, there’s been a great loss of life in this case. Four dead, one of your own men wounded. These boys, as you call ’em, meant to steal, meant to kill. And only by the hand of God did they not succeed in the latter. This ... This. . ." He glanced at a paper on the table. "Yeah, here it is. Floyd Brooks. Do you think he’s going to forget who shot and killed his brothers? Do you think he will not jump at the first opportunity to take his revenge?" With quick sharp steps he walked to the window and looked out, then turned back. "Well!"