The Rescue 20

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Though his voice was soft, his words carried throughout the room and every head swiveled in his direction.

"You what?" Matt's voice was cold, hard and angry. Clenching and unclenching his fist, he started towards the smaller, man. "You killed Treager?"

Brody dropped hazel eyes to the floor, unable to look Matt or Kitty in the eye, especially Kitty. "I didn't mean to. It… it was sort of an accident."

Matt brought his fist up and started advancing on the man, the pain in his limb temporarily forgotten. "It was an accident that you framed her for murder? It was an accident she was about to hang for your crime? AN ACCIDENT?!" His voice rose precipitously.

Festus understood Matt's anger, even shared in it. But he knew if Matt killed Brody, any hope of saving Miss Kitty would be permanently lost. Quickly, he intercepted him, placing a hand on his chest. "Now, Matthew. Ya cain't kill him. If'n he killed that Treager feller then the law needs to handle him. Sides, he kin tell all them folks that Miss Kitty ain't did nothing. Don't ya see?"

Matt stood perfectly still, trying desperately to rein in his anger. The only sound was the occasional shot from one of the bandits outside, Hill's calls and Matt's ragged breathing. What Festus had said was true. Brody could clear Kitty's name. She could be free. Finally, he stood a step back and sat down heavily on the cot, his injured leg and injured soul could no longer hold him up.

Kitty, who'd stood for a second in shock, collapsed beside him, too sick and too stunned to do much else. Looking back up at Brody, only one question came to mind. "Why?"

Brody continued to study the floor as his mind went back nearly three months to the night he'd soon forget. "We weren't gonna hurt ya, Ma'am." He started his tale. "Least ways, it wasn't the plan. Vic said he knew how to get in the back and into your office and when that bartender come in with the money from the night, we were just gonna slug him and take it. Honest. Nothing more."

Matt reached over and urged Kitty to lay back down, smoothing the blanket back over her before looking back at the small brown haired man before him. "Obviously it turned into something more. Why'd you want to rob her in the first place? Treager had a successful business."

Brody shook his head. "The business was, but he wasn't. He lost a lot of money gambling and didn't want to tell Hill about it. He said we'd take the money from the Long Branch and split it. He'd have enough to pay back money he took from his business and I'd have enough to leave Dodge permanent. Robbing the place was all we was gonna do. I swear. When the door opened, Vic was hiding behind it and hit the one that came through the door. We didn't even know it was her until she fell on the floor."

As he spoke the others turned towards them and slowly began to gather around to hear the story. Maizie went over to Kitty and knelt down beside her. "Let me check that shoulder."

But Kitty shook her head. "Not now." She looked back up at Brody. "Go on."

Maizie nodded and sat back on her heels waiting for Brody to finish his story.

Brody, realizing all eyes were on him, became nervous. Licking dry lips, he took a deep breath and continued. "When Vic realized it was Miss Russell who'd come in and not the barkeep, he got a strange look in his eyes. He… he said he was gonna take her. She…" he licked his lips again. "She wouldn't let him near her otherwise and he knew you'd..." he briefly looked up at Matt. "He knew you'd kill him if he tried anything on her and you found out. He figured he could take her and nobody'd be the wiser."

Matt remembered Doc saying there'd been no evidence of that kind of thing happening to her while she was out but still… "He didn't touch her did he?" His voice was low and dangerous.

Kitty's heart stilled as she listened. Could it be that Vic had…? "Oh, God." She prayed silently. "Oh, please no."

But to her relief, as well as Matt's, Brody shook his head. "No, I… I stopped him. I told him to leave her be but he wouldn't listen. He got down on the floor beside her and… and…" He stopped, his face flushed, as he remembered Treager's hands pulling up her skirt and his lips on her unconscious form as he unbuttoned his pants and... "I pulled him off of her and tried to get him to come with me but he refused. Just kept saying he was gonna take her."

Finally, guilty hazel eyes raised and looked at the pale features of the woman in the cot. "I truly didn't want nothing to happen to you. You gotta believe that."

Kitty said nothing in reply but did acknowledge his words with a slight nod. The other people in the room moved closer wanting to hear what else Brody had to say, including Percival Atkins who was now realizing just how very wrong he had been and feeling pretty guilty about it.

Brody dropped his eyes to the floor again and sighed. "Any ways, when Vic wouldn't listen to me, I… I grabbed her gun and pointed it at him. Told him to leave you alone. I told him we'd just take the money like we planned and nobody'd be the wiser. When he got up, I thought he was gonna do as I said but instead he went for the gun. We struggled and the gun went off. Treager was dead. I… I didn't know what to do at first. Then I thought that… well, everybody'd think it was just a robbery gone wrong. That you came in found him going through your office and you fought and he got killed."

"Why'd you go to such lengths to make it look like she murdered Treager then?" Matt wanted to know. "Why put a gun in her hand and spill whiskey on her?"

Brody raised a shaky hand and ran it through his hair, a slight sob escaping his throat. "I didn't mean for it to look that way. The whiskey was Vic's. He had it sitting on her desk and when me and him fought, we knocked it over and it spilled on the floor. I didn't know till the trial that it got on her clothes. And the gun… Well, Vic had gone through her desk before she came in and found it there. It's what he slugged her with. When I knew Vic was dead, I panicked. I put the gun in her hand but honestly, I just thought they'd think it was self-defense. I didn't think they'd call it murder."

Matt dropped his head, guilt in his own part of her murder charges flooding over him. "I should've…"

But Kitty reached out and grasped his arm. "No, Matt." She shook her head. "You did what you had to do. You followed the law."

"The law?" His voice rose in disgust. "The law is the reason you were sentenced to hang for something you didn't do. The law is the reason you were shot. The law is…"

"The law is the law." Kitty said reasonably. "Sometimes it's wrong but that's just the way it is."

"The law can fix this though, can't it?" Brody asked raising hopeful eyes to Matt. "I mean, if I confess and swear she's innocent, they'll let her go?"

Matt raised his hand and rubbed the back of his neck while he considered the question. "I don't know." He said at length. "The law hasn't exactly been on our side lately. But maybe. We need to try, anyway."

Just then another shot rang out, this one luckier than the others as it found its way past one of the window shutters and imbedded itself in the wall near them. Swiftly, Matt grabbed Brody and shoved him to the ground. "Stay down." He ordered.

As everyone else in the room ducked, Festus and Musgrove made their way over to the window and hazarded a glance outside. As before they saw nothing, but a couple more shots coming from the direction of the barn reaffirmed that their tormentors were still there.

"Peers like we maybe oughta stop them there yahoos outside there first, Matthew." Festus turned back to Matt.

Matt nodded. "Yes, we do. And we can't do it from in here."

Musgrove looked up and over to the tall man he had come to really respect. "Got any ideas?"

Matt nodded. "A couple. But I'm going to need help."

Percival Atkins stepped forward first and quickly. "Count me in, Mr. Dillon."

Matt looked at him appraisingly. "It's risky." He warned. "And you have a family."

Maizie spoke up before her husband could. "His family understands and wants to help as well. Tell us what to do."

Matt gave her a grateful smile before looking around at everyone there. "Okay," he said. "This is what we can do."

TBC