Chapter Two redone

BETA Saddletramp and Nakoosay

Slim's POV

It all started with Jess Harper, my partner. I work my ranch with him, and everything was going smooth, until about a week and a half ago. I had to send Jess away on ranch business for a week.

So, I stood out in the rapidly turning colder weather and waved goodbye as he rolled away on the afternoon stagecoach. If Jess knew what was going to happen next, he would have never left. Dad-gum if I knew the mess that was going to happen, I would have left with him on the stage.

But he didn't know and neither did I. Two days later the stagecoach rolled up outside my house and I went out to change the horses. I got halfway through when a stranger on the stagecoach tells me that he heard that he could find Jess Harper working here. I finished coupling the horses and strolled over to the man in the coach. He had a black mustache that drooped over his thin upper lip and a piercing gaze from beneath his hat. He wasn't well-dressed, but he also wasn't poorly dressed, and dust ridden either. Somewhere in between the two I would have said.

I asked him who's asking, and he told me that he is an old friend of Jess's. I don't believe him because of the few times Jess told me about his past he didn't have friends. So, I told him that he is away on business. The stranger gave me a narrowed, piercing glare and asked when Jess was supposed to return. I shrugged and said sometime this month. Eyes still angry but voice calm, he thanked me, and the stage rolled away into town.

That man's look of pure anger was enough to send major warning bells off in my mind, so the next day I went into town and saw Mort Cory, our sheriff. I described the guy, and we went through the wanted posters just in case he was a fugitive. No luck. Mort told me that he had seen the man staying at the hotel and would keep an eye on him. I thanked him and stopping by the general store picked up a few needed supplies. Then I got back in the wagon and clicking to the horses left for the ranch. It was as simple as that. Mort was going to keep an eye on the mystery man for me and that left me free to stay at the ranch. Piece of pie, right?

Wrong.

I stare at the body on the ground in front of me. I've seen many men killed and have killed several myself in the war. But the feeling I get whenever I look at a dead body never diminishes. I feel sick. I holster my gun and start looking around for a decent spot to bury him. I really don't have the time to bury him, but my conscious is screaming at me that it's the least I could do.

It was self-defense and I know I had no choice-but that doesn't make it any easier. Everything has changed now. My entire world is upside-down and I'm not sure if I can fix it.