by Barbara Goss
Charlie was glad to have Shep for company. Each night, he slept on a rug at the foot of the bed.
Two weeks had gone by, and there was still no word about Leo or Jesse. Charlie thought about putting on her gun belt and hunting for Leo herself.
Jesse was in her prayers every night. Why hadn't he come home yet?
Jesse opened his eyes slowly. He wondered where he was and what had happened to him. He tried to sit up, but severe pain knocked him back down. He was in a neatly furnished room with fluffy white curtains on the windows and a few chairs near a bureau. Where in blazes was he? And how did he get there? Why did his body ache so?
He felt around. Someone had propped him up with several pillows behind him. Why?
Jesse closed his eyes and tried to bring up his last memory. He remembered having a bite to eat at an eating place... Jesse held his head as he tried to recall more. Yes! He recollected Roy walking in and approaching him, but then his memory grew foggy.
He had to get home to Charlie. He was done tracking Leo and his gang. Jesse closed his eyes again and tried to remember what had happened to him, but he couldn’t recall anything beyond confronting Roy. They must have had a shootout, but he didn’t remember it.
The door to the room opened, and Jesse turned to see a man he’d never seen before enter the room and walk up to his bed.
“So, you are awake!”
The man was small, gray-haired, and wore wire-rimmed spectacles.
“Where am I? Who are you?”
The man turned and pulled up a chair to sit by Jesse’s bed.
“I’m Dr. Benedict. Josiah Benedict. You are a guest in my home. I thought you’d be more comfortable here in my home rather than at my clinic, and safer, too.”
“Safer?”
“You have a nice hole in your back,” he said. “Anyone who would shoot a man in the back is dangerous. I wanted to keep you safe.”
“My back? Someone shot—” Jesse stopped mid-sentence. He remembered challenging Roy to a shootout, and that scoundrel had shot him in the back. Jesse felt like jumping from the bed and racing to find Roy Barkley. "That lily-livered chicken.”
“Do you know who shot you?” the doctor asked.
“Roy Barkley. He works at the lumberyard.”
“I’ll have the sheriff pay Mr. Barkley a visit after I examine you. I saved the bullet I pulled from your back. If it matches his gun... well, he’s going to jail, so don’t worry.”
“I’d love to get a hold of him myself, but I just want to go home.”
“You won’t be going anywhere for a while.”
Jesse tried to sit up again, but the doctor pushed him gently down. “You’re a lucky man. The bullet nicked a lung and barely missed your spine. If it had hit your spine, you might have been paralyzed. You are also fortunate that someone in the street was smart enough to apply pressure and carry you quickly to the clinic or you’d have bled to death.” The doctor peered at him from above his spectacles. “Are you a praying man, by any chance?”
“I am,” Jesse said, followed by a long drawn-out sigh. “Thanks to my lovely wife.”
Chapter Sixteen
Charlie paced the sitting room floor. She was beside herself, worrying about Jessie, his money, and Leo. She couldn’t just sit home and do nothing, but what could she do? She was smart enough to know that she shouldn’t go out hunting Leo alone, but Sean couldn’t leave Sophia on her own. Sophia wasn’t like Charlie—she didn’t shoot, and she wasn’t a good rider. She was a typical New York lady, which is probably why Sophia had suiters in Niagara Falls, and she hadn’t.
A loud knock on the door startled her from her thoughts. She opened the door to see Deputy Marcus Campbell.
He removed his wide-brimmed hat. “Howdy,” he said.
“Good morning, Deputy. Won’t you come in?”
Marcus stepped into the sitting room. “I just stopped in to tell you with the help of my brother Daniel, we have all three of your brother’s friends locked up.”
Charlie let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“They were riled up some when I told them Leo had run off with a box of your money, as they had made a pact to share everything they stole,” Marcus said. “So, they told me where they think Leo might have gone.”
Charlie got excited. “Where?”
“The one named Wally said that after Leo visited his sisters they were to meet at Lilah’s, but if the three men were no longer there, they’d meet in Laramie at a saloon called The Branding Iron. They weren’t sure if he’d still go there now that he had money and no plan to share it.”
“It seems to me he’d go somewhere else, then,” Charlie said.
“That’s what I told Wally. Then George mentioned that Leo had been close to a saloon woman in Woodcliff, named Ginger. He kept mooning over her, and they had a hard time getting him out of Woodcliff. George thinks he’ll go back there to pick up Ginger and take her with him.”
“Where is Woodcliff?” Charlie wasn’t at all familiar with the area. The only places she knew were Sunset Creek and Sterling’s Mill.
“It’s between Sterling’s Mill and Cheyenne.”
“I’ll find it,” Charlie said.
“You can’t go alone.” Marcus rubbed his chin. “Tell you what: I’ll give you a few trustworthy men from my posse to go with you. I’d send them alone, but they wouldn’t know what Leo looked like since there wasn’t a picture of him on the poster.”
“How soon can we leave?” Charlie was eager to get the money back.
“I’ll round them up and send them over today. Now, you can trust these men. They are all Christian men with families,” Marcus said.
“That’s good to know, but I can take care of myself,” Charlie said. “I’ll be ready when they get here.”
Jesse was sitting in a chair with a big fluffy pillow behind him when Dr. Benedict strolled in. “How’s my patient today?”
“Eager to go home.”
“I’d let you go if you had another means of travel. Horseback would be too jarring for your wound,” the doctor said.
“I could rent a buggy from the livery and pull my horse behind it.”
“That would work except you can’t rent a buggy to go as far as Sunset Creek. How would you return it?
“When you get home, I want you to take it easy. Rest, if you understand that word, young man.”
“Then I’ll buy a buggy from them,” Jesse said.
“If they have an old one, they might sell it. Let me talk to Vernon Burdick, the owner, and see what we can do for you.” The doctor left the room.
Jesse wondered how Charlie was getting along. He’d never expected to be gone that long. He had thought about having the doctor send a wire to Charlie or Sean to let them know he was all right, but he didn’t want Charlie to worry. She thought he was on a bounty job, and he thought it best if she kept thinking that. He knew she’d try to ride there alone if she knew.
The doctor returned with a frown, and Jesse knew his hope of getting a buggy had vanished.
“I have good news and bad news; which do you want first?” the doctor asked.
Jesse sighed. “The bad news.”
“The sheriff went to Roy’s home, but he couldn’t find a gun. Roy swears he wasn’t even in town the day you were shot.”
Jesse rolled his eyes. “The good news?”
“While I hate to see my favorite patient leave, Vernon will sell you an old buggy for three dollars. I’ll let you take one of my pillows for behind your back. You’ll do fine—it’s only six or so miles of travel."
“Can I leave now?”
“More good news,” the doctor said. “We may be able to lock up Roy yet. I have a visitor who’d like to see you. She claims she witnessed the shooting and has agreed to testify. Will you see her?”
Jesse shrugged. “Sure. I’d be more than happy to.”
The doctor opened the door and to his surprise, Delia walked in. “Hello, Jesse.”
“Deli
a! You saw Roy shoot me?”
Delia waited until the doctor had quietly left the room before saying, “No. He came home and bragged about it, so I told the sheriff I saw him shoot you.”
“But why?”
“Because it’s the least I can do after what I nearly did to you. With Roy locked up, I won’t have to worry about him turning me in for killing my old landlord—it was an accident.”
Jesse shook his head. “And your sister? Won’t she be furious with you?”
“No, Gwen hates Roy. He’s been tossing her around lately. I think something inside of his brain has snapped. She and I are going back to Kansas after I testify. We want to be sure Roy’s locked up.”
Jesse’s voice softened. “I appreciate that, Delia. Now I won’t have to hunt him down and have a proper shootout.”
Jesse found the door to his house locked. He thought that perhaps Charlie had gone to stay with Sean and Sophia. He unlocked the door and felt tired and weak, so he laid down on the bed and fell asleep. When he awoke, it was dark outside, and he undressed to get properly into bed. Jesse emptied his pockets and found that he still had seventeen dollars on him. He took the money into the kitchen, reached up to put it into the safe, and nearly fainted when he saw that his safe had been stolen.
He sat down on a kitchen chair. No, Charlie would never take the money and run. Maybe someone had come in and taken them both. Then he knew—Leo! He’d taken the money and Charlie.
Jesse had to find his wife. He went to bed with the intention of looking for them in the morning. It was dark, and he was in pain. It would have to wait until dawn.
Jesse drove the buggy to Sean’s. He pulled into the yard, and Sean came out to greet him. “Jesse! Where have you been?”
“I’ve been laid up. That rat Roy shot me in the back like a coward.”
Jesse stepped carefully down from the buggy. “Where’s Charlie?”
Sean shrugged. “I thought she was home. It upset her that the deputy had only arrested Leo’s friends. They can’t find Leo.”
Jesse rubbed his forehead. “She’s not home, Sean. Could Leo have taken her?”
“No. He grabbed your safe and took off one morning before Charlie was awake. She’s furious.”
“That no good. I know what I want to call him, but I need to change my words now that I’m a church-going Christian man. You know what Roy and Leo are.”
“Sophia has me going too, and I can’t believe I've spent my entire life without God. How did I ever survive?”
“God and my prayers kept me alive,” Jesse said. “Now, I need Him to help me find my wife.”
Sean helped Jesse into the house. “You’ll stay right here on our settee. Sophia will make you something to eat. I’ll go into town to see if the deputy knows where she is. Anna Barringer, my cousin, died, and Deputy Campbell has been taking over until Geoff comes back. He’s taking his wife’s death pretty hard.”
“I’m sorry.” Jesse sat down. He heard Sean tell his wife to bring him breakfast.
Sean returned to the sitting room. “What became of Roy?” Sean asked.
“He’s in jail. I had a witness to the shooting: Delia.”
“That’s a good place for him. Will Delia testify to it?”
“Yes, and then she and Gwen are going back to Kansas.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Sean moved toward to door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Jesse. I’m sure someone at the sheriff’s office knows what’s going on. Relax for now.”
Jesse stood as soon as Sean walked into the house. “Where’s Charlie?”
“You won’t believe this... well, maybe you will.” Sean chuckled. “Your wife went with a posse to find Leo.”
Chapter Seventeen
The posse and Charlie viewed the small town, while sitting on a hill overlooking Woodcliff.
“Would you be able to recognize your brother’s horse?” Clem Richards asked.
Charlie shook her head. “It was just an ordinary brown horse.”
“Looks like there’s only one saloon in this town,” Clem said. “I’ll go down and look around. I’ll buy a few men drinks and see what I can find out.”
Charlie watched Clem disappear down the hill. She sat on her horse beside Buck Winters and Howie Andrews.
“Hey, don’t worry, little lady,” Howie said. “We’ll find him. Let’s join hands and pray for it.”
Charlie, Buck, and Howie held hands and prayed they’d find Leo.
“He might be a while, we should sit under a tree or something to wait,” Buck said.
Charlie nodded. “I want to sit right on the edge of the hill in case I should spot Leo.” She wished her hair hadn’t grown back so fast or she might have passed as a lad again, and she could have gone into the saloon with Clem.
About an hour later, Clem and his horse climbed back up the hill. “Your brother’s in there,” he said when he reached the top. “Now, we need to think of a plan. The place is full of men, and if we go in there to grab him, a fight will ensue, and we’ll lose him. Men drinking will fight at the drop of a hat, and they don’t even care what it’s about.”
“How do you know it’s him?” Charlie asked.
“I asked around. A woman named Ginger was sitting on his lap. I heard someone calling her Ginger, so I asked the man next to me, ‘Whose lap is Ginger on now?’ He said, ‘Some guy named Leo from New York.’”
“I could go down there,” Charlie said. “He would never hurt me. Maybe I could get him outside to talk and then you guys could grab him.”
“No,” Clem said, “it’s too dangerous. The town is small, but I heard they have a good sheriff. How about if I get him to help us?”
“Can we talk to the sheriff?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t see why not,” Clem said. “Let’s go, but slowly, like we’re just strangers passing through town.”
After a night’s rest at Sean’s, Jesse dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. He sat down and ate as much as he could because he didn’t know when he’d eat again.
Jesse pushed away from the table. “Wonderful breakfast, Sophia. Sorry to eat and run, but I’m going to see the deputy to find out where the posse and Charlie went. I’m going to find her.”
“Don’t be a fool, Jesse,” Sean said. “You aren’t well enough. Stay and rest a few more days.”
“No, this is something I have to do. It will drive me crazy if I stay here, knowing that Charlie might be in danger.”
“I’d go with you, but I don’t want to leave Sophia alone. And what about your dog? Someone needs to feed him and let him out.”
“I never got around to building him a doghouse.” Jesse moved to the door. “I’d appreciate it if you cared for Shep. You can bring him here. It will make things easier for you.” Jesse tossed him a house key and left.
Jesse’s back felt better when he galloped rather than trotted. It was a smoother ride, and he’d get to Woodcliff faster besides. He didn’t care if he ever got the money back. All he cared about was getting his wife back safely, and he prayed all the way to Woodcliff. Their last night together had been heaven on earth.
The sign over the sheriff’s office read, “Sheriff Austin Granger.” Buck, Clem, Howie, and Charlie walked in to find a man behind the desk with sharp eyes and a curling mustache. “How can I help you, folks?” he asked.
Clem stepped in front of the others. “There’s a man in the saloon who stole money from this young lady.” He pointed at Charlie. “We want your help in bringing him to jail and possibly getting her husband’s small safe back.”
“You folks aren’t from around here, so how do you know there’s a thief in the saloon?” Granger asked.
“I went into the saloon and did some spying. He’s with a saloon woman named Ginger.”
“Ginger?” Granger laughed. “Everyone is with Ginger at some point.”
“His name is Leo, and when I was in there, she was sitting on his lap,” Clem said.
The sheriff picked up his
hat. “You folks stay here. I’ll find him and bring him back.”
“No, that will scare him off. Let me go in and bring him out, then you can grab him,” Charlie said.
“But he could shoot you,” the sheriff said.
“No. He’d never shoot me. He’s my brother, but I want him locked up for robbing me, and heaven only knows what other crimes he’s committed. The rest of his gang is locked up in Sunset Creek.”
The sheriff hesitated and then shrugged. “All right, but we’ll be hiding nearby, just in case.”
Charlie took a deep breath, walked across the street, and entered the saloon. It was smoky inside, and it took a few minutes for her to spot Leo. Ginger was still on his knee, and he was touching her inappropriately and kissing her. She walked right up to him and cleared her throat.
Leo was startled, and he stood quickly, dumping Ginger onto the floor.
She stood up, placed her hands on hips, and glared at him while Leo stared at Charlie intently.
“How did you find me?” he asked.
“Your gang is in jail, and they were so outraged that you planned to cheat them out of what you stole from me, that they told us where to find you.”
Leo swore under his breath. “So, what now? I don’t have the money with me.”
“Everyone is watching us. Let’s continue our conversation outside.” Charlie led the way to the saloon door, but she peeked back to be sure he was following.
He whispered something to Ginger, before walking out the door after Charlie. Once outside he said, “I could kill you and keep that money. There was a small fortune in that safe.”
“You could, but my husband would hunt you down and kill you before you had the chance to spend the money.”
“Ha!” Leo laughed. “Your husband is dead. I shot him near Cheyenne weeks ago.”