Nobody Can Predict the Future

Sheriff Collins detoured into the telegraph office during his stroll home long enough to send off a wire to Marshal David Cook. Though his wife wouldn't like it, he'd ride over to the Pence house to talk with that couple and their guest after supper. He wanted to speak with them while the shooting was still fresh in their minds. Collins felt there was more to Matt Dillon than surface appearances. He was obviously good with a gun. Cook could confirm his status as a lawman and his reputation with a six-gun. That still didn't mean that Dillon wasn't capable of killing out of jealousy.

Bill, Laura and Kitty were in the kitchen waiting for him when Collins came through the gate from the stable, walked across the Pence front yard and climbed the steps onto the porch to knock on the door. Bill opened it, welcoming the local lawman inside. Collins, instead of following the owner into the kitchen, indicated he preferred to remain in the front room where he could speak to each of the three privately. He'd start with Kitty.

"I'm ready to do what I can, Sheriff," she stated as soon as she entered the room. "Frankly, I expected Matt to be with you."

"Sorry, Miss Russell. Until everything's clear in my mind, which may not be 'til after a trial, he'll stay locked in my jail," he informed her while indicating she should take a seat opposite him. "First off, how long and how well do you know Mr. Dillon?"

"How well Matt and I know each other is none of your business," Kitty informed Collins, her anger barely beneath the surface. "As to how long I've known him, it's been since I first came to Dodge nine years ago come the end of the year. That's when I went to work for Bill. I became a full partner in the Long Branch a bit over two years later. Let's just say Matt and I formed a lasting friendship with each other and Bill and Laura Pence since we initially became acquainted."

"It's obvious like Dillon, you're a private person," Collins admitted, not bothering to hide his frustration. "Perhaps being forthcoming about the man he killed will be easier."

A change of focus was a tactic the sheriff decided would better serve his purpose. Some aspects of the situation were becoming clear. The full picture would eventually emerge. He'd already inferred the woman sitting across from him might have some form of love for the man now locked in his jail. It was this ability to see beneath what people claimed outwardly that helped convince the voters he was the right man to replace the last sheriff. That man's abilities were better suited to a more sparsely settled yet wilder county.

"Miss Russell, when did you first meet Cope Borden?" Collins began anew, deliberately phrasing his question so as not to imply he had his assumptions. "Did you also form a friendship with him?"

"We were never friends," Kitty replied. "When I first saw Borden I thought he was a newly arrived old friend of Matt's, not someone he suspected broke the law. I'd no idea Borden had nearly been lynched. During his short stay in Dodge Matt let him go twice. The first was when proof came through that Borden bought the horse he was riding. The Arizona brand just happened to match Rance Bradley's Kansas one. The second was a form of protective custody. He'd killed Rance's visiting nephew in a gunfight similar to the one you observed tonight. I was among those in the Long Branch who saw Borden acted in self-defense. Matt let him go, once he made it clear to Rance and those with him they would be the ones facing a murder charge. It was the only way to avoid shooting down usually law-abiding citizens with a shotgun to prevent another lynching of Borden. That's the last I saw of Cope Borden until Matt and I came to Pueblo four days ago on vacation. We both needed the chance to relax. Our friends gave us a place to stay."

"So, you're saying encountering Borden was by chance, Miss Russell. Still, you knew him before. Maybe seeing him again was enough for you to show some interest. After all, Borden certainly did. Conceivably it was enough to make your traveling companion jealous."

He had formed his opinion based on his belief a former saloon gal would be fickle. Without giving Kitty a chance to rebut his implications Sheriff Collins dismissed her. She had no choice but to send Laura from the kitchen to speak with him, followed by Bill. After speaking with the couple separately then together, when Laura returned from checking on the children, the lawman left for home. He stopped into the telegraph office long enough to check on whether or not Marshal Cook had replied before rejoining his wife. The marshal would arrive on the early morning train from Denver to personally identify the prisoner. It was a relatively short trip by rail, 112 miles, with only one stop in Colorado Springs. Cook would step off at the depot in time for a late breakfast.

While Collins opted for an early night so he'd be fresh in the morning the three adults currently in the Pence household sat up a bit later than usual for those living in a home with a toddler and a baby. They needed to digest their encounter with the sheriff before turning in for the night.

"What sort of lawman is Collins?" Kitty asked. "I don't know what sort of questions he asked you, only what his questions to me implied."

"He wanted to know how well we know both of you beyond any working relationship, particularly from how a married woman would interpret social interactions among the four of us," Laura began. "We told him we were good friends or else we wouldn't have extended an invitation for the two of you to stay with us. However, we refused to go into any particulars concerning your visit."

"Both of us provided our take on your and Matt's characters," Bill continued. "Since he was elected a couple years back over our aging previous sheriff, Collins has shown himself to be a good choice. He's been fair to us but I think he might look on Laura different if he knew she was an employee when she, like you, first arrived in Dodge. My impression is he would tilt even more toward you being willing to spend time with any man who had the wherewithal since your man didn't see you as marriage material. I had to provide some background as to why I hired you. Given how he sees a woman with your background, he found it strange that I let you do the books from day one and then invited you to buy into the business within a couple years. I think he thought treating you special might have been Matt's way of making sure he had first dibs on a particularly alluring saloon gal and that you'd be flattered but not committed to him exclusively despite loving him as much as one of your kind is capable of doing."

"That's what I was afraid of," Kitty remarked as she stood to head to the guestroom. "He sees me as a soiled dove and Matt as a man who wants me to be exclusively his but not the mother of his children. I'm afraid we'll be forced to air more about our private lives than is known our closest friends know for certain in open court."

While Kitty lay awake in her now lonely bed tossing and turning, Matt did the same on the lower bunk in his jail cell. The sole difference was he had no room to move about on the too small for his frame cot. He shared her conclusion that even after hearing from Marshal Cook Sheriff Collins would keep him locked up until he stood trial for murder.