RUMOR HAS IT 12
(I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are.
William Tecumseh Sherman)
rumor rumor rumor rumor rumor rumor rumor rumor
As Kitty climbed the stairs, she was aware, without looking, that Matt and probably Sam were watching her as she went. But she was aware of something else as well. Maybe it was just Matt's concern that was wearing off on her or maybe just the jitters, but she felt something wasn't right. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that Matt had been right to send her out of the bar and to the safety of her rooms.
When she reached her room, she paused outside the door and glanced down at Matt, assuring him silently that she was safe now and he could go. With a curt nod of his head, Matt turned and left as Kitty entered her room, closed and locked the door behind her.
Once secured behind the fortress of her door, Kitty let out the breath she'd been holding, walked over to her vanity and sank down into her chair. Since she was, for all intents and purposes, done for the night, she decided she might as well get comfortable. Making short work of removing her makeup and letting her hair down, Kitty quickly changed out of her dress and into a comfortable old skirt and blouse, as she wasn't quite ready to go to bed.
She never heard the back stairs creak or saw the shadow of a man as he steadily climbed up to her floor and entered in through the door whose lock he'd just broken.
rumor rumor rumor
Out on the street, Matt turned towards his office but he'd only taken a few steps when he stopped. Over the years he had developed a keen sense of hearing along with an instinct for trouble brewing and right then both senses warned him that something was amiss and that he needed to get to the back of the Long Branch quickly.
Hurrying as fast as he could, Matt rushed around the saloon to the back, just in time to see a dark figure entering and closing the upstairs door behind him. His heart in his throat, Matt took the stairs two at a time and paused when he reached the top.
He was certain Kitty had locked herself into her rooms but that would only give him a couple of moment's leeway. Catching his breath, Matt drew his gun, threw the door open and then ducked just before a bullet came whizzing past his head. "Hold it!" He demanded as he brought his gun up to bear on the man in front of Kitty's door.
The man leveled his gun at Matt again but Matt was a hair faster and the intruder fell silently to the floor, a bullet in his chest.
Matt hurriedly made his way down the hallway and knelt down in front of the man as Kitty opened her door and came out, having heard the shots. "Matt?" She swallowed hard. The man on the floor was the drunk that had made a try for her the night that first article had come out.
Matt didn't answer her as he pulled the dying man up. "Who hired you?" He demanded. "Who?"
"Mz... Peters." The man gasped. "Sa… same as… her… husband. Reckon… my luck… was ba… bad all… around." He spoke no more as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he took his last breath. Matt laid him down and then finally looked up at Kitty. "You alright?"
Kitty nodded. "He… he was going to kill me." She said incredulously.
Matt nodded. "It was like I was thinking. Mrs. Peters sent him after you when she realized her husband wasn't going to die."
"Miss Kitty?" Sam called frantically as he appeared at the head of the stairs. "You okay?" He looked from her to Matt to the dead man on the floor.
"I'm alright, Sam." She took a trembling breath. "Or at least I will be."
"Sam, can you get some men to get him out of here?" Matt asked as he got to his feet.
"Sure can, Marshal." Sam didn't have to go far to find recruits as several men had already climbed up behind him to see what was going on.
"Some of you, give me a hand here." Sam ordered.
Matt gently took Kitty by the arm and led her back into her rooms and guided her to sit down. "You sure you're alright?"
Kitty nodded with a sigh. "I just can't believe that woman would do a thing like this, Matt. I can't believe she'd try to kill not only me but her husband on a newspaper column. That article was pretty vague. Unless he told her it was him, and I doubt that, I don't know how she figured it was him or why she'd believe it. I know she doesn't know me, but surely she knows her husband better than that."
Matt shook his head as he poured her a glass of whiskey and handed it to her. "Here drink this." Kitty accepted the glass and took a healthy swig before looking back up at him.
"I don't know what she did or didn't know, Kitty." He sat down beside her for a moment. "But I promise you, I'm going to find out. You think you'll be alright here until I return?"
Kitty nodded as she took another drink. "As long as you do return."
Matt pulled her to him and kissed her on the forehead. "Oh, I'll be back. You just stay put up here and lock that door behind me." Pulling her chin up, Matt placed a soft kiss on her lips before getting back to his feet. "See ya in a little bit."
Kitty nodded and finished her glass as Matt quickly left the room, waiting outside until he heard the lock click in place. Matt was fairly certain now that he knew who shot Blaine Peters and why and he intended to arrest Mrs. Peters for the attempt on her husband and Kitty's lives. But he knew there was also an underlying cause for this mayhem and he vowed to get that stopped as well. Somehow, he was going to find Herman Mason and stop him permanently.
As Matt walked down the street, Mason stood in the shadows of the alley and watched him go. He hadn't really wanted harm to come to Kitty Russell. She hadn't been his target. Although, reporting her murder and the subsequent reaction of the town's people, as well as the Marshal, would've been fun. But it would've made little difference to his plans if she had of died.
No, the person he really wanted was still alive and that bothered him a great deal. His little column had almost succeeded but not quite. And almost, wasn't good enough for him.
Seeing that the tall lawman was now gone, Herman stepped out the shadows and headed back over to his office. He had one last article to write.
TBC
