Chapter 8 – Some Answers at Last
Matt Dillon the lawman noticed Kitty's three friends from her time in Texas watching as Matt the man escorted her from the Long Branch and down Front Street. It set him to thinking about just what those notes about Texas meant. Somehow understanding them was the key to this whole mess. He just didn't know what they signified or who the target was - him, Kitty, or both of them. They were barely past the saloon's batwing doors when he paused.
Some instinct told him they were in danger if they didn't move quickly. He knew better than to ignore the feeling and so acted on it without thinking. Moving the hand he'd placed at the small of her back ever so slightly he pushed Kitty away while simultaneously jumping in the opposite direction just before two bricks fell from the Long Branch balcony. Immediately after the projectiles hit the Front Street dirt Matt was at her side, simultaneously helping her up, asking if she was all right and apologizing for shoving her.
"I believe the marshal in this town needs to hear your thoughts on what just happened. Do you care to discuss it with him over dinner and a drink?" a relieved Matt joked when he saw her smile.
"Let's make it drinks first, then dinner. If you behave yourself I may even buy you one. I'm sure the marshal would appreciate that," she added turning back toward the saloon entrance without waiting for his reply.
Matt stooped to pick up the two bricks, but not before scanning the balcony for any sign of the person who hurled them. Absentmindedly he carried them inside with him, placing them on their table in the back as Kitty came toward it with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses on a tray. Matt took the tray from her, placing it on the table before pulling out a chair for her to sit down. He sat in the one next to it that offered a clear view of the entire room. His blue eyes didn't miss the trio that had been sitting in front of the Dodge House entering or that the Teasdale sisters wasted no time joining them.
"Matt, do you have any idea who's behind all these pranks?"
"Not yet, Kitty. All I know is Texas is the key and our newest Texans are together at that far table."
"The Teasdale sisters are doing what I hired them to do. Bud, Curt and Tom got here after the pranks began. They can't have anything to do with them."
"I'm not so sure about that. There's something very familiar about Sally Teasdale and a lot could have changed since those three last saw you. You were a child."
"That's right, I was a girl disguised as a boy running away from an abusive home I was forced to live in - far from everyone and everything I loved. They kept my secret then and are willing to keep it now. I owe them my life."
"That's what bothers me. Now that you're grown up maybe they want it back and the Teasdales are helping them. You only have their word they accidently found you here."
"Matt Dillon that badge is making you see evil conspiracy everywhere. They were good men then and are good men now. People don't change that drastically unless their entire world's been torn apart. Even then most men don't alter their fundamental nature."
"Maybe the badge keeps me from trusting people, but being wary keeps me and the people I care about alive."
Kitty decided it was prudent to change the subject. She skillfully steered their conversation to the coming cattle season. At the height of it both would be so busy they'd see very little of each other – a situation neither liked. Still it was far better than when he was out after some outlaw or testifying at a trial in a distant town. Then, Kitty reflected, she was only with him in her dreams while worrying when awake about what might happen to him.
"Finish your drink Cowboy. By this time Delmonico's won't have any of today's special left until supper."
"If it's catfish stew, consider yourself lucky. I happen to know there's no shortage of steak thanks in part to your friends."
The couple again made the attempt to walk down and cross Front Street to reach the restaurant. This time they were nearly run down by a freight wagon whose team had apparently panicked. Matt's quick reflexes pulled Kitty back just in time. The driver miraculously regained control as soon as he passed them, managing to bring the mules to a slow walk so suddenly that two large crates, balanced on top of the heaviest items, flew off the back as Matt and Kitty again attempted to cross the street. The smaller one barely grazed Kitty, but still hit with enough force to knock her off her feet. Matt wasn't as lucky. The larger crate hit him squarely. That would have been bad enough if it hadn't hit and then bounced off his already sore left side. Kitty rushed to his side to find out if their luck had run out and the injury was as serious as she feared.
Matt looked up at her concerned face as she knelt beside him and managed a smile through the pain. He started to pull himself up but found he couldn't. When he attempted the simple act of trying to put air back in his lungs, it brought on the worst coughing spell he'd had since he pulled that muscle nearly two weeks earlier. By the time Doc arrived, Matt's face was beet red as to his mind half the town watched, enjoying his discomfort. He was uncertain how much of his current facial coloring was due to coughing and how much was due to embarrassment.
Only moments had past, but to Matt it was hours. He did his best to maintain his dignity. Even so the coughing and stabbing pain in his side caused him to walk between the short older man and the red haired beauty to the doctor's office in order to hide how bad off he was. He fretted while Doc examined them, first declaring Kitty in good shape considering the circumstances before tending to Matt. Finally, Doc declared him fit enough to walk to Delmonico's to eat what had become an early supper while accompanied by his personal physician and nurse. She'd suffered no more than a slight bruise to her shoulder while his injury was severe enough to warrant binding his ribs.
Despite the pain, after their meal Matt started on his early evening rounds with Chester while Doc escorted Kitty back to the Long Branch. Maybe it was the pain or just the timing, but Matt let Chester talk him into meeting the seven o'clock southbound stage from Hays. Two passengers got off, a man about his own age and an elderly woman. There was something familiar about both.
"Dodge City has sure grown since I lived here back before the war. I see there's now more than one saloon to satisfy most all of a person's needs," the buxom elderly woman declared to the marshal and his assistant.
"You'd be right about that Ma'am," Matt replied. "But wouldn't you want a room where you can freshen up first?"
"Sonny, that comes later. Ben here, as grownup as he now claims to be since he was last here, might prove useful in that room, but I'd like to see who else is willing to try me. Either of you might serve even if one has a stoved up leg and the other's a bit stiff like he's got maybe a busted rib or two. Fact is, big man, you remind me of a fella Ben and I knew back around '55 who needed the doc that was here then to do a lot more than wrap a bandage around his chest. I must say you've filled out nicely and grown 'bout half a foot if you're that boy."
"What Flo's trying to say is you remind her of a friend from back then who saved my life by taking the beating himself. That's if you're Matt Dillon," her companion replied sticking out his hand.
"I'm Matt Dillon," the lawman replied accepting the extended hand and pumping it as he realized who the man standing before him was. "Ben Fuller, welcome back! It's good to see you too, Miss Flo," he added dropping his boyhood friend's hand and gently taking that of the man's companion and raising it to his lips like an awkward boy playing at being a gentleman.
"Mr. Dillon, who are these folks?" a more confused than usual Chester managed to ask.
"Ben Fuller, Miss Flo Delaney, this is Chester Goode here. Chester, I know these two from the first time Doc and I were in Dodge. Take them and their bags over to the Dodge House. I'll see y'all at the Long Branch directly."
Matt watched as Chester led two of the people who entered his life right after his parents' death toward the hotel before turning in the opposite direction. He'd have to find Doc, the other person from those days before Dodge was officially on the map.
Ten minutes later Chester led Miss Flo and Ben to the table against the stairs where Matt, Doc and Kitty already sat. Before the newcomers had even reached the table Kitty signaled for Sam to bring over a bottle of the best bar whiskey. It arrived with Sally Teasdale just as Matt got stiffly to his feet and Ben rose to pull out a chair so Miss Flo could sit down. Matt's sharp eyes caught a slight hesitation as Sally set the tray with the bottle and six glasses down as well as a quick double take from both Ben and Miss Flo.
"Now that the introductions are over, I'd like to propose a toast," Matt said ignoring what he'd recently noticed, and for the moment, the memories Flo and Ben's reactions brought back. "To old friends," he intoned, raising his glass."
Old friends is what they appeared to be as the conversation flowed, each of them relating how they came to be in Dodge City, that Gomorrah of the plains. At the same time they steered away from details too uncomfortable to share.
"Kitty, you've done remarkably well. I was ten years older than you are now before I had my own place. Even so, I had to come here when it was nothing but a crossroads on the Santa Fe Trail to do it."
"Thanks Flo, but I couldn't have done it without Bill's willingness to give me the chance and Matt's encouragement. Now that Laura's expecting, it makes sense that they build something of their own."
"I see your girls while mostly young and pretty are of marriageable age. Most of mine were younger, runaways or girls sold by their male relatives into the business. They were more likely to wear out than find any kind of a man to marry them. Even so, Matt and Ben can tell you, I tried to protect them as best I could."
"Matt, I reckon you're still riskin' your life like you did for me and Sally Teasdale."
"You betcha," Doc chimed in before Ben could ask the questions that were on his mind about the woman who'd brought their drinks. "I don't care to count the times I've had to work medical miracles to keep him alive. Just look at him now full of bruises and coughing his lungs out!"
"Hold on a minute, Doc. I wouldn't have these bruises if you'd been able to cure that cough, not countin' the ones caused by those pranks," Matt quipped as he realized why Sally was familiar.
Ben was about to call Sally over, but Matt stopped him. He remembered seeing Sally again after he'd left Dodge that first time. She and her sister Tilda worked the saloon near Carl Killion's ranch by the Canadian River back in '59 when he rode with Killion to try to save it. He'd learned some things from both girls that Kitty appreciated he knew, but until now hadn't realized the girl Ben was sweet on that worked in Flo's cathouse was Tilda's older sister, Sally. He still couldn't see what the sisters could have against either him or Kitty, but they had arrived just when the trouble started.