SEE CHAPTER 1 FOR WARNINGS AND DISCLOSURES

CHAPTER 5

Judge Oren Travis stepped into the Clarion office. He wasn't surprised to find Mary sitting at her desk, working. He also hadn't missed the cushion she was sitting on. He'd seen Chris leave the newspaper office and head toward the jail, but decided to give Mary some time before he came to check on her.

Mary looked up as the office door opened. She greeted her father-in-law and returned to the article she was writing for the Clarion. Her backside still hurt from the spanking she had received earlier, and the thought that Judge Travis knew about it embarrassed her.

"Mary," Judge Travis removed his hat and moved to stand in front of her desk. She looked up at him. "I stopped by to make sure you were okay."

Mary stood and walked around her desk to stand beside the judge. "I'm fine." She put her hand on his arm in a reassuring gesture. "There's no reason for you to worry."

Judge Travis smiled and rubbed her shoulder. "You don't have to pretend, Mary. I know what happened between you and Chris." Mary moved to stand in front of the window; any pretense that she wasn't angry was completely gone. He turned to watch her, but didn't move to follow her. "Just so you know, Mary, if he hadn't done it, I probably would have."

Mary turned to look at him, the surprise evident in her face. "You can't be serious, Oren."

Judge Travis held up a hand to stop any further protest. "What you did was incredibly foolish. I saw the bullet hole in the building as I came in. That bullet could just as easily gone into you." Mary opened her mouth to protest, but immediately shut it again when he glared at her. "It would have been one thing if you'd gotten into position behind some sort of barrier before the shooting started. But you wondered out into the middle of the fight." The judge moved to stand beside Mary. "You were damned lucky that Chris Larabee was there to save you."

"I have every right to defend this town," Mary protested. "It is not up to you or Mr. Larabee or anyone else to tell me what I can or cannot do."

Judge Travis chuckled, earning a glare from Mary. "You always were proud. I think that's what drew Steven to you." He put his hat back on his head and reached for the door knob. "But pride can be taken too far. I think that's what happened today. You put your pride ahead of your good sense. If you'd only stopped to think for a minute before rushing out into that fight, you would have realized that you were much better off staying inside, out of harms way." He opened the door, but before he stepped through it, he turned back to look at Mary. "I get the impression that Chris Larabee cares about you a great deal -- almost as much as I do. He tanned your backside because he does care. Neither one of us wants anything to happen to you, so I would advise you to think next time before you do something foolish." With those words, he stepped through the door and closed it, leaving Mary to contemplate his words. He would go to the saloon and have a drink and some lunch, then search out Chris to find out what the black-clad gunfighter had learned about the girl.

* * * * * *

"What do you mean the Slaters killed your mother?" J.D., the youngest of the peacekeepers and the one most prone to state the obvious asked. He was immediately shushed by the others in the room. Sammy continued as if the interruption had never happened.

"It was about two years ago. Momma and Daddy were going to open an apothecary in Four Corners. Daddy and I had come ahead to set up housekeeping and to get the store in order. Momma stayed behind in Eagle Bend to wait for a shipment of goods for the store." She got up and moved over to the sideboard, where she poured herself a cup of water. She really didn't want it, but needed something to keep her hands occupied while she told her story.

"The stagecoach Momma was riding in was also carrying a shipment of money. It was supposed to be a secret, but word of it leaked out. The Slaters and their gang attacked the stage. Momma was shot and killed." She paused to take a drink of the water.

"I remember that," Nathan said. "Everyone on the stage was shot, but the driver managed to survive. When the stage was late, a group went out after it and found him." He looked at the other men in the room. "It was his testimony that convicted Jed Slater at his trial."

Sammy was wandering around the room, picking up things at random and putting them back without looking at them. "Daddy was determined he'd go after the Slaters and bring them to justice. He'd been a marshal in Iowa before he and Momma decided to move out here and open the apothecary." She picked up a length of cloth and began rolling it. "Daddy tried to send me back to Iowa to stay with some friends of his and Momma's. He put me on a stagecoach headed for Ridge City, but I snuck off at the first stop and made my way back to town." She gave a short laugh at the memory. "He was mad, but said that since I was going to be stubborn about it, I could go with him. We decided that I would disguise myself as a young boy."

Ezra stood and moved over to where Sammy was standing. He took the rolled up length of cloth out of her hand and led her back to the chair, where she sat down. He then moved to the sideboard and returned with the cup of water she had abandoned. She accepted the cup from him and took a sip before continuing with her story.

"Daddy found out where the gang was hiding and managed to join them. He took me with him, introducing me as his ten year old son. After riding with them on a few jobs, he came up with a plan for getting revenge on both Jed and Bart. Except, he was killed before he could carry it out." Sammy paused to take another drink of water. J.D. started to ask another question, but changed his mind after seeing the look sent in his direction by Vin.

"Bart had taken off to Mexico. He did that every few months. He'd show up in time for whatever job they had planned and would take off again. Anyway, Jed decided that it was time that I started pulling my own weight, so he insisted that I ride with them on their next job. It was a bank robbery over in Silver Springs. I held the horses while Jed and his men robbed the bank. Lefty stayed with me to make sure I didn't run off." She got up and started wandering the room again.

"Seems like I recall hearin' that a couple 'a people were killed durin' that robbery." Vin rubbed his hand across his chin. "You have anything to do with that other than holdin' the horses?"

Sammy turned to look at him. "No. All I did was hold the horses. But, I decided then that I had to do something. A couple of months later, I overheard Jed talking about the new bank here in Four Corners and how he'd like to get his hands on some of that money. He was also talking about the seven gunmen who had been hired to protect the town. Jed was bragging that he'd be the one to bring you all down. He and a few of his men came into town to check out the bank. I knew that would probably be the only chance I got to do something. He was keeping me pretty close. I think he suspected something." Sammy made another circuit of the room before continuing.

"I told him I had to go to the necessary. He was distracted and didn't pay any attention when I left. The minute I stepped out onto the street I started yelling that the general store was being robbed. I tried to get away during the commotion, but Lefty and Macon caught me. They hauled me back to camp, where they beat me." The vicious curses that came from the men surprised her. She didn't understand why those men would care about what had happened to her. "Some of the men wanted to kill me, but Macon convinced them to hold me until Jed could be broken out of jail, so he could deal with me."

During her last circuit around the room, Sammy had spotted Nathan's knives in their specially designed sheath. The knives were hanging off the corner of a cabinet. As she passed by on her current circuit, she slipped one of the knives out of the sheath and into her pants pocket. She turned to face the men.

"If Jed Slater gets out of jail and gets his hands on me, he'll kill me. By now Bart will have heard about what's happening, and he will come to rescue him. Even if you hang Jed tomorrow, when Bart finds out that I'm responsible for his brother being caught, he won't rest until he's killed me."

She was standing near the door. If things worked the way she hoped they would, she would be able to make a break for it and get away before anyone could stop her.

"That's why you've got to let me go. I've got to get away from here before either Jed or Bart can get their hands on me." She edged closer to the door. In the back of her mind she thought it was strange that none of the men moved to stop her. Sammy pulled the knife from her pocket and held it in front of her. "I'm leaving, and there's nothing you can do to stop me." She backed into what felt like a solid wall, and the knife was pulled from her grasp.

"That's where you're wrong." Chris Larabee said from behind her. "You ain't going anywhere, so you can jest forget about any plans you might be hatchin' to go after Bart and set him up to be caught like you did Jed." Sammy paled. How had he known what she was planning?

Chris had been standing outside the door, listening to her story. When he spotted her stealing Nathan's knife he'd realized that there was more to it than what she was telling them. Sammy's reaction had confirmed his suspicions.

"J.D., why don't you go see if you can get some food from Inez for Sammy." After J.D. left the room, Chris turned to Vin. "I saw Nettie going into Potter's store. Why don't you go see if she'd be willing to help us out." He turned to glare at Sammy, who had moved to the other side of the room and sat sulking in a chair. "Why don't you pick her up a change of clothes while you're at it." He handed some coins to his friend. "I'm sure she's gonna want to get cleaned up before she goes to discuss all of this with the judge." Vin nodded his understanding of Chris' unspoken words. He wanted Nettie to help them out by supervising the girl's bath and making sure she didn't make any escape attempts.

Chris' last statement caught Sammy's attention. "What do you mean discuss this with the judge?" She jumped up from the chair and started in Chris' direction.

"You admitted to taking part in a bank robbery where people were killed." Chris knew that Judge Travis would not hold that against the girl, but she didn't need to know that. He also knew that the judge would want Sammy's testimony against the two men who were currently residing the second jail cell. "Plus, you cain't be more than sixteen years old. That's too young to go runnin' around by yourself. Judge Travis'll have to decide what to do with you."

"You ain't got no right to keep me here." Sammy started for the door, only to be stopped short by Chris' grasp on her arm. "Let me go, you son of a bitch."

"I've just about had enough from you." Chris pulled her across the room and deposited her in the chair she had just vacated. "I let you get away with your earlier temper tantrum, but you're gonna sit there until J.D. gets back with some food. After you eat, one of us will take you to the bathhouse so you can get cleaned up, and you are going to talk with Judge Travis. You give any of us any problems or try to escape, and I won't be so patient with you. Do we have an understanding between us?"

When Sammy just sat there, glaring up at Chris with her arms crossed over her chest, he sighed. He'd had it up to his eyebrows with stubborn females, but he also knew that along with Sammy's stubbornness was a good dose of fear. However, he wasn't about to let her get away with acting the way she was. "I expect you to answer me when I ask you a question." Ten seconds of uncomfortable silence passed. Chris and Sammy glared at each other. "Or do I need to tan your hide first?"

J.D. came back into the room carrying a tray containing a plate piled high with tortillas and a fragrant stew. Sammy's mouth began watering. It had been a long time since she had eaten. He put the tray on a nearby table and stepped back. Sammy moved to stand up to go get the food, but was shoved back down. "I'm waiting."

She looked up at Chris. For the first time she felt truly intimidated by the black-clad gunman. She had no doubt that he would carry out his threat to spank her, and that was something she didn't particularly want to experience. "Yeah, I understand."

"The correct answer is 'yes, sir.'"

Sammy could tell Chris was holding onto his temper by a thread. This wasn't a battle that was worth fighting, so she gave in. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Good girl." Chris moved back. "Eat your lunch." He watched as the girl rushed to the table, drew up a chair and began digging into the food. He then turned to the other men in the room. "I'm going to go talk to Judge Travis and set up a time for a hearing. I'll be back in a bit."

TBC