Man Up
Chapter 7
The Ruse
Brayden Willows rode back into Dodge just as the sun was starting to crest above the trees, ready to reassume the role of Dayna Whitley, Wilbur Jonas' brilliant new hire. Stopping by her room just long enough to freshen up, she was soon opening up the mercantile.
Along with opening the store, she went to the back room to start the coffee. Oddly enough, she knew how to be a decent human being; she just chose not to be. While the store was still empty and Jonas hadn't arrived, she slipped into the back room to steal one of the muffs that had been packed away for a future winter sale. She tucked it inside of her wrap, to be able to sneak it out later.
"Dayna, do I smell coffee?" Jonas' smile was already stretched to its limit. He was convinced that he had hired the perfect woman. She was going to get his store into tiptop shape, not to mention, she was just brimming with wonderful new ideas. Before he could get to the back room, Dayna met him at the counter with a steaming cup.
The door opened again, striking the tiny bell to announce the first customer of the day. Jonas' new assistant was pleasantly surprised to see the deputy walk in. He had a warm smile and a gentleness about him that she found puzzling, maybe because that particular characteristic had never been a part of her life.
"Miss Whitley." His smile was genuine as he greeted her with a polite nod on his way to the back counter. "Mr. Jonas, did that order come in yet?"
Wilbur Jonas slipped into the back room for only a minute, then returned with a small box. The store proprietor read the writing on the box. 'Special Order for Newly O'Brian'. It came yesterday on the late stage, but I didn't open it to check it out." Dayna wandered closer, curious as to the contents. Jonas lifted the lid from the box and pulled the thin sheets of tissue paper aside.
"Oh, my!" Jonas lifted the necklace from the box. "This is beautiful," he handed the piece of jewelry to the buyer.
Newly smiled as he studied the locket. He took two tiny pictures from his pocket and handed them to Jonas. "Can you put these in for me?"
"Well, my fingers are too big and clumsy for that, but I'll bet Dayna can do it." He turned, handing the pictures to the young saleswoman.
She looked at the small pictures. "I'm sure I can. Who is the little boy?"
Newly spoke with such pride, she would have thought it was his own son. "His name is Cooper, he's Calleigh's little brother. The girl is her sister, Hadley."
"Yes, I met the little girl when your wife was in here the other day." She carefully slipped the pictures into the tiny slots and snapped the edges into place. Then she handed the gift back to him. "What's the occasion? Is it her birthday?"
Newly's smile said thank you, as he looked at the locket one more time before putting it back into the box. "The occasion?" She could see something in his soft brown eyes, something foreign in her world. "I guess the occasion is, I love my wife." He gave the box a little toss in his hand, said thank you to both people and left the store.
"They are a sweet couple." Jonas watched the deputy walk back to his gunsmith shop, with just a touch of a skip in his step. "They've been in love forever."
"The little boy, that's Marshal Dillon's son?" Dayna was as intrigued by this deputy and the love he had for his wife, but her job was just to collect information. So there were two small children. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to tell Garren about the boy, because he was probably already on his way to the ranch.
The morning went smooth; several customers helped the time go quickly. Finally, Dayna watched Mr. Bodkin leave the bank and walk across the street to the Prairie Rose for lunch. "Mr. Jonas, I have a couple of errands I need to run, would it be all right if I took an early lunch?"
Wilbur Jonas had spent the last fifteen minutes trying to convince Aggie Twissle that he had not raised the price of coffee since the last time she bought it. He responded to Dayna's request without breaking eye contact with his unhappy customer. "Certainly, take all the time you need."
She slipped into the back room, stuck the muff under her wrap then quickly walked out the front door. Within minutes, she was walking into the bank. Fergus Miles was the only teller on duty this time of day. Brayden had gone out of her way to flirt with the gangly young man. She'd wanted him to feel at ease when this time came.
"Ahh, Good morning Miss Dayna." he walked to the front of the teller's cage. "You look very pretty today."
"Why thank you." She took one last look outside to make sure no one was around, then turned the lock behind her. "I was wondering if you could go to lunch." She continued to step closer.
"I can't go until Mr. Bodkin comes back." At this point, he was standing so close only the bars of the cage stood between them. A confused scowl manifested itself on young Fergus's face as he watched the pretty girl lift the woman's fluffy accessory toward his face. The teller was dead without even hearing the shot that was fired from within the fur muff. Just to make sure, she shot him one more time, then ran to the window. There was only one person on the street and he gave no indication that he had heard anything.
Brayden stepped over Fergus' body to gather the money from the safe. She stuffed it into cloth bags with the bank's name printed in Bodkin's handwriting on the outside. Once the bags were full, she placed them in the two trash buckets by the front door, then covered them with crumpled paper. Right on time, she watched the four sodbusters appear and tie up their horses. Stepping quickly to the door, she turned the latch unlocking it. The boys stepped into the lobby where she handed them the fifty dollars she'd promised. Fergus' body was out of sight. Besides, they were too eager to notice, or ask any questions, once they had the money. Brayden told them to head toward Weyton. She assured them how funny the Marshal would think this was, when all was said and done. The bogus bank robbers left, following her instructions to the letter.
Brayden checked the clock. The boys had been gone about thirty minutes when she saw Bodkin coming out of the restaurant. Time to act. She ripped the sleeve on her dress and after taking a deep breath, slammed her cheek on the counter. That would leave a convincing bruise. Keeping in time with her plan, Brayden ran to the back door of the bank and fired two shots. Her final act was to lay down just inside of the front door to be found by the manager.
Bodkin reacted just as she planned. He dropped to his knees trying to revive the pretty young woman. Brayden stalled as long as she could, but finally had to pretend to be coming out of a dead faint. Immediately, she began to cry and babble on about poor Fergus. Keeping in character of a damsel in distress, she acted as if she were about to faint again.
Fergus' body was found and the bank manager ran into the street, yelling. Festus was the first to show up, with Matt following on his heels. Brayden gave them all the information she wanted them to have. They quickly took off to gather a posse. Just as she was getting ready to leave the bank, Brayden noticed one of the men in the posse.
It was a man she had met in Montana, the same man that had been tracking her gang for months—Frank Reardon, U.S. Marshal. She quickly ducked back into the bank until the posse rode off. Brayden then ran back to Jonas' mercantile, to wait for the rest of her crew to arrive.
TBC
