Trip to Murder 15

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Kitty woke in a soft bed with the concerned faces of Matt, Herman and Dr. Sheridan surrounding her. "Wha… what happened?" She asked groggily, trying to sit up.

"You passed out, young lady." Dr. Sheridan said, unconsciously sounding a great deal like Doc. "You'll be alright, but you need to rest."

"Passed out?" She looked at Matt who dropped his head. "Why?"

"What do you remember?" Sheridan asked.

"Well…" She hedged not sure if she should tell him everything. "We were running, and I remember my arm was hurting and then I felt kinda dizzy…"

Sheridan nodded. "Um huh. You fainted from a combination of exertion and blood loss. That wound isn't too bad, the bullet went straight through the fleshy part of your upper arm, but you did lose quite a bit of blood. You're going to need to stay in bed for a couple of days."

When he mentioned a bullet she looked at Matt again. He sighed and nodded. "I told him everything, Kitty. I had to. I didn't know how bad off you were and you needed a doctor. Dr. Sheridan was the only one that I thought I could trust not to contact Owens."

"You tell him about your arm too?" She asked Matt.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, about that too. He took care of it."

Sheridan patted her hand before standing up and reaching for his medical bag. "Don't you worry about a thing, my dear." He smiled comfortingly. "The Marshal, here, is fine and you will be as well. Just mind what I said. Plenty of bed rest and don't go moving that arm around too much. It's going to be stiff and sore for a while yet." Turning to Matt he reached out a hand. "You better start taking better care of that young lady, Marshal. She's not one of your deputies, you know."

Matt smiled ruefully. "I know that, but I'm having trouble getting her to believe it."

Herman, noticing the looks exchanged by the two, winked at Kitty then straightened up and turned for the door. "I vill show you out, Doc-tor." He announced. "You take care of Miss Russell, yah?." Herman patted Matt's shoulder as he passed.

Matt moved over to the bed and sat down beside her. "Honey, I am so sorry you were hurt." He took her hand and kissed it. "It was my fault. I knew you shouldn't've come with me and I…"

"Matt." Kitty stopped him. "It's not your fault. You know you couldn't have stopped me and you didn't shoot me, Owens did. You have nothing to be sorry for. Besides Dr. Sheridan said I'd be fine, didn't he?"

Matt shook his head. "It was my fault, Kitty. I'm the one that hit that box and knocked it over and I'm the one that…"

"You're the one that pulled me out of there and saved my life." She stopped him again. "Matt, I'm alright. Honest. Please don't do this. Please."

Matt shook his head at the pleading tone to her voice. "Alright," he said softly as he leaned forward and kissed her. "But you're not going on any more missions with me while we're here. I need you to be safe."

"Matt..." She started to protest.

"I don't think either one of you will be going anywhere for a while." Sean spoke up from the doorway. "Sorry, if I'm interrupting, but I've just come from the police station. Owens has issued an arrest warrant, for you two, for breaking and entering."

Kitty and Matt exchanged glances. "Didn't take him long." Matt sighed. "How does he plan on proving it? I mean, without admitting he was there."

Sean came further into the room and looked down at Kitty. "Are you alright? Herman said you were shot."

"I'm fine, Sean." Kitty replied, noticing the scowl on Matt's face. "Honestly, I'm alright. But I'd like an answer to Matt's question too." She reached out with her good arm and grabbed Matt's hand, giving it a loving squeeze. "How does Owens plan on proving we were there?"

Sean relaxed a little and looked at both of them. "He's got any number of people that will testify to anything he tells them to. Including seeing you two break into that warehouse. He also has blood drops on the floor just inside the door. All he has to do is show that one of you is injured and have someone claim to see you and you'll both be in deep. I think you both need to stay here and let me handle this from now on."

Matt shook his head as he stood. "No." He stated unequivocally, his tone gruff and unyielding. "We're in too deep to try and step out now. Him looking for us is gonna make moving about the city a little more difficult but it doesn't mean we're going to quit. It's our lives on the hook here, not yours."

"Matt." Kitty tugged at his hand. "He's one of the good guys, remember?" Matt didn't reply. Kitty looked up at Sean. "We appreciate your help, Sean, but we're not going to sit here. Matt is right in that it's our lives in danger. You can't expect us to do nothing."

Sean took a deep breath, and scanned the floor for a moment before finally nodding. "I understand." He said. "And I guess you're right. But I'm not sure what you could do. Owens is going to be looking pretty hard for you guys. If you're spotted at all by anyone, he'll have you in jail in a heartbeat."

"Well, we can start with those files we brought with us." Kitty said. "I bet you anything, we could find something in there."

Sean looked at her, then Matt, curiously. "Files?"

Matt nodded and crossed over to the dresser, picking up a thick folder of paper. "Files." He said proudly looking over at Kitty. "Courtesy of someone who has no business being involved in this at all."

Much later on, Matt lay back against the headboard, in Herman's spare room, Kitty snuggled safely into his side, sound asleep. The four of them, Herman included, had sat up late studying the files Kitty had found and risked her life to get away with.

Though all three men had insisted she stay in bed and let them go over the paperwork, Kitty refused. She was, after all, more knowledgeable then any of them in the business of liquor and she understood the various invoices and other paperwork. Reluctantly, the men had to agree.

They had garnered quite a bit of information from those files. Most importantly the fact the Mr. Peat was smuggling in illegal liquor and selling it at a much inflated price to various retailers who had no choice but to buy at those prices due to pressure from certain high ranking police officials. The same high ranking policemen, who were providing false documentation showing the liquor to be legal and getting a piece of the profits for their part in the whole scheme.

The information was quite damning and absolutely worthless unless it could be placed into the hands of someone not connected to the local police. A task almost impossible at present. The foursome had thrown about various ideas, thoughts and plans but nothing seemed to be feasible.

Matt, more than once, noticed Kitty's head nod and saw the exhaustion on her face. Finally he called a halt to the discussion for the night and despite Kitty's heavy protest, literally picked her up and carried her back to bed. With the aid of some of the powders, Dr. Sheridan had left, she was now resting.

But Matt wasn't and he knew he wouldn't. Not until this mess was over and he and Kitty were finally back in Dodge where they belonged. As his exhausted mind went once more over the problem, an idea suddenly came to him. He wasn't sure it would work, and he'd have to check with Sean, but he thought he just might have an idea.

TBC