Spike Marlow stayed out of the Long Branch the following day, but word on the street had it that he'd worked his way through all four of the saloon girls at the Lady Gay. It was getting to be something of a joke on Front Street – enough so that when Spike showed up the day after and invited Mariah for a little private entertainment during the afternoon, Kitty made a point of talking to both her and to Stella afterwards. The girls assured her that the man wasn't demanding anything dangerous or unusual, and that there was even some reason behind his nickname.
"Though not as much as he'd like to think," Mariah laughed, "He's pretty proud of it though. Thinks he's God's gift to women. He paid up without a problem, Miss Kitty, but he did kind of act like maybe we should be paying him instead."
Stella, a little older and a little keener, just commented, "It's like he's working his way through a list, Miss Kitty. Oh, he likes it all right, but he sure doesn't make a girl feel special. I'd put money down that he wants both Gabby and Ellen Sue tonight." She hesitated a moment, and Kitty encouraged her with a direct look. "Well, Miss Kitty, you might want to talk with Ellie. He pushed her pretty hard night before last, and you know she's not going to say yes. I think there might be trouble there."
Kitty nodded and let the girls get back to work. It was going to be a busy night with Texas drovers in town, and the last thing she needed was trouble from Spike Marlow. She had planned on making it an early night, but by midnight she knew that was impossible. The marshal had already had to break up a gunfight, sending one cowboy up to Doc and the other to jail, and there'd been two fist fights over poker games and one over whether Stella's eyes were blue or grey. The Long Branch was about as busy as she'd ever seen it.
By the time the saloon closed a little after three, Kitty was about to drop. Stella had headed off to her boarding house with Clem as an escort, and Kitty left Sam and Bill to clean up and close while she herded Ellie and Mariah upstairs. Knowing Marlow had been with the girl earlier, Kitty walked her tired feet down the hall to check on Gabrielle.
"He left half an hour ago, Miss Kitty," Gabby said. "I told him he had to be out before things closed up." The pretty blonde stretched and yawned, before giving Kitty a grin, "It was that busy tonight I was glad to get off my feet, and he really did want to take his time, ma'am."
"Half an hour ought to be enough, Gabby," Kitty commented, trying to keep her voice stern but not succeeding very well.
"That's what I told him, Miss Kitty, but, well, he paid double." Gabby indicated the two gold pieces sitting on the dresser. She shrugged. "Seemed a little odd to me, 'cause he didn't really stay that long, but I'm not arguing with being paid two for one."
Kitty looked at the coins shining in the light from the hallway door. No tip, just two five dollar gold pieces, not stacked but lying side by side. Kitty kept her prices high to discourage casual trade, and two fees for one night did seem odd. But then, Spike Marlow seemed an odd fish all around. Working his way through all the available girls at the Lady Gay and the Long Branch was pretty expensive. She wondered where he was getting the money. But her feet hurt too much to wonder for long, and half an hour found her tucked into her own bed and asleep when the screaming started.
Kitty wrenched open the drawer of her nightstand and pulled out the loaded six gun. Without stopping for a shawl or robe she ran down the hall in her nightdress. Mariah and Gabby were already pounding on Ellen Sue's door when she got there, but it was locked from the inside. The screaming had been replaced by a desperate weeping that cut off suddenly. Kitty issued her orders as she aimed her gun. "Mariah, you and Gabby go open the front door. Stay together." She shot off the lock. It took her three bullets. She knew that the sound of gunfire would bring Matt and Chester on the run from the jailhouse – prisoners or no prisoners. Taking up the small lamp from the hallway stand in her left hand, Kitty pushed open the door with her bare foot.
Spike Marlow had Ellen Sue down on the bed with a pillow across her face. He turned towards Kitty, clothes disarranged, but face as calm as if he'd just ordered a drink at the bar. "I told her I'd paid up earlier, but she just wouldn't hush. No need for her to make such a fuss." His voice turned a little petulant, "I didn't hurt her none. I just had to quiet her down."
Kitty kept the gun rock steady on his chest, eyes flicking towards the still body lying on the bed. "You stand right where you are, mister, or I will most surely shoot you," she said, voice like frozen metal.
"Why you want to shoot me, woman? This is a whore house, and I just had me a whore. Bought and paid for, just like that other girl." Marlow said reasonably, reaching down towards his pants.
"Leave 'em." Kitty demanded. "Don't you move an inch, and keep those hands high." There were steps now, pounding across the barroom floor and then on the stairs. Marlow made a sudden move towards the window, and Kitty shot him just as Matt Dillon, Chester stumping behind him, pulled to a halt behind where Kitty stood in the doorway. She tried to move out of the way, but between the lamp, the pistol, and the three of them, Marlow was through the window and rolling down the roof before Matt even got into the room. Both men headed back down the stairs to give chase, and Kitty set the lamp down on Ellen Sue's dresser and made her way to the bed. When Doc arrived a few minutes later he found Kitty sitting on the edge of the bed with tears rolling soundlessly down her cheeks and Ellie, her face blue and eyes gaping, lying beside her. The stink of death permeated the room.
Doc wrapped Kitty in a shawl and drew her out into the hallway. "I'm going to need to examine her, Kitty, but I want Matt to see this first, just the way it is. You see who did this?"
Kitty's voice was hard, "Spike Marlow. I don't know how he got in, or where he hid while we closed, but it was Marlow. No question. He still had a pillow over her face when I got the door open." She began to shiver, "I should have been faster, Doc. Just a minute faster…"
Doc put an arm around her shoulders and braced her against him. "Let me take you out of here, Kitty." He walked her back to her room and settled her in a chair, getting a quilt from the bed to tuck around her. Noticing Gabby and Mariah peering in through the open doorway, he motioned them in as well. "All three of you, just you stay right here. One of you make up that fire in the stove. Marshal's going to want to talk to you, and you stay put until he gets here." He went out, closing the door behind him, but stuck his head back in a second later to say, "And don't you talk to anybody but the Marshal, you hear me?" before disappearing again.
It was a while before the Marshal came to talk to them. The two girls were curled up together in Kitty's bed, Gabrielle sleeping and Mariah staring up at the ceiling. Kitty still sat in the chair where Doc had left her. Matt knocked on the door and came in, Chester, Doc, and Bill Pence behind him.
"You girls all right?" he asked. Kitty nodded, and the two younger women sat up on the side of the bed, arms around each other's waists.
He walked over to stand by the bed. "Tell me what happened," he said, "Gabby, you go first."
"I was asleep, Marshal." Gabby said, "Miss Kitty had been in to be sure I was all right because I wasn't downstairs when we closed, and I told her Marlow had left half an hour ago, and then when she left I went right back to sleep. I woke up when Ellie started screaming, and I went out in the hallway, and Mariah did too, but her door was locked, and then Miss Kitty came with a gun and told us to go open the front door, and we did, and then we heard a shot, and when we came back up…" she choked and then went on, "When we came back, Doc had Miss Kitty in here and he told us to stay here with her. And that's all."
"Mariah?" Matt asked.
"I was downstairs when we closed, and I came up with Ellie and Miss Kitty, and Ellie went in her room, it's right across from mine, and she said goodnight to me, and I went right to bed. I was tired, and it had been a wild evening, and I went right to sleep, and then I heard Ellie screaming, and that woke me, and I went out in the hall, and then it was just like Gabby said. I pounded on the door, but it was locked, and then Miss Kitty was there." Mariah rushed it all together.
"Okay, you girls can go back to bed. Percy's come and gone and the body's been removed. We'll search and be sure all the doors are locked before we leave, girls." He got them up from the bed with a hand on each of their arms and started the two of them out into the hall, still holding on to each other. "You talk to Doc if you want something to make you sleep." Doc followed the girls out and closed the door.
"Bill? Anything unusual about closing?" the Marshal asked.
"Nothing except it was late, Matt. After three. At least quarter after. Clem walked Stella out about three, they live at the same boarding house, and then Kitty took the other girls upstairs, and Sam and I finished up and locked the doors and left." Bill stood hat in hand, not looking at the marshal, his eyes looking first at the floor, and then at Kitty, and then back to the floor.
"Did you search the place before you locked up, Bill?" Matt asked, but Bill just shook his head, continuing to stare at the floor.
"Kitty?"
She took a long breath, and looked at Matt, pulling strength from him, and then back down at her hands. Doc came into the room as she started to speak, "I came up with Mariah and Ellie, and they went into their rooms, but I went in to check on Gabby because I knew she'd had Marlow up with her tonight and I wanted to be sure he was gone. She told me he'd left, and that he'd paid double for her time. I saw two gold pieces on top of her dresser, and that seemed odd, but I was tired, so I came back to my room and went right to sleep. I woke when I heard the screaming, and I grabbed my gun," she gestured at where the drawer to the nightstand was still open, and Matt nodded, he'd given her that gun and taught her to use it, "and went out in the hall. Gabby and Mariah were there, and the screaming had stopped, but I heard Ellie sobbing, just sobbing. The door was locked. I sent the girls down to open the front door, and I shot off the lock and took the lamp and kicked open the door."
Kitty took a deep breath and looked straight into Matt's eyes. "It was Spike Marlow, Matt. There was plenty of light, and no question about who it was. He had a pillow over Ellie's face. I told him to stand or I'd shoot, and he did, but he didn't seem concerned. Asked me why I wanted to shoot him, said he hadn't done anything wrong. Then we heard you coming, and he headed for the window, and I did shoot, but I must have missed."
"What did you do after Chester and I left, Kitty?"
"I went to look at Ellie, but it was clear," her voice broke, and then steadied, "It was clear right away that she was dead." Matt nodded, he had seen the dead girl's face, "And then Doc came in, and he moved me in here, and I've just been sittin' here, just thinking if I'd been a little faster…"
Matt wanted to go to her, but he couldn't. Doc could and did, putting an arm around her shoulders and holding her face against his shirt. He stroked her hair. "You did the best you could, honey, you can't blame yourself." But Kitty knew she could, and probably would until the end of her days.
"You winged him with that bullet, Kitty. He stole a horse and got away, but there was blood. I'll start out tracking him with Chester at first light. I don't expect he's gotten far." Matt walked over to her chair and, despite the presence of the other three men, he went down on one knee and laid a hand on Kitty's arm. She turned her face away from Doc to look at him. "Kitty, you were the only one who actually saw him in that room with her. Saw him close enough to recognize. Saw him pushing the pillow over her face. You're the only one who can testify against him, and that's going to mean standing up in court and answering some hard questions. You willing to do that?"
Kitty sat up straight and shrugged off Doc's arm. "You bet I am, Matt. I'll testify, and then I'm going to stand and watch him hang."
Matt nodded, his blue eyes steady on hers. They both knew it wasn't going to be easy. On either of them.