ELEVEN
All of Dodge seemed to be holding its breath the next day. Grey clouds hung low and heavy in the sky, and not even the air moved.
Once again, Kitty remained inside the Long Branch, only leaving once in the morning to go order new wallpaper from Jonas, and even then Sam accompanied her. Matt alternated between visiting Kitty and making thorough rounds of the town. Festus went on Doc's visits with him, and then the two of them spent the rest of the morning cleaning up Doc's office and airing it out. The structure was still sound, but Doc would need some new supplies and furnishings.
By the time Matt, Kitty, Festus, and Doc sat down at the Long Branch to eat a late lunch brought over from Delmonico's, the eerie atmosphere in town was suffocating.
There hadn't been any new attacks, and the whole of Dodge was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Matt pushed his plate away and picked up his beer. He didn't drink any, though, he just sat staring into the bottom of the glass. He didn't have the stomach to finish his lunch, and from the looks of it, neither did anyone else. Even Festus pushed his food around on his plate without actually eating much of it.
Matt would never wish for anything bad to happen, but the waiting was the worst part. Every hour of waiting only fueled his morbid imagination, until his stomach churned at all the what-ifs and questions of when and where, and he prayed reality wouldn't be any worse than what his mind had already invented. His thoughts were frightening enough.
For a man who was usually the very picture of pragmatism, Matt's current mood was both frustrating and unsettling, and yet he felt helpless to change it. Fear was a powerful weapon.
The unnatural silence in the Long Branch didn't help. There were a few other patrons present, but no one seemed to be able to – or want to – speak in anything above a whisper. The Long Branch was usually only this quiet when it was empty.
Finally, Festus tossed his fork onto his plate with a clatter and broke the silence.
"Somebody's gotta say somethin'!"
Kitty flinched, and Doc pulled himself from his own musings.
"Like what?"
"Well, I don't know, do I, Matthew? But all this pussy-footin' around's givin' me the shivers," he complained.
"Is there really anything else we can do, Festus?" Kitty asked.
"There's gotta be somethin', Miss Kitty." He turned to Matt earnestly. "Ain't there anything you found in Hays what could give some clue for us to work on?"
Matt sat his mug back on the table and leaned forward, his forearms resting on the table. He took a minute to give the question some serious thought.
"All I really learned is that there were a series of robberies over the last year that might be connected, and if they are, then Hays is the first city with an attack and casualties. And whoever's doing this is retaliating for someone I killed in Hays ten years ago." He shook his head. "They're saying I left without dealing with the fall-out, that I ruined people's lives."
"And you don't have any idea who you killed?"
"I wish I did, Doc, but unfortunately I've killed my fair share of men from here clear to the Territories, and some of them have been in Hays." He picked up his beer again and downed it in one go, adding bitterly, "I don't keep a diary, ya know."
"Matt, stop it!" Kitty snapped. "You don't have to be a jackass."
"He's just under a lot of stress, Kitty, it's alright." Doc offered, making Matt feel even worse for his outburst.
"No, Doc," he sighed. "Kitty's right. I'm sorry."
"Surely whoever ya killed, Matthew, was doin' somethin' wrong," Festus spoke up, moving the conversation along. "I know you never killed nobody what you didn't have to."
Matt had his own thoughts on the matter – there were some deaths he'd always regret – but he appreciated Festus' sentiment just the same.
"Thanks, partner."
"So…" Kitty started, clearly trying to find a way to change the subject. "I saw Caleb over at Jonas' store this morning. Seems he's found a job there until he's ready to move on to New Orleans."
"Caleb?"
"New kid in town, Matt. He introduced himself to us at my party the other night. He's tryin' to get some money together to get himself down to New Orleans so he can help his uncle out with a new shipping company."
Matt instantly became suspicious. A stranger drifting through Dodge shows up just hours after he left for Hays? Granted, there were always strangers drifting in and out of a town the size of Dodge, but something about this one tweaked his curiosity. There was currently too much at stake to blindly put stock in coincidences.
"And you all believe his story?"
Kitty held up a hand. "No, not at first, but he's helped out a lot in the past few days."
"And he seems to have alibis for the attacks, Matthew. Unless he's got his other two yayhoos helpin' him, hidin' out somewheres in Dodge we haven't seen."
Matt still wasn't ready to dismiss the idea of Caleb being one of the men out to destroy his life. Over the years he'd learned to trust his gut instincts.
"What do you mean by 'helped out'?"
"He helped me get the horses out of the livery and put out the fire, Matthew."
"And the first night he was here he helped stop a…a fight here at the Long Branch."
Matt noticed the way Kitty hesitated and how she glanced away for a split second as she finished her sentence. He narrowed his eyes, questioning her. She usually had a better poker face.
"Just a fight?"
She looked apologetic and shrugged her shoulders.
"Bear was back, causing more trouble. He came at me, and Caleb stopped him before it got too serious." Doc scoffed, but Kitty just glared at him and kept talking. "Festus put Bear in jail and rode him out of town the next morning. End of story." She looked pointedly at Doc.
"Am I missing something here?"
"What she means to say," Doc talked right over Kitty's protests, "is that Caleb knocked Bear unconscious before he could choke her to death."
"What?"
"The point is Caleb intervened, and I'm fine." Kitty laid her hand on Matt's arm. "I didn't want you to worry, Matt."
This woman was going to give him a heart attack one day. He wished she would've told him about Bear – the whole truth – sooner, but, grudgingly, he had to admit he could see her point. Hell, he took the exact same stance most of the time, himself.
"It's a little late for that, dontcha think?" he asked sarcastically.
"I suppose you're right…. At any rate, that's why we've been more inclined to give Caleb the benefit of the doubt."
"We ain't let him off the hook completely though, Matthew. I've been keepin' my eyeballs peeled on 'im when I can – ain't seen nothin' suspicious yet."
Matt thought Festus was right to continue watching Caleb. With no good physical descriptions to go off of from the witnesses in Hays, the men could be practically any strangers to ride into Dodge. And just because Caleb had come to town by himself and had helped them out of some tough situations, that didn't prove his innocence – he could very well be playing a long con.
Matt would just have to meet this man for himself.
Mr. Botkin came blustering into the Long Branch, a man on a mission.
"Marshal Dillon."
Matt stood up from the table using his considerable height to add to his authority. He could already tell Mr. Botkin had a bone to pick.
"I need to speak to you." He completely ignored the rest of the table.
"What about?"
"I just received a telegram from the bank in Hays City. They tell me that the gang who robbed them has been hitting banks across the neighboring counties, and if the pattern holds they could be hitting Dodge next."
Matt inwardly cursed the Hays City Bank for wiring Mr. Botkin instead of himself – even though he already knew the whole story – but he remained silent and crossed his arms, waiting for Botkin to get to his point.
"These robberies are the reason you went to Hays, aren't they? They're connected to the farm that was attacked and everything that's been happening in Dodge while you were gone."
"Oh, for heaven's sake, get to the point, Botkin," Doc barked.
Botkin pursed his lips but barely spared a glance for Doc.
"What are you planning to do about it, Marshal?"
"Mr. Botkin, we don't even know what these men look like. What would you like me to do about it?"
"Well you could watch the bank more closely, for a start," he huffed. "All you seem to do is hang around this-this establishment instead of patrolling the streets of Dodge as you should be."
The color slowly rose in Matt's cheeks.
"You seem, Marshal, to care more for the patrons of a saloon than you do for the well-being of this town. We are paying you to protect the good people of Dodge, and you would do well to remember that."
Matt clenched his teeth. "Is that a threat, Mr. Botkin?"
Botkin visibly shrunk back and tried to backtrack.
"Marshal, I – no, never! I just…I just wish you would deputize some men to help watch over the bank for a few days…until everything blows over."
Matt stared down at his boots and tried to calm himself. Tempers were hot and nerves were on edge all over Dodge – fear did that to a person. He liked Botkin, for the most part, and extra security at the bank was not an unreasonable request.
"I'll be over later with a few men, Mr. Botkin. We can have them watch the bank in shifts."
"Thank you, Marshal." He tipped his hat, finally acknowledging Kitty, Doc, and Festus, and left in a hurry.
Matt turned back to the table and leaned on the back of his chair.
"Festus, would you mind helping me round up some men to deputize? Only men we've trusted before. It might be difficult the way things are right now, but…."
"Sure thing, Matthew." Festus rose from his chair. "You think the bank's in danger, do ya?"
"If I'm being honest? No, I don't."
"Why not, Matt?"
He could tell Kitty already knew the answer to her own question, and it pained him to say it out loud.
"I think these men are coming to Dodge, but not for the money. If they're coming for their revenge, then they'll be focused on hitting me where it really hurts." He looked at each of his friends around the table. "Everything up until this point has just been a game to them, trying to ruin my reputation first by getting Dodge to distrust me."
Matt jerked his thumb in the direction of the doors Botkin had just exited. "Case in point."
Matt and Festus left to take care of the bank, and Doc started stacking dishes back onto the trays.
"I'll help you take these back to Delmonico's, Kitty."
"Thanks, Doc…."
Doc glanced up from his task and found Kitty staring off into space.
"Honey?"
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, Doc." She stood up and began helping him. "I was just thinking about what Matt said. I figured I already knew what he was going to say, but actually hearing it…."
Her sky blue eyes lost focus again for a second before returning to the task at hand.
"It'll be just fine, Kitty. Matt will get the bank taken care of, and then he'll be right back over here. Or at least he'll send Festus. You'll see, it'll be alright."
Kitty put the last of the dishes on the second tray and looked fondly at him, a bittersweet shadow in her eyes.
"You'll just have to believe those tales you're tellin' me for the both of us, Curly."
Doc swiped at his mustache and nodded solemnly. He wished to God he had more than lies to comfort her with.
