The Doctor had scrubbed clean and walked down the hallway, staring out over the banister to the saloon floor below. He met Wyatt Earp as Earp exited his brother's room.
"Thank you, Doctor. I owe you my brother's life."
The Doctor nodded. "You do realize the bullet means there were two shooters?"
Earp nodded. "I've deputized some of the men, they're already searching for him. I know one of them was Ike Clanton. I found his hat beside the window he was shooting from. Reminds me," he held out the Doctor's hat. "One of the boys found this in the street."
The Doctor grinned and plopped the hat back on his head. Rose came tromping up the stairs behind Earp, the hem of her dress was damp. She nodded to the Deputy and handed the Doctor a cheese and pickle sandwich. Two chunks of homemade bread, a thick slice of tart cheese, and zangy pickles. She was sure he'd refuse it, but he ate it with every evidence of appreciation, talking to Earp around it.
"Before all this started, you said you were looking into what is killing the babies," Earp said. "You still plan on doing that?"
"Yes."
"How can I help?"
"Well," the Doctor leaned, hipshot, on the bannister. "Have you had any reports of unusually large rabbits sighted recently?"
Rose nibbled on her own sandwich and watched Earp's reaction to that, her eyes twinkling.
Earp stared at him, wide eyed. "Are you saying some rabbit is causing all these problems?" he asked in disbelief. The Deputy looked at him as if he thought the Doctor might be mad, but he owed him too much to mention it.
"No. I'm saying it would be a good place to start looking."
Earp looked at Rose. She just smiled at him. Finally he nodded. "If it's rabbits you want, I think you need to talk to Billie Jo."
—
"Wadda ya want with my rabbit?" Billie Jo said suspiciously, pushing out his chest aggressively.
It would have been more impressive if the chest involved hadn't been bare, covered only by a pair of faded red suspenders, and ten years old.
The boy peered suspiciously at the Doctor, he was apparently impervious to the early morning chill, wearing only a pair of worn ratty jeans held up by the suspenders, and barefoot.
"Don't you go giving him none of your lip, boy," Earp warned.
"But Deputy, I been chasing that rabbit for nigh onto two months now! I don't relish some cowboy coming in and shooting him off before I have the chance to trap him!"
"Use your eyes, son. He ain't wearing a gun."
"He ain't?" Billie looked at the Doctor's holsterless hips in surprise. "Well, I'll be. Why ain't you got a gun, mister?"
"I'm a Doctor. I don't need a gun."
"Huh!" Billie mused this over. "Doc's a doc and he's got a gun," he pointed out logically.
"Doc Holliday is a dentist," the Doctor pointed out. Rose noticed his hand went up to his jaw when he said it. "He no doubt needs a gun. All I need to know is where you've seen that rabbit."
"All over. I ain't found his burrow yet." He leaned closer to whisper, conspiratorially, "But there is one place..."
"Show me."
Billie trotted off and the Doctor and Rose followed.
"Let me know what you find," Earp said as the rowdy noise of horses and cowboys entered the other end of town. "I've got business to attend to."
Billie turned and ran backward, and waved a hand in acknowledgment as Wyatt Earp turned and strode off.
Billie stopped when he saw Rose still beside the Doctor. "She commin'?" he asked, jerking an impudent chin at her.
"Rose always comes with me."
The boy curled his nose in disdain. Rose resisted the urge to hit him on the head with her parasol.
The Doctor noted the look on her face and bit down a smile. "Rose isn't your typical girl," he assured the boy.
The urchin raked a disbelieving stare from Rose's impractical bonnet to her wide, heavy skirts.
"If you say so."
—
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