Incidentals

by Kathy Knudsen1

Every episode has both major and minor characters and sometimes there is more to a minor character than meets the eye. Each Chapter will be about one such character. Not all chapters will fall in the same order as the series episodes, and likely one or two episodes will be skipped over (i.e. Return to Devil's Hole because I never watch that one).

20. Chapter 20

Sheriff Coffin (Everything Else You Can Steal)

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I've been a sheriff for a good many years. I take my job serious. I study each and every wanted poster that comes across my desk, and I make a point of getting a good look at every stranger that comes into Touchstone. That's why it pained me so that I didn't spot Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry right off when they spent more than a week in Touchstone before robbin' the bank. I just can't get it outta my head that all that money would still be in the bank safe if I had just recognized them two as Heyes and Curry

Of course I ain't the only one to blame. If Louise Carson had come and told me that Billy Black (that's the name Kid Curry was using), had told her he was Curry, why I couldda arrested them two right off, before the bank got robbed. But she told me after the fact, and admitted she thought that boy was lying.

I never will know how they managed to get away without leaving a trail. Oh, Curry and Heyes are professionals, that's for sure, and I'm left looking like I ain't fit to be Sheriff no more. I tell you, I'd just like to get my hands on them two outlaws...

But instead, I'm dealing with a couple of bounty hunters. Now, as a lawman, I think bounty hunters are just about the lowest form of life, and these two are claiming that Curry and Heyes weren't even the ones that robbed the bank. I've got a witness, and they're telling me I'm barking up the wrong tree. In my opinion, bounty hunters ain't got an ounce of credibility.

If you ask me, bounty hunting is the lazy man's way of making money, and these two are a fine example of that. They come marching into my office expecting me to tell em everything I know about this case, like who my eye witness is. Well those two can just work for their information the same way I do.

Besides, there's something about that dark haired one especially that I just don't like. He's sarcastic for one thing, giving me a quip about killing off all the buffalo, like that was my doing. And Louise Carson told me they questioned her and tricked her into admitting that she was my witness. Plus, she said them two can't even remember Heyes and Curry's names and kept referring to one of by name, the referring to the other one by 'the other fella,' or 'what's his name.' Seems to me a good bounty hunter ought to at least keep track of the names of the fellas he after.

But like I said, I've been a sheriff for a good many years and I take my job serious. So I'll be keeping a close eye on them to while they are in Touchstone, and on that Blackjack Jenny too, cause she seems right anxious to talk to them two every chance she gets.

You know, the more I think about it, it does seem kinda strange that a woman waltzed into town just a few days before them bounty hunters and started asking a lot of the same questions that Smith and Jones was asking, and then confabs with them every chance she gets. Maybe I just better keep an eye on her, too. I never heard of no woman bounty hunter before, but maybe that's all part of their plan cause no one would suspect a woman, especially an older woman like that, of being in cahoots with a couple of bounty hunters. Maybe there's more to them than what it appears

A Few Days Later

Well, I was right about one thing. There's a hell of a lot more to all this than meets the eye. Yesterday I had breakfast at the cafe and then I went out looking to see if I could pick up that trail that we lost, so I was outta town when all the excitement happened. First off, Henry Blodgett found a note under the bank door that was signed Billy Black and Caleb White and said they was returning all the money and they left it in that empty house. Mr. Blodgett showed the note to them bounty hunters and they all went out to that house and sure enough, they found the money.

Then, for no reason that anybody can figure out, Blackjack Jenny walked into the bank and just up and shot Kenneth Blake dead as a door nail. My deputy went in and arrested her and she didn't put up no fight.

When I got back to town, my deputy showed me the note that Blodgett found. The note was printed and the printing struck me as real familiar, but I just couldn't place it. I went over to the hotel where them bounty hunters had stayed so I could compare the note to their signatures, and it wasn't at all similar. So I went back to the jail and had Miss Jenny print her name on a piece of paper, and it didn't match the bank note either. But there was something about the way the letter 'B' was printed that just struck a cord.

Well, I was stumped and it was time for supper, so I went over to the cafe and, as usual, all they had left was beef stew, so I ordered that, a cup of coffee, and a slice of blueberry pie. When I was done, Louise left the bill on the table for me. Well I picked it up and walked over to the register and that's when it hit me. That handwriting in the note signed by Bliiy Black and Caleb White matched Louise Carson's handwriting.

Well, as you can imagine, there's a lot to sort out about all this, and I'm guessing Louise Carson and Miss Jenny know a whole lot more about all this than they've said. Louise did tell me that them two bounty hunters left on the afternoon train going west, but I think we've seen the last of them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've been a sheriff for a good many years and I take my job serious, so I know we'll get to the bottom of all this eventually. But I guess them two bounty hunters was right about one thing. That bank wasn't robbed by Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry.