As soon as Sam mentioned the stagecoach massacre to Teaspoon and Emma, I felt an explosion of emotion burst inside of me. Hate, anger, guilt, and sadness tumbled through me at a maddening rate and I took off running. I needed to get away, to escape the horrible images Sam's words had resurrected in my mind.
I could hear Buck and Teaspoon calling out my name. I heard their boots thundering down the wooden sidewalk behind me, but I didn't stop running. I didn't want them to catch me. I didn't want to tell them how I failed to protect that woman from being murdered along with the others killed in the stagecoach massacre.
I slammed into someone coming out of the saloon, and hit the sidewalk. As I started to get up, I glanced up at the man I had run into, and froze as I recognized him as the man who had killed the woman I had tried to protect. Recognition dawned in the cold eyes staring back at me as well.
Fear threaded its way through me as I saw the man reach for his gun, but before he could draw it, Buck and Teaspoon arrived. I felt relief flood over me as they helped me to my feet. They sensed the tension that radiated between me and the other man.
Words were exchanges between Teaspoon and the outlaw, over him calling me a dummy because I couldn't talk. The man and his companion left a few moments later, leaving me alone to face Teaspoon and Buck's questions. After Teaspoon explained to me and Buck that the man was a notorious outlaw named Nickerson, and that he was suspected of many atrocious things, I knew I could remain silent no longer about what I had witnessed. I could not in good conscience, let the man go free, when I could be the one to bring him to justice at last.