Chapter VIII
By Joanna Phillips
Standing there, staring at the wanted poster with Callie's picture on it, Jimmy suddenly felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. He knew that he must have gone pale. Shock registered first, then disbelief. He glanced at Callie, met her eyes, then looked away just as quickly.
"What's this about? And you'd better talk fast!" Teaspoon warned the man that had delivered the warrant.
Callie felt Jimmy grow stiff and cold and glanced up at him. His face was stony, his eyes the only indication that he felt anything besides anger when he looked at her. They brimmed with a mixture of confusion, hurt, betrayal, and fury. With fresh tears welling in her eyes, she backed from him and stood alone, head bowed.
Lou threw a glance at Kid to find he'd adopted his poker face. If he was surprised at this turn of events, he didn't show it.
The man cleared his throat and spoke in a thick southern drawl, "My name is Robert Washburn. I have traveled from Louisiana, the same as Miss Sullivan, here. Last fall, she left New Orleans after murdering her own brother."
Everyone gasped, including Callie. Her wide blue eyes turned to the Washburn's and they blazed in rage, "How dare you!" She took a threatening step toward the man, but Lou was quick to jump in and place a restraining hand on her sleeve. In spite of himself, the man took a step back in fear.
Jimmy took in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. He knew the story Callie had told him, and he knew she hadn't told him the entire truth of her flight from Louisiana. But did the girl have such a capacity for cruelty that she could murder her own brother?
"I hope you have some proof behind these accusations," Lou snarled at him. She believed herself a good judge of character, and refused to think Callie could do something so horrible, and if she could she wouldn't without a legitimate reason. Kid sighed and placed a hand on Lou's arm in warning when she would have advanced on the man herself. Kid knew that once Lou's trust and faith was given, it was a hard thing to shake. While it was an admirable quality, he also knew it had the potential to get her hurt.
Robert Washburn tipped his hat to the lady in the burgundy dress, "well, yes, ma'am, of course I do. A United States Senator not only witnessed the murder in person, but suffered a crippling gun shot wound to the arm when he tried to detain Miss Sullivan for due process! The Senator was entertaining a host of Congressmen and the like when he was injured, and all the men there can testify the girl ran away that very night."
"Due process! That's a good one!" Callie growled, but was silent when Teaspoon shot her a reproving look.
"And where is this senator now?" Kid wondered.
"He'll be along in a day or two. I was riding with a friend. When I saw Miss Sullivan I sent him toward Fenton. The Senator sent scouts out in all directions looking for her."
"What is this man's name, and why is he so concerned with the girl? Don't he have more important things to do in Washington D.C. than chase a lone woman across the country side?" Teaspoon asked.
Washburn cleared his throat, "Well, actually he's not a Senator anymore. Retired a few years back."
"You mean he lost the election when folks figured out he was a thief and a liar!" Callie snapped.
"What's his name?" Teaspoon wondered.
"Cyrus Stevenson," Robert Washburn supplied helpfully.
"What are you gonna do Teaspoon?" Lou wondered quietly after a moment of silence had passed.
"Well, I have no choice but to take Callie in," He looked apologetically at the girl, who had the look of a trapped animal. "When this Cyrus Stevenson gets here we'll see what he has to say. This warrant is official, sighed by the governor of Louisiana and a whole lot of other big wigs. I guess if this fellow is who he says he is, we'll have to turn her over to him."
Callie gasped and Lou started to protest but Teaspoon's sharp look silenced her. Teaspoon looked at Jimmy and then back at Callie, who was staring at Jimmy with something like regret on her face. Damn it, the boy is about to have his heart broken again! Teaspoon thought.
They needed time. Teaspoon could see Callie's need to talk to him brimming in her eyes, and he knew that Jimmy deserved an explanation that the rest of them weren't really entitled to. "Jimmy, will you escort Callie back to the station to get her things?"
Jimmy glanced up at Teaspoon in surprise, and for a moment Teaspoon thought he might refuse. Then he glanced at Callie and wordlessly nodded, starting to walk away briskly without her. Callie threw them all a horrified glare, and then picked up her skirts to hurry after him.
"Do you think that's a good idea, letting him go with her like that? I mean, Marshal, we've chased this girl across the Midwest! If she gets away now…" Washburn began.
"She won't," Kid said simply.
"But if he lets her go…"
"He won't," Lou chimed in, somewhat sadly, and walked away from all of them.
"Jimmy, wait up!" Callie nearly growled in exasperation, and with few a steps caught up to him. He lengthened his long stride and immediately gained the lead again.
"Damn it! Don't you even want to hear what I have to say?" Callie half-shouted from behind him.
This stopped Jimmy cold and he spun and stormed towards her, stopping when they were toe to toe. "Why would I? You haven't told me the truth yet, why should you start now! Oh, you did a good job Callie! You had me convinced that you needed saving something terrible. I guess Jarvis Malone is the only one that needed saving! Did you murder him before or after you started the fire? Before or after we went on our walk that night?"
Callie's eyes began stinging with tears, but she would have died before she let them fall. His anger brought fury surging back into her, along with the bitterness and fear she thought was behind her.
"And what about your brother? Did you just kill him, or did you finish off your parents too? Yellow Fever! Is that what they call bullets in the bayou?"
The sound of Callie's hand snapping against Jimmy's cheek was followed by deadly silence. Callie took an involuntary step backwards, though she knew Jimmy wasn't going to do her physical harm. Seeing the contempt in his eyes, she almost wished he'd strike her instead. "That's why I didn't tell you the truth, Wild Bill! Because you aren't interested in hearing it!"
It was her turn to storm into the lead and toward the main house.
Jimmy didn't say a word as he watched her walk off. He ached to ask her the questions whirling in his mind, but he was too scared of the answers. Too scared that there was more truth behind Washburn's words than he wanted to hear, and that he'd have his heart broken again. Anger was infinitely preferable to the sorrow that was already starting to pull at him with insistent fingers.
Callie gathered her things with shaking hands. Her heart was thumping in her throat. He was only a two day's ride from her. She couldn't even begin to imagine his wrath when he found her. She shivered, and glanced toward the hallway, where Jimmy waited with that damn granite look on his face. There was no way she could survive if the Senator took her back with him. She swallowed hard, resolving herself to the desperate measures that she would have to take.
She left her bag where it was and crept toward the door, her satin slippers not making a sound. Jimmy was less than three feet away. She leapt for him, and by the time he realized what was happening, her hands were secure on one of his ivory handled colts and she had it leveled right at him.
Jimmy watched her eyes carefully, trying to determine if she would pull the trigger or not. Jimmy realized as he looked at the panic in her eyes and the willful set of her jaw that she would. Her eyes begged him not to make her do it. Jimmy knew he could beat her to the draw. He also knew he couldn't ever put anything as beautiful and alive as she was to death, no matter the chaos she had wrought or the deeds she had done.
"Callie, you can't run forever," Jimmy said softly, "Someday you'll have to pay for what you've done!"
Callie sneered, "When the day comes that all I have to pay for is what I've done, I'll stop running, Jimmy Hickok!"
"They'll find you," Jimmy reminded her, "You might want to consider letting it be when you've got us to help you!"
"There is no help for me, Jimmy," Callie whispered, and finally tears crept into her eyes and they shone like diamonds in the lantern light. "There's nothing anyone can do for me now! I won't forget you. You are a fine man. And I hope, as much as you would like to, you won't forget me too quickly either!"
Jimmy looked down, thinking sadly of what might have been, and realized that he'd never forget Callie Sullivan. Whether she was good or bad, he didn't know, but she was unforgettable.
"Callie, I really think you should…" Jimmy began, starting to look up.
With an apologetic expression on her face she lunged forward and hit him in the temple with his own gun.
He sank to the floor and she darted to the stable, and saddled Ghost with flying hands. She swung onto him, and he skittered nervously at the billowing satin of her gown.
"Ride Safe, Callie," She heard a small voice call, and her heart slammed against the wall of her chest as she whirled the dappled gray around. Lou stood in the stable aisle, her arms wrapped around herself. Callie wished nothing more than to tell Lou, there's so much more to this than you know, but she knew she didn't have to. Lou's words had already told her that she understood.
Without another word spoken, but a world of understanding between the two women, Callie disappeared into the night, flashbacks of the night she'd left Sullivan Manor playing painfully in her mind.
Heavy footsteps sounded behind Lou a minute later, as Kid slid to a halt in the stable, instantly noticing The Ghost was gone. Kid's eyes, bright in the moonlight, bore into Lou's, which she was careful to keep hidden by the shadows.
"Did she get away?" He asked breathlessly.
"Yes," Lou murmured in a guarded fashion.
Kid shook his head in disbelief, then glared at Lou, disapproval in his eyes.
"You didn't hurt yourself trying to stop her, did you?" he asked sarcastically, "Did you help her get away, Lou?"
Lou glared at Kid, knowing that it was unfair of her to expect him to understand how she knew Callie couldn't go back to The Senator any more than she could have gone back to Wicks. She couldn't even explain it if she wanted to, but that didn't make the knowledge any less real.
"No, I didn't help her," Lou said steadily, and her eyes turned up to his and she looked deeply into them, "But if she asked me to, I would have." She then walked away and toward the main house, gently tugging at her ear bobs, knowing that what could have been a lovely night was over.
Lou found Jimmy weaving unsteadily from side to side in the hall. She hurried to him with swishing skirts and examined his bleeding head.
"We have to hurry, she's getting away!" Jimmy began, "she hit me with my gun!"
"She's gone Jimmy."
"You sound happy about that," Jimmy charged her weakly.
"Maybe I am," Lou sighed, then looked at the gash on his head again, "Well Jimmy, you are going to have one hell of a headache in the morning. But at least it don't need stitches."
"In the morning?" Jimmy groaned, "Hell, it couldn't be much worse than it is now!"
"Well, we better go tell Teaspoon what happened," Lou sighed.
Jimmy nodded and walked with her, placing a hand on her shoulder for support. At the top of the stairs he wove unsteadily, and Lou gently helped him sit down, and gracefully sank beside him, her burgundy silk skirts surrounding her like a pool of wine. Jimmy put his head in his hands as the weight of what had happened settled over him.
"Oh, Jimmy, I'm sorry," Lou began, placing a hand on his arm.
Jimmy shook his head to stop her, and continued to keep his face hidden. Lou wondered if he shed tears over Callie, but knew that if he did, he was too proud to let her see them.
"Why?" he began and paused before continuing, "why doesn't anything ever work out for me! And how could she do something like that to me! Why didn't she tell me?"
Lou wrapped her arm around him and laid her head on his hunched shoulder, "Jimmy, you know it isn't that simple! Sometimes it isn't as easy as coming out and telling someone! Callie was trapped, Jimmy. How long did I know Kid before I could tell him I was running from Wicks? And I still wouldn't have told him if he hadn't found me, I don't think, not ever!"
"It's different. She killed a man, and probably more than that. Her own brother!"
"Maybe, maybe not. But why did she do it? That's the important question, Jimmy. Did you ask her that?"
Jimmy shrugged and Lou knew his anger and initial hurt had prevented him from giving Callie the slightest kindness or understanding. She was sorry on both of their accounts for that. "You may have been too hard on her, Jimmy. If you recall you've been falsely wanted for murder, and so has Kid, so have I, so has Rachel! A piece of paper isn't hard to come by!"
"But a posse from New Orleans led by a United States Senator is hard to come by, Lou!"
"There are lots of reasons for chasing people, Jimmy. And if the Senator has enough friends where it counts, there may not be anyone asking his reasons."
"Maybe so, Lou," Jimmy said, and wiped his eyes and looked at her, "But I want to know just how you plan on explaining one thing."
"What's that?" Lou wondered as she helped him stand up again.
"Why she never denied it."
Lou stood there in silence, watching him stumble down the stairs and out the door. Who was Callie Sullivan? she wondered, sinking back down and resting her forehead on the cool silk covering her knees And what had she brought them all into?
In a moment, she hurried after Jimmy.
"I know the name Cyrus Stevenson," Teaspoon muttered for the fourth time, pacing his office. Buck, Cody, Rachel, and Jesse watched him wear holes in the floor. Robert Washburn nervously leaned in the doorway, awaiting the return of Callie and her guard.
"We heard you the first three times, Teaspoon," Cody mumbled sourly, "So who is he?"
Teaspoon glared at Cody and searched his memory, "I got it!" he finally said, "Stevenson was a commanding officer in the War for Texas! He's a highly decorated war hero!"
"That doesn't make things sound too good for Callie then Teaspoon, if he's so respectable," Rachel murmured.
Teaspoon shook his head, "Well, I didn't say he was respectable. I do know one thing though, he wasn't a liar. At least not back then. But he was ruthless. Being under his command was like suicide. He'd send boys in to die left and right. But he never pretended he didn't, or that he wouldn't risk their lives."
"And they called him a hero?" Buck wondered, raising his eyebrow.
"In the military, that's called heroic, Buck. He never failed to take anything he had his mind set on getting!"
"Sounds like a real nice guy," Cody said.
"Here comes the one you sent with Miss Sullivan, and he's coming back alone!" Washburn suddenly cried out, and started towards Jimmy. The others exchanged glances and hurried outside. They stopped in a line in front of Jimmy, and he felt as if he was facing a jury.
"Dare I ask what in God's name happened?" Teaspoon sighed, looking at the cut on Hickok's temple.
"She got away, Teaspoon."
"Yes, I figured that Jimmy, but how?"
"She hit me with my gun," Jimmy mumbled, looking at his toes.
"And what was she doing with your gun?" Teaspoon persisted.
"She snuck up on me and stole it," Jimmy said, beginning to draw lines in the dirt with the toe of the boot he still stared at.
"Idiot!" Washburn thundered, "The Senator is going to have my head!"
He turned to walk away just as Lou and Kid rushed up. Jimmy studied his artwork in the dust for a moment longer before wordlessly striding after Washburn.
"Where are you going, Jimmy?" Rachel wondered.
He kept walking, his shoulders hunched.
"Jimmy!" Teaspoon thundered, repeating the question "Where are you going?"
He paused then and looked at all of them, misery standing in his eyes, along with anger. "I'm going to catch a killer," He said softly, and turned to keep walking.
One by one, Cody, Buck, Kid, then Teaspoon started following also.
"What are y'all doing! You aren't going to do this? She's our friend!" Lou cried out, starting to run after them. But her cries and pleas wouldn't stop them. She watched as they saddled their horses. "You're fools! You may be sending her to a life she doesn't deserve! Or a death!"
"Lou, if you don't want to help us, you don't have to, but you'd better not get any ideas about getting in our way! If you help Callie, then you'll be in serious trouble too! We've got to bring her in!" Teaspoon said forcefully from atop his horse a moment later.
"Pardon me for not cheering you on!" Lou hissed, folding her arms across herself against the frigid night air as the horses began filing out.
"Lou…" Kid began looking down at her.
Lou shook her head, "If you're waiting on my blessing Kid, just ride out! I don't think y'all should give up on Callie so easily!"
Kid sighed, attempting to make some sort of peace. "Lou what do you know about this girl? Nothing!"
"More than I know about this Senator!" Lou shot back, "Go on, Kid, get out of here!" Lou said, looking away from him.
"There's a warrant for her Lou! What if she did do these things? Would you allow yourself to consider that for one minute? Maybe she didn't, but maybe she did! That's for a trial to decide, not us!"
"Ah, yes, due process! We all know how well that always works! Innocent until proven guilty! How grand!" Lou said sarcastically.
"Lou, I gotta go. If for no other reason than to watch Jimmy's back. He's upset right now and he won't be thinking clearly."
"You can say you're going because you want to see some cows fly, Kid. I don't care! It's wrong for you to help hunt that girl down like a dog!"
"Goodbye, Lou," Kid finally said softly, "I have to do this!"
Lou kept her jaw stubbornly clenched, fighting the urge to tell him to be careful. He sighed and wheeled Katy to catch up with the others. She was angry at all of them.
"Run, Callie!" She whispered into the night, "They're coming for you."
TO BE CONTINUED…On to Chapter IX
Copyright 1998-This work is not to be reproduced without the permission of the author
Email: gliterin@bellsouth.net