Chapter 1 – Just the Man I Don't Want to See
Cole Yankton was dead and his memory buried along with him more than three months ago. Winter had settled in, so very few strangers walked into the Long Branch. One particular stranger, a handsome man in his mid-30s with curly black hair and grey eyes and dressed like a riverboat gambler, did just that. He'd come into town on the westbound stage from Abilene, checked into a room at the Dodge House, took the time to wash the dust off and sauntered across the street to the saloon. If his luck held, and based on the names above the door it just might, he'd confirm what he'd learned in Abilene by setting his eyes on his quarry.
Kitty Russell was putting out the bread and meats for the free lunch while her partner Bill Pence was on his way back from the cellar with a fresh keg of beer in preparation for the lunchtime crowd of mostly regulars. Some would order meals of stew or fried chicken, which the cook would have ready shortly. The stranger walked toward the bar and stood just behind Kitty. With his right hand he jangled a number of coins as he threw them onto the smooth wood of the bar.
Startled, but only momentarily, Kitty let her professionalism take over. She moved around the end of the bar that held the food and turned to face the first lunchtime customer.
"What can I get you?" she asked "You're welcome to sandwiches if you buy a beer for a nickel. Whiskey's 20¢ a shot, $1 for the bottle."
"It's been a few years Kitty, but now that Cole's dead, I've come to collect what's mine. I hear the local law shot him after a bank holdup. I'll have a whiskey on the house to give your brain a minute to register my meaning."
Kitty's eyes widened in recognition but she managed to keep her voice under control as she replied. "There's nothing here that's yours, Denis L'Hommedeu. If you want whiskey, you're welcome to it, but only if you pay for it."
L'Hommedeu reached for her across the bar and started to pull her towards him as Bill set down the keg and groped for the mallet he kept behind the bar for such occasions while keeping his eyes firmly planted on the stranger. At that moment, Matt Dillon strode through the batwing doors, drawing his pistol as he advanced into the room. Normally he would have simply walked up to him, pulled him back, spun him around and knocked him cold with a fist to the jaw, but Bill was closer and something about the stranger said he needed to be shot if he didn't back off from Kitty.
"I'd advise you to let go of the lady right now because if you don't I might shoot you before Bill knocks you on your head with his mallet."
"I'll let her go for now, but you and the bartender may just change your tune even though that whore's name is on the sign above the door as half owner. Her daddy wouldn't like it if I broadcast all over New Orleans that his Kitty's a saloon whore. He'd rather bury her besmirching of the family name now that it's too late for him to prevent it. I doubt he even likes her name on a saloon even if he did make sure she learned how to take its customers."
"That's enough out of you. I know all about her father's preferences. You've got until the next train to get out of town. It leaves in two hours. If you miss it, I'll personally put you on the stage that leaves an hour later. In the meantime, stay away from Kitty and the Long Branch if you want to stay in one piece."
L'Hommedeu didn't argue with Matt's gun or his expression. He left the bar and walked past him toward the batwing doors. Matt followed behind and watched as the gambler crossed Front Street toward the Dodge House before turning back toward Kitty and Bill Pence.
"Kitty, who is he? He acted like he knows you, but if he so much as glances at you again he'll wake up in my jail two days from now."
"Matt, I believe you hate him as much as I do and you don't even know him. He was Cole's best friend back in New Orleans. Cole asked him to look after me when he left for California until he sent for me, but Denis took it to mean that I was a gift to him if Cole lost interest in me. Still, while there was a chance Cole might actually think of me as something more than a conquest, he didn't step too far out of line, at least not directly to his way of thinking. Thanks Matt for taking care of him. I'll see you upstairs around 7. I'll fix our supper tonight. I'm not up to going out, but could sure use your company."
Matt headed back to his office, but sent his assistant Chester Goode to find out if L'Hommedieu got on that eastbound train as ordered. If he didn't, Matt was prepared to see him off on the stage. Chester followed L'Hommedeu from the Dodge House to the train depot, remaining until the man boarded and the train started to pull out of the station. However, the New Orleans gambler jumped off the far side of the train before it picked up enough speed to make the jump unsafe.
L'Hommedeu waited until the crowd dispersed and then made his way through back alleys toward the Long Branch where he melted into the early afternoon crowd. He hid himself in an alcove where he could watch the room. He now had two reasons for staying. He was taking the redhead back to New Orleans with him or, if he couldn't force her, kill her. He also intended to kill the big man who ordered him out of town. Nobody ordered Denis L'Hommedeu out of a dirty cow town. With Cole dead, Kitty was now his property, the glorified policeman's implied claim notwithstanding. Yeah, he'd noticed the tin badge. He realized Cole had never expressly given her to him, that wasn't Cole's way, but it was how Denis saw it. Still, his best friend was quite taken with her and might just have had in mind to marry the vixen. Therefore, he'd waited until now to fully claim her as his and never for marriage. It made no difference to him her New Orleans lineage. Thanks to the blind eye of her father and his own hand in what she became, she was soiled goods, forever banned from respectability. Still, he wondered if the marshal paid for her services or simply took them as part of his percentage for allowing her to have it appear that she was part owner. Was he the Pence on the saloon sign?
The bartender from earlier had left for his supper leaving Kitty alone at a table where she was going over a large ledger. L'Hommedeu quietly approached the table, grabbed her so she couldn't cry out and forced her to her feet. Then he herded her toward the stairs and up them toward the rooms he was sure were reserved for the private pleasure of the customers. He had to admit that for a frontier town this was a pretty classy place. He indicated she should lead him to the most luxurious of the rooms. Kitty struggled, but was no match for his strength. By the time they reached her door she decided it was better to appear to cooperate. All she had to do was stall him until Matt arrived in less than an hour. At that point, they heard movement downstairs and a voice call out in surprise, Fred, the evening barkeep.
"Bill, Miss Kitty," he called out. "Anybody here?"
"I'm upstairs Fred," Kitty replied when she managed to convince Denis it would be best. "I was about to come down again, but now that you're here I'll take my time and change for tonight's special customers."
Kitty retrieved her room key from her skirt pocket and opened the door. L'Hommedeu pushed her inside ahead of him and turned the lock. When he turned toward her, she was standing by the round table where she and Matt would have supper staring at her tormentor as if waiting for further instructions. She stood her ground as he walked slowly toward her, obviously impressed with the main room.
"Those special customers may have a long wait, but I can see why they'd want to come up here," Denis said as his left arm encircled her waist and his right hand fondled her breasts through her afternoon gown, which was revealing but not as revealing as what she would normally wear for the nighttime customers. "I'm glad you've decided to accept the fact that you're now mine to do with as I see fit. It's been a long time since I had any control over you and I plan for us to get reacquainted before I send you back downstairs to woo the customers. I'm sure you're a lot better at pleasing them then you were when I left you back in Laredo. Oh, in case you might have other ideas, I'll choose which ones you bring up here and for how long."
"Whatever you say, Denis. Do you mind if I sit at my dressing table and redo my hair first? Perhaps you'd prefer that I unpin it for you and let it hang down my back. I can pin it back up later in any style you want. You may have noticed the chafing dishes on the table to keep it warm. I started supper cooking in the kitchen downstairs and brought it up here just before Bill went to his own supper. I made enough for two just in case someone special came by to share it with before turning to other things. It looks like that someone is you. If you're wondering, I'm a good cook."
While L'Hommedeu was agreeing to allow Kitty to unpin her hair and to eating supper with her before learning the secrets her body had to offer, Matt returned to the saloon for his rendezvous with Kitty. He looked at Fred, who nodded before Matt headed for the stairs and climbed them. He was about to knock to let Kitty know he'd arrived when he heard a man's voice coming from within. It was the voice of the man he'd thrown out of town earlier, the man Chester told him had boarded the train. Obviously, he got off and came back. Instead of knocking, Matt kicked the door open.
Denis L'Hommedeu was standing with Kitty, who now had her hair down, at the foot of the big brass bed. He drew his derringer from his pocket as Matt stood in the doorway, but didn't fire in the expected direction. Before the marshal realized what was happening, the gambler put the tiny pistol against Kitty's side and pulled the trigger as he yelled, "You filthy redheaded whore, you tricked me."
Matt stood there momentarily stunned. He missed the chance to fire immediately, ending L'Hommedeu's life but the gambler dropped his weapon as soon as he shot Kitty and she fell to the carpeted floor. Lawman and man fought within Matt. He stood frozen in shock with his pistol drawn and cocked, wanting to race to Kitty's side but also wanting to kill the man responsible.
Given the short respite, L'Hommedeu spoke. "I told her she was completely mine now but if she thwarted me in any way, I'd shoot her. She knew you were coming all along. I smelled it when I saw the supper for two ready and waiting even if the table wasn't set. By the way, Marshal, I learned enough before you came up to know you're not Bill Pence. Are you paying him for this special treatment or are you the one who thinks he owns her?"
"Kitty's her own woman," Matt found himself replying. "She's sure not mine in the way you mean, but I care about her very much, so before I forget I'm a lawman you're either gonna pick up your pistol so I can kill you right where you stand or you can leave it where it is and head downstairs with me. I'm sure someone heard the gunshot even from that little bitty thing so you've no other choices."
Matt was right. Chester stood in the doorway gazing in shock at the scene before him, Kitty on the floor apparently dead and Mr. Dillon frozen in place facing her killer. In that short instant L'Hommedeu grabbed his derringer and fired toward Matt, but Matt suddenly awakened by his assistant's arrival was quicker. The gambler's shot went wide as he fell dead from a bullet through his heart. Now he, man and lawman, he was all business.
"Chester, go get Doc and somebody to get this piece of filth out of here," Matt ordered as he bent down to pick up Kitty and carry her to her bed, any thought of a romantic supper together forgotten.
As he gently turned the covers down and placed her on the bed Matt had no idea if she was still alive. If she was breathing, it was too shallow for him to tell and there didn't seem to be a pulse. In less than five minutes Doctor Adams was at Kitty's side, his medical bag open, sending everyone but Matt away. As soon as hot water was available he washed himself thoroughly and sterilized his instruments in the alcohol and boiling water mixture while the distraught lawman removed any clothing that would interfere with the operation as well as her shoes. Glancing at Matt, Doc, after picking up a faint heartbeat through his stethoscope, steeled himself to probe her right side for the bullet and remove it before she lost any more blood. He didn't find it there. It had traveled through her body to rest against the muscle on her left side.
"Mr. Marshal, if you don't think you're up to it, I'll understand. All I ask is that you get one of the newer girls, who hasn't got to know Kitty well yet, to assist me instead of you. I need to remove this bullet now if she's to have any chance."
"Doc, I'll stay now that I know she's still alive. Having something useful to do will help me keep it together more than sitting and waiting."
Doc worked tirelessly to save Kitty's life while Matt handed him whatever he asked for and held her steady while the bullet was removed. With the bullet gone, the town's physician stitched the entry and exit wounds closed and bandaged her midsection. He checked her pulse, which was weak but steady, and allowed Matt to put a nightgown down over her head and pull the covers up under her chin. There was nothing left to do but wait.
Matt, who had hung his hat and gun belt on the pegs by the door, sat on the free side of Kitty's big brass bed to remove his boots. He then as gently as he could, so as not to disturb the unconscious patient, shifted his large frame so his back was against the headboard and his feet hung straight out before him. Doc meanwhile, pulled up one of the chairs by the other side of the bed. Both men gazed down at the woman they cared more for than they could admit even to themselves.
"Matt, you can get back to your marshaling now. I don't need you here. Despite the exceptional skill of her personal physician I still can't be sure she'll make it. The bullet nearly passed all the way through, but at that close a range I can't be sure what internal damage might have occurred even though it was only a small caliber bullet. I'll know more in the morning when she wakes up; if she wakes up."
"Doc, I don't care how much you object, I'm not leaving her side. Why don't you go get some rest? I can send someone for you if there's any change. You did everything you could so if she doesn't make it, it's my fault. I should have shot the bastard earlier today long before he shot her. Instead, I told him to get out of Dodge."
"I see I'm not gonna change your mind about staying, but I have you know, you overgrown public servant, contrary to the belief of some people in this town, you're not infallible. Any sane man would have stayed on the train and if he didn't, would have fired at you when you kicked the door down not at the woman beside him. Then again, any sane man would know Kitty's not a woman you can force into anything. Of course, there's one stubborn fellow I know who can't grasp the fact he's the only one who can provide her with what she does want."
Matt gave him a withering look before they both fell silent. Both men eventually nodded off, Matt on the bed and Doc with his body falling sideways from his chair so his head rested on the night table.