"Well, Kitty, it seems you have been one mighty lucky young woman!" the old doctor said with a satisfied smile as he swiped his hand over his mustache.
"Ugh. I sure don't FEEL all that lucky, Doc! How did that group of tiny miners with pick axes get inside my head?!" she asked with a grimace, putting her right hand up to her head, tentatively touching the bandage encircling it. Her left wrist, splinted and propped on a pillow, throbbed, and just readjusting herself slightly in bed caused her entire body to hurt.
"I know Honey, but considering how many hard wooden steps you bounced down, a concussion, broken wrist, and multiple deep bruises is pretty miraculous." Silently studying her as she lay propped up on three pillows in the bed in his front bedroom, he rubbed his chin again, now rough with whiskers. It was four hours since Sam had appeared with the unconscious woman in his arms, and after being examined, patched up, and dressed in one of Doc's clean flannel nightshirts, she had slept on and off. The careful doctor had awakened her at least once an hour to ensure the concussion had not worsened. "I know you must hurt a lot, Kitty, but I don't want to give you anything until morning. That head injury must be considered carefully until then."
"It's all right, Doc," she said with a tender smile. "How's Sam? He must be so worried."
"Yes, but he knows staying at the Long Branch is important to you. Chester stopped by and said it's heading towards a busy night there, and he said he'd be sure to let Sam know how you are. And before you ask, Matt should be back from Garden City any time now, weather permitting. Looks like a storm might be over that way."
Kitty suddenly frowned and closed her eyes in thought. "Doc, you know how I told you I couldn't remember what happened when I woke up here? Now I keep seeing a young boy's green eyes staring into mine…and…and he was DEAD." Opening her eyes, she stared questioningly at the older man. "Claude Daigel?"
Doc nodded and walked over to the window, looking out towards the mortuary. While Kitty had slept, he had gone over and examined the thin boy, discovering that a terrible blow had shattered the left side of Claude's skull, killing him instantly. Missus Daigel had been inconsolable, shrieking and collapsing into her husband's arms at the sight of her beloved only child lying so cold and still, even after Percy Crump had done his best. Doc had handed Mister Daigel a bottle of a sedative from his medical bag and urged him to take his wife home immediately. The initial heart-rending shriek still lingered in the doctor's head.
"Doc? What happened to that boy? Please tell me what you know," she pleaded, reaching out her right hand towards him as he returned to the chair beside her bed.
"Kitty," he sighed, "someone MURDERED that little boy. Hit him on the side of the head with something so hard and so fiercely that it shattered his skull. I haven't told anyone else yet, but Matt will need to know, of course. But those parents...those parents…" Despite the quietness of his voice, his listener heard the deep pain and anger in his words.
"Oh Doc!" was all the tearful woman could say.
"Now, I want you to rest some more after you eat a little soup I've been warming up out front. Don't worry! It's from Delmonico's." His smile was slight and his eyes were still full of the sadness he had seen at the mortuary.
"All right, Doc. But I want out of here first thing tomorrow!" She returned his small smile, knowing how both of them were still devastated at the thought of sweet, timid little Claude Daigel being killed.
After she had eaten a little, and washed up using a basin, cloth, and toothbrush Doc had provided, she slowly scooted down in bed, suppressing a moan.
"Honey, you close your eyes now. I want to go check on Missus Daigel. I'll be back as soon as I can." Before leaving, the doctor leaned over, checked his patient's pupils and the pulse in her right wrist, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"I'll be fine, Doc. Tell Missus Daigel…tell her…oh, what can anyone say?!"
Shaking his head sadly, the small man shuffled from the room, picked up his medical bag, slipped into his old black suit coat, and plopped his battered hat on his head. Taking in a deep breath, he straightened up and headed down the steps and over to the Daigel's grief-filled house on the edge of town.
Kitty soon fell into a troubled sleep, forgotten scraps of memories dancing through her mind. Two hours later, she awoke to a loud clap of thunder, followed soon by a flash of lightning that lit up the room, and a deluge of rain blowing in through the half-open window on Front Street. She looked around for Doc, and not seeing him, slowly sat up, clutching a pillow against her sore ribs. "DOC? DOC?" When there was no reply, she swung her legs around, sat up on the side of the bed, waited a moment, then used the chair to stand up. "Not so bad," she thought, "but not so good," as she took the first steps toward the window, pushing the chair along for support. When she finally reached the window, her triumphant smile dropped from her face as a flash of lightning revealed a small figure walking by carrying a long metal bar. "A BOY! What's he doing out in the dark and storm?!" She was about to call out to him when a gust of wind blew the brim of his rain hat back, and she saw bright blond hair. Then his unfastened rain slicker blew open, and in the glow of another lightning flash, she saw the unmistakable glint and shape of a U.S. Marshal badge, and the bright gold penmanship medal, both pinned to the upper left of his shirt.
Gasping, Kitty closed the window and leaned back against the wall for a moment in her shock. "That's Claude Daigel's medal! And Matt's missing badge!" Fragments of thoughts jumbled swiftly about in her mind, and when they finally clicked smoothly into place, she had made her decision. "I can't let that boy hide those medals or throw the murder weapon away!" She had remembered the glimpse of a blond boy swinging a rod at Claude's head and knew it had to have been Ronny. She also remembered Christine mentioning her worry about her son spending time at the small, shabby fishing pier by Thomas Pond, down the slope of the main road at the west end of town. Kitty was certain that the boy was heading there to dispose of or hide the iron rod, and maybe the medals. The only thing that still puzzled her was how Ronny must have arranged for her to fall down the stairs before she could witness the crime. "I could swear I felt two very small hands on my lower back, but…" Despite Ronny's angelic appearance, she sensed something "off" in the boy, but could not begin to imagine any other child trying to harm her or anyone else.
Working her way as quickly as possible towards the door leading to the front office, she slipped her bare feet into Doc's spare pair of old shoe-boots. On her way to the front door, she took one of his coats from a hook on the wall, painfully put it on, and carefully made her way down the steep stairs, pausing a few times when she felt dizzy. Reaching the bottom , she clung to the railing, pushed her wet hair from her eyes, and peered down the street towards the pond. A flash of lightning showed her the boy half a block away, swiftly swinging the long metal rod back and forth like a club.