PRESENT

Nathan saw his friends sitting on the boardwalk as he and JD rode into town so, instead of stopping at his clinic he kept going to join them.

"Hey, look who I found," he nodded toward JD as he arrived and they both got off their horses.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," Ezra greeted them.

"Did you enjoy your patrol, John Daniel?" Josiah had a heavy dose of insinuation in his voice.

"It was a patrol, Josiah." he fumbled back.

"That either means he got up to something he doesn't want us to know about, or Mrs. Wells wouldn't let them out of her sight." Ezra offered over the lip of his coffee cup.

"Well, I suspect the answer is in there somewhere," Josiah laughed as the young sheriff turned an interesting color of red.

"I was on patrol."

"Do you think you're the only one that knows Miss Casey came back on yesterday's stage?" The healer joined in the teasing.

"Nathan," The young man's voice pleaded to be cut some slack and not embarrass him.

Josiah, feeling generous in the afternoon, changed the subject, "And you, Nathan. Since you're in a good mood, I take it there was no problem helping a new baby Adams into the world?"

"Strangest thing" Nathan replied, scratching his chin, "She weren't anywhere near ready to deliver. Seems the due date three weeks from now still stands. She said she didn't send for me."

The lightness of the good companionship and good conversation got a bit heavier as Ezra and Josiah shared concerned looks.

Nathan caught the change. "Is there a problem?"

Ezra handed him the telegraph flimsy. JD read over his shoulder.

"I got called out to stop a 'domestic disturbance' at the Griffins'." Josiah replied, "There was nothing to it either, but it got me out of town."

Catching the insinuation that they had both been lured out of town for some reason, Nathan responded to the wire. "When did this come in, this morning? Must be coincidence. There's no way this Niven got here before the wire."

"Wait." JD took the telegraph to study it, "Judge Travis sent this."

The others knew that meant something, but waited for JD to explain what he caught that they didn't.

"That would almost have to mean that the prison sent it to the marshals in some daily report, they forwarded it to the Judge and he's the only one that thought it was important enough to warn Chris." He looked at the older men hoping to see teasing in their eyes that would tell him he was over-thinking the facts. He didn't see it. In fact, just the opposite.

"He could have escaped days or weeks ago," Nathan put into words what the others were thinking. None of them really believed in coincidence anyway.

"Should I wire the judge and see when the escape was? Or I could send it to the prison." JD didn't like the feelings that were suddenly coming from his older friends.

"The son of a bitch was a planner," Standish recalled what he remembered about Niven. Next to Chris or Buck, he had the most interaction with the man. "He's the kind that would think he could arrange to get the drop on Chris and Buck to get pay back," he said curtly and honestly.

JD's eyes grew wide with worry. "They don't know to watch out for him!"

"Nathan, do you need to add a few things to your medical supplies? You could restock. The rest of us will spread out and see if anyone knows where Chris and the others went. I'll get Tiny to loan you and JD fresh horses." Josiah looked over at Ezra and realized he too, felt guilty that they had whiled away several hours because they missed the clue their youngest picked up on immediately.

"We'll meet at the livery," Jackson agreed.

The men turned on their heels, hoping to find someone that knew what had drawn their three friends out of town and where they might have gone.

While the older men rushed but were able to give the impression that they weren't doing so, JD sped off thinking to check the

saloon, look for a note in the jail, and check the boarding house and the Potter store as quickly as possible. The edges of his world would be crumbling until they found their friends.