Heyes could see the front entrance from where he sat at the poker table. The Kid sat at his left elbow, waiting to see the next deal. It'd been a couple of days since their last encounter with Fletcher. They'd seen him pass by the saloon numerous times, his round, beady eyes just visible over the curved top edge of the swinging doors, searching them out. But each time, after making eye contact with one or the other of them, he dashed off down the boardwalk. A subtle change was coming over the little man as the effects of too much cheap whiskey wore off; he was starting to look more and more like his old self.

"Looks like he took my advice," Heyes reflected softly as he watched Fletcher retreat across the street for the third time that day.

"What's that you say, Joshua?"

"Oh. I suggested to Winnie that he clean up his act. Looks like he decided to take my advice."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Good for him, maybe. Bad for us, I think."

Kid leaned in close to Heyes' ear, keeping his voice low so that none of the other players would hear his question. "Leave town?"

"Thaddeus, I think it just might be time to start thinking about that. But first, why don't we go see what our friend Fletcher is up to." Excusing themselves from the game, amid unhappy grumbling from the other players who would be going home with lighter pockets than they had arrived with, Heyes and Curry picked up the money scattered on the table in front of their seats.

Once through the louvered doors, Kid stopped in wonderment. "Would ya look at that!"

Heyes tensed, suddenly cautious. "What?"

"It's not raining! There's actually a patch of blue sky above us!" Kid smiled happily.

Heyes relaxed and smiled too, out of amusement at his friend's delight. "Maybe it's a good sign, Kid." They started walking in the direction they had seen Fletcher head. "Maybe—"

Kid put his hand out and stopped. Heyes followed his cue and stopped as well, looking to see what had captured his friend's attention. "I don't think so, Heyes."

Across the street, not more than one hundred yards away from them, Fletcher stood toe to toe with another man. They were deep in conversation and Fletcher was gesturing towards the saloon Heyes and Curry had just left. In his hand, he clutched two large, tattered sheets of paper that he kept shoving under the second man's nose. The other man happened to glance in their direction and when he saw them standing there, his expression changed from one of concentration to one of startled fear.

Ott Howard grabbed Winford Fletcher by the forearm and pulled him into the shadows, out of sight.

Heyes and Curry stood unmoving in the middle of the muddy street. "Now what do you suppose that was all about?"

Heyes pursed his lips thoughtfully. "I don't know—but I don't think it's a good sign. Not a good sign at all."

"You don't suppose—"

"Sorta looked like it, Kid. In any case, I think it's finally time I listen to your idea. We better get out of town."

"Now?"

"Tonight. We'll wait until tonight and sneak out."

"Yoo-hoo! Mr. Heyes! Mr. Curry! Would you come here a moment?" Molly and Miranda Howard stood almost in the same place their father and Winford Fletcher had occupied just seconds ago, shoulder to shoulder on the wooden boardwalk, beckoning them to come over. Despite the chill that ran down his spine from once again hearing their names spoken so loudly and plainly, Hannibal Heyes, sensing they might have information that he could use, put a smile on his face and, bringing Kid Curry with him, met the girls under the awning of the mercantile.

Kid touched his fingers to the tip of his hat. "How do, ma'am."

"Hello, ladies. What can we do for you?"

The girls looked at each other, then looked at the men. Molly, the older one, spoke first, stepping in close to Heyes. "We were wondering if you both might want to take me and Miranda on a picnic tomorrow?" As she talked, she traced a finger lightly down his shoulder, ending near the collar of his shirt.

Heyes glanced at Kid, whose arm, by this time, had become tightly entangled within the grasp of the younger sister. He was trying to gently pull himself free from her grasp, without seeming rude, but she would have none of it.

Heyes smiled charmingly at Molly, catching her hand in his, effectively halting its wandering across his anatomy. "A picnic, Molly? Isn't it a bit rainy for that?"

"Well, folks are saying that the rain is about done. Ain't you noticed the blue sky?"

"We noticed, alright," Kid agreed. "And I actually thought it was a good sign. Ain't had nothing but trouble since."

In a mildly conciliatory tone, Heyes said, "We'd love to take you girls on a picnic, Molly." At this slight encouragement, she moved to grab his arm in much the same fashion that Miranda was still showing Kid. Sidestepping her, he continued, "But I just don't think it would be right."

Disappointment washed across the girls' faces. "But why not?" Miranda asked, pouting prettily.

"For one thing, we're just too old for you girls. You need to find some nice boys from around here and settle down…start a family. Now we know your daddy thinks we might make good husbands for you all but I can tell you for a fact that--"

"Oh, our daddy don't think that anymore at all. Not since he started talking to that old drunk, Winnie. And besides, we don't wanna settle down with some old dirt farmer or ranch hand green behind the ears. We want excitement, adventure. We want you two." She grabbed for him again and this time, Heyes was too preoccupied with what she had just told him to outmaneuver her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, reaching up on her tiptoes to plant a light kiss on his lips.

Startled, he pulled himself free. "Molly! I'm surprised at you. Nice young ladies don't act that way—especially not right out on the street like this."

"Oh, psshh! It was just a little kiss. Nothing to get so worked up about." She looked like she might start to cry.

Ignoring her, Heyes continued, "Waddaya mean—your daddy don't think we'd make good husbands anymore?"

Sniffling softly, Molly brightened and said, "That's right. He's been talking to Winnie, that old fleabag, and he's decided that maybe the old coot is right this time. He thinks you maybe are Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry." She stopped talking and just stared at Heyes, her eyes gleaming with delight and excitement.

Kid looked at her and then looked down at Miranda, who had been listening intently to her sister talk. She had the same excited light in her eyes. It was downright scary to see! "Joshua?" he said worriedly.

"Why would he think that, Molly? What's changed? Fletcher is just a raving old drunk."

"That's true…'cept for the fact that last night he came over to the house with a couple of wanted posters on Heyes and Curry. My, those are some wicked bad men—very bad…" her voice trailed off.

"Molly!" Heyes impatiently brought her attention back to the present.

"Hm? Oh yeah, sorry. Anyway, he had those wanted posters. Me and Miranda read the descriptions," she stared at his face for a long moment. When she was done, she gave Kid the same scrutiny. "You sure do look like them."

Kid forced a laugh and argued, "Come on, now. Those descriptions on those posters are so poor, they could be just about anybody."

"Maybe," she agreed doubtfully. "So how about that picnic then?"

"We'll see," Heyes appeased. "But first tell us what else your daddy and Fletcher said."

"Only if you promise—the picnic?"

Lying smoothly, Heyes promised. "What else did they say?"

Shrewd in her own way, Molly replied, "I can't remember. The picnic?"

Drawing in a deep breath, Heyes exhaled through his slightly clenched jaw. "I'm gonna be honest with you Molly. We don't intend to be here tomorrow. We're leaving town tonight."

"Oh? How you gonna do that?"

"Same way we always leave a town. On horseback."

"Hope your horses can swim then. Ain't you heard? The road is gone…washed out by the river."

Kid Curry looked at his partner with reproach. "I told you we should have left earlier."

Heyes refused to make eye contact with Kid, preferring instead to continue his conversation with Molly. "Where'd ya hear that? I ain't heard that."

"My aunt Thelma told me," she answered smugly, having gotten one up on him.

"Mrs. Campbell?"

"Uh, huh. Aunt Thelma was down at the river this morning. Every since Uncle Clarence died, bless 'im, Auntie spends a lot of time down there just thinking about him. She saw it with her own eyes. The road is completely gone."

"Ok, ok." Heyes nervously considered their situation. "There must be some other way out of town though, right?"

"Well, there is the trail to the old mining camp up yonder. But that hasn't been used in so many years. I'm sure it's mostly overgrown with brush by now. You sure wouldn't be able to use that after dark. Too dangerous. In some places the trail's edge is a straight drop several hundred feet. I can't imagine what condition it's in after all this time. Especially with the rain we've had."

No longer interested in conversation, Heyes tipped his hat, battered and worn, to the girls and started to walk away. Before he got too far, Molly called to him one more time. "Oh, there is one more thing you might like to know. Something I overheard Daddy and that vile Mr. Fletcher say…"

Eyes glittering impatiently, he retraced his steps until he was standing before her once again, "Alright, what is it?"

She smiled coyly at him and, cheeks reddening, she boldly said, "I'll tell you for a kiss."

"What!"

"A kiss. Just one kiss, that's all."

Miranda giggled. Molly glared at her over Heyes' shoulder. Heyes swore he heard Kid giggle from somewhere behind him as well. Sighing deeply, he planted a chaste kiss on Molly's forehead.

"Uh, uh. A real kiss."

"Molly," Heyes warned, his eyes darkening.

"What I have to tell you is very important. I swear it'll be worth it to you."

"Go on, Joshua. It's just a kiss," Kid teased. "You've kissed girls before…once or twice."

Frustrated and annoyed, Heyes rubbed his face roughly with his hand. With a lethal glare at Kid, he made his move. Planting his feet squarely in front of the young woman, he looked deep into her eyes. Flustered by the intensity of his gaze, she tried to turn away, suddenly unsure of the wisdom of her teasing request for a kiss. As she did, he reached out and gently caught her chin between his fingers, turning her face so her eyes were looking directly into his. She was unable to look away, fascinated by the depth of his brown, almost-black eyes.

Slowly, Heyes lowered his face towards hers until their lips nearly touched. She could feel his breath on her lips for a few unending seconds before he pressed his lips to hers, gently at first and then with more urgency.

Heyes wrapped Molly in his arms for a moment and then released her. Swaying, she took an unsteady step backwards, her face flushed.

Wiping his lips with the tips of his fingers, he pressed, "Ok, tell me."

"That was amazing," she said.

"Not that! Tell me what you heard your father and Fletcher say. And it better be good, Molly."

"Hmm? Oh. Oh, that! Um, yeah…"

"Oh for Heaven's sake, Molly! Let me tell him," Miranda interrupted. "Fletcher told Daddy that he had telegraphed the sheriff from Silver Springs about you two. Said the sheriff was going to be coming here to check out his story."

"Oh, no," Kid moaned. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"Ladies. Later." Heyes grabbed his partner by the shoulder and the two of them started down the boardwalk. If they had chanced a glance back at the young women, they would have been met with doe-eyed faces, sadly watching them leave.

Once out of hearing range, Kid laid into his partner, angry that he hadn't listened to his words of warning earlier. "This is bad, Heyes. This is really bad. We're stuck in this town with a crazy man; no, two crazy men; and the sheriff from Silver Springs, someone who probably will believe we are who we are, is on his way here to check us out."

Heyes was thinking, his brow furrowed. "Kid, I admit it looks bad. But maybe it's not as bad as you think. After all, if we can't get out of town, then it stands to reason that the sheriff can't get into town either. So we have some time."

"Maybe so," Kid agreed, some of the edge taken out of his voice. "But it's still bad. Once the road is open, how are we gonna get out without the sheriff catchin' us?"

"We're not gonna wait for the road to open. I think we oughta leave now…take the mining trail up into the hills that Molly was telling us about. But we don't want to be caught out there in the dark so we have to go now."

"That sounds right to me. The quicker we get out of here, the better I'm going to feel."

The two men made their way to the livery stable where they paid the owner a few dollars extra to get their horses and gear ready "as fast as you can." While waiting, they discussed the wisdom of going after their things at the boarding house. After some argument, with Kid erring on the side of caution, they decided they would sneak back to their room and retrieve their belongings. Heyes was partial to some of the things he had left there and didn't want to give them up so easily.

Horses and gear in tow, they walked to the boarding house, keeping to side streets and alleyways to avoid running into any of the town's citizens, especially Fletcher or Ott Howard. They managed to reach their room, collect all their worldly goods, leave payment for their accommodations on the bed stand, and creep back down the stairs without incident.

Kid's hand was reaching for the door knob when the first sign of trouble was heard rather than seen. The familiar, ominous click of a hammer being pulled back and engaged reached their ears. Heyes' squeezed his eyes shut tightly and cursed under his breath. He knew Kid was looking at him, ice-blue accusation coloring his eyes. Rightly so too, since he was the one who had insisted on coming back for their things.

"Don't open that door, boys, and don't turn around. Just take off your gun belts and push 'em away from ya."

Heyes and Curry dropped their bags and reluctantly complied with Ott's demands. Reaching down to untie his holster from his thigh, Heyes risked a glance over his shoulder. Ott and Fletcher stood in the doorway leading into the parlor. In Fletcher's hand was the very handgun he had used the last time they had crossed paths on the way to Red Gap, a dainty little firearm more suited for ladies' handbags than masculine hands.

With gun belts removed and out of reach, the two reformed outlaws were allowed to turn and face their tormentors. "Hands up, boys."

Grabbing air and newly stripped of his own weapon, Kid Curry shot a verbal round at Fletcher. "Winnie, don't you think it's time you get a real gun? That little bitty thing is sorta girly, ain't it?"

"I assure you, Mr. Curry, this gun is sufficient to do the job. If you don't believe me, I could give you a demonstration. I believe the reward on the two of you is offered 'dead or alive'. I don't have any qualms about shooting you."

"Calm down, Winnie," Ott said. "They aren't going to give us any trouble." Reaching beneath his jacket, he pulled his own weapon, a fifty-four caliber derringer, from where it had rested, nestled inside his waistband. "I think you might be more impressed with this gun, Mr. Curry? Big enough for you?"

"That'll do," he agreed, dryly. Heyes glanced his partner's way and rolled his eyes.

"Gentlemen," he began, in a placating voice. "What's this all about? I mean, I know what Winnie thinks, Mr. Howard, but I would have given you more credit than this! You don't actually believe his story, now do you? Same story he's apparently told over and over again since coming into town?"

"Well, now see, Mr. Smith or…Mr. Heyes…I got my doubts about Winnie's story, that's true. But seein' as how he has a couple of wanted posters with your descriptions—well, I prefer to err on the side of caution. After all, half of twenty thousand dollars is plenty of reason to go along with him."

"Don't listen to him, Ott. This man will say anything to get you to believe that they're not Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry, but I'm telling you I'm right! These are the same men who swindled me out of fifty thousand dollars and then cheated me out of more money a few months later."

"Mr. Howard—if we had fifty thousand dollars of this poor, crazy fool's money, do you honestly think we'd be riding around, town to town, looking for whatever employment might afford us a few meager coins? Of course not! We'd be living in the lap of luxury somewhere…San Francisco or Denver or Gila Bend, someplace nice like that. What Winnie is saying just don't make sense. You can see that, can't you, a smart fellow like yourself?"

Doubt flickered fleetingly across the other man's face. For one exhilarating moment, Heyes thought his silver tongue was going to convince Ott that Winnie was wrong, again, in his assertions. But Ott's countenance hardened again. "You could be telling the truth…and then again, maybe you ain't. And you do seem to be leaving town in sort of a rush all of a sudden—that's a mystery in itself since the road is impassable right now.

"So I don't see any harm in just holding you two fellas here until the sheriff from Silver Springs gets here. If we're wrong, well, we'll owe you a big apology for the inconvenience; but if we're right…"

"Oh, we're right, all right. You'll see. I'm finally going to exact my revenge on you two men—"

"Quiet, Winnie. You're gonna make me regret my decision to believe you if you start sounding crazy again. Get their guns and stick 'em in the closet over there. As for you two—upstairs."

Heyes started to lower his hands and raise his voice in protest, "Oh, now wait a minute—"

"Hands up, Mr. Heyes. You don't want to make me nervous. Haven't had much experience with this gun. Hate to have it go off accidentally."

Heyes extended his fingers towards the sky and tried again, "Mr. Howard…Ott…Can I call you Ott? You don't seriously intend to hold us here, in your sister's home! With your children living here?"

"Well, it's true that Thelma probably won't like it much—but I figure you'll be safe and, more importantly, harmless upstairs tied up in your room. It won't be for very long. I reckon tomorrow or the next day, the water will recede enough to make crossing the river possible. Then we'll turn you over to the sheriff and collect the reward. No harm done."

"No harm done? Oh no, not at all! Unless you count the fact that you're imprisoning a couple of innocent men. Why, the worst thing me and Thaddeus ever were involved in was swiping a few licorice whips from the general store back when we was hardly old enough to walk. Got our hides tanned for that one good, didn't we Thaddeus? Since then, it's been nothing but the straight and narrow for us."

"Don't listen to him, Ott. He can talk the paint right offa the wall if you give him half a chance." Fletcher gestured towards the stairs with his miniature handgun. "Go on, get up there. I won't waste time asking again."

"Nice job, Joshua. You got them eating right out of your hand. Silver tongue…" Kid muttered under his breath as the four men ascended the stairs, two of them with their hands still pointed at the ceiling.