Blood Moon 4

Wind had blown snow into thigh high drifts in places, but it had effectively swept bare some of the flat, higher exposed roads across the prairie. The sun's reflection off the snow was nearly blinding, so Matt and Festus pulled their hat brims down to help shield their eyes. Fortunately, they only had to give their horses free rein to follow Deputy Joe Ames' horse to the Hensley place.

Matt barely remembered the Hensley couple because they'd moved there around the same time that he was getting ready to put in for retirement. As he recollected, the house and land hadn't been much to begin with, and, as the dilapidated house came into sight, he saw that little appeared to changed. He noticed Newly's bay was tied up outside.

Deputy Ames hadn't said much on their ride back to the Hensley farm. Matt figured that if it was bad enough for the marshal to send for him, then it was just as well that the deputy kept his thoughts to himself. Matt could make his own judgments. They'd kept kerchiefs and scarves pulled up around their necks and faces to protect themselves from the frigid air. The only thing that Ames had told them was that Newly needed his 'professional' opinion and that he'd 'understand once they got there.'

The three riders came around the front of the house to find Marshal Newly O'Brien sitting on the ramshackle porch.

"What in tarnation are ya doin' setting out c'here fer, Newly. It'd be a heap warmer if you 'ad lit a fire in the stove and stayed inside," Festus exclaimed, his boots crunched into the snow, after he'd tied off his mule.

Newly looked up as they approached. "Trust me, Festus, when you see what's in there, you'll understand why I didn't want to stay inside any longer than I had to."

Matt waited, looked expectantly at his friend. When no answer was forthcoming, the old marshal narrowed his eyes, and growled, "That bad?"

Newly only nodded.

"Was the door open when you got here," Matt asked, taking note of the scene.

"No. I did that. Ed and Martha Washburn were on their way into Dodge, and Martha insisted they do a welfare check on Miz Hensley, I guess, when they noticed there was no smoke from the chimney. When they got here," Newly stood and gestured toward a broken window, to the right of the door, "They found this and looked inside and saw the body. Mr. Washburn said it was pretty obvious that she was dead, so they didn't go in. They came on into town and reported it to me. Trust me, they were pretty shook up.

"Ames and I came out and found the door locked from the inside. It appears that whoever or whatever it was that killed her, either came in through the window or through the side of the house."

Matt was stunned. "The side of the house? What are you talking about?"

"Come this way." Newly led them around to the back where, partially hidden by a chicken pen, a ragged wooden hole had been ripped through the wall to inside the house.

Matt waded through the deep snow to the opening and studied the scene without entering. There wasn't much furniture, a couple of straight back chairs, a broken rocker, and a bed that had seen better days. He took note of the blood on the inside of the front window and how the glass appeared to have broken inward.

Once he squeezed through the opening, into the house, Matt knelt down to get a better look at the body, careful not to kneel in blood. Mrs. Hensley was lying partially under the bed. Dried, or rather frozen, blood was copious. He heard Festus and Newly scramble in behind him. Apparently, Deputy Ames had seen enough the first time and didn't follow them inside again.

"There's blood all over this back wall. Maybe that's spray from her neck bein' ripped open. Her face, though-I've never seen anything like that in my life. It's like somebody took a knife and just cut or beat her until it was impossible to tell who she was," Newly said.

Matt picked up an old shotgun and broke it open; there were bloody handprints on the stock. There was no shell inside. Looking around, he spotted one under the rocker and one near the front door. He bent down to pick up one that had rolled under the table and suddenly startled, dropping it on the floor.

"Sorry. I thought it was another shell. It's one of her fingers."

"I don't blame you!" Newly continued, "I found one spent shell. I guess she might have gotten him with her one shot."

Matt said, "Or maybe not." He indicated the pellets buried in the wood. "I don't think she wounded her attacker. If she only got off one shot and most of it's here in the door."

"Has the doctor been out yet?" Matt didn't particularly care for the man, but he hadn't liked any physician since Doc Adams had passed on. Still, the town doctor had a purpose, and he could take examine the body and give them more to go on.

"No, I didn't really know what we'd find. Certainly not…. this. I figured the Washburn's had gotten excited and exaggerated. I was wrong," Newly kept staring at the dead woman. "I figure we can load the body into the wagon. It's not like it's going to affect much. It's too damn cold. No sense in draggin' the doctor out here in this."

Matt turned to Festus. "I'd appreciate your going back to the Double S and staying with Kitty until I get home. I'll help Newly get the body loaded for town then I'll head for home."

Festus looked a tad green around the gills. "Will do, Matthew." Stopping to look back at the dead woman, he said something that made Matt's blood turn to ice because it had been playing in the back of his mind as well. "It looks pert near exactly like what happened to that calf we found. All ripped up like that."

"Yea, but we thought that looked more like an animal attack."

Newly asked, "What calf?"

"Me and Matthew found a calf that had been kilt a few days ago, maybe a week, down near the creek below the ranch house. It was all tore up like this. Well, more like ripped up." He turned away from the dead body. He waved his hands in the air when he asked, "Newly, how in the sam hill can you even tell if this is this here Miz Hensley. You cain't tell from looking at her, that's fer shore."

"Well, Festus, I don't know who else it could be, but I'm hoping the doctor can help us with that, too."

"All righty, Matthew, I'll see you later at the ranch."

"Will do. Oh, and Festus, don't tell Kitty anything yet about…." He trailed off.

"Don't you worry. I'll just sketch out the big picture to Miss Kitty about this here."

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Deputy Ames went to the Hensley's dilapidated barn and led an old mare to battered, old wagon that would now carry the body of its owner into Dodge City. Matt and Newly had wrapped the body in the bedclothes and tied them tightly around the corpse. Once the horse was hitched, the two placed the body respectfully into the back of the wagon.

"I'll leave you to it, Newly," Matt said, as he hitched up his pants in front. "I sure don't envy you trying to figure this one out. Not that any of them are good."

Newly stuck out his hand. "Thank you, Matt. I hated to take you from your work, but I think you understand now." He shook his head. "I'm not ashamed to say that this is the most awful thing I've ever seen."

"It won't make you feel any better, but I have to say that it ranks right up there as one of the worst things that I've ever witnessed."

The former lawman turned to undo his horse's reins from the decaying hitching post. "You're welcome. You know I'm willing to help out with whatever you need. I know Kitty would enjoy seeing you, so how about you come out in a few days for supper, say Sunday."

"That's five days. That's about how long it will take my stomach to settle. I'll see you then. Much obliged."