by tag
Disclaimers in Pt. 1.
WARNING: This story contains some scenes containing gory violence; inadvisable for sensitive readers.
Vin was frowning as he stood up and got back into his saddle.
"Well?" Josiah asked. Vin had spent about ten minutes studying the one particular patch of ground. Dusk was fast approaching, and once the sun set, not even Vin's expert tracking skills would let them continue following the trail.
Vin shook his head, his attention firmly focused on his knees as he brushed the dust off his pants. "There ain't anythin' left t' follow," he said softly, his Texan drawl getting thicker. "Whoever this feller is, he sure knows how t' hide his trail. Reckon we ain't gonna be able t' catch him."
Chris rode up next to Vin and put his hand on the young tracker's arm for a moment, in a gesture of wordless reassurance. "Then let's head back to Davies' ranch. We'll collect Nathan and... the girl's body, an' get back to Four Corners."
Vin finally looked up, meeting Chris's eyes, and Josiah watched as the two held one of their silent conversations. A moment later, Vin nodded, and the three of them turned to ride back to the ranch, where'd they'd left Nathan to take care of the body.
They'd been following the trail Vin had found leading from the woodshed for the past two hours, but Josiah figured they were only about an hour's ride or so from the ranch, maybe a little bit more. They'd lost the trail several times, and each time - until now - it had taken Vin a while to find it again.
Josiah could tell that Vin was upset at having finally lost the trail completely, but all three of them knew that there was nothing else they could possibly do at the moment. Personally - despite both his knowledge of Vin's skill and having watched the young tracker in action on a number of previous occasions - Josiah was astonished that they hadn't lost the trail before this. He certainly hadn't been able to see any of the trail sign that Vin had been following, despite the fact that the tracker had pointed out most, if not everything, of what he had noticed. But then, that was why Vin was the tracker and he wasn't.
Nathan looked up from where he'd just finished bundling up the girl's body as he heard the sound of horses approaching. A minute or two later, Chris, Vin and Josiah appeared out of the darkness.
Nathan frowned slightly as he studied them. Josiah didn't look at all pleased, and as for Chris and Vin... while Nathan couldn't read either of the two of them as well as they could read each other, it was obvious that Vin was upset, and that Chris was worried.
"Guess you didn't find him," Nathan said quietly, as Chris drew his horse to a stop in front of him.
Chris shook his head. "Whoever this bastard is, he's too damned good at hiding his tracks. Vin managed to keep us on his trail for almost two hours before it vanished."
Well, that would certainly explain why Vin was upset, Nathan figured. "We heading back to town?"
Chris nodded. "An' we're bringing the body with us," he added after a moment. "I want to see if anyone knows her. And I'd like you to make a full examination, see if you can find out anything else about what happened to her."
Nathan nodded, though he winced inwardly at the unpleasant prospect. He had already anticipated this request; it was one of the reasons he'd bundled the girl's body up already - the others being that, first of all, there hadn't really been enough light left to do a thorough examination by the time they'd arrived, and secondly, the sight of the girl's body - of what the killer had done to her - was extremely disturbing. "I already arranged for Davies to lend us a mule," he said, gesturing to the animal tethered a short distance away, next to his horse. "If one of you could help me get the body up..."
Vin swung down from his horse and took the legs of the blanket-wrapped corpse. With a silent nod to Nathan, the two men got it up on the mule and tied it down. Then, still without saying a word, Vin got back on Peso and waited with the others for Nathan to mount up.
The peacekeepers rode back to Four Corners in silence for a good while; Chris and Vin leading, while Josiah and Nathan followed behind, with Nathan leading the mule carrying the girl's body. Finally, Josiah - in an effort to get everyone's thoughts off the horrific mutilations to the body, and to distract Vin, who was being too quiet, even for him, from his failure to continue tracking the killer - broke the stifling silence. "Wonder if the marshals made it to town before nightfall," he commented.
Nathan shrugged. "I don't rightly know," he replied. "Guess we'll find out when we get back there."
"S'pose so..." Josiah mumbled. "Chris, what do you think?"
Ahead of them, Josiah saw the black-clad form of the Seven's leader turn around in his saddle. "I'm more concerned about who killed that girl than whether a pair of marshals escorting a bank robber to Yuma Prison made it to town, Josiah," he snapped.
Vin reached out and laid a calming hand on Chris's forearm. "We all feel that way, Cowboy," he murmured, so quietly that Nathan and Josiah had to strain to hear the words. "But we'd best wait till we're back in town t' talk about it."
Chris nodded in acknowledgement, gripping Vin's hand for just a moment, and then shot an apologetic glance at Josiah. "Sorry," he said quietly. "It's just--"
Josiah and Nathan both nodded, understanding Chris's reaction. "We know, Brother," Josiah replied, equally quietly. "We know."
Bill Freeley leaned back against the bar and looked around the saloon.
Carter had gone off to lie down in the rooms they'd gotten in the hotel - which was, Freeley felt, all to the good. Over the past several days, he hadn't missed the fact that Carter had something of a chip on his shoulder when it came to westerners, and he didn't particularly relish the thought of ending up in a bar brawl because the younger marshal didn't have the sense to know when to keep his mouth shut.
Buck was over in one corner, flirting with a few of the saloon girls - no surprise there. Buck was a ladies' man through and through, and had been for as long as Freeley had known him.
In the other corner, Freeley could see the fancily-dressed man Buck had introduced as Ezra Standish playing a game of solitaire. A cardsharp, the marshal figured, noticing the dexterity with which Standish shuffled and dealt the cards, and he found himself wondering why on earth Chris and Buck had taken up with such a man.
There were only a few other people in the saloon tonight - Buck had said something about it being because it was the middle of the week before he'd gotten distracted by the girls. Most of them appeared to be ranch-hands or cowboys, or the like.
This seemed to be a fairly quiet town, which made Freeley wonder just why his two friends had decided to settle here. After the death of his wife and son, Chris Larabee had thrown himself into gunfights and confrontations from here to Texas, with Buck trailing him, doing his best to make sure no one got Chris from behind. Four Corners seemed much too calm for the rage-filled gunslinger that Chris had become... and for him to have become a lawman, of all things!
When he'd first heard that, Freeley hadn't believed it for a minute. He might have believed it of the Chris he'd known before Sarah and Adam's deaths, but the man who had survived that... no, there was no way he'd get involved that way.
And yet, over the past several months, the stories of the lawmen from the small town of Four Corners - the 'Magnificent Seven', led by Chris Larabee - had become well known all over the territory, and Freeley had been forced to concede that there might be an element of truth in them. It was the reason he'd agreed to come along with Carter - whom he didn't much care for - to escort Dalkey to Yuma.
And now, here was Buck, and it looked as though the rumours had been right for once. But Freeley still couldn't see the Chris Larabee of the past three years suddenly becoming a lawman.
Abruptly the batwing doors of the saloon were flung open, interrupting his thoughts, and Freeley glanced over to see four men walk in, led by the familiar, black-clad form of Chris Larabee, who had a furious scowl fixed firmly on his face. Three of them - Chris, the tall grey-haired man, and the black man - headed directly for the table Standish was sitting at, and the fourth, a slender young man wearing a buckskin jacket, strode over to the bar and gestured to the barmaid. "Whiskey - two bottles, please, Inez," he said.
"Of course, Señor Vin," she replied, pulling the requested items out from under the bar.
Looking over toward the corner where Buck was sitting, Freeley saw that the ladies' man had noticed the entrance of the four men, and, as the marshal watched, he saw Buck whisper something to one of the girls and then come over to the bar, stepping in between himself and the young man - who looked to be hardly much older than the town's sheriff.
"What's up, Vin?" Buck asked.
The young man turned to face him, and Freeley felt a flicker of recognition as he took in the young man's clean-shaven face. He'd seen that face somewhere before.
"JD at the jail?" the young man asked.
"Yep - the marshals arrived with their prisoner about half an hour after you and the others left," Buck replied. "Why?"
The young man's expression suddenly became grim. "Chris don't want him hearin' 'bout what we found just yet. Come on," he added, jerking his head toward Standish's table.
"Vin... what's wrong? What did you find?" Buck demanded. "And why have you been gone for over five hours?"
"Not here, Buck," the young man said firmly. He gestured toward the table again, and then started walking over.
"Señor Buck..." the barmaid said.
Buck turned to look at her, and Freeley watched as she handed him a tray with six glasses. He nodded his thanks, and then followed the younger man over to the table where the other four were sitting.
After a moment, Freeley casually wandered over to a table nearby, where he could overhear them. He wanted to know what was going on - and why Chris hadn't noticed him the moment he'd walked into the saloon. It wasn't like the gunslinger to be that careless, even when he was falling-down drunk.
"What's going on?" Buck demanded, as he sat down between the black man and Standish.
"We got problems," Chris said grimly, picking up one of the whiskey bottles the young man had brought over and filling the glasses. "JD at the jail?"
"Yeah - he's guarding the marshals' prisoner. Vin said you don't want him knowin' what you found?" Buck added, his tone disbelieving.
Chris nodded, his expression still grim. "Not the details - not till Nathan finds out everything he can," he said. "What we found... I don't want him seeing it."
"You went out there to see a body, as I recall," Standish commented. "Mr. Dunne has most certainly seen his fair share of bodies before."
The young man in buckskin, who was sitting between Chris and Standish, shook his head. "Not like this, he ain't, Ezra. Like Chris said, we got problems."
Standish gave Chris an inquiring look.
"First of all, the girl was murdered - and her killer was someone who was good enough at hidin' his tracks that Vin lost the trail just before dark," Chris said.
Both Buck and Standish gaped in surprise at that. "Lost the trail?" Buck repeated.
"Yeah, Bucklin, I lost the trail," the buckskin-clad man snapped. "The bastard's damned good."
Freeley watched with interest as Chris gripped the young man's arm with one hand, and the two of them looked at each other silently for a moment.
"As Chris said, Brother Buck," the large, grey-haired man who'd come in with Chris stated, "it was almost dark by that time. If we go back in the morning, Vin--"
"Won't do no good," the young man said.
"Mr. Tanner, might one inquire as to what leads you to that conclusion?" Standish asked. "After all, with a bit more illumination, surely a tracker of your exceptional skill--"
"It's gonna rain afore mornin', Ezra. That'll wash away all signs of the trail."
Freeley blinked in surprise at what he'd just heard. Tanner? Vin Tanner? No wonder the young man's face had looked familiar - he'd seen it on wanted posters from Texas!
Never mind the cardsharp - what the hell were Chris and Buck doing riding with a man wanted for murder?!
Vin was upset, Chris knew - upset about the body, upset about having lost the trail, upset about the fact that the rest of the Seven knew about his failure... and upset about whatever it was that his instincts had been telling him since Davies had ridden into town this afternoon. He tightened his grip on Vin's arm slightly, and the tracker turned to look at him again.
We'll get 'im, Vin.
Vin tilted his head slightly in acknowledgement.
"So, we are dealin' with a case of murder?" Ezra asked, absently shuffling his cards.
Chris felt his expression darken again at the reminder. "This isn't a simple murder, Ezra," he said grimly. "The girl's body..." He shook his head, consciously pulling his walls up in a fruitless effort to protect his emotions from what he was about to say. "She was... the killer... Nathan says her heart was removed."
Ezra stopped his shuffling in mid-motion, letting the cards fall onto the table as both he and Buck stared at Chris, horrified. "Her heart was removed?!" the gambler demanded in a strangled whisper.
Vin's expression was just as dark as his own. "An' she was alive for part of it," the tracker added.
At that, Ezra looked almost as though he was going to be sick. Not that Chris could blame him - he'd felt the same way from the first glimpse he'd had of the body, as had the others. "That... that..."
I think this is the first time that I've ever seen Ezra speechless, Chris reflected grimly. It wasn't exactly the pleasant sight it might have been under other circumstances.
"So, you understand why I don't want JD seeing the body, or knowin' any of the details," he finished. "I'll tell him that we found a body, and that she was definitely murdered, but no more'n that."
Buck nodded in agreement, looking very pale. "Who was it?" he asked after a moment.
Chris shook his head. "We don't know. None of us ever saw her before - nor has Davies. Nathan's goin' to do a full examination in the morning, see if he can find anything else, and then we'll turn her over to the undertaker. Hopefully someone in town will know who she is. If not..." He sighed. "If not, we'll have to send out telegrams, see if she came from any of the towns around here."
The other five met Chris's eyes, silently acknowledging the decision.
Then Nathan pushed his chair away from the table and stood up. "Well, I'd better be off to bed. I'll see y'all in the morning."
"I'm going to go relieve JD," Josiah said, standing up as well. "I certainly won't be getting any sleep tonight, and he's probably ready for a break. Either of you two know who the marshals are?" he added, glancing at Buck and Ezra.
At that, Buck's expression brightened, and Ezra gave Chris a speculative look that immediately made him suspicious. What was going on?
"One of 'em's named Mike Carter--" the ladies' man began.
"A most thoroughly unpleasant young man," interrupted Ezra, "who bears an extremely arrogant and narrow-minded attitude, and is looking for trouble."
Buck glared at the gambler momentarily, irritated by the interruption, and then returned his attention to Chris and Josiah. "An' the other's Bill Freeley."
Chris felt a touch of surprise. "Bill?" he repeated. Last time he and Buck had run into Bill Freeley had been about a year and a half ago, over in New Mexico. From what little he recalled, it hadn't been the most pleasant of meetings - he'd just finished a job and had retired to the closest saloon to get drunk. Bill had been there - trailing someone, he thought - and had tried to talk to him.
He didn't remember exactly what he'd said, but Chris knew it had been angry and hurtful - said specifically to push Bill away. Somewhere in there there'd been a brawl, and he seemed to remember getting into a gunfight at some point in that town, whatever its name was; and by the time he'd sobered up, Bill had been long gone and Buck had been furious with him. Not that that had been an uncommon occurrence at the time...
Feeling eyes on him, Chris glanced to his right, to see Vin watching him with a concerned expression.
You all right, Cowboy?
Fine, Chris assured him silently.
Then, turning back to Buck, Chris studied him. "So, how is he?"
"Seems to be doing well. Volunteered for escort duty 'cause he'd heard we were here, and was hopin' to see us," Buck replied.
"A friend of yours, I assume?" Josiah asked.
"Yep," Chris replied. "So where--" he started, and then stopped as he caught a hint of movement from behind Nathan and Josiah, and looked to see the older man walking toward their table. He smiled. "Bill!"
Bill Freeley was astonished to see the smile cross Chris's face. He hadn't seen that happy an expression on the younger man since Sarah and Adam had died. This was certainly a far cry from the moody, rage-filled man who'd threatened to put a bullet through him a year and a half ago. He gave a smile of his own in response, and saw a flicker of relief in the gunslinger's eyes. "It's good to see you, Chris," he said.
"Good to see you as well," Chris replied, his smile widening. "Have a seat," he added, gesturing to the chair the black man had been sitting in.
"Thanks," Bill said, sitting down.
"Bill, I'd like you to meet my men. You know Buck already, of course, and I assume you've met JD, the sheriff. This is Nathan, our healer," that was the black man, "Josiah," the tall grey-haired man, "Ezra..."
"We have already become acquainted with each other, Mr. Larabee," Standish put in.
Chris rolled his eyes. "And this is Vin," he added, placing a hand on Tanner's shoulder. "Boys, this is Bill Freeley, one of the best marshals I've ever met."
"Pleased to meet you," Josiah said, nodding to him. "Shall I tell JD to come over here, Chris?" he added.
"Yes. Just remember, don't tell him about the condition of the body," Chris added; his tone, Freeley recognized, made it a definite order.
Josiah gave a grim nod of agreement, and headed out the door. Nathan touched two fingers to his hat in an informal salute and followed.
"So," Chris said, leaning back in his chair and pouring another shot of whiskey into the glass in front of him, "what have you been doing lately, Bill? Buck said you took escort duty in the hopes that you'd see us."
"That's right," Bill agreed, his eyes darting between Chris and Tanner. Did Chris even know that the man beside him was a wanted murderer? He doubted it - a gunslinger Chris might be, but he was a reasonably law-abiding man with a strict conscience and code of ethics. He wouldn't tolerate a murderer riding with him. And he certainly wouldn't be as relaxed in a murderer's presence as he seemed to be with Tanner. "As for what I've been doing, just the usual... nothing special over the last little while."
Standish stood up, gathering up his cards. "Well, if the two of you are goin' to reminisce, I, for one, will take myself elsewhere. Buck, Vin, would you care for a game of poker?"
Bill saw Chris and Tanner exchange another silent look, and then Tanner nodded, standing up as well. "Sure, Ezra," the Texan drawled. "Wouldn't want t' miss losin' last week's pay to ya, now, would I? Buck, you joinin' us?"
Buck shook his head. "Nope - Chris an' me got some interestin' stories to share with Bill, here."
Tanner shrugged, and then he and Standish headed over to another table some distance away, taking the half-empty bottle of whiskey and two glasses with them.
"Nothing exciting?" Buck asked then.
Freeley shook his head. "Nope, not really. What about you boys? I've heard a lot of rumours floating around about some of the trouble you've gotten into."
Buck grinned, and a faint smile crossed Chris's face. "Like I said," the ladies' man declared, "we've got some interestin' stories."
"I imagine so. So, let's hear 'em," Freeley suggested.
As Buck launched into the tale of how the Seven had first met, Freeley surreptitiously looked between Chris and the table where Standish and Tanner were sitting. He wouldn't broach the fact that Tanner was wanted for murder just yet... but he'd definitely have to tell Chris before he left. He didn't want the gunslinger trusting someone as hard and as ruthless as Vin Tanner.
Vin wasn't paying much attention to the 'game' he and Ezra were supposed to be playing; instead, his focus was on Chris's table. Having a marshal in town wasn't doing anything for the unease he'd been feeling since poor Davies had first shown up this afternoon, almost terrified out of his wits; and the fact that this marshal was obviously a good friend of Chris's was only making him feel worse. The last thing he wanted was for Chris or Judge Travis to end up in trouble because he was recognized.
"Vin?" he heard Ezra say quietly, and returned his attention to the gambler.
"What is it, Ez?"
Ezra looked briefly disgusted at Vin's use of the nickname, but didn't rise to the bait. "As it happens, that was what I was about to inquire. You appear to be most anxious concernin' something."
Vin hesitated for a moment, and then slumped in his chair and shrugged. "I just... I'se got an uneasy feelin', Ez. And it ain't just the girl's murder, either."
Ezra glanced over at the table where Chris, Buck and Marshal Freeley sat talking, and nodded in understanding. "I--" he began, only to stop as the saloon's batwing doors were flung open and JD rushed in.
"Chris, Vin! Nathan says to come quick!"
"What is it, JD?" Vin asked, as he tossed his cards carelessly onto the table and stood up, shrugging into his buckskin jacket.
"I don't know - he wouldn't tell me," JD replied, frowning anxiously. "Just said to run and get the two of you. What's going on, Vin? What did you find out at Davies' ranch?"
"We'll tell ya when we come back. Where's Nate?"
"Over at the church," JD said. He didn't look happy, but Vin felt it was probably a good sign of how much he'd learned since that first day that he didn't question him further.
A moment later, Chris joined Vin by the saloon doors. "JD, you stay here," he said firmly. When JD opened his mouth, obviously intending to protest - there were still some things he had to learn better - Chris glared at him. "You stay here," he repeated. "And you might want to keep an eye on Buck," he added, "make sure he doesn't tell Bill anything that would be too embarrassing for you."
At that, JD glanced toward the table Chris had left, where Buck and the marshal were still sitting, and immediately started over, distracted from what Nathan hadn't wanted him to know. Vin chuckled quietly to himself as he heard JD declare loudly, "Now, Buck, you ain't to tell him 'bout that time..."
Looking back at Chris, Vin saw his own amusement reflected in his best friend's face. As an attempt to ensure that Marshal Freeley didn't hear about whatever it was JD didn't want Buck explaining, it had failed miserably - and had, in fact, assured that the marshal would hear most, if not all, of the story from JD's own mouth.
The amusement lasted only a moment, however. Neither of them had any doubt that whatever it was Nathan had found was serious - he wouldn't have kept it from JD otherwise.
Ezra finished picking up the cards Vin had tossed down, and then stood up to join them. "I suppose we had best go see what sort of unpleasantness Mr. Jackson has managed to uncover," he said, in response to the questioning looks both Vin and Chris gave him.
Chris nodded, and then started out, Vin and Ezra flanking him.
The three of them walked from the saloon over to the church in silence, all of them worrying about what they would find. Vin had his suspicions. He didn't want to voice them, just in case they were wrong - but he didn't think that he was.
Nathan was standing just outside the alley next to the church, a grim set to his mouth.
"What did you find?" Chris demanded intently.
"We don't need to wonder no more where that girl's heart went," Nathan replied grimly.
He'd been right, Vin thought. Not that he was pleased - he'd have much preferred it had he been wrong, and it had been just a matter of Nathan needing a hand with something.
"Do you mean to say... to tell me that... that the victim's heart... is in that alley?" Ezra stuttered incredulously.
"That's exactly what I'm sayin'," Nathan answered quietly. His mouth tightened. "And that ain't all," he added. He then moved out of the way, so that the others could see what it was he'd been hiding.
Vin felt the same sense of horrified shock and dread he'd felt looking at the girl's body as he took in the sight of a human heart, pinned to the wall of the church with a bloody knife.