The judge looked at the D.A. "All right Mr. Beeman, are you ready to call your next witness?"

"Yes, your honor. The state of Kansas calls Marshall Matthew Dillon."

Matt felt his insides shaking as he made his way to the witness chair. The bailiff held out a bible, and Dillon placed his right hand on it.

"Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

"I do."

Dillon sat down and Beeman approached him. "Marshall, how long have you known Doc Adams?"

Matt looked over at the old man with the slumping shoulders sitting at the defense table. "I've known Doc for as long as I've been marshall of Dodge City, and that's goin' on 12 years now."

"That's a long time. Would you say that the two of you are good friends?"

A scowl crossed Matt's brow. "Yes, I'd say we're good friends. What does that have to do with anything?"

Beeman smiled. "I'm just establishing that you're a hostile witness, marshall." Dillon shuffled in his chair, glaring at the D.A. "Tell me about the night you went to dinner with Doctor Adams, Festus Haggen and Kitty Russell at Delmonico's."

Matt stared at the man, and a guileful smile twisted his lips. "You'll have to be more specific than that, Mr. Beeman, the four of us eat supper together at Delmonico's quite a lot."

Beeman pursed his lips; apparently the marshall had decided to be more than just a little hostile. "Very well, Mr. Dillon. I'm speaking of the night that Dr. Aaron Bradley and his daughter Ruth showed up at Delmonico's. Does that clear it up for you?"

"I suppose so, Mr. Beeman."

"Well then, tell us about it."

"There's not much to tell. The four of us were having supper, when Dr. Bradley and his daughter walked in. Doc looked a little shaken--"

"--shaken Mr. Dillon, or angry?"

Matt glared at the man. "I said shaken, and that's what I meant." He looked at the judge. "This is my testimony according to the way I saw things, isn't it judge?"

"Yes Mr. Dillon, as long as truth of fact is being served."

The meaning was clear, and Dillon's lips pulled into a tight line. "I'm tellin' it the way I saw it, nothing more nothing less."

"Please continue, marshall," the judge prompted.

"Doc looked shaken when he saw the Bradleys, but didn't say anything for a minute or so. Then he got up and walked over to them, and asked if the man was Dr. Aaron Bradley from Easton, Maryland. The man said he was, but didn't seem to remember Doc." Dillon swallowed slightly before he continued. "Doc said they had met a long time ago, but still Bradley didn't remember him. After Doc told him his name, Bradley recalled having met him, but said he didn't know that Doc had become a physician..."

"What happened then, marshall?"

Dillon licked his lips. "Doc said he had to become a doctor to save people from men like Dr. Bradley."

"Did you know what he meant?"

"No, I did not."

"What happened next?"

"Doc got upset and grabbed Bradley by the lapel, and shortly after that I pulled him off."

Beeman sighed deeply; Dillon was going to have to be prodded. "Did Dr. Adams threaten Dr. Bradley?"

Matt squirmed slightly in his chair. "I suppose that depends upon what you'd call a threat, Mr. Beeman."

"Don't be cagey, marshall, just answer the question. Did Dr. Adams threaten Dr. Bradley's life?"

Matt looked down at his hands, wringing them together, and then slowly he looked over at Doc who nodded his support at him. Dillon had to look away as he ground out the answer. "Yes."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dillon, but can you repeat that loudly enough for the court to hear?"

Matt's teeth were clenched together, "Yes, Doc threatened him."

"Fine, marshall, fine. Now let's move on to the night of the murder."

"Objection!" McClennan stood. "Alleged murder..."

"Sustained." Dalton turned to Beeman, "Innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Beeman, let's not let it slide."

"Yes your honor." He looked at Dillon. "Please tell us about what you saw at the Dodge House on the night of the alleged murder, marshall."

Matt felt the lump in his throat tighten. "The desk clerk at the Dodge House, Howie Culver, came to the jailhouse and woke me up. He said he heard a gunshot, so I grabbed my gunbelt and ran over to the hotel. As I walked in, I saw Aaron Bradley falling down the stairs."

"And where was Dr. Adams?"

Matt's lips quivered slightly, and he couldn't keep the emotion from his voice as he answered, "He was standing at the top of the stairs, a gun in his hand."

"Had the weapon been fired?"

"In self-defense, yes."

"Self-defense? Did you see the shooting, marshall?"

"No, I arrived just afterward."

"So you can't really say that it was self-defense."

Dillon's voice took on an edgy quality, "Doc Adams told me it was, so I know that it's true."

"Because you're his friend, marshall. You can't say so from point of fact as an eyewitness. Isn't that right?"

Matt looked down. "That's right. But it doesn't change what I know."

"Let's move on, Mr. Dillon."

"Move on to what?"

"Did Dr. Adams have a motive for killing Dr. Bradley?"

Matt felt his stomach drop down to his knees. "What do you mean?"

"The question is clear, marshall, did Dr. Adams have a reason to want to kill Dr. Bradley?"

Dillon looked past Beeman, at his old friend sitting several feet away. Doc's pale eyes bore into Matt's with such pleading it cut Dillon's heart to shreds. The two men held each other's gaze for a moment longer, until the marshall could no longer stand it, and broke away. Beeman stepped closer to Dillon's chair.

"Marshall, we're all waiting..."

Matt's voice was soft, the emotion in his throat constricting his tone, "They knew each other almost thirty years ago back east."

"In Easton, Maryland, to be exact, isn't that right?"

"Objection, leading the witness." McClennan interjected.

"Sustained. Mr. Beeman, don't make me warn you again..."

The man nodded and looked at Dillon. "Where did they know each other?"

Matt glared at the man. "As you say, in Easton."

"Tell us why they had occasion to know each other, marshall."

Matt looked at Doc, apologetic moisture glossing his eyes, then slowly he turned toward the D.A. "Dr. Bradley was the physician attending to Doc Adams' wife, who was in labor."

A slight gasp followed by muttering filled the courtroom, as the information was digested by the people in the gallery. Feeling her heart pulsing with emotion, Kitty looked over at Doc, who had leaned his elbows on the table and buried his face into his hands. Always an intensely private man, she could just imagine that this public display of his life was tearing him up inside. Kitty couldn't keep her own sorrow still, and openly began to weep. Festus put his arm around her, and pulled her into his shoulder.

Dalton banged his gavel down on the wooden bench. "Order! Order I say! Please continue, Marshall Dillon."

"Dr. Bradley was an excessive drinker--"

"--Objection, your honor," Beeman broke in, "hearsay."

Dalton turned to Dillon. "How is it you know that, marshall?"

"In addition to Doc Adams sayin' so, Bradley was tried for negligence due to intoxication shortly after Margaret Adams and her son died in childbirth."

Dalton looked at Beeman. "Was this man found guilty on this charge, counsel?"

"No your honor, he was acquitted."

Dalton looked at Dillon. "The witness will refrain from referring to Dr. Bradley as an excessive drinker. Continue."

Dillon swallowed. "I have nothing else to add, your honor."

Beeman put his hands on the rail directly in front of Dillon, leaning in. "A moment ago you testified that Dr. Adams thought Bradley was intoxicated. Did he believe that his wife and child died because of Dr. Aaron Bradley?"

Anger filling him, Dillon stood up, towering over Beeman. "What do you think? Doc Adams smelled alcohol on Dr. Bradley's breath, and the next thing he knew his wife and child were dead. Not long after, Doc's only daughter committed suicide because she felt guilty that she was still alive, and the man who caused it all was acquitted a month later. How do you think you'd feel, Mr. Beeman?"

Beeman backed slightly away from the angry marshall. "I'm sure I'd feel upset, Mr. Dillon, but I hope I wouldn't kill the man almost thirty years later out of vengence."

Matt swallowed hard: his anger had overtaken him, and he'd said too much. He looked over at Doc, tears in his eyes. Doc mustered a smile for Matt, which only made the marshall feel worse.

Beeman spoke to the judge, "I'm finished with this witness, your honor."

Dalton looked at McClennan. "Your witness, counsel."

"No questions at this time, your honor, but I'd like to call the marshall back later as a character witness."

"Fine. Marshall Dillon, you may step down for now."

As Matt started to move, his legs felt wobbly, and he could barely move them one in front of the other. As he passed by the defense table, he sorrowfully looked at Adams. "I'm so sorry, Doc."

Adams nodded at his old friend. "You got nothin' to be sorry fer, Matt. Ya only did what that badge told ya you had to; don't you worry about it."

And those words did nothing to comfort Matt Dillon's troubled heart, which was breaking with guilt and sadness.