DISCLAIMER: The characters of the MAGNIFICENT SEVEN belong to MGM, Trilogy, CBS, and TNN. No profit is made from this fan fic in any way, shape, or form except fun. However, I do not want my original characters borrowed or used without my knowledge or consent. If you are unsure if a character is canon or an original, please click here on original characters for an extensive list of my characters and when they were first introduced in my fan fiction.
"Put your guns down. Don't wanna have a gut shot full a lead." The drawl was just as raspy as it had been earlier that morning, but the voice held an edge to it sending tendrils of memory running throughout his mind that plagued Larabee something fierce. It made Chris angry that his mind was playing tricks on him. He knew this man and yet he knew he didn't know him, and that was driving him nuts.
Tanner walked into the room with the sheriff behind him. "You boys sure you don't know why so many folks might be shootin' at ya?"
Leaning against the wall, Vin spoke quietly without embellishment. "Sheriff thinks maybe some a these folks would like to see us gone, permanent like." Once again Tanner's voice held a note of steel to it that forced yet another wisp of memory to appear and then disappear with a snap. Chris grimaced at the confusing images in his mind of this man fighting side by side him or between Buck and Chris or from the high ground watching their backs.
"None of us have been here before," Buck was speaking for Chris, but he wasn't sure what Chris remembered or what the sheriff knew. "We only brought Polecat an' the money back. Could it be friends a his?"
"Far as I can find out, Polecat's being in jail is just fine with folks. He ain't got any friends in Ivyville."
Chris was trying to grasp that elusive memory that was teasing him. Ivyville sounded familiar. But if he helped Buck and Vin bring this Polecat to town, why didn't he remember any of this. He shook his head in disgust and instantly regretted it. 'What the hell was going on?'
"Vin?" Buck looked over at the tracker who was leaning against the door slightly behind the sheriff. "You find out any thing?"
"Well, there's two less of 'em." His matter of fact answer made Chris tilt his head to one side and regard the younger man pensively. "Got the one outside who shot at me from the roof, an' the one who was tryin' to get into the room."
"I knew one of 'm. He's a two-bit lowlife. Works any job for whiskey money. Don't know the other fella. Rest of 'em got away when your friend here shot that man off the roof. Ain't seen shootin' like that in a long time. You boys don't mind if I put a deputy outside to stand watch? Judge Travis says you boys are friends of his."
Buck grinned at the sheriff. "Ezra will be glad to hear that." Vin grinned as Buck continued, "Judge on his way?" Buck's grin died as he noticed the way Vin was holding his side and the blood on his hand. He rose from the floor where he had been sitting with Chris and moved to take a closer look.
"Said he'd be here tomorrow with the rest of your boys." With that he nodded to the men and went out leaving the door open. The sheriff didn't like strangers shooting up his town much less strangers who wanted to kill men who represented the law. Whoever had chosen his town to kill in was going to regret it. Calling to a deputy, he sent the man to watch the room in the boarding house. Several curious people were looking into the room from the stairs, and still others were satisfying their curiosity by gathering as close to the open door as possible.
Before the sheriff had even posted his deputy, Buck had seen all he needed to see. Shaking his head he gave Vin a glare worthy of Chris Larabee. "Sometimes I think JD's got more sense than you! You were supposed to nose around, you know be subtle like Ezra says, but no, you got to get in a gun battle! How many got away?" Chris almost laughed as Buck pulled Vin's hand out of the way. The laughter died never reaching fruition as Chris heard Tanner hiss and saw the blood. Buck was trying to get at the wound, but Tanner was doing a great job of keeping the ladies' man's hands to himself. "Stand still, dammit. You're getting' slippier than Ezra."
"Will you let me get in tha room first 'fore you rip the buttons off? We got an audience, Buck." Vin nodded toward the curious people right outside the door. Batting at Buck, he tried to get in the room before Buck exposed any more of him to the interested crowd, several of whom were women who were stretching their necks out of joint trying to see as much as possible. "Hell, you're worse than," Vin saw the interested looks the other two men shot him and he stopped, the name of the lady to remain unspoken since Tanner made discreet an art form. "Never you mind. You don't know her an' I ain't sayin' nuthin."
Buck shut the door and waggled his eyebrows as he waited. Vin chose to ignore him and took his time unbuttoning his shirt. Buck saw the red spot was larger against the pristine white bandages and forgot to tease the tracker any more. "Got it bleedin' again. C'mon over here an' I'll check to see if you busted any of them stitches."
Chris knew what Tanner's response would be to Buck's insistence that he remain still. Chris hadn't even known Tanner had been shot helping him the previous night, and this knowledge along with his feeling that he knew what the man in buckskins was going to say really began to irritate him. Someone had better let him have a drink real soon.
As if reading his mind, "Gimme that whiskey." Vin took a generous swig and handed the bottle back to Buck who had one, too, before he unwound the bandage to see how much damage Vin had caused. Buck decided to tell Nathan he just needed the right medicine for his ornery patients to become agreeable.
Both men ignored Chris as he put his hand out for the bottle. "You ain't got any more carbolic, do ya?" Vin's voice had an almost wistful quality to it, or so Chris thought as he sat back against the overturned bed. He wasn't feeling so good now the adrenaline rush had subsided. His head hurt, the dizziness and nausea were back, and his shoulder hurt like hell. He would just wait until the other two remembered him.
'Neither Vin nor Buck would let me stay on the floor in my condition.' Chris had a flash of a grinning Tanner clasping his arm like they were friends. 'Where the hell had that come from?' The knowledge that this stranger was indeed his friend hit him like a ton of bricks, but where and why the friendship had begun was a mystery to Chris. It made the dizziness worse. Vin stopped Buck right before he was going to place a fresh gauze soaked in carbolic over the wound. Vin had only pulled one of the stitches and already the blood had begun to clot, so Buck had decided to wait on Nathan to decide what should be done next.
"Buck, you'd best get that bed upright. Chris don't look so good." The voice was quiet but its message forced Chris's eyes open. He looked up to see two men who looked equally concerned about his health. Chris thought then that if he looked as bad as he felt, then no wonder they were worried.
"I ain't dyin', yet."
"Nope, but you look close 'nough to death warmed over that I might go see if that undertaker's got time to come buy an' measure ya." Buck snorted with laughter as he righted the bed. Larabee was grinning when Buck helped him back into the bed.
"He always this entertainin'?"
"Boy's got a way with words, Chris." Without looking behind him, Buck stopped Tanner from getting up. "I know you ain't fixin' to go nowhere till I get you fixed up and you tell us everything that happened."
"What makes you think I ain't told you everything?"
"Cause you were just too helpful with that sheriff. I know you, Vin. Only time you talk that much is when you want someone to pay no mind to what you're really know."
Chris was listening to the by play between the two, and their easy way of dealing with one another told him volumes about the two men and the friendship they shared. "What didn't ya say?" He closed his eyes to stop the dizziness moving from the bed to the floor had caused. He was very tired.
"I think one of 'em was one of the men who rode with Handsome Jack. You know the one that Johnson suspects has been robbing stage coaches 'tween here an' Brecken but he never had enough proof to arrest him?" Vin's quiet revelation had Buck swearing and Chris's memory trying to place the name. All it brought was a rush of memories of men shooting, women screaming, and Ella Gaines. He hadn't seen Ella since way before his marriage to Sarah. Or, had he? Vin, seeming to know the random thoughts pummeling his friend without mercy and helpless to stop it, leaned over, plucked the cup of willow bark tea off of the stove where it had been kept warming, and held it out to Buck. "Better get him to drink more of this tea. He looks like he's gonna need it right about now."
Buck nodded and took the cup over to Chris. Right now Chris would have eaten the damn tree bark if they told him it would help the pain and the nausea. Once his stomach settled and the room and its occupants quit spinning around his head, Chris was going to get some answers to the questions that had been plaguing him all morning. Then, he was going to make his two nursemaids tell him the truth, all of the truth. Once he knew everything, he would be able to remember. He just knew he would.
"Worse than bein' in jail," Vin mumbled his displeasure at the deputies stationed outside the door and windows of the rented room. Buck silently agreed with him, but they had only to wait until morning for the boys to join them. A late night conference with the sheriff had been held, and he mentioned how nervous the citizens of Ivyville were that more shooting would occur if the men started wandering around town searching for information. He was also concerned that something might happen to the three men before Judge Travis arrived, and Buck and Vin enjoyed a malicious satisfaction in knowing that the sheriff, who had tamed many a wild town, was intimidated by Orrin Travis. They would never admit aloud that the judge was one of the few men who could indeed make them think twice about going against his orders, but nevertheless Buck and Vin had reluctantly agreed to stay in their room while the sheriff nosed around. An extra cot had been brought in to accommodate the three men. Peggy brought them their food directly from the kitchen while the deputy watched from the door besides keeping a steady supply of linens, fresh drinking water, coffee, etc.
Vin had gone to the window later that day to find another deputy stationed there. It was the man outside the window that had drawn his last comment. It rankled that they were incarcerated, but they had both agreed that with Chris laid up they would rather stay and protect him than leave him to the safety of the deputies of whom they knew nothing. Accepting the need to remain under protective custody, Buck used his time to relate a good deal of what had happened in the past few years in hopes of sparking Chris's memory. Vin grudgingly had to admit that his last foray into town had resulted in a fatigue that only rest could cure, and he was smart enough to let his body heal while he could. Nothing he was able to turn up other than recognizing one of the men as part of Handsome Jack's gang led him to believe that the men trying to kill Chris had given up. He just said a silent prayer that Ella Gaines was truly beyond the reach of mortal hands. Leaving Buck to answer Chris's questions whenever he was awake, Vin slept soundly trusting in his instincts and his friends to alert him to any danger. Buck took the opportunity to doze whenever he had the chance since he had gone so long without sleep.
Chris, too, had slept most of the day after his fever finally broke, and the dizziness and nausea from his concussion were beginning to ease up. Sudden moves brought the dizziness back with a vengeance, but he no longer felt like he needed to empty the contents of his stomach every time he moved. His ability to concentrate was returning, and he was beginning to get little flashes of memory that he had refrained from mentioning to Buck and Vin. Chris had managed to get most of his questions answered, but those answers had only led to more questions. The arbitrary mention of different names gave him little flashes of faces that seemed like they fit the names, but there was still no recognition only that nagging feeling that he should know them. What really disturbed him was the name of Ella Gaines.
Ella Gaines brought back familiar memories of times before Sarah and Adam when Chris had been wild, wooly, and free, but what Buck had told him about Ella made Chris's blood boil. Any doubts, any defense of her, any way he wanted to tell Buck that what he told him had to be lies was stopped with the realization that Buck was telling him the truth about her. Rapid flashes of memory gave him just enough detail to make Buck's words hit home with their biting truth. Ella had been obsessed with Chris enough to have Sarah and Adam murdered. He remembered holding a picture where Sarah's image had been crossed out, the burned locket, and Ella's demented explanation. Most of all he had a flashback of Vin Tanner standing in front of him telling him that Ella was no good. He remembered the rage he felt at being manipulated like that boiling over into words that although he did not quite remember exactly what they were, one thing he did remember. Vin Tanner's face and the shocked expression that Chris would doubt his honesty came vividly to life in his mind.
Wary of shaking his head to try and clear it, Chris slammed his fist onto the bed, but it did little to alleviate the anger that was threatening to consume him. Not even Buck's presence and friendship could offer a balm to ease his pain so sharp did Ella's betrayal stab deep inside the very core of the man Chris Larabee thought he was. Chris knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had nearly thrown aside the friendships of two men who not only openly claimed his friendship but who also refused to leave his side while danger still threatened. Chris had never doubted the steadfastness of Buck Wilmington's friendship, but the more he learned of Vin Tanner the more he was certain that this young man was undeniably his friend. Chris tried to force his memory to return, but it was not to be for his brain and his body rebelled against the task he demanded from it. There were just some things that would not bend to Chris Larabee's determined stubbornness.
Then, Chris turned to see two knowing blue eyes gazing at him. Chris expected pity or even some disappointment, anything he could use to get angry and lash out at in his pain and confusion, but instead all he saw was a calm acceptance of life that nearly humbled him. Something about the way Tanner regarded Chris with those calm blue eyes hinted at a life that had seen more than many his age should. It gave him a maturity beyond his years and garnered the respect of the many folks who knew him. Whatever life had thrown at Tanner, he had faced it and overcome it. Without words Tanner made Chris feel like he was wallowing in a vat of self-pity, and that it was time to stop letting guilt and hate control him. Tanner said more by his silence than most men did using all the infinite words available to them.
Suddenly and silently Tanner seemed to offer his calm to Larabee and, instead of fighting it or rejecting it, Chris accepted it. Chris felt the same calm permeating his very bones making concentration as simple as breathing. Instead of allowing the frustrating combination his need for revenge against a supposed dead woman and his forced incarceration due to his amnesia and injuries eat him alive, Chris focused on the problem at hand. Instead of trying to force his memory to return, he focused on getting well. Once his body had healed he could go out and discover for himself why someone had tried to kill him not once but twice. He could discover what Ivyville was to him thus solving this mystery. Having seen men in the war who had lost their memories, Chris knew he might regain all of what he had forgotten due to the amnesia and then again he might not.
Chris decided to concentrate on allowing his body to heal in hopes that then he would be able to find the answers to these questions and more. His determination was noted and approved of by Tanner and that in itself made Larabee relax. Why it mattered to him, Larabee had no idea but he was willing to agree with Buck. Tanner was a man whose respect he wanted, and part of the reason he wanted it was because Tanner's obstinate refusal to let life get the best of him reminded Chris of himself before Sarah and Adam were murdered. Thinking of them and their unnecessary deaths allowed the anger and guilt to nearly engulf him again when he saw the look in Tanner's eyes turn to pure devilment as Tanner reached over and dangled something above Buck's nose. Chris focused and nearly burst into laughter. Where Tanner had gotten the lace handkerchief, Larabee could not even guess, but he knew without even thinking what the younger man was going to do with it.
Taking it, Vin gently ran the lace over Buck's jaw. The big man snorted and a hand reached up and pushed the lace away from his face. Tanner winked at Larabee and dropped the lace hanky bearing the initials MT on it to trail across Buck's nose and jaw again. Buck caught the lace bearing hand and held it to his chest. By this time Tanner was trying valiantly to refrain from laughing outright, but Larabee had no such scruples. His quiet laughter caused Buck to put his other hand over Tanner's to trap the former bounty hunter's hand between his two hands against his chest.
"Blossom, sugarplum, stop that. Ole Buck's got to rest up 'fore he can,Š" The burst of laughter his sleep mumbled words wrung from Tanner and Larabee had Buck's eyes open, and next he was shoving Vin away from him. Tanner landed with a thump on the cot clutching his side and laughing. Buck rose indignantly over the laughing man and grabbed him by the suspenders pulling the younger man to his feet. "I swear one of these days, Vin, I'm gonna knock you from here to next Sunday." His threat had little heat to it since he was grinning ear to ear.
"C'mon, stud, let the man go else folks'll talk." Larabee was holding his shoulder and pressing his head as far into the pillow as he could in order to keep the laughter from making his head and shoulder hurt any more than they already did. It was worth it though for in that instance he got a flashback that confirmed that these two men were probably the best two friends he had. It was driving him crazy, though, for as much as he knew that Tanner was as good a friend to him as Buck was, he still didn't remember how the hell they hooked up in the first place. The name Nathan popped into his head.
As clear as day he could remember the man they all knew as Nathan Jackson. Vin stopped laughing when he saw Chris's face. Buck dropped Vin to the floor and turned to see what had made Vin go so still like he was a wolf stalking its prey. Chris had his eyes closed and he kept seeing images of men shooting in the air, a man, a black man being dragged down the stairs of a building. Then he saw Tanner and a woman. God, she was beautiful, but why did he feel like he knew her, cared for her? He couldn't, no other woman would ever mean as much to him as Sarah, but why did he feel so drawn to this woman? That image was just as quickly replaced by another, and he stood watching men tie up the man. They were going to lynch him. He heard Tanner drawl something from beside him like, 'Šride away.' Then everything was a clear as could be. "They were gonna lynch Nathan, weren't they?" His question was directed toward Tanner, but Buck's grin was just as big as the younger man's was.
"You're remembering!" Buck was elated. Tanner just nodded at Chris silently congratulating him.
"I've been getting flashes, not much, but sometimes the images are so clear, I could swear I am there."
"Heard that happened to some folks. Know more when Nathan gets here."
"Nathan's a doctor?" Chris was frowning in concentration.
"Nope, but he's just as good if not better than some of them that have gone to them fancy schools." Vin's respect for Nathan was clear in his voice.
"Nathan's saved our asses more times than I care to 'member, Chris. Soon as he gets here, he'll make sure you're right as rain."
"I look forward to that, Buck, cause I am real tired of feeling like a man on the end of a four day drunk, not to mention looking like one." Chris rubbed his two-day growth of beard. It was beginning to itch something fierce. He caught Buck nudge Vin out of the corner of his eye.
"Nathan's good, Chris, but I don't know if he's that good." Buck looked over at Vin.
Tanner shook his head holding his side as if all the horseplay had angered it more than he wanted to admit. "Don't look at me. All I know is if I got to stay one more day in here with you two, someone'd better get a bath. Now, I ain't namin' names, but there's two fellas in here I know ain't bathed since we left Four Corners. Me, I recollect smellin' sweeter air in a livery in mid-summer when it's so hot not even the wind's blowin' an' the air is thicker than cotton." Tanner's eye were alight with mischief, and he wasn't one bit worried that he had just told two men who were not only bigger than he was that they stunk, but one of them was considered the fastest if not the best gun in the territory. Larabee grinned in spite of himself. It was getting rank in this room, but he wasn't about to let some two bit tracker tell him what to do.
"Buck, you say Nathan's real good at doctorin' folks?"
Buck grinned somehow feeling things were finally going to get back to normal around here real soon. "Yep, he can dig bullets out of ya an' ya never even feel it." Tanner snorted at Buck's testament of Nathan's abilities knowing exactly what was coming next.
"Then you want to toss me my gun? Seems there's a smart ass boy in here that need's a lesson." Larabee's grin was full of mischief.
Tanner replied smugly, "You couldn't hit the side of a barn with a stick much less shoot fast an' straight right now." He paused at the door to the lobby not the least bit concerned he had his back to the men who were discussing shooting him. "Sides, I got your gun hid real good." Tanner grinned as he stood in the hallway, heard the pillow hit the door, and the laughter of his two friends. Sometime, while Larabee was asleep, Vin had moved his gun from the bed to the table near it. It was out in plain sight, but Chris and Buck had both enjoyed Vin's outrageous lie.
Tanner spotted Peggy coming around the corner carrying a heavy tray full of food. "I'll take that tray, ma'am, if you'll get that bath set up with plenty of hot water." He figured it was the only way he was going to get back into the room without having to shoot one of his friends. Things were definitely looking better since Chris had been shot.
Peggy, who had begun to notice that all three of those good-looking men could use a shave and a bath grinned ear to ear. "I'll have Jess bring that tub in while I go heat the water myself. You want anything else?"
"You got any whiskey?"
"Honey, I got a bottle of some real good Scotch we used to keep for ole Doc McTavish. How 'bout I bring it and three shot glasses?"
Vin's grin made Peggy move faster if that was possible. He winked at the deputy guarding the door who was consuming the feast Peggy had just brought him. The deputy grinned at Tanner knowing that Peggy was finding it hard to decide which one of the men he was guarding that she would like to get to know better. The deputy sighed as the door shut behind Tanner. Some men had all the luck, and had there not been some folks trying to kill them, the deputy might not mind trading places with any one of them.
Peggy paused to check out the weather. From the north there looked to be a line of angry clouds coming this way. The wind had picked up, and the soft southern breeze from morning was quickly being chased away by a biting northerly wind. Although the sun had shown brilliantly all morning long, rain would soon chase the sun away earlier than this evening, maybe sooner. Something caught her eye, and she noticed as the deputy in front of the window looked about as if searching for someone. Hunching her shoulders to alleviate the drag on her shoulders from the heavy tray, Peggy leaned back out of sight. She had just finished with the lunch crowd and was on her way back from the saloon with a pitcher of beer, three mugs, and a deck of cards. The three men in the downstairs room of the boarding house were getting mighty restless waiting for their friends to arrive. She had heard voices through the walls that were loud, but she could not hear what was being said exactly or tell if the tone was angry or not.
However, having five brothers and knowing what they were like any time any of them were sick or bed ridden for any reason, Peggy had offered to go and get a pitcher of beer and a deck of cards as they waited for their friends to arrive. The beer might mellow their moods and the cards would give them something to do other than snipe at one another. The sheriff had said the judge's escort to Ivyville for the trial had been expected earlier that morning. It was now late afternoon. Peggy had no doubt that once the three men were reunited with their friends that they would make quick work of whoever it was who had tried to kill Chris Larabee. Peggy had heard tales of the seven peacekeepers from Four Corners, and so far they had lived up to their reputations for finding trouble.
It was on her way back from the saloon carrying the heavy laden tray that Peggy had seen something that just did not look right to her. Standing by the corner of the old clinic, Peggy watched the deputy as the building hid her from his view. He looked into the window of the room he was guarding and then turned toward the street waving a hand once like he was swatting at a fly. Then on the downward swing of his arm he actually pointed into the window itself. She had never liked the man much since he had given Doc McTavish trouble one evening shortly before Doc's sudden death. Making a split second decision, she quickly headed straight for the room where the three men had stayed since that first night when they brought their wounded friend into the boarding house.
Peggy had a healthy respect for minding her own business. In small towns like Ivyville, too much interest in your neighbor's business got you the reputation as a gossip. However, Peggy was a good listener and her refusal to discuss what anyone had told her in confidence made her privy to more information than most. Her friendly, outgoing nature coupled with a genuine concern for others just made her the perfect choice for most people to tell her all their worldly cares. She knew that the sheriff was sweet on Lily Martinson. She also knew the schoolteacher returned his affections.
So, it was only after observing Ike Siddons and confirming his shifty behavior that Peggy rushed to the door of the room. Henry Becket, the other deputy, was nowhere to be seen. The door was ajar, and Peggy eased it partially open with the tray. Buck Wilmington pulled the door open swiftly and the momentum nearly sent Peggy and her tray flying into the room. Buck caught the tray and the woman as she fell, deftly shutting the door with a quick thrust sideways with his hip. Peggy stood there for a moment her mouth agape in surprise.
Vin Tanner was sitting just to the side of the window Ike Siddons was guarding surreptitiously watching the man from the side. Chris Larabee was on the bed in full view of the window; at least Peggy thought he was until she took a closer look. Sheets and pillows had been used to stuff the clothing until it looked like Larabee was lying on the middle of the bed with his hat pulled low over his face to block out the sunlight that poured through the window. The light surrounded the body in a glowing aura that shifted as the gathering breeze blew the curtains one way and then another. It was a good thing that Buck had taken the tray from her and put it on the table near the bed. Otherwise, Peggy would have thrown the tray, beer, mugs, and cards in the air when an arm snaked out and pulled her behind the door.
Leaning against the wall with his gun belt strapped on stood Chris Larabee. His arm was in a sling protecting his shoulder, and there was a white bandage wrapped around his head making a stark contrast to his black clothing. Eyes green like ice ordered her not to make a sound. Peggy was made of sterner stuff and glared at Larabee until he relented and let go of her arm with an appreciative grin curling up the corners of his mouth. Nodding at him, she watched as Buck poured the beer from the pitcher into the glasses. He was purposely leaving the line of fire open to the dummy on the bed. Tanner tossed a button from across the room and grinned when it dropped with a splat into one of the mugs of beer.
"That one's yours." Buck shot Tanner a fierce look. You didn't play with a man's beer.
"It's your button, Bucklin." Tanner sounded not the least remorseful.
Anything else they would have said was cut off by the sound of a rifle barking. One more shot followed as a bullet hit the dummy the sniper thought was Larabee. Little puffs of white lint and feathers drifted around the room as the dummy's chest exploded. While Buck had moved swiftly to line Siddons up in his sight, Tanner had taken position at the window with a rifle that must have been hidden behind the curtains so swiftly had it appeared in the younger man's hands. His was the second shot fired, and it had hit its target.
A loud yelp, the noise of doors slamming and people running were heard as the sniper fell from the second floor of the store across the street. Tanner joined Buck training his rifle on Siddons. The frightened deputy looked back and forth between the two men noting there was not one hint of mercy in either of them. Siddons had signaled the all clear to the sniper who would have killed Larabee had not Tanner heard Siddons conspiring with someone outside the window early the evening before when Siddons thought no one had been listening. Frightened fingers fidgeted as Siddons started to lift his rifle.
"Try it, an' I'll drop you like a rock." Siddons stopped fidgeting and dropped the rifle from his hand.
"Aw hell, Vin. I wanted him to try." Buck couldn't stand a man who would betray a trust. Neither could Tanner or Larabee. None of them would ever think of turning someone under their protection over to killers.
"Kill him an' we're right back where we started." The words had no sooner left Vin's lips than one more shot rang out. Siddons fell face forward into the dusty street outside the window, but not before Vin and Buck saw the look of startled surprise right before the bullet splattered what was left of Siddons' brains against the wall.
Sheriff Lawson had hustled forward checking out the dead body. He sent two men chasing after where they thought the bullet had come from, and he sprinted after them. He returned empty handed several minutes later as the undertaker and his men began to remove the first body. The sniper was familiar looking, but no name came to mind. Looking over at one of his remaining deputies, he issued orders in a curt and angry voice.
"Get the undertaker. Then get over to the jail an' see if you see this here man's face on any wanted posters." This mystery was getting more and more confusing. He walked forward and looked down in disgust at the body of a man he had expected to protect the weak not aid in an attempted murder. Henry Becket stood off to the side his mouth open but no sound came out. Lawson called his name, and the young deputy found his voice.
"They told him to drop the rifle, an' then a shot rang out from acrost the street."
Vin Tanner threw one leg over the windowsill before Buck could stop him and silently stepped past Henry. He stalked past the sheriff and the body having pinpointed where the bullet had come from. Lawson and his men had gone down the alley between the store and the jail, but Tanner knew the bullet had come from the alley between the jail and the saloon. He found it strange that the jail sat between a saloon and a dry goods store, but it was their town. The jail could be anywhere the town folk wanted it. Lawson caught the look in Buck's eye and barked his orders to Henry as he turned and followed Tanner.
"Get back on in there. I want Larabee moved up to the second floor in that room the judge uses when he's here." He ran to catch up with Tanner as four men rode into town from the opposite direction flanking a carriage being driven by the judge. In the passenger seat was a woman whose golden beauty made men stop gaping at the two bodies being collected by the undertaker and stare openly at her in admiration.
A younger man dismounted and ran to help the woman from the carriage. After the judge had stepped down, he climbed up on the seat and drove the carriage towards the livery. A huge man with piercing blue eyes followed leading the other horses. He nodded to Tanner as the kid leaned out precariously from the carriage and yelled, "Hey Vin!"
"JD, Josiah." Tanner called out grinning in relief. Help had arrived and with it the end to his incarceration in the boarding house. A man in a fancy red coat crossed the street as Buck Wilmington stepped out to usher the last man into the boarding house. He was dark and carried a medical bag. Judge Travis and his daughter-in-law had already disappeared into the building. Tanner tipped his hat to the dark man who stared at Tanner for a second or two and then pointed inside and said only one word.
"Later."
Tanner grinned and nodded as he waited for the immaculately dressed man to reach him. Grinning in relief at his friend, Vin introduced him to Lawson. "Ezra Standish, Sheriff Lawson."
"Sheriff, I see our friends have been encountering some difficulties in your fair town. Might I offer my assistance in your endeavor to keep Mr. Larabee and my other associates in the land of the living?"
Lawson turned a somewhat bemused look at Vin. "Ezra's got a way with words, but don't let that fool ya. He can spot a cheat an' a liar from a mile off, an' he's a good man to watch your back." Lawson would have pegged him as a no account gambler, but there was something about Standish and the relaxed camaraderie in which Tanner greeted him that made Lawson greet the gambler with more respect than his apparent profession would have originally garnered from Lawson.
"I see ya brought Mary with ya. Does she know 'bout Chris?"
Ezra fell in beside Tanner and Lawson as they walked into the alley by the jail. "She knows, but that didn't stop Mrs. Travis. Her determination is quite remarkable."
Vin knelt down looking at the boot prints in the dirt. The man had a worn right heel like he might favor the left leg. Without looking up he spoke, "She's as stubborn as Chris when she's got a bee in her bustle." Spotting the empty shell casing, Vin picked it up and showed it to Lawson who had started to veer off following the prints. "Man uses a Winchester." Thunder rolled in from the north. Tanner raised his voice over it. "He went in the saloon there. Probably went out the back to his horse." The wind had picked up and rain clouds appeared directly overhead. "He's gonna be long gone by the time we pick up the trail. Rain'll cover his tracks 'fore we catch up with him."
Lawson nodded agreeing with Vin's assessment of what had happened but disliking the fact they couldn't follow the tracks. "Good thing you heard Siddons last night. I never liked him, but the mayor insisted I needed another deputy." Vin looked over at Ezra.
"I believe I must make the acquaintance of the mayor. Can you arrange this, Sheriff Lawson?"
Lawson saw the calculating look in Standish's eyes and decided that here was a man against whom he would not wish to take sides. No wonder few people went against the seven men if they were all like the four he had now met. "I think I can arrange that. When and where?" Suddenly, Sheriff Lawson felt quite confident that this mystery that had plagued his town for the past several days would be solved very soon. Whoever wanted Larabee dead had lost his best chance. Even without his full memory, Larabee was a formidable opponent. With his men here to protect him, Lawson knew that Larabee might just be damned near impossible to kill.
Buck greeted everyone outside of the room that Lawson had ordered Larabee moved to. Nathan asked several questions before he moved toward the door.
"Buck, I want you to come in with me. Y'all go on downstairs."
Peggy had offered to make coffee and sandwiches for the new arrivals since there was no diner or hotel in town. She ushered Judge Travis and Mary downstairs and promised to serve the others when they came for the livery.
"I'll bring you up some coffee and sandwiches, Doc Jackson."
"I ain't no doctor, ma'am, but I sure could use somethin' to eat. You send that no account Tanner up here the minute he gets back. I ain't forgot he got shot, too."
Peggy grinned back at Nathan as she ushered the Travis family downstairs to the dining room. Josiah and JD stopped to wait for Vin and Ezra after they dropped the horses and carriage off at the livery. After the introductions, the sheriff walked back with them to the boarding house. Mrs. Gates had taken to her bed with a nervous disorder taking her own medical concoction instead of relying on Nathan. She was rather skeptical but a frown from Judge Travis prevented her from voicing her skepticism. Vin had just reached for a sandwich that Peggy was placing on the table alongside a steaming pot of coffee. She reached over and shooed his hand away.
"Doc Jackson said to send you up right away."
Vin grinned at her. "I'll go on up right after I explain what's happenin'. Sides, Nathan won't be through pokin' and proddin' Chris, yet." Peggy couldn't argue with that, so she piled two sandwiches on a plate and handed them to him.
Josiah reached over and took the plate from Vin. "Why don't you talk first and feed that hollow leg of yours after."
Vin just reached over and grabbed one of JD's sandwiches producing a snort of laughter from Josiah and an outraged, "Hey!" from JD. The judge was grinning and Mary laughed when Vin looked over and winked at her. Things must not be so bad if Tanner was as full of mischief as he usually was. It was when he made dry, humorous comments that Mary began to worry for she knew it was Tanner's way to look danger in the eye and throw his attitude back in its teeth. He was alert and in his hunter mode as she and Alexandra called it, but he did not appear overly concerned. The unknown enemy bothered him, though. It was too much like having the bounty on his head and having to constantly be on guard looking over his shoulder all the time even in his sleep. The situation bothered all of them for the unknown was harder to fight. It made you wonder whom you could trust, or if your instincts had failed you preventing you from being alert enough to prevent a murder.
While Mary tried to quell the apprehension she felt by listening as Vin and Sheriff Lawson explained in detail all they knew, Nathan was upstairs completing his exam of Chris Larabee.
"Vin did a real good job on these stitches. Won't hardly be any scar that I can tell."
"Why can't I remember everything?" Chris cared little whether he had a scar or not.
"That head injury shook up that brain of yours real good. Could be some swellin' interferin' or might never come back. Can you remember anythin' at all?"
"I remember everything but Four Corners and what happened since I been there. I get flashes here and there. You seem real familiar. I remember helpin' Vin set you free from a lynch mob but nothin' else definite. I know you're a friend a mine like Vin and Buck are, but I don't know if I remember why." Chris's head was beginning to hurt again. It had evened off into a continuous dull ache, but now it had come back with a vengeance. Nathan watched Chris grimace in pain as the healer wrapped the last of the new bandage he put on Chris's shoulder and tied it off.
"Well, I'd say if you're havin' flashes of memory, then you'll probably get it back. The quicker you let your body heal; the quicker you should get your memory back. It takes time an' that means you got to lie back and rest. I'm gonna fix you some willow bark tea an' send you back to bed." Chris started to argue with him, but Nathan was adamant. "You gonna help us find who's trying to kill ya, you need to sleep and get well. Sides, I'll get Buck and Josiah to hog tie you to this bed you don't lie down now."
"Josiah?" The mention of Josiah's name brought on another onslaught of memories. The dizziness returned as the scenes flashed in his mind of a big man, bigger than Buck, laughing, offering support, angry, back to supportive, and then raging all with in the confines of a church. Chris grabbed his head and closed his eyes trying to sort out the memories. There was a young man, Chinese, and Josiah was holding the boy back, placing his body between the young man and railroad men with guns. There was another scene where Josiah was drunk and raging and then he was standing behind bars and Chris was holding the keys. There was still another where Josiah was standing with him in an Indian village facing down an angry mob. It was too much, and Chris moaned in confusion as dizziness and pain fought for control in his brain. Despite the pain in his shoulder, Chris rolled into a ball on the bed his pounding head cradled in his hands. He felt a hand on his back and soft words echoing in his ears, and his overtaxed mind clung to them like a drowning man clings to a piece of driftwood.
"It's all right. You're getting' some of them memories back? That's fine. I'm gonna give you some tea. I know it's bitter, but you drink it an' it'll help settle so's your head don't hurt so much." Nathan took the cup from Buck who looked like he wanted to help but had no idea what to do for Chris other than to stand aside and let Nathan handle him. "Buck, you want to help him with this? He remembers you, so I'm gonna leave an' get Vin. You two seem to be able to help him without triggerin' these kind of responses."
"What'd I need to do?" Chris drank the liquid without complaint and let Buck settle him back against the pillows. He would not open his eyes, and Nathan motioned to Buck that it was unnecessary. They were not going to force him to do anything right now. Setting the cup on the table, he motioned Buck to the door.
"Get him to tell you what he remembered an' tell 'm if he's rememberin' right. He's got to know that these are memories an' not his mind playing tricks on 'm." Nathan spoke for only Buck to hear. Chris was too busy trying to sort out the images in his head to pay attention to them. The pain and dizziness was easing up a little, so he concentrated on sifting through the memories or images or fantasies, whatever they were, they kept attacking him when he least expected it. He was really afraid that he was on the verge of losing his mind so close to the way he had felt right after Sarah and Adam's deaths did he feel.
Buck nodded and pulled a chair up next to the bed as Nathan quietly left the room. "Easy on, pard. Nathan says you just might be thinkin' you're losin' what little mind ya got." Buck's voice was laced with concern and mirth. Chris raised one eyebrow and opened one eye. All Buck saw was a green slit staring, no glaring at him. Unfazed, Buck leaned over and spoke to Chris. "Nathan says if you tell me what you're rememberin' I can tell you if you're getting' your memory back or if you're just dreamin' up stuff."
It was a weak snort, but soon Larabee was describing the flashes that had assaulted him, and Buck relieved his mind greatly by confirming that they were indeed memories of past events. Soon Buck was filling in the pieces, and Chris was completely relaxed the pain and dizziness all but gone. Buck continued to answer his questions while Nathan felt like a sailor pitched into the midst of hungry sharks.
The others hit the tired man with nonstop questions as soon as he entered the dining room. Vin was headed the opposite direction trying to slip past Nathan as the healer tried to reassure everyone that Chris would recover, and that he had already begun to regain his memory. Nathan was not going to make it that easy for his friend. He grabbed Tanner by the arm, forcing him to come to a halt.
"You be still. Buck's talkin' to Chris right now, an' I need to check out that graze on your side. Buck said it might be tryin' to get infected."
"It's healin' fine. He just wants you to poke and prod me cause he thinks I told ya he was out sparkin' Molly when you told him to stay put last time he got shot." JD snorted milk through his nose and Vin turned around pinning the grinning young man to the spot. "I knew it was you or Ezra. Paybacks are hell, JD." That got a gulp out of JD knowing how stealthy a hunter Tanner was, a roar of laughter from Josiah, and a companionable pat on his back from Ezra. Vin grinned at him, and it only made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.
"It was Ezra's idea to tell Buck it was you." That turned the companionable pat into a cuff on the back of JD's head. His yelp only made Tanner grin all the more at Ezra. He'd get them both when they were least expecting it. Vin would probably have to wait until all this was over and Buck was able to help him, but it would be worth it to take them both down at the same time.
Ezra knew what Vin was thinking and made a mental note to keep his eye out on Tanner and Wilmington. Tanner was not above waiting until JD became complacent, but Ezra knew complacent got you more trouble than it was worth. He silently accepted the challenge of keeping an eye on his friend, so he could not pull a fast one on him like the time Vin marked all the aces in what Ezra and his mother thought was a new deck. Maude still watched Tanner with a calculating eye ever since she found out he learned to mark them by listening to Ezra explain to JD how to spot a marked card. If Tanner ever wanted to turn his devious mind to filling the seven's coffers, Ezra wanted to be right there to join him. They could, in effect, be wealthy beyond imagining if they only turned their fertile minds to making cash and not saving the poor unfortunates who always seemed to come begging the seven to help them.
Larabee would have both their hides, but it wouldn't be the first time. If they only went after con men and the less than honest businessmen of the world, not even Judge Travis could object. Ezra decided he would weigh the odds for success in this venture before approaching his rustic friend. The grin Ezra returned to Tanner made the wily tracker raise an eyebrow in question. His friend was up to something, and it would probably land them both in heaps of trouble before they were through; but hell, Vin never planned to become the model citizen and die in his sleep of old age any way. Mary and the judge saw the looks exchanged and immediately thought that the others had better watch out. Tanner and Standish were scheming again.
Josiah and Nathan saw the looks as well, and Nathan rolled his eyes and silently vowed that whatever it was they were up to he was not digging any bullets out of anyone. Josiah just shook his head knowing if Ezra and Vin were going to find themselves in trouble, that Buck and JD would become embroiled in it as well and then the fat would hit the fire. Josiah made himself a mental note to keep an eye on his younger friends and be ready to knock some sense into their worthless heads before Nathan had to spend several days digging the bullets and buckshot out of their asses. He remembered how they were determined to help JD convince Casey there were such things as animals that could stalk a victim as well as the best two-legged hunter. Their mad scheme ended when Nettie Wells emptied a load of buckshot into the bushes in which they were hiding thinking they were coyotes after her chickens. Chris, Nathan, and Josiah had laughed for weeks as the four men would gingerly walk into the saloon and then just as gingerly sit down. Buck and Ezra both carried pillows for a week, and Vin would grit his teeth every time he rode patrol. JD just limped around with a hangdog expression until Casey forgave him. It took rebuilding the chicken coop and painting her house before Nettie would forgive the four of them.
Josiah was shaken from his own memories when Nathan yelled at Tanner. "What the hell happened to you?"
Nathan wasn't the only one appalled when he saw the still livid bruises around Vin's neck. Mary's face went a shade whiter. Josiah had thought she was less worried about Chris since Vin had made a point to tell her that Chris was regaining his memory albeit slowly, but the ugly bruising around Vin's neck had only made her fear of losing Larabee hit her again full force. She like everyone else in this room knew how quickly death could creep up and claim the person you loved most in the world. Josiah knew that if that were to happen to twice in a lifetime something rare and beautiful would die in her.
"I thought your voice was raspier than usual, my friend, but I had no idea that someone tried to end your life as well. I thought these cretins were only after Mr. Larabee?"
Vin's next words could have knocked them all over with a feather. "Weren't them cretins as you call 'em, Ezra. Chris like to have strangled the life outta me."
Vin realized how his words sounded the second he saw the blanched looks on everyone else's faces. He was quick to reassure them, especially Mary. "Chris didn't know it was me. His fever was real high that first night an' he was havin' nightmares. Buck had been up all night with him, an' he'd finally got to rest an' close his eyes when the fever seemed to go down a bit. Chris thought I was Fowler. Buck pulled him off, but Chris didn't remember it the next mornin' or who I was."
Nathan nodded his head as if to say that was typical of someone with an extremely high fever. However, Vin had not distracted him from his goal. "I have some real good salve for that neck of yours. C'mon, let's find a room where I can change them bandages. Then, I want you upstairs restin'. Shouldn't be runnin' 'round town with a bullet wound after bein' strangled half to death. Probably what's wrong with ya. Chris done squeezed the good sense right out of that head a yours." Peggy heard Nathan going on and thought he sounded much like her brothers when one was trying to keep the other one from doing anything stupid. She did feel sorry for that pretty woman, though. Seeing what Mr. Larabee had done to his friend had upset her pretty bad.
The sinking feeling in the pit of Mary's stomach had already begun to ease up a little, but she still wanted to see Chris for herself. Vin saw that and despite the fact he was going to have to remove his shirt for Nathan to take a look at the job Buck had done stitching and bandaging, he looked over at her and smiled.
"I'll go quiet like if Mary comes with us. She's got a lot gentler touch than you, an' she smells better." Vin wrinkled his nose at Nathan indicating his friends needed a bath after their long and dusty ride. The healer grinned at him and pushed him up the stairs in front of him.
"I'm hungrier than a grizzly first day a Spring. Instead of patchin' you boys up, I'm gonna stay down here an' eat. Now git on upstairs an' don't give Mrs. Travis none a your lip." Turning to Mary, Nathan smiled at her and stepped out of her way as she followed Vin up the stairs. "Here's some medicine for Chris to take ma'am. Won't hurt to give Vin a dose of it, too. Him or Chris give you any lip, ma'am, tell Buck I said it was okay to shoot 'em."
The idea of Buck shooting either Chris or Vin combined with the scowl on Vin's face for Nathan's suggestion that Vin needed some of his ditch water, too, made Mary laugh. All the men relaxed as her melodic laughter eased the apprehension any of them had been feeling. If Vin and Nathan were going to let Mary see Chris, that might do him and everyone else a world of good. Josiah stopped Mary half way up the stairs with a plate stacked high with sandwiches. Nathan was digging in to the extra sandwiches Peggy had set aside for him. Vin stepped down to stand alongside of Mary.
"Peggy said to bring this up with you. Got enough for all. You, too, ma'am."
"Thank you, Josiah and tell Nathan, thank you." Josiah nodded. Vin reached over and took the tray from Josiah, so Mary would not have to carry it. He winked at both of them his eyes alight with mischief.
"Tell Nathan, 'Thanks for the bottle of whiskey'." Josiah laughed this time. The big man wanted to check on his friend as much as the others, but he had seen the concerned look in Nathan's eyes when he said Chris had not reacted well. The stress of trying to force his memory was almost as bad for his recovery as his shoulder wound getting infected. Josiah decided then and there that they would wait as long as they had to for Chris to heal. From what Vin had told him, the memories were returning slowly but surely. Maybe Mary's visit would be just the thing. No man with any red blood in his veins could possibly forget Mary Travis.
Mary's entrance did indeed make an impression on Chris, Buck too for that matter. Buck tugged on his coat to smooth out his rumpled appearance. Chris pushed against the bed with his good hand in order to sit up straighter in the bed. The blanket pooled at his waist exposing the half of his chest that was not covered in bandages. He was hit with a rush of memories, not dreams, but memories and felt the same as he had with Vin. He knew he knew this woman. Buck had convinced him not to fight them but to relax and accept them. He was not in danger of losing his mind, but his heart appeared already to have surrendered itself to this woman. Chris knew her but still he didn't. Oblivious to them as they talked, Chris willed himself to relax and accept the memories and put them together to make sense.
"Mary, you sure made this little town a lot brighter with just your smile." Mary smiled at Buck's compliment, but her eyes were on Chris the entire time. She felt a bit light-headed, and her heart was beating so fast she just knew everyone in the room could hear it. Chris looked tired, and the lines around his mouth and eyes indicated that he was experiencing some discomfort. He was staring at her, but Mary felt he really wasn't seeing her right now. Forgetting all about Vin she walked over to the bed and sat right down beside the injured man. Vin winked at Buck and both men quietly left the room and made their way downstairs. There was only one staircase in the building and both men felt that with everyone downstairs right in front of it, Chris was safe for the time being. Well, he was safe from anyone trying to kill him that is. Mary Travis looked ready to devour the man.
"If she don't make him remember, ain't no one can." Vin no sooner got it out of his mouth than Buck had slapped his hat against his leg.
"Damn, did you see that look she gave him, pard? That look would melt a mountain of ice. Chris better remember how damn lucky he is, or we're gonna have to hit him upside the head with a two by four."
"I was thinking more along the lines of shootin' him on the other side a his head, Buck. Figured if getting' shot there caused him to forget, maybe shootin' him on the other side would cause him to remember." They were both relieving the stress of having to safeguard their friend by themselves for the last few days. Now that the others were here and had brought Mary, they figured things would work out fine. Nathan was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them a half-eaten sandwich in his hand.
"I know you ain't got that bandage changed yet. Get on in here an' let me look at it. Buck, you got anythin' wrong I should know 'bout, you know like the bruises you forgot to tell me were 'round Vin's neck?" Buck's smirk at Vin because he had been caught ended as he saw the frown on Nathan's face.
"I forgot to tell you 'bout that, but I knew Vin didn't want ta worry ya."
"Leave Vin outta this. I'm in enough hot water with Nathan as it is."
Neither one was in hot water with him, but Nathan liked to keep his friends respectful of his time and efforts. It tended to make them more agreeable to medical treatment, that plus Nathan's prowess with knives. Peggy had the door to the room open where the three men had stayed until the rest of the seven arrived. Vin walked in without comment and proceeded to unbutton his shirt while Buck went to get his sandwiches. He had seen the ones Peggy had sent up, but he knew going back in there now was not prudent. So he would eat down here while he got JD to watch the stairs for him. Once his friends were rested up, they could work up a schedule where Chris would not be left alone until Nathan declared him fit and they had caught the men trying to kill him. He was glad Mary had come with them. Her presence just might make the nightmares Chris had been having about Ella and the deaths of Sarah and Adam go away for a spell. Had Buck and Vin been flies on the wall of the room upstairs, they would have been glad that at least one thing good had come from this strange adventure. Mary's visit. Chris Larabee was no longer interested in heading out of town any time soon.
Mary sat beside him on the bed. He had watched her walk towards him and sit beside him as one memory after another slipped into place. The way she had clung to him when Claire Mosley's body had been brought in. The smile she had given him when Vin had asked Buck where his watch was, knowing full well that Olivia had pinched it, and her anger and then jealous reaction to Lydia. He remembered her concern for Billy when he had first come home and was being hounded by his father's killers, and the smile she had given him when she had told him she would not marry Gerard after all. He remembered it all. Not a word was spoken as she sat next to him on the bed. The departure of his two friends did not register at all with either of them; so consumed they were with one another.
The only thing Chris could think of was if she could hear his heart pounding in his chest. The pain in his shoulder and head literally disappeared when she had leaned over and put her hand to the uninjured side of his face and cupped it. He never realized that he had turned his head slightly so that his lips were pressing lightly into the hand so fascinated was he by the look of concern on her face. He knew this woman. A shaft of desire mingled with a tenderness that he had only ever felt with Sarah coursed through him. Mary. The name came to him and seemed as easy in his mind as it was on his lips.
"Mary." It was said in a low voice more like a caress as Mary shared the intensity of the emotion as she saw his eyes go from questioning to a knowing affection and tenderness she only ever saw him express when they were alone. His eyes drank in every line of her face, every hair that curled around her head like a halo. He wanted to immerse his hand in her hair, and he wanted to pull her close and kiss away the lines of strain and worry she had accumulated all for him. No one else but Sarah had ever cared truly enough about him to let him have the freedom to be the man he needed to be all the while worrying about him but never saying a word to keep him home. He had changed his wild and woolly ways for her and Adam and never once regretted it. This was how Mary made him feel, and he realized that not only did he know her, but he also knew that she too had lost someone she had loved as much as he had loved Sarah. Her husband, Mary's husband, had been murdered by greedy men who wanted land and power and had killed to get it. He felt no guilt as he realized with a sudden clarity that he loved this woman, and he saw it in her eyes as she watched him remember so many things that had bound them to one another as surely as rope. "Mary."
She put her hands to his lips to stop him. She was suddenly afraid that if he said another word that either his memory would be snatched from him again or that by saying what they meant to one another aloud would somehow ruin the moment. She, too, was just as afraid as he was to opening her heart to another man to love him as much as she had loved Steven. So, instead of declaring anything aloud, she merely put her head upon his good shoulder, and his arm came around her to hold her close. It was enough to just lie there hearing each other breathe and listening to the other's heart beat. Until Chris discovered who was trying to kill him, there was no way on earth that he was going to let anyone know what Mary meant to him, for someone surely would try to use it against him. He could no more bear to have her hurt than to live without her, so this mystery must be solved at all costs.
Both would have felt a little more optimistic had they heard the conversation in the mayor's house at the end of town. Handsome Jack Averil's cousin was berating the mayor for one more botched attempt.
"I don't care how you do it! Larabee's got to die before he sees me and recognizes me. Ella's dead, she has to be, an' if Larabee ever gets wind that I'm alive and in this town I'm a dead man! I'm not hanging or taking a bullet because your men are too incompetent to get the job done!"
"But Franklin, surely Larabee won't remember you after all this time? Everyone thinks we got killed in that explosion during the war."
Radcliff Siddons Garvey was a little ferret of a man. He was handsomer than his cousin Ike and more likely to shoot someone in the back than his cousin was. He was a thoroughly evil man despite being such a spineless puppet of the master himself, Franklin Averil. Handsome Jack's older cousin manipulated everyone with ruthless disregard for anyone but himself, and Garvey was truly afraid of him. What they had feared for so long, a witness who had survived the explosion that maimed and killed so many Union soldiers on the train containing the payroll in gold had risen from the masses to bring them to justice.
Chris Larabee had been the only man who had seen them enter the compartment before the explosion that had derailed the train had occurred. They had thought he had been killed along with all the others, but he had reappeared at the most inopportune time and settled on a ranch outside Eagle Bend. The only witness to their villainy was alive, and they moved quickly to destroy him. Ella Gaines was just a powder keg waiting to happen. Her besotted husband and her own business investments made her a wealthy woman, so the Averils used her to cover their tracks.
They thought they had solved that problem when Franklin hired Fowler to kill Larabee and his family. Ella thought they were just going to kill the wife and child, but Franklin had wanted Larabee dead as well. So, they had taken Ella's money, hired Fowler to do the deed, and then sat back to watch the only witness against them die. Only it had not happened that way. Larabee had not even been there that night. So, after Fowler had brought the locket as proof to Ella, he went after Larabee next. When they had heard that the loss of his wife and son had ruined him, they decided to let sleeping dogs lie since Ella might discover they planned to kill the man with whom she was obsessed. They had needed her money and her silence, so they let Larabee live. Thinking that either liquor or a faster gun would kill him eventually, they had continued their illegal sale of arms to the enemy, any enemy who had the gold to pay for the weapons. Their illegal business had started with the stolen gold they had murdered for and many more innocents would die before they were through. It did not matter as long as Larabee never came to Ivyville, but he had one night when Ella and Franklin were out plotting her husband's death.
Too drunk to remember anything, but not drunk enough to be unable to defend himself, Larabee had nearly met his end in Ivyville several years ago. Garvey had shot Larabee in the back and left him for dead. Some saloon girl had found him and taken him out to her family's old farm where she had nursed him back to health. Fearing Ella would kill him when she found out he had tried to have Larabee killed, yet even more terrified of Franklin when he found out Garvey had failed, poor Radcliff had kept his failure to himself. The young saloon girl was easily disposed of. Her death had appeared to be an accident. Assuming she had lost control of his horse or been spooked by a rattler, Larabee had buried the girl never knowing her neck was broken long before he had discovered her body. Having no reason to stay around Ivyville, Larabee had left never having been there sober.
Now, Larabee was back in Ivyville and this time he had brought friends with him, one who was a territorial judge. Ella Gaines was gone, presumed dead, Handsome Jack was dead. Only Franklin and Garvey were left, and Larabee could identify them the second he saw them. Polecat Adams, once a gunrunner they had tolerated for his willingness to takes guns anywhere, had brought Chris Larabee right to them. Polecat would have to be eliminated before he realized he had something to trade for his life just as Ike Siddons had. Averil and Garvey had been liquidating their assets ever since that nosy Sheriff Lawson had been hired by the city council to turn Ivyville into a town fit for John Terrill's railroad. If Larabee or that new sheriff found out what they were doing, they would never leave Ivyville alive. Saturday was when the last of their illegal ventures would bear fruit, fifty thousand dollars worth to be exact. There was no way in hell Larabee was going to interfere with that even if Franklin Averil had to kill Larabee himself.
Continued in Part Three
Feedback to Author