Winter's Refuge

Chapter Eight

LOM

I had pictured many different reactions from the Kid when I told him Chrissy McWinters was in prison. I expected rage, anger, surprise, denial. I even thought I might be looking down the barrel of Kid's gun. What I did not expect was silence. Except for turning the lamp up, he did not move a muscle. I watched him closely, waiting for the explosion. Standing, he walked to a chair near the window.. He folded his hands in front of him and looked out the window at the darkness. When I turned to face him, he looked me in the eyes and waited.

"I lied to you, Kid." I watched him but he showed no emotion.

"When you asked me to take care of Chrissy McWinters on my first visit to you in the Yuma Territorial Prison, I already knew her. She had already reached out for my help."

Moving to sit at the table, I sat where I could see his face, and study his body language. "It's a long story."

"We got all night," he answered. From his tone I knew that he would hear the whole story tonight and we would not get little sleep.

"Chrissy said she met you at Devil's Hole when she went to get her brothers out of there. Their pa died young and the care and raising of those five boys fell to her. Her foreman's family, the Ortizs, lived at their ranch and are like family. One night, you were hurt and Heyes brought you to Winter's Refuge for help. Doctor Lewis took care of you."

It wasn't a question, but he nodded his head at the memory.

"Chrissy said she paid him triple and extra when he saved you. Sometime when he was tending you someone slipped. He figured out that you were Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes and saw twenty thousand dollars dancing in front of him. He reported you to the sheriff but when they raided Winter's Refuge, you two had left."

"Heyes had a feelin' it was time to go."

"It was. Where did you go?"

"Silver minin' in Nevada. Felt safe there. Laid low for a couple of months while I healed up."

It was my turn to think silently. "When you two weren't there, they arrested Chrissy for aiding and abetting known outlaws and helping you to escape. She sent me a telegram. I didn't know her, but she knew you and you gave her my address. I didn't know where you were, so I went to her myself. Hired her the best lawyer I could afford, a real smart man."

"If he was so smart, why's she servin' time?" I heard something new in his voice. Emotion? Anger? I couldn't tell but talked softly so my voice didn't carry past the Kid's hearing.

"Heyes and I would have turned ourselves in if we knew."

"Wouldn't have changed a thing. She would still have been guilty of aiding and abetting and still wouldn't give up the location of Devils Hole, and you and Heyes would have been in prison earlier."

He understood that but didn't yet know about the new Devil's Hole Gang.

"I'll explain. Her trial attracted newspaper attention, first local, then statewide. Her brothers were the McWinter Gang and she was the wife of Hannibal Heyes or Kid Curry."

"Why didn't we read this in the paper?" he asked, confused.

"You just said you were silver mining for Nevada. You get any news there?" I asked him and watched as he shook his head no.

"That's one of the reasons we left. Didn't see another person for weeks and weeks." He looked confused. "Wife?"

"The lawyer saw her wedding ring, a small wooden ring she never took off." I held up my hand. "Don't tell me which one of you it is. I could be made to testify while Heyes is still in prison."

He didn't understand and looked questioning at me when I mentioned Heyes but waved me to continue.

"Got to go back a bit. When you two left Devil's Hole, you know Wheat took over. He was smart enough to stick with smaller jobs, banks in smaller cities mainly. He kept your rule about never shooting anyone and was mildly successful. Then, the five McWinters boys rode back into Devil's Hole.

"Mark McWinters immediately clashed with Wheat. The youngest, Bobby Bell, is their gunnie."

The Kid had been nodding, now he spoke, quietly as if in a memory. "Bobby Bell was the fastest twelve-year-old I ever saw. Almost outdrew me. Matt, the oldest, was a follower but Mark, the next in line, had a violent streak. Heyes threw him out of the gang."

"And he came back with a grudge. Matt and Wheat got along well but Mark became the instant leader. He played along with Wheat a day or so until the next job. Mark stayed at the Hole with the younger brothers but sent Matt with Wheat, Kyle and many of the men you knew.

"But it was a setup planned by Mark. The sheriff and two deputies were waiting for them when they came out of the bank."

"Hands where we can see them, fellows," the sheriff said. "Now real easy throw your guns into the horse trough.

"Deputy, cuff them."

"What I know I learned from Kyle. The men were doing as they were told. Even Wheat didn't say a word of objection. They had been so careful scouting out this bank, it was hard to think what could have gone wrong. Matt had been handcuffed first. True to character, he had just hung his head and obeyed orders. They all did. Wheat was next to him and didn't resist either. After Wheat was restrained, a nearby rifle shot rang out hitting him in the chest. Most of the men scattered but Kyle looked up on the balcony of the hotel and swears he saw Mark McWinters standing there with his rifle. Instead of escaping, Kyle ran to Wheat and held him for the last minutes of his life. Laying his head down, he looked around. One deputy held a gun on him. A few yards away Matt McWinters stood as still as a statue staring at that balcony. Kyle was sure this time he saw Mark up there climbing back into a window when he turned and with a laugh tipped his hat to his older brother.

"Wheat's gone? Mark set up his brother?" the Kid asked. "What happened to the others?"

"Matt and Kyle were arrested. The others got away but none of them returned to Devil's Hole."

This was hard news to break to him, but he showed no emotion. Heyes had schooled the Kid's poker face well.

"The Devil's Hole Gang you remember died that day. It became known for its brutality. They killed a bank teller after he had emptied his drawer into their bag because Mark felt he had laughed at him. They were successful, very successful. Bobby Bell's speed is legendary. He's never been beaten. And Mark likes violence, lives for it. They rob the passengers on the trains. When a man hesitated, Mark dragged his daughter barely behind some bushes and brutally had his way with her."

I poured myself some cold coffee. He nodded and held out a cup. I needed some time to recover from the image of Wheat being shot down in the street by Mark McWinters. I had brought a bottle of good whiskey with me and broke it out now. I showed it to the Kid as I poured it into my coffee.

"Ain't had whiskey in three years." He looked at it with interest. "Guess I'll pass for now. Think there's a lot more things I need to hear tonight and want to be sober. I'll wait 'til Heyes and I can celebrate together."

I realized then the Kid had matured. I wasn't sure if it was prison or not having Heyes to rely on to make the decisions. By the end of the night, I concluded it was a bit of both. I took a deep drink of the fortified cooling coffee and sat back down.

"When Chrissy was arrested it made the newspapers. Doctor Lewis enjoyed talking and giving interviews. He still wanted that reward for you two. A posse had gone looking for you but came back in a couple of days empty handed. So, all the law had was Chrissy McWinters. One of the local reporters had spotted a ring on her finger, a small wooden ring, and wrote a column asking the public who did they think she had married, Curry or Heyes? Her lawyer played along with it but neither he nor Chrissy ever really made a clear statement on the subject. At one point he told a reporter that she said she loved them both

"You see, the prosecution knew it was important who she had married. A wife doesn't have to testify against her husband. If she knew where he was, legally she didn't have to tell. But the law doesn't shield her from testifying against her husband's partner. Everyone was guessing and writing columns speculating who she had married."

"Why did everyone assume she was married just 'cause she wore a ring?"

This was a difficult answer and I tried to say it diplomatically. "Because of her condition?"

"Condition?"

I needed to see his face when he heard this. I didn't know if she was married to him or Heyes, but I had guessed that they were both in love with her. "She was with child."

He was stunned. "A baby?"

I quickly told him again that I couldn't know who she had married. I didn't want to be called to testify until Heyes was out and free. He gave me the quizzical stare that he had perfected when he kept the gang in line. I had to look away.

"Her lawyer had no intention of putting her on the stand to testify. If she were to testify, he knew she'd refuse to answer some questions and a contempt of court charge would be added. If she knew where you were she would have never revealed it."

"What happened?"

"About that same time the press made the connection between Chrissy and the Devil's Hole gang. A story in the paper told how she had gone up there and dragged her brothers home. When Doctor Lewis read the story, he saw dollars again. He went to the prosecutor and the behind the scenes meetings of the trial changed. The prized piece of information became the location of Devil's Hole.

"Her lawyer was firm in his belief she would not testify at her trial. He knew she would never give her brother's hideout to the law. She knew it meant prison time, but she refused."

"She was found guilty." The Kid said in a low voice.

"Even then there were those who were unrelenting. They wanted Devil's Hole. She was sentenced to an undetermined term until she revealed the location. The discussion of who she married went away. She is serving her time in the Colorado State Correctional Facility near Canon City. And she has not had an easy time of it."

"The baby?"

"She gave birth in prison. It is one of two in Colorado that has an infirmary. They allow mothers to keep infants under one year old with them."

"And now?" he asked. And I was surprised he didn't ask more about the baby.

I smiled not knowing how much Chrissy would want me to reveal. "Her cousin, Lom's sister, stepped forward to act as guardian."

"Cousin Lom…" He looked at me with emotion for the first time during this talk. "Thanks, Lom." The night was getting on, but he was not ready to sleep.

"Her lawyer set up a trust with Winter's Refuge, giving me full power to make decisions. He also made it so it couldn't be seized to make her talk. The Ortiz family runs it for me. You'll see some of them soon."

"You said prison was not easy on her? I saw what happened to the few women in Yuma," he said with a growl.

"All that happened to her and more. A lot of men and only two or three women. And every guard and warden wants to be the one to make her talk. A lot of money is offered, from both sides of the law, for the location of Devil's Hole."

I saw realization cross his face at what she had gone through.

"The first warden made it a practice to take each new female prisoner during their orientation. He was not gentle. Then when he found out she came in pregnant, he was vengeful, withholding food and beatings without provocation. As I said before, it is one of only two Colorado prisons with an infirmary. The few women are in cells nearby. Chrissy had few skills for the jobs available for women in there. She couldn't cook. In her condition, bending over to scrub floors was impossible. So, she was assigned washing and sewing the prison uniforms. And the doctor had her help in the infirmary. He found in her a woman who had nursed her father and brothers and horses all of her life. Blood and wounds did not make her squeamish. And she could stitch a wound shut as effectively as she repaired a hole in a uniform.

"Like you, she couldn't have visitors for two months. She couldn't look at me when I did come to visit. The shackles she wore were so heavy that her steps were tiny. She thanked me for coming. I had brought her a book and fabric to make baby clothes. She said the appropriate words of thanks, but she was far away even as she said goodbye.

"The doctor called me into his office afterwards. He was worried about her and the baby. He wanted me to convince her to talk, to tell where you two were and give the location of Devil's Hole. She refused, and her food was reduced to bread and water. He fed her extra food each day in the infirmary, but she was losing weight, not gaining the weight the baby needed.

"After a few minutes of general talk, he admitted she had not recovered from the warden's rough sexual encounter during her orientation. It hit me hard but now I knew why she was so quiet. The doctor's a good man, but hardened, and he meant the best with his next words. He was trying to prepare her for the inevitable. He told me once she gave birth, he couldn't protect her any longer. He wanted me to prepare her to expect the guards to use her.. She needed to learn to ignore it and just get through it. He had tea to help her prevent pregnancy. He was old and had seen too much. He felt there was no hope for the women in there unless they accepted their fate. Told me about a woman that became with child while in there and didn't live to give birth, poisoned. If she died before she gave birth her pregnancy was never recorded as part of her record.

I said thank you and went to see the Colorado governor. When he refused to see me, I talked to the Wyoming governor. She is, in theory, a Wyoming prison as are…were you, Kid. She was sent to Colorado because her brother, Matt, was in the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Her lawyer pleaded that it could cause problems if they were together."

The Kid was leaning forward, hands folded in a tight grip. "Wyoming governor do anything?"

"Yes and no. He talked to Federal Regulators of Prisons, and they replaced the warden. It was not the first accusation against him. The new warden was a very moral man and would never take advantage of the women in his prison. But he felt women were to be put on a pedestal and were supposed to be perfect. Women as convicts violated his vision of womanhood and motherhood. He insisted they go to the chapel each day and kneel for hours asking for forgiveness. And believing the best in people, he never thought the guards would sexually abuse the women."

The Kid moved his hands to his head. "And the baby?"

"Healthy and strong. Brought joy to everyone in this prison for that first year. Nothing like children to raise the spirits and bring hope."

"And then to live with Uncle Lom's sister?"

"Cousin Lom's sister."

"Where?"

"Hidden," I answered. Few people knew where my sister lived.

"Why is it so important we get to Colorado Wednesday mornin'?" I could tell the Kid was holding in enormous emotions, getting ready to explode.

"The warden was changed again four months ago when rumors of your amnesty were floating around. The governor's staff like to gossip. This new warden has vowed to friends that he will make her tell him where Devil's Hole is located or kill her trying to find out. Chrissy got me out a message through the doctor. He said another prisoner had been murdered recently using rat poison when he wouldn't reveal information about where a thirty thousand dollar take from a robbery was hidden. No one questions when convicts die, except a kind, old doctor in private."

"Rat poison?"

"Beaten before and thrown in the dark cell. Food and water poisoned. When the guards opened the doors two days later, he was dead. Doctor said a year ago the same thing happened to a woman prisoner who got pregnant. Didn't have no family on the outside checking on her."

"Just because she got pregnant."

"If they're dead before they give birth, the prison doesn't report their pregnancy." I could see he was starting to understand. "The doctor was concerned because the warden was obsessed with getting Chrissy to tell him the location of Devil's Hole. He thinks she's in danger."

I watched his anger float through his body. He had not only gotten stronger in body. He had grown strong in self-control. He understood what Chrissy faced the last three years. "Why now with Chrissy?"

"Governor pardoned her and gave her an amnesty, too, when he signed your papers. She is free on Wednesday. Warden wants her information before she leaves or has bragged she will not leave here alive. Mark's Devil's Hole Gang robbed two Colorado banks, killed a deputy sheriff, this month. There is a lot of pressure from the people to catch them. There's real fear out there. And the warden is determined to be their hero and get into politics by getting her to talk.

"The Wyoming governor's not getting any help from the Colorado governor. One of his biggest supporters had a brother who was killed by Bobby Bell McWinters in a gunfight. There's a five-thousand-dollar reward posted for Chrissy dead or alive for the location of Devil's Hole. It is anonymous, illegal and really only valid in Colorado where the governor has let it be known through channels that he will grant amnesty to anyone who gets her to talk…or kills her. The supporters' words have become a motto for catching her, 'An eye for an eye and a sibling for a sibling'.

"Anyway, the warden was notified I'm coming Friday with her paperwork. It will be in the newspaper that day, too. Before that on Wednesday, we'll meet up with a Federal Inspector of Prisons and a representative of the Wyoming governor before we go to the prison, and they will accompany us. By arriving two days early, we hope to save Chrissy."

The Kid never slept that night. He didn't ask any questions. He leaned back against the headboard and stared out the window at the moon and the stars.

JED CURRY

Nothing had prepared me for Chrissy being in prison…or having a baby. Those thoughts never crossed my mind. When I thought of her, it was smilin', workin' on Winter's Refuge, ridin' the horses. I saw her takin' the same walks we did. When Lom told me she had been in prison, I was ready to leave right then and go get her. I wanted to tear down that prison brick by brick. I had vowed no one would hurt my family, but someone had. Heyes and I had left her in jeopardy. Without even knowin', we had repaid her kindness with prison. And it sounded like the prison system had near destroyed her. Lom was worried about tomorrow. He said during the last five monthly visits with Chrissy, she was unresponsive, retreated inside herself, didn't even realize he was there. I couldn't bear to think of the light of my life as secluded in her own world.

I don't think Lom slept much either, although he did snore for about an hour near sunset so maybe he got some rest. I was angry at him for not telling me, yet so very grateful for the help he had given to Chrissy.

I went down to the diner at sunrise and brought back coffee and two sweet rolls for us. But I couldn't talk to Lom. Had trouble even looking at him. It wasn't his fault, but the truth had hit me hard, went against my plans, altered my goals. It had taken more than a year for me to settle myself and set those goals. I had the mornin' to realign them.

"Lom?"

"Yeah, Kid?"

"Heyes?" I heard him sigh at my question.

"Not a pleasant story, Kid. It can wait until Chrissy's safe."

"Tell me now."