Trip to Murder 29
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Kitty awoke nauseous and weak. She had a horrible taste in her mouth and a fierce headache was currently pecking at her temples. Slowly looking around, she noted she was in a small room with only one door and no windows. Dr. Sheridan was sitting at a small desk, his, jacket off, white shirt rumpled and head buried in his arms, seemingly asleep.
But he was alone. Scanning the miniscule room again she saw Matt as well as Sean was nowhere to be seen. That fact panicked her and she forced herself to a sitting position, trying to gain her feet.
Her efforts, though, only served to awaken Sheridan who jumped from his chair and rushed over to her side. "Now, see here." He pushed her back down. "You have no business getting up. You're very weak. You need to rest."
Kitty, who didn't remember the events of earlier was confused and scared by the lack of Matt's presence and wasn't easily consoled. "Where's Matt?" She asked a tone of fear in her voice. "They didn't… get him… did they?"
"No, no, my dear." Sheridan hastily reassured her. "He and Officer Flannery are perfectly alright. They had some matters to attend to, though, and since you were too ill to accompany them, they asked me to stay here with you while they were gone."
"What matters?" Kitty demanded. "Where'd they go?" Knowing Matt hadn't been caught was not enough to appease her.
Sheridan didn't want to alarm her by telling her the details of the danger the two lawmen were placing themselves into but he knew she wouldn't accept simple platitudes. "They believed they had a way of putting an end to these problems we all seem to have found ourselves in."
Kitty pushed his hands away struggling once again to sit up. "What do you mean? Where did they go?" She asked again.
Sheridan really didn't want to tell her for fear she would be even more upset but he realized nothing less than the truth would serve to calm her down. "They went to the home of Frank Peat." He finally told her with a sigh. "They felt they could convince him to help."
"Convince?" Kitty's struggle to rise increased and weak as she was, she managed to push Sheridan back and away from her. "Frank Peat is a murderer." She exclaimed as she got her feet to the ground and gripped the edge of the cot forcing herself up onto unsteady legs. "He won't help and they won't be able to convince him to. They're walking right into danger."
"No we're not." Matt declared from the doorway, as he swiftly stepped in and crossed over to her. "Kitty, you have no business being up. You were awful sick."
"Oh, Matt." She clung to him tightly as he wrapped an arm around her and held her close. "When I woke up and you weren't there…"
"Ssh, now." He kissed softly on the forehead. "It's okay. I'm fine and so is Sean."
"Am I to assume that you got what you went after then, Marshal?" Sheridan asked.
Matt nodded. "Sure did and soon we can start making plans to go home and you can go back to your life. I sure am sorry, Doctor, that you got mixed up in this."
"Bad things happen to good people, Marshal." Sheridan waved a hand. "The important thing is that soon this will be over."
Matt nodded again as he looked down at the woman in his arms. "That is true, Doctor. After tomorrow morning it should be."
Kitty looked at him in disbelief. "What? How? What happened?"
"It's a long story," Matt gently rubbed her back as he held her. "But Sean and me managed to get Frank Peat to, not only confess, but tell us where he had hidden proof enough to get you and me off the hook."
Kitty's eyes widened in hope. "He did?"
Matt nodded. "Yeah, Sean and his friend Timothy are right now getting that and they'll bring it back here. That, along with the files you found at the warehouse as well as Peat's confession and testimony will likely put several people, including Owens, in jail for a long time."
Kitty suddenly stiffened as an unpleasant thought came to mind. "What if they get caught trying to get that information? Or what if they do but you can't catch everybody or…"
Matt shook his head with amusement. "Kitty, would you stop worrying? Me and Sean worked everything out. I promise you. This thing is just about over. The spoilers will not get away and you and I will not go to jail for a crime we didn't commit. Trust me, honey, it's almost over."
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Matt and Sean stood quietly in the shadows as one by one, six crooked lawmen, one crooked senator and three other crooked businessmen filed into the small tiny little shack and down the creaking stairs to the cavern below. Matt and Sean were there but out of sight as Timothy, acting as Peat's representative, ushered them in and down the stairs.
Each of them had received an urgent note from Frank Peat requesting they come immediately to this isolated spot, on foot and alone, to discuss something of grave importance to not only their wealth but their health as well. The notes implied that failure to comply could result in the loss of both. They came without question.
All but two. Herman Schneider hadn't been invited to this particular party. Sean and Matt wanted to personally arrest him. Although they knew what he'd tried to do, and Mat half way wanted to tear him apart, they decided to give him a chance to explain himself.
Owens was the other one who wasn't there, although, unlike Herman, he had been invited. But Matt wasn't worried. Owens would be there. He had been given a little added incentive to attend Frank Peat's 'party'. He was promised that Matt Dillon and Sean Flannery were there.
Of course, he was also promised that they had been taken prisoner by Peat's men. He wouldn't know the truth about that until he got there and it was too late to do anything about it.
When the last man had crossed through the door in the back of the shanty and started down the stairs, Timothy swiftly closed the door behind them and placed the rickety chair up under the knob. It wouldn't hold for too long but it didn't need to. Opening the door, he motioned for Matt and Sean, who abandoned their hiding spot in some nearby bushes and quickly entered the building.
"All we got left is Owens." Matt stated.
"He won't be easy to take." Sean gave him a rueful look. "He didn't get to be captain by taking chances and being stupid."
Matt gave him a level stare. "Any man that will break the law to get ahead is already being stupid. Your uncle isn't as smart as you, or he either one, thinks."
Sean dropped his gaze and turned away. "I told you, I don't think of him as my uncle."
"That's good," Matt said. "Because what happens when he gets here could be bad for him. I don't want you interfering if things go south."
"I won't." Sean assured him.
Just as he spoke, a sound was heard from outside and all three men inside froze. Quickly, Timothy and Sean took their places on either side of the doorway and Matt placed himself directly in front of it, gun drawn and at the ready. He wanted Owens to see only him when he entered.
Slowly, the door creaked open and Owens appeared through the opening, his own weapon in his hand.
"Hold it, Owens." Matt demanded. "Drop your weapon."
But Owens, realizing he'd been trapped, instead ducked down and turned, taking off at a dead run. Matt wasted no time in running after him, taking him down in a flying tackle.
Though Owens was older than Matt and not nearly in as good a shape as the US Marshal, he was still a formidable match and the two struggled on the ground for several moments before Matt was finally able to free a hand and knock the man senseless as he lay beneath him.
Pulling himself up to his feet, Matt stood for several seconds looking down at the hated man, thinking how it good it might feel if he were to stomp him into the ground where he lay. But, as Peat had said, he was a law man, an honest lawman, and regardless of how horrendous the bad guy, Matt couldn't bring himself to harm an unconscious man, no matter how badly he wanted to.
Turning back towards the shanty, he jerked a thumb back over towards Owens. "Sean, I think you have some trash to clean up here."
Sean nodded as he stepped quickly from the shack and headed towards Matt. He was almost at Matt's side when the gun went off.
TBC