Two days had gone by and Doc was hardly seen by anyone. He was keeping to himself and hoping that everyone who witnessed the incident would forget it before too long. His emotions were mixed - he was angry at Matt and Festus for ruining his wedding, yet he knew there was likely a good reason. Mostly he was afraid to know the truth about what that reason was. He sighed and walked to his door. He pulled on his regular coat and plopped the black felt hat onto his head. He opened his door and headed down the stairs toward the jail house. He felt uneasy about meeting with Matt and Festus..
Matt opened the door to the jail house, having just come back from the telegraph office. He didn't see Doc walking toward the jail house.
Matt received two telegraphs: one stating that Annie Smith had been successfully transported to Chicago to face her murder charges and the other was a signed confession from Annie that she had killed her two husbands and Doc would have been number three. Matt studied the second one long and hard.
"Well, Matthew. Did you get the telegraph you was waiting fer?" Festus asked hoping the answer was yes.
"Yup. I still know Doc's gonna take it hard." Matt sat at this desk. "When do you want to go and see him?"
Festus placed his coffee cup down and sat with his back to the door at the little table. "Anytime I reckon...sure would be nice to get ole Doc back to his self...ornery or not."
Just as Festus uttered the word ornery, Doc opened the door. "I suspect you are talking about me..." His voice was cold.
Festus turned in his chair and looked at Matt who was now standing. "We were just going to pay you a visit." Matt's voice was calm.
"I figured as much." Doc ran his fingers over the top of his ear and stuffed his other hand into his pocket. His light blue eyes drifted from Matt to Festus and back again. He had a lump in his throat and he wanted to sware at the two men standing before him for what they had done to him, but he couldn't. Instead he worked his way into the room and sat quietly on the chair in front of Matt's desk.
Matt sat in his own chair. "We're powerfully sorry for what happened the other day, but I have to tell you it was for your own good..."
Doc's eyes looked up at Matt. "My own good! What kind of a sick joke is that?" He barked.
Festus stood and walked over and placed himself on the opposite corner of the desk. "What Matthew is sayin' is true Doc. We didn't want to hurt you, not in the least, but this was the onliest way ta do it..."
"To do what?" Doc was short with both the lawmen.
"Stop Annie Smith." Matt said flatly.
Doc stared at him like he had crawdads crawling out of his ears. "Stop Annie from what?" Doc was clearly getting agitated at the two men for being so cagey.
Matt stood and turned the poster over in front of the doctor. "From murder."
Doc's eyes slowly shifted from Matt's to the large page on the desk. Festus could hear Doc swallow. "You was gonna be the next one, Doc..." Although Matt didn't want Doc to know that fact just yet, it seemed to hit home the message faster than what Matt was trying to say.
Doc slowly wiped his moustache. He was at a lost for words. His eyes began to fill with moisture and he fought it off as best as he could. "I can't believe what I'm seeing and hearing. Annie loved me..."
Matt then handed the telegraph to Doc. "Sorry this is so hard on you. She didn't love you. She loved your money and your status here in Dodge. Just like she did with her first two husbands."
Doc pulled the metal case from his vest pocket and put on his eyeglasses. He then took the telegraph and read Annie's confession. His hand fell to his lap when he was finished and his head hung down. "She really took me for a fool, didn't she?"
Matt stepped out from behind his desk and stood next to Doc with his hand resting on the old man's shoulder. "We all fell for it..."
Festus then spoke up. "That ain't so Matthew. I figured she was rotten to the core the first time I laid my eyeballs on her!"
Doc looked up and narrowed his eyes at Festus. "Is that why you have been so fidgety?"
Festus tucked his thumbs into his vest with Haggen pride. "Yes, um. Ya see us Haggens can read people. We knows who we cling to and who we disregard."
Doc stood up. "Well, this is a fine how do you do...I've been publicly humiliated."
"No ya ain't Doc. Don't ya see. Matthew and I really saved your life." Festus had a way of stating things that sometimes got lost in all the other talk.
Doc looked down at the telegraph that he had clenched in his hand and then up to Festus and over to Matt. "He's right. I shouldn't be angry with you. You were doing your job..."
"It's okay if you want to be angry Doc." Festus muttered. "We did kinda ruin yer big day and all..."
Doc chuckled at first and then became serious. "That I will be angry about. Probably for a while. But I can't be angry about two lawmen and friends who took a risk of losing an old foolish friend in order to tell him the truth. Thank you..." Doc took both men by the arm and turn them to the door. "Let me buy you a drink. I sure could use one after all that."
Matt placed his big hand on Doc's shoulder. "No Doc. Let me buy the drinks." The three men left the jail house and on the way to the Long Branch, unbeknownst to Matt, Doc folded the telegraph and put it in his vest pocket as a reminder that friends will always be there regardless how rough the road is and through the thick and thin of things.
The end.