Chapter 3 – The Lessons Begin
Matt was happy to oblige Kingsley and agree to the catcher/manager's request for a second game, although he thought he'd skip pitching for the sake of his gun arm and switch positions with Chester. It meant there was still time to find Sam's fiddle among the ballplayers and maybe the actors, although his gut was telling him they were a less likely group. The actors had always planned on leaving on Monday's train for Garden City. He, Doc and Kitty continued walking to Delmonico's for supper where several of the actors were eating, including young Holmes.
"Marshal Dillon, I know you're busy, but have you had time to get any further with the missing violin?" the tall, thin young Englishman with the dark hair and sharp nose asked. "I'm anxious to learn as much as I can from you before our troupe leaves for another village."
"Sure, Holmes. If you're not needed at the theater for a bit, you can join me and Chester on our early rounds. I don't expect you'll need a gun as long as you're with me, but Chester will take one of the rifles with him just in case there's trouble. With all these strangers in town, you never know when you might need it."
Soon Holmes was walking alongside Matt as he checked on the businesses along Front Street and on each side street along the north side of the main thoroughfare. Chester did the same on the south side, but there were fewer businesses closer to the river and those south of the water resented the law butting into their affairs unless there was trouble the owners couldn't handle themselves. If the business was still open, he merely peered in through the window, but if it was closed, he checked the door as well.
When they arrived at the alley behind the Long Branch Matt pointed out the different types of prints and how to tell which came first. Holmes was shown how to tell a mule from a horse and one horse or mule from another by their shoe prints. Matt also pointed out the differences in shoe prints. He showed Holmes that several baseball players had been that way the previous night by pointing out the unique triangular print made by the two spikes at the front of the shoe and a third spike at the heel. They also found prints made by the higher heeled boots of the cowboys, those made by the broader heeled boots of farmers and the shoes of the town dwellers and visiting businessmen. Matt explained that there were too many prints, even with eliminating the more recent ones, to determine which set might be the ones of the man who stole Sam's fiddle. He gave Holmes the task of tracking the cleated shoes of the ballplayers because they were so distinctive.
The young man eagerly set about his assigned task, but lost the trail in a weedy area as the man turned the corner out of the alley into the yard of one of the cheaper rooming houses where a number of the ballplayers were staying. Matt then showed him how to pick up the trail again by sensing the direction from the way the weeds were bent. Holmes scrutinized the ground and soon gave a triumphant cry as he spotted the double set of cleated shoes again. They led up to the front steps of the house.
Holmes was all for going into the house and confronting the occupants in an effort to find the missing musical instrument, but Matt halted him. He explained that they needed more information before they did that because there was nothing to tie anyone in that house to the fiddle except the men had been at the Long Branch and walked to the rooming house. Matt warned him about acting too soon and possibly destroying any chance to solve the crime.
"We need to listen to conversations and draw the men out so that we can narrow down who might have taken it. Then it's a matter of piecing together all the evidence so you have a clear idea in your mind of the sequence of events that led to the crime and how it was done. My overly quick reactions in your case could have proved disastrous if it had been, say murder, and the wrong man overheard. It's an easy mistake to make, but not always a healthy one."
The lesson over, Holmes made his way into the Long Branch to drink his beer and follow the marshal's advice while he sat nursing his drink until he had to join his fellow actors at the opera house for tonight's performance. Tonight's single one would start an hour later than last night's early show. Matt, for his part, went in search of Holmes' boss so the actor/director could get a heads up on the baseball game before the posters started to appear. Sure enough, Trevor McIver went straight to the printer and then the Comique manager so he could cancel the Sunday matinee and replace it with a Monday matinee. His troupe would have to bring their belongings to the dressing rooms so they wouldn't miss their evening train.
Despite Matt's fears, Dodge remained relatively quiet through the early part of the evening, with only a few barroom brawls to mar it. As a result, and thanks to her willingness to leave overseeing the saloon to Sam and Polly, one of the older girls, Kitty agreed to accompany him to Delmonico's. Two pairs of eyes watched them leave for the restaurant. The two belonging to the eyes left the Long Branch within a few minutes and strolled down Front Street in separate directions.
Matt had told Chester to only come get him if somebody got himself killed or was about to or if one of the saloons was being torn to pieces as the customers rioted. As their steaks led to more coffee and slices of pie, he decided to prolong their time at the table as long as possible. He had an itch that told him once he left Delmonico's the rest of his night would be very busy.
Finally, by nine o'clock, neither of them could put off returning to work any longer, so Matt and Kitty rose from their table and walked out of the door to cross Front Street. They stepped up on the opposite boardwalk just as they approached the alley between the post office and stage depot with Kitty walking closest to the buildings. Suddenly, Kitty gave a sharp cry and leaned in closer to Matt. Next thing he knew, he was keeping her from falling to the ground as he heard footsteps running down toward the back of the alley.
Matt scooped Kitty up into his arms and headed directly for Doc's office; whoever ran down the alley would have to wait. He hoped she'd only fainted, but wasn't about to take any chances with the most important person in his life. It wasn't until he'd reached the top of the stairs that he remembered Doc was at the Comique. Since he was already there, he tried the door, but it was locked. There was nothing for it but to carry her up the back stairs of the Long Branch and into her rooms. The key was in his pocket for use later that night if she invited him for a nightcap after closing.
Matt shut her door behind him and walked as quietly, yet quickly, down the stairs as he could. He didn't want to cause more panic than he what he felt. When he laid her down on the bed, after pulling the covers down, and went to loosen her dress to make her more comfortable, he noticed how pale she was and became aware of blood on his fingers. He'd kept enough presence of mind to use what cloth he could find to form an outer bandage to keep pressure on what was obviously a wound and then wash the blood off his clothes and hands before heading downstairs to draw Sam aside so they could speak privately. Sam nodded at Fred and Polly to take over while Sam went upstairs explaining that Miss Kitty wasn't feeling too well so he'd go upstairs to see what he could do while the marshal went to get Doc.
By the time Matt arrived at the opera house, it was intermission and the play was half over. He looked frantically around for Doc, finally finding him talking to Jake Worth by the refreshment counter. Doc took one look at his friend and knew at once something was seriously wrong despite the big man's efforts to hide it.
"Excuse me, Jake," Doc told the rancher. "It looks like there's been some trouble and my services are needed. I know how this play ends anyway."
"What is it, Matt?" Doc asked as he and the lawman walked out the door into the street. "I can tell by how hard you're trying to keep your body from letting me know how worried you are, that this isn't some cowboy who got into a fight he couldn't handle."
"It's Kitty, Doc. I don't think she was shot. At least I didn't hear anything except a gasp from her, but I'm afraid she's hurt real bad."
Soon Doc had the whole story as they raced down Front Street as fast as the old man could, stopping only for him to grab his medical bag and the instruments he thought he'd need. They then raced up the stairs in the Long Branch, Matt taking them two at a time so he could open the door for the doctor and race to Kitty's side. Sam hadn't been idle. He'd replaced Matt's bandage, using strips of cloth from one of his employer's petticoats, and put up a pot of water to boil and cleared out the washbasin for Doc to use.
Kitty was pale and unconscious as Doc took up his position next to the woman he loved like a daughter. He listened to her chest through his stethoscope and checked her pulse before bending to examine the wound, for that's what it definitely was underneath her dress and the bandage Sam had provided. Looking at Matt, who'd taken up a position on the other side of the prone redheaded woman, his hand firmly clasping hers, he moved away from the bed to prepare his instruments.
"Thanks, Sam. I'll help Doc with whatever he needs. Keep this as quiet as you can."
"Matt's right. Kitty needs you to keep her business going smoothly on a busy Saturday night. We'll let you know as soon as there's anything to report," Doc told him as the bartender hesitated.
After what seemed like ages to Matt, but was somewhat less than a half-hour, Doc finished repairing the damage caused by the knife wound. As far as he could tell the sharp, narrow blade had cut deep but missed any vital organs as it was thrust in and just as rapidly pulled out. The operation finished, the physician turned to the other man in the room.
"Matt, you do the most good if you find the bastard who did this. I'll stay with her and will let you know as soon as I know something more. I won't know for certain she'll make it until morning, so get out of here and do your job, Mr. Marshal!"
