Just now I can understand how my reaction must have seemed exaggerated.

The hot water relaxes me while the soap tickles my face.

Should I apologize for the accusations I made to Strauss? And, what about Arthur? After all the things we've gone through together…

I get out of the tub and start dressing up. A hot bath is exactly what I needed to clear my head. Someone knocks at the door.

"Come in" I say pulling up one of the suspenders.

"Can we go?" asks Charles opening slightly the door.

I nod pulling up the other suspender and wearing the belt with the gun.

When we arrive at the camp the sun is low on the lake.

"Charles, Fred. Dutch wants to talk to you" says Hosea coming towards us.

I gaze at Charles who nods and without looking at me, heads to the tents. I follow him, worried.

What should I expect?

When we reach him, Dutch is seated in front of his tent. He slowly raises his gaze on us and stands up with a sigh. I glance at him and then I move my eyes on the grass under my feet.

"Where have you been?" he inquires.

"I needed to think" I say before Charles can speak.

"I hope you cleared your head" he replies.

I nod keeping my eyes low.

"You have to do something for me" he adds.

Finally, I find the strength to look at him.

"You have to find Trelawny."

I turn to Charles who nods.

I didn't expect a job. Not after today.

"You'll find his caravan north from Rhodes. I'll talk to Arthur as soon as he comes back and tomorrow morning you'll go" he ends.

He stares at me and I think that, through his eyes, he wants to tell me this job is a way for me to catch up after today.

I nod and try to tell him I understood the message.

"Good, you can go" he says turning around and getting inside his tent.

I turn around too and start walking towards the place where Strauss' tent should be. He's seated at his table with his nose buried in a book.

The rage and the dismay rise again, but I try to repress them with all myself.

"Herr Strauss" I say stopping in front of him.

He raises his look on me.

I breath deeply a couple of times before going ahead.

"I just wanted to apologize for my behavior today. I exaggerated. It's true that… I don't like what you do, but to accuse you in that way wasn't right" I say without looking at him.

I wait for an answer that doesn't come. When I stare at him, the only thing he does is nod before going back to his book.

I take another deep breath and move towards one of the campfires, the deserted one. I sit and take my gun out to clean it.

I've taken all my humility and remorse to apologize to him and he doesn't even give me an answer!

I hear some horses coming from the wood and I turn around to see who it is. In the twilight I recognize Karen, Bill, Lenny and Arthur who are getting down their horses. They must be back from Valentine… and I should talk with Arthur, too.

I stand up to reach him, but he's called by Dutch when he walks past his tent. I get close while they're talking.

I see Arthur nodding and then he walks towards his tent and starts taking off his clothes. I cough when I reach him, making him turn around.

"What?" he asks.

"I'm sorry… for what I said today. I was wrong" I say with my eyes low.

"You don't have to apologize" he replies.

"Yes, I have. What I said… I didn't mean it."

He stops and stares at me. Then he nods and turns his back on me with a grunt.

The morning is unusually cool.

I sip my coffee standing on the little dock, watching the sunrise and unable to stop thinking about Downes. Actually, about his wife and son. I really hope that my gesture can help them and that without the need to collect the money for Strauss they could carry on, at least for a little time.

"Hey, we have to go" Arthur calls me from the shore.

Walking past the kitchen, I leave the cup on the table before heading to Isabella. There I greet Charles, busy preparing his horse.

"What exactly we have to discuss with Trelawny?" he asks while we mount up.

"Dutch wants us to ask him about these bounty hunters who are coming for us. Hoping he can tell us who they are, or where they're coming from" answers Arthur.

We walk out of the wood and take the road that leads to Rhodes. When we get near the city, instead of going inside, we head northward reaching a place full of caravans, almost all abandoned.

I've met him only once, but Trelawny didn't seemed to me the kind of man that could live in a place like this. I thought more of hotels, rented rooms…

"Reckon it's that one with the fire outside" remarks Arthur and what I see from the distance doesn't seem ideal.

The front door is knocked off and inside everything is upside-down.

I lay a hand on the holster while I look around. Charles goes inside first, followed by Arthur and then me.

"Let's see if we can find some hints" says Arthur.

It's like a tornado passed through here: papers everywhere, broken stuff and blood stains. There is another door on the other side of the caravan, this one knocked off too.

"It looks like there's been a struggle. Maybe they took him away" says Charles studying the blood.

I walk outside the back door and find shoes tracks on the ground.

"Two men I guess, maybe three. They dragged him this way" I say pointing at them.

"Okay, let's follow them" says Arthur.

We go back to the horses and take a path that leads north, following the tracks.

"Not the kind of place I'd expect to see Trelawny staying in" says Arthur.

"No?" asks Charles.

"Normally scams himself into the best hotel in town."

Just what I thought, I think following the two men down the path. I wonder what pushed him to stay here instead.

"You know…when me and Javier went down with Trelawny to get Sean, after the bar fight? I swear he talked the whole way and never actually said a damn thing" says Charles.

"I thought you knew that's his special talent" laughs Arthur.

I smile too, thinking about how much annoyed Charles had to be with all that vain blabbering.

We reach a crossroad and the tracks I was following get lost in the chaos of horse hooves. But apparently my companions don't have the same difficulty and they go on with no problems.

"They cut through the forest here" remarks Charles leaving the path.

There, there is a little clearing with two men, one under a tent and one seated on a chair. We slow up and get down the horses.

"Excuse me" says Arthur.

"Yes?" answers the one on the chair.

"Have you seen…" he begins, but then stops looking around.

"We're uh…we're looking for our friend" he says with a different voice.

Why he changed attitude? Has he understood something I didn't?

"I don't think he's here" replies the man.

"Nah… you seen a strange sort of feller… sort of formal?" Arthur insists.

"Strange, sure. Formal, no" answers the man again.
Okay, they're definitely hiding something.

"He uses a cane, looks a lot like this one" says Charles picking up a wooden cane from the ground that I haven't noticed before.

I look at the two men, who now are standing up, and lay my hand on my gun.

"Alright you two… where the hell is he?" shouts Arthur.

"You better get outta here!" exclaims one of the two pushing Charles, who then throws himself towards the man.

Arthur does the same punching the other one and knocking him out.

I keep my hand on the holster without any idea of what to do. They don't seem to need my help.

Charles is blocking the man on the ground. Then, Arthur gets close and starts beating him.

"Where's Trelawny?" he inquires.

"I don't know anything" the man answers.

"Tell me where he is!" exclaims Arthur punching him again.

"You go to hell!"

"You better tell me now, you son of a bitch!"

"Okay, okay… for Christ's sake. They took him to a cabin, over by the cornfields" the man gives up.

"Which cornfields?" asks Arthur.

"Left… down the path there… by the Braithwaite Manor."

I roll my eyes.

The Braithwaites again. I just hope they have no role in this.

Arthur punches the man and makes him pass away. We mount again on the horses and take the trail the man told us.

"What do you think they want with Trelawny?" asks Charles.

"Could be any one of a hundred things. Just depends if any of them involve us" answers Arthur.

"You think he'll talk?"

"Of course he'll talk. He'd sell his own sister to save a train fare! He don't know how not to talk, he don't know where we're holed up, though. Least, I don't think he does…"

He goes in and out as he pleases, he can't keep his mouth shut… Why Dutch still deals with him?

Charles seems to read my mind because he makes the same question.

"He's got his uses and, well… loyalty matters to Dutch" answers Arthur.

"Of course, but is Trelawny loyal?" asks Charles.

"Kind of. I guess Trelawny ain't exactly disloyal… just got a big mouth. Don't worry. If he talked, I'll goddamn find out what he said."

That's why Dutch chose them: they're intimidating.

We find ourselves on a hill that overlooks on some corn crops. We stop near the little cabin where our man should be. The door opens as soon as we get down our horses.

"Let's get you out of here, come on boy. The thing is, after that shack, this will be remembered like a good time" is saying one of the two men who's dragging Trelawny from under his arms.

He - his face swollen and half passed out - is not resisting them.

"Put the man down, gentlemen" says Arthur pointing his gun at them.

Charles does the same and I follow their example.

The two see us and watch us with a look of terror before letting Trelawny go and run away towards the crops. We get close Trelawny, who falls on the ground, his hands and feet tied.

"That the lot of them?" asks Arthur.

"I…I think so" he mumbles.

"Go take them, I'll take care of him" I say cutting the ropes that tide Trelawny.

I don't have to repeat it twice.

"You're okay, Mr. Trelawny?" I ask to the man who starts rubbing his wrists as soon as I cut him free.

"Yes, my dear" he answers with a suffering tone.

"Are you sure? You don't look well" I add putting an arm around his shoulders and helping him to stand up.

"Ahh… I've seen worse than this" he jokes.

I bring him to a chair near the cabin when some shots start from the corn crops behind me. I turn to them trying to identify the shapes in the distance.

"Go help them. I can handle it" says Trelawny.

I look at his bruised face.

And, what if he wants to be let alone just to run away? He could have talked and now the runaway could be the only way to save himself from Dutch's judgement.

"Don't worry, I won't go anywhere. Right now, I wouldn't even be able to get on a horse" he adds with a smile, just like he could read my thoughts.

I nod and run towards the crops.

"Arthur! I see movement down there!" I hear Charles shouting and I understand that those cowards must have hidden among the plants.

I see them running towards the spot Charles pointed and decide to go around it so to surround the man. I walk low and silently when I sense some movement among the corn. Whoever it is, he's moving slowly towards my companions. He doesn't seem to have noticed me, so I follow him, paying a lot of attention on not to be seen.

When he stops, I do the same.

Suddenly, I hear some struggle and then a man shouting: "He's mine!"

It's not a voice I can recognize, so I stick out a little to understand the situation. The man - one of those who kept Trelawny as hostage - is chocking Arthur with a rope. Charles, with his hands up, is slowly getting closer.

"Let me take him… you get outta here" the man says.

"You have my friend" replies Charles.

"He's not your friend… I'll give you money."
I move fast, before I can even think about what to do. I take the knife and jump on the man's back sticking it on his throat. He kneels and then he falls with his back on me. I keep him still from the neck while he struggles with the last strengths he has. Out of the the corner of my eye, I see Arthur standing up rubbing his neck.

"You okay?" I ask him, moving the lifeless body aside and sitting up.

"Yeah, thank you" he says reaching a hand that I take to stand up.

"Take it as another apology for yesterday. Now, we're even" I reply.

He nods.

"Where's Trelawny?" he asks then.

"On the hill."

"Let's hope he didn't run" he says starting to walk.

"I don't think he wants to" I reply.

Before following Arthur, I glance at Charles, who's staring at me.

I smile and go away.

"Mr. Trelawny, where are you?" yells Arthur when we reach the bottom of the hill.

"Over here, dear boy" we hear him answering.

He hasn't moved from where I left him.

"You okay?" asks Morgan.

"Never finer" he jokes.

"So, who was they?" Arthur asks again nodding to Charles who heads to the horses.

"They were bounty hunters, attached to Cole Stoudemire" answers Trelawny while Arthur helps him standing up.

I get near and help him too.

"Okay" says Arthur.

"They weren't looking for me, per se" he adds standing up with some difficulties and going towards Charles who's leading a horse for him.

"What you tell 'em?"

"Not much. I… told them I was an intellectual come down here from Oregon looking for a job at the university" he answers climbing up the horse with Arthur's help.

"Course, they didn't believe me. Seems you stirred up quiet a hornet's nest in Blackwater" he adds.

"So I keep hearing" replies Arthur getting on his horse.

Charles and I do the same.

"It might be best if I stay with you gentlemen for a while. Can't go back to the caravan now" says Trelawny.

"Alright, you two take Trelawny back to camp, I'll catch up with you" orders Arthur.

"Okay, let's go" replies Charles spurring his horse.

Trelawny follows him, but I stay right were I am watching Arthur's back and wondering where he's going.

"Miss, are you with us?" asks Trelawny.

I turn around and follow them.

"So, it seem that you're officially a member of the gang now" he remarks while we ride side by side.

"Yes" I answer.

"You know, I made some… well I think we can call them 'researches' on you since I met you the first time. Oh, don't worry, I'm just a curious man" he adds when I look at him.

"Anyway, I found out about the tragedy that affected your family and I must say, you struggled really good in the last year."

I turn again to look at the road and listen to him quietly, wondering where is aiming his conversation.

"And I also found out that the culprits have received a house call from justice."

Charles and I stare at each other.

"Of course it would have been much better if our mutual friend, Mr. Bell, helped you in the search of his ex colleague."

I turn to look at him when I understand his words. He stares back with the look of who knows that the fish took the bait.

"From how you're watching me I understand you didn't know. And neither did Mr. Smith here" he adds turning to Charles.

"Mr. Hunt and Mr. Bell were colleagues once. But it seems they had… divergent opinions about 'legal work', if we can call it this way."

He takes a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to me. It's a newspaper cutting.

New Robbery in Utah! Suspects on the Run!

Today the good citizens of St. George have been awaken by the latest robbery from hand of Billy Clive's gang.

The suspects, who the authorities recognized as Micah Bell and James Hunt, entered in St. George's central bank in the middle of the night, they think with the help of one of the employees, and took almost $4.000.

Researches continue…

I knew I read the name somewhere!

I smile bitterly thinking that only a man like Micah could be part of a gang with someone like Hunt.

When we reach the camp, Charles and I help Trelawny to get down his horse.

"Josiah! Good to see you again!" says Hosea coming close and helping us to carry him to Strauss' tent.

"Hosea" he greets.

"It seems you haven't had the greatest of the times since we freed you" says Hosea.

"It seems. These… bounty hunters really want to catch you" replies Trelawny.

Charles nods to me and we leave the two man heading to the rest of the camp.

I'm walking by his side when I see Micah seated near one of the campfires with some other people. I shouldn't cause any more troubles but…

"What you want to do?" asks Charles.

I turn around and notice he's looking at me, concerned.

"Talk" I answers heading to Micah.

"The truth is you worry too much" I hear him saying while I draw near.

"Dutch has a plan. You must have faith. We'll go back to Blackwater, take the money and disappear, forever" he adds.

"It's something you do often, disappear?" I ask catching the attention of everybody on me.

"Sometimes, when things get bad, it's better to run rather than act like a hero and risk your life" he answers.

"So, this is what happened with James Hunt? Things got bad and you abandoned him? I wonder…" I keep saying while I take a seat next to Javier.

"…if this happened before or after he murdered my family."

"You think you know everything, don't you, girl?" he says with a mischievous smile.

"I just want to know why you didn't tell me that you knew Hunt."
"Because I had no idea you where looking for him."

"Or maybe because you where with them when it happened."

"How could I? I stopped working with Hunt more than a year ago" he laughs.

"And my family died more than a year ago."

"Well… I guess it was before, then."

"I think you're a liar."

He sighs and shakes his head.

"You see ghosts everywhere. And you're starting to lose clearness" he says.

I keep staring at him.

He could be right, or he could be lying.

"I think Micah is right, it could have happened after. Come on… how, how can he do something like that?" asks Bill.

I don't move my eyes from Bell, waiting for him to fail some kind of emotion.

"I think he's exactly the kind of man who can do something like that" I say.

Among us, silence falls. Micah doesn't flitch. He just stays there, sustaining my inquiring gaze.