"Today, a victory of sorts was won by the family of the heroic, former Marshal of Dodge City, Matt Dillon, when the superior court of Kansas ruled in their favor against the Stark family who have maintained that he was anything but heroic.
In a unanimous decision, the court has agreed to block the sale of a book, written by the Stark family, stating that Matt Dillon had been a murderer and bandit.
Jack Bowers, a direct descendent of the famous marshal was able to provide irrefutable proof to the court that his great, great grandmother, Kitty Russell Dillon, had been kidnapped and murdered by a Stark ancestor, and his great, great grandfather, Matt Dillon, had only used his authority as Marshal in the attempt to rescue and save her. It must be noted here as well, that Matt Dillon also lost his life that same fateful day.
The Stark family has vowed to continue fighting to get their version of the events heard but it is doubtful they will be very successful. This is Mitchell Garrett at the Dodge City courthouse, for KLRM news, Wichita."
As soon as the camera went off, Mitch put down his microphone and smiled over at Tim and his family, standing nearby. "Congratulations, you all." He stepped over to them and shook hands with Tim and Jack and hugged the ladies.
"I'm not sure we could've done it without your help." Jack shrugged. "The publicity you gave this thing really helped."
"Yeah, well, it could've hurt it as well." Mitch said pointedly. "If you and Robin hadn't of had the foresight to make sure and document everything and get proof and those books hadn't of been authenticated… Well, it's more you and Robin's doing than anyone's."
"Speaking of Robin," Esther looked around. "Where is she?" A feeling of foreboding swept over her as she looked around, not seeing the vivacious red head anywhere.
"She stopped at the rest room as we left the courtroom." Jack answered with a frown. "But she should've been out here by now."
"Relax, son." Polly shook her head. "I'll go back in and check on her. We ladies take longer in the restroom then you men."
Jack watched his mother walk back into the courthouse and then looked back at his father. "We ladies?" He asked.
Tim chuckled. "Yeah, well…"
But the rest of his reply was suddenly cut off by a scream emanating from inside. With a worried look at his dad, Jack turned and raced inside, everyone else following him in.
Just as he got the center hallway, Jack came to an abrupt halt as he saw Justin Stark standing in the middle of the hall, arms wrapped tightly around Robin, a knife at her neck. His mother was standing in shock to the left, hand to her mouth. Just to the right and slightly behind, two courthouse deputies stood with their hands on their guns. They didn't want to draw and escalate the situation but they were prepared to pull their guns and fire should it come to that.
"Let her go, Justin." Jack demanded angrily..
Tim glanced uneasily at his son. Though Jack was tall and broad shouldered and muscular as a result of his working on the ranch, he wasn't much of a physical match for Justin. About the same age and height as Jack, Justin still outweighed him and was much more willing to do physical harm to someone to get what he wanted then Jack was.
"No." Justin shook his shaggy head of dark hair, black eyes blazing as he pressed the knife even closer to the frightened Robin's throat. "Not until you tell everyone that you lied. That Matt Dillon was a murderer." His lips curled back over his teeth as he spoke and spittle flew from his mouth like a rabid dog, frightening Jack more than he was willing to show.
"Son, you need to let the girl go." The deputy held out a hand trying to calm the angry young man. "Let her go and we can talk about this."
"Back off!" Justin demanded. "Back off or I'll hurt her."
Robin swallowed hard and looked over at Jack. She saw the fierceness in his eyes and knew that no matter what, he wasn't going to allow Justin to take her out of the courthouse or hurt her if he could help it all. Suddenly, she remembered tales she'd read of Kitty Russell and her actions when faced with the same thing.
With a smile at Jack and a slight nod, she suddenly raised a foot and ground her sharp heel harshly into Justin's tennis shoe clad foot. When he gasped and loosened his grip just slightly, she brought up an elbow and jabbed it hard into his midsection, causing him to let go of her completely.
Ducking, she just managed to get away from him when Jack took a flying leap and landed squarely on Justin's chest, knocking him to the floor and wrestling the knife from his hands while knocking him fairly senseless with a powerful back hand.
Swiftly, the deputies moved in, pulled Jack from the addled Justin as they got the battered bully to his feet and slapped cuffs on him. One of the deputies started for Jack, but Robin quickly stepped in front of her rescuer.
"You leave him alone. He didn't do anything but keep me from getting hurt."
"My client will be available for any questions you may have, Deputy." Gina spoke up. "But there's no cause to arrest him."
"He's right, Bud." One of the other deputies agreed. "He didn't do anything wrong really. We'll give a full report to the DA and let him decide if he wants to charge him with anything. Besides, we'll have enough to do, explaining how we let this one get in here with a knife."
As Bud backed off and he and the other deputies hauled Justin to his feet, Robin launched herself into Jack's arms, hugging him tightly. "My hero." She whispered.
Jack returned the embrace. "You alright?" He questioned anxiously.
"I am now." She answered.
TBC
