Justice Is Served
AN: LovingmesomeMK, alas I can't reply personally so I'm including it here. First off, thanks for reading my story. Glad I gave you a chance to vent but in reading this final chapter you'll find Sheriff Collins isn't a complete a-hole. While I'm at it I'd also like to thank the other guest reviewers (Sarah, etc.) for their kind & insightful comments. BTW Silver Plume, with its Plume Saloon, is one of my favorite places in CO. That town and Georgetown are due west of Denver along I-70.
The next morning Sheriff Collins left Deputy McNally to see to the needs of his prisoner while he walked to the depot to meet the train carrying Marshal David Cook from Denver. He had only personally encountered the man a few times since becoming the Pueblo County Sheriff. He remembered the marshal as about his height but with a darker complexion, a mustache where he was clean-shaven. Perhaps the mustache compensated for the receding and graying hairline. His physical appearance still commanded respect, as did his approach to law enforcement. He'd brought that approach with him when the government named him to the job. It was the reason for the appointment, along with picking the right candidates to back, in the first place. Cook had ten years on his 35, which happened to be the approximate age, Collins guessed, of the person the Denver man came to identify.
Collins filled the US Marshal for Colorado in on the details of what had caused him to ask the federal official to enter into what on the surface was a local matter. One man had killed another in the saloon attached to a hotel on the edge of town. All the witnesses in the bar and elsewhere around the hotel and town had provided what the sheriff felt was a clear picture of the final outcome as well as what led to it. His prisoner should be charged with murder. The only complication, one that might require a federal judge, was the accused man identifying himself as the Kansas US Marshal vacationing with friends. The friends, who happened to own the saloon, and the woman at the center of the whole thing, a beautiful redhead still in her 20s, confirmed this. All that remained was Cook's unbiased identification and assessment of the man in custody to bring the matter to trial.
"Sheriff, I've known Matt Dillon for several years," Cook informed the man walking with him. "We served together very briefly in Dakota Territory. He was my deputy. Since then he's called on me to provide information and I on him when wanted men were on the loose. He's totally dedicated to the badge we both wear. The strength of his oath prevents him from using his prowess with a gun simply to boost his reputation as a fast draw. Collins, you might not be aware of Matt Dillon's reputation as both a lawman and a gunman but those of us who've been lawmen on the frontier for any length of time and outlaws of all stripes sure know it. If you realized the sort of man you're dealing with you wouldn't have locked him up."
"McNally, bring out the prisoner," Sheriff Collins ordered his deputy when he and Marshal Cook entered the Pueblo jailhouse. "We'll talk out here, but stay alert. Though the marshal vouches for the man he claims to be and the prisoner has been cooperative so far it's best not to take unnecessary chances."
"Matt, how long has it been? Three-four years since we last saw each other?" Cook stuck out his hand to the man brought from the cells to stand before him, like an old friend would before continuing. "Circumstances kinda put a damper on things, but I'm glad to see you anyhow."
Dillon took his counterpart's hand in the spirit in which it was offered. "I appreciate you comin' down from Denver, Dave. You didn't have to."
"Nope, I didn't. It's just that I had a hunch the dead man was someone of interest to me and I wanted to see your and Collins' reaction," Cook stated, a broad grin on his face. "From what the sheriff here told me on the way from the depot you've saved me a heap of work and the Colorado taxpayers a ton of bother and money. Cope Borden's been causing trouble in Leadville, Denver and Colorado Springs but didn't do anything he could be charged with. Then he made a mistake in Silver Plume in the Plume Saloon before fleeing to nearby Georgetown where he bought a horse. That's when I lost track of him. It was right after a Wanted Dead or Alive poster was issued. The high altitude must have gotten to him. He was too cocky and couldn't claim self-defense this time."
"You're free to go, Dillon," Sheriff Collins declared as he took Matt's gun belt and Colt out of a locked desk drawer and handed it to his former prisoner. "No hard feelings."
"None taken," Matt replied strapping on the belt. "I've one question. Do you see this as me getting off on a technicality?"
Sheriff Collins was about to answer when Kitty Russell came into the man's office. "Sheriff I'd like to hear your answer as well."
"You won't like it, but I have to be honest. Miss Russell, Marshal Dillon I think the shooting was deliberate. You'd have shot him even if he wasn't wanted. Why else would you start packing after more than half a week of going without, yet leave off the badge? I think Borden didn't take your fists seriously enough to stop wooing the lady you want exclusively for yourself. You should know her kind can't stick to one man."
Kitty saw Matt start to raise his right arm to backhand the sheriff and also his hesitation as he tried to hold his temper. She grabbed it, giving him more reason to hold back from reacting violently to the insult to her.
"I've known men like you with your assumptions about saloon girls, Sheriff." Kitty spoke before Matt jumped verbally to her defense. "We're not all alike. Matt knows that. More importantly, he knows me. I can't change your mind, but I know Matt had no choice but to kill Cope Borden. He won't say anything but being set free on a technicality isn't enough. He needs everyone, including himself, to believe he was justified in killing Borden."
"I'd like to help, Miss," Cook said, offering his support. "Why don't we stroll over to Captain's Landing to talk things over? That establishment seems to be at the center of it all."
Collins chose not to accompany the Dodge City couple and Marshal Cook. As far as he was concerned there was no longer any worry about a trial so Borden's killing was in the past. Justice was served even if Dillon's motive wasn't clear. However, he was surprised at the anger he saw in the man's eyes when all he did was state what to him was the truth. Saloon girls didn't love a man the way decent women like his wife of ten years did.
Many of the hotel guests were in the dining room when the trio arrived after walking from the sheriff's office. Some were finishing off late breakfasts while others, like themselves, were finding a table where they could scan the dinner or, if they wished something lighter, the lunch menu. Since neither Matt nor Kitty had much appetite at breakfast and Cook didn't have time for it due to the train schedule, they decided on dinner. Besides, the more elaborate meal provided more time to talk.
There was fried rainbow trout on the menu. Laura Pence had kept several fish on ice from the day Cope Borden had spoiled what had been up until then a relaxing day for Matt and Kitty. Somehow it seemed fitting that they should eat the fish they'd caught before trouble invaded what had been an ideal setting for Matt to fully heal from the concussion he suffered in Elkader. Marshal Cook chose Laura's pot roast. She stopped by with the kids to say hello. Dotty made them laugh when she welcomed Matt by climbing into his lap and put her chubby arms around his neck so she could whisper in his ear. Her brother squirmed and would have set up a cry had the delay been one second longer.
Kitty smiled as she watched mother and children leave for their home. "What did Dotty whisper? Is it something you can share?" she queried while holding back a giggle so as not to embarrass either of the men with her.
"If I understood her correctly she wants me at her house. It sounded like 'home Mwatt,'" he replied. "Guess she missed me. "Cook, what's behind the poster on Borden?" Matt added as Bill Pence joined them.
The Kansas lawman's Colorado counterpart observed the man who was once his deputy. He also noticed the interplay between the redheaded woman, Matt Dillon and the third man at the table. All he knew of Pence was he owned what was becoming a very well known establishment in the soon to be state. If the little girl's reaction was any indication Dillon was a more mature version of his one-time deputy – someone who cared deeply about people under his stoic exterior. He saw Bill Pence as a devoted family man and established part of the community, an impression backed by what Sheriff Collins and Matt told him. Collins was a good man but Cook felt the local lawman couldn't see past background generalizations even while sensing when people had something to hide. This was especially true for women.
"You've a right to know, seeing as how y'all became involved," Cook stated. At 19 Rick Kenney, because of his family's prominence, was used to getting his way. Young Kenney expected a drifter and Borden to move their gunfight over a girl who worked in the Plume Saloon rather than do the moving. Rick took the bullet meant for the drifter. Steve Kenney, his father, put up the reward. He's a mine owner and rancher with ties to Washington so the posters were issued immediately along with a telegram to me."
Marshal Cook had just finished his tale when a man, who by his dress and attitude had to be a gambler, pushed his chair back from the next table, stood and turned toward them. He stuck out his hand to each man and nodded at Kitty. They exchanged names.
"I was in a poker game with Borden when he spotted you three nights ago," Bret Barker began, addressing Matt. "He bragged about how he was either gonna hurrah you into a fight here or follow you back to Dodge. Ma'am, he even mentioned seeing if he could spend time with you if he saw you again. He seemed to think it would be particularly sweet if there was no way Mr. Dillon could deny you belonged to him. I reckon from the stories going round he did just that. Only problem was he underestimated his skill compared to yours."
Two days later after Barker told what he knew to Sheriff Collins, Matt and Kitty were ready to take the train back to Dodge City. To their surprise the sheriff met them at the depot before they could board. "Miss Russell, I want to apologize for thinking you incapable of sticking with one man because of your saloon background. Marshal Dillon, my apologies to you as well. I should have done my research and realized before arresting you that the law comes first with you. If I had, I would have let things end with burying Borden. I should have simply let justice prevail."
"We all make mistakes, Collins," Matt allowed. "It doesn't matter about me but I'm glad you had it in you to make amends with Kitty."
The redhead gave the sheriff a radiant smile that reached her deep blue eyes. "Sheriff Collins, apology accepted. You only acted from experience." With that the couple boarded the eastbound train for home.