The mid morning stage roared into Four Corners kicking dust up into
the cool late March air as
the four massive steeds were pulled to a stop. Mary Travis waited
anxiously in front of the
post office as passengers started to disembark. She returned
the smile of an elderly gentleman
who quickly turned and walked away. A middle aged man stepped
down tipping his hat, he
paused a moment then continued as he realized she had no interest.
Mary's hand came to her
mouth as she stifled a cry, her excitement no longer contained.
An attractive dark haired woman
exited the stage her eyes lit up as she cried out, "Mary!" The two
joyously embraced oblivious to
the people who stared and stepped around them.
Chris and Josiah sat outside the saloon, across the street, witnessing
the interaction between the
two women. Josiah calmly raised his head enough to peer out from
below the brim of his worn
hat. "What's that all about?"
"Beats me," Chris replied seemingly unconcerned. He tipped his
black hat back on his head and
brought his chair back down on its four legs. Ezra and Buck stepped
out of the saloon; Ezra
trying hard to ignore Buck's very animated conversation. Buck
stopped talking as he and Ezra
noticed that Chris and Josiah's attention laid elsewhere, they scanned
the street to see what was
holding their attention so intently. Their eyes alighted on the
newcomer that Mary was so
joyously welcoming. The four gunslingers continued to watch the
interaction between Mary and
the very attractive dark haired woman.
Ezra began straightening his tan jacket, slightly dismayed that he wasn't
wearing his favorite red
one. Buck on the other hand was content to just get the dust
off his hat. "Well, it appears
that Four Corners is being honored with the presence of yet another
vision of loveliness and I
shall now in turn honor her with my magnanimous presence," Ezra boasted
to his three
compatriots.
"Saw her first!" Buck yelled as he bounded across the street.
Ezra rolled his eyes at the boorish cowboy, Chris and Josiah just grinned.
"I must teach that man
some etiquette," Ezra murmured as he stepped off the boardwalk onto
the dirt packed road.
"Well, I guess we should go over and introduce ourselves," Chris mentioned
as he stood up,
suddenly curious about the newcomer.
"Yep, I reckon we ought," Josiah replied trying to hide his own curiosity
and interest in the
attractive woman. Out of the corner of his eye Chris caught Josiah
quickly smoothing down his
grayish hair. Chris brought his hand to his mouth to hide the
smile that couldn't help appearing.
Buck stepped up to the women interrupting their conversation. "Ah ma'am,
Buck Wilmington at
your service." As an after thought he removed his hat.
Even his mustache couldn't hide his
boyish smile which stretched ear to ear. Ezra came up behind
Buck placing his hand on Buck's
shoulder. Both women smiled at the handsome men.
"Forgive my friend's rather rustic style," Ezra cut in, stepping in
front of Buck who looked ready
to cuff the presumptuous gambler. Ezra's southern drawl brought
a delighted smile to the
dark hair woman's face. "I'm here to welcome you to our quaint little
backwater town." Ezra
swept his hat off and bowed gallantly. It took all Mary's will
power not to laugh out loud.
Ezra's southern hospitality was interrupted by Chris and Josiah who
suddenly joined them much
to Ezra's dismay. "Four is definitely a crowd," Ezra mumbled
so only Josiah heard him.
The ex-preacher smiled at the woman and murmured out of the corner of
his mouth to Ezra,
"All's fair in love and war, brother Ezra." Josiah's smile never
leaving his face.
Chris tipped his hat towards the woman and stepped up next to Mary who
clasped his upper arm
and interjected, "Mr. Larabee, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Katherine
Hen...."
The dark haired woman interrupted Mary, her smile replaced with a somber
frown, and a sadness
momentarily lit her dark eyes. "Mary, it's Miss Ashby again." For a
moment Mary didn't know
what to say, then continued, some of her earlier exuberance gone.
"Ah, yes, Miss Katherine Ashby, she's an old school friend of mine."
Mary paused trying to
regain some of her composure, her voice returning to normal as she
tried to dismiss the recent
uncomfortable moment. "Katherine, I'd like you to meet Chris Larabee."
Mary looked up into
Chris' rugged face. Katherine extended her hand, which Chris graciously
took.
"Mr. Larabee, Mary has mentioned you quite frequently in her letters."
Chris gave a sidelong
glance to Mary, who glared good naturally at Katherine, then proceeded
to introduce the rest,
ignoring Chris' smirking smile.
"You've met Mr. Buck Wilmington, and these fine gentlemen are Ezra Standish
and Josiah
Sanchez." All three tipped their hats. At that moment Nathan
stepped out of the post office
carrying a package under his arm. Mary immediately intercepted
him. "And this is Nathan
Jackson the town's Healer."
Nathan tipped his hat. "Ma'am."
"I'll have to introduce you later to JD Dunne our Sheriff and Vin Tanner,"
Mary added.
"Don't count on it," Josiah remarked with a grin, "after being cooped
up all winter Vin usually
needs to go and commune with nature for awhile."
"Well, I can certainly understand why Mary stays here in this dusty
town," Katherine added as
she eyed each one of the handsome men standing around her. "It's a
pleasure to meet all of you. I
hope to get to know each of you better while I'm here."
"Do you plan on staying long?" Josiah asked.
"Well, that depends." She looked over at Mary. "I do plan on staying
on for awhile."
"Come on let's get you settled in at my place, I'm dying for you to
meet Billy." Grabbing her by
the arm Mary eagerly urged Katherine away from her infatuated friends.
She turned her head
and called over her shoulder, "Oh Yeah, someone get her bags!"
The five looked at each other a moment then Buck shrugged and grabbed
both bags only to have
one taken by Josiah. "Why you old dog, you," Buck snickered.
Josiah ignored him and hurried
after the two women. Nathan shook his head and smiled as he walked
off.
Chris turned to Ezra. "Ezra, I thought you of all people would
lend a hand to a beautiful woman
and take advantage of the situation."
"Good things come to those who wait, Mr. Larabee and anyway I try an
avoid menial labor as
much as I can." Ezra smiled and headed back to the saloon.
Mary was anxious to talk to her friend and after both Josiah and Buck
extracted a promise of
dinner from Katherine she shooed them away. Mary poured coffee
as Katherine admired her
small glass figurines that adorned a shelf in her living room.
Mary sat down on the divan placing
the pot of coffee on the table. She picked up her cup trying
to subdue her curiosity. She noticed
that Katherine looked worn and older then her thirty years. Katherine
turned and sat down on the
other end of the divan picking up her coffee. The silence was deafening.
Finally, Mary couldn't stand it anymore and put her cup down looking
straight at Katherine.
"Okay, what happened?"
Katherine took a sip of coffee then slowly lowered her cup and her eyes;
it was a moment before
she raised watery brown eyes to meet Mary's crystal blues ones.
"Frank left me," she answered matter-of-factly.
"I don't understand, why?" Mary asked, she could feel her friend's pain
and wanted to understand
what happened. She'd known Mary since they attended school in
St. Louis. Both had
married their childhood sweethearts, Mary and her husband came out
west shortly after.
Katherine and Frank stayed in St. Louis. Katherine was of a very affluent
family and Mary
always believed that Frank only married her for her family's money.
But Katherine had loved
Frank deeply and Mary kept her thoughts to herself.
Katherine took a deep breath. "He left me for some bar room trollop,
I still can't believe it."
Katherine stood up and went back to the figurines picking up a delicate
glass doll. "We'd
been having problems for about a year now. I wrote you earlier
that we were trying to have a
baby. Well we hadn't had much luck. I think Frank blamed
me. He started hanging out at the
saloon a lot." Katherine took another deep breath and continued,
"I couldn't stand the looks or
the talk behind my back so I left. I telegraphed you from Tucson before
coming here. I just
needed a place, some hideaway."
"Oh Kat, I'm so sorry," Mary replied plaintively her heart went
out to her friend.
Katherine raised her hand. "Please, Mary that's why I left St.
Louis I couldn't stand another
you-poor-thing from anyone." Mary shook her head in understanding.
When her own husband
had died she felt the sad eyes upon her as she walked down the street.
"You know you're welcome to stay here as long as you like," Mary added.
Katherine turned to
Mary her face showing the gratitude she felt.
"Thank you. It's been a long time, since my marriage to Frank,
we have a lot of catching up to
do."
+ + + + + + +
The next day, Mary brought Katherine into town and left her in the store
looking at material
while she headed over to the church. She found Buck, Chris and Josiah
in the process of
replacing a rotting beam. All seven of the gunslingers routinely
worked on refurbishing the old
church. None really knew why they did this it just seemed like
the thing to do. When Mary
entered the three took a break.
"How's your friend?" Chris asked taking a drink from a canteen. Every
time Mary came near
Chris her heart fluttered she knew she wanted to spend the rest of
her life with him, but wasn't
sure how he felt so she kept her feelings to herself.
"She seems to be doing okay, considering," she said. "Her husband left
her."
"Sorry to hear that," Josiah voiced, wiping the dirt off his hands,
his graying hair covered in dust.
Josiah was the one who initiated the repair work on the church, everyone
believed this
was some type of redemption or penance he felt he had to do and they
were more than willing to
assist.
"I need to ask you all a favor, please make her feel welcome.
She's come a long way and I think she wants to start over." Mary turned
and glared at Buck. "But
not that welcomed, Buck."
Buck put on his most innocent smile, but before he could voice his objection
Chris added,
""Don't worry Mary, I'll make sure the men behave themselves,"
His blue eyes turned directly to
Buck, who slumped down in the pew defeated.
"Thank you." Mary smiled up at Chris. "This is hard for her, her family
is very prestigious and
I'm sure it was an embarrassment. She's never been a very strong woman,
she's always needed a
man."
When Mary returned to the store to meet Katherine she was stunned to
see her walking down the
boardwalk with Ezra, listening intently to his southern drawl.
She was tempted to intervene in
case Ezra had other intentions, but then decided against it. Maybe
this was just what Katherine
needed she thought. Katherine did seem stronger than she used
to be, the old Katherine would
have been in constant tears and probably just run to daddy. Katherine
had always picked the
wrong men to latch on to. Maybe this is just what she needs to
bolster her self-confidence.
+ + + + + + +
The days slowly grew longer as the sun tried to warm the last icy breath
of winter that still clung
to the air. The cool air was invigorating and gave Chris a little
extra stride in his walk.
Things had been quiet for some time now and Chris knew it wouldn't
last, trouble always found
the seven. As he crossed the street something caused him to turn
and look down. He grinned at
the long haired, buckskin rider coming in, the grin left his face when
he noticed Vin leading
another horse with a body draped over the saddle. Chris met Vin
outside the sheriff's office as he
shouted for JD. JD came out stretching like he had just rose
from a nap.
"Where'd you'd find him Vin?" Chris asked.
Vin dismounted, as JD approached he answered, "I found him just outside
town over by the
cliffs. Strange, it looked like he was preparing for a picnic
or somethin'. His horse was tied and
he had a blanket and some fancy food in the saddlebag."
JD examined the body. "It looks like a single shot to the chest, close
range," JD announced. Chris
also took a look. "You didn't see anyone else out there,
did you Vin?" JD asked.
"Nope, it's been just me and the coyotes all week and any tracks were
washed away by last night's
rain," Vin replied loosening the cinch on his horse's saddle.
"Well, I guess I'll go and get the coroner." JD walked off. This
was the part of his job he hated
most, now he'd have to find out who this dead guy was and notify his
next of kin.
Chris took one last look at the dead man as Vin tied the horses up in
front of the jail and the two
headed over to the saloon. Death was nothing new to either man, but
they hated when someone
was killed in their town. "You goin' stay awhile?" Chris asked his
solitary friend. Even though
the two men were a lot alike. Chris could not understand Vin's
desire to be totally alone for
weeks at a time. Chris kept his distance with his friends, but
deep down he still needed them
close.
"Nah, I'm going to head on out after a drink."
In the afternoon the saloon was more a social gathering place than a
house of ill repute or devil's
drink, as some of the more respected members of the town called it.
As the two entered the
saloon they saw Buck and Katherine sitting at a corner table deep in
conversation.
"Whose that?" Vin asked.
"A friend of Mary's, she's visiting after her husband left her."
"Looks like she's recovering pretty good," Vin said noticing the smile
she was giving to Buck.
Vin picked up the mug of beer and took a much-anticipated swallow.
Chris turned to watch the two and said mostly to himself, "It does doesn't
it?" Chris watched as
Buck smoothly placed his arm across Katherine's shoulders. Something
caused Buck to look up
where he was met with Chris' reprimanding glare. He gave the
abstruse gunslinger a weak smile
and removed his arm from Katherine's shoulder. Chris just smiled and
turned back to the bar.
+ + + + + + +
Later that evening, Buck and Nathan entered the sheriff's office to
find JD sitting behind his desk
his feet propped up intensely involved in a book. Buck grabbed
the book. "Hey," JD shouted
almost tipping over in his chair.
"What's this? Something more than a dime store novel." Buck
rifled through the pages. "Look
Nathan more than ten pages. This is a real book." Buck glanced
at the cover ignoring JD's
perturbed looks. "Sherlock Holmes?" JD grabbed the book, checking
to make sure it wasn't
damaged by his crude friend. Nathan smiled at Buck's school aged
antics.
"What's it about?" Nathan asked sitting down on the corner of the desk.
"It's about this great detective in Scotland," JD defended.
"Scotland! What's that?" Buck scoffed.
"It's a country over there with England," JD stated as if this explained
everything. Buck looked
to Nathan and shrugged.
"Why are you reading something like that?" Buck asked walking over to
the rifle rack, he was on
duty in a few minutes and decided since there had been a recent murder
he was going to
carry a little more firepower.
"Hey it might help me to crack a case someday," JD explained.
Chris entered the office, his presence felt as soon as he entered the
doorway. "JD I have a
telegram for you from the sheriff in Tucson." Chris handed the
telegram to JD, looking over at
Buck and Nathan. "What are you two doing?"
"Well I'm on duty soon," Buck replied checking his rifle.
"And I'm keeping him company," Nathan added with a smile. Chris
stared at Buck knowing he
was probably giving JD a hard time. The cocky gunslinger took
great joy out of ribbing the
young sheriff.
JD stood up suddenly, his chair scraping the floor. "Wow, this is something!"
Chris' eye brows raised, which was the only sign of interest on his
otherwise impassive face.
"What?" Nathan asked, hoping for a little excitement it been rather
dull lately.
"The sheriff is letting me know about an unsolved murder. This
guy was found outside town
shot once in the chest. And get this he was apparently on a picnic."
JD looked up at Chris. "Just
like the guy Vin brought in." JD grabbed his book and started
flipping through the pages. "Here,
oh my gosh, we might have our first serial killer."
"What's a serial killer?" Buck asked skeptically as he loaded his rifle.
"Someone who kills numerous times usually the same way for the same
reason. I just read one of
Sherlock's cases concerning a serial killer and how he caught him."
Buck gave JD a dubious smirk. "C'mon JD it's just a coincidence
and anyway that man was
killed in Tucson that's a little off the beaten path from here."
"Well, maybe, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out, would it Chris?"
JD commented looking to
Chris for affirmation.
Chris thought a moment then replied, "No I can't see any reason not
to check it out, go to it
detective." Chris smiled and left.
+ + + + + + +
The next morning Chris stopped into the Clarion News office to find
Mary diligently at work on
the next day's copy. He watched her for a moment noticing how
fresh and vibrant her face
looked. He finally cleared his throat to announce his presence.
"Chris, hello what brings you
here this morning?"
"I was just wondering how your friend Katherine is doing?"
"Chris it's amazing, she seems fine, although..." Mary turned
around in her chair and looked up
into Chris' icy blue eyes. Small lines appeared around her eyes
in worry. "She never brings
up Frank and I've tried." Mary pushed a hair back in place. "I'm
a little worried, it's like he never
existed, but she seems to be adjusting okay. In fact I think
she's having breakfast with Josiah
right now. Maybe I'm old fashion but I wonder if she's not rushing
things a little. I mean the
guys have been great and all." Chris smiled at Mary's rambling
until she realized what she was
doing. "I'm sorry Chris I probably sound like an old mother hen."
"Nah, just a friend," Chris quietly replied. The two locked eyes
for just a moment then Chris
pulled away. He smiled tipped his hat and walked out. Mary
let out an exasperating breath,
sometimes she just couldn't understand him. She knew he was still
hurting from the death of his
wife and son. Mary wondered if he would ever get over it enough
to let someone else into his
life.
The saloon was unusually busy for a Thursday night, which delighted
Ezra to no end. Chris and
Josiah relaxed against the bar as Buck and JD continued to argue about
Sherlock Holmes.
"Listen Buck this is the future of law enforcement! Detectives solve
the crimes after they happen.
Every crime leaves clues you just have to know what to look for," JD
tried to explain to his
doubting friend.
"Bull, what kind of clues could someone leave that would tell you who
committed the crime?"
"Well, like boot prints or maybe they drop something at the scene of
the crime," JD replied
knowingly. Buck just shook his head at JD's fantasies.
"So Josiah how was your breakfast with Miss Katherine?" Chris asked
the solemn ex-preacher.
"It was okay," Josiah replied taking a swig of beer. "A little
strange, she talked a little about
Frank, but it was like she was just on a vacation and would be returning
home soon."
"Hmmm that is strange, Mary told me she never talks about Frank, it's
like he doesn't exist,"
Chris replied.
In the center of the bar room a disturbance rose. "You're a cheat!"
A heavyset man yelled across
the table at Ezra. Ezra calmly raised his eyes to meet the man's
glaring stare. The other two
players slowly pushed their chairs back, out of the line of fire.
Katherine had quietly entered the
saloon and stood just inside the doors watching the scene unfold.
"Sir, I have no need to cheat someone who plays as bad as you," Ezra
replied to the accusation in
a rather sardonic tone.
The man stood up clearly angered at the insult. "Why you no good.."
Just as the man touched
his gun Ezra's derringer sprung out and was pointed directly at the
stunned man's belly. A
second later the man heard four more guns cock around him. He
slowly turned his head to see
JD, Buck, Josiah and Chris calmly pointing their guns at him.
The room had become deathly
quiet.
"It's your move, sir?" Ezra stated coolly. The man gave
a weak smile and slowly removed his
hand from his gun.
"Ah, sorry my mistake," the man reluctantly replied his voice somewhat
shaky. He quickly left
slamming the bat wing doors to either side as he exited the saloon.
The bar room noise slowly
rose as everyone resumed their previous activities.
Ezra collected up the cards and the sizable pot of money and called
out, "We have a seat open!"
Josiah and Chris returned to their beers, glad that the situation ended
peacefully.
Buck saw Katherine across the room and stood grabbing his hat off the
table. "Well, JD as much
as it would pleasure me to discuss this with you all night I have a
date with Miss Katherine." He
stepped up to the waiting woman.
"Is this a daily occurrence?" Katherine asked nodding towards Ezra who
was already dealing out
new hands.
"Only when Ezra's playing." Buck grinned as he took Katherine
by the arm and led her out of the
saloon. Katherine looked over her shoulder and caught sight of
a saloon girl hanging on Ezra's
shoulder.
Chris glanced over and caught a look that passed over Katherine's face,
it left her face so quickly
he wasn't sure what he saw, but it sent a shiver down his spine.
"Chris, what's wrong?" Josiah asked noticing Chris' mood had suddenly
changed and he was
staring out at nothing.
"Ah, nothing Josiah, it was nothing." Chris took another swig
of his beer trying to convince
himself it was nothing.
+ + + + + + +
The next morning a tall, wiry man with ash-gray hair walked up to the
jail leading his horse and
yelled, "Sheriff!" JD and Buck came out.
"Hey Dirk what's up?" Buck asked then stopped as he noticed the body
draped over Dirk's horse.
JD walked over to the body as Dirk tied up his roan.
"Found 'em down by the river," Dirk explained scratching his grizzled
face. "Strangest thing, it
looked like he was on a picnic or somethin', had a blanket all spread
out and everythin'.
couldn't find his horse though."
"Hey Buck, it's Harry Blakely," JD exclaimed as he examined the body.
"I need to go to the Mercantile can you take care of this guy?" Dirk
asked.
"Sure Dirk we'll take care of him," Buck replied looking over at JD.
Chris and Nathan came up
to JD nodding as Dirk walked towards the store.
"Another one?" Chris asked.
"Yep!" JD turned to Buck an I-told-you-so smirk on his boyish
face. "Okay Buck you still think
it's a coincidence?"
Nathan tried to hide a smirk as he realized Buck would have to admit
that JD could possibly be
right.
"Okay, so what does that book of yours say?" Buck grudgingly replied
giving Nathan a warning
glare in the process.
JD raced inside and grabbed his book. He returned quickly thumbing through
the pages until he
found what he was looking for. "Ah, okay, we need to find out what
all the victims had in
common?"
"They all have holes in them," Buck replied sarcastically.
JD was not amused. "What does it say, JD?" Chris asked pushing
his hat back on his head. He
was getting a bad feeling about all this and he wasn't sure why.
"It says even the smallest detail could be important," JD added.
"Look Buck, I need your help we
need to find out who saw these people alive last and I need to telegraph
the sheriff in Tucson
and get a description of the man killed there. There's got to be a
connection."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Nathan injected. "JD, what was the
name of Sherlock's partner
again?"
"Ah, Watson," JD replied.
Nathan gave Buck a smug smile and was about to say something when Buck
cut him off, "Don't
say it, Nathan."
Chris and Nathan headed for the church having promised Josiah they would
help repair the roof
which was damaged during the last storm. Chris could not shake
the feeling of dread which had
suddenly rooted itself in his gut.
JD headed for the telegraph office to wire the sheriff in Tucson, he
wanted to get as much
information as he could on the man who was killed there. Buck
decided to start asking around
town to see if anyone knew anything about the two dead men.
+ + + + + + +
Chris and Josiah entered the quiet saloon, they didn't expect to see
anyone, it was to late for the
social crowd and to early for the regulars. As they were
just about to sit at a table Chris
noticed JD sitting at a far table engrossed in some papers. Josiah
shrugged and they strolled over
and sat down. JD didn't even acknowledge their presence his brow
furrowed in concentration as
his eyes went back and forth between three pieces of paper.
"How's the detective work going, JD?" Josiah asked breaking the concentrated
silence. This was
the first time that anyone had even seen the sheriff since Harry Blakely's
death two days ago.
JD leaned back in his chair. "I don't know, these murders sure
are bizarre." JD ran his hand
through his dark hair in frustration. "Maybe I'm not cut out
to be a detective, there
should be something to connect all these deaths but I just can't seem
to find it. I know none of
these men knew each other."
At that moment Nathan and Buck entered the saloon. "There you
are, I've been looking all over
town for you, JD," Buck complained. He grabbed a chair from the
next table and straddled
it backwards, grinning from ear to ear.
"Why don't you read to us what you have, maybe you just need some fresh
minds," Chris
remarked. JD shrugged, not sure how this could help.
"Okay this is what I have so far." JD picked up the three pages
and looked at them. "Three men
the one in Tucson was only there a month. His name was Thomas Cantell
he was from back east
somewhere. He was medium build, about 5'10" with brown hair and
green eyes, clean shaven,
liked to frequent the saloons." JD flipped over to the next page.
"Next, Harry Blakely, owned a
small ranch just north of here. Also medium build with brown
hair and green eyes. Has been in
the area for 2 years, was seen a couple times in the saloon."
Chris' brow furrowed as JD
continued, "Samuel Dillon, only been in town a couple weeks, again
he was also about medium
height with brown hair and green eyes, clean shaven and had been seen
hanging around the
saloon." JD laid the papers down and looked over at Chris and
Josiah and continued, "So they all
looked the same and liked the saloon. They were all killed on
what appeared to be a picnic, but I
can't find anything that would of gotten them killed." JD paused clearly
dishearten. "I still have
no clue as to who might of killed these three men and why."
"I believe if you find the why the rest will be easy," Josiah replied
in a low voice, going over in
his head everything that JD had said.
"Someone who didn't like clean shaven, brown haired saloon men," Buck
replied with a laugh
which he cut short as he noticed the rest didn't share in his humor.
Buck quickly tried to redeem
himself. "Look JD, I talked to everyone in town, no one saw any of
those men before they died or
know of any reason someone would want to kill them." JD leaned
back in his chair totally
discouraged.
Chris tipped his chair back, crossing his arms. "They were all
shot at close range so they might
of known their assailant and weren't afraid," Chris stated.
Something in the back of his
mind started to itch and he started to get that bad feeling again.
JD came to attention as everyone
started theorizing.
"You said all three appeared to be on a picnic or somethin', either
they were shot while waitin' for
their party to join them on the picnic," Nathan added.
"Or, the joinin' party shot them," Josiah cut in.
JD started to get excited. "Yeah, Yeah that makes sense."
"And who would you be having a picnic with?" Buck added knowingly, but
not liking the
connotation.
"A woman?" Josiah remarked causing ambivalent looks to appear on his
friend's faces.
At that moment Mary came running into the saloon. She ran straight
up to Chris waving a
telegram. "Chris! has anyone seen Katherine? I just received
this telegram from her sister,
apparently she didn't tell anyone where she was going. Her sister
has been looking all over the
country for her." Mary stopped to catch her breath.
"Easy Mary, calm down," Chris said standing to relinquish his chair
to the agitated newswoman.
Mary quickly sat down pushing some stray strands of hair back on her
head.
"No you don't understand, something terrible has happened." Mary paused
and swallowed. "They
found Katherine's ex-husband Frank and his mistress dead, they were
on a picnic and someone
just shot them."
A cold hand gripped Chris' heart and twisted. Mary noticed the
strange look that suddenly came
over Chris' face and furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"
Chris knelt down beside Mary taking her hand. "Ah Mary, what did Frank
look like?" Chris
dared to ask, afraid of the answer.
"What did he look like?" She repeated somewhat perplexed by the question.
She turned and
looked at everyone's face feeling that something wasn't quite
right. "Well, he was medium
height, brown hair, clean shaven. I think he had either green
or hazel eyes."
"Did he like to frequent the bars?" Josiah casually asked.
"Well, he ran off with a bar maid if that tells you anything," Mary
answered sharply, not
understanding what was going on.
"Didn't you tell me she came by way of Tucson?" Chris continued
to question her.
"Yes, but I don't know how long she was there." Growing fear caused
Mary's voice to rise in
annoyance. "What's this all about, Chris?"
"I'll explain it to you later Mary, we need to find Katherine, has anyone
seen her lately?" Chris
looked towards Buck and Josiah.
"I had breakfast with her this morning before I went on duty," Buck
explained. "But that was the
last I saw of her."
Everyone turned to the sound of Vin coming over to the group.
No one had heard him enter the
saloon. "I saw her and Ezra leaving town on a buckboard about
half and hour ago, they looked
like they were going on a picnic," Vin remarked innocently slapping
the dust off his jacket.
"SHIT!" Chris exclaimed turning and heading for the door followed by
Josiah who was voicing
astonishment in his own eloquent way.
JD, Buck and Nathan sat stunned for a moment, staring back at each other,
until the realization
sunk in. "Son of a bitch, it can't be!" Buck stated for all of
them and the three charged out.
"Will someone tell me what this is all about?" Mary yelled after them,
she looked towards Vin
who only shrugged, then she ran out. Vin fell in behind totally lost
but realizing something was
terribly wrong.
+ + + + + + +
Ezra was a little taken aback when Katherine asked him to join her on
a picnic. He found
Katherine very attractive and intelligent enough, but she didn't really
seem his type and he
had assumed that her interest lied with Buck or Josiah. But he had
promised Mary and Chris that
he would show her every courtesy so he accepted the offer fully expecting
Buck and or Josiah to
eventually interrupt as usual.
At first it was pleasant enough, though there was a slight bite in the
air the sun was warm and
Ezra could smell the chicken emanating from the basket. He pulled
the wagon to a stop a few
yards from the fast moving river and offered Katherine a hand to help
her down. He grabbed the
basket and blanket and the two walked over to the shelter of a grove
of trees. Ezra laid the
blanket out then looked over at Katherine who stood staring out over
the rushing water. It was
the first time Ezra had noticed the hand bag that Katherine clutched
tightly to her chest.
"It's beautiful here." At first Ezra doesn't know what to say
he'd never been much of a nature
lover.
He stood just behind Katherine and tried to admire the wilderness. "Yeah,
in a primitive sort of
way." Ezra turned back to the picnic basket his mouth watering
as he realized it had been a long
time since he ate last and even longer since he had a good home cooked
meal.
"Why'd you'd do it Frank?" Katherine murmured.
Ezra stopped short not sure what he heard. "Excuse me, Katherine?"
She smiled at him, but not a smile that brought a good feeling, this
smile brought the hairs on the
back of his neck straight up. She looked at him like she didn't
recognize him for a moment.
"Katherine?" Ezra spoke quietly.
"You brought her here didn't you?"
Ezra rubbed his chin not sure how to reply. "Ah, who?"
"You never cared about me, all you wanted was my money," Katherine sneered.
Ezra was
surprised by this, partly because her words spoke an underlining truth.
He sometimes thought he
would marry a woman with money, but he also hoped he would love a woman
with money.
"No, Katherine I cared." Ezra thought this was an appropriate answer
to a rather odd question.
She was staring at him with dark glassy eyes.
"LIAR!" She yelled, causing Ezra to step back as her face contorted
in anger.
"Listen maybe we should go back to town and you can talk to Mary," Ezra
calmly said. This
seemed to confuse her and she turned her back to him. Ezra saw
the shudder that went through
her body. She opened her hand bag and reached inside.
"Katherine are you okay?" Ezra finally asked, genuine concern in his
voice, he wasn't sure what
was going on but he knew Katherine was not a well woman. She
turned back towards him. Ezra
stared at the strange woman before him, her eyes wild, her mouth in
a twisted sneer and a gun
pointed directly at his chest. He slowly stepped back as his
eyes went wide. He quickly searched
the surrounding area wishing Buck's usual interference and impeccable
timing would come to his
aid.
"How could you do that to me and my family, you made a fool out of me,"
she stated, her voice
now calm and determined, which unnerved Ezra more than her ranting.
It seemed his only avenue of escape short of shooting the deranged woman
was the icy waters of
the fast moving river. He decided to try one more time to reason with
her. He spoke
quietly and tried to keep his voice even. "Listen, Katherine,
I'm not your husband, I'm Ezra, Ezra
Standish, remember? Now put the gun down."
Katherine licked her lips as a sadness came to her voice, "You're
all the same, leave me for some
bar room whore." The anger grew in Katherine's voice and Ezra
realized there was no
reasoning with her. He still could not bring himself to use his
own gun on the addled woman,
he'd never shot a woman and wasn't about to start.
At the same time she fired Ezra dove into the icy river. The bullet
caught him in the shoulder,
but he didn't feel it as he hit the frigid waters and was swept down
stream.
+ + + + + + +
Nathan, Chris, Buck, JD, Vin and Josiah road fast and hard the trail
made easy by the wagon ruts.
Mary clung to Chris still not sure what was going on, but knew that
for some reason Chris was
very worried for Ezra.
The six stopped as a wagon rounded the bend coming towards them. Katherine
pulled up, a smile
on her face. "Gentlemen, what a surprise!"
The six men stared at her completely dumbfounded.
"Where's Ezra?" Chris demanded, his horse prancing, sensing his
owner's anxiousness. For a
moment Katherine stared at Chris like he just spoke a foreign language.
"Well, Mr. Larabee I assure you I have no idea," she answered rather
indignantly. Josiah edged
his horse next to the wagon and leaned over, grabbing Katherine's handbag.
"Hey, that's personal property!" Josiah gave her a weak smile
and opened the purse pulling out a
small gun and checking the chamber.
"It's been fired," Josiah stated looking over at Chris.
"Katherine," Mary gasped her eyes going wide. "Katherine what have you
done?"
"Only what I should of done a long time ago." Katherine suddenly became
very defensive. "He
deserved it after what he did to me."
Chris helped Mary slide off his horse. "JD, you and Josiah stay
here. Vin, Buck, Nathan you're
with me." The four spurred their horses into a gallop.
+ + + + + + +
Ezra was a good swimmer, you had to be when you gambled on the Mississippi
river boats,
sometimes you were asked to depart the boat before it docked.
But the icy water crushed the
breath from him and his whole body went numb. He tried to get
his legs to work and make his
way to the shore, but he couldn't get them to obey. He managed
to keep his head up and saw a
tree stretched across half the river up head. As he came upon it he
thrust his good arm into the
tangle of branches and hoped they held. He was exhausted and
was just glad he was no longer
tumbling around in the frigid waters. The rushing water pulled
at his jacket as he hung onto the
tree. Actually, the river didn't feel as cold to him anymore,
if he could just rest a moment, then
he could make his way over to the shore. This was his last thought.
Vin was off his horse examining the tracks. He'd found Ezra's
boot prints and followed them to
the river's edge. He stood up looking down river. "He must
of jumped in to escape," Vin
stated as he mounted his horse.
"I hope he got out quick," Nathan voiced his concern. "That water
is to cold, he'll freeze to
death."
The four started combing the river bank, carefully searching both sides
looking for any sign of
their friend.
"Over there!" Buck yelled pointing to the tree which laid across the
water. Buck and Vin jumped
from their still moving horses and ran into the icy water. "OH
MY GOSH! this water's cold!"
Buck complained as the icy water soaked his pants leg up to his waist.
They reached the unconscious man, not knowing if he was alive and grabbed
his arms dragging
him out of the tree and up onto the bank.
Nathan was at his side immediately trying to find a pulse. It
seemed like time had stopped.
Ezra's lips were blue and his skin looked an icy white. "C'mon," Nathan
murmured. Vin, Buck
and Chris stood still their hearts sinking. Nathan bent down
and placed his ear on Ezra's chest he
sat back up and yelled, "C'mon Ezra, don't you give up on me."
With that he struck Ezra in the
chest with his fist once then twice. It was a moment, but Ezra
gasped and his eyes opened wide
in shock and he started shaking all over. "We need to get him
back to the wagon, quick."
Ezra could hear his friends, but nothing worked. He couldn't even control
the violent shaking
which seem to encompass his whole body. He was so cold and tired
and his muscles ached.
The four rode back to the waiting wagon. Vin held the limp, cold
form of Ezra on his saddle. As
they reached the wagon, Nathan leaped from his horse and scrambled
into the back of the wagon.
"Quick get his jacket and shirt off." Vin and Buck stripped Ezra
to the waist and placed him on
the wagon. Nathan wrapped him in the blanket. "Now take
his pants." Buck pulled off his
water-logged boots then Vin and him each grabbed a pants leg and pulled.
"Okay now I need
everyone's coat." No one argued and all handed Nathan their coats.
They all stood shivering as the cold wind bit into them. They
watched as Nathan tried to save the
near frozen gambler. "Okay we need to get back to town as quick
as possible."
Josiah was already in the driver's seat next to Katherine who sat dumbstruck,
not sure what was
going on. She looked down at the near frozen man. "You
should of let him die," she murmured
only loud enough for Josiah to hear. He looked over at her.
"Madam, that's not your husband, you already killed him." Katherine
turned bewildered eyes up
to the candid ex priest. Then she brought her eyes back to Ezra as
if seeing him for
the first time. She gasped and covered her face with her hands
sobbing quietly. Mary came up
and sat next to her placing a comforting arm across her shoulders.
As they traveled back to town, Nathan put one coat at time on Ezra's
frozen body trying to warm
him up slowly, in between he rubbed his arms trying to get the blood
moving. He'd seen
it in the war, if a man's body temperature got to low there was no
hope. He also knew that as
soon as Ezra started warming up he would be in considerable pain.
When they got back to town
they took Ezra up to Nathan's room where he continued to warm the near
frozen man. He was
starting to hurt all over and Nathan brewed up some herbs to help with
the pain. When he felt
that Ezra was past the worst of it, Nathan left him sleeping peacefully
under several quilts and
headed downstairs.
Everyone was waiting down in the bar room for word on Ezra.
"How is he?" Vin asked.
"I think he'll be okay as long as pneumonia doesn't set in. The
bullet wound wasn't bad and the
cold water actually slowed down the bleeding so he didn't lose too
much blood," Nathan
explained. He sat down across from Chris who passed him a bottle and
a shot glass. "What about
Katherine?"
"Mary is with her over at the jail, I don't think she even realizes
what she's done," Chris sadly
remarked.
"I guess it's pretty certain that she killed all those men," Nathan remarked
tossing back the shot of
fiery liquor.
"She thought she was killing her husband, over and over again.
The mind is a strange thing,"
Josiah thoughtfully remarked. "I think her sister is coming to
get her, hopefully they'll be able
to get her the help she needs."
"Well JD, how's it feel to solve your first serial murder?" Chris
stated.
"Me?" JD asked in disbelief.
"Well yeah, if you hadn't collected all that information and put it
together we never would of
guessed it was Katherine in time to save Ezra."
JD's face lit up as he realized that Chris was right. Buck moaned as
he realized he'd never hear
the end of this. "Well I guess some of credit has to go to Sherlock
Holmes, I couldn't of done it
without him," JD replied smugly.
"JD, can I borrow that book?" Josiah asked.
"Yeah, me too, kid," Buck added rather meekly. "Maybe I can catch the
next murderer."
"Sure, Buck, but there's no pictures," JD replied with a grin already
out of his chair and heading
towards the door as the fun- loving gunslinger took a swipe at him
and took up the chase. The
rest of the men laughed at the two gunslingers' antics and settled
back down for a quiet evening.
The End
