Thunder Rolls

Chapter Six

Adam made his way through the narrow hallway that led to the cells of the Carson City jail. Sherriff Coulter held the keys in his hands, ready to unlock the cells for Adam so he could question the companion of the man the sheriff had found with Ben Cartwright's billfold. Adam held up his hand to the Sheriff, "No need to unlock that, Sheriff I can question him from here."

"Yeah smells pretty bad, don't he?" said the Sheriff.

"Hmm," said Adam. While the Sheriffs observations were quite true, they were not the reason Adam decided it was best to question the prisoner from outside the cell. The fact was, he wasn't so sure he could contain his anger or the violence he might very well be capable of reverting to should he feel the man in front of him had hurt his father in anyway. That being the case, he stayed focused and threw a stone hard glare towards the nervous prisoner behind the bars in front of him

Tyler Mitchell, a short and sticky blonde haired man in his late thirties, stood fidgeting and then jumped nearly ten foot in the air when the tall black clad man asked him about the billfold his now dead friend had been found with.

"You like to tell me and the sheriff here, how you and your friend happen to have a billfold on you that belongs to my father; Ben Cartwright." Adam's words as cold as ice as he spoke, something he did not try to change.

Tyler wanted to crawl into a hole or run. He didn't know what to think about this man in black. Tyler didn't look like the feeling he was getting off the man either. In fact, Adam Cartwright had an eerie like calmness about him, but his eyes were threatening and delivered a promise of revenge. It scared the living daylights out of the Mitchell.

Wanting Adam out of the room, but not wanting to admit to being around when this Ben Cartwright feller when he was robbed and shot, the man took a gamble and barked, "I left the camp my cousin and I had set up for a good ten minutes! I was hungry. I hadn't eaten for hours. I figured I could find some small game! When I got back he wasn't there, so I stared ta roast the rabbit. He turned back up probably ten meybe fifteen minutes later. He claimed he'd been hunting too! But he was acting real touchy like, and he had no game, said he had no luck. He was in a real hurry ta get on our way and all, didn't even get ta finish our supper. The way he was acting, being in such a hurry, I wondered if he was telling the truth or not, but had no proof that would justify questioning him on it either!" The man took a deep breath and then hurried to finish, "I didn't know about the billfold until the sheriff found it and questioned me about it!"

Adam wasn't sure he believed the man; only he had the same problem the man claimed he'd had…he had no proof either. "When was this, and where were you camping?" He continued to glare at the squirming snake of a man before him, imagining his hands around the guy's wicked throat and strangling the truth out of him.

"Just barely over a week ago I reckon, jist wight miles or so out of Virginia City," Tyler answered as he kept an eye on Adam, "We weren't camped that far off the road."

Adam's eyebrows now rose as he thought on Roy and the search that was going on. If they were that close to the road, why hadn't his father been found? After all, the search had been going on for the same amount of time. Had the posse with him found anything now? Was this man telling the truth? Was he an innocent bystander and the man he called a cousin the true guilty party? Seeing no way to answer those question, no way to verify what the man said and needing to spend as much time as possible looking for his father, Adam moved closer to the bars of the cell and leant in close to the man there. "If you are lying I will find out. You better hope that we find my father alive and he can substantiate your story. Because if that doesn't happen, I will do everything in my power to see you hung, mister." He said stone cold calmly before turning and strode out of the jail leaving the sheriff to deal with the prisoner.

Tyler didn't move, just stood there with the beads of sweat rolling from his forehead to sting his eyes. Father? The man he and his cousin had robbed was the man's father? If Mr. Cartwright had indeed died,Mr. Mitchell knew he would be in trouble, for he knew the black clad gunman would keep his word.

OOOO

Hoss and Little Joe were waiting outside for Adam the moment he stepped out of the door. One look at the frustrated expression upon Adam's face and they knew he'd gotten nowhere with the prisoner inside. "So, where do we go from here?" Little Joe asked his hands on his sides and his impatience growing, and it showed in the scowl upon his face and fire in his eyes.

His brother's impatience did not help Adam's mood any and he put his own hands upon his hips and glared back. "We're going back to Virginia City and talk to Roy. Supposedly there was a small window frame of time where the prisoner in there was not with the dead man, his cousin as it turns out. He claims they weren't that far from Virginia City." He continued to glare at Little Joe as if he was daring him to come at him with some fruitless argument, one that he, Adam, could rip apart using his voice of reason. He wasn't mad at Joe. His heart was with Joe and it was taking every bit of his will power to suppress his impulsive side from going in there a beat the man senseless to get him to talk. One aggressive suggestion on Joe's part may just initiate such action; he needed to quell both their fires. They needed to find their pa.

They might have come to blows, if Hoss hadn't turned around and headed for the stable. He didn't want to fight either brother; he just wanted to keep moving, find his pa and find out what had happened. "Iff'n we're gonna go back to Virginia City, don't ya figur' we best get goin'? Time's wastin'."

Little Joe shot Adam one more glare and then hurried to join Hoss. Adam rolled his eyes as he threw a glance up towards the sky. He believed there was a God in heaven; he also wondered, sometimes, if he had someone up there with him that had too much time on their hands. He then turned and headed towards the livery stable himself. However, this time anyone looking saw only a non troubled calmness as Adam walked down the street. Though, if they'd been able to look inside they'd have known Adam's purpose for the trip to Carson had only grown stronger. However, neither Adam or either of his brothers suspected it would take close to two weeks, and a close resignation to their father's demise, before they would have the answers they sought.

0000

Callie stood outside and smiled as Ben walked out the door. His arm was still in a sling, but his fever had left and his strength was back. It was a wonderful blessing she was very grateful for. While they'd had a way to provide for themselves, it had been close to two weeks and her supplies had been reduced to half. The sooner they traveled to the Ponderosa, the better off they'd both be. "I have the horses saddled and ready to go." She said as she pointed to some nearby trees where she'd tied the animals.

Ben smiled, a smile Callie found herself very quickly getting used to seeing. "Thank you. The sooner we head out the better." He was eager to leave the cabin and get back to living his life with his sons. "Where will you go after I get home?" He asked once they'd mounted the horses and started their journey.

Where would she go? Callie thought about it. She knew she'd taken a huge risk when she came out west with no real idea where she'd land. All she'd really known was she needed space and lots of it. "Not really sure." She finally admitted. "If Virginia City has any jobs I could do, I might stick around a bit." She turned her head slightly, as to hide her face from this man. He had to be the same age as her brother had been; still, that mean he was in his fifties and had close to twenty years on her. She wasn't sure it would be wise to let him see how he affected her.

Ben didn't like the idea of a woman, any woman, just drifting like that. The most independent woman was still at risk. Slowly a smile spread across his face as he knew a job that was opened; well, temporally it was. "Our cook, Hop Sing, has been away visiting relatives in San Francisco. He is not due home for a couple of months. With all due respect to my sons and I, I think I'll die earlier than I have to if I have to keep eating what they or I cook. How about being our cook for awhile? That is, until you can find something else?" He saw her stiffen slightly and then relax.

She turned her face and glanced at him before turning her gazed ahead. "Since it's only temporary, I'll take it." She hoped she was not making a mistake in accepting the offer. After all, from what Ben had said, his was an all male household.