Chapter 26

In a few minutes, Carrie sat up and starting apologizing for being such a wreck. "I'm sorry, Jess. I didn't mean to fall apart on you."

"I didn't think you fell apart. I thought you handled yerself very well." He smiled at her. "I am glad that yer third bullet was a little off tha mark though."

It took a minute for her to recognize what he was referring to. "Oh, my Lord, I almost shot you!" Her eyes filled with tears again.

"Now I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset ya again." He couldn't help but grin at her. "To be completely honest though, I am purdy glad that ya didn't blow my head off."

She finally began to smile just a little, and in a few minutes, she actually began to laugh just a little bit. Jess knew very well that she was still quite upset, and that her laughter was most likely a result of the tension that she was still feeling. But at least she wasn't sobbing her eyes out and shaking uncontrollably any longer.

"Well, I guess I didn't do the doorway much good, did I?" She said.

"It certainly looks a little different now." Jess agreed.

She glanced toward the front door of the store, and then it was if she suddenly realized that she was still seating in his lap. She tried to quickly regain her composure. "Oh, my. I am sorry." She said as she looked at his shirt that was now wet and wrinkled from the buttons all the way over to his right shoulder. The only place that didn't appear wet was where his sheriff's badge was on the left side. As she stood up, he was forced to remove his arms from around her.

"Well, ya shouldn't be sorry about anything, Carrie." He tried to change the conversation so she wouldn't continue to be self-conscious about being so close to him for so long. "Where did ya learn to shoot like that?"

"You mean at doorframes?" She giggled nervously again as she tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her dress.

"No, seriously, I mean ya were right on target with tha two rounds ya shot Atkins – I mean Cooley - with. That's a purdy good aim considering most women would've been scared ta death in that situation. You have my total admiration, Carrie. I've never seen a girl that could shoot that well, especially when someone's trying to hurt 'em."

She looked upset again. "I've never shot at a human being before. And I've certainly never killed anybody." Jess thought that she was about to dissolve into tears any minute.

Jess stepped closer to her. "And I've told ya that ya did tha right thing. You did exactly right, Caroline." He reached out and put his hands on both sides of her face. He leaned in to kiss her. But before he could, he saw out of the corner of his eye that someone was at the door of the store.

Julia Simpson burst into the room with Ben right behind her. "Carrie, are you alright?" She ran over and threw her arms around her daughter.

Jess stepped back away from Carrie and turned his attention to Ben, "Are the ladies at the café alright?"

"Yeah, they know that ya've handled everything."

Just then Bryce Mosley walked back into the store. "Sheriff, I still need to git those ladders back to the Wilsons. I have the buckboard out back."

Jess came up to Julia, "I hate ta interrupt you right now, but Bill said that we should bring some ladders from the storeroom here out ta the Wilsons' place."

Julia turned to him while she was still hugging Caroline, "I'll show you where they are. Carrie, will you be okay for a minute honey?"

"I'm fine, Mama."

Julia didn't look convinced, but she led Jess and Bryce into the storeroom. She gasped when she saw the broken back door.

"It seems they got in through this door, Ma'am. I'll nail it shut if ya want me to until we can git it fixed proper." Jess said.

"Thanks, Jess. Yes, that would be a good idea." Then she pointed to the back wall. There are two ladders there that Bill made a while back."

"Thank you, Mrs. Simpson. I'll load them on the buckboard, and then Jess can nail the door shut." Bryce carried one of the ladders out the broken door to the buckboard.

Jess went to get the other one, but Julia stopped him. "Jess, Ben said that neither of the two dead men were the shotgun rider."

"No, Ma'am, as far as we know, he's still out there somewhere. I don't want to worry ya more than you already have been, but one of those two men was the brother of the two on trial in Denver."

"And yet we still have to fear that the man Carrie can identify is still on the loose."

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm afraid so. We can only keep doin' what we have been. Those two are not gonna be givin' anyone any information about Caroline now. Maybe the person she is worried about doesn't know that the other two found her." Jess didn't know what Bill and Julia would decide to do in light of today's threat to Caroline. He only knew that he would hate for Bill to take all of them to Green River. He had seen tonight that Carrie was an excellent shot, and he would never leave her alone in town again. He made up his mind to talk with Bill as soon as he could.

Bryce returned to get the other ladder, and Jess asked him to tell Bill what had happened at the store. "Let him know that Carrie is fine, but Ben and me won't get back out there. Please make sure that everyone knows that we are doing our jobs here. Ya might as well go ahead and tell them that there's been some trouble here. The women at the café will tell 'em that tonight anyway. But don't mention the trial in Denver or that they were gonna kidnap Caroline. Jest say they broke in here, threatened her, and the two that tried it are dead."

"Of course, Jess. I'll do jest what ya say."

As soon as Bryce left, Jess asked Julia if Bill had left any of the hammers at the store.

Julia pulled one off the shelf in the storeroom and showed Jess where the nails were. It only took him a few minutes to secure the door.

When he went back into the main part of the store, Julia decided to lock up the store for the night. "We were going to put the closed sign out as soon as we met the other ladies at the café at 7 tonight anyway." She turned to Caroline, "I imagine that you'd rather go home and not deal with the dinner at the café tonight. I can send Amanda over there with the food that we've made."

Caroline didn't know what to say. She wanted to see Jess some more but she didn't want to try to get through a dinner with the whole town. She looked at Jess. "I just cannot face the dinner, Mama. Jess, I'd feel a lot safer if you would walk us back to the house please."

"Of course, I will." He turned to Ben. "Maybe ya need to stay with the ladies at the café until everyone else gets back to town. Do ya mind, Ben?

"That's fine, Jess."

"Did ya hear what I told Bryce to say to everyone?"

"Yeah, Boss, I did. I think that's tha right thing ta do."

They all left the store as Julia pulled the shades, put the closed sign out, and locked the door. "Thank you for escorting us, Jess. I know we're only a few houses down, but it's best if it makes Carrie feel safer."

"Yes, ma'am." Jess walked beside Caroline back to the Simpson's home.

North of Reliance

Aaron, Stan, and Ned had made camp several hours ago. They all knew that Leroy and Dirk should have ridden in with the Simpson woman before now. As darkness fell, Aaron quit pacing and sat down at the fire that Ned had started, "Well, I guess we better come up with a plan. Something has obviously gone very wrong in Rock Springs."

"I guess one of us should have stayed back closer ta town and watched with those glasses of yours." Ned said. "This should have gone off without a hitch. I ain't got no idea what could've gone wrong. All those men were at tha burned house."

Stan looked at Aaron, "Wonder if Dirk and Leroy were arrested or worse."

"Ain't no way to find out less one of us goes back to Rock Springs." Ned said.

"And that's where this whole thing has gone wrong." Aaron was getting mad, "We keep splittin' up, and some of us are gittin' picked off every time."

"Well, do ya expect me ta let that woman identify me ta the law?" Stan's voice held a lot of venom in it.

Ned held his hands up, "Both of ya need ta calm down some and think." He shook his head, "Aaron, maybe we outta jest cut our losses and git outta this area altogether. Maybe we should jest move on ta our next hit and forgit about her."

Aaron stood up and walked over to Ned. He put his face right in Ned's, "Forgit about her! Is that what ya expect me ta do! Jest forgit that two brothers were hung because of her and we don't know what happened to my little brother! Maybe you can jest forgit about Dirk 'cause he was nothin' but trouble anyway. But I ain't gonna forgit about Clyde and Larry and now Leroy. I ain't gonna jest walk away like they was nothin'."