Gunsmoke
The Wrong Man
Chapter 10Kitty walked into her room and placed her packages on the bed. Lying on the pillow was a single red rose. Smiling, she gently picked up the rose and smelled it. No doubt Matt had picked this out of Ma Smalley's garden. If Ma found out, she'd give Matt a piece of her mind. Smiling at the thought of Matt getting yelled at by Ma, she gently placed the rose on the nightstand and began to open her packages and put things away. Looking over at her dressing table, she saw the newspapers and notepad. The little shopping spree had only given her a few minutes peace, and now she began to wonder who would be the next victim. She had gotten a look at Matt's list and was able to jot the names down before forgetting them. Looking at the beautiful things she had bought for herself, she felt a pang of selfishness. She had bought herself a bonnet that was deep purple, with small daisies on the top. It was something that Belle would have loved. Sitting down on the bed, she felt a great deal of guilt wash over her. Getting up from the bed, she grabbed her papers and notebook and headed out the door. She would sit downstairs in the Long Branch and have a pot of coffee made up while she looked over the clippings again.
It was close to six in the evening when Doc and Matt finally made it to the Long Branch. It had been four quiet-uneventful days and they prayed that it would stay that way. Doc stopped at the entrance of the Saloon with Matt beside him.
"What's wrong, Doc?" Matt asked him.
"She's at it again. Sitting in the back, reading and rereading those damned articles, Matt. She's barely sleeping, barely eating, she's gonna make herself sick with this situation." Doc said looking concerned at the beautiful redhead in the back of the room. Once again, Kitty sat alone at the table, reading the papers on the murders as she had done for the past four nights. There hadn't been an incident since Hannah, but she kept going over the names on the list Matt had found and the list of all names compiled in order as when they had been killed. Jotting down the last few words on the last victim, she looked up to see Doc and Matt standing at the table.
"Oh, Hi Doc, Matt." She as she gently placed the tablet face down on the pile of newspapers.
"Don't you hi, me, young lady." Doc said a bit annoyed. "Do you know you look terrible?" He said to her.
"Well thanks a lot, Doc. And here I thought I looked at least presentable." She feigned hurt and batted her long lashes at the helpless old man.
"You know darn well what I'm talking about, young lady. You look beautiful as usual, but you look tired and I bet you've lost some weight too." He said as he and Matt took a seat at her table.
"Didn't you tell me last week I could stand to lose a pound or two?" She said triumphantly.
"That was two months ago and I said stay away from the salt as it was causing water gain." He said correcting her.
"Oh, well. So, Matt how are you this evening?" She said attempting to change the subject.
"Oh, no you don't, you are not changing the subject. Sam!" He yelled over at him and Sam quickly went over to Doc.
"What's wrong, Doc?" Sam asked
"Sam," He said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a ten dollar gold piece. "I want you to go over to Del Monico's, get a nice thick juicy steak, eggs, baked potato and a nice cut of ham and a cold glass of milk, maybe a piece of peach pie." He said handing him the coin. "Get it back here while it's hot, please."
"Sure thing, Doc." He said taking the money and heading out the door.
"Just who in tarnation is going to eat all that?" Kitty asked looking at the old man.
"Well, you sure are gonna try your best to eat something. You don't have to eat it all, but I do expect you to eat. And Matt and I are gonna sit here and make sure you do." He said leaning back in his chair.
"Doc, I've already eaten." She said angrily.
"Yeah, well what was it and when?" He said as he sat there glaring at her.
"It was chicken soup that Ma Smalley made and brought over." She said as she angrily picked up the newspaper and began to read. "I don't need you treating me like some damn child, Doc."
"Really, well, if that's the last thing you remember eating, that was two days ago. Ma Smalley made that soup two days ago, and she left yesterday on the evening stage to St. Louis to see her sister." He said triumphantly. Kitty slowly lowered the paper.
"That's not possible, it can't be….I mean…alright you ole' scudder, you win." She said as Matt tried to hide his laughter at the name she had called Doc.
"Ole…scudder, young lady, just consider yourself lucky that you're too big for me to throw over my knee and tan your hide." He said as he scratched his chin and looked over at Matt. "And just what are you laughing at. You know I'm right. She hasn't eaten in two days."
"I know….I know, Doc, but you know you can't argue with Kitty. She's awful stubborn." He said to Doc.
"You know, I don't need the two of you ganging up on me, I'm tired." She said setting the paper down again.
"Of course you're tired, you haven't eaten." Doc said, not letting up on her.
"Doc?" She said beginning to feel beaten.
"Alright…alright, I'll stop my fussin'." He said as Sam came into the saloon with a covered tray and headed back towards the table. He set the tray down and handed Doc his change. "Thanks, Sam."
Sam then returned to his chores behind the bar. Doc pulled the cover off of the tray and Kitty's eyes widened at the amount of food on the tray. "If I eat all that, I'll be sick." Kitty said looking at him.
"I don't expect someone as tiny as you to eat it all. But I do expect to see you eat something off of that tray." He said rather forceful.
Kitty picked up the peach Pie and handed it to Matt. "I'm not touching that, it'll put ten pounds on me just by looking at it." Matt happily took the pie then looked up at Doc who nodded his consent to him. Kitty then cut one third of the steak off and placed it on the plate with the piece of ham. She took one small quarter of the ham then placed the rest with the rest of the steak. She then cut the potato into quarters, taking only one quarter and took the plate with the smaller portions and placed it in front of herself. She then handed Matt the rest of the food including the eggs, but she kept the glass of milk for herself. "You can just get yourself a beer, Cowboy, that milk looks too inviting to share." She said to Matt who smiled up with a mouth full of pie. Doc smiled at Kitty as she began to cut her meat and slowly began to eat.
After a good twenty minutes, she had had enough. She hadn't finished the entire plate, but Doc was happy with what little she did eat.
Festus came barreling the Long Branch saloon, calling out Matt's name. "Matthew! Matthew!" He yelled as he came into the Long Branch and headed for the table.
"Festus what's wrong?" Matt asked as he looked over at him.
"It's Mrs. Davis, her daughter Inez….." He trailed off. "She's dead Matthew, it's him again.
"What?" Doc asked shocked as Inez had not even been on the list that Matt found.
"Mrs. Davis hadn't seen her daughter all day." Festus said as Matt stood up.
"Kitty, we'll be back later." He said looking into her concerned blue eyes.
"Okay." She said as they headed out the door. Kitty turned the list of names over. Matt's list of names were on the far right and hers were on the left. She had listed two women after Hannah, Inez Davis and Isabella Rosario. She now believed that she had figured out the killers plans. She needed to speak with Matt, this was very important and she would show him her findings as soon as he and Doc returned to the Long Branch.
Inez Davis was a thirty-two year old spinster living with her widow mother. The two women had been in Dodge for twenty –eight years. Mr. Davis had been the blacksmith for almost ten years before he had died of influenza. Inez was only 14 when her mother took a job sewing and mending clothing for the local townsfolk. At that age, her mother had taught her to sew and wash clothing as well. The little laundry duty they did kept them living comfortably. Inez was a more quiet type woman, who was pretty much afraid of her own shadow. She had never had a beau.
Doc, Matt and Festus arrive at the Davis home on the edge of town. Mrs. Davis Stood on the front porch with Nathan Burke, who tried to console the woman. She stood with her apron in her hand, covering her face and crying into it. Matt stepped up onto the small porch.
"Burke, take Mrs. Davis over to Ma Smalley's while we tend to things here." Matt said to Burke. Burke didn't say anything as he led Mrs. Davis down off of the porch and over to Ma's place.
Matt and Festus entered the Davis house as Newly stood outside, keeping people from entering or being too nosey. In the backroom, where Inez slept, as small bedroom with a bed and dresser and dressing table, they found her twisted naked form lying in front of the dresser. Her cotton nightclothes had been ripped from her body. Doc slowly came into the room behind Matt and Festus. Making his way over to her naked form, he gently pulled the cover from the bed and covered her, giving her some form of decency. Matt and Festus had kept their eyes turned away from the scene out of respect and began to look around, examining the room. Once again, everything had been in it's place and nothing had been broken or disturbed, accept for the window.
"I don't get it, Matthew, weren't the next name on the list Jenny Graham?" Festus said as he looked around the window for any kind of clues, scuff marks, heels, whatever, but the tracks had been brushed away. Festus climbed out the window and followed the tracks, which lead to the street, which made it impossible for him to find anything. Festus knelt down, trying his best to figure out what tracks went where and if he could see any that looked familiar, but his tracking senses were failing him as the culprit made sure that tracks were erased with the old Indian trick. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shining. Kneeling further down, he spotted a tiny gold ring. The ring was odd, he had never seen one before. It had a distinctive design, two hands clasping a heart, surmounted by a crown. It was gold and quite small. The wearer would have been quite a petite woman. Festus came back to the window and climbed back in as Doc finished checking Inez's body out. She had been murdered in the same manner as the others. Her neck had been crushed.
Matt watched as Festus held the ring in his hand and looked at it as he came back into the room through the window.
"What did you find?" Matt asked him.
"I found this here ring under the edge of the boardwalk. Ain't ne'er seen nothing like it, Matthew." He said handing the gold ring to Matt.
"I don't know what this is?" He said looking at the small ring. Doc stood up and looked at the ring in his hand.
"I know what it is." He said gently taking the small piece of gold from Matt. "It's called a Claddagh Ring. See this, it represents love, friendship and loyalty." He said looking at the tiny piece of gold. "I'll tell you something else, it's Irish."
"How come you know this, Doc?" Festus said looking at the old man.
"My mother's maiden name was O'Rourke. She was from Ireland. More specifically from Galway. The Ring was first created some two-hundred and fifty years ago. There's a great many legends behind it, I don't remember much of them, but I do remember her telling me what it symbolizes. The heart, being love, the hands friendship and the crown, loyalty. Which basically translated into, "With my hands, I give you my heart and crown it with my love." He said handing it back to Matt.
"That's a whole lot a huey for a tiny little scrap of gold." Festus said mocking Doc.
"I'm just telling you what she had told me as a child is all. I didn't write the legend or the message it conveys." Doc said a bit aggravated with Festus.
"Okay, so now what. The killer is bound to realize he has lost this ring, but is it important enough for him to come back for it?" Matt asked the two of them.
"He won't come back for that one, Matt." Doc said quietly.
"Why not, Doc?" He said looking at the man beside him.
"Because that one belonged to Kitty's Mother. It has her name inscribed in it." He said as Matt looked at the ring.
"He's been in her room again." Matt said trying to remember when she had been left unguarded. He had done his best to have her guarded without her knowing, but obviously they were looking at a very cunning killer. "Doc, is there any chance Kitty was wearing this and lost it?"
"She once told me, that she refused to believe in those tales and would never wear it, it brought her mother too much hurt." Doc said as he watched Percy come up to the door.
"Doc, you want I should take the body to my shop or do you want me to take it to your office?" He asked not trying to get in their way.
"Take her to your shop. I'll be right behind you." Doc said as he watched Matt clenched his hand around the tiny ring. Kitty Russell was definitely in danger and he saw the turmoil in the big Lawman's eyes. How would he protect her from this madman when he couldn't protect any of these victims.
TBC