Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide. Please note that the character of Amanda in this story draws its inspiration from the short story written by SuLu of the same name.
Alex found Jamieson in the lodging house he had taken up residence with the rest of his men, during his stay in Tascosa for Vin's trial. The man was sitting down to the communal dinner on offer by landlady for all her guests, when Alex was shown into the dining room. Jamieson was present with most of his men at the table, including Langstrom and some others she did not recognise. As it was expected of them at the arrival of a lady into the room, the men rose to their feet and offered polite greeting, which Alex returned, before she turned her attention to Jamieson.
"What can I do for you ma'am?" He inquired as he stepped away from the table.
"May I speak to you outside Marshal?" She asked, feeling a little intimidated by all the eyes on her, not only of his men but also of the other guests presently occupying the table and a rather stiff landlady who was not shy about hiding her dislike for someone closely associated with Vin Tanner.
"Sure." He nodded and led her out onto the hallway, curious as to what she wanted of him. He had not spoken to her since his appearance outside her door when he had come to arrest Tanner that first time in Four Corners and though he had seen her about Tascosa since, the opportunity for conversation had never risen. He knew that she was mostly responsible for the employment of Tanner's high price lawyer since he had on occasion been to Silver City and knew of Dunwill's reputation. He had to admire the intelligence of the woman to have hired the best legal mind in the area for Tanner's defence and supposed that love would do that to most people.
Once in the hallway away from prying eyes, Alex felt herself relax a little although the nature of this visit could never truly put her at ease. Not to mention how he was going to react to her proposal afterwards but Alex believed she had a good sense of the man. Marshal Jamieson as she had learnt was not a shoot first think later kind of peacekeeper and while he almost always brought in his quarry, he had a reputation for bringing them in alive. Jamieson avoided killing in the advent that one of the accused was actually an innocent man, which explained why he had allowed Chris to bring Vin to Tascosa, instead of going after the tracker himself.
"How are you?" He asked full of genuine concern because the feeling he had seen between Tanner and the woman did not indicate any fleeting affair. It must have been difficult for her to be in the town where so many loathed Tanner for the crime he was accused when she loved him.
"I've been better." Alex said touched by the inquiry. "Thank you for asking." A small smile of gratitude stole across her features as she responded.
"So what is this about?" He asked once more, sweeping aside the usual civilities and got to the heart of the matter.
"Marshal, I need your help and I don't know whether or not you will be willing after I tell you why."
Jamieson's curiosity was properly piqued and gestured to the door leading out of the house since it sounded that what needed discussing might be best spoken of in privacy without anyone eavesdropping. They walked down the hall and stepped out into the night air. As most things were in Texas, the air outside was hot and dry and Alex felt a most profound longing to be home in Four Corners at that moment.
"Well ma'am," Jamieson leaned against the post of the side porch of the house. "What have you got to tell me?"
Alex took a deep breath. "Marshal, do you believe Vin is guilty of murdering Kincaid?"
Jamieson shrugged, not liking the question put forward to him and chose the stock standard answer he gave in such circumstances. "It ain't my place to say ma'am."
"I know it isn't." Alex sighed, unsurprised by the answer but she was a woman determined. "But I'm not asking you as Federal Marshal or someone appointed by the court, I am asking you, Buford T Jamieson, private citizen. Do you think he is guilty?"
She made an interesting argument and Jamieson could not deny that it was hard to separate himself from the job. He searched himself for the answer and tried to force away baser instincts to remain neutral and detached from the case. However, he could not deny that aspects of this entire affair had bothered him from the beginning. If Tanner was the killer than he was the greatest performer Jamieson had ever seen to pull the wool over so many eyes that they would die to protect him. There was nothing in the man's background to indicate that level of duplicity even if he had been a bounty hunter once. Finally, the answer escaped him, like the rising stench of fumes from foul water.
"No, I don't think he is." He finally admitted and saw her let out a visible sigh of relief, almost as if she had been holding her breath.
"That's something anyway," she nodded and then spoke again. "I think Amanda Kincaid might be responsible for the murder."
Jamieson's eyes widened but he held the scepticism that threatened to seeped into his face at bay. "Why?" He asked instead.
Alex explained the entire situation to him, starting from Amanda's visit to the jailhouse to Vin and her expression of sorrow at his apprehension, right down to the compassion shown to the lover of her husband's killer and the awful scars that Alex had glimpsed on her body. She related to Jamieson, Amanda's confession of spousal abuse and saw by his expression that he understood better than Chris and the others, how terrible such a crime was upon the victim, the emotional scars it left behind. Alex supposed than during his time as a Federal Marshal he must have seen crimes like this before. Alex revealed her suspicions about Ely Joe and watched as his scepticism wavered enough to consider it. Jamieson said nothing until she had concluded her case and when she was done, Alex held her breath in anticipation of his response.
"You're going to have a hard time proving it." He answered finally.
"I know," Alex nodded in agreement but there was more to this meeting than just to voice her suspicions about Amanda Kincaid. "But I think I can with your help."
"My help?" Jamieson's brow shot up in reaction. "How?"
"I have an idea," Alex replied after a moment, preparing the recital she had played inside her head throughout her journey here. She had to convince him, there was no other choice. "I just need to you to be present as a witness."
"A witness?" He looked at her.
"You're a Federal Marshal and if need be, your testimony can stand up in a court of law. I am hoping that if what I propose is successful, it will not be come to that."
Alex outlined her plan and Jamieson had to marvel at its simplicity, even if it was a long shot. However, the little lady was a doctor which meant she was plenty smart, not to mention she loved her man enough to be very certain of what she was doing. Jamieson could understand why Alex believed what she did about Amanda Kincaid. If even half of what Alex had described to him was true, then it was very possible that Amanda's complicity in the murder of her husband ran deeper than they all had suspected.
He had seen enough women in prison to know that what Amanda had been driven to do were not uncommon. Men who raped and beat women were animals who would have been that way no matter what age it was, no matter how high born or dirt poor their origins. The disease that afflicted them had no discrimination.
"Alright Doc," Jamieson finally agreed, wanting to help if there was a miscarriage of justice in process. "What's your plan?"
While gunfire continued to erupt out side an intermittent intervals, the exchange of ammunition detracted the men defending the Patterson ranch from a far more intense confrontation taking place inside the main house, between the respective commanders of both opposing camps. Unfortunately for Caleb Patterson, it would appear that for the moment, that Chris Larabee had the advantage.
The gunslinger stared at defeated enemy with steely eyes, having won the physical battle and was now waging a mental confrontation. His guns were aimed at Patterson and the two lackeys with him, unwavering in its determination to impress upon them the reality of their situation so that they would remember their place. Outside, a gun battle was still raging and while victory could go either way during this juncture of the combat with the possibility that Chris might himself in the on the losing end, he was still in the position to kill them before help arrived.
Chris checked on his friends' progress in their advance towards the main house by taking an occasional glimpse out the window. He could see that the plan was being followed in accordance with his instructions with Buck and JD drawing most of fire from Patterson's men, offering a second layer of distraction on top of the one he provide while Nathan and Ezra crept up behind them. The healer and the southern were moving stealthily through the dark as they slipped into position in order to get a drop on all the guns standing against them. Josiah in the meantime, would be covering their advance, protecting them as they attempted to diffuse the situation without killing if all possible.
As the rest of his friends played their parts in the unfolding drama, Chris had his own role to fulfil. While Patterson had gone a long way to convince Chris that he was innocent of killing Kincaid, it still did not explain why Patterson was so determined to see Vin swing. It should make no difference to man who was responsible for the crime if he had nothing to do with. A small glimmer of hope inside Chris prayed that the answer might be something they could use to exonerate the tracker of the murder charge. The reason had to be compelling, Chris had told himself because the rancher had been driven to kill them all as well attempting to incite his neighbours into a frenzy so they would become the instrument which would lynch Vin Tanner.
So far, Patterson had not volunteered any information. The two men with him remained close mouthed themselves, mostly because Chris suspected they knew nothing about the situation any way. They had taken to aiming hateful glares at him for the injuries inflicted but could do no more than that as they sat on the floor near Patterson, nursing their wounds and trying to hide their fear. Despite their best efforts, Chris could see through their mask of indifference to tell that they were apprehensive because their fear was palpable.
"What do you boys do?" Chris inquired, regarding them for a moment while he took his attention from Patterson temporarily.
"None of your damn business." Patterson barked in response.
"I ain't talking to you," Chris shifted his gaze enough to send a scalding glare at the man that silenced him immediately before he added with equal icy deliberation, "yet."
Patterson licked his lips in anxiousness, unable to comprehend how the tables had turned so quickly but remained silent, not daring to provoke the man who could easily fill him full of lead for past insults offered already. .
"I'm just a cowhand." The younger of the two answered nervously, perhaps attempting to take Chris' attention away from his employer. Chris had put a bullet through his hand and he was still clutching the wounded appendage as it remained wrapped in the rapidly saturating coat he had used to stem the bleeding. He stared up at the gunslinger, trying to hide his fear or the gun that was pointed squarely at him. Nevertheless, Patterson was still his boss and the young man felt obligated to defend him, even against this predatory looking stranger.
"I thought so," Chris nodded and then announced to both men to put their mind at ease even though such claims had very little effect when being delivered from the end of a stranger's gun. "I ain't gonna hurt either of you. That's not what I am here for. I just want some answers from your boss here."
"I ain't gonna tell you nothing." Patterson hissed defiant from his position on the chair.
Without warning, Chris kicked his foot into the centre of the man's chest, pushing him backward with such force that he tipped onto the rear legs of his chair before toppling him over completely. Patterson let out a small cry of fright as the chair slammed into the floor with a loud thud. Both cowhands reacted enough to display a surge of bravery as they moved slightly towards Chris. However, he ended that threat quickly when he cocked his gun in their direction, driving back to their seated positions once more with cold stare.
"Don't." He uttered a single word warning that more than enough to sent them promptly into retreat without any further resistance.
Once Patterson had recovered enough from his fall, Chris circled the space where the chair had landed, watching dispassionately as the man groaned in pain because his head had hit the hard surface of the polished wooden floor upon impact. The injury Chris was certain, was more to his pride than any physical wounds but Chris was not above inflicting those if Patterson did not start cooperating. He would have answer or he would Patterson's head. Chris reserved the right to put that picture in the rancher's head until later, if the man continued his resistance..
"You son of a bitch." The man snarled as Chris dropped to the floor next to the rancher. Resting his weight on his haunches, Chris still maintained his aim of both guns at the occupants of the room to accommodate his new position.
"Now," Chris said growing impatient with the wait and looked at Patterson with a glint of his eye that indicated that any further protestations was going to be made at extreme risk to his life. "Start talking before I start shooting things off." He cocked his gun pressed the barrel hard against the man's shoulder. "I got enough experience with these things to know where to shoot a man so he don't die straight out. I can fill you full of lead without you ever being in danger of kicking off on me." Chris smiled chillingly.
"You wouldn't dare!" Patterson roared in outrage and rising terror which was soon quashed when he saw Chris' finger tightening around the trigger.
"Shoulder first," Chris continued his threat. "Then maybe lower." He dropped his gaze to the man's solid gut.
"I didn't kill Kincaid!" Patterson screamed defiantly, still clinging to the last remnants of stubbornness and pride as he made a last ditch effort to reason with a crazy man. Unfortunately, the effort might have proved successful if he had actually be dealing with a crazy man, which Chris was not and therefore he remained unmovable in his purpose despite Patterson's frantic words.
Chris could tell simply by the wide eye look on his face that Patterson was near breaking point. He was fast approaching the place that Chris needed him to be; confident that once the rancher crossed that vital threshold, there would no longer be any secrets between them.
"I didn't say he did." Chris responded to Patterson's cry. "That wasn't my question. Tell me what I want to know." Chris repeated himself again, putting enough pressure on the finger around the trigger to send one of his men into panic.
"Tell him Boss!" One of the men on the floor suddenly erupted, fear etched in their faces as they watched their employer teetering on the brink of death at the end of the lawman's gun. "It can't matter now!"
"No!" Patterson cried desperately, using the last reserves of courage that remained inside of him.
Chris responded by pulling the trigger. The explosion of sound sent shudders of fright through the two men before him and pulled a terrified scream from Patterson at the discharge. The bullet blew a small hole in the space not far from Patterson's shoulder, digging into the wood and sending splinters in all directions. Any closer and the man would not merely be picking pieces of wood from his shoulder but rather led. Needing no further incentive, his cry of fright proceeded a long string of words that started spewing from his lips without pause.
"I couldn't help it!" Patterson wailed terrified as he stared frantically at Chris with nothing less than terror in his eyes and no illusions that Chris was bluffing. "You gotta understand Larabee, my stock was dying! Everything I built on this land was starting to disappear before my eyes! I had to do something! Kincaid let us use his water at first, he wasn't dumb. He made us believed that he was being neighbourly when all the time he was sinking his claws deeper and deeper into us! By the time we knew what was happening it was too late! We had no choice but to pay him his money. He bled us dry!"
Chris could well believe a man who would enjoy brandishing his power over his wife by brutalising her to the point of madness would take as much relish in being in a similar situation with those around him. Particularly when they were men like Patterson, ranchers and land owners who were not used to being supplicants. Kincaid would have milked the moment for all it was worth; unaware that one could only push people so far before they began pushing back. Ironically for Kincaid, the man never anticipated that the wife he had supposedly cowed into submission was the one person who would break him.
"Go on." Chris said calmly, deciding that they were now getting to the heart of the truth that Patterson was so resistant about revealing to him prior to this.
"I tried to buy him out but he refused." Patterson continued, anger and frustration etched in his face as he remembered how desperately he had implored to Kincaid to be reasonable. "Then he upped the price on the water. He knew that I had it to pay so he pushing and pushing, until it got so bad that I would have had to let men go just to make the payment. I wasn't going to do that."
"He wasn't no saint Mister." The young cowhand declared, trying to help his boss past that difficult revelation.
"I don't care about Kincaid," Chris answered. "I just want to know why you were out to have my friend hanged. He didn't kill Kincaid but he's going to die for it."
"I couldn't have any questions asked," Patterson asked. "Because to this day I don't know whether or not I am responsible for Kincaid dying."
Chris stared at him, unable to decide whether or not the man was formulating a new strategy. "How can you not know if you had someone killed?" The gunslinger demanded, uncertain for the first time. "You either did or you didn't."
"I don't know because I paid someone to kill Kincaid the day before!" He shouted, revealing the secret he had locked inside of him for so many years, trying to live with his conscience and realising with sadness after he had sent those men after Tanner's friends, how easy it was to have someone killed after that first time. "I couldn't take any more so I hired a man to do it and paid him in advance. He said he was going to get it done and when Kincaid showed up dead, it looked like he done it until I found out that Tanner was the man responsible."
"Vin didn't do it," Chris replied, understanding at last what fear had driven Patterson to behave as he had. He had hired someone to kill Jesse Kincaid but unfortunately, the paid assassin had been usurped by Ely Joe when the man killed his quarry in order to frame Vin. "Ely Joe killed Kincaid. He paid some men to kill Vin a couple years ago and just as much admitted it before he died."
"Then..." Patterson started to realise. "The man I hired really didn't do it?"
"No," Chris shook his head in answer and was mildly surprised to see Patterson's face draining with relief. The man was honestly glad that he had not been responsible for the murder that had tainted his actions for the last three years. "Ely Joe killed Kincaid."
"But you said Jesse's wife had something to do with it." Patterson pointed out, suddenly liberated by his confession.
Chris did not answer for a moment because he had prayed that Patterson would give him something he could use to free Vin but now it appeared that no such miracle would take place. His heart sank knowing that proving Vin's innocence would almost be impossible. If Alex was right and Amanda Kincaid was truly responsible of inciting Ely Joe to murder her husband, then proving it would be beyond Chris Larabee's ability to accomplish.
And he would see Vin hang knowing that he had failed his best friend.
Light poured through the open shop window of Amanda's Sewing Circle and drew Alex and Marshal Jamieson towards it like fires flies attracted by the glow of a campfire. Both had outlined the plan and how it should be executed and knew that was no reason to put off the task that lay before them. It was never going to be easy in any shape of form to perpetrate the feat of magic they were attempting to do but a man's life hung in the balance and thus there was no choice but to attempt it anyway. Alex told herself once more as they approached the front door that led to the innards of the small business that it was for the greatest good that she was doing this.
Telling herself that and knowing it were too different things.
She did feel intensely guilty for what she was about to do, almost as potently as Amanda obviously felt about maintaining her silence when Vin was being held for the murder she was responsible, in the jailhouse not too far away from her shop. Amanda Kincaid was not a bad person and Alex swore to herself that if everything transpired according to plan and Alex's aim was achieved, she was going to do everything in her power to keep Amanda from undergoing the ordeal to follow alone. Amanda had been driven to this because no one would help her. Alex was determined that she was not faced with a repeat once things were set into motion. Dunwill had proven himself an able lawyer and Alex was certain that he could find a loophole for Amanda, at least on the grounds of extreme physical cruelty by Jesse that had forced her to take the only chance of escape available to her at the time.
"You ready?" Jamieson asked as they prepared to enter the premises.
Alex nodded feeling butterflies in her stomach and tried to force the uneasiness away because she needed to be absolutely composed if this thing were to play out the way it was meant to. She met his gaze with an expression of anxiousness before taking a deep breath and expelled the emotion when she told herself that she was doing this for Vin. Beyond that, nothing else should penetrate, no matter how much sympathy or compassion she might feel for Amanda Kincaid.
"I'm fine." She answered, her words dripping with indifference she did not really feel. She hated this whole thing and only wished it to be over and done with.
Jamieson could see her distaste for the situation and found himself eager to undertake the task just to be able to put behind him once it was done. He opened the door for her and Alex swept inside the shop first, with Jamieson following her once she had cleared the entrance way.
Alex had no idea how to proceed as she entered the room and saw Amanda emerging from the back room. The woman stiffened immediately at the sight of Jamieson behind her and if it was possible, she became even more impassive than ever. Without even seeing the accusation in her eyes, Alex could feel it and the same surge of intense guilt resurfaced inside the doctor's psyche as she once again, questioned what she was about to do and quickly came to the realisation that this was the only way to save Vin.
"Hello Amanda." Alex greeted even though there was no warmth in this room, not any more.
"Alex." She said quietly, aware that something dark and terrible was inching past the boundaries of her mind, driving straight into her soul. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm afraid I made Miss Styles bring me here," Jamieson spoke up, taking control of the situation and sparing Alex the need to explain what was happening. "We need to talk Mrs Kincaid."
"What about?" She asked, trying to sound natural however, Alex could see the anxiety starting to flood into her eyes.
Jamieson let out a breath as he recalled the prepared speech that he and Alex had devised prior to coming here. If he had been unconvinced by Alex's words before this, the fear he saw in Amanda Kincaid's eyes now told him that perhaps the doctor was right. The poor widow looked at him as if she were a helpless animal caught in a hunter's sights and knew that it was an expression he had seen on many criminals, coming to grips with their capture. "Almost two years ago, I was responsible for the capture of the outlaw named Ely Joe." Jamieson began watching Amanda's expression to see if there were any signs of recognition.
The flicker was slight but enough to prove that he was known to her. Even Alex was able to see that the name shook Amanda's resolve as if hearing it aloud had some strange power over her that she could not endure. Jamieson did not wait for her to speak or respond to his statement, particularly when there was expression enough in her face and thus continued with his rehearsed speech. "I wanted to bring him in alive but Ely Joe was a tough customer. In the end, I had to kill him."
"He was not a good man," Amanda's voice had become a low whisper and it stabbed at Alex with more emotion than it should to see that sorrow in her eyes as she stood on the periphery of disaster like Ophelia preparing to die. "You did what you had to."
"I kept telling the Marshal that you could not possibly have anything to do with an animal like Ely Joe," Alex spoke up, playing her part of the deception she and Jamieson were conspiring to use upon Amanda. They were manipulating poor Amanda's emotions and fears like expert puppet masters and made Alex feel all the more loathsome for it. "However, he was most insistent on being brought here to meet you."
Whether or not Amanda believed her was something Alex could not say for certain but the widow merely nodded and turned her attention back to Jamieson. "What does this have to do with me?"
"Quite a bit ma'am." Jamieson with his stern, authoritarian voice which Alex had been on the receiving end of once and knew how intimidating it could be when applied in this way. "I went through Ely Joe's things after he died, mostly to see if anything could be sent to his family. Appears he had none."
"He only had a father." Amanda whispered, dropping her gaze to the floor, no longer able to meet Jamieson's eyes. "He died years ago."
"That's what we figured out later," Jamieson continued, convinced now that the woman knew Ely Joe a great deal more than what local gossip was able to manage. "Anyway, there wasn't much that was fit to leave to anyone once we went through it, except this letter." He reached into his thick coat and produced a worn envelope that had browned over time. Jamieson made no attempt to hand it to Amanda for her perusal, keeping a firm grip on the folded piece of paper that further deepened Amanda's growing dread of discovery.
"It was never delivered and we figured he must have been carrying it for some time. Its addressed to you ma'am, care of your old place out of town." He replied, watching closely for her reaction.
"To me?" Amanda stammered, not understanding. "Why would it be addressed to me?"
"I was hoping you could tell me that ma'am." The marshal probed deeper, aiming his question with skills that Dunwill would have been proud to own, Alex thought. Amanda had taken a step backwards as if the enormity of what he was suggesting was becoming too much for her to endure. "I didn't think much of it at first because there about a million Amanda's in this country and then I heard Doctor Styles here tell me that your name was Amanda."
"Tell him its just coincidence," Alex exclaimed, hoping she sounded convincing to the terrified widow whose eyes looked as if her entire world was crumbling before her as Jamieson continued his interrogation. A part of Alex almost wished that Amanda would irrefutably deny what the Marshall was implying, even if it meant disastrous repercussions for Vin but she knew with total confidence that Amanda could not deny it. Every fibre of her being told Alex that she was right, that Amanda Kincaid had been the instrument of her husband's death.
"Amanda, tell him." Alex urged quietly, holding her breath to see what the woman would do.
Amanda looked at Alex with the eyes of a cornered animal. She was losing her battle to remain composed and knew that to relent was to invite her own doom to come for her after three years of sleepless nights and dreading the moment when she was finally discovered. Yet as Jamieson stared at her with his penetrating gaze, looking through her as if she were made of glass as if he knew everything, Amanda knew not what else to do. She loved her life, what she had of it now and she would hate to lose it but these past few days had been gnawing her insides with guilt.
"It's just a coincidence." She stammered, still clinging to whatever vestige of control she had left. "I never knew Ely Joe."
"Ma'am," Jamieson countered immediately, almost as if he were expecting this answer. In truth, he was but his response was part of a play written before he had arrived here and faced this tragic woman, who in her eyes convinced him with more certainty that he ever thought possible that she had indeed been the elusive architect of Jesse Kincaid's death. "The letter was addressed to you and it sounds to me like something that a man might write to someone he loves and cares about. Looks like he thought a lot about what was in it."
"How could he?" Amanda cried out, staring at Jamieson as she heard the words knowing that they were a lie. They had to be! That night had meant nothing! It was an exchange of services, almost clinical in its efficiency! "He didn't care about anything in his life! Ely Joe was a murderer! Just ask anyone around here who knew him! He didn't care for me! He didn't even know me, not really!"
"What do you mean Amanda?" Alex asked, feeling like a part of wolf pack closing in on a helpless and wounded creature, preparing to feed on her weakness for their own ends. She forced away the disgust and told herself again that this was for Vin. She had to do it. "Did you know Ely Joe?"
"Yes," Amanda nodded, tears staring to run down her cheeks. "He remembered me from school. He thought I was pretty."
"When did you meet him again Amanda?" Jamieson continued, taking the secondary part of the two pronged attack.
"I didn't!" She began to cry, fighting off their words, feeling it sink into her bones like fire, burning away all the lies that she had been telling these past three years. They were getting to the naked truth of it now and she could not stop it.
"But you said..."
"I know what I said!" Amanda cried out. "It ain't true! I never meant anything to him! Not a damn thing! He said liked how I smelled and it had been a long time since he'd been with a woman. He wouldn't have written that letter to me because he never came back after!"
And there it was, the admission that both Alex and Jamieson had been waiting hear.
Alex let out a sigh of relief as the words escaped the fragile woman when all the walls were finally torn down after three years of anguish and guilt. It spilled forth in a torrent of emotion from the dam she had been building inside her for so many days and nights. For so long, Amanda had kept it inside her, the hurt and abuse of marriage to Jesse Kincaid, then silent agonies of her life as no one could understand the perennial sadness that was always in her eyes. She buried away feeling and hope, allowing none of it to surface until one night when Ely Joe, notorious outlaw found himself on the doorstep of the Kincaid homestead.
"After what?" Alex forced herself to ask even though she knew that they had pushed Amanda far enough over the edge to reveal the rest of her tale. The doctor cringed inwardly; hating herself for she was doing to this tortured woman who should have been helped not trapped like an animal to reveal her secrets.
However, if Amanda felt any enmity towards Alexandra Styles, she did not show it. The words that escaped her had a strangely liberating effect and the balloon inside her chest, growing turgid and pressing against the walls of her soul had deflated. The feeling was numbing and that was just how Amanda liked to feel, numb. In that state of limbo, nothing could hurt her, not Jesse, not even the consequences of her complicity in his death. She had three years of peace and those were as close to heaven as she would ever know She was sorry to lose it but she did not really mind because it had been enough.
"After he killed Jesse." Amanda whispered as she met Alex's gaze and wondered briefly what it must have been like to love someone and knew that they loved you back. She envied the doctor and felt saddened that she had never known love like that.
"How do you know that ma'am?" Jamieson asked, needing these question answered concisely before he could go to Ritter and tell the man to cut Tanner loose.
"Because I asked him too." She replied listlessly, as if not caring that every word was damning. "He turned up the night before Jesse died," Amanda continued, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she made her confession and could not understand how something that ought to be difficult was flowing from her with such ease.
Alex found her breath catch with each word that Amanda spoke, hearing the loud turning of a key inside her head as the woman told her story to Jamieson and her. Alex took a step forward and held Amanda's hand in a gesture of friendship and understanding, wishing the widow to know that no matter what her crime, Alex was not going to abandon her. She was surprised when Amanda offered her a warm smile and squeezed back.
"He said his horse had thrown a shoe and that he needed a place to stay for the night." Amanda replied, recalling the events clearly in her head since she had played them in her head almost every night following Jesse's death and more than that in recent days ever since Vin Tanner was brought into town. She wished she could be devoid of conscience but Amanda was allowed no such luxury. "Jesse wasn't too sure about it at first cause he thought Ely Joe was one of Patterson's men. Caleb Patterson had been trying to buy the place for months and when Jesse wouldn't sell up, he got pretty nasty."
This part of the story Alex knew already from the man's attempts to kill Chris and the others, not to mention how he had tried to have Vin lynched the day the tracker had arrived in Tascosa. Much of what Amanda was telling them did not surprise her much, she expected something of the like even though the details were vague. She could see Jamieson absorbing every word, committing it to memory in order to relay the specifics to Sheriff Ritter when it was time for Vin to be released. Just the thought of that alone made this entire episode bearable because the guilt stabbing at her was almost as terrible as what Amanda must have surely be enduring now as she made herself accountable.
"I changed his mind and said that I knew Ely Joe from school, even though I didn't tell Jesse exactly who he was. He had supper with us that night and as usual, Jesse drank too much so by the time it came for bed, he was more or less passed out from the liquor." Amanda quivered remembering how peacefully Jesse had lapsed into slumber on his favourite chair, half empty bottle of the moonshine he brewed still in his hands when she took it away.
"I knew he wouldn't wake up and Ely Joe thanked me for covering up for him." She swallowed the lump in her throat as she moved onto the next part of her story, hoping they would not judge her too harshly for what she had done later that night. She held Alex's hand even tighter, grateful that the doctor was offering friendship even now, even though by her actions Amanda had almost condemned the man she loved to die.
Well she was changing that now.
"He liked me, I could see that much." She continued after she had composed herself. "And I didn't want to make trouble because he could kill both me and Jesse if he took it in his mind to so I let him touch me." Even though the event was years in the past, Amanda shuddered at his touch on her skin and remembered how different the entire experience had been in contrast to her intimacies with Jesse. "It wasn't as bad as Jesse, I think Ely Joe even tried to make it better for me but he didn't realise until he saw the scars later I'd been hurt before. He said something like how a man who did that to a woman shouldn't be fit to live..." Her voice faltered then because when he said those words, she knew.
Even though she had never actually come out and told him to do it, Amanda knew he was going to kill Jesse simply because she would be better off without him and to her shame, Amanda had said nothing to stop him.
"I didn't stop him when he said that," Amanda's voice had become a soft whisper. "He just knew without me even needing to say it that I wanted Jesse dead. All he did was tell me to leave the next morning and don't come until late. He said he had something else to take care of anyway and Jesse would do just as well any other." She blinked and fresh tears rolled down her reddened cheeks. "You know, I really think he wanted to help me too. I never had a man do that for me so I guess when it came out that Jesse was dead, I couldn't bring myself to say it was Ely Joe."
"Ma'am," Jamieson found his voice. "A man has spent the last three years with a murder charge hanging over him. He didn't do nothing to you or to Jesse, it wasn't right to keep that silent."
"I know," she nodded, unable to deny that her thoughts had been focussed on that very issue for a long time, with far more depth than his words could ever manage to express. "I'm sorry Alex," Amanda looked at her. "You've been good to me even though you knew I held something back."
"I can't imagine what you went through Amanda." Alex answered her immediately. "If it was me in your position, I can't say I would have acted differently. You did the best you could to survive Jesse, no one will judge you for that."
"But they will judge me for being part of Jesse's murder, won' they?" She said soberly and stared at Jamieson as she asked that question. "I didn't come out and tell Ely Joe to kill Jesse but I might as well have. He wouldn't have done if it wasn't for his knowing how Jesse treated me."
"Ma'am," Jamieson said sombrely, "I need you to come down to the jailhouse with me." He tried to be gentle but an innocent man was sitting in a cold, dank cell in which he had no business being. He felt sorry for this widow and wished she could be spared the trials to follow but this was something there was never going to be any avoiding once she had revealed herself.
"I understand." She nodded, disengaging herself from Alex. "Do you think I could have a moment alone?" She asked the lawman as she glanced down at her apparel. "I'd like to change into some fresh clothes before I go out and get a few things together if that's all right."
"Of course it is." Alex replied quickly before catching Jamieson's eye to impart upon him what possible harm could be caused by allowing the lady a moment to herself. Besides, it would be the last time Amanda would be in her shop for quite a while once she admitted her guilt to Ritter and was taken into custody.
"Sure thing ma'am," Jamieson agreed with the doctor's assessment and wanted to spare her any more humiliation than was necessary. By morning, everyone in Tascosa was going to learn about Amanda Kincaid's complicity in her husband's death and the sordid details of her encounter with Ely Joe. There would be vicious gossip and nasty whispers behind closed doors but the truth would still be there like the morning mist after a stormy night.
"Thank you," Amanda said gratefully and withdrew into the backroom.
The mood was less than exuberant when the six lawmen returned to Tascosa after their evening's adventure at the Patterson homestead. They had all gone there in the hopes that some news would be garnered from their interrogation of the rancher to help them exonerate Vin Tanner once and for all but with the confession they had received from Patterson himself, that hope faded further and further away into the depths. It now looked as if Vin would indeed go to trial and it was a gamble if he would walk away from the proceedings with his life. No one was in the mood for talking with the pall of that hanging over their heads and Chris in particular, was in a black mood.
The weather had broken on the journey back and rain had started to teem to the ground, washing away the sweat accumulated from the humidity of the day's ride from all their skins. Chris wanted nothing more than to drown his sorrows in a good bottle of whisky and felt it permissible if he allowed himself to get blind stinking drunk tonight and then tackle the problem of Vin's situation tomorrow once more. Now that it rested with Amanda Kincaid, Chris would need to reformulate his strategy. As the dim lights of the town became evident in the distance, Chris wished he were riding home to Four Corners, not some drab town in the middle of the Panhandle. In Four Corners, the light was a beacon for home and all things warm and happy about his life. In Tascosa, it just meant that death was coming for his best friend and Chris could do nothing to stop it.
They rode into town and found the streets quiet for the time of the night. The rain had driven most people indoors and so they were able to ride at a suitable pace down the main street as they headed for the saloon. Each member of the seven was cold and wet and they welcomed the heat a drink would provide before even the enchantment of food and fresh clothes. Chris reached the hitching post first and dismounted, not waiting for the others as he strode down the walkway towards the saloon's bat wing doors. He knew they would be following him soon enough anyway.
He stepped through the doors and once again the scathing glares and whispers heralded his return amongst them again, although the intensity was slightly less than what it normally was. Chris scanned the room, as instinct often required him to do and realised that there was good reason for the tempering of their hostility towards him. Standing at the bar, creating all kinds of scandalous talk by her presence alone, was Alexandra Styles. A small island had formed around her as people stole furtive glances in her direction over their glasses of beers, wondering what a lady of her ilk, even if was not completely white was doing in this establishment. Even the bartender was watching her with a sombre impression. Chris crossed the floor in matter of seconds and was soon at her side.
On the counter before Alex was a half-empty bottle of whiskey and half filled shot glass. She was staring at it impassively and did not look up when he approached her even though she knew it was him. Instead she continued to fill the glass to its brim and deepened Chris' concern that something terrible had happened. It was only when she raised the glass to drink did he see the blood that stained her fingers. Splotches of red covered her fingers, her hands and even the cuffs of her sleeve.
"Alex, what's happened?" Chris asked tautly, not daring to touch her at first because he thought she might be hurt. For a moment, Chris thought that something terrible had happened to Vin but she allayed those fears with her sudden but expressionless voice when she answered.
"Vin will be freed within the hour." Alex responded quietly. She still did not look at him. "Sheriff Ritter's a little busy at the moment, taking care of some arrangements but Vin should be released soon. All charges against him have been dropped."
"Dropped?" Chris exclaimed, unable to believe her at first, particularly when she was in the state she was presently in. News like this should be a cause for celebration, why was she behaving like this? "Why?"
"Because of this." Alex answered automatically and produced a folded enveloped crusted with blood.
His brow knotted in confusion as he took the paper from her hand, forcing her fingers to relax her grip as he removed it from her. The blood on her fingertips let imprints against the yellowed paper. He unfolded it and read the ungainly hand writing on the paper and discovered that it was contained a verse of poetry, nothing more. However, Chris recognised the handwriting as belonging to Vin Tanner's. The tracker had learnt to read and write thanks to Mary but his penmanship was still on the level of an eight-year-old.
"What is this?" Chris finally asked not understanding the significance as he noticed the others walking into the saloon. Their faces soon mirrored his own confusion when they noted Alex's presence and approached stealthily trying to understand what was going on without intruding too much on Chris' efforts. Buck took the space on the other side of Alex and noticed the blood on her hands and on her clothes.
"Jesus, what's happened?" He demanded.
"They're letting Vin go." Chris replied before Alex could answer.
"Letting him go, why?" This came from Nathan, who had joined them. Chris motioned the others to remain silent for a moment, allowing Alex to explain.
"Alex," he put his hand gently on her shoulder. "What does this paper mean?"
"It's just a poem Vin wrote to me once," she whispered hoarsely. "But Amanda Kincaid thought it was a letter that Ely Joe wrote to her. I had Jamieson go to her and tell her that it was a letter that he found on Ely Joe when he was shot and killed. It made it sound that they were lovers."
"Christ," Buck gasped slowly, unable to believe Alex capable of such duplicity, not to mention Amanda having that kind of connection to Ely Joe. "What happened then?"
"She admitted it was true." Alex swallowed and blinked. Tear rolled down her cheeks as she gazed into something only she could see and Chris felt his heart torn, seeing her like this. It was disconcerting seeing a woman so strong, so wounded. He would feel the same way if it were Mary. To the others, her demeanour sent a chill run down their spines. "Ely Joe was at the Kincaid place the night before Jesse died. He went there to shoe his horse. While he was there Amanda recognised him but didn't say anything in case Ely Joe decided to kill them both. Kincaid didn't know who he was so Ely Joe had supper at the house after which Kincaid passed out drunk, Amanda was left alone with him." She did not need to clarify what that meant because the implication spoke for itself.
"You mean the villain forced himself on her?" Ezra exclaimed with disgust.
"No," Alex shook her head. "He didn't. I think he actually liked her enough to think that he was doing her a favour. He and Amanda spent the night together and he saw the scars left behind from what Kincaid done to her. I think in his own way, Ely Joe he thought he was helping her out by killing Kincaid. He got the body he needed to frame Vin and she was free of the bastard."
"Alex, the blood." Chris urged more concerned about the blood all over her rather than the specifics of her ruse. "Tell me about the blood."
"Relax," she answered mechanically. "Its not mine." She paused a moment and threw her head back as she downed the contents of her glass and resumed speaking. "I thought she had seduced Ely Joe into killing Kincaid for her so I told Jamieson to take this letter and confront her with it, saying that it a letter from Ely Joe. I actually stood there in front of her and told her to prove him wrong, that it couldn't possibly be true but in the end she did exactly what I hoped she would do, she confessed to the whole thing."
"So Jamieson took her in?" Buck asked feeling some measure of sorrow for the woman but could not help feeling some relief at what this would mean to Vin Tanner.
"After she had told us everything," Alex took a deep breath and her voice started to shudder as she continued speaking and Chris noticed more tears spilling down her cheeks. She stopped a moment trying to compose herself but it was a losing battle. Her control was starting to slip and the more she continued her narration of what had transpired while they were dealing with Patterson, the harder it became to rein in her emotions. He could sense that the liquor was the only thing that was keeping her together at this point. Something terribly ominous was coming at them and he could feel it snaking up his spine like tendrils of ice.
"After she told us everything," Alex cleared her throat and began again. "She asked for a moment alone and I told Jamieson there was no harm in letting her have it since he was taking her to the jailhouse. I didn't want her to suffer any more than she was going to." She wiped her tears from her cheeks but they were soon replaced by more and Alex gave up altogether trying to stem the tide. "She went into the back room of her little shop where we had tea this morning and wrote herself a nice letter of confession, putting everything she had told us on paper. It was all very neat. She even wrote something in there about being sorry for everything she put Vin through."
"Oh Christ..." Chris started to say, realising at last what was coming.
"Then she put a gun to her head we didn't know she had and killed herself."
"Oh my god." Nathan gasped, the healer's face twisted into an expression of horror and dismay that was soon shared by the others as well.
"By the time Jamieson and I reached her, it was too late." Alex started to breathe heavily as if the pain was more than she could take and the effort to keep from breaking down became too much. "I wanted Vin freed so badly, I was willing to do anything to have her tell the truth about what she knew."
"Miss Alex." Nathan spoke firmly, the healer pushing himself between her and Buck. He made her face him and saw her eyes were almost bloodshot from trying to keep the tears in. "You couldn't know this was going to happen."
"Yes I did," Alex answered, refusing to allow herself to be relieved of the responsibility for her actions. "I knew she was feeling guilty and I preyed on it. She was so afraid of being discovered, of being trapped again but she was the key. She was the only thing that stood in the way of clearing Vin's name, so I pushed and pushed. I got Jamieson to help me tear down all those walls she had erected to protect herself, while I stood there pretending to be her friend. I knew what I was doing Nathan," she lifted her eyes to meet his. "I knew I might have been pushing her to far but I couldn't see past getting Vin out of jail."
"You did it for the very best of intentions Alexandra," Ezra added his voice and hoped that it would help even though he doubted it.
"Yes," she said ruefully. "The very best of intentions."
Chris did not waste time with words. He wrapped his arms around the doctor and drew her close. She did not protest as she buried her face into the crook of his shoulder and started weeping the torrent of tears that had been struggling to break free ever since she had raced into the room and stared in stunned silence at Amanda Kincaid, lying dead on the floor. A pool of crimson was expanding around her head, creating a macabre crown of red in stark contrast to her rapidly darkening blond hair. The gun, a small derringer, was still in her hand, tendrils of smoke rising into the charged air while Amanda's soulful eyes, so filled with haunting pain, stared into nothingness.
"Its alright," he whispered into her hair as he held her close, looking at his friends, sharing the same shock that they all did, as well as the admiration for what she had done, no matter how tragic the results. "You did what you had to do Alex," he said knowing his words would offer no comfort but then he supposed there was going to be very little that anyone could say that to Alex that would actually give her solace. All they could do was be there for her.
"Just like Amanda did what she had to." Alex swallowed, feeling no better at that realisation.
"Yeah," Chris nodded. "Sometimes, its all anyone of us can do."
He did not know whether that would help but at least it was the truth.
Vin Tanner knew something was up.
He could not say what for certain and even Josiah who had been entertaining him through the bars of his cell with a deck of cards that Ezra had donated specifically for the purpose, seemed affected by some excitement taking place in the front part of the building. While they could not hear the specifics of the conversation taking place beyond the cell corridor of the jailhouse, the two men could feel a sudden shift in the air.
Earlier, they had heard a single gunshot before Ritter had barked his intention for them to stay put while he went to investigate. Both Vin and Josiah knew that a single gunshot meant trouble because a couple of rowdy customers at the saloon at this time of night would not limit themselves to a single shot. Vin saw Josiah fighting the urge to investigate himself before he finally decided to let the sheriff handle since Tascosa was not their town. The tracker could not blame Josiah for feeling this way, particularly when he was accustomed to being on the other side of the bars instead of waiting judgement for a crime he did not commit. Still, after nearly a week trapped inside the four walls of this tiny dungeon, Vin had to admit he was a little more accustomed to the place then his first night here.
He knew that part of the reason that his spirits had lifted was because Alex was here in Tascosa. Although he could not see her, just knowing that she was in the same town was more of a tonic than anything else that had transpired since his incarceration began. However, he could not forget that he would never have made it through his confinement if it were not for his six friends, who ensured that he was never completely alone throughout his entire tenure enduring Sheriff Ritter's hospitality.
"What do you think is going on?" Vin asked laconically as they continued playing.
"In this town, who knows." Josiah remarked, discarding a card from his hand and disapproving at what he had picked up to replace by the furrow in his heavy brow.
Both were mutually silent men who said little at the best of times and so they continued this was for a few more minutes, not voicing their curiosity at what was taking place beyond the walls of this human cage. However, their desire to know was satisfied by the arrival of Sheriff Ritter and Marshall Jamieson. Both men appeared at the head of the corridor, with an expression on their faces that immediately put the two men from Four Corners on guard. Instincts kicked in and Vin dropped his cards on the make shift table Josiah had fashioned with a flat piece of board and rose to his feet, expecting the worst. Josiah remained seated but his attention was also fixed on the men coming towards them.
Ritter was carrying the keys to the cell and for a moment, Vin did not understand what was happening because it seemed too unreal after everything he had to live with for the past three years when Ritter paused at the cell door and started unlocking it. The look in the man's eyes was pained and Vin wondered what on earth had happened.
"You're free to go Tanner." Ritter announced somewhat hoarsely. "Amanda Kincaid has signed a confession that Ely Joe was at the Kincaid place the night before Jesse died and that admitted she put him up to having Jesse killed."
For a moment, it did not register.
After three years of living with the spectre with of Jesse Kincaid hanging over his head, dogging his every move in any decision he wanted to make with his life, the idea that he was free to go was more than he could handle. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to keep his cool, unflappable demeanour in place instead of submitting to the emotion of intense relief he felt at finally hearing that this nightmare that began the day he found Kincaid's body was finally over.
Fortunately, Josiah was more composed to answer. "Mrs Kincaid just decided to confess?"
"Well no," Jamieson spoke up then; reluctant to give the answer to that question considering what had happened. "You lady friend came up with an interesting way of getting her to confess and she did. Seems Mrs Kincaid and Ely Joe were a lot friendlier than we knew. She confirmed that he was there and then she put him up to killing Kincaid."
"I know he treated her badly." Vin managed to say. "Are you gonna lock her up?" It distressed the tracker intensely to imagine such a fragile creature behind the bars of a cell not unlike the one he was presently trapped within. Considering how her husband had treated her, it was not Amanda's fault she had been driven to murder.
"We can't," Ritter replied unable to meet Vin's gaze and there was something in his voice that made the fine hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. "She killed herself right after she wrote and signed the confession."
"Oh Jesus..." Vin muttered, closing his eyes at the news, feeling shards of pain he had no idea mirrored Alex's own agonies when she had discovered Amanda's body shortly after the bullet destroyed everything the lady had been or would ever be. Vin was still reeling from the news, replaying the image of that poor woman inside his head on the day she came to visit him, wondering what kind of animal would bring pain to such a beautiful woman, when he heard Ritter's voice again
"Ain't much I can say to make it right, except that a good woman is dead." The sheriff said before he swung the cell door open. The man seemed just as shaken as Vin about Amanda Kincaid's death and offered no apology about the wrongful prosecution or the bounty that had followed Vin around for the last three years. Vin did not expect it since the only thing he cared about was the end of the murder charge when he grabbed his buckskin coat and draped it around his shoulder to step out of his cell.
"Good to see you on the right side of the law again brother." Josiah smiled faintly, unable to offer any exuberance than that in light of the circumstances of Vin's freedom.
"I wish it had gone that good for Mrs Kincaid." Vin said sourly and kept walking, wanting to put Tascosa behind him as quickly as possible.
The rain had become a fully-fledged downpour when Vin stepped out of the jailhouse. The streets of Tascosa were quiet at this time and he did not even care as the rain battered him senseless with large droplets that soaked him to the skin in a matter of minutes. Josiah had run on ahead, beaconing him to follow but Vin held his ground for a moment and stared at the sky, mesmerised by the droplets coming down from the heavens above. He could see no stars but he smiled knowing that they were up there and he was going to be able to wait them out the next day and the day after that, without being trapped inside a cell.
He did not know how long he was standing there before his hat started to droop in front of his head from saturation but when he finally dropped his gaze from the sky, he found that he was not alone. She stood before him, not too far away but not close enough for him to touch either. Her hair was plastered against her face and even though her skin was wet from the rain, he knew that her cheeks were mostly that way from her tears. They stared at each other for a moment, not daring to spoil the moment with words until he willed himself to move.
When they finally touched, Vin swept Alex up in her arms and embraced the most precious thing in his life before their lips met in a powerful kiss of greeting. For an instant, there was nothing else for Vin but her lips on his, her warmth pressing against his own while forcing away the cold, cold place that had been the world while they had been apart. He had spent so many nights since being pulled away from her in Four Corners, dreaming of this moment, telling himself over and over again that it was not a futile hope but something that would become reality even though there times he believed otherwise. He held her tight in his arms, determined that he would never again let her go with such fierce desire that he did not even realise when her lips had moved from his and she was sobbing into his shoulder.
"Hey Darlin, its okay. We're okay." He grinned when he put enough space between them so he could look at her, blinking away the rain that was in his eyes.
"Yes we are," she nodded, still crying. "I thought I'd lost you forever." She whispered, happy to see him even though there was a well of grief inside her that had been locked away for the moment because she wanted nothing to spoil the joy of having him back again. After what she had endured tonight, his was the only conclusion that would have made any of it worth the price Amanda Kincaid had paid. Alex pulled him to her again, needing to taste his mouth on hers, needing to feel the closeness of his body to make the pain go away.
Vin sensed the urgency in her kisses but did not question it. Right now, she wanted him to hold her and even if they were in the middle of the pouring rain, hanging on to each other like a couple of lovesick kids, that suited him just fine. He was free and with Alex was in his arms, things did not get much better this.
If all she wanted was for him to hold her right now, Vin could do that because Lord only knew what she had gone through to make his freedom possible.