Chapter 7 – Bud Peevy Plays His Part
Dryden and Conway were showing off the herd to the three prospective buyers. Within days of the cattle being sold the entire outfit would drift back to Laredo with what remained of their pay. All except one of the men who rode with the longhorns up the trail with their trail boss and his ramrod were enjoying their leisure. Only Bud Peevy, cook for the Circle T riders, was completely at loose ends. He was worried about his one-time assistant, now a successful young businesswoman, and so decided to spend his free time watching over this grown-up version of his Kit.
Feeling lonely and too hungry to wait for his friends to join him for dinner, Bud made his way to the Long Branch. A sandwich made from the fixings supplied for the free lunch and a beer would go down good. Who knows, short of finding the redhead, he might even find someone to talk to who could help him sort things out. He found that someone in the Teasdale sisters, Sally and Tilda.
"Did you come here looking for Miss Kitty?" Sally asked him. "She ain't here right now, but we'll keep you company," she cooed when he nodded and called to the barkeep for a bottle and three glasses.
"We couldn't help but notice last night that you know our boss," Tilda added. "You'd want to help her if she was in trouble, wouldn't you?"
"Of course I would, just like I done in the past."
"We ain't been in Dodge long. We came up from Texas just like you, but working here we notice things. Sally and I think the marshal doesn't like how successful she's become. You're an experienced man. You know what I mean."
"Anyway," Sally continued, "we think he's paid some of the boys you cooked for on the trail to scare her and if that doesn't work, harm her. Did you hear about what happened in her rooms last night?"
When Bud shook his head in response, Tilda took over. "That so-called lawman pretended he was concerned and took her over to Doc Adams, but we believe he's the one who threw those smelly things through her window before dawn. You can see the broken window clear as day."
Troubled by what they told him, Bud thanked the sisters and stood to go, paying for the entire bottle with the gold piece he tossed on their table. Without a word he raced through the batwing doors in search of the woman he still thought of as the desperate young girl, Kit. Not knowing quite where to begin he took a minute to gaze at the obviously broken upstairs corner window. Dillon wasn't anywhere in sight when those rocks were thrown so maybe he's behind everything, Peevy thought before he moved on, hoping to find someone who might know something.
The cook hadn't gone far when he spotted the marshal's assistant and friend Chester Goode playing horseshoes at the mouth of an alley not far from the jailhouse and Kitty not far away crossing Front Street. Chester, with his hopping gait, walked toward her as if he had an important message for her. They met on the street in front of the alley, about ten feet to the left, directly in front of the milliner. Then, as Bud stood on the far side of the street opposite the alley, a man in his late teens to early-20s came forward from the rear of the alley and hurled a horseshoe well past and to the left of the peg anchored to the street side of the game as Kitty approached with Chester on her right. It struck a glancing blow to her left shoulder. Had his aim been better she would have been seriously hurt if not killed. Bud instantly recognized the other horseshoe player as the youngster Dryden hired when they stopped for supplies in Tascosa. The boy was money hungry so he'd be willing to take what Dillon must have paid him. He reckoned the lawman gave Chester instructions to be where he was while the temporary Circle T man did the actual deed.
Bud followed Dillon's friend as he escorted Kitty to the town doctor's office, but stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He hadn't met the physician yet but nobody he'd spoken with had a bad word to say about him when it came to medicine. Still, he wondered what the little old man would do if forced to choose between his friends Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell. For now he'd sit where he could watch for her to emerge now that Chester left to make his way back to the jailhouse.
He'd barely sat down in one of the chairs in front of the Dodge House when Dillon strode purposefully down the boardwalk toward Doctor Adams office. It wasn't long before the lawman was escorting Kitty down the doctor's stairs and along Front Street. Peevy stood up to follow as soon as the couple reached the door to the general store.
"Mr. Jonas, I need to order a new pane of glass for one of my windows. You've probably heard by now about the stink bombs thrown through it."
"Yes I have, Miss Kitty and I'm so sorry to hear it. I'll order the glass for you, but it won't arrive for another month I suspect."
"Then could you sell me a board I could cut down to cover it up, Jonas? She needs to block the wind on cold nights," Matt added.
"Matt, you're not buying any wood. It's my rooms and I'll pay for any boarding up of my window. Blocking out the cold is all I need from you."
Bud, pretending an interest in some of the pots and pans the proprietor had for sale, listened for undercurrents in the exchange, but could find none other than the marshal looking for an excuse to be with the redhead in her rooms. However, he didn't dare follow the lawman and the saloon owner there. Instead, after they left he sauntered back to his seat in front of the hotel and watched as pieces of wood were affixed to the interior window frame. An hour later the marshal emerged alone.
The man he suspected of being up to no good at least where Kitty Russell was concerned had only walked a few feet in the direction of his office when Curt and Tom made their way down the boardwalk toward the bank with the cattle buyer from Chicago to finalize the sale of the herd. By tomorrow most of the boys would have frittered their pay away on drink, dance hall girls and gambling. They'd be ready to head home to Texas Wednesday morning, three days after arriving. Bud Peevy wondered if he and his two closest friends would lease as well or stay to help Kit.
Curt Dryden and Tom Conway looked satisfied when they left the bank and joined their friend. The trail boss didn't waste any time.
"Half the boys are already with the herd. Let's round up the others between us so I can pay what I still owe them. Ted will be pleased to learn we cleared $3,000 and can expect at least double that profit when we return in August. Let's celebrate with Kit tonight."
Cowboys are no different from any other man trying to earn a living. They have a way of being found when someone's ready to put hard earned pay into their hands. It didn't take long for them to line up next to the corral in the stockyard as Curt Dryden dispensed wages from a tin lockbox Bud kept in the chuck wagon during the drive. Once they arrived in Dodge the box was transferred to the Dodge House safe until needed.
Even though it didn't take much time Bud grew nervous about what might have happened to the still young saloonkeeper. As soon as everyone was paid and the lockbox was back in the hotel safe, the cook drew the trail boss and Circle T foreman toward the lobby chairs set in a quiet corner.
"The boys will be makin' their way back to Laredo except for that last one we hired. Do you think Ted would mind if we stayed behind a few days to set things right for Kit?"
"You've noticed it too?" Curt asked his old friend. "Tom, you feel the same?"
"Yeah, I'd say someone's out to get her. We need to put a stop to it, but for the life of me I don't know how. What's the latest?"
"I know about the stink bombs through the window," Curt told them. "The mercantile owner couldn't stop talking about it when I went in there to arrange for supplies for the trip home. It seems to me the marshal wasn't far away for most of the attempts. Do either of you know of anything that's happened today?"
"Our new man, Clyde Billings, threw a mighty strange game of horseshoes not an hour ago," Bud replied. "You ever seen a man miss his target by so much that he hit someone walkin' by on the street? That's what that fella done. Hit Kit on the shoulder. I think Dillon's behind it. He's been in that same part of Texas too, I learned. Maybe he don't want her to be sole owner of the Long Branch because she'll be too independent."
"I never thought about that," Tom added. "I heard Dillon was in Texas before and after the war. Maybe he sampled her charms and wants to keep control of her, but if he can't scare her enough, he's willing to let her die."
"I'm not sure either of you are right about him, but I do know Dillon will be at the center of it. What we need to know is his part in it," Curt reasoned as he stood for his friends to follow.
The conversation over, the three Circle T men watched from the Dodge House doorway as the two people at the heart of the strange cycle of events exited the Long Branch in the direction of Delmonico's. The couple was deep in conversation, Matt's hand resting possessively against the small of Kitty's back as they stepped down into the dirt from the boardwalk to cross Front Street.