Trip to Murder 21
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A block away from Sean Flannery's house, Matt brought them to a stop. "If Flannery is involved in this, he's liable to have people around there on the lookout for us." Matt whispered to Kitty. "I want you to stay here while I have a look around."
"No," Kitty protested. "I'm coming with you."
"Kitty," Matt said sternly. "I'm not going to argue with you. Now, stay here and stay down. If the coast is clear, I'll come back for you. But if I'm not back in 15 minutes, you take off. Don't wait and don't look back. You understand?"
"But, Matt…" Her further protest died on her lips as she looked at the serious expression on his face. "Alright." She nodded in glum exasperation.
Pushing her further into the shadows, He turned and headed off. Staying as quiet and invisible as his size would allow, Matt skirted all the way around the house. He saw no one and heard nothing that aroused his suspicions. Still, he hesitated. He didn't want to rush into anything that would get him or Kitty hurt and something felt off about the place.
Taking one more careful look around, Matt crept slowly to the window at the back of the house and cautiously took a look inside. By the light of the one small lamp on the table, he saw Sean lying on the floor of the house, unmoving. Matt's heart dropped and he quickly ducked back down and into the darkest shadows he could find.
If Flannery was dead, Matt had no doubts that Owens would try and pin that on Kitty or perhaps even himself as well. Taking a deep breath, he decided his only option was go into the house and check. If Flannery wasn't dead, he was going to need help.
But he had no sooner stood up when he heard a twig snap behind him. Whirling around, he quickly drew his gun and trained it on… "Kitty." He whispered fiercely. "I thought I told you to stay put."
"I did stay put," she whispered back with a slight edge to her voice. "But you didn't come back. I got worried."
"And I told you to leave if I didn't come back." He glared at her. "Kitty, it…" He stopped, knowing argument, at this point, was senseless. "Follow me." He held his gun up and trained it on the darkness around them as they stepped forward.
Once again, he carefully approached the house, this time, keeping Kitty tightly behind him. He took another glance in the window and saw Sean hadn't moved. Quickly he stepped to the door and tried the knob. The door swung open readily. Without a word he took Kitty's hand and led her inside.
"Sean!" Kitty gasped as she saw him lying on the floor. Swiftly, she ran over and knelt down by his side. "He's breathing." She said with a sigh of relief. "We need to get him up, Matt."
Matt started towards her but stopped when he heard a noise in the front of the house. Placing a finger to his lips for silence, Matt brought his gun up and cautiously took a step towards the connecting door into the other room. Standing still for several seconds, he glanced down at Kitty's pale and frightened features before looking towards the door again.
With a deep breath, he took a step back and reared up his leg, kicking the door open and going in low with his gun raised and ready to fire. But there was no one there, save one small, orange, tabby cat, which stood imperiously in the front room staring at the intruder with a scowl, before bolting between his legs and making a beeline for Kitty's lap.
Matt stared after the cat for a moment with a shake of his head, before proceeding to finish checking out the house. No one was there.
The front door was locked from the inside and there didn't appear to be any sort of scuffle. Some of the drawers on his desk looked like they had pulled out and not pushed all the way back in but not much else looked off. The only real thing out of place was the house's owner, sprawled on the kitchen floor.
Matt returned to the kitchen and bent down next to Sean and Kitty, eliciting a fierce hiss from the cat. "How is he?" Matt asked her.
Kitty looked up into Matt's exasperated face and shrugged. "He's breathing." She answered quietly. "He's got a pretty nasty lump on the back of his head." As she spoke, Sean groaned and tried to sit up. "It's okay." Kitty soothed, trying to keep him down. "Easy now. You're hurt."
"Aye," Sean blearily nodded. "My head hurts like fire." Carefully, he pulled himself into a sitting position and looked around at Kitty then Matt, his eyes finally landing on the broken door leading into the other room. "What happened?"
"You tell us." Matt grunted. "We found you lying there on the floor and the back door unlocked. I heard something in your in front room and went in to find your cat there," he pointed at the still scowling feline curled up in Kitty's lap, "but nothing else. Front door locked and no signs of struggle or anything. So, you tell us what happened."
Sean cradled his head as pushed himself further up gaining his feet. "I'm not sure exactly." He gingerly rubbed the back of his head.
Kitty picked the cat up and sat down it on the floor, then with an assist from Matt, got up as well. "Well, what do you remember?"
Sean stood for several seconds, trying to remember before finally looking up at Matt and Kitty. "Not much. I remember coming into the house and stepping over to the table then nothing. I don't remember anything else until just now." Continuing to rub his aching head, he sought comfort in chair. "Man, my head hurts."
Matt stepped up to him and gently pushed his head forward, examining the lump on the back. "Looks like you got hit pretty hard, but I don't think it's anything too bad. Someone intended for it be bad, though."
"They must've thought you had those files we took." Kitty said. "Either that or they were afraid you'd tried to help us."
Sean shrugged. 'I didn't think they knew anything about my contacting you." He said. "But then again someone may have spotted us when I approached you all at the restaurant or something."
"Yeah, well. Don't matter now, I guess." Matt said. "You'll be going with us. You think you can walk?"
Sean wavered for a second or two before gaining his equilibrium. "Yeah, I think I'll be alright. Looks like Herman will have another guest."
Matt shook his head. "Nope. They're on to Herman too."
Sean gave Matt a startled look of shock. "How? Who…"
Matt looked at him appraisingly. "I figured it was you." He answered frankly.
"Well, it's obvious it wasn't." Kitty said with conviction in her voice.
"Is it?" Matt asked watching Sean's face.
"Matt!" Kitty snapped at him. "How can you even think that now?"
"It's alright, Kitty." Sean waved her off with a smile. "He's got his reasons and I'm not so sure I blame him. I might feel the same way, were I in his shoes." Sean met Matt eye to eye as he spoke. He knew Matt's suspicion of him had less to do with Owens and the murder and more to do with Kitty. He also knew he'd have to fix that before he and the US Marshal could work together.
He needed help to stop Owens. Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell were that help.
"Well, you're not in my shoes." Matt said staring at Flannery. "But from now on, you're gonna stay pretty close to them. You are going to stay with us till all this is cleared up."
Sean looked at the Dodge City couple and nodded wearily. "Lead the way, Marshal."
TBC