The Brother
Chapter 11
As was usual in Dodge City, the trial would be held in the lobby of the Dodge House. Several of the local townspeople were hired to help set up the temporary courtroom.
Matt had handed the three pieces of evidence and Jerry Jackson's statement over to the court and they were placed on the Judges table so that Gannon's attorney and the Jury could examine them as necessary.
The Judge asked Matt to open the proceedings by explaining the charges against Gannon.
The Marshal stood up and addressed the court in his clear precise way, while Doc and Kitty sat at the back of the room hoping that everything would go as he had planned. He explained how Billings and Max Lemay had ambushed him – but that it had been at the behest of Lou Gannon.
When he had finished Gannon's attorney, Theodore Tunney, had his say. He was a middle-aged man with a balding head. Wire rimmed spectacles sat permanently on his small beak like nose and the rest of his face showed the pallor that comes with a profession requiring hours of pouring over books in an office of some sort. He looked disparagingly around the make shift courtroom in the Dodge House, then consciously changed his whole attitude. He could tell that the Marshal was a respected man with most of the city's residents and he would have to treat him accordingly so as not to incur their hostility.
In his opening remarks he explained to the Jury that anyone could be mistaken and that his client – Mr. Lou Gannon was a reputable cattleman in his own community and knew nothing of the exploits of Billings and Lemay. He suggested that the Marshal had been told a series of lies and these had led him to venture, very unwisely let it be said, all the way to the Blazing G ranch, to arrest his client with very little in the way of evidence.
The preliminaries out of the way the Judge asked Matt if there were any witnesses.
Max Lemay took a seat in that fearful chair next to the Judges table. Having sworn to tell the truth, he recounted his story of the card game in Pueblo where he ran up a huge debt to Lou Gannon and that was how he came to be working at the Blazing G. He told how one evening Mr. Gannon came to him and offered him a job, to go with Billings to take care of some business. If all went well it would wipe out the debt.
"Did he tell you what that business was?" Tunney had asked him.
Max thought a minute. "No Sir, he said Billings would tell me about it when we got to Dodge."
"Interesting," said Tunney, removing his spectacles and cleaning them on a handkerchief he took from his pocket. Matt knew this was for effect; the attorney wanted the jury to remember this point.
"Carry on with your story." Tunney had replaced the spectacles on his nose and looked hard at the witness.
"When we got to Dodge, Billings pointed out Miss Russell and told me it was my job to kill her, that Gannon wanted her out of the way."
"Go on," said Judge Brooking as the young man paused for a few minutes, "please tell us what happened after that."
"Later that evening Dragg – er Mr. Billings, saw the marshal walking along Front Street and told me that he was going to kill the Marshal. He said Mr. Gannon wanted them both taken out because of some problem with a card game several years ago and the Marshal had thrown Mr. Gannon out of Dodge and told him not to come back. Now Mr. Gannon wanted to come back to Dodge to do business here, so that was why we were to kill both the Marshall and Miss Russell."
Tunney sat patiently at the small table where he and Gannon were seated. He seemed to be re arranging papers and not paying much attention to what was going on.
Max Lemay looked around the courtroom, glancing at the Marshal for encouragement.
Finally he continued, "I knew I couldn't do it. I've never killed a woman. The next morning we followed the Marshall and Miss Russell out of town, Billings set up the ambush. When it came time to shoot, I couldn't do it." Another pause as he tried to remember the scene. The images were still tangled together in his brain.
"I closed my eyes trying not to see what was happening, then I heard two shots, real close together. I really can't remember too much after that until I woke up in Doc's office with a headache."
That seemed to be the end of the story until Tunney stood up.
"Your Honor, may I ask a few questions?" The Judge signaled him to go ahead.
"You say you were working for Mr. Gannon to pay off a gambling debt. Had gambling been your way of earning a living?"
"For a while, yes."
"Was this trip to Dodge all a gamble you took to try to leave Mr. Gannon's employ before the debt was paid off?"
"No Sir," at least Lemay was standing his ground, "It was Mr. Gannon's idea that I leave with Billings."
"Did anyone else hear that conversation, Mr. Lemay?"
"I don't think so," Max said quietly.
"So it is just your word against his. I have no more questions."
With that the owner of the balding head and wire rimmed spectacles sat back down at his clients side.
Matt thought he could see where this high paid attorney was going and he didn't like it. The Judge indicated that Matt could ask questions if he needed to. He only had one point to make.
"Mr. Lemay, do you see your gun on the table there."
"Yes Marshal." He pointed to the Colt.
"Is that Winchester yours?"
"No, it belongs to Mr. Billings."
"Were you carrying the Colt that day."
"Yes, I'm sure I was."
-()-()-()-
It was time to continue and Matt had brought Billings down to the temporary courtroom. The prisoner in turn took the chair next to the Judge's table and went through the sequence of swearing to tell the truth and stating his name. Matt could see him looking at his ex boss, and hoped he would not be too intimidated by the sight of Gannon sitting there.
After some prompting by the Judge, Billings began his story. How Mr. Gannon had sent him to Dodge to rid the town of the Marshal and the saloon owner so that once again the Blazing G could return to Dodge for the cattle business. How on the day in question he had ridden out with Lemay to follow the Marshal and Miss Russell. At this point he looked at the Judge, unwilling to continue.
"I don't quite remember the rest," he mumbled.
"May I ask some questions?" Again it was the little attorney who was on his feet.
"Are you sure Mr. Billings, that it was Mr. Gannon, who is after all a man with an honest cattle business, who asked you to eliminate these two people. Maybe you are confused here. Could it possibly have been Mr. Lemay, after all he is a gambler by profession and Miss Russell runs the Long Branch and from what I hear she does not allow any underhand dealing there."
The Judge pounded his gavel.
"That is enough Mr. Tunney, you are putting words in this man's mouth. He must tell his own story."
Sadly poor Billings now saw a way out of his predicament. He was not against telling the odd lie or two especially if he thought it was in his best interest to do so.
Dillon sat there looking hard at Billings, the man turned his eyes away.
"Yes I remember now, it was Lemay, he wanted to escape from the ranch, because he knew it would take him a long time to work off his debt. He likes to gamble; he kept asking me to lend him money so he could go play cards. He wanted Dodge to open up for his crooked dealing so he needed that woman and the Marshal gone. We were supposed to scout out the cattle market for Mr. Gannon, but Lemay wanted to play cards."
"So what happened that morning, Mr. Billings?"
The man was thinking fast. If he could blame it all on Lemay, both he and Gannon would walk free. That would be the best answer to his predicament.
"The Marshal and Miss Russell were headed out of town. We followed the buggy. When we got to the river Mr. Lemay had us hide out in the bushes, he fired at the Marshal, then I tried to take his gun away from him before he could fire again, but he was trying to get my rifle to get a better shot. I was still trying to get it away from him when two other men showed up. I had to hit Lemay over the head to stop him firing again. That's what happened."
The Judge looked at Billings with a steady gaze.
"I am going to remind you that you are under oath and that perjury is a serious crime. Do you understand?"
Billings nodded. He was so confused now that he was finding it hard to recall what had been the real story, he'd always had trouble telling truth from lies anyway. Either the Law or Lou Gannon were going to get him, how did he finish up in this mess? Gannon had promised that if he took the blame, he would see that he did not go to prison and he, Gannon, would give him a large sum of money. Sadly he believed it.
Dillon could see his case against Gannon being eroded away. He could not let that happen. He had to admit he did not think to check Lemay's gun at the time of the ambush to see if it had been fired, a bad mistake on his part. It was sitting there with the other two pieces of evidence on the Judges table. He knew only too well that the Winchester rifle that Billings carried used ammunition that could also be fired by many of the pistols around – including the one Lemay was wearing that day. That was part of the appeal of the weapon – you didn't have to carry two kinds of shells.
The Judge looked at Dillon. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask Mr. Billings?"
Matt thought a minute. The man was already lying under oath. He had nothing to loose now so there was no point in asking anything and hoping to get an honest answer. He did want one thing made clear.
"Is that your Winchester, Mr. Billings."
The unfortunate man looked at the weapon on the table, trying to decide the best way to answer.
"Yes I suppose it is."
"Any thing else Marshal?" Brooking asked.
"No thank you Judge." Matt's voice was quiet, he was thinking.
The judge decided to adjourn for lunch so Matt escorted both his prisoners back to the jail, no sense in keeping them apart now. Billings had made his choice and hung his head as the handcuffs were placed on his wrists.
"You know you can go to jail for perjury?" Dillon asked him quietly as he snapped the cuffs closed. Billings said nothing – he figured that the story he had told was his only way out now.
As the prisoners were locked back in the cells, Matt sent Chester off to get them lunch and he headed out for the Long Branch. He needed to talk with Kitty and Doc.
Luckily they were both there – together with most of Dodge's population. The only people missing, it seemed, where the twelve men that were serving as jury. Judge Brooking had insisted they remain at the Dodge House.
They were standing at the bar as Dillon approached. Doc turned to him
"Not quite going as you wanted is it Matt?"
"Nope. I need to find a way around Billing's testimony. I hate to do this to you Kitty, but do you remember the time when Gannon was in town here?"
"I certainly do Matt. He was a good cheat, but his tricks were old and I'd seen them all before."
"I hate to do it, but I might have to get you to testify to that. I am just worried about Tunney and what questions he might ask you."
"I've handled Texas trail hands Matt – he doesn't scare me."
"He might try to discredit you somehow, to make out that you could be lying to protect me."
"I'll risk it Matt. The man is a little weasel."
"No Kitty he is doing the job he is supposed to do, but at the same time he is going to get Gannon off and I can't let that happen."
"Don't worry Matt, whatever he asks, I can handle it."
He touches her lightly on the arm. "Thanks Kitty."
"Doc, you told me that you could say with some degree of certainty that the bullet you dug out of me was fired by a rifle."
"I did, do you have it with you."
"No I turned everything over to the Judge."
"I need to go to my office and check something out Matt. Give me half an hour."
Doc swallowed the remainder of his whisky and left the saloon. He remembered reading something recently about bullets fired from a rifle; he needed to read it again.
Kitty looked back at her Marshal.
"You're worried aren't you Cowboy."
He nodded slowly. "If Gannon walks free, he's going to hire a better gunman next time. Its not going to be safe for either of us until I get him locked away."
Kitty knew he was not so much worried about his own safety as hers. He accepted the risk to himself that came with the badge, he had told her that many times, but he worried about her, in fact she knew he worried about all of Dodge City, but her especially.
TBC