The following day, after another morning long stretch of fruitless work, Buzz found himself faced with unexpected free time between plain files. He and the Sheriff had been working so much lately that the very idea of time off seemed laughable, and yet he found himself at an impasse all the same.

There was a gap in the collection of information they were pouring over, three months of dates were missing, and the ever-diligent Woody became convinced that they couldn't possibly move on without checking those files first.

The box containing them had been sent to the city a year or so earlier apparently, as a criminal with a country wide spree who had once passed through the town was caught and put on trial there. The Sheriff assured Buzz that he'd have the information delivered as soon as possible, sent on the fastest horse the pony express had, but for now, the day was clear, he supposed?

Buzz decided spontaneously to utilize this sudden free time and get to know the town a little better, having lived there for weeks now. There were plenty of members in the township who had piqued his interest, none of which he had ever even interacted with.

He could think of no better than to start than the barber shop, he would need to get a haircut at some point after all of course. He liked to at least try to convince himself that he didn't have an ulterior motive, even if that wasn't the case.

He gave the exterior of the place a suspicious once over.

It looked almost identical to every other building on the street, dark brown wood, scorched tin roof and windows painted grey with a thick coating of dust. It's only defining feature was the striped red and white pole hanging by the door, but that too was mostly colourless thanks to the desert sand spray. Nothing painted lasted long here by the looks of it.

Buzz gave a small shrug to himself and stepped through the doorway into the barbers,

It was very quiet, with no one obvious in sight.

There was something somewhat unsettling about the empty, wooden barbers chair stood in the centre of the room, and even worse was the small table beside it, covered by a clean but very old cloth, upon which several unfolded straight razors were waiting. It was like a very poorly stocked surgeons' tray.

The Deputy decided to ignore them as well as the feeling growing in his stomach, and instead went to the desk set close by entrance- as was the custom after all.

Atop the desk was a dented but shining brass bell, and seeing no other option, the man pressed it gently, letting it's sound resound about the room,

There was an almighty clatter from somewhere upstairs and a door opened above him.

A conversation which had obviously been happening before his interruption continued as two sets of footsteps began down the stairs towards him- the closer they got, the louder the words were. It was clear though, that their voices sounded as they did, as the conversation would have been better described as an argument.

A door finally opened at the back of the shop, and Mr and Mrs Potatohead stomped out together, both wearing sour expressions,

They both had similar frames, slightly stout and round, and their complexions were matching too; like lightly tanned leather. Mr Potatohead had a head of thinning black hair, with a very thick moustache in opposition, while his wife had pale blonde curls down to around her ears, so pale that they may even have been going grey, not that Buzz would mention such a thing to a lady. For a barber, Mr Potatohead had an otherwise very unkempt appearance; his round belly was kept in by a tucked, light grey shirt, and a pair of very old, scratched glass were hung from his breast pocket. As the face of the shop however, Mrs Potatohead was much more the part; her lips were rouged gently, her ears were pierced with studs of shining gold, and the flowers on her dress were mimicked by sprouts of gathered fabric pinned in her hair, resembling blossoms.

Buzz stiffened up a little, but slipped his hands into his pockets casually as they approached, "I hope I didn't disturb anything?" he asked,

Mr Potatohead immediately turned away and stopped at the barber's chair, regarding his waiting knives rather than answering the question,

Mrs Potatohead came to the other side of the desk however and paused to look him up and down, "No… Deputy" she said slowly.

He expected her to say more, but once the steely silence between them began, he was left quite sure that she was a woman of few words… or that maybe she just didn't like him,

"I'm not here for a haircut I'm afraid" Buzz paused and smiled softly, "-at least not this time" he added with a small laugh, trying to lift the mood,

The Potatohead's looked to each other, sharing some kind of unspoken comment- they did not look remotely amused however.

"How can we help you then Deputy?" she asked, a slight trace of annoyance in her question,

"I just wanted to introduce myself" he replied, shrugging,

"Mmm hmm" she hummed, tone indiscernible.

Buzz couldn't help but feel that she was making conversation very difficult, he persisted all the same however,

"Like I say, I just wanted to introduce myself-" he said, offering his hand across the desk, "I'm Buzz, the new Deputy. I'm staying at the saloon for now, but once my house gets finished, and I'm settled, I'll be sure to drop by for a haircut" he said, smiling as Mrs Potatohead begrudgingly took his hand and shook it, "Oh, and a shave too" he added with a chuckle once their hands parted.

The couple looked to one another once more,

"I'll be sure to sharpen the razors" Mr Potatohead grumbled.

Buzz wondered if everything he said sounded so threatening, perhaps that was just his general tone,

Now was clearly not a good time to ask about their conversation with Jessie the day before, but the Deputy could think of very little else to make a topic of discussion now, especially as they both seemed to be lacking in conversational skills, at least in regard to him.

"You seem quite familiar with Jessie" he said, hoping he was coming across as conversational, and not intrusive,

Both of the Potatohead's paused, and looked up to the Deputy, their expressions even more steely, if that were at all possible,

Buzz raised his eyebrows, feigning a kind of innocence, "Jessie, the Sheriff's sister?"
"Yes, we know who you're talking about" Mrs Potatohead replied quickly, "Of course we do",

"Why wouldn't we?" Mr Potatohead said, finally coming away from the barber's chair, and approaching his wife almost cautiously, "As you say, she's the Sheriff's sister. Everyone knows the Sheriff, so everyone knows his sister"

The Deputy looked between them, blinking, "Yes, I suppose" he nodded, "I just thought-"

"Thought what?" Mrs Potatohead snapped, cutting him off,

Her husband tensed and let out a long sigh.

This wasn't an official investigation, of course not, but Buzz knew a defensive reaction when he saw one, and he could also tell that Mr Potatohead was trying to curb his wife's anger.

"I just thought you knew her well is all-" he paused, licking his lips, "-clearly I was mistaken"

"Clearly" Mr Potatohead said with another sigh, "Now if you don't mind, we have an important customer booked in, can you give us some time to set up? Alone?"

The request was not unreasonable, but the man's attitude was uncomfortable,

"Yes, yes of course" he replied, nodding, "Thank you for your time"

The Deputy turned on the spot and started towards the door, going as quickly as he could without making it too obvious. He was abruptly stopped in the doorway however, as the broad frame of another man blocked out the light from outside,

Buzz looked up to the round face staring down at him, wincing as a thick plume of cigar smoke was blown into his face,

"The Deputy, I presume?" asked a cool, detached voice,

He stifled a cough and nodded, "And you are?"

"Mr Ham" the man replied, pulling the cigar from between his thick lips, and offering his other hand to him, "Bank manager"

He accepted the handshake, but then immediately regretted it as his hand was crushed in the other man's tight grip,

"Good to meet you" Mr Ham said, their hands parting,

"And you" Buzz replied quickly, "Now, I'll leave you to your appointment, good afternoon" he added with a nod, before whisking past the very large bank manager in the doorway and starting out onto the dusty road.

Mr Ham smacked his lips, watching as the Deputy retreated down the street, until he was out of sight, "Well he seems very official, doesn't he?" he asked softly, smirking,

Both of the Potatohead's sniggered in response, but quickly cut themselves off as the bank manager turned on the spot and regarded them, his face once again stern,

"I don't like him" he said firmly, placing the end of his cigar back into his mouth, "Any ideas?",

Mrs Potatohead nodded, smiling once again, the corners of her mouth upturned wickedly,

"He'll be in the station, we'll handle it" Mr Potatohead answered.

0o0o0

By habit, Buzz was half way back to the police station when he realised that he'd been moving without thinking, and he suddenly stopped in the road, sighing with his hands on his hips.

He was exhausted, he'd only be working in Andy's town for a few weeks, and he was already completely out of steam. He hadn't anticipated that a place so small would leave him spread to thin, even if the crime rate was recorded so high.

It was all of the extra's that came not only with the job, but with the new living space, that were leaving him on empty.

For work, he was stuck at a desk all day, pouring over year's worth of old records, all of which were poorly written, in indecipherable handwriting that made his eyes hurt. And when he wasn't at work, he had riding lessons with Jessie, or was sneaking out by himself to practise everything she had taught him.

Buzz continued down the road and made his way up to the wooden doors of the station, peering into the dark briefly before he entered,

Woody was slumped against his desk as always, his eyes lazily skimming over a paper that he held up with both hands,

"Afternoon" the Deputy said softly, stopping just a foot away from the entrance,

"Hmm? Afternoon" he replied with a grumble,

"How's it going?"

"As well as ever" Woody shrugged,

Buzz sighed, "Sorry to hear that" he then licked his lips nervously, and put his hands on his hips, glancing about their enclosed office, "I was wondering-"

"Hmm?" the Sheriff asked again, finally looking up from his file,

"Well, it's been a very busy few days" he started, grimacing, "I think the heat and the- the non-stop work are starting to take their toll, so-"

"Take the day" Woody said, interrupting and answering the other's man's question before it had even left his mouth,

Buzz blinked, "Are you sure?",

"Of course!" he replied, nodding, "No use both of us being exhausted, especially while we're waiting for the delivery. Take the rest of the day off and then- well…" he trailed off, a dim blush starting to boom over his cheeks.

"What? Anything Sheriff" The Deputy answered sincerely, taking another step towards his desk,

"I could do with some sleep too, I should think, so maybe take the morning shift by yourself?"

"Yes!" was Buzz's immediate reply, "Yes, of course"

Woody smiled, "Thank you"

"It's no problem" the other said with a nod, "Well- err- good afternoon I guess, I'll see you tomorrow"

"Yeah, tomorrow, bye Buzz" he replied, going back to his work.

The Deputy turned back to the doorway and stepped out into the dusty street, wincing at the bright daylight, but smiling as he took in a lungful of fresh air. Even in the city he rarely got days off, and yet he was sure he knew exactly what he was going to do with all of his free time now,

He was going to take a damn long sleep.

0o0o0

Buzz had one of the deepest sleeps of his life.

Arriving at the saloon, he quickly found Barbara and asked not to be disturbed until the next morning- she was very accommodating, and not in the way that her husband was, thank God.

The Deputy went up to his room, closed the thick curtains, stripped down to his under clothes and lay in silence on his large bed, very quickly finding sleep.

He could hardly believe it when he was roused the next morning by a knock at his door- he was so surprised because it meant that he'd managed to sleep solidly for about fourteen hours, something which he was quite sure he hadn't done over the entire course of his life.

He answered the door, opening it just a crack to cover his inappropriate dress,

Luckily, it was Barbie who had come to wake him anyway, and with a gentle smile she handed him a small tray holding a glass of milk and a plate of breakfast.

He ate and then dressed slowly, moving at his own leisurely speed, before making his way through the still quiet saloon and down to the station stables as always.

Inside it was still cool, but the horses seemed restless as they moved about their boxes,

Buzz began down the short space between them, working his way to the back where Jessie could usually be found preparing their saddles, but it was quite clear before he even got close, that she wasn't around.

He stopped by the high, narrow table that stood against the side wall and placed his hand on it, regarding the stacked tower of empty buckets that were still waiting on its surface,

No wonder the horses seemed so off, they hadn't been fed. The buckets were usually filled with oats and hung up outside of their stalls in the morning.

Buzz frowned and looked about the small space again- there was no indication that Jessie had been their all morning,

He lifted the buckets off of the table and spread the four of them out on the floor, he then began scooping handfuls of oats into them from a nearby sack, filling them half way. He set about hanging them outside of each horse box, concluding with Buttercup, who he gave a friendly pat on the nose to, and snuck an extra piece of carrot that he found amongst the straw to.

Buzz left the stable slowly, lingering as much as possible in case Jessie was only running late, but as the temperature rose and the sun just started to make his skin swelter, he decided that it was time to move on.

He went along to the station which was dark as always, hopefully because Woody had kept to his word and taken the morning off, rather than because he had fallen asleep at his desk again,

A pleasant smile found his face as he entered the space, and it even remained as he opened the blinds, and the sunlight hit his eyes, making them crease.

The station was quiet, and cool.

Buzz stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders, wandering over to the Sheriff's desk- he had so much extra time before Woody was due in, that he thought he may as well start with whatever it was that the man was working on the night before.

The towers of files on his desk had hardly seen much impact, they were mostly all of the same height and hadn't been moved from their starting positions either. The pile which was meant to concern interest in the current location of the criminals they were chasing, was upsettingly sparse, or perhaps empty was a better word.

Buzz came around the side of the desk, going to take up the papers which had been left directly in front of the Sherriff's chair. They all looked fairly standard, police reports written on pale, cream coloured paper,

The only sheet which stood out was the one folded on top, the paper was coarse, and there were dark smears of ink on the back it- Woody's notes perhaps?

The Deputy dropped the rest of the files back on the desk and unfolded the one of interest, immediately wincing to read the awful handwriting the message was written in.

His fingers fumbled, and he lost his grip on the letter, letting it slip down to the floor, as he instead put his palms to the table top, steadying himself as shock ricocheted through him.

We have the Sheriff, leave town and we will let him go.

Investigate, and the Sheriff dies.

You have three days.

One Eyed Bart

One Eyed Betty