The Brother
Chapter 8
Two hours later Doc knocked on the door to Kitty's rooms at the Long Branch.
"How is he Doc?" She was grateful to see the old man standing there with a smile on his face.
"He's doing just fine. He came to a little while ago, so maybe you'd like to take him some soup or something later."
"How about the other man?"
"I think he'll be all right, he was talking to his brother when I left. He seemed a little confused, but that is to be expected."
"Thanks Curly, I don't know what we'd do without you, come on let me buy you a whisky."
-()-()-()-
It was the next afternoon before Matt was awake enough to decide what to do with Billings and Max Lemay. He was sitting propped up in bed in Doc's back room and the physician was changing the dressing on his shoulder.
"Doc, I hope you saved the bullet you dug out of me. I was thinking that maybe you could tell me what kind of weapon fired it."
The physician didn't answer immediately; he was concentrating on what he was doing.
"This looks pretty good Matt, but it's going to be another week at least before you'll be ready to go back to work."
"The bullet, Doc, did you save it?"
He finished tying the last knot that would hold the new dressing in place, removed his spectacles and put them in their metal case. Then he reached in another pocket of his vest and handed a small piece of lead to the Marshal.
Matt tossed the slug in his hand. He was hoping to show that it was fired from the Winchester rifle that he found near Billings and not the pistol that Max Lemay laid claim to.
Carefully, so as not to put much pressure on his shoulder, he leaned back once more onto the pillows that Doc had stacked behind him.
"How is Max Lemay doing?"
"He had a pretty bad concussion, but he's slowly getting back to normal. He and his brother are staying at the Dodge house now."
"I need to get out of here Doc. I've got a lot of work to do." Matt was getting frustrated because the physician didn't seem to be listening to him. He was busy unrolling his shirtsleeves and pulling them down to cover his arms. A few more seconds passed as he carefully fastened the last button on his shirt cuff. Finally he looked at his patient,
"If you've got any sense, which I doubt," a raised hand and pointed a finger were used to emphasize his words, "you'll stay right where you are for a few more days at least."
There was a noise in the front office and Kitty walked in, interrupting their conversation. She came on through to the back room, glancing at Doc to judge the situation.
"Hi cowboy, how are you doing?" She leaned over the bed and touched his arm.
Dillon smiled at her, he couldn't help it. Doc mumbled something under his breath and decided he had work to do in the other room.
When they were alone she leaned over the bed once more and delivered a kiss to his lips.
"I'm glad to see you sitting up and taking notice."
"Kitty I need some clothes, I can't stay here much longer I have work to do." He looked at her – almost pleading.
"I don't think so. Chester got back this morning so he's taking care of your prisoner and the Lemay brothers are over at the Dodge House and have no plans to leave town any time soon."
"What about Jerry Jackson? I need to get a statement from him about what happened."
"He left yesterday evening, but he had written something out and told me he was going to bring it to you on his way out of town. Maybe he left it with Doc."
"Kitty please, you know I can't stay up here, besides which Doc needs his room back."
"We'll see," she replied trying to settle him back to rest with the touch of her hand.
-()-()-()-
Two days later Kitty finally relented and delivered his clothes. Since Doc was out on a call, Matt wasted no time in getting dressed and leaving. He looked around for Jerry Jackson's statement and finding it on the physician's desk, took it with him to read later.
Next he stopped by Mr. Teeter's tonsorial parlor for a shave and haircut, after all, the citizen's of Dodge were not used to seeing their Marshal with a three day growth of beard and hair down to his collar. By the time he got back to the office, Chester had coffee made. He sat down at his desk and carefully leaned back in his chair to read Jackson's version of events. Knowing the kind of man the trail boss was, he knew that the statement would be an accurate account of what he had witnessed with nothing added nor any details omitted. He was also pleased to see that Jackson had known enough to retrieve the Winchester rifle that Billings had been using and leave it here behind the desk. Now he had both the bullet and the rifle that, he believed, fired it.
His next stop was the Dodge House to meet with the Lemay brothers. He needed to talk to the younger Lemay and get the man's gun to add it to the rifle and bullet he had already collected as evidence.
Max was doing much better by now, but still his memory of events leading up to the shooting were a little vague. He was able to tell the Marshal how he had incurred a large gambling debt at the hands of Lou Gannon and how he was working at the man's ranch to pay it off. He had not been given much choice in that matter. He remembered Gannon telling him there was a job to do that would clear the rest of his debt. He remembered riding to Dodge with Billings and he also remembered that night in the Long Branch when the henchman pointed out Kitty and told him that she was the one Gannon wanted killed.
"I think it was something to do with cards, Marshal, something about she caught him cheating and you ordered him out of town. I just don't remember much after that.
"Do you own a rifle?" Matt asked him.
"I do but I didn't bring it here to Dodge, all I had here was my Colt pistol."
"Do you remember Billings firing a rifle when you were down by Silver Creek?"
"Max thought hard, he put his head in his hands, "I don't know, everything is mixed up."
"Billings said you were firing at me and he took the rifle from you."
"Marshal I don't remember that. I have never shot a man in the back, and have certainly never fired at a woman. More than that I can't help you."
"It's you I'm trying to help Lemay. The bullet that was fired at me came from a rifle the same caliber as that Winchester Billings was holding when Jackson and your brother rode up, but," he added thoughtfully, eyeing the holster hanging on the bed, "it could also have been fired from this Colt pistol." He had picked up the gun and looked at it. He spun the chamber noting there were still six bullets there and it did not look like the gun had been recently cleaned or fired. "It will be up to a Judge to sort this out."
Dillon took Lemay's gun with him and made his way back to the jail. Something worried him. He vaguely remembered the incident several years ago that Max had referred to, when Lou Gannon had been caught cheating at cards. He had locked him up in the jail overnight and sent him on his way the next morning. If, as Lemay said the man wanted him and Kitty dead it meant the danger still existed. He was not so worried about himself – there were enough people out there already willing to come gunning for him, one more made no difference, but he worried about Kitty.
In the end he decided the only thing to do was to ride to Gannon's ranch and arrest the man. There wasn't much he could do about Billings, he planned to keep him in jail until the judge came through town. The last thing he wanted to happen was for Billings to get a message to Gannon that his plan had failed. Somehow he believed Max Lemay's version of the events, and when Wilton came to him saying that he wanted to take his brother home, Matt had no objection.
"Just remember I may need him back here in a few weeks for trial – that'll be up to the Judge."
TBC