Kitty Russell sat up in bed when she heard the outside door open. She listened to the scuff of boots and heavy breathing as someone was carried into Doc's office, and then heard Matt's voice asking, "How is he, Doc?" She knew she'd just be in the way, and would divide Doc's attention if she came out in the other room, but she did get out of bed and go lean against the door, cracking it open just the littlest bit to hear. Eventually she realized that the injured man was Frank Reardon, and that sent her back into the bedroom where she curled into Doc's rocking chair. She sat there in the dark, as still as she could, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, just hoping, and praying from time to time, that Frank would be all right.
When Kitty heard Matt leave, she went ahead and lit a lamp then went back over to the bed, smoothing and tucking in the sheets, pulling the covers straight. That hurt her side more than she wanted to admit, but she went ahead and plumped the pillows and left the quilts turned back. Frank would need that bed. Blowing out the lamp, she laid herself down on the cot at the far end of the room, knowing the best way to help was just to keep herself out of the way. It wasn't easy, though, and she lay there with her eyes open until dawn began to light the windows.
OoOoO
And while an awakening Dodge City buzzed with the news that Spike Marlow had escaped, shot Sheriff Reardon, and killed in cold blood the two men who had likely been his own partners, that same Spike Marlow slept, warm, comfortable, and very, very quiet, in the bed where he had killed Ellen Sue Neely a little less than two weeks before. Marlow had entered the Long Branch the same way he left it – through the window of Ellie's room. It had been locked, yes, but the noise of breaking glass hadn't been loud against all the noise going on down below. He had noticed with pleasure the new lock on the door and had carefully locked himself in. Marlow knew saloons, and he knew the Long Branch in particular, he'd explored its rooms and hallways carefully as he planned for his nighttime activities with Ellen Sue and Kitty. Everyone was careful and excited right now, but he knew that wouldn't last.
Leaving his new boots in Ellie's room, he'd moved silently through the dark hallway to where he could stand in the shadows at the top of the stairs and listen to the crowd gossiping below. He smiled to hear about Kitty Russell safe and secluded at the doctor's office – a good place for her, and a good place for the town to concentrate on protecting her. He was less happy to hear that Sheriff Reardon was still alive. He hadn't feared his trial for manslaughter, but a murder trial with a sheriff as witness, that was different.
What right minded jury would care about the death of a little whore? And he'd actually looked forward to listening while his lawyer broke down that red-haired madam. She'd been so hoity-toity, treating him like some common soldier without the price in his pocket to pay for what he wanted. He'd looked forward to seeing her there on the stand, breaking down and crying while she tried to answer his lawyer's questions, and he'd looked forward to watching her face, sitting in the courtroom, while he told about how she'd welcomed him to her bed and enjoyed every minute of his time with her. He wished there were a chance to get back at Kitty Russell, the bitch had actually shot him, but there were more important things on his mind right now. Marlow fetched himself a pitcher of water, and then locked himself back in Ellen Sue's room. It wasn't time for his move yet. He needed rest, and he needed things to quiet down. He listened as Mariah and Gabrielle came up and went to bed, listened as the saloon itself passed into silence and sleep, and he slept as well.
OoOoO
It had been very late when Matt Dillon returned to his room at the boarding house. He didn't want to sleep, but he knew he would need at least a few hours in him to face the day ahead. He didn't bother to undress, just removed his boots and lay back on the bed. He went carefully over the preparations he'd made and the instructions he'd given, and then, with years of practice behind him, he cleared his mind and slept soundly until just before dawn.
OoOoO
The posse, led by Hark Farris, assembled a little after full sunrise at the Marshal's office. Hark couldn't understand the Marshal's determination to stay in Dodge, but his own duty was clear. Marlow had been Sheriff Reardon's prisoner, and he was Reardon's deputy. He'd accepted the Marshal's help in recruiting men for the posse, and now, in the early light, he led them north to pick up Marlow's trail.
Dillon watched as the men rode out of town, and then went back into his office. Marlow would come to him. He and Frank were both sure of that, and it was up to him to be ready. Marshal Dillon had set a roster of local men and was keeping an ostentatious and heavy guard on Doc's office. That was partly for Kitty's safety, but it was mostly a distraction. There was only one reason that made sense of what Marlow had said to Frank Reardon and Dillon intended to be ready to deal with it.
OoOoO
Up in the back bedroom of Doc's office, Frank Reardon lay asleep in the bed where Kitty had slept earlier the night before. Kitty, Doc, and Ma were having a quiet breakfast in the outer room. The older couple looked a little worse for wear. Doc was rumpled, wrinkled, and grumpy. Her dark dress as neat as ever, Ma's face looked worn and tired. She had, however, cooked an excellent breakfast on Doc's little stove. Kitty, dressed, or rather undressed, in the solemn dishabille they had prepared for her the day before in preparation for her testimony, sat unusually subdued at the small table Doc had pulled out into the center of the room. She was thinking furiously.
Kitty Russell had a high but very realistic opinion of herself. She knew what she was good at, and what she wasn't. She knew she was beautiful, but she didn't think there was a man on earth, including Spike Marlow, who would risk hanging to have her. There had to be more to it than that. She stood up, and, without a word to Doc and Ma, slipped back into the bedroom where Frank lay. As softly as possible, she turned the lock on the door. She sat down next to the sleeping sheriff and touched his face, first lightly then more firmly. She leaned down to whisper urgently to him, "Frank! Frank it's Kitty. You have to wake up for me, Frank." His eyes blinked once, and she risked a brisk slap on his cheek, but before she could take another his good right hand came up and caught hers.
"Kitty." Frank said, his voice low in response to hers.
"Oh, Frank, I'm sorry. I had to wake you." She apologized, still whispering, "I have to know what Marlow said – exactly what he said, when he threatened me."
Frank's brow wrinkled. "I told Matt last night, Kitty," he said.
"I have to know the words, Frank. The exact words." Kitty pleaded.
Doc had heard them and began knocking on the door. "Kitty, you in there? What's going on? You let me in!"
"I will in just one minute, Doc. Just hold on a minute." Kitty called, and then, in an insistent hiss to Frank, "What. Did. He. Say."
Doc was still knocking, and now Kitty heard Chester's voice as well. "By golly, Doc, what's all that noise and knocking all about?"
"He said," Frank told her, "'Now I'm going back to finish what I started with Kitty Russell.' That was it. I think he thought I was dead, but I wasn't, and he said 'Now I'm going back to finish what I started with Kitty Russell.' But I told Matt that last night, Kitty. He knows."
"Let me go, Frank," Kitty said, realizing he still held her wrist tightly in in his hand, "I have to get to Matt." Frank released her and dropped his hand to lie on the cover.
Kitty ran to the door, pulled back the bolt, and opened it so quickly that Doc's pounding fist came within inches of hitting her in the face. "Chester, go get Matt! I have to talk to Matt right away."
"Now you just wait one minute there, young lady," Doc started in on her, and Chester's face was resolute, "Miss Kitty I gave Mr. Dillon my word I wouldn't leave here. I can't go leaving you alone with just ol' Doc."
Kitty's eyes lifted to where Ma Smalley stood at the stove across the room. "Ma, it's urgent. I have to talk to Matt right this minute, or more people might die. Please Ma!" But by the time her final words were out Ma was already scurrying down the stairs with a quickness that Kitty wouldn't have believed possible.
"What's all this about, Kitty?" Doc said angrily. "I can't have you disturbing Frank, he's barely out of surgery, now you leave him alone, and…"
But Kitty wasn't even listening. She tried to stand in the open doorway, but Chester, back out on the landing actually laid hands on her to push her back inside, remonstrating apologetically the whole time. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes, although it seemed longer, before Matt started up the stairs two and three at a time. Kitty met him at the open door, "Matt! I know where…" but he cut her off abruptly with a hand over her mouth and a warning look in his eyes.
Kitty fought him, pulling at his hand, until he simply picked her up and carried her into the back room, setting her down in Doc's rocker and kneeling beside her. "Don't say it, Kitty. Not even here." Matt's voice was stern. He removed his hand and Kitty stared at him.
"You already know?" she asked.
"I figured it out last night, Kitty. Things are all set." Matt told her.
"But Gabby and Mariah…" she tried again.
"All taken care of." Matt said, and then suddenly aware that Doc and Ma, as well as Frank, were all staring at him, he said, "Can you trust me on this, Kitty?"
Kitty took a deep breath, and began nodding slowly. "All right, Matt. I won't say another word."
"Well, I will," said Doc, "What in tarnation is going on here…" But his words were stopped by the sound of gunfire from the building next door. Matt was on his feet in a second and heading out the door.
"Chester, you stay there and guard Kitty no matter what happens or what anyone else says. You don't let her out that door if you have to tie her up and sit on her." Matt said on his way down the stairs.
Ma and Doc were watching out the window of the office where they could see the boardwalk in front of the Long Branch, and Doc had his shotgun in his hands once again, but Kitty was pretty sure by that time that it was all over so she went and sat next to Frank and took his hand. "You figure it out, too, Frank?" she asked quietly.
"Nah. I don't think too well with bullets in me, Kitty, but Matt said he thought he knew what was behind it all, and that was enough for me," Frank said, "You think I could have some water, Kitty?" Kitty got him a drink, and helped raise him enough to drink it. She had him settled down again and was pulling the covers over his injured shoulder when Doc came harrumphing into the back room.
"They got him, Kitty. I don't know how, or what Matt knew, but that snake-shooting fella – Jones – he and his partner came walking out of the Long Branch with Spike Marlow between them just as pretty as you please." Doc said.
"Trial will be here in Dodge then," Frank said, "But likely they'll give me until Monday to be back on my feet."
"Monday!" Doc sputtered, "I'm not letting you out of that bed for a week, Frank Reardon. I took two bullets out of you not six hours ago, and you're going to rest, just rest, until those incisions heal." He turned to Kitty, "And you, young lady, you're on your way back to bed right this minute."
"Plenty of room right here, Kitty," Frank told her grinning and gesturing to the bed beside him, "I wouldn't mind at all…"
"And that will be enough out of you, Sheriff Reardon," said Ma Smalley, taking Kitty's arm and walking her across the room to the cot. "No, you just leave that robe on. Lie down and I'll cover you up. It will be an hour at least before you can expect Matt back here, and you need your rest same as Frank." Kitty didn't protest. She lay back on the cot, and Ma covered her with the quilt that lay folded at the end of the bed. Doc and Ma went into the front room leaving the door open. Kitty didn't intend to sleep, but she did.
OoOoO
It was bright noon when she woke, and it was men's voices that woke her. She sat up and found Matt sitting on the bed next to Frank, talking to him. They were talking free and Doc and Ma were gone. Kitty went over and sat across from Matt on the other side of Frank.
"What you do with our jailers, Matt?" Kitty asked.
"Sent them all over to get some lunch at Delmonico's." Matt answered.
Kitty looked at Frank, propped up on two pillows, his chest and shoulders bare beneath the bandages. "You tell him, Matt?" she asked.
"I told him." Matt said.
"You go and look yet?"
"No, I was waiting for you. Thought we'd go together."
Kitty shook her head. "There's still a shooter out there, Matt. And I'm still in protective custody. And anyway, I don't have anything to wear. What clothes Doc and Ma didn't cut off of me, they sent back to the saloon with Mariah."
"We can wait for dark." Matt said.
Kitty nodded. "You think that's safe, Matt?"
"Yeah, I think it is," he replied, "You want to hear about what happened?"
Kitty thought a minute because she wasn't sure she did, but then she nodded, and Matt continued. "I know you're pretty particular, Kitty, about who sleeps in your bed, and I didn't want to use any of the local boys, but I needed two men so one could sleep and one could watch. I didn't know how long it would take. So I asked Thaddeus Jones and his partner, fella named Joshua Smith. Sent them up there quiet like right before closing last night. Bill didn't know they were there, but I took Mariah and Gabby both aside and told them to lock their doors and prop a chair against 'em before they went to sleep, and not to come out until I came for them even if they heard a ruckus."
"That might not have been safe, Matt," Kitty said, displeased.
Matt shrugged. "Seemed to me that wasn't Marlow's style. Lots of girls, but each only one time. Like he was counting coup." Frank nodded seriously at that, but it didn't make much sense to Kitty. She'd have to ask Matt about that later, for now, she let him go on. "Marlow broke in sometime last night. Broke right in to Ellen Sue's room – same window he left by – and slept in her bed. This morning, with the posse out of town and all the able-bodied men that weren't on the posse hovering over here by Doc's office, he went and jiggered the lock and broke into your room, Kitty."
"And found Thaddeus and his partner waiting there." Kitty said. "Wait a minute, Matt, how did they get in there in the first place if you didn't tell Bill about all this…" She watched Matt's smile get bigger and bigger. "You devil! You kept that key when Bill gave it to you to go search my room that night before I left on the stage." But then Kitty stopped, and thought again, "Then how did Bill let the girls into my room to get my things to bring over here to Doc's?" She clearly didn't like what she was thinking. "He had more than one key to my room?"
"That's what I figured when he didn't make a fuss about me not giving him back the key that first night," Matt said.
"So now I'll need to get that lock replaced again, and be sure I have the only keys." Kitty said.
"That would be safest for you, Kitty," he said, "Now you want to hear the rest? I was just getting to that part with Frank here."
"Go on then," she said.
"They heard him comin' and were waitin' on either side of the door when he opened it. Jones held a gun on him, and Smith slammed the door back hard against him. Marlow had a gun, and he shot, which is what we heard, but they got him down and disarmed and hurting some before he got a second shot off. They were walking him out the front door of the Long Branch just about the time I got there, and he's locked up over at the jail right now with Chester sitting over in the office with a rifle."
Kitty sat and thought about it. "Chester's worked awful hard at all this," she finally said, "And Frank got shot, and I got shot. Ma and Doc left all their normal work for days just watching over me. Thaddeus and his partner – killing the snakes and riding the stage and guarding me here, and they don't even know me, they're just passin' through. And you and Frank – arranging to rescue me and keep me safe." She stopped then before going on, "And Ellie dyin'. Spike Marlow's caused a lot of damage."
"And he'll hang for it, Kitty." Matt said, "That's certain sure."
She shook her head. "He'll hang for murdering his partners."
It was Frank who reached his right hand over to take hers, "That's an argument Matt and I have had for years, honey. Matt, he believes in the law. I'm fine with the law, but I believe in justice. Marlow will hang, and that will be justice, the specific charge doesn't matter so much as the fact that he'll never hurt anyone again."
Kitty said in a small voice, "I said that first night I wanted to see him hang. For what he did to Ellie. I don't want that anymore. I just want him gone."
Matt reached a long arm over and cupped his hand around the back of Kitty's neck. She leaned into it, turning her head to place a kiss on his wrist. Frank just continued to hold her hand in his own warm grip and said, soft but stern, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. For it is written, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord."
OoOoO
They waited until full dark. Before leaving for Hays late that afternoon, Judge Beck had changed his order to place Kitty's protective custody in the hands of Marshal Dillon. Matt still thought she was safer up at Doc's, and planned on keeping her there until matters were settled, but the two of them walked silently down the steps and around through the alley door of the Long Branch. They heard music and loud voices, smelled smoke and liquor even there in the back hall as they climbed the stairs and went down the hallway to Kitty's room. The door was hanging half open, and Kitty tsked but Matt shushed her until they got inside and he got the door closed and braced with a chair.
Hand in hand the two of them walked over to where Kitty's dressing screen blocked off a corner of the room. Kitty lifted the neat black Stetson and tossed it onto a chair. She tried to lift one of the boots, but couldn't. She stepped back and let Matt take her place. He lifted one of the boots and carried it back to her bed. While he went back for the other boot, Kitty reached inside the first and took out a canvas bag about the size of her own small fist. It was heavy enough that she had to use both hands to lift it. Matt turned the second boot over and five small bags dropped out weightily onto the bed. Kitty pulled out a second bag, and then, with some difficulty turned her boot over and poured out two more. Nine bags, each with "US Army" stenciled on the side, and tied at the top with a drawstring cord. Matt picked one up and opened it, spilling out gold Half Eagles onto the quilt.