WINTER'S REFUGE

by Kattayl

Every author writes a Curry and Heyes prison story. This is mine.

119. Winter's Refuge Chapter 119

Winter's Refuge

Chapter One Hundred Nineteen

Still has red!

HEYES

When I told Chrissy what had happened as soon as I got home, she surprised me and was determined to see his dead body. "I'm not lying to you Chrissy. He's dead."

She reached around and touched her back as if it hurt. It was a quick movement. She asked, "He dead! Heyes kill him? Chrissy need to see body."

"No, Ari Cresk killed him. He stole money from a lot of people. I just exposed him. Ari killed him in a fair fight."

"Good! Not Jed kill him. We go now."

Fall's Bells was still saddled, and she was saddling her Spring's Moirai before I could stop her. She led me to the road in back of the house. She didn't say anything, but I know that this way the Kid would not see us go by the blacksmith shop. She waved to Auntie that I was taking her riding. Getting the courage to go into town by myself was one thing, but taking Chrissy with me unsettled me. I was nervous so started talking about the thing that had been on my mind the last couple of days.

"Chrissy, is everything alright with Angie?"

She looked at me but only smiled and forced her horse into a run. "We race to the main road," she screamed back at me, daring me with a smile. Spring's Moirai might be older than the rest of our horses, but she looks magnificent running. All of our horses are beautiful. I know four of them are Moirai's foals.

Chrissy hadn't answered my question, but I was up for her challenge and gave Fall's Bells her head. I didn't bring Angie up again; I knew there was something she was hiding. And I think the Kid knows about it. He's very protective of her...but then Kid is protective of all women and his family. It might just be the Kid being the Kid. Still, I think she's keeping something from me.

By the time we got on the main road, Chrissy was flushed and smiling. "Riding good for me," she told me, and I noticed she said me and not Chrissy. She was lighter since I told her Yates was dead.

I wasn't sure how we were going to handle this with Mr. Dwyer, the undertaker. I haven't asked to see a dead body before unless I thought it was the Kid. I didn't need to worry though. Chrissy led us to the small street in back of the funeral home. Leaving the horses there, she marched around to his front door and went in.

Dwyer was dressed in solemn black. "How may I help you?"

Chrissy looked around. Later, she told me she knew Mr. Dwyer. He had been to the house when Lom's sister, Lili, had passed away.

"I want to see dead body of Elias Yates," her voice was clear, determined.

"You are a relative?"

"No, need to see him."

"His sister is visiting him now, but you can see him when she is finished." He nodded toward a room behind a curtain.

I took a chance. "Didn't know he had a sister," I said quietly. "But he did have a female partner. I would suggest you send someone for Sheriff Birde to talk to this 'sister'."

Giving me a knowing look, Dwyer sent the young boy that helped him to get the sheriff. Chrissy sat down next to the curtain and stared at the wall. I wasn't sure if this was good for her, but I couldn't stop her, and I sure wasn't going to let her do it alone.

It was only minutes later when Frank followed the boy into the funeral home. "Heyes, where is she?"

"Shh!" I held my fingers to my lips. Frank stopped where he was, quiet. We heard a chair slide back behind the curtain. He moved behind some stacked empty coffins so he could not be seen. A short, brown-haired woman, with an ugly raised scar on the right side of her neck and face, dressed in a fashionable navy traveling suit pulled the curtain aside. There were no tears on her cheeks, her eyes were not bloodshot from crying. She clutched her bag tightly to her chest.

"Thank you for letting me say goodbye to my brother," she said very sweetly to Mr. Dwyer. Everyone was still, watching, waiting for I don't know what for.

Looking up, Chrissy screamed and rushed at the woman. "Violet Abernathy! The Purple Whore we called you. YOU not his sister. You convict in the cell next to me then you went to sleep in HIS bed. You his whore." She turned and went to look in the coffin.

Frank used the diversion to get in back of the woman. "Miss Abernathy, you are under arrest as an accessory to fraud."

His words surprised her. Turning to look at him, she held her purse closer.

"Walk ahead of me to my office."

Her eyes darted over each person and thing in the room before she started to walk out of the building, head down.

"Frank, get her purse," I warned him. He reached out and with one hand struggled to take it from her. The clasp opened and the contents slipped out…money littered the floor along with the gold nuggets that Yates used in his con.

Frank looked at the boy who had come to get him. "Boy, pick all that up. All of it. Put it in the bag."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, Violet Abernathey, I think that's all the evidence any jury would need. The townspeople of Three Birds will be relieved to get some of their investment back."

Chrissy was standing, statue still, looking at the dead body of Elias Yates. I put my hand on her back for moral support.

"Almost ready to go home." With those words she leaned over and spat in the face of the corpse. "Heyes, take me home."

JED 'KID' CURRY

Since me and Heyes are leavin' tomorrow for Cheyenne, I stayed later at the blacksmith shop than I'd promised Aiden. Auntie picked up the mail in Three Birds before she picked up the twins from school. She goes early, takes some cookies or cake and sits and talks with Glen in the telegraph office until it's time to get the kids. While they were gone, I was surprised Chrissy walked down with cold lemonade for me and Angie.

I stepped out into the sunlight to greet her. She smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed my cheek with a grin. "Jed, dirty!"

"Chrissy darlin', you alright?"

Her green eyes twinkled in the sun. "Good. Heyes fix everything. Come drink cold lemonade."

I reached around her waist and pulled her close to me. I lifted her chin with one dirty finger and kissed her lips. Her strong kiss in response told me she would not turn away from me in bed again tonight.

"You goin' to tell me what was botherin' you now?"

"No, Jed no need to know." She headed to the backroom; her clothes were covered with soot from my embrace, but she didn't seem to mind.

Angie had been sleeping but sat up, happy to have company. "Oh lemonade!" she exclaimed. "I'll be glad for tomorrow when you and Heyes leave for Cheyenne. Then I can rest in my own bed all day. And Dr Arden's coming in two days. I expect him to tell me my heart is normal again. I can't feel it beating so hard."

HEYES

Me and the Kid left early this morning for Bridgeport to take the train for Cheyenne. I gave him an envelope with the money for the lawyer and traveling money…and money to leave at the prison for anything Matt might need. Traveling with the Kid has always been easy but it's not today. He knows Chrissy asked me for help instead of him. I still don't understand why she didn't go to the Kid. She told me that he knew about the abuse she had suffered.

And I know Angie has confided something to the Kid that she has not told me. I'm glad she trusts him, but I'm trying to understand why she didn't put that trust in her husband.

And the Kid knows all this. I could see the hurt, the betrayal in his eyes that Chrissy hadn't brought her problem to him. I understood that hurt, I feel it too.

He was riding Fall's Glory. I was on Fall's Bells. I didn't like the awkward quiet between us, so I talked about our horses. "Would you ever have thought that the notorious outlaws Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry would be riding such fine horses," I said with forced enthusiasm.

Those blue eyes of his found mine, grateful, I think, for the safe conversation. "Would never have even dreamed it…and we own them, too!"

We talked easier then with long spans of quiet about the ranch and the kids and the horses until we got to Bridgeport. Mike Loveland wasn't in the newspaper office when we got there. Mikey was there with a sitter. He jumped off her lap and ran to see us with smiles. "Unc Kid, Unc Kid, Unc!" Of course, he ran to the Kid first. And was thrown high into the air as his reward.

The young girl babysitting him watched us. "You must be the friends Mr. Loveland was waiting for. I'm Genevieve. He said to make yourself at home, rest, and eat. He's chasing a story but should be home soon. Can I make you some lunch?"

JED 'KID' CURRY

I smiled as I sat at the small table counter with Mikey on my lap, and dug into the meat, cheese, and crackers. He'd grab a cracker out of my hand and squeal with glee.

Mike came runnin' in about an hour before we needed to leave for our train. His usual smile was missin'. He took Mikey from me and hugged him tight.

"Good to see you so soon again, Mike," Heyes said. But he read the expression on our friend's face and didn't smile. "Out on a story?"

"Messy train robbery."

"Oh."

"The outlaws blocked the tracks at an awkward spot where the train was going full speed. Caused a massive pileup of railroad cars…and injured people. A young boy about this one's age and a girl a bit older were found among the dead in the wreckage."

"Law know who did it?" Heyes asked. I think the fact that he's really about to be a father hit him at that moment. And the knowledge that you can't protect them from everythin' all the time. He patted the boy gently on the back.

I had the urge to telegram home and check on my family even though I know they were nowhere near that train.

"It was a gang that has taken the name of our city, The Bridgeport Blues. They hadn't robbed our bank or disturbed our citizens, so the sheriff suggested that at least one local man was in the gang. Found out they were, he was right today. Three of the train robbers were injured in the wreck, one of them after the crash when he was trying to blow a sideways safe with dynamite. Those three are in the custody of our sheriff, three or four got away. Sheriff Hollahan was right, they had local Bridgeport connections - the dentist's brother and the cobbler's uncle."

After that Mike went and sat at his desk and started writin', scratchin' out, and rewritin'. He seemed to have forgotten we were in the room.

"Can I help you write that?" Heyes asked. "I used to be quite good at it."

Startled that he was not alone, Mike slid some pages of his notes across to Heyes. "If you could start to put these notes into sentences, that would help."

"You got it. Do you think you might have room later for something that happened in Three Birds?"

"Not this issue but the next one is wide open."

HEYES

I helped Mike write his 'copy' until we had to leave. He takes copious notes, and it took little to form them into interesting sentences. Then I wrote my piece about Elias Yates' fraudulent scheme to steal our town folks money leaving Chrissy out of it completely. I'll need to tell Kid about it before it gets published but this way I could spin the article the way I want. Mike's robbery story gave the Kid and I something to talk about on the train to Cheyenne. First, we talked about something else. Something that haunted both of us.

"Heyes, this hearin's got to go well. We were sentenced to twenty years. That's a long time but it's not life, it's not forever."

"Yeah, Kid, but twenty years felt like life. There were times I wanted to die, thought about making it happen. At times in the dark cell, I thought I was dead and in hell." I looked out the window and shuddered remembering those days not far away when death seemed better than life.

"Me and Chrissy are tryin' to give Matt hope…even if it is twenty years away," the Kid answered but turned to look out the window.

I was leading up to asking him about Angie, but he was far away in mauldin thoughts, thinking about this prison of despair. I struggled to stay in the present, to think of the blessings in my life - my Angie, my family, my freedom…and Kid. The Kid gave me what he wants to give Matt…hope.

LOM

I realized today that my deputies, the Bickson brothers, are handling all my sheriff responsibilities here in Porterville. The townspeople go to them. I thought it was just for little things, but today a posse came through here led by US Marshal Karl Josephs. His brother Ken lives at Phoenix. They look nothing alike. Ken is tall and blonde. Karl is shorter, with dark hair. They explained when I first met them, same fathers, different mothers. He greeted me by name.

"Sheriff Trevors, good to see you. I'm Karl Josephs."

I'd had one coffee that morning with a liberal sprinkle of whiskey…or maybe it was two. But I felt perfectly capable of joining a posse or even leading one. I introduced Josephs to my deputies. I tripped just a little going down the two steps to the street. Don't think anyone noticed but Josephs gave me a 'look'

"I'd like you two boys to join my posse for a few days. If it's alright with you, Trevors," he asked.

"I'll go."

"We're fine with these two good men, Trevors." He turned to the Bicksons. "You two ready in half an hour?"

So now even the main parts of my job are not mine anymore. I went in and sat at my desk and drank until it was time to go see Wayne, my beautiful boy with Susan's eyes. We haven't found another house yet, so after, I went back to my cabin. But I didn't drink, my hand can't tremble as I write. It took a pot of coffee, but my hand is steady as I write my resignation to the Porterville City Council. They don't need a pitiful drunk as a sheriff.

JED 'KID' CURRY

James Chadwick, Esq., attorney at law's telegram said he'd meet us at the train station. We don't know what he looks like. This is Cheyenne and there are a lot of well-dressed men in suits that could be lawyers on the platform, busy with the people arrivin' and departin'. Me and Heyes got off and stepped to the left, lookin' for someone that might be Mr. Chadwick.

It was Heyes that picked him out in a suit too sophisticated even for Cheyenne. Once we made eye contact with him, he stayed still until we went to him.

"I'm James Chadwick, Esq," he said, shakin' my partner's hand. "You Mr. Curry?"

"Hannibal Heyes. This here is Jed Curry."

I shook his hand. "Let's go someplace we can talk in private, sir. Where's Matt's hearin'?" I was hoping the hearin' would be here in Cheyenne, even though it would probably be the same room Heyes' parole meetin's were held.

We went into one of the nicer cafes and Mr. Chadwick demanded a back corner table. He sat first taking the seat facing the restaurant leavin' me and Heyes with our backs to the people. We shared a gaze and moved our chairs closer to Mr. Chadwick. This was better to talk quietly…and each of us could see half the room.

"Did Mrs. Curry accompany you?" Chadwick asked me with a smile. There was something about his expression I didn't like when he added, "Lovely, spirited lady." He'd been her lawyer and she'd ended up in prison.

Heyes handled his question. "No, she recently gave birth to her and Kid's fourth child. A little girl named Ruth Ann."

"Four children, oh my. Of course, she was pregnant when I defended her."

"About Matt's hearin'," I said a little too forcefully.

"Of course, Mr. Curry. As you know, it is set for six pm tonight."

I handed him the envelope with the money. "It's the amount you mentioned in your letter, sir."

"Thank you. I'm usually paid at the end of a hearing, but this is fine. We had better start making arrangements to leave."

"Leave? The meeting's not here in Cheyenne?" Heyes asked, shocked. I could hear the tinge of fear in his voice.

"No, it's at the prison. They did not want to transport the prisoner off the premises, and I insisted that he be part of this hearing."

HEYES

"NO!" my brain screamed but I tried to keep my face blank. I don't know why me and Kid just figured the meeting would be here. What Chadwick said made sense. Lom had told me that the Kid felt a darkness of soul come over him each time he approached the Wyoming Territorial Prison. I know what he meant. I feel it, too.

A determined look spread across the Kid's face. He still comes here regularly to visit Matt. As much as I don't want to go near that place, I'm glad I'm here for him. That's what partners are for. "We ridin' horses or do you need a buggy, sir?" he asked the well-dressed, slightly pudgy lawyer.

"A buggy, of course," Chadwick answered in a superior tone that implied everyone would prefer a buggy. We ended up with both. The only buggy available was a two-seater so Chadwick took that. Me and the Kid rented horses, tall, spirited horses.

Riding way ahead of Chadwick, who maintained a steady pace, me and the Kid talked. But when the sinister facade of the prison became visible, he turned quiet, introspective. But as I'd seen him do before, he straightened his back, forced his shoulders back, and looked straight ahead. If you didn't know him as well as I do, you'd think everything was fine with him. But it's not. The quiet shadows of the horrors in that building fill his mind when he sees this prison. I pulled Fall's Bells even with Fall's Glory and reached out and touched the Kid's leg. Startled, he turned to look at me and then gave me a nod of his head. He knew we were in this together.

In truth, I felt the evil reaching out from that place too, trying to imprison my mind in darkness. The touch on Kid's knee was as much for him as for me. I draw strength from the Kid. I hope he still understands that.

"You don't have to come to this hearin', Heyes. I know how hard it must be for you," he told me.

"Ah, Kid, you might need my silver tongue in there," I teased. "Besides, Charwick is going to call me as a witness for Matt."