As promised, I come bearing updates. I'm really sorry for the delay, RL and other fics caught up with me and I'm finding this particular fic really hard to write (don't ask me why). Anyway, thanks VioletJedi for reviewing :)
Bill watched as Kara cantered off into the distance. It had only taken him a short while to tell her about the situation and she had agreed to become a temporary deputy before he even had the chance to properly offer her the position. Her first task was to visit the homesteads in the more remote areas that surrounded Colonial Falls. As they were technically a part of his jurisdiction as Sheriff in this part of the territory, it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of the people who lived there. However, as it was only Saul and himself that made up the law in those parts, the task could sometimes be considered, for lack of a better word, daunting.
It was growing dark by the time he got back to the town. Riding slowly down the main street he hoped that nothing out of the ordinary had happened while he had been away, with Saul being in the condition Bill had left him in, it could have been disastrous if something had happened. Passing by the jailhouse, he could see that it was now empty and locked up, Saul presumably gone home to dwell more on Ellen's most recent betrayal.
He continued riding straight through Colonial Falls until he had reached the town limits then veered off down a familiar beaten path that led to Laura's homestead. When she had first moved to Colonial Falls to fill the position of schoolmarm, she had decided to live outside of the actual town, preferring the tranquillity that came with her chosen seclusion than the hustle and bustle of the town. He had come to enjoy the isolation when he visited her; there was never any chance of being interrupted by the townsfolk for the mundane incidents he was often called to, and it had become one of the only places where he began to really feel like himself.
As he neared the small, modest homestead, he could see the flickering glow of candles and the kerosene lamps that were strategically placed throughout her home. If he knew Laura, she had already fixed supper and was now sat on the front porch waiting for him to arrive.
He chuckled to himself when he was close enough to the homestead to realise that he was right. She was wrapped up in a blanket, despite the warmth of the day remaining in the air, and sat with her legs curled underneath her body as she leant against on of the pillars on the porch. Urging Husker into a brisk trot, Bill cleared the last hundred metres just as Laura was pulling herself to her feet, a smile playing across her lips.
Stopping just short of the porch step, Bill slid easily out of the saddle, landing with a soft thud on the loose prairie dirt. Laura stepped down to him and took Husker's reins, gently pulling him away from Bill and leading him to the barn just behind the homestead. Bill followed her with a smile on his face and watched with fascination as she tended to his horse.
Once she had shut the horse safely into the empty stall beside her mare's stall, she turned to face him, instantly recognising the stress that he tried in vain to keep carefully hidden from her. Stepping towards him, she pressed her hand tenderly against his cheek, letting her fingers lightly trace the stubble that formed over the day, "What's wrong?"
He leant into her touch and shook his head, "After we eat."
Laura nodded her understanding and wrapped her hand around his arm. He smiled at her and walked with her out of the barn and slowly around to the front of the homestead, collecting the blanket she had abandoned on the porch as they went through the door. She pushed him towards one of the chairs that surrounded a small wooden table in the corner of the room and glared at him until he relented and sank into it with a grunt.
Laura danced gracefully around the small kitchen area of her home, fetching cutlery and tableware and setting the in front of Bill, glaring at him again when he tried to move to help her. Grabbing a thick cloth, she went over to the stove and pulled out the simple stew she had prepared while she had waited for Bill to arrive. She set it on the table in front of him before going back to collect a loaf of bread to have with it.
Sitting opposite him, she waited for him to say Grace before ladling some stew into his bowl and passing it over to him, he in turn cut off some bread and passed it to her in a practiced ritual of domesticity. They ate in silence for the most part, Laura occasionally filling him in on the events that took place at the schoolhouse after he had been summoned to visit the mayor. He listened with interest, but she could tell that something was on his mind, something potentially big.
Once they had finished, she allowed Bill to help her clear up before she placed her hands on her hips and arched an expectant eyebrow at him, "So, are you going to tell me what happened at the mayor's?"
Bill sighed and went to lean against the table while Laura sat in the chair closest to him, "The mayor wanted to warn me that Tom Zarek and his gang of miscreants were spotted by the people of Dogsville not far from here."
Laura frowned and knitted her hands together in her lap, "Do they have any idea what he's doing?"
Bill shook his head, "Not as far as I know. I've asked Kara be a temporary deputy and help me keep an eye on things, but until we can find out more, there's not much I can do."
"Do you think we should ask for a town meeting? Maybe you could convince more people to be deputised temporarily until we know what's happening." Laura suggested.
Bill hid a grimace. He had never liked dealing with the town council; he found them to be too whiney and demanding, their presence around him always bringing out his less than diplomatic side and making him abnormally short-tempered. Laura, on the other hand, was much more controlled and found dealing with the council no more difficult than dealing with a classroom of unruly children, something she had had more than enough experience with.
The smirk on Laura's face told him he had been unsuccessful at hiding his disgust at the idea, and he hated to admit that it would actually be a good idea. "I'll go talk to Adar in the morning, see if he'll be willing to call a meeting." He grunted reluctantly.
Laura nodded and lightly rubbed his knee, "That's good. We both know you can't protect this town properly with just you and Saul, you need help." Bill sighed and rubbed his hand across his face. "If you can get Cantrell on your side the other council members will fall in line." She offered.
"Okay. You wanna do this for me?" he grinned at her.
She raised an amused eyebrow and smirked, "I'm not getting involved." Bill chuckled and pushed himself away from the table. Laura stood and went to straighten his shirt and waistcoat, her fingers brushing lightly over the shiny silver Sheriff's star adorning his chest.
She watched from the comfort of her porch as he led Husker back down the beaten path towards town. It took less than one hundred metres for her to lose sight of him in the dark, and although she worried about the dangers of Bill riding alone at night, she trusted the horse to make sure his master got home safe. She waited a few minutes more before going back inside and clearing away the rest of their meal, her mind occupied by what Bill had told her.
She took extra care to make sure the door to the homestead was shut and locked tight that night before wrapping herself up in her blanket and murmuring an extra prayer to help ease her mind.
The first thing Bill did when he reached the town was head straight back to the jailhouse. Knowing full well that it was unlikely that he would be able to catch much sleep, he saw that Husker was comfortably in his stall before going to sit at his desk and reading through messages and papers that had piled up over the week. He even made a note in his journal of the day's events for future reference.
As he wrote in the journal, he contemplated why Thomas Zarek would risk returning to this part of the territory. Since his exile from the town some twenty years earlier, no one had seen hide nor hair of him, only hearing the occasional tale of his antics, including one particular story involving a distant town hall and some dynamite that had set the entire population of Colonial Falls on edge for weeks.
When his head began to nod, he pulled his pocket watch out and flipped open the lid. He wasn't the least bit surprised to see that it was nearly 3am. Sighing heavily, he closed the journal and stacked all the loose papers on the desk into one reasonably neat pile. He would have to go through them again in the morning with a clear head to check he hadn't missed anything important, but for now, he was more interested in crawling into one of the cell bunks, regardless of how uncomfortable they might be.
Folding himself onto one of the bunks, he tucked the thin blanket close around himself and closed his eyes. Falling asleep slowly to the sounds of coyotes howling in the distance.
He cursed to himself when the bright morning sun burned his eyes. Squeezing them shut against the onslaught on his corneas, he rolled out of the bunk, landing with an unceremonious thud on the floor. Rubbing the sleep out his eyes, he hauled himself to his feet and stumbled over to the bowl and jug in the corner, pouring the remainder of the previous day's water from the jug into the bowl, before scooping a handful out and splashing it across his face, forgoing the use of the rag he usually used.
The feeling of the night-cooled water on his skin shocked him fully awake, although it did little to refresh him, not that he could feel refreshed while wearing yesterday's crumpled, prairie dust covered clothes. Glancing in the cracked mirror on the wall, he could see the dark shadow of morning stubble gracing the lower half of his face. He frowned when he saw that there was also prairie dust caked into patches of his hair.
After doing his best to finger-comb the dust out, he shrugged at the condition of his clothes, rationalising that changing into cleaner clothes would be pointless as they would only end up in the same condition as the ones as he was already wearing. And besides, he was only going to see the mayor.
Trudging out of jailhouse, he made his way down the main street, lifting a hand to Saul in greeting, who was making his way to begin morning rounds. Bill smiled lightly to himself; his friend was looking better than he had been when he had last seen him.
When he arrived at the town hall the dizzy, brunette secretary didn't greet him like he had been expecting. Either it was too early for her, or Adar had already had enough of his latest toy. Chuckling to himself, Bill slipped past her desk and pushed his way into Adar's office.
The mayor was slumped in his over-large, plush chair and had his head pressed firmly against the wooden surface of his desk. As Bill took in his appearance, it was clear from the fact that he was also wearing yesterday's clothes that he had been there all night.
It was also clear, from the copious amounts of red-stained papers covering the desk, that the mayor was dead.