Gunsmoke
The Wrong Man
Chapter 1
As usual, all rights belong to CBS. These characters, with the exception of a few, were created by the TPTB. I am just borrowing them for a spell and will return them. However, I will be back this way again, to borrow them many more times over. Once again, this story is filled with angst and other things, I hope that it will keep everyone on the edge. Or not.
KR
It was a cold blustery day, February 2nd, and Anna Thompson wished she had moved anywhere other than Culbertson Nebraska with her mother and father so many years ago. She never really learned to get used to the extremely cold winters out in the mid-west. She would prefer to be back in her childhood home in sunny and warm California. But there was work to be done, and she had to stop daydreaming about the warmth and sunshine of California. It was well before five in the morning as she made her way down the dark streets heading back to her Dress shop. She had to finish Mrs. Bigley's dress today for the Barn dance tomorrow evening and Bessie Peese's dress was in need of a few alterations as well as Mona's and Tara Lindley. She had so much work to do, and so little time in which to do it. Her only saving grace was the fact that she was widowed and had no children she had to tend to before work. Her father and mother, still alive and fit as a fiddle, both, took care of the farm while she worked to keep things going. It wasn't as though she minded working in her own dress shop, she just wanted the spring to show itself and the warmth to seep into her bones and get rid of the chill. Walking down the boardwalk, she thought she had heard a subtle pair of footsteps behind her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key to her shop and began to pick up speed a bit. She quickly unlocked the door, and turned to lock it behind her. The footsteps continued past the shop. Breathing a sigh of relief, she used the early morning light to find her way over to the lantern; which sat on the table beside the dress she was working on. As she reached for the stick matches which sat in the metal cup beside the lantern, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. There was nothing but blackness that surrounded her now. Her body seemed to be falling into an abyss.
The news spread like wildfire through the little town of Culbertson Nebraska. The morning came with a rude awakening and the body of Anna Thompson had been found by one of her clients, Mrs. Oliver Bigley. This murder would be the first of it's kind in this tiny little quaint town, the first, but not the last.
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As Kitty sat at the table working on her books, Doc sat across from her, reading the Gazette, a local newspaper which carried the tales from all over the nation. Mr. Billings ran the Gazette and with the help of many friends across this great big country, added not only local news, but news of other states and even from across the sea in Europe. Mr. Billings' wife, Nora liked to keep up on the latest fashions in Europe and her sister Elsie who now resided in England with her husband Lord Devereaux, often sent her sister information on such fashions. The latest parcel to reach him was a handful of clippings about the Nebraska murders. Six women, thus far had been savagely murdered. He had taken the clippings and placed them in chronological order and then reprinted the information in a tale a horror and gruesome details, writing this one himself. He had a flare for writing and the more gruesome, the more he preferred it.
Doc read the front page; which held a sketch of the latest victim in as string of murders that were no closer to being solved then they had been almost four months ago, when the first one occurred. His brow furrowed and Kitty heard as soft snort come from his throat which she recognized to be one of disgust. "Horrible, just horrible." Doc said as Kitty looked up at him.
"What's horrible, Doc?" Kitty asked curiously.
"Those poor women in Nebraska Territory." He said scratching his chin and continuing to read.
Now Kitty was even more curious. She set down her pen and looked at him, waiting for a few seconds. "What about the women in Nebraska, Doc?" She said lifting her coffee cup to her lips and taking a deep sip.
"It says here that six women had been brutally, murdered in the last four months. They haven't been able to determine who the culprit is…" He stopped reading out loud to her as the information before him, was more than he wanted Kitty to hear. Kitty knew that something was amiss; he started to fold the paper back up.
"What else does it say, Doc?" She asked looking at him with those beautiful blue innocent eyes.
He didn't have the guts to tell her about the brutality of these murders, he would rather someone else do it. "Oh, nothing much!" He said setting the paper on the table, beneath his hand. Kitty was not buying it. She knew him too well and this story had bothered the good Doctor right down to his very soul.
"Doc, let me see that article." She said reaching for it.
"No, it's boring and complicated, you don't want to read it." He said as he started to pull the paper away from her.
"Come on, Curly, I'm a big girl." She said pulling the paper from his hand. He watched helplessly as she began to open the paper. "Kitty, please, you really don't want to read that."
Kitty saw genuine concern in his eyes for her, but she felt the curiosity inside and she wanted to know what he was hiding from her. Reading the paper, she found where Doc had left off and read out loud. "Each victim was brutally raped then strangled to death and left…….Oh my God." She said in a strangled whisper.
"Sam, bring me a whiskey!" Doc yelled to him as he slid from his chair to kneel beside Kitty who immediately turned pale from what she had read. Sam placed the whiskey on the table beside Doc and Doc handed it to Kitty as Sam went to the other side of her to kneel beside her. Doc held her trembling hands with his own as she slowly brought the whiskey to her lips.
"Doc, how could someone do that to another living being?" She asked in a soft voice as she set the paper down on the table.
"I don't know, Honey. I don't know." Doc said holding the usually strong Redhead's hand. But he understood what she was feeling. They have never been exposed to this kind of violence. Yes, the west was still wild to him and to her, but to consciously commit this kind of a crime, it just wasn't something they had experienced before.
"What kind of animal would do something like that?" She said staring at the paper on the table.
"Are you alright, Miss Kitty?" Sam said as he continued to kneel beside her.
"I will be, Sam." She looked at Doc who still held her hand. "I should have left well enough alone, huh, Curly." She said sadly as she tried to get the picture that had been painted in her mind by what she had read.
"You just relax, honey." He said as he got up off of his knee and motioned Sam towards the bar. "I'm gonna get a fresh pot of coffee." He said taking the newspaper in his hand and going over to the bar.
Sam walked behind the bar to get the fresh pot from beneath the counter. "I've got a fresh one already brewed, Doc."
"Good, good, Sam, I'll take it over. You do me a favor and discard this paper. It's too much for any woman to read. That Billings', sometimes he goes too far." He said handing the paper to Sam who immediately threw it in the bin.
Doc picked up the pot of coffee and headed back over to Kitty. Matt and Festus had been out making their early morning rounds and stopped at the saloon for a cup of coffee before returning to the office. When Matt saw Kitty sitting there, Doc holding her hand again and her face was still paled by what she had read, he felt his heart lurch in his chest. He rushed to her side as did Festus and they surrounded her.
"Everything alright in here?" Matt said trying to not act too concerned for Kitty. He didn't want to make things too obvious, but it didn't matter, there wasn't a man in Dodge that didn't know how the big Marshal felt about the beautiful redhead.
"Yes, everything's fine. Kitty just got upset over something she read, is all." Doc said smiling at her.
"You mean about that thar lady killer in Nebraski?" Festus asked as he stood beside Matt who sat down on Kitty's right.
"Yes. I guess you read it this morning too?" Doc asked Matt knowing full well that Festus could not read.
"Actually, I got a dispatch from Washington on it. They have no description, no clues as to who would do such a thing." Matt said looking over at Kitty, and realizing she was still pale. "Are you alright, Kitty?" He said gently taking her hands in his.
"Yes, Cowboy, I'm fine." She said drinking down the last of the whiskey. "I'll be just fine. Why don't you and Festus join Doc and I for a cup of coffee?" She said looking into his concerned blue eyes. She knew that he needed to make sure she was okay and the only way to do the without others thinking anything of it, was to have a cup of coffee and sit and chat.
"Well, I guess that would be okay. I can always spare a minute or two for a beautiful redhead." He said taking the last two cups from the tray and turning them right side up. Kitty took the coffee pot and began to pour the coffee for the two men. Festus took a seat across from her. She didn't notice him watching her as well, but he too, was concerned for her. He noticed a slight tremor in her hand as she handed him the coffee cup and saucer. But he said nothing, instead, he gently reached over and took the cup. He pretended that nothing was wrong and she smiled that alluring smile that told him thank you.
TBC
There really isn't much yet in this chapter, but please bear with me. It will get more exciting, I promise.
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