Two hours later, Chris walked into the boardinghouse's restaurant to find Vin and Josiah eating breakfast. "Morning," he greeted, joining the two men."Morning Chris. Looks like you're moving around better these days," Josiah observed.
"Yeah, wound's about healed up Josiah," Chris answered. "Plannin' on testing it today, though. Vin and me are gonna do some fishing and then head over to the shack, maybe do some repairs."
"Sounds like a fine plan, brothers," Josiah rumbled.
Vin smiled happily in response. He couldn't wait to be alone with Chris at the shack. No sneaking around, no hiding their feelings from prying eyes. Just the two of them together, out in the middle of nowhere. He attacked his breakfast with a vengeance. Faster they finished eating, sooner they could get going.
The three had just finished eating, when the telegraph operator entered the restaurant, looking for Chris.
"Mr. Larabee, I've got a wire for you," he said, handing over the slip of paper.
Chris scanned the message, a frown forming on his face as he read.
"Somethin' wrong pard?" Vin asked worriedly.
"Don't know for sure yet," Chris answered. He faced his two friends and began to explain the contents of the message in a quiet voice.
"It's from the Judge. There's a Pinkerton man coming on today's stage, wants some information about Ella. Looks like there's an investigation into her husband's death." He looked at Vin intently. "Guess the fishing trip's off for me today, pard."
Chris saw the disappointment flash on Vin's face, and noticed how quickly Vin tried to cover it up from him.
"Excuse us, will you Josiah?" Chris asked, standing up and gesturing for Vin to follow him out of the restaurant.
He led Vin to an isolated part of the boardwalk, around the corner from the boardinghouse.
"Vin, there's no reason for you to stick around here. I can handle things with the Pinkerton man. Why don't you go fishin' today? You can catch us our supper, and I'll meet up with ya at the shack as quick as I can."
"Okay," Vin said doubtfully. "You sure you don't need me around with that Pinkerton agent? They might need me to answer some of them questions."
"No Vin," Chris said firmly. "Best you get out of town while the Pinkerton agent's here. Don't want anybody bringing up Tascosa again. Won't take that chance."
"You got a point there, cowboy," Vin agreed.
Chris squeezed Vin's hand quickly. "Stage'll get here around noon. I'll be at the shack late afternoon, sundown at the latest." He winked suggestively at the younger man. "Better catch a lot of fish, Vin. We're gonna need our strength, 'cause I've got big plans for us tonight."
Vin's face lit up at Chris words. "I'm holdin' ya to that, cowboy. I'm gonna get my gear and ride out. I'll see ya at the shack."
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It was still early morning when Vin crested the rise that marked the start of Chris's property. He'd decided to stop at the shack first to drop off his things and to look over the place. It had been over a month since anyone had been out here, and he wanted things in order for Chris when he rode in.
A sense of unease swept over him as he rode toward the small house. Moving cautiously now, he peered around at the empty yard and corral. Nothing seemed amiss and he relaxed slightly. 'Must just seem strange 'cause Chris ain't here,' he mused to himself.
He dismounted and tied Peso to the railing out front, slinging his saddlebag over his shoulder as he stepped up onto the porch. He scanned the area again, finding nothing out of the ordinary, then entered the house.
"Hello Vin," a sultry voice purred to his right. As he turned toward it, a meaty fist flew into his face and he fell to the ground, dazed..
"Wha....?" he gasped in shock, looking up into the face of Ella Gaines.
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A rough hand grabbed his hair, yanking it harshly to pull the stunned man to his knees.
"Remember me Vin?" Ella cooed
"Bitch!" Vin snarled as he reached for her throat.
The hand in his hair tightened, forcing Vin's face upward. Before he could even focus on the face above him, the fist hit him squarely in the jaw, knocking him to the floor once again. Several fierce kicks followed in rapid succession, leaving the tracker gasping for air. A final kick landed, and Vin felt a snap and sharp pain in his side, that he knew were from broken ribs. 'Son of a bitch!' he cursed to himself silently, not wanting to give Ella the satisfaction of knowing how bad he was hurting.
Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.
"Lady asked you a question," the voice that belonged to the hand and foot that had done so much damage to him so quickly, sounded.
"My brother, John," Ella said, by way of introduction. "Didn't know I had a brother, now did you, Vin?"
A short, crazed laugh bubbled in her throat. "I didn't know I did either, anymore. John was in the war and we all thought he'd been killed. But he was in one of those southern prison camps. You remember the prison camps, don't you Vin?" she taunted. "I told John here all about how you were stationed in one during the war. Secret's out Vin. He knows what a dirty reb you are, killing and torturing all those poor Union soldiers in the camps."
"No, I...." Vin struggled
John grabbed Vin by the back of the neck and smashed his face into the floor. "No use denyin' it boy! Lyin' southern scum! I can hear it in your voice!"
Vin tried to fight back, but John was stronger, beating the smaller man's face into the hard planking again and again.
"Stop it John," Ellla ordered. "I want to ask Vin something."
John immediately obeyed his sister, releasing Vin. The tracker's head fell limply to the floor and John extended his foot to kick Vin onto his back.
The sharpshooter grabbed at the booted foot with all of his waning strength, twisting it sharply and throwing the big man off balance. John fell hard and Vin scrambled to his feet shakily. He lunged for Ella, but missed as the room began to spin. John recovered and launched himself at Vin, tackling the smaller man easily and bringing him down, sprawling on top of him.
"Tie him up John," Vin heard Ella say angrily, but it seemed like she was talking from a long ways off.
The giant of a man grabbed Vin by an arm and flung him onto the bed.
"Not the bed, John!" Ella screeched. "He's bleeding all over it!" She grabbed Vin by the shirt and pulled him off, letting him slide to the floor in a heap. She stood over the injured man, gloating. "That's my bed, Vin. Mine and Chris's, no place for you on it. And don't think I don't know what you've been doing to Chris. Confusing him like that. He knows I'm the one for him. You were just a temporary distraction."
And then he felt the bite of rope on his wrists and the pull of his shoulders as John bound his hands tightly behind his back. Vin tried to focus on Ella's crazed face, but it kept getting more difficult as blood ran down his face, spilling into his eyes, blurring his vision. The dull pounding in his head and the explosion of pain in his side made him feel like he was going to be sick. As he was dragged across the cabin, onto the porch, he began to panic, thinking about what Ella was going to do to Chris. He tried to twist out of John's tight hold, but the big man held him easily. Ella followed behind, her insane cackle filling his ears as he struggled.
"Clean him up John," Ella laughed. "Don't want Chris to see him looking like this."
"Be glad to Ella," John replied, matching her crazed laugh with one of his own. He dropped Vin next to the horse trough and began to pump water into the receptacle.
"Damn, you're a mess Vin," Ella taunted. "I just don't know what Chris sees in you," she said with a mocking sigh.
Vin levered himself up slightly and spat at her, the bloody saliva landing on the front of her skirt. He grinned triumphantly, even though the effort cost him dearly when John backhanded him, sending the side of his head careening against the wood trough.
"I'm going to change," Ella said unhappily to her brother. "Watch him," she warned.
John laughed again and hoisted Vin up to his knees. "You heard the lady, reb! She said you need to be cleaned up!" he cried gleefully. And with that, he plunged Vin's upper body into the freezing water in the horse trough.
Vin's lungs burned as his face was held under the water for the fifth time. >Or was it the sixth?> Vin wondered to himself giddily, as the lack of air began to affect his mind. Unable to stop himself, he took a deep breath, his oxygen-starved body kicking in, overriding the signals his brain was sending. He gagged on the water that filled his nose and mouth, flailing his legs, trying to pull his torso up and out of the water.
Above him, John grinned evilly at the struggling body. He pushed Vin's head deeper into the trough, holding it there firmly. After another minute, the struggled ceased, and he pulled Vin out of the water.
"Had enough yet, reb?" he sneered, hitting Vin forcefully on the back.
The slap to his back revived Vin and he swallowed a huge lungful of air, then dissolved into a coughing, shivering mass onto the dusty ground, which was becoming muddy wherever water had spilled over from the trough. He rolled to his side and began to retch uncontrollably.
Ella walked out of the shack, immaculate in her fresh clothing. She looked down at Vin disdainfully.
"You thought I wasn't good enough for Chris," she sneered. "Well, just look at you now Vin. Not so high and mighty anymore, are you?" She stepped away from the sodden, mud-covered tracker and faced her brother.
"I want to be alone with Chris when he gets here, John. Why don't you take Vin and have your fun in the barn, brother dear," she suggested. "And take this one's horse in there with you, will you?"
John grinned ferally. "We'll try not to disturb you two love birds." He kicked Vin in the stomach. "Ain't that right?"
"Leave Chris alone," Vin said hoarsely, putting all of his remaining strength into the words.
"But Vin, I can't, you know that," Ella laughed in obscene amusement. "Chris and I are meant to be together. She bent down closer so Vin could see her clearly out of his one unswollen eye. "And I'll kill anybody who tries to stand in my way." Then she turned on her heel and disappeared into the house.
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"Where the hell's that stage?" Buck grumbled to Chris as the two men sat on the boardwalk outside the saloon, sharing a bottle as they waited for the Pinkerton detective.
"Should be here any minute Buck, relax," Chris answered, downing his shot.
"Well, hell, it's over an hour late already," Buck persisted. He squinted over at his oldest friend. "You're pretty calm about this whole thing, ain't ya?"
Chris shrugged. "No reason to be anything else, Buck. Man's just gonna ask me some questions, is all."
"But it's about Ella," Buck stressed. "You forgettin' what that woman did to you?"
Chris's eyes glinted like green colored steel in the early afternoon sun. "No Buck, I won't ever forget what the bitch did to my family."
"Sorry Chris," Buck apologized. "You know what I mean."
"Forget it Buck," Chris cut in. "I just want to get this over with, then meet up with Vin. More people looking for her, the better. And they say the Pinkerton's always find their man."
"Or woman," Buck mumbled, looking down the street, in search of the tardy stagecoach once again.
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"Sorry to be so late, Mr. Larabee," Stuart Williams, Pinkerton Detective, apologized as he shook the gunslinger's hand. "There was a rockslide on the trail and we were delayed."
"Call me Chris," the gunslinger offered, nodding to the man, then indicated the sheriff's office. "You want to talk there?"
"That'd be fine with me," Stuart replied, grabbing his saddlebags.
"You travel pretty light," Chris remarked as they made their way across the street.
"Never know when I need to be on the move," Stuart replied with a quick smile. "And I'm planning on buying a horse and riding out tomorrow, meeting up with some of my men who've been trailing Ella Gaines. Makes it easier this way," he said, gesturing at the saddlebags.
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After an hour of talking to the Pinkerton man, Chris was feeling very unnerved. Stuart Williams had told him things about Ella that made his flesh crawl when he thought about how he'd slept with her, then almost tossed aside his friends and made a life with her. His wife and son were only two of her many victims. The woman had woven a path of murderous rage through the western half of the United States, and Chris was but one of her targets.
He felt bile rise up in his throat at Stuart's next words. "Her parents both died mysteriously, when Ella was quite young, and we have reason to believe she killed them," he stated. "After that, she went to live with her aunt and uncle, and they also met with an untimely death."
"Didn't anybody get suspicious back then?" Chris asked.
"I don't know, it was a long time ago, and I guess nobody wanted to believe a ten-year-old girl would be capable of murder."
"Jesus," Chris whispered in shock.
"After that, we've traced Ella to several towns in Missouri and Kansas. There were a number of unexplained deaths of young men in the same towns, all about the time Ella lived there."
"You think she had something to do with them, too?"
Stuart shrugged dispassionately. "It's highly likely. They were all killed pretty much the same way. Throat cut. Then she headed out farther west."
"Damn!" Chris cursed. "And that's where she met me."
"Seems like she was particularly enamored with you, Chris. I'm sorry, and I don't mean to sound callous, but for her to go to such trouble and kill your family, all those years later, just shows how much more unbalanced she was becoming. And then there is the matter of her husband, Joseph. She needs to be stopped, now, before any more innocent people are hurt."
"We'll do whatever we can to help, Stuart. Believe me, that woman's gonna pay for what she's done."
"I appreciate your help Chris, but this is a matter for the Pinkerton's. Please don't do anything foolish."
Chris smiled back at the agent bitterly. "Not planning on doing anything foolish, Stuart. Just aiming on making that woman pay. Don't gotta worry about us. You stay out of our way and we'll stay out of yours."
He stood up. "Anything else you need from me?"
"Yes, there's one other thing, Chris." He stared at the gunslinger intently. "Ella Gaines is a dangerously insane woman. And she probably feels that you have betrayed her. I feel she will come back and make a play for you or try to kill you. Should you encounter her, please be very careful. Don't agitate her, go along with whatever she says. Try to keep her as calm as you can until help arrives or you can escape."
"I hope she does come for me Stuart, 'cause I'll be ready for that bitch," Chris growled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be," he said, then stalked out of the sheriff's office.
Stuart Williams shook his head at Chris's retreating figure. "That one is gonna be trouble," he muttered to himself.