A Dangerous Obsession
by Linda Cooper
Prologue
Cal Danby had plenty of time while he was in solitary confinement to dwell on what had happened. Two days ago, he'd had a young brother. Now, Frankie was dead; killed in a fight with the other prisoners in their cell. It was Cal who'd started the fight but he'd never admit to himself that he was responsible for his brother's death. In Cal's mind, everything that had happened since their abortive attempt to rob the Laramie to Cheyenne stage had been the fault of one man. Jess Harper. Cal ought to have laid some of the blame at Billy Aiken's door but obsessed as he was with the idea of revenging himself against Jess Harper he had Billy tagged as just another of Jess's victims.
"Harper!" Cal spat the name aloud as he brooded on the past. That robbery should've been a cinch he thought but I guess it was doomed from the start. Billy Aiken had been the shotgun rider on that run and Cal had him in his pocket. Billy had been a friend in the loose sense of the word back in Texas before the war and after. Cal's dark thoughts drifted back to those earlier days. Hell, we was wild… and ole Jess was as wild as the rest of us after the war; always gettin' into scrapes and ridin' pretty close to the edge of the law.
Their wildness in those days hadn't amounted to much. More often than not it took the form of a brawl, culminating in damage to one of the many saloons they found themselves in or not infrequently, damage to one of the more law-abiding customers. The penalty for that sort of offence was usually nothing more than a few days in jail and maybe a fine and at the very worst, with a little hard labour thrown in. And then Cal and his younger brother Frankie had stepped over that fine dividing line between wildness and breaking the law or rather, Cal had stepped over it and Frankie had allowed himself to be dragged over with him. Jess had baulked at taking that step with them and Cal had resented him for it ever since.
Cal never had much of a conscience, even as a boy and he certainly hadn't been about to let conscience stop him getting hold of the money he hankered after for himself and his brother. Jess had been the best shot out of all of them and Cal had wanted him for the gang he was gathering around him. But Jess had downright refused him. It wasn't as if he was over enamoured with the law; no, it wasn't that. Jess had been constrained by what Cal and his cronies lacked; a deep-rooted moral sense of the difference between right and wrong. In other words, Jess had a conscience.
Cal thought back to the fight they'd had when Jess had split with them. Hell, I was only plannin' on takin' money from the banks and the stage line; wasn't gonna be takin' it from ordinary folk. Trouble with Jess, he was too soft; asked us where the hell we thought the bank's money come from. Said it'd be stealin' from ordinary folk as had worked real hard to save it; well, more fool them for trustin' it to a bank in the first place thought Cal moodily. Yeah, Jess come over all self-righteous on us and said he didn't hold with stealin' anyhow and didn't want no part of it. There'd been a violent argument between the two men, ending in a dirty brawl and Jess had finally won out by felling Cal with a powerful blow to the solar plexus. He'd ridden off leaving Cal huddled up in the dirt, winded. Cal had neither forgotten nor forgiven it. Yeah, he thought bitterly and Harper's done right well for hisself from what I hear.
Billy Aiken had thought of himself as a friend of Cal's but he hadn't been part of Cal's hand-picked bunch. He hadn't really been of much use to Cal, being more than a little loose-tongued and not being blessed with much in the way of brains. Billy didn't have an honest bone in his body. He was little more than a petty thief who'd managed to avoid getting caught. A little over two years back he'd landed himself a job with the Overland Stage, riding shotgun on the regular run between Laramie and Cheyenne. He and Cal had met up by chance in Cheyenne a week before the robbery attempt and Billy, flap-jawed as usual, had boasted about guarding a sizeable wages consignment scheduled for the Laramie to Cheyenne run at the end of that week. It was an opportunity Cal couldn't pass up and he had no trouble persuading Billy to go along with his plans. After just a few months riding shotgun Billy had found he wasn't suited to honest work. He was tired of spending his days being bounced around on the box in all weathers; soaked to the skin one day, baked by the hot sun the next and he was bored with hanging on to his shotgun as the stage rattled his bones over the rough trail. So Billy threw in his lot with Cal.
Well, thought Cal Billy was a dang fool and I shouldn't have trusted him to keep his mouth shut. He'd always had a bent to running off at the mouth and he'd had too much to drink that night but Harper had no call to do what he did. We was friends once… Billy had talked a little too freely in the Laramie saloon the night before the robbery, maundering on about how things were going to change for him. Jess had known Billy in Texas when he was still running around with Cal and he didn't trust him riding shotgun. He'd said his piece about Billy when the superintendent had taken him on but the superintendent hadn't wanted to know and Slim had said that maybe Billy just deserved the same sort of chance Jess had been given. That had really rankled with Jess but he'd been forced to let the matter drop. He hadn't forgotten it though. Jess had been in the saloon the night before the robbery and he'd heard Billy's drunken rambling. He knew about the shipment; it was coming through the relay station on the first run of the morning with Mose as the driver. Immediately suspicious, he'd gone over to the jail to discuss what he'd heard with Mort Cory, the town's Sheriff and a good friend to both Jess and Slim. Mort had taken Jess's misgivings seriously and he'd used Billy's drunkenness as an excuse to lock him up in jail then he'd sent word to Slim that Jess was staying in town that night and taking Billy's place on the morning stage.
Cal and his gang had ambushed the stage halfway between Laramie and Cheyenne but Jess and Mort had been ready for them. There were no scheduled passengers on that run but Mort and two deputies were aboard. In the ensuing attack, Jess had managed to shoot down one of the would-be robbers before taking a bullet in his shoulder. Mort and his deputies had opened fire on the gang who'd been forced to flee without the money, leaving behind young Danny Jenkins who'd later died from an infection of the wound he'd received from Jess. The remainder of the gang were tracked down a few days later and jailed for attempted robbery. Billy was convicted of conspiracy to commit a felony and received the same sentence.
Jess and Mose had both been witnesses at the trial that had seen Cal, his brother Frankie and the rest of the gang including Billy, sentenced to two years' hard labour at the Colorado territorial prison. But it had been Jess who'd taken Billy's place riding shotgun, Jess who'd killed Danny Jenkins and Jess who Cal had assigned the blame to.
Those two years in the territorial prison had been far from easy for the two brothers, Cal's confrontational attitude being mainly to blame. He'd always had an argumentative nature and he took pleasure in stirring up trouble amongst the other prisoners with whom he was far from popular. Fights were a regular occurrence with Cal continually in the midst of the trouble and his less aggressive brother Frankie always drawn into the clashes. The prison warden meted out swift justice but none of the harsh punishments prevented Cal from releasing his pent-up aggression in this way and it was one such fight that had cost Frankie his life.
Abe was Danny Jenkins' elder brother. He was no friend to the law but he wasn't wanted for anything specific, mostly because like Billy he'd never been identified or caught. After the death of his brother, Abe had vowed that Jess Harper would pay dearly for shooting the boy. A few months before the end of Cal's sentence, Abe had bribed one of the prison guards to get a message to Cal about his girl, Jeannie. Jeannie worked in one of the saloons in Cheyenne and Cal treated her as his own personal property. While Cal was doing his time, Jeannie had met a well-heeled gambler who'd spent a few days at the saloon successfully fleecing the locals of their hard-earned cash. The gambler had taken a real shine to Jeannie treating her well and Jeannie, making the most of Cal's prolonged absence had left town with him. When Cal heard the news, he'd flown into a blind rage, provoking yet another fight with his none-too-friendly cell mates. One of the prisoners had secreted a knife blade honed from a piece of metal he'd found and Frankie had been fatally stabbed during the fight.
The death of his brother had pushed Cal over the edge of reason. He was unable to bear the guilt he felt for his brother's death and during his time in solitary he'd added Frankie's death and Jeannie's desertion to the list of grudges he held against Jess Harper. That last fight had added a few extra months to his sentence and he'd served the rest of his time in brooding silence channelling all his hostility into planning a protracted and painful vengeance against the man he'd come to hate so vehemently.
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Slim Sherman was a tall man like his father, lean but well-muscled. He was blond with the pale ice-blue eyes that went with his Nordic good looks. He and his younger brother Andy had inherited the Sherman ranch after the death of their father and Slim, on his return from the bloody and bitter civil war during which he'd fought on the Union side, had taken on the responsibility of running the ranch. Sadly, the boys' mother had passed away not long after their father's demise and Jonesy, a long-time employee and friend of the family had come out of his retirement to look after the brothers. He'd acted as their cook, housekeeper and confidante until Andy had gone east to college and Jonesy had gone with the boy to look out for him.
Slim now shared his life at the ranch with his partner Jess Harper, Mike Williams, a boy who'd lost his parents in an Indian raid when he was seven years old and Daisy Cooper, a caring middle-aged woman who had become their housekeeper and stand-in mother.
Jess Harper was a dark-haired drifter with a boyish grin and eyes of the deepest blue, dogged by a reputation as a fast gun. It was his search for Pete Morgan that led him to Laramie. Jess had thought of Morgan as a friend but the man had jumped him, stolen what money he had and left him for dead in Dodge City. Slim had found Jess trespassing on his property one morning and had made an unsuccessful attempt to chase him off but Jess had turned up at the ranch later that morning while Slim was absent. Andy had taken an instant liking to Jess and he'd sensed in him a kindred spirit. He'd no perception of the hardship and loneliness of the life Jess had endured. Being just a boy and sheltered from the exigencies of the real world he'd seen a life on the drift as exciting and full of adventure. He wanted to hear of Jess's time in the big open, seeing in the young drifter a means of escaping the limitation and boredom of his life at the ranch.
Slim's immediate reaction to Jess had been far from good and he'd just wanted him off the Sherman property and as far away from his little brother as he could get him. He knew his own relationship with Andy was wanting and he resented the hand of friendship Andy was impulsively extending to Jess. Slim feared that this man might pose a danger to his family and the fact that Jess wore his rig low on his hip in the manner of a gunslinger hadn't escaped his notice. He was convinced that Jess was a man whose skill with a gun could be procured by the highest bidder. It hadn't helped matters when believing he'd run the young drifter off his property for good, he'd returned to the ranch to find him in the living room apparently teaching Andy to deal off the bottom of a deck of cards. Jess had maintained that he was merely showing Andy how to avoid being cheated in a Poker game but Slim was in no mood to listen that day. He'd swung an angry fist at Jess just as Bud Carlin had walked into the cabin, intent on nothing but trouble and followed by his gang which included Pete Morgan.
By the end of that day, Slim had been forced to revise his first opinion of the young drifter. Between them, Jess and Slim had brought Bud Carlin and his gang to justice and Slim had realised there might be more to Jess than was apparent at first glance. Giving in to Andy's prompting he had offered Jess a job as a ranch hand and after first refusing, Jess had accepted the offer despite the low wage but only, he had insisted, on a trial basis.
At first, the relationship between Slim and Jess got off to a rather turbulent start. Jess was a complex man and for the most part he was a fun-loving soul with a kind and generous nature. He had an innate sense of justice which had very little to do with the law, coming from his own personal code of honour and from what his heart dictated. Slim, underneath his rather serious exterior and rigid sense of duty, was a kind and a fair man with a big heart, always prepared to offer the benefit of the doubt. But unlike Jess he had a somewhat inflexible moral code and his rather black and white sense of right and wrong prompted him to adhere strictly to the letter of the law. Both men had a stubborn streak and that, coupled with the difference in their personalities made for a strained relationship in those early days. Jess was volatile with a temper which matched the hair trigger of his gun and the hard years of his youth had made him defensive. Slim found this hard to deal with and there were frequent clashes between the two men.
Jess had felt very much drawn to Slim since their first meeting, liking him despite his rather rigid attitude and tendency to concentrate too much on work. But it was Andy who'd decided him in accepting the offered job and Andy with whom he'd first begun to form a close bond. The boy had reminded Jess very much of one of his own younger brothers, killed in a vicious attack by the Bannister brothers who had deliberately set fire to Jess's family home. Jess and two of his siblings were the only survivors and the memory of the fire and the desperate cries of his dying family still haunted him. He'd tried his best to save them but had been forced to abandon his efforts blaming himself for his failure even though he'd been burned in the attempt. He and his siblings had found shelter with an uncle but Jess had left soon after, beginning his time on the drift and determined to track down his family's killers.
Being an intuitive person Jess was aware just how much of a worrier Slim was and he knew this was what prompted the rancher to push himself and those around him so hard. He sensed that this fuelled Andy's frustration with the boredom of his life at the ranch and intervened on Andy's behalf, trying to get Slim to lighten up and share some fun with the boy, both for Slim's sake and Andy's. Slim was jealous of the closeness that had developed between Jess and Andy but was unable to see that it was Jess's boyish sense of fun that Andy responded to and which allowed him to relate to the younger man in a way he couldn't relate to his older brother.
Despite the early conflicts, Slim found Jess to be a hard worker, well-skilled in the day-to-day work of the ranch and relay station not the least of which was his natural affinity with horses. As Jess settled in to the life of the ranch Slim caught a glimpse of what was hidden beneath the rough exterior Jess showed to the world and gained an insight into the younger man's complex personality. He felt he had found a friend, someone he could trust to share his burden of responsibility. Benefitting from Jess's help with the workload and unable to resist responding to the younger man's sense of fun, Slim started to loosen up a little. He began to enjoy life a little more and Andy, seeing the change in his elder brother became less restless and rebellious.
Wise old Jonesy at first doubtful of the wisdom of taking on the young drifter had quickly come to see him for what he truly was and he watched with growing satisfaction the change that Jess's presence at the ranch wrought in the relationship between Slim and Andy. It was, he thought, as if Jess had filled the gap between the two brothers, being closer in age to both Slim and Andy than they were to each other, providing a much-needed link between the two.
Slim's stolid, careful attitude and his tendency to think through every aspect of a problem before acting countered Jess's impulsive, fiery and emotional nature and after sharing the hard work of the ranch and facing many dangers together they became firm friends. Over the years that relationship had deepened and they were now as close as brothers.
Chapter 1
The Wyoming winters were always harsh but that winter the weather had been unusually so; the snow deeper, the winds stronger and the temperature colder than Slim could ever remember and the inhabitants of the Sherman ranch and relay station had been forced into virtual hibernation for much of the season.
Jess had complained all through fall that his old injuries were paining him and he'd insisted they were in for a bad winter. Born and bred in the Texas Panhandle country, Jess hated the cold weather and frequently questioned why he stayed to endure the bleak Wyoming winter. But it was a hypothetical query to which he already knew the answer. He stayed because his beloved adopted family was here, his new-found friends were here and Millie… Millie was here and so was his heart.
Although he regularly grouched about the hard work of maintaining the fences and looking after the stock Jess was an active man who loved his busy life at the ranch. Far more than the cold, he hated being confined to the cabin, or when the winter weather was slightly less harsh, to the relatively low-lying span of countryside in the immediate vicinity. Last autumn, even early September had held the promise of snow and the partners had decided to err on the side of caution, bringing the cattle down from the high pastures before mid-September. It was a decision they had not regretted.
The winter months in Wyoming could turn the simple business of venturing even a relatively short distance from the ranch into a major expedition as well as a treacherously dangerous one at times. This winter, even getting into Laramie for supplies had been a rare event. The stage route had been suspended more often than not and the stage being the regular source of visitors and news for the residents of the ranch, contact with the outside world had been severely limited. Mike, who was now in the legal guardianship of the two partners, had been delighted of course as school had often been suspended as well but even Mike found the inactivity palled on him after a while. Daisy kept up Mike's lessons as best she could but he was bored and missing his friends and there were only so many snowmen and snow fights a body could cope with, after all.
The fun-loving Jess was frequently the mischievous instigator of these fights. But this winter the severe cold had been just too much for him and after throwing the first missile he'd retreat into the comparative warmth of the barn hoping to escape retaliation. This strategy didn't always save him as Slim merely followed him into the barn and pinned his friend down whilst thrusting a handful of snow down his neck. Of course, the work of feeding and tending the stock couldn't be ignored no matter what the weather flung at them and the two men's working day usually began before it was even light at around 04:30.
Deciding that the early cold spell was an omen of things to come, Slim and Jess had taken extra time out that autumn for hunting in order to build up a good supply of meat for the fast-approaching winter months. The root cellar was well stocked and Daisy had been busy bottling and canning whatever fruits or vegetables she could lay hands on. Despite this they had relied heavily on their stock of bacon and beans to get through the winter. To add to the dietary problems, their usual supply of eggs had dwindled to practically zero in these exceptionally cold months, their intrepid band of hens unwilling or unable to lay and shutting down production until the weather improved. This had been a severe blow to all of them but most particularly to Jess, as not only were the eggs a breakfast staple, Daisy needed eggs to make the pastry for the apple pie Jess was so fond of.
It had been mid-May when the last of the lying snow had melted and there had been some significant flooding of the areas around the lower basin of the river. The ground was still waterlogged although due to the persistently high winds all through May most places were beginning to dry out.
Now, in early June, the cold weather had finally relented although the nights were still colder than usual at that time of year. In the warmer months Laramie's regular dances were held in a clearing in the large stand of pine trees behind the main street of the town and these were always eagerly anticipated by the folk living in and around Laramie. The dances were kept going in the winter, weather permitting of course, in the town's hall. The hall was fairly large but still the dancing was limited somewhat compared to the open-air dances of the summer months, though this never seemed to limit the enthusiasm of the townsfolk. The dances were well attended and crowding together at least helped to keep the hall warm. There was considerable excitement this Saturday as it was the first dance to be held in a couple of months, although as the evenings were still cool once the sun had gone down it would be held in the hall.
Slim and Jess had not spent an evening in town for a couple of weeks although Jess's had brought Daisy into town in the buckboard one morning to pick up some much-needed supplies. The two men had been forced to round up all the stock and move them to safety away from the flooded lower basin but some of the cattle had strayed into the waterlogged areas becoming bogged down in the mud holes. Rescuing them was hard work and it was also dangerous if the cattle had strayed too near to the fast-flowing river. Slim and Jess usually ended up as covered in mud and mire as their mounts and the unfortunate cattle and they were far too tired to venture into town in the evening. Now, with that task at least behind them they were both looking forward to enjoying a night out in Laramie and taking their girls to the dance.
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Abe Jenkins lounged against the bar of the Stockman's Palace saloon. He'd been in Laramie for a week or so now gathering information. It was Wednesday morning and although the town was quite busy, the saloon was fairly empty. He'd tried to draw Millie into conversation the evening before, describing Jess Harper and saying he'd seen the man in town during the day getting supplies and thought he knew him. He'd asked if his name was Harper but Millie had been evasive and was unwilling to discuss her friend with a stranger. Susie, another of the saloon girls was listening in and she let drop that it sounded like Jess and added that he was part-owner of the Sherman ranch and relay station. Abe thought Millie looked as if she could have hit her. This morning Abe was going to try his luck with Susie again and he hoped Millie hadn't gotten to her. Susie had been serving a couple of ranch hands at the other end of the bar counter. She wandered back over to see if Abe needed another drink and he casually brought the conversation around to Jess.
Abe gave Susie what he hoped was a pleasant smile. "Yeah, another beer'd be great. What's ya name kid?" Abe knew her name already but he needed a lead-in.
"My name's Susie mister but what do I call you?" Susie placed the fresh beer down on the counter in front of him and leaned toward him offering a good view of her cleavage.
"Well Susie, you can call me Davy" he answered, dragging his eyes reluctantly away from what he thought was her best feature. Picking up his beer he took a long draw. "You got any idea if Jess Harper's comin' into town today? I sure would like to meet up with him. I knew 'im from Texas a lotta years ago and it'd be good to catch up on some news and chew over old times."
"I don't think he'll be in today" Susie told him. "Jess and Slim don't come in to town much during the week, except maybe to pick up supplies. They're usually in here on a Saturday evening, though they haven't been in much lately. Too busy, I heard. There's a dance in town this Saturday so I guess we'll be seein' them then." She looked around to see if any of the customers needed a refill and then turned her attention back to Abe. He was about Jess's age, maybe a little older, pleasant looking but nowhere near as good looking as Jess. He was about the same height and had light brown hair that was straighter than Jess's dark wavy locks. His eyes were a sort of light hazel brown colour. Susie decided he was no substitute for Jess. Those deep blue eyes and long dark lashes added considerably to Jess's irresistible animal magnetism but with Millie around there wasn't much hope for her. She sighed and settled for second best.
"Yeah? Well, maybe I'll catch him on Saturday" Abe was saying looking down into his half-empty glass with a strange little smile. He felt Susie's gaze on him and brought his thoughts back to the present. "So Susie, you goin' to the dance?"
"No, I can't." Susie looked a trifle peeved. "Ruby and me, we went to the last dance so it's our turn to cover for Millie and Lucy, though I might get away later in the evenin' if it's quiet in here."
"That's a real shame Susie. I might get spruced up and look in at the dance myself. Woulda been nice havin' myself a dance with a pretty girl like you." Abe gave Susie another of his smiles and Susie rewarded him with a further flash of cleavage. She was more than happy to chat.
"Millie and Lucy are goin' to the dance with Jess and Slim. Oh, just a moment" Susie said, hurrying off to the other end of the bar to serve a customer who had just come in. She gave the bar counter a wipe with a clean cloth, working her way down the counter until she got back to Abe to resume the conversation.
"Jess and Millie kinda grew up together" Susie told Abe. "They were friends when they were kids but Millie told me she lost touch with him what with the war an' all and Jess driftin' as he did. She started workin' here a year or so after Jess turned up at the Sherman ranch. Some twist of fate, meetin' up again like that, isn't it?"
"Sure is" Abe agreed "but I heard they was a bit more than friends."
"Oh yeah" said Susie, a bit regretfully "everyone knows that but Jess and Millie act like it's a big secret. He's takin' her to the dance on Saturday but he'll be finishin' off the evenin' in her room. You can be sure of that."
Abe picked up on the tone of her voice and wondered if Susie might be a little sweet on Jess herself. Cal'd told him that Jess had always been popular with the women folk. Encouraged by this he dug a little deeper and Susie was happy to oblige.
"They think they've got us all fooled. Millie may go up to her room alone but Jess waits by the back stairs in the side alley until Millie lets him in and I know she does 'cos I can hear 'em talkin' in her room an' I saw him goin' in with her once. And…" she concluded with a conspiratorial look "I heard him talkin' to her in the mornin' too." Now Abe knew she was jealous.
Tom came back to the bar from the back room just then and caught the last part of the conversation. He looked over disapprovingly. "Susie, see if there's anything needed at that corner table over there will you please?" She knew she'd been silenced and looked a little shamefaced but the damage had been done.
Abe finished his drink, gave Susie a departing wave and left the saloon. He looked around to see if anyone was watching him and then slipped into the side alley Susie had mentioned. He took a long look around before mounting the horse he'd left at the hitching rail and riding out of town.
In the saloon, Susie went back behind the bar to get the drinks ordered by the card players at the corner table and Tom came over to stand behind her. "Susie" he said quietly "you shouldn't be talking about Jess and Millie's business you know. It's nothing to do with anybody but them and I don't want to hear you talking about them like that again, especially not to a stranger. Do you hear?" Susie said nothing but lowering her head, she coloured up a little and nodded in acquiescence. Tom, satisfied with this, walked away to a customer at the other end of the bar.