Lo! Death has reared himself a throne
In a strange city lying alone
Far down within the dim West,
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best
Have gone to their eternal rest.
- The City In The Sea by Edgar Allen Poe
"Going riding Miz Travis?" JD Dunne asked as he watched Mary saddle her horse.
"Actually a visit," the widow replied. She made sure the saddle was securely buckled. "Mr. Harrington asked me to pay him a visit. It seems he needs to speak to me."
"About what?" JD asked curiously.
"I'm not sure JD," Mary replied. "He just sent one of his hired hands into town with a note. I'm sure its nothing too important. He's been laid up with that broken leg of his so he can't make it to town." She swung up into the saddle. "Have a good day!" She nudged her horse forward.
"Bye Mrs. Travis!" JD called out.
+ + + + + + +
The Harrington farm was located about six miles from town. In that fall like weather, it was a beautiful ride and Mary took her time, enjoying the autumn colors.
I really should take rides more often, she thought to herself. She breathed in deeply to smell that special scent of fall.
"Whoa," she said gently to Homer, her horse. She sniffed again. Yes, there was the distinct smell of something burning. Could someone be burning leaves? She urged her horse forward at a faster pace.
She came to the top of the low hill at the bottom of which the Harrington farm was located. She pulled Homer to a stop again and stared horrified at the scene before her. Engulfed in flames was the Harrington homestead. She slapped Homer's rump with her hand and yelled for him to move forward.
Quickly, she rode down the hill and towards the farm. In relief, she saw figures moving from the back of the burning house. Relief however, quickly turned to alarm when she realized that the figures were not that of Mr. and Mrs. Harrington. Instead, they were two men and one of them was pointing directly at her. She saw his companion raise his gun and aim for her.
She pulled Homer around sharply and in a small circle turned around and retreated back up the hill. She heard the sharp crack of gunfire as she raced towards safety. Mary had almost made it to the top of the hill when she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder.
Desperately, she kept her seat on Homer and they made it over the hill. She urged him in the direction of Four Corners, trying to put as much distance between her and the men. They had gone about a mile, when pain overwhelmed her and she felt herself slipping from the saddle.
When she hit the ground, she was rewarded by more pain as she tumbled to the side of the road. Homer continued his breakneck pace back to Four Corners.
Mary laid daze and semi-conscious on the side of the road. Her mind screamed at her to seek cover for the men who shot at her were no doubt on her trail. Whimpering in pain, she rolled over and forced herself to crawl towards the only cover that was nearby, a field of tall weeds.
The distance to the weeds seemed to stretch for miles, but was only about 30 feet. Inch by inch, she crawled to the shelter, blood flowing freely from her shoulder. Her ankle was throbbing and she knew she either sprained or broke it.
Finally, she made it to the weeds and crawled in as far as she could. It was not a moment too soon for she heard the thunder of hooves as two riders came along the road. She willed herself to remain silent as they rode past.
As soon as she could no longer hear the horses, she indulged in a small whimper before passing out.
+ + + + + + +
"Chris! Vin! Guys come quick!"
Six men came from six different directions when they heard JD's voice call out. All of them hurried to the middle of the street where JD was holding onto the reins of a skittish brown horse. White lather was on the animal, indicating it had been running hard for a while.
"Isn't that Mary's horse?" Josiah asked with a frown.
JD nodded his head. "It just came into town. With no rider." He emphasized the last three words.
"Anyone know where she went today?" Chris asked grimly.
JD nodded again. "I saw her ride out this morning. She was going to the Harrington farm. Said Old Man Harrington sent her a note and needed to talk to her about something."
"Chris," Vin called quietly from where he was examining the saddle.
Chris and the other men crowded around the ex-bounty hunter and saw what he was looking out. The Texan pointed silently to a small stain on the saddle. "Its blood," he said quietly. "Piece of her dress snagged on the buckle here too. Saddle's intact."
Chris's face became grimmer and anger flared in his eyes. "Mount up," he said tightly as he strode towards the stable.
They were all ready in a few minutes and rode quickly out of town towards the Harrington farm. It was a silent and swift ride. JD looked once or twice at Chris and turned to Buck who rode along side him. The older man merely shook his head indicating to the young sheriff that now was not the time for questions.
+ + + + + + +
In her pain filled daze, Mary could here the sound of approaching horses. Her only thought was to flee and get as far away from that sound as she could. Gritting her teeth, she dragged herself further and further into the weeds as small gasps of pain flew from her mouth.
+ + + + + + +
As the seven men approached the top of the hill that was before the Harrington farm, they detected the smell of smoke. Chris spurred his horse and flew over the top and down the side.
The sight before him was the same thing he saw every night in his nightmares. A farmhouse engulfed in flames and him arriving too late to save the people inside.
He pulled his horse to a stop and leapt off. "Mary!" he screamed as he ran towards the blaze. The heat of the fire pushed him back. He looked wildly around and saw a bucket next to the water pump. "Water! We need water!"
Setting up a fire line, the seven men made short work of the fire that was beginning to burn itself out. With the timbers still smoldering and hot, Chris ran to the ruins, searching desperately for any sign of life.
No, not again, he thought desperately. I can't lose someone else to fire. Not again!
With sympathy on their faces, Buck, Josiah and Nathan helped Chris search the ruins for bodies. JD and Ezra looked around the rest of the property for possible survivors. Vin merely stood off to one side, examining the ground.
"Chris! Over here!"
Chris ran quickly over to where Nathan and Josiah were lifting up what appeared to be a good piece size of the roof. He looked at the fairly good condition of the piece with hope and peered underneath at what the other two men were looking at.
Chris felt his heart die when he saw the charred remains of three bodies, one of which had long blond hair and appeared to be female. Mrs. Harrington was a brunette and there was no other woman living or working on the farm.
The other men had crowded around to look too. JD quickly turned his head and vomited. Ezra held his head until he was done and then passed him his handkerchief.
"Mary," Chris choked out as he reached out to touch the blond hair.
"Chris, don't," Buck said gently as he held his friend back.
Chris shrugged off his friend's hand and dropped to his knees. He rocked back and forth as the words "too late again" played continuously over and over again in his head.
"Chris, it ain't your fault," Nathan said gently.
Chris Larabee was beyond all of them at that moment as he stared at what used to be Mary Travis. He remembered the last time he spoke with her was the day before yesterday and they had been arguing. He couldn't even remember what it was about except that she had been extremely angry with him. He had merely shrugged and made some smart remark before pushing past her. How he hated that to be their last encounter!
"Come on Chris," Josiah said as he tried to pull Chris up from his knees.
"Leave me alone!" Chris howled out as the words were ripped from the depths of his agony.
"I don't think its her."
All the men turned to look at the speaker. Vin Tanner stood as he always did, leaning on one leg, looking nonchalant and bored.
Chris stumbled to his feet, eager to hear some good news, but afraid of clutching at ghost straws. "Why? Why do you say that?"
"Her horse rode back to town with some blood on it. My guess is that she was shot when she was on or near the horse." He pointed to some tracks near the house. "Most of the tracks were erased when we came up and put out the fire, but there are some. These come from the back of the house. They stop here and stood for a while. Then it looks like they headed off towards the stable there." Vin nodded his head up the hill. "I'm going back up to see if I can find Miz Travis's horse's trail."
Chris clutched at his friend and looked wildly into Vin's eyes. "Then, she can still be alive?"
Vin shifted uncomfortably on his feet. While he was certain the body in the house didn't belong to Mary Travis, there was still the matter of the blood. At best, she was wounded somewhere. At worse, she was already dead or in the hands of whoever killed the Harringtons and the unknown woman.
Chris saw Vin's hesitation and his own quick mind went down the list of possibilities. He let go of the younger man's arms and seemed to gain some semblance of control over his emotions again. "I'll go with you." He turned towards the other men. "Nathan, if Mary's hurt somewhere, we'll need you."
The healer stood slowly up from where he had been crouching down, examining the bodies. He looked at the remains and up at Chris and finally, he gave Vin a hard stare. He came slowly forwards as Chris headed for his horse. Nathan grasped Vin's arm to hold him back.
"I took a look at the body with the blond hair," he said quietly to the Texan. "She's around Miz Travis's size and there's a bullet in the neck." He looked meaningfully at Vin. "She could have been shot on or near the horse like you said and dragged into the house before they burned it."
"Still doesn't add up," Vin replied stubbornly. "Ground doesn't tell that story."
"Yeah, but you said we erased most of the marks when we rode up," Nathan replied.
"I still don't think that's her, oh damn!" Vin cursed out as he felt rain hit his face. He looked quickly up into the sky and could see that storm clouds had gathered above them. "If it rains any harder, we ain't going to find any trail!" He ran towards his horse and quickly swung up on it. He and Chris rode up to the hill and back to the road.
Nathan sighed and hurried towards his horse to follow them while the other men gathered the three bodies.
+ + + + + + +
As the rain began to fall harder, Vin became more and more anxious. With each drop of rain, what little trace remained of the path Mary Travis may have taken was being obliterated.
On the hill, he had found indications that Homer had been abruptly turned around and went up the hill again. If he ever made it with his rider, Vin wasn't certain since the traces were erased by their own horses when they came down the hill earlier.
He, Chris, and Nathan hurried up to the road as they tried to find some sign that Mary may have ridden off from the farm. Vin growled softly in frustration when he could find nothing.
The rain was coming down in sheets now, washing away tracks and all other evidence. Their own pell mell race to the Harrington farm had probably eliminated any sign. After hours of combing the area, Vin had to admit defeat.
He couldn't bear to meet Chris's eyes and tell him that they should give up. Something still nagged at him and he wondered if his belief that Mary Travis was not that charred thing on the farm was based more on not wanting to see the agony on his friend's face or his own instinct. Vin Tanner also liked Mary Travis. A lot. She was beautiful, smart, and truly a good person. Any man would have been proud and happy to have had her. Vin had even entertained the thought of courting the widow. A thought that lasted about two seconds. Initially, it had been his unwillingness to draw another person into the danger zone that surrounded him while he had that bounty on his head. What ultimately settled the matter for him was the look in Chris Larabee's eye when he saw the gunslinger looking at her that time they saved Nathan and Chris's reaction when they rode into town and saw Mary Travis once again in the thick of things standing next to the Judge as they faced Lucas James. As a bounty hunter, Vin had learned to read men and though Chris's expression never changed, Vin could see that there was something more going on than just an obligation to help a woman.
"Chris, we gotta stop," Vin said finally.
Chris swung on the younger man, his eyes dark with a burning intensity. "Not until we find her," he spat out.
Vin sighed and adjusted his hat to pour off some of the water that had collected there. "Chris, I can't find a trace of her. Not with all this rain and fact that we probably messed up any trail she might have left."
Chris stared off into what had been that morning a happy fall landscape. Along with the rain, the wind had picked up. Vibrant colors became washed out as the weather turned the countryside into a cold, bleak scene. If Mary was out there, she was hurt. Cold. Wet. Alone. That image was almost as painful as the other alternative, beautiful Mary, burnt to a charred shell of a human being.
"We have to find her Vin," he said harshly to hide the tumultuous emotions within him. "If she's hurt and out here in this rain, she'll die."
"Chris," Nathan said gently as he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Its too late."
Chris angrily shrugged him off and concentrated on Vin. "Tell me that you believe that was her in the fire. If you could look me straight in the eye and tell me that, we'll stop."
Two sides warred within Vin. His mind and his eyes told him that all evidence pointed to the body they found as belonging to Mary Travis. But some other part of him that he could not name, his instinct, his faith, his heart told him that it wasn't. But could he continue to feed Chris's false hopes? He would save him some pain now, but it looked as if he would have to face it eventually.
Vin stared into Chris's steely blue eyes. "I don't think she's alive," he couldn't make himself say that that thing they found was Mary. "If she's out here, we're probably just looking for a body."
Chris pulled back as if he had been physically struck. He looked numbly at Vin. Within him, his personal demons were joined by a new one. One that mocked him and his poor timing. He had become close friends with Mary Travis, a luxury he had not allowed himself to indulge in for three years, yet for some reason did when he came to Four Corners. And for that, she had paid the same way Sarah and Adam had.
"Chris," Nathan's voice was still gentle. "Its time to go home."
His shoulders slumped, a man that intimidated many and appeared to be able to carry the burden of the world on his shoulders like Atlas suddenly appeared tired and worn. He nodded silently and turned his horse in the direction of town. Nathan and Vin flanked him on both sides as they rode slowly back.
+ + + + + + +
The rain was mercilessly cold as it beat down on Mary. Her coat and dress were soaked through as she forced herself to crawl forward. Did her eyes deceive her? Can it be true? Blessed shelter, she thought as she inched her way slowly towards the cave.
+ + + + + + +
The three men rode slowly and silently into town. It was still raining and the townsfolk had sought shelter in their homes or stores. But Vin and Nathan could see their faces peering anxiously out of the windows as they watched their arrival into town. When the faces realized that they had no other person with them, they slowly withdrew and allowed the curtains to fall back into place.
They dismounted their horses and stabled them for the night. All the while Chris had remained silently, his head slightly bowed. When he was finished, he headed for that one friend that would never leave him, the whiskey bottle.
When they entered the saloon, they found the other four men already there, somberly drinking. Without a word, Buck pushed the whiskey bottle over to Chris as he sat down. The gunslinger poured himself a generous portion and downed it in one gulp. He quickly refilled the glass.
"Where are the bodies," he heard Nathan ask Josiah quietly.
"Undertakers," Josiah replied.
Nathan nodded. "I want to examine them before they're buried."
Chris winced at the words and hastily downed the contents of his glass.
"Somebody should tell Judge Travis," JD ventured hesitantly. "Billy should know."
Billy. Chris had forgotten about Mary's son. That was another blow to him as he realized the child would have to know about his mother's death. Hell was not some place we are sent to when we die, its here right now where Chris was sitting.
+ + + + + + +
Nathan held back his revulsion as he pulled the sheet away from the body. He hated burnt bodies. He could think of no more painful way of dying than being burned alive. He had only hoped that Mary and the Harringtons were dead from the gunshot wounds before they were burned.
After a few hours, he pulled the sheets back over the bodies and sighed. He was pretty certain that the two bodies belonged to the Harringtons. The male body had had a broken leg. The one that Harrington broke a week ago. The smaller female body had a wedding band on her finger. The unusual work on the band, from what he could make out, matched the one Mrs. Harrington had worn.
The last body had been the most painful one to examine. He had known Mary Travis far longer than Chris and the other men. It was actually she and Steven who first welcomed him to town. Upon learning his interest in medicine, they had done everything within their power to help him learn more about the subject. Steven would get as many articles and journals as he possible could. Mary would write to friends connected to the medical profession asking them to correspond with Nathan or send books that might help him. But the greatest gift they had given him was trusting them with their ills and thereby showing the town that he could be relied upon to help.
Nathan rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. He found the bullet that went into Mary's neck. He wasn't sure if it killed her but he prayed it did. Mary Travis had been a beautiful woman and all that was left of her was a blackened hull that bore traces of her splendid blond hair.
Nathan left the undertakers and nearly tripped over someone sitting in the doorway.
"Chris? What are you doing here?" Nathan asked in surprise. He noticed that the man had not changed out of the wet clothes he had been in earlier. "You trying to catch pneumonia?"
"Its her, isn't it?" Chris asked, his speech slurred by the whiskey he had consumed that night.
Nathan crouched down by him and adjusted his hat. "I think so. Same size, same hair. Fact that we didn't find her."
Chris laughed bitterly. "Old Judge Travis knew what he was doing when he hired me to protect Mary! Didn't he?! Man who can't even protect his own wife and child, what good could he have been to protect her!" Chris threw the bottle he clutched in his hands across the street. They heard the faint tinkling of broken glass.
"Chris! It ain't your fault! What could you have done? She went out riding on a visit," Nathan said.
"I should've been with her. I should've been there!"
"You can't be with her 24 hours a day! No one can! Hell, she wouldn't have let you!" Nathan countered. "You couldn't have known. None of us could."
"Leave me alone Nathan!" Chris yelled as he got unsteadily to his feet. "Just leave me the hell alone!" He staggered his way down the street and into the night.
Nathan shook his head and stood up. He debated whether or not to follow him and decided not too. Chris Larabee needed to deal with his demons by himself.
+ + + + + + +
She felt something warm and moist on her face.
"Chris?" Mary murmured. She heard whimpering.
"Watcha got boy?" she heard a boy say. "Pa! Pa! Come quick! See what Rufus found!"
She heard quick heavy footsteps. "What is it son? Well, I'll be."
She felt hands on her body and she made a small protest as she felt her shoulder wound prodded.
"She's hurt," the man voice said.
Mary felt herself lifted in strong arms and she asked in a louder voice, "Chris?"
"I gotcha Miss," the man voice said. "My Louise will help you. Come on Henry. We need to get the lady to Ma."
+ + + + + + +
JD, Buck, Ezra and Josiah stared discontentedly at the drinks before them.
"If only I'd ridden out with her," JD berated himself.
"Don't beat yourself up kid," Buck said kindly. "No one could have known something like this would have happened. Hell, the Harrington place isn't that far from town. Who would have thought there would be trouble like this?"
Buck shivered as he recalled finding the bodies that afternoon. Chris wasn't the only one haunted by memories. It was all too reminiscent of Sarah and Adam Larabee. He rubbed his eyes, trying to erase the image he saw before him now.
Ezra had been quietly shuffling his deck of cards. He looked up now at his silent friends and his green eyes began to burn with an angry fire. "And are we to sit here and watch Chris Larabee drink himself to death?" The other men looked curiously at him. Ezra stood up. "I for one, gentlemen, am going to find the bastards that did this and hang them from the tallest tree around."
JD stood up also, remembering his duty. "Ezra's right. We gotta find out who did this. Chris isn't much use to us now, not with the state he's in. We gotta do this on our own."
"We should start then with trying to find out why Harrington wanted Mary out at his farm today. What do we know about him?" Josiah asked.
JD shrugged. "He's a cattle rancher. Supplied beef to the US government. Broke his leg last week. Seems," JD paused, "Seemed to be a right good fellow."
"I doubt that was the entire history of the man," Ezra drawled out. "I suggest we speak to people who knew him. Merchants, neighbors."
Buck nodded and stood up. "We do that at first light tomorrow. We're going to find these bastards if its the last thing we do."
+ + + + + + +
Vin stood at the edge of town and looked down the road they had come back home on. He still was not satisfied with Mary's death. Instinct had saved him more than once in his lifetime and he was gambling on it now. He quietly went back to the stables and saddled his horse. He took the path they had so recently ridden upon to try to find some evidence that Mary Travis was not in that fire.
+ + + + + + +
There was the sound of breaking glass. A hand moved through the broken pane in the door and groped for the knob. It turned it and the dark figure entered The Clarion's offices.
Chris stood a moment looking around the dark interior. He remembered the first time he had come here, ready to throttle the person who wrote about him in the paper. Little did he know that he was going to come face to face with the woman from the previous day. That first meeting had not gone auspiciously. Since then, he had come to spend much time in these offices, many of them pleasant.
He moved towards the backrooms and went into Mary's little parlor. One hand grazed lightly the small objects around the room that spoke of the person who owned them. His eyes welled up when he saw a crude drawing hung so proudly on the wall. Billy.
Quickly, he turned and entered the other room. Mary's bedroom. He breathed in deeply and he could smell her in the room. Roses. He knew that in a few days the smell would be gone, replaced by the stale smell of dust and neglect, the owner never to return to fill it with her light.
Wearily, he laid down on Mary's bed, her scent wrapping around him. For now, for tonight when he needed to be comforted most, he would be surrounded by her scent and he could pretend that she was still alive.
+ + + + + + +
"Land sakes Hiram! She's more dead than alive! Quick! Get her over to the bed!"
Mary heard the urgent female voice and tried to say that she was very much alive. The jostling that she had been feeling was quickly replaced by the feeling of comfort as she was laid down on a soft bed. She vaguely noted that someone was quickly and efficiently stripping her clothing off. She was too tired to cry out in pain when her shoulder was accidentally jostled.
Blessed darkness overwhelmed her as she passed out again.
+ + + + + + +
The next morning, five of the seven men gathered before the sheriff's office.
"Anyone see Chris or Vin?" Buck asked.
The others shook their heads. "Leave 'em be," Josiah said.
They quickly divided up the duties of the investigation. Josiah would ride out and question the Harrington neighbors, Nathan and Ezra would take the local townsfolk and JD and Buck would go over to The Clarion and try to find the note Mary had spoken of.
As they came to The Clarion's door, Buck stopped JD with a hand to the younger man's chest. He pointed silently to the broken pane of glass on the door. Both men drew their guns and quietly entered the building. Not finding anyone in the front offices, they moved silently towards the back rooms. The parlor was also empty. That left only the bedroom and kitchen. As they stepped over the threshold of the bedroom, Buck pulled up short and let out a hiss of breath that was part sorrow and part worry. JD peeked around the other man's larger frame to see what he was looking at.
Lying stretched out on Mary Travis's bed was Chris Larabee. He had wrapped her quilt around his lanky frame and was quietly sleeping off the effects of his drinking binge from yesterday.
Buck reholstered his gun and moved quietly forward. He shook Chris's shoulder gently. "Chris. Chris, wake up."
Chris mumbled a few nonsensical words and swatted Buck's hand away. However, Buck was persistent and finally Chris opened his eyes. Light flooded into his brain and he winced.
"Buck?" he felt as though someone had shoved cotton into his mouth and head. Slowly he sat up, but then he remembered the events of yesterday. "Oh God," he groaned as he started to lie back down.
Buck cruelly yanked his friend up again. "Is that all she meant to you?" Buck spat out. "You willing to let whoever did this to Mary go free?"
One blue eye looked coldly out at Buck. "Leave me alone Buck," he croaked.
"Chris, the only way you fail Mary is if you don't try to find out who did it. And not only will you fail her, but you fail Billy, Judge Travis, all of us and most of all, yourself," Buck looked down at Chris in a mixture of disgust and frustration. "Hell, I'm wasting my time." He turned to look at the young man who had watched all of this in silence. "Come on JD, if he doesn't care about Miz Travis, at least we do. Let's see if we can find that note."
Buck pushed his way out of the bedroom. JD continued to stare at the man he admired so much who was now just lying on the bed, as much a shell as the three bodies they found yesterday. Quietly, he turned around and went after Buck.
+ + + + + + +
Buck's words sank through the cotton that was in Chris's head. He slowly sat
up and noted with dismay that he had gotten Mary's comforter wet and dirty, before he remembered that Mary was beyond caring. Slowly he buried his head in his hands.
What had he done to deserve this? To have his family torn so cruelly from him and now a friend. A close friend. Perhaps in time, someone who would have meant so much more. If this was punishment for his past, why were others hurt? What harm
had Sarah, Adam and Mary done to anyone?
Chris looked up at the ceiling as though expecting God to write the answer there for him to read. Not seeing any sign he allowed his eyes to drop again. As they did so, he saw something sitting on Mary's dresser. Slowly, he got up and picked up a photograph in a heavy silver frame. It was a picture of Billy Travis.
Gently, Chris caressed the photo, surprised at the depth of the emotion he was feeling. He closed his eyes and knew what he had to do. Regardless of how he felt, or what he was going through, Buck was right. He owed it to Mary and to Billy to find out who had done this.
He opened his eyes again and caught his reflection in the mirror. Gone was Chris Larabee. Now he would be an avenging angel seeking retribution for the dead.
+ + + + + + +
"Good morning!" Josiah called out to the man coming out of the small house.
"Morning Preacher!" John Gilley said cheerfully. "You're out awfully early today."
"Brother I come bearing sad news," Josiah said heavily.
Gilley's eyes became clouded with worry. "Sumthing happen?"
Josiah nodded. "Your employer, Mr. Harrington and his wife were killed yesterday on their farm. Along with Mrs. Travis."
"But, bu-, I just saw all of them yesterday!" Gilley sputtered.
Josiah nodded. "I understand you delivered a note to Mrs. Travis from Mr. Harrington. Do you know what it contained?"
Gilley shook his head. "Can't read." He frowned. "I do know Mr. Harrington's been awful upset about something last few days. Had something to do with the cattle." He shrugged his shoulders. "But far as I could tell, the cattle were fine."
"Could it be about the cattle he sold?" Josiah asked. "Or was thinking of buying maybe?"
Gilley shrugged again. "Could be. Didn't tell me much. Did know he was jumpy about something."
Josiah asked him a few more questions but his answers yielded no more information. He thanked Gilley for his time and quickly mounted his horse and rode off. The rest of the neighbors were no more help and he was on his way back into town when he ran into someone riding wearily in the same direction.
"Vin?" Josiah asked questioningly.
The ex-bounty hunter gave him a wry and weary smile. "Josiah."
"You been out all night?"
Vin nodded. "Wasn't happy with what we found yesterday. Came back out here to see if I could find something."
"Anything?"
Vin shook his head. "Rain washed practically everything away."
Josiah looked inquiringly at Vin. "Why are you so convinced that Mary wasn't in that house?"
Vin stared off into the distance staring at some point only he could see. "Gut instinct. Hell, I don't know. Maybe its because I don't want to see what little is left of Chris totally gone."
"You think he was in love with Mary?" Josiah asked in surprise.
"I dunno know. Don't think Chris knows either," Vin replied. "Love. Fond of. He had feelings for her. I do know that if she's dead, there's going to be a big ol' hole in him." Vin laughed softly. "Or maybe its me that can't stand to think of her dead. Oh no," Vin quickly said in response to Josiah's surprised look. "I ain't got those kinda feelings for her. Sure, she's real pretty and smart and all that, but, well, I ain't got a lot of friends. Hate it when I lose one."
Vin continued to stare into the distance. "Or maybe its because I don't want Billy to grow up without his momma, like I did."
Josiah stared thoughtfully at the younger man. Vin Tanner spoke little about himself, spoke little at all. When he did have something to say, it was usually worth listening too.
"I was just going to check this field here and then stop," Vin continued.
"I'll help," Josiah offered.
The two men quickly dismounted and made their way over to the small patch of weeds. Vin had been right, the rain had washed the area clean. After an hour, Josiah was ready to admit defeat.
"Wait, I just want to check that cave over there," Vin said. Josiah rolled his eyes but followed the younger man to the cave. He was a few steps behind when he heard Vin's startled exclamation. Josiah ran the few remaining feet and looked at what Vin was pointing at.
"Blood," Vin said in satisfaction. "A lot of it."
"Could be an animal," Josiah said cautiously.
"An animal wearing a hair pin with long blond hair?" Vin asked as he picked something up from the dirt. He looked around the cave. "Looks like two people and a dog found her." He pointed to the tracks. "These are the same set of footprints but the ones here are deeper. Looks like he may have picked up something heavy. Like Miz Travis."
"It could also mean he took Mary back to the fire and placed her body there," Josiah said gently.
The thought had crossed Vin's mind. He wasn't sure where the tracks led, whether to the Harrington farm or in another direction.
"Still, it does mean she got this far," Vin said.
"Yes, but where is she now?"
+ + + + + + +
Buck and JD looked up in surprise when they heard the familiar clink of spurs. They stared into Chris Larabee's composed if hard face. His eyes were bloodshot and he was unshaven and unwashed, but unlike the drunken mess he was earlier, there was a steely determination in his movements now.
"What have you guys found?" he rasped out.
JD looked over at Buck worriedly. The taller man straightened up from where he had been kneeling down to look in Mary's desk drawers. "Ezra and Nathan are questioning the townsfolk about Harrington. Josiah went to talk to the neighbors. We're looking for that note Harrington sent Miz Travis."
Chris nodded. "Vin?"
"Ain't seen him," Buck replied. "We figured whoever did this was after Harrington and it had something to do with what he wanted to talk to Miz Travis about."
Chris nodded again. "Makes sense. Find the note?"
Buck shook his head. "She may have taken it with her."
They heard boots on the porch outside and the front door swung open. Ezra and Nathan entered, shooting a surprised looks at Chris.
"What did you guys find out?" Chris asked.
The two newcomers looked at each other. "Nothing. Mr. Harrington was the model citizen. Paid his bills on time, got along well with everyone, and wasn't a common criminal like Stewart James," Ezra reported.
"Only thing we found out was that he was supplying beef to the US government for the Indian reservations. But JD told us that last night," Nathan added.
Josiah and Vin entered the office, interrupting the flow of the conversation.
"Did you guys find anything?" Chris asked quickly, noting the look on Vin's face.
Vin and Josiah looked at each other. They had argued on the way back whether or not to tell Chris about the cave. Josiah was convinced that the body on the farm was Mary's and thought she must have been dragged back there after she made it to the cave. Telling Chris in Josiah's eyes that she was hurt and made a run from her captors only to be cruelly dragged back would only be adding to his pain.
Vin stubbornly avoided Josiah's warning look and told the men about their findings. He saw with a pang a flicker of hope spring into Chris's eyes as the man clutched at any hope that Mary Travis was still alive.
"So she may have escaped," Chris said, controlling his excitement.
"Chris," Josiah said gently. "We know someone took her from the cave."
"But maybe they were helping her," JD added, his voice also hopeful.
"Or they took her back to the farm," Josiah said quietly. He winced when he saw the reaction that statement produced. The small light in Chris's eye vanished like a candle being blown out.
"Did you find anything else?" Chris asked tightly, his emotions firmly in check.
"Only that Harrington's hired man said that Harrington has been jumpy last few days. Something to do with the cattle. But he didn't know what."
Chris digested this information and slowly nodded his head. "Okay. That's a start. Something was bothering Harrington and it had something to do with his herd. But why would he need to speak to Mary about that?"
"Let's see," mused Ezra. "She runs the local paper, she has a direct connection to a circuit judge, she wields influence in town. My guess is that Harrington may have needed someone with pull on his side."
"And he didn't anticipate it being dangerous," added Nathan, "Or he would have asked for one of us."
"So it might be something he needed Mary to print?" Chris said thinking aloud. "Some story?"
Josiah shrugged. "Or something the Judge could help her with."
"But if it involved the Judge, he could have come to one of us too. JD for example," Nathan objected.
"So it might involve the paper somehow," Chris mused. "But what? Harrington was a cattle farmer. What story could he have had for Mary?"
"Something he found out?" Vin added.
"What did you say was he was last doing with his cattle?" Chris asked Nathan.
"Had a contract with the government to provide beef for the Indian reservation," Nathan repeated.
Chris looked at Vin who was the closest to the people on the reservation. "Could something rotten be going on with the beef contract?"
A grim look settled on Vin's face. "Wouldn't put it past the government to try something like that."
"And if Mary got a story like that and printed it," Buck said.
"There be one big investigation," Josiah finished.
"Who's the contact in this area?" Chris asked sharply.
"Mulligan. Barnes Mulligan over at Bitter Creek," JD said promptly.
"Let's pay a visit to Mr. Mulligan," Chris said quietly. The other men could see another spark burning in Chris's eyes, but it was not the spark of hope. It was an inner fire of hatred and revenge.
+ + + + + + +
While the other men went to go saddle up, Chris took a small detour to the undertaker's. He stepped into that building that seemed to always be quiet. Nels Bailey, the undertaker, looked up at the new arrival.
"I'd like to pay my respects to Mar-, Mrs. Travis," Chris said.
Mr. Bailey, a man of the utmost discretion did not question him but merely nodded and led Chris to the backroom. He pulled the sheet back from one of the three bodies and quietly left Chris alone.
Chris stared at the charred remains, still unable to believe that the blackened pile of bones and flesh topped by long blond hair could have been beautiful Mary Travis. In one day, she had been reduced to this. How could anyone so vibrant, so alive become this?
With one shaking hand, he reached out to caress the once silky hair that had become brittle and dry like straw.
"I'll find who did this Mary," he choked out in a small voice. "I swear I will. If its the last thing I do."
+ + + + + + +
They arrived in Bitter Creek late that evening. Too late to meet with Barnes Mulligan. They collected at the Bitter Creek saloon. Chris promptly isolated himself in one corner with a bottle of whiskey, under the watchful eyes of the other six men. He had spoken very little on the trip over and they weren't sure if that was a good sign or not.
Around midnight, Chris drank himself into a stupor and in all too practiced of a move, Buck helped him up to his room and put him to bed.
The gunslinger showed no signs of the hangover he must have had the next morning. The steely glint that appeared yesterday was still in his eye. He ignored Buck's attempts to get him to eat.
"Hell Chris!" Buck exploded in exasperation. "If you want to pass out from lack of food, fine! But just don't do it when you're suppose to be covering my back!"
Chris glared at the taller man who gave as good back. Slowly, he picked up his fork and began to shovel scrambled eggs into his mouth. Buck sat back in his chair with a satisfied air and made certain he had cleaned his plate before he said Mulligan should be in his office by now.
They made an impressive sight striding down the street towards the office of the Indian Affairs liaison. Many people stopped to stare at the man dressed in black and wearing a long black duster who led the group. He was not as tall as the man with the mustache who walked on his left nor as powerfully built as the older man in the back of the group. He wasn't as handsome as the man in the red coat nor as young as the boy in the bowler hat. Nor did he have the open face of the black man or the relaxed, watchful attitude of the man on his right. However, he was the one who drew everyone's eye. He commanded attention and though not the biggest or strongest looking of the seven men, he seemed to radiate a strength and power the others lacked. With each step, as his duster swirled around his legs, he seemed to grow larger and larger and more threatening.
Man and animal alike stepped out of Chris Larabee's way. He was a man who was on a mission. King Arthur and his knights may have looked thus as they went on their crusade for the holy grail. Chris Larabee was on his own crusade of revenge.
Their unannounced and impressive arrival in Barnes Mulligan's office surprised the two men in there.
"Which one of you is Barnes Mulligan," Chris asked sharply.
The older man sitting behind the desk rose. He waved for the young man who was standing next to him aside. "I'm Barnes Mulligan. What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"We're from Four Corners. We're the law there and we have a few questions for you about a man called Harrington," Chris replied, his cold eyes focusing only on Mulligan.
"Harrington?" Mulligan frowned as he sat back down. He took off his spectacles and polished them with his handkerchief. He continued to frown when his face lighted up. "Oh yes! Frank Harrington. Used to supply us with beef."
"Used to?" JD asked. "I thought he still was."
Mulligan shook his head. "Nope. We had to terminate his contract a month ago. Was providing us with sub-standard beef. Stuff wouldn't be fit for a hog."
"So you ended the business relationship?" Ezra asked.
Mulligan nodded. "Gave what was owed to him and told him that his services were no longer required."
Vin was about to ask a question when he felt a slight pressure on his arm. He looked down and saw that Chris had moved his arm ever so slightly so that his elbow was pressed against Vin's forearm. The Texan settled back down.
"Well thank you for your help Mr. Mulligan," Chris said genially. "Sorry to take up your time." He tipped his hat and led the men out.
When they were back on the street, JD ran up to Chris. "He was lying Chris! I remember old man Harrington sending a shipment of cattle to him two weeks ago."
"But I can tell you that its a sure thing that Mr. Mulligan's books will say otherwise should anyone happen to peruse them," Ezra drawled out.
"I agree," Chris replied, never breaking his stride as he walked towards the stables where their horses were quartered.
"So what are we going to do?" Buck asked.
"We're leaving," Chris replied. "The weasel's suspicious enough that he'll come looking for us. Thinks we know something. He's still watching us. I bet we'll have someone on our tail every step back to Four Corners." He didn't bother to move his head as he continued to stare straight ahead. "Vin, go out to the reservation and ask them how their beef is after we get back to Four Corners." His eyes grew even colder. "If Mulligan's the one behind Mary's murder, he's going to be running scared and he's going to have to plug any leaks."
+ + + + + + +
Mary slowly opened her eyes and focused on the sage that was hanging above her. She turned her head slowly and saw that she was in a cabin she had never seen before. A small woman of generous proportions was stirring something on the stove. Mary shifted her gaze and she saw two pairs of brown eyes staring at her from the foot of the bed.
"Momma!" one of the owners of the brown eyes said excitedly. "The lady is awake!"
The woman at the stove turned around and came bustling over with a bowl of something steaming.
"Good morning dear," she said cheerfully. She helped Mary into a sitting position, propping a few pillows up to support her back. "Its good to see you finally awake."
"Where am I?" Mary croaked out, surprised at how weak her voice sounded.
"Baker Farm," the woman replied cheerfully. She sat down on the bed and spooned up some broth for Mary. "Eat."
Mary obediently ate some of the soup and realized that she was ravenous. She would have gulped down the nourishment had not the woman regulated her feeding.
"I'm Louise Baker. That there are two of my three. Susie and Freddie."
Mary smiled at the two children who looked shyly back at her. "My name is Mary Travis. I'm from Four Corners."
"That so?" Louise said cheerfully. "Never been there myself. Its about 8 miles from here and Mr. Baker don't like going to town too much."
"What happened?" Mary asked as soon as she swallowed another spoonful of soup.
"My man and oldest boy found you in cave while out hunting. Carried you back here near two miles. Look like you been shot, but bullet passed clean through. Shoulder must hurt, but you'll be okay. Look like you sprained your ankle pretty bad too. Had all sorts of bruises." She tilted her head to the side. "Someone out to get you?"
Memories came back to her in a rush and Mary paled. Louise jumped to her feet and hastily poured a cup of water for Mary. "Drink," she ordered as she forced some cool water down Mary's throat.
The water revived Mary and some color returned to her face. "I saw someone burning a farm. The Harrington farm," Mary said in a low voice. "And they saw me."
"Harrington?" Louise asked in surprise. "That's near four miles in the opposite direction. No wonder they shot at you if you saw what happened."
"I need to get back to town," Mary said as she tried to get out of bed.
Louise easily pushed her back. "You ain't going anywhere on your own steam. You're too weak."
"I can't stay here! I don't want to be a burden on you and if those men come looking for me, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you or your children," Mary said. "Please, I need to go. Just let me get dressed."
"First off, your clothes are ruined. Ain't much use except for rags. Secondly, you take two steps and I guarantee you that you'll be down on the floor. We'll send Mr. Baker to Four Corners to fetch your husband."
"My husband?" Mary blinked.
"Chris. You kept calling for him."
Mary blushed furiously as Louise looked on with interest. "Mr. Larabee is not my husband," she said in a low voice. "He's one of the law men in town, but he is the one that Mr. Baker should get in touch with."
Louise didn't press the issue. She merely nodded and called for her husband to come inside. Hiram Baker was a tall, scruffy looking man. His piercing hazel eyes were the type that held one's gaze. His manner was gruff, but one could sense the goodness within him.
"See you feeling better," grunted Baker.
"Yes, thanks to you and your family. I can't begin to express my gratitude," Mary said.
Baker grunted again. "Couldn't leave you bleeding. Wouldn't be Christian."
Louise explained the situation to her husband. The man agreed, although reluctantly, to venture into town tomorrow.
"Mr. Larabee is inherently suspicious," Mary explained. "Did you by chance save my scarf?"
"Of course," Louise replied. "One piece of clothing that could be saved."
"If you give that to Mr. Larabee, he might recognize it. If he still doesn't believe you, tell him," Mary's face softened a little. "Tell him that I don't think he's the bad element."
+ + + + + + +
>Chris had a purpose, a mission. That kept him from crawling into the bottle again. After their return from Bitter Creek last night, instead of heading for the saloon, Chris had called for a strategy meeting in the sheriff's office. The next morning, per Chris's instructions, Vin had ridden out to the reservation. Josiah and JD had gone to visit Gilley, the hired hand, to quiz him further on the government contract his employer had.
Chris, Buck, Ezra and Nathan were making themselves conspicuous in town and keeping a watchful eye out for any strangers who may be taking too great of an interest in them.
Late that afternoon, Vin, Josiah and JD rode back and reported their findings.
Chanu had told Vin that what little beef they had received from the government was rancid and inedible. They were all right now in the fall where they could hunt to supplement their meager supplies, but they could face starvation if it was a hard winter.
"But why didn't they tell anyone?" JD asked.
"They did," Vin replied. "They told Mulligan. Lot of good that did them."
"But why not tell anyone else?" JD persisted.
"JD, who's going to take an Indian's word?" Vin asked. "And if they told me, hell, who'll believe me? Ain't like I can go up and testify in court. But if a white man who has a good reputation found out something, well, he has a better chance of being believed."
"And if that white man told a reporter and it got written up into the newspaper," continued Nathan.
"There would definitely be an investigation if only to avoid publicity," Ezra finished.
"That bastard Mulligan!" growled Chris. His hands flexed in a deadly manner and it was only Josiah's restraining hands that kept him from riding to Bitter Creek and reducing Mulligan to a bloody pulp.
"Hold on Brother," Josiah said soothingly. "We have a lot of speculation here, but we have no proof."
"Maybe he has records-," Buck began.
"If the man has half a brain, he would have altered those by now," Ezra continued. "I believe Mr. Larabee's original idea is the best avenue to follow. Mulligan knows that we suspect something. He probably already knows about Mrs. Travis's death which is making him extremely nervous considering who her father-in-law is. He'll make a mistake. He'll get careless. And when he does, we'll be there."
"So we sit and wait?" Buck asked incredulously, patience not one of his strong points.
"I guarantee you that he'll do something rash," continued the Southerner. "Especially since he thinks we know something. Mr. Larabee's abrupt departure from his office planted that seed in his mind. That and the fact that the four of us have had several men watching us all day. Men I recognized as being in Bitter Creek yesterday."
"Ezra's right," Chris said softly, his emotions once again in check. "We wait for them to make a move on one of us." He looked intently at each of the men. "I want some of them alive. Its the only way to nail the son of a bitch."
Later that night, they were once again in the saloon. Chris had isolated himself in a dark corner with a bottle of whiskey, acting as the bait for any possible attack. He gave all the appearance of drinking the night away.
A scruffy, tall man entered the saloon and scanned its inhabitants. He walked hesitantly into the room, eyes continuously roaming. He stopped and peered into Chris's dark corner. He moved deliberately towards the gunslinger.
"You Larabee?" the scruffy man asked.
Chris looked up at him through a slightly drunken haze. "Who wants to know?"
The man took that as a yes and threw a piece of cloth onto the table. A faint memory stirred in Chris's mind as he stared at the pretty blue paisley pattern on the scarf. He had seen that scarf before.
His question was answered by JD's excited words. "Mrs. Travis was wearing that scarf the day she went to the Harrington farm!"
Baker didn't even see Larabee move when he suddenly felt the gunslinger's hands on him. He was shoved up against one of the wooden pillars of the saloon and found himself nose to nose with a suddenly sober Chris.
"Where did you get that?" Chris growled as a murderous glint came into his eye. "Answer me! Or I swear I'll rip your arms out!"
"Miz Travis gave it to me!" hollered Baker. He saw the look of surprise on Chris's face and was relieved when he stepped back a half-step. He still had a hold on him.
"Mrs. Travis?" Chris repeated.
"Mary," Baker said as if speaking to a slow child. "She told me to give it to you as proof she sent me. Said to find Larabee and ask him to come and git her."
Chris continued to stare at him in disbelief as did the other six men gathered around them.
"Mary Travis said this to you?" Buck asked.
"That's what I said!"
"Describe her!" Chris said sharply.
Baker sighed. "She's tall. Long blond hair. Real pretty. Looks like an angel. Said she ran the paper here. Look, me and my boy found her a few days ago hurt bad and she's been at our place ever since. My Louise has been taking care of her. She just woke-up and started talking normal yesterday. Said to come to Four Corners and get Mr. Lar-a-bee. Tell him and his men to come and git her. Bought time too. Louise got better things to do than care for a sick woman."
"How was she hurt?" Vin asked quietly.
"Hit in the shoulder with a rifle. Bled a lot. But my Louise's a real good nurse. Got her through the worse of it. Didn't want to be beholden to me and mine any longer. Just kept saying git Mr. Larabee. Git Chris."
He saw the doubt in their eyes and realized they didn't quite believe him. Mrs. Travis had thought of this and he tried to remember what else she told him to tell Larabee.
"She also said, to tell you something else," Baker said slowly. He remembered what it was. "Oh yeah. She said to tell you that you ain't the bad element."
Chris looked at the man in shock. No one except he and Mary knew about that conversation. He felt that part of him that had been ripped so cruelly out of his being a few days ago suddenly come back to life. His breathing became faster and his heart pounded in his chest as he realized that his Mary was alive.
Baker felt as though he was witnessing a miracle as the dead eyes of Chris Larabee suddenly became alive again. Those eyes, that seconds before had been dark and hollow flared to life into a blue-green sea. He released his hold on him and turned to the other men.
"It's her. It's Mary and she's alive."
+ + + + + + +
They assembled quickly. Nathan would drive the wagon that would transport Mary. Hiram Baker had suggested getting a dress for her since Mary's clothes had been ruined. Blankets and Nathan's bag of instruments were also added. They set off at a fast pace for the Baker farm.
As they rode along the rode, Chris asked the man riding alongside him for more details about Mary's rescue.
"Shoot," replied Baker. "Ain't no more details. Found her bleeding and took her home to Louise so's she could make her better." He grunted. "Kept me up that first night yelling in her fever. Something about Billy and Steven and Chris."
Chris fell into a deep study, wondering what had happened to Mary in those lost moments. It hurt him to think she had spent them alone, afraid and hurt.
Their progress had been slowed considerably by the wagon, but the Baker farm soon loomed up ahead of them.
"Looks like you'll get back to town before day-," Baker began but was interrupted by a shot that whizzed by his head.
"Get down!" Chris screamed as the men quickly dismounted and sought cover. He peered into the night that was lit by a full moon and could make out four or five men that stood between them and the cabin.
"My family is in there!" Hiram screamed as he struggled against the restraining arms of Josiah and Nathan.
"And so is Mary," Chris replied grimly. He leapt to his feet and began running up towards the cabin.
"Chris!" Vin yelled out. He let out a barrage of cover fire as did the other men.
Chris took out one man as he ran past and threw himself full force against the cabin door. He landed on his stomach and rolled over quickly, instinctively finding the lone gunman in the cabin. He quickly shot the man as he spun around to draw a bead on him.
"Land's sake!" he heard a woman exclaim and he looked up to see a generously sized woman standing in front of the three children who peeked out from behind her impressive skirts.
Chris stood up from his crouching position and scanned the room. The woman and her children were fine, if scared. His eyes went to the opposite wall and he saw her sitting up in the bed, eyes wide with fright, a quilt clutched up before her like some sort of shield.
Slowly, Chris approached Mary. He reached out a hand and hesitated before touching her, afraid that she was a mere mirage and would disappear as soon as he tried to make contact.
"Chris," she whispered.
The sound of her voice emboldened him and he gently reached out to touch her hair. He had only felt the silky strands once before, when he held her as they made their escape from Wickes's tent. Then he had not allowed himself the luxury of feeling it, but he did now.
"Mary," he whispered softly back. He didn't realized he had moved until he had her gathered in his arms. He hugged her fiercely too him and breathed deeply her scent of roses. Her golden hair caressed his face in silky radiance as to assure him that yes indeed, she was alive.
He heard her gasp in pain and he quickly withdrew. He saw the grimace on her face and looked closely at her. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"My shoulder," she gasped out. "It still hurts."
"Nathan!" Chris bellowed out.
The healer appeared by his side and gently pushed the gunslinger out of his way as he bent down to examine Mary. He looked pointedly at Chris in a silent order for him to leave them since the exam would get rather personal, but now that he knew she was alive, Chris was unwilling to let her leave his sight. He glared defiantly back at Nathan who rolled his eyes and concentrated on his patient.
Nathan looked with approval at the job Mrs. Baker had done in caring for Mary. However, he was worried about the fever she seemed to be running.
"You're going to be fine," Nathan said soothingly, his wonderful beside manner coming into play. "Although I don't think the long ride back will help."
"I've got to leave now," Mary said as she started to struggle up. "You saw what happened. I can't stay here and jeopardize these people."
Chris could see that Nathan did not like the idea of Mary traveling. However, he could also see Mary's determination in getting back to town. He decided to settle the matter. "Mary's right. Sooner we get back, safer these folks will be. Besides, we can protect her better in town."
She threw him a grateful look that warmed him even as Nathan looked none too pleased.
They stepped outside as Louise helped Mary dress in the clothes they brought with them. Buck, Vin and JD rode up as they were standing outside.
"What happened to the others?" Chris asked.
"Well, we got two more, but the other two escaped," Buck reported.
"Did you find them?"
"Nah, lost them. Had to big of a head start," Vin replied. "I'd like to know how they knew Miz Travis was here."
"Must have overheard us in the bar," Chris hazard. "It took us time getting her clothes and the wagon. Bringing the wagon here slowed us up too. They probably just beat us." He turned to Baker. "I'm obliged that you took care of Mary."
Baker grunted in what the men had come to realize was a word in his vocabulary. "Well, if I were you, I'd take better care of my woman than you have."
Chris looked at him in surprise. "She's not my woman," he replied tersely.
Baker grunted again. "Ain't the way I saw it."
Chris heard a snort of laughter from Buck and chose to ignore both him and Baker's comment. He was certain that now that they were taking Mary away that the killers would focus their attention on Four Corners and not the Baker homestead. Baker agreed and said he could take care of his family anyway, declining the help of the seven men.
They had just finished loading up the four bodies in the wagon when the door to the cabin opened.
"Mr. Larabee!" Louise Baker called out. "Would you come and help Mary to the wagon. And don't go tracking any more mud in my house!"
A few moments later, Chris had settled Mary next to Nathan on wagon seat. He carefully tucked in the laprobe and a quilt around her shoulders. "Are you warm enough?" he asked softly.
Mary nodded and smiled, but he saw that just coming from the cabin to the wagon and sitting up had tired her. He signaled the men to mount up and with hearty thanks to the Baker family, they rode out towards town.
They kept the wagon in the middle of their circle of six horses. For once, Vin was in the lead since Chris wanted to ride alongside the wagon. Every now and then he would glance worriedly over at Mary. She had not said a word, but with each passing mile, she became paler and the lines tightened on her face.
It was light when they finally reached town and were greeted by a crowd of on lookers. Vin and Buck cleared a path towards The Clarion while JD ran to get Mrs. Potter to help Nathan with Mary. The healer stopped the wagon before the widow's building. Chris hastily jumped off his horse to help her down. He had no sooner extended his hands toward her when Mary's strength finally gave out and she fainted.
Chris and Nathan caught her before she could fall out of the wagon. Nathan eased her down into Chris's arms and leapt down to open The Clarion's doors. Chris swiftly carried her inside and into her bedroom where he laid her on the bed.
"Get her dress off!" Nathan snapped out.
Chris hastily tore open her bodice and took off Mary's dress. He sucked his breath in sharply when he realized that the shoulder wound had opened up again and was bleeding freely.
"Why didn't you say anything Mary?" he asked softly.
Nathan shoved him aside and examined the wound. At that moment, Mrs. Potter came bustling in. She looked at Chris in surprise but quickly disregarded his presence as she went to Nathan's side to assist him.
Chris watched in silence as they stopped the bleeding. Nathan straightened up and realized that Chris was still in the room. With a tilt of his head, he indicated to the gunslinger that they should leave Mary with Mrs. Potter watching over her.
They went out into the outer offices before Nathan spoke. "She's lost some blood but not a lot. Trip wore her out. I'm more worried about that fever she's running. Its going to be touch and go for the next few hours, but if she makes it through that, she should be okay if she gets lots of rest."
Chris nodded his head silently and stared off into space. "You and Mrs. Potter'll sit with her?"
"Wouldn't be anywhere else."
"Come get me if either one of you wants to get some rest," Chris said. He turned and walked out onto the front porch.
Buck and JD were already stationed there keeping watch.
"How's Miz Travis?" Buck asked, concern written on every feature.
"Not good," Chris replied shortly. "Next few hours are critical. Everything quiet?"
"So far," Buck reported. "Vin, Ezra and Josiah are sniffing around town to see if there are any visitors we should know about."
"I'll expect we'll hear from them soon, the visitors that is," Chris said as he scanned the busy street. He could feel it again. That sensation of being watched. "Mary's the only witness to what happened out there. They're not going to let her live to tell about it."
+ + + + + + +
Nathan was becoming more and more worried. Mary's temperature had spiked up in the last two hours. Gloria Potter was constantly wiping the sweat off her face in a vain attempt to keep her cool.
Mary had begun to thrash about, the fever giving strength to the weakened limbs. Nathan had gone to his rooms to hunt for something to help with the fever and Gloria was having a hard time keeping Mary in bed.
"Mr. Larabee!" Mrs. Potter called out.
Chris was beside her in a moment. "Please restrain her while I get some more water. Poor thing's delirious."
Chris used his superior strength and size to gently force Mary back down into the bed. Her eyes flew open and he gazed in the blue-gray seas that were wild with fever.
"Daddy don't leave," she whimpered out.
Chris stared at her in surprise for a moment but then gently hushed her. "Shhh, its okay, I'm here."
"Daddy please. I'll be good. I promise," Mary pleaded.
It was the sound of a child's voice and it nearly broke Chris's heart. He pushed her damp hair off her forehead and tried to calm her.
"Steven!" Mary suddenly screamed out. "No! Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone!" She began to cry uncontrollably and held onto Chris with a strength he did not know she possessed.
"Hush Mary," Chris said softly. "I'm here. I won't leave you."
"Jake! Jake!"
Chris thought.
"He's leaving me. He's leaving me," she sobbed. "Why is he going?"
Chris gave up trying to make her lie down and held her cradled in his arms. That seemed to calm her and she grew less agitated. Gloria Potter came bustling back in and stared at him in surprise. But since Mary seemed more rested, she made no comment.
"Mr. Larabee, I'm going to check on my children. Will you be all right until Mr. Jackson comes back?" she asked softly.
Chris merely nodded and Mrs. Potter quickly took her leave. He shifted slightly into a more comfortable position on the bed and leaned against the headboard. Mary's head rested on his chest and her arms were wrapped loosely around his torso. He could feel the heat of her body through their clothes and was alarm about how hot she felt. Too hot. he thought.
The minutes ticked past and Chris began to feel his eyes start to close. The last few days had been exhausting for him and the lack of sleep was catching up. He must have dozed off for he suddenly jerked awake. Quickly, he looked down at Mary's face only to find it peaceful and tranquil. Too tranquil.
Chris shook her a little bit and she did not respond, her head merely flopping forward. He quickly stood up and laid her on the bed. He felt for a pulse and could not find one nor did he feel any breath. He touched her skin and found it not hot with fever, but cool and clammy.
Chris ran towards the front door and nearly tore it off its hinges in his hurry to open it. "Nathan!" he bellowed startling Vin and Josiah who were now on guard duty.
The healer had been about to cross the street when he heard Chris's yell. He broke out into a run and quickly made it to The Clarion. Flying to the bedroom, he skidded to a stop by Mary's bed. Swiftly, he examined her. Chris stood against a wall, fearful of what Nathan's next words would be.
"Fever's turned," Nathan said at last. "Its finally broken." He turned a smiling face towards Chris. "Looks like she's going to pull through. One hell of a strong woman."
Chris's knees buckled and he almost collapsed in relief. She was going to live. After the last few days when he had felt so helpless, he was given a second chance to prove himself. Mary Travis will live and if she should die it would be his fault for not protecting her. However, he would rather face hellfire rather than have that happen.
+ + + + + + +
Warm sunlight caressed Mary's face. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked at the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. Slowly, she turned her head and saw with a small amount of shock Chris Larabee sitting beside her bed asleep in a chair. She turned her head and on the other side of the bed, Nathan was asleep in another chair.
Gingerly, she began to try to sit up. Her movements woke Chris up and he jerked his head upright. Seeing her awake and moving brought a genuine smile to his face.
"Hey, don't try to move yet," he said quietly as he tried to get her to lie back down.
"I rather sit up," Mary said as she continued to push herself up with her uninjured arm. Chris helped her the rest of the way and eased her back against the pillows he propped up against the headboard.
Their efforts woke Nathan up and he sent Chris out of the room with a forcible command while he examined Mary. Chris paced outside of the closed bedroom door and did not stop until Nathan opened it up again. The healer was smiling brilliantly.
"Looks like she's going to be just fine," he told Chris. "She's real hungry though and so am I and I suspect you are too. Let's get some food for her and then we can talk about what happened at the Harrington farm."
+ + + + + + +
Despite Chris's disapproving frown, Mary only ate half of the breakfast he brought her. When she protested that she couldn't eat another bite, she thought he was going to force feed her until Nathan stepped in and said that she had enough.
Chris, Nathan and Vin were now gathered in her bedroom. The other men were outside guarding the building.
"When I got to the Harrington farm, the fire was already in progress," Mary started. "I rode down, thinking I could help. I saw two men coming from the back of the house and they saw me. I thought they were trying to help but instead one pointed at me and the other raised his rifle. I knew they must have set the blaze. I turned Homer around and tried to ride away. One of the bullets hit my shoulder.
"I stayed in the saddle as long as I could, but I couldn't hold on any longer. I fell off by the side of the road but I was terrified that the men were right behind me so I dragged myself towards some weeds to hide."
She shivered at the memory. "All I could think about was to keep going. To put as much distance between me and the road. I don't know how long or how far I crawled. I was in too much pain to really notice anything. I remember it raining and I got so cold. I think I made it to a cave and I just don't remember anything else until I woke up in the Baker cabin."
As Mary told her story, Chris could see the events unfold in his mind. It hurt him to think of her dragging herself in a desperate attempt to hide. Hurt, alone and cold. He hated seeing Mary in pain and though he was not there, he could imagine it in his mind.
Mary saw these emotions flickering across Chris's face. It was reminiscent of the look he gave her when he found her in Wickes's tent. The flicker of pain caused by the knowledge that she was hurting. She reached out and gently placed her hand on top of his. She saw his startled look and like she assured him that time in Wickestown, she comforted him again. "I'm fine," she said steadily as she looked into his tortured eyes with her clear ones.
Chris smiled a small smile for her and placed his other hand on top of hers to thank her for trying to erase some of his pain. He cleared his throat and caught Mary up on what they had found out about Harrington and the government contract.
"We think Mulligan doesn't know that Harrington didn't get a chance to tell you anything," Chris said. "Add to that that you can identify the men that set fire to the Harrington place, he's gotta make sure your dead."
Mary nodded. "So what do we do?"
"We let Mulligan make his move on you," Vin said. "We pretend to get careless and let one of his boys come and do his dirty work and then we take him alive."
"Well, you're too weak to move still," Nathan began. "So you're going to have to actually be the bait."
"I don't like it Mary," Chris said earnestly. "But we have no choice."
Mary nodded. She looked hesitantly at Chris. "Am I going to be alone in here?"
Chris smiled and patted her hand. "No Mary, I'm going to be right here at all times. I'm not leaving you."
They smiled at each other in such a way that Nathan raised his eyebrows at Vin who shrugged back in response.
"One thing I don't understand," the Texan asked, interrupting the exchange, "Is who's body was it at Harrington's?"
"Body?" Mary asked. No one had told her that three bodies were found on the farm and that for the past few days they had actually thought she was dead. They quickly filled her in on the details and watched as the blood drained away from her face.
Nathan was beside he in a moment as all three men leaned forward, afraid she was having a relapse.
"No, no," Mary gasped. "I'm okay. You say there was a body of a woman with blond hair there?"
Chris nodded, looking intently in her face. "Did you know her?"
"Brigid Swenson," Mary replied. She groaned and covered her face with her hands. "It has to be her. Mrs. Harrington needed help since her husband broke his leg. The Swenson's recently moved here and only Brigid spoke any English. She asked me if there was any work and I told her to visit Mrs. Harrington. She must have gone that same morning." Tears welled up in Mary's eyes. "My God, I sent her to her death."
"Mary, Mary," soothed Chris as he gently stroked her hair. "Its not your fault. There was nothing you could have done. No one knew this was going to happen. You couldn't have known."
"That's right Miz Travis," Vin chimed in. "Sometimes events are just out of your hands. You may blame yourself, but that's not were the blame rightly belongs."
Chris twisted his head around to look at Vin, knowing that that little sermon was also directed at him. The ex-bounty hunter merely gazed back at him blandly. A small smile escaped Chris's mouth and he shook his head slightly.
+ + + + + + +
Gunshots rang out on the other side of town. JD and Buck abandoned their post from in front of The Clarion and quickly went to investigate. The two men who stood in the shadows made sure they were well on their way down the street before they went to the back of The Clarion. Earlier, they had observed the other five men leave the building and go to the saloon. Mary Travis should be alone.
They slipped in through a back window in the kitchen and cautiously made their way towards the one room that had a light. The peered in through the doorway and saw that the woman in the bed had dozed off while reading a book. A floorboard creaked underneath them and she started awake, a startled deer's look in her eyes.
"Ain't nothing personal lady, but we got a job to do," one man said.
"I saw you two at the Harrington farm," Mary said in a low, but even voice.
"Old Man Harrington was going to blow everything to hell," responded the other man, the one who shot Mary.
"So its true," Mary continued. "Barnes Mulligan has been taking the good beef and selling it while providing spoiled meat to the Indians and pocketing the profits."
One of the men grunted. "Didn't know Harrington managed to tell you that much."
"But its true?" Mary pressed.
"Yeah, its true," snarled one man. "But it ain't going to do you any good."
"I wouldn't be too sure," a soft voice said from the closet.
The two men swung in the direction of the voice. A black form seemed to materialize from out of the shadows. Chris Larabee stepped into the circle of light and grinned evilly at the two men.
The men went for their guns, but before they had even cleared their holsters, a gun appeared in Chris's hand. He shot both men in their knees. They collapsed screaming onto the ground. Footsteps pounded on the floor and Vin and Josiah came roaring into the room.
They looked at the men writhing in pain and Chris calmly removing their weapons. He looked over at Mary. "Which one shot you?"
Mary pointed to the man with the yellow shirt. Chris ground his boot heel into the man's wounded knee and made him howl in pain.
"Chris stop it!" Mary yelled, shocked and frightened by the violence and anger that consumed Chris.
He glared down at the two men and quietly whispered. "You're going to tell us everything you know or I'm going to make you hurt so bad you'll be begging me to kill you."
+ + + + + + +
The two men Chris shot were not alone. About six or seven other men from Bitter Creek had also been arrested in connection with Barnes Mulligan. All had freely given what information they had especially when Chris succinctly laid out what would be done to them if they did not cooperate. As added incentive, they realized that the judge presiding over their case would be none other than Judge Orin Travis.
While Josiah had informed Orin about Mary's death, it was too late to get word to him that she was alive. The Judge had arrived in Four Corners the next day breathing hellfire and demanding blood. The fact that Mary was alive mollified him greatly, but when told the details, he was ready to tie the hang man's noose himself.
Fortunately, he had decided to come to Four Corners and investigate before he told Billy that his mother might be dead. The little boy was spared any knowledge of how close he had come to being an orphan.
A week had passed since the men had been captured. Judge Travis had gone to Bitter Creek to preside over the hanging. The U.S. government was doing a full investigation of the beef scam and was quickly sending a shipment of good beef to the Indian reservation.
Mary had regained enough strength to sit outside on her porch. The fresh air would be good for her Nathan had declared. Chris had carried her rocking chair out onto the porch where she now sat with a blanket over her knees and one around her shoulders. The seven men were also sitting or lounging on her porch enjoying the late afternoon sun. Chris, who was never far from her since her return, sat on the porch next to her knee, his legs hanging over the edge of the porch and resting comfortably on the street.
It was still fall, but the air had a colder feel to it hinting sharply that winter would be coming soon. But for now, the air was fresh and clean.
"Right good writing Mrs. Travis," Josiah said as he finished Mary's article on the beef scandal.
"Thank you Mr. Sanchez," Mary said with a smile. "And thank you all for helping me get that edition out."
Buck snorted in laughter. "Just remember not to let JD near that ink again."
The men hooted in laughter and Mary smiled as JD glared at his friend. "That could have happened to anyone Buck and it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't pushed me!"
Buck stood up to leave and tipped his hat at Mary as he let his eyes twinkle. JD also stood up and hastily tipped his hat too as he followed Buck all the while declaring the ink incident was Buck's fault.
Nathan excused himself too reminding Mary to not stay outside too long. Josiah got up to follow Nathan after bidding Mary good bye.
Vin pushed off the wall he had been leaning on. "I best be gitting too. I want to make sure that shipment of beef got to the reservation."
"Thank you for everything Mr. Tanner," Mary said quietly.
Vin tipped his hat to her and his eyes met Chris's. While they had not spoken much in the last few days, their eyes communicated much. Chris added his own silent thanks to Mary's. Vin was the only one of them who never truly gave up.
The ex-bounty hunter quietly left and headed for the stables.
Mary continued to rock slowly in her chair as she watched the sun sink slowly in the sky.
"He never believed you were dead," Chris said softly. "Vin didn't lose faith when the rest of us did. When I did." He stared at the ground.
"Don't Chris," Mary said gently. "Its in the past."
"I was ready to give up Mary," Chris said. "I believed you were dead."
Mary was silent a few seconds, the soft sound of her rocking chair the only noise. "You dwell too much in the past Chris Larabee. Just remember this, you were there when I needed you most."
Chris let out a bitter laugh. "You mean when you were shot? Or when you were crawling on the ground hurt and alone? When was I there for you?"
He felt her gentle hand on his shoulder and heard her quiet voice. "You were there when I was ready to give up. At the Baker cabin, when I was crazy with fever. And you never left my side after that. You were there for me Chris. Just like I knew you would be."
He felt the sting of tears in his eyes as he felt Mary try to save what little soul he had left. He ducked his head to allow his hat to hide his face, but she could feel the change in his body. The hand that remained on his shoulder squeezed him comfortingly.
Chris got his emotions under control and looked up into the sunset that Mary was watching. His hand moved up and gently took the hand on his shoulder in his. Together, their hands clasped, they quietly watched the brilliant sunset in the fall sky.
The End
