Chapter V

"He can't be dead!" Cody exclaimed at the older man, "Can't be!"

"I assure you he can be," The doctor snapped, squinting in the light of the candle he held, "Now is there any reason you boys are beating down my door in the middle of the night and telling me I don't know when one of my own patients is dead?"

Jimmy and Cody had the sense to look sheepish. It was the middle of the night, and they'd just made it to Sand Creek. In their urgent search they hadn't taken into account that the doctor would be asleep.

At the despair on the two young men's faces, the doctor softened a bit, "Were you family or friends of Roger Miller?"

"No sir. He just knew some valuable information that we need to save someone who is a friend of ours," Jimmy said with a sigh.

"And family," Cody added.

The doctor squinted. "Doesn't have anything to do with a girl in trouble does it?"

Jimmy's eyes were instantly piercing the doctor's. "It has everything to do with a girl in trouble."

"Maybe you two boys should come in," The doctor suggested and stepped aside so the two worn out, dirty men could come into his home.

Once they were inside, and the doctor's kind wife had brought the boys steaming cups of tea, the doctor relayed what he knew, "I was in the hotel when Roger was stabbed. I was checking on a guest who had a touch of the fever. I heard an awful ruckus from the office, as did all the other guests. Suddenly a man emerged, a small girl in his arms, who'd been beaten horribly. He told us that he'd stabbed the man inside in self- defense when he tried to rescue his fiancée from him. He sent one man after a doctor, and he left before I could say that I was a doctor. I walked in the office expecting to find some vermin from the street, but instead I found Roger Miller, who I've known since he was just a lad, nearly dead. I knew the man's story couldn't be true, Roger wouldn't harm a fly. I brought Roger back here and did the best I could, but it wasn't enough. I lost him early this evening."

"The townspeople think our friend is the one who killed him, in cold blood," Jimmy explained. "A posse has come to bring her back here to be hanged."

"The girl is your friend? Well, she did kill the other man, Frank Wicks."

"Yes, but she did so in self defense. He's tormented her since she was a girl,"

Cody said, "And the marks he left on her prove that. We just need some way to prove that she didn't kill Miller. The fact that Wicks told a lobby full of people that he'd done it is a good start."

"I can do better than that," The doctor said, "Roger was conscious just once before he died, and he told me, 'Help the girl get away from that man. He'll kill her just like he killed me!' He was very adamant about it, made me swear to help her. I'll testify that he said that. Most of the townspeople know and trust my word. Maybe I can help her after all."

Jimmy reached out for the doctor's hand, "Thank you sir! Can you ride out with us tonight? We're afraid they might try to hurt her before they get back here."

"Give me a few minutes to get my things in order," The doctor nodded, "I'm Richard Williams, by the way."

Cody introduced both of them and told Dr. Williams, "We'll meet you in the livery stable in half an hour."

Once outside the doctor's house, Jimmy and Cody collapsed on the porch in sheer exhaustion and relief. Suddenly Jimmy jumped to his feet, "Come on, let's check the hotel, we still haven't found out how Lou knew to meet him in Sand Creek in the first place."

"Does it matter?" Cody whined, "We already have enough to assure anyone that she didn't kill an innocent man!"

"I want to know!" Jimmy said, "Come on, we already been riding more than ten hours, and we are about to ride ten more. It ain't going to make that much difference if we rest five minutes or not."

"Speak for yourself," Cody growled, but followed his friend.

A few minutes later they were standing in the hotel, scanning the guest book. "Here it is, Miss Rachel Hunter. Clever, Lou," Jimmy murmured more to himself than Cody.

After getting the key from the clerk, they explored the room where Lou had been held captive. A violent shudder seized Jimmy when he thought of how terrified she must have been, and how desperate. Cody suddenly appeared from under the bed holding Lou's purple handbag. "Ah-ha!" He cried, and they instantly sat on the bed and emptied it on the space between them. Inside they found a fair amount of money, Lou's gun, and a piece of crumpled paper.

Cody quickly grabbed it and read it aloud. Both he and Jimmy exchanged furious glances when he was done, and Cody tucked the letter into the lapel of his buckskin coat. "So that's how he did it. He told her he had her brother and sister, and made her think they'd die if she brought help. She didn't stand a chance, and of course she wasn't going to risk coming to get us for help first," Jimmy said shaking his head.

"What if he really had them?" Cody wondered.

"He didn't," Jimmy said with conviction.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because Lou would have either returned with them, or not returned at all," Jimmy reasoned, "Let's ride. This is enough to prove that Wicks had every intention of killing her."

"Just hope we're in time!" Cody muttered as they ran for the stable.

*

Kid was aware of two things. First and foremost, he had a terrible headache. Secondly, he was freezing. His first thought was that Cody must have left the door open again, like he always managed to do on cold mornings when he had a ride and the others didn't.

But he wasn't in his bunk, he soon realized. He was on a floor, a stone floor...Suddenly he realized he was in the jail and that men had broken in the night before. He jumped to his feet, only to have his already aching goose egg crash into the desk above him. Cursing in pain and worry, he dared let his eyes dart over to the cell. As he feared, she was gone.

For the second time, she'd been taken from him.

Ignoring the dizziness and the sharp pains, Kid bolted from Teaspoon's office, not bothering to close the door behind him. He saddled Katy in record time, and pointed her in the direction of Sand Creek without ever looking back or considering wasting enough time to ask for help.

*

"Rider comin' fast!" A man from the back of the posse shouted.

Marshal Ben Gates swung in his saddle to see a young man riding hell-bent for them. He sighed when he recognized the young man who had been caring for Louise McCloud.

"Could be trouble boys! Be on your toes, but don't do anything stupid! He's just a boy!" The marshal warned.

Kid pulled Katy to a trembling halt at the back of the line, right in front of the wagon that Lou lay in.

"Now son..." The marshal began.

"You had no right to do what you did!" Kid screamed, pointing at the marshal, "I'm taking her back with me!"

"I can't let you do that, and neither can any of these men. We are taking this girl to be tried for murder."

Kid reached for his gun, but the men had been ready, and several barrels were aimed at him before his cleared the hostler.

"Go back to Rock Creek, son. Tell Teaspoon Hunter that the girl was conscious and able to travel."

"I'm not leaving without her!" Kid insisted.

"Boy, I'm growing tired of this. Get out of here, or I'll put you under arrest for obstructing justice."

Kid sighed. If it meant staying with Lou, he'd have to do it.

"I'm not going."

"Ken, put the irons on him," Ben Gates said, though he was somewhat rattled. It was rare to find someone who would openly defy him without a trace of fear.

Kid glanced over his shoulder after the cuffs weighted his wrists, and hoped for signs of Teaspoon. Teaspoon could stop this madness. He glanced at Lou in the wagon. Her eyes were open and fixed on the sky. She moved them neither to the left nor right, nor did she blink often. She was ashen and listless. Kid called her name softly once, but she didn't respond. Dread settled in the pit of his stomach, and he would have given anything to go to her.

As they rode along, he searched the faces of the men. Why did everyone believe that Lou had killed one of their friends? Who had lied, who had something to gain from lying? His eyes finally rested on a rough looking character who threw several uneasy glances in his direction.

Thomas Harley looked away quickly as the man who rode in handcuffs stared intently at him. A chill of unease swept up and down his spine. There was murder in that man's eyes, Harley decided. Despite the fact the man couldn't use his hands, Harley was afraid of him.

They pushed ever westward, under a sky that was growing ominous with thunderheads. Lightning flashed ahead and the wind was picking up.

Kid was watching the ever-darkening sky when three riders came into view. He straightened in interest, recognizing Jimmy's golden palomino. When it became obvious that the riders were coming toward them, Marshal Gates called for the posse to halt.

Kid was relieved at the arrival of Jimmy and Cody, and another man.

"It's Doc Williams," One of the men said, "And it looks like two of them boys from Rock Creek."

"What's going on Richard?" The marshal shouted over the howling wind.

"You're making a mistake Ben. The girl isn't the one who stabbed Roger Miller."

"How do you know?"

Jimmy spotted Kid, his hands bound together at the back of the posse, and nudged Cody. They moved closer to where he sat on Katy.

"What are you doing here?" Cody wondered for both of them, as the doctor explained how Roger Miller had died defending the girl from Wicks, and how Wicks had admitted in front of all the hotel's guest that it had been him who had killed the man.

"They took Lou last night. They knocked me out. When I woke up, I rode after her."

"Where are the others?" Jimmy asked.

"Back at Rock Creek. They weren't in the jail at the time, and I don't even know if they've missed me yet. Did you find a way to get Lou out of this?"

"What does the jail have to do with this?" Cody wondered.

"Never mind that," Jimmy said, "This whole damn thing has had more twists and turns...Anyhow, we found the doctor who cared for Miller, who actually died defending Lou. And we found the ransom note for Lou's brother and sister that Wicks sent her."

Thunder suddenly shook the earth and there was a moment of chaos as everyone tried to bring their spooked horses under control.

The marshal was then asking to see the ransom note, which Cody gladly handed over. After he read it, his eyes sought out Thomas Harley, who had been edging toward the wagon carrying Lou.

"You've got a whole hell of a lot of explaining to do," Ben Gates thundered as the first fat drops of rain fell.

"She's a murderess!" He screeched, and drew his gun.

Lightning flashed and the world seemed to move in slow motion in the seconds that followed.

Kid, seeing that Harley was moving toward Lou, flung himself off Katy, screaming "Jimmy!" as he did so.

He fell on his knees but scrambled up as Jimmy's gun cleared his holster. Thunder crashed and the sky opened up in torrents of rain as the two guns went off simultaneously, one toward the wagon, one toward Thomas Harley.

And then, it was over, and everyone sat motionless in the pouring rain, trying to understand what had just happened. Slowly, Thomas Harley slid sideways off his horse and fell dead to the ground.

Kid, who had frozen in shock at the sound of the gunshots suddenly screamed Lou's name, and dared to peek over the edge of the wagon. A bullet had been fired into it, he knew and there wasn't a large window for missing.

Jimmy and Cody in the meantime had flung themselves off their horses and hurried for the wagon's edge also, expecting the worse.

There lay Lou, her eyes closed against the rain, with a bullet hole in the wood not half a foot from her head. She seemed not to notice the near miss.

Kid, Jimmy, and Cody all grabbed the edge of the wagon for support as they stood on knees trembling with relief.

Suddenly Kid was striding away from the wagon and toward the marshal.

"Get these off of me!" He demanded, thrusting his wrists toward the man with the key.

The marshal wordlessly did so, seeing too late the mistake he had made. The men looked at each other in confusion, trying to grasp that one of the men they had sought justice for had actually been the one to kill the other man they sought revenge for.

Kid leapt in the wagon beside Lou and gently gathered her into his arms. She stirred and cried out in fear, and fought for a moment before her wild eyes rested on Kid's face.

"I thought they had killed you," She whispered, her voice sounding rusty after days of not speaking.

"I thought they'd killed you too." Kid said and then was overcome by an emotion so strong he could no longer speak. Instead he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.

Then he was gathering her in his arms and standing in the wagon. Over the heads of the other men his determined gaze found the marshal's.

"We're going home," He stated.

The marshal still said nothing; he merely nodded his head.

The men watched as the girl was handed to Jimmy, who waited until the Kid was on Katy to hand her back to him. The girl cringed and cried out softly in pain, but it was lost in the downpour.

Jimmy and Cody swung on to their horses, and without a backward glance, the four of them turned and headed back for Rock Creek.

Marshal Ben Gates swallowed the apology that had formed at the base of his throat, and instead turned his horse and motioned to his men to follow. They began riding in the opposite direction. The only reminder of the whole event for them was Thomas Harley's dead body, which was thrown into the back of the wagon.

The other horsemen were not so lucky. The precious cargo they had retrieved would carry a legacy of scars on her body and her soul for all her days to serve as a reminder.

They were not too far from Rock Creek when another group of horsemen approached them. Buck, Noah, and Teaspoon pulled up in front of them sheepishly.

"Is she all right?" Buck asked, looking at Lou who'd been asleep against Kid's chest for most of the ride back.

"She will be," Kid said softly.

"Should we be expecting another posse to come retrieve her any time soon?" Teaspoon wondered.

"No, everything was cleared up. Lou killed Wicks, but Wicks is the one who killed the hotel clerk. The doctor, who is a very respectable citizen told the marshal that," Cody supplied.

"Kid, you all right?" Teaspoon wondered, looking at the boy who had a gash on his temple.

"Yeah. Let's go home."

And they did go home, and Lou was put to bed to begin her healing.
<