"Wow!" Gene exclaimed as soon as the family stepped into the Strawberry Hotel. "What a neat old hotel! Audra! Look at all the cobwebs in the ceiling!"

Audra looked up into the dark recessed ceiling where he was pointing and gasped. "I bet there's a skeleton hidden in here somewhere."

"Don't touch anything you don't absolutely have to," Mother said. She sneezed. "Even the air is dusty. I'm certain there's mold. Nick, how are your allergies?"

"Hmm?" he asked from the doorway. "Oh, um. Not a problem." He hadn't thought about it, but now that he did, his nose seemed to be stuffy. He sniffed. "Make yourselves comfortable, family," Nick said, trying to sound like a good host. "Soon, very soon, we can all get caught up on the goings on here in Strawberry." He clapped his hands together, "Well, I'm going to check on Jarrod."

"Nick," Mother turned and looked at him sharply. "You have a lot to tell me. Is there any reason We need to wait for Jarrod?"

"Well...yes," he said. "Actually. We do. I'll just go see what's taking him so long." Nick spun around and went back out to the porch.

"Ew!" Audra exclaimed. "Somebody was killed here! There's a blood stain on the floor!"

"Gosh!" Gene knelt beside the gaming table. "I wonder what happened."

Victoria looked around the musty hotel and wondered the same.

What an idiot I am! Nick thought as he escaped into the open air, which was also dusty and not much better than what was indoors. I can't even talk to Mother without getting jumpy. He propped his arm against a post, shielded his eyes from the blazing sun, and scanned the street to look for signs of the brother who had literally abandoned him. He needed Jarrod here. He loved Mother dearly, but simply could not talk to her and keep the secret about Heath at the same time. He wasn't great with words and would, if he started telling his story, blurt it all out accidentally.

"Jarrod," he muttered under his breath. "Dear brother, I'm going to kill you."

As he scanned the town, Nick noticed a pair of slouching onlookers across the street. Seemed up to something no good by the way they milled about, pausing as if taking a smoke, but all the while surreptitiously keeping their attention on the hotel.

"Nick, aren't you coming in?"

He dropped his elbow from the post and turned to Audra. Dressed in her best riding outfit, still neat as a pin, it seemed the dust of this old town couldn't cling to her. She didn't belong here. "You ought to wait with Mother, Audra. I'll be in in a minute."

"Are you really waiting for Jarrod and Silas?"

"Yeah."

The men moved off down the street, seeming to drop their interest in the hotel, but Nick was still weary.

Audra ventured to the railing. "This town could use a beautification society," she said. Her gloved hands clutched the rail. "I wonder why they don't?" She lifted a hand and then dusted her palms. She turned to him suddenly bright and smiling. A ray of sunshine danced in her golden curls. She suddenly hugged him. "I'm glad you're here, and that you're alright Nick. I worried about you so much back at the ranch! I just had to come see you for myself!"

He forgot everything for a moment. His heart kind of melted the way it sometimes did when Audra was around just being herself. Sisters could be a real blessing sometimes. He hugged her and then brushed a hand over her blond locks. "You know nothing will happen to me."

Audra smiled up at him.

A deep voice broke in. "You Barkley scum!"

Nick half-turned, pushing Audra behind him. A man in the street hurled a rock. The missile whizzed past Nick and hit with a sickening thump. Little Audra let out a sharp squeal of pain. Nick whipped back to see her beautiful face twisted in agony. She clutched her arm and would have collapsed had he not caught her up in his arms and rushed her into the hotel. He set her down and quickly handed his crying sister off to his stunned mother. "Nick! What happened-?"

"Wait here!" he commanded. The incident flipped a switch in Nick's head. Cold-pumping adrenaline surged in his veins. Infuriated, he was out the front door again in a shot. He narrowed in on the rock-thrower, whose face upon seeing him burst from the hotel, dropped the sadistic smile. Nick flew off the porch and just before impact, he saw the whites of the man's eyes and a hideous pair of black pupils staring back into the face of a raging madman.

The rock-thrower was in mid-step backward when Nick tackled him. If Nick was in a weakened condition because of his head injury, he showed no sign of that now. Insane with rage, he latched onto the man's throat and pummeled him repeatedly in the face. "Throw rocks at little girls, will ya?" somewhere in the tumult he heard himself growl. "You dirty, son-of-a-bitch!"

"Murdering dog!" The other man spat back.

They both tumbled in the dirt in a mad jumble of flying fists and kicking boots.

Victoria led her distraught daughter down into the lobby and set her on the sofa.

"He threw a rock at me!" Audra sobbed, tears streaming down her face. " Why?"

Victoria examined Audra's upper arm. "Let me see." An angry red welt the size of an orange showed in sharp relief the jagged shape of the stone that hit her. At it's center a purple contusion swelled into a knot. "Who did this?" Victoria demanded. From the corner of her eye she saw Gene move toward the front windows. "Get over here, now!" she ordered.

"Nick's fighting!" Gene exclaimed. "I can hear it!"

"Gene-" Victoria began.

Gunshots exploded-two in rapid succession-so close Victoria felt the tremor in her bones.

Instantly, she was on her feet.

Audra screamed, "Oh, Momma! They killed Nick!"

Victoria silenced her with an iron glare. " Never assume the worst!"

"Nick!" Gene rushed to the front door.

"Eugene Howard Barkley! Halt!"

With the children duly silenced and still, Victoria felt free to move. She marched toward the front. "Eugene. Back to the sofa with Audra."

"But-"

"Now!"

He didn't ask twice. He moved around his mother quickly in an arch to keep out of her arm's reach.

She went to the window.

"Mother, no!" Audra sobbed.

Victoria merely glanced back to make sure her youngest were doing as she told them and then she reached into the pocket of her shirtwaist, withdrawing a small derringer. She parted the curtain to look out.