Chapter Four

She was clad in an old dressing gown that Ezra vaguely recognized as one of Maude's cast-offs. A black knit shawl was drawn closely about her shoulders. Her hair was a wild cascade of tangled ebony locks. Her skin was unusually pale and there was a hint of dark circles beneath her eyes. He suspected she had slept even less than he had, and he could not help but marvel at the picture she made as she descended the staircase. Even looking like hell, she was still beautiful. With a flicker of irritation, Ezra tamped down the wayward thought, for he knew better than anyone that nothing could come of it. However, he could not miss the admiring looks which flashed across both Larabee and Tanner's faces. The observation did nothing to improve his temper. He was relieved when she paused on the landing beside the piano, and Larabee addressed her in a tone that firmly brought their attention back to the business at hand.

"Do you want to press charges?"

The very air of the room seemed to halt and hang upon her answer.

"No." The word was softly spoken, but it possessed a strength that carried it clearly to their ears.

Ezra scowled. It was the answer he had been expecting. Still, it surprised him how little he cared to hear it. "They should be punished for their actions, Inez," he said, unable to help himself.

"One of them already has." Her tone held only the slightest tint of arid amusement.

"And what of the other one?" He demanded.

She shrugged one thin shoulder. "I am not a fool," she said quietly. "I can see the tension that is growing between the soldiers and the town. If the supply wagons do not come soon, there will be trouble. I have no desire to be the cause of any more of it."

"This ain't your fault, Inez." Vin said firmly, "Like as not there would be trouble anyway, with or without what happened last night."

She pulled the shawl more tightly about herself. "Perhaps," she agreed, "But I don't think everyone will see it that way." She cast a meaningful glance up the street, towards the better end of town.

Larabee frowned. "Vin's right," he said quietly. "This isn't about them. This is about you. Whatever trouble comes, we will handle it. It's what the Judge pays us to do. Do you want them punished? It's your decision."

She took a step closer to them and leveled the weight of her mahogany gaze upon Larabee. "There would be a trial, no?"

Chris nodded.

"Like the one they had for Señor Jackson's father?"

"Yes," Chris said quietly. "The Judge would be there, and you, and the soldiers …and those of us who would speak for you."
She nodded. "But there would be a jury, and the whole town would come."

"Yes."

She sighed. "And Señora Travis would write about it in her newspaper. She would say kind things, I am sure, but she would have to write about it. It is her job." She suppressed a mild shiver. "People will read it, and people will talk." She shook her head. "They have talked enough already, I think."

"There could be another kind of trial," Chris suggested. "These men are soldiers. Under the law, they would have to face a military trial as well. Their commanding officer would be their judge. Their fellow soldiers would try them. We would still be there to speak for you, but the public and press would not be allowed."
Inez laughed hollowly. "To stand alone? In a court of men? Of strangers?" She shook her head. "There can be no justice in such a court for a woman such as I."

Privately, Ezra had to agree. Especially when one considered that the jury of peers who would be judging these men would likely have been turned away from Inez's bar for their lack of gold to pay with.

She shook her head again. "No," she said firmly. "Let them go."

Vin looked at her uncertainly. "If you're sure that's what you want."

"What I want," she said softly, "is for them to never set foot in here again. What I want, is for this to be forgotten, as if it never happened."

Larabee rose and motioned for Vin to follow him. "Then I guess we'll see what we can do about that."

The silence in the room was palpable following Larabee and Tanner's departure. Ezra raked an uncertain hand through his chestnut hair and eyed Inez carefully. The ramrod straight line of her posture suggested she wanted this topic dispensed with as quickly as possible. Still, he could not stop himself from asking the question that weighed upon him.

"Are you all right, Inez?"

"I am fine," she said brusquely. He knew better. He had not missed the way her spine had stiffened, or how the small smile at the corner of her mouth had tightened into place, belying her words.

Suddenly, and with resolve, she crossed the landing and descended the short flight of steps to the taproom floor, masking all traces of unease and discomfort as she approached the table he and Vin had taken beside the door.

"Do you want some breakfast?"

Ezra nodded, seeing through her tactic and understanding it. There would be no further discussion of this unpleasant event. It was to be brushed aside and ignored like the elephant in the corner. He supposed he could live with that. He had done so all his life. Maude had made that particular technique of avoidance a veritable art form. You saved your troubles for tomorrow and took your pleasures today. Mañana, he thought wryly, taking another sip of his cooling coffee. His mother had practically invented the concept.