Eunice Price swayed on her feet as she opened the front door. A day full of drinking had taken its toll. Her bleary eyes blinked spasmodically as she tried to focus on the face of the man framed in the doorway.
“Mrs. Price, I’ve come to see Sarah.” The voice was soft and gentle but through Eunice’s haze she could still recognize the voice that was oft times rough and cruel. The man stood with a politeness most uncommon to him. His black broad brimmed hat was in his hand as a gesture of courtesy.
“What do you want?” Eunice’s words slurred with disgust.
Peso Martin ignored the rebuff. “Like I said Mrs. Price, I’ve come to see Sarah.”
“Well she don’t want to see you.” She started to push the door closed but Peso placed his right foot between the door and the jam. He pushed forward and Eunice staggered back from the door, half stumbling and almost falling. Her hand on the knob managed to keep her upright.
“Sarah! Sarah!” Peso shouted as he stepped into the vestibule.
“I didn’t say you could come in!” Eunice shouted, grasping at Peso’s shirt sleeve, trying to hold him back as he stepped to the foot of the stairs.
Sarah appeared on the landing above. “What’s going on?” She was saying. Then on seeing Peso Martin at the foot of the stairs, her eyes softened. She totally ignored her mother’s frustration. “Oh, Peso. What on earth are you doing in here?”
“I’ve come a courtin’ little darling’.” He answered with a big smile on his face. He shook Eunice off and she staggered blindly away. “I’ve finally come to my senses, girl.” He oozed charm. “You’re the one I really want.”
Sarah smiled broadly and poked at her hair as if putting it in place. “Really, Peso?”
“Yeah. Really.” He could have choked on his own words, but he was well practiced with deceitful charm. “Come on down little darlin‘.” You and I are gonna go out and have us a time.”
Eunice had all she could do to find her chair in the parlor and drop into it. She was so very tired. So very confused. But, she still shuddered at the sound of the front door slamming behind Peso and Sarah as the sounds of their laughter drifted off into the stillness of an empty home.
“Twenty thousand?” Frankie the Kid said. His face was mashed against the bars separating him from the other two cells as if that would bring him closer to Jeremy Carlin. “Is that how much you and your gang stole?”
“Ignore him, Jeremy,” Dandy Jim urged. He was lounging on the bunk now. Jeremy had been pacing the cell.
“I guess I underestimated you and that crazy bunch you ride with. Twenty thousand is quite a haul. I didn’t figure you so bold,” Frankie added. “Must rankle you real bad that you had to give it back.”
“Shut up!” Jeremy retorted. “You didn’t help much by horning in. If you’da stayed out of it, we never would’ve been caught.”
“Seem to me your purty dandy friend there caused you more trouble than we did.” Frankie said.
Jeremy glanced at Butler. “Yeah. You got that right,” he said with disdain.
Dusk had drifted away to almost complete night by the time Matt Starr finished his meal at the Blue Bonnet Café. He had been hungry for he had not eaten all day, but somehow he didn’t enjoy his meal. He had already forgotten what he had eaten. His head was filled with thoughts of Kitty and her gang. He feared for what may happen to them and to Jeremy while he was away to Tucson. He wondered what Simon Price was really up to and he knew better than to underestimate the man.
He had just stepped off the boardwalk in front the café and started across the street toward the hotel when he saw Sarah Price wheeling a buckboard into town. The team of unmatched horses was lathered from being driven long and hard. She pulled the horses to a halt in front of the Sheriff’s office and jumped down from the wagon before the horses had fully come to a stop. She bounded up to the office door, opened it and darted inside.
Matt wondered what that was all about and decided he had better find out. He had just changed his course and stated for the jail when he saw Flo Baxter rush out the front door of the hotel and into the street. She stopped momentarily, looking up and down the street, and then as if seemingly seeing Matt for the first time in the dim light, she waved at him and ran forward, shouting. “Marshal! Marshal Starr!”
She ran up to him. Her breathing was deep and labored. Her eyes were wide with excitement. “Oh Marshal! I’m so glad I found you.” She grasped him by both arms, pinning them to his sides.
“What? What’s the matter?” Matt Starr asked awkwardly. Somehow the damsel in distress routine didn’t seem fitting for Flo Baxter.
“Have… have you seen Sheriff Trask?” She blurted. “I’ve looked all over for him. I…I can’t find him anywhere.” Her fingers dug into his arms. Even through the fabric of his shirt he could feel the sharpness of her painted nails.
“No. I haven’t. Did you check his office?”
“Of course That‘s the first place I looked.”
“What‘s the matter?’ Starr asked. “Why are you. looking for him?”
“I… I’ve been robbed.” Flo said frantically
“Robbed? Who robbed you. What did they take?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Flo said. “I mean I don’t know who did it. But they stole money and jewelry from my room. Even my best broach.”
“Couldn’t one of the deputies have helped you?”
“There was only one at the sheriff’s office and he said he had to guard the prisoners. Oh, Marshal Starr, can you help me?”
“Well, it’s not really my job…….” Matt started to protest.
“But you’re a lawman. Surely, you can help me. Please come take a look at my room. Maybe you might find a clue or something.”
“”Or something,” Matt thought to himself. Somehow, he was sure Flo was trying to play him for a sucker. The woman just didn’t have it in her to be on the level.
“Oh, come on. Just take a look.” She had turned and was pulling him by the arm behind her as she led the way back to the hotel. She wasn’t giving him a chance to say no and he almost stumbled forward following her lead reluctantly.
“Oh well,” Matt thought to himself. “Might as well find out what this is all about.” He knew whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.
“You’ve got a visitor, Carlin,” Deputy Sims said escorting Sarah Price into the cell area.
“Sarah?” Jeremy exclaimed, rushing to the bars. He clamped his hands tightly around them and pressed his face through the bars as much as he could.
“Oh, Jeremy,” Sarah said as she rushed up to him, placing her hands on as much cheek as she could, through the bars and kissed him hard on the lips.
Jeremy was stunned by the sudden display of affection. It had been a long while since he and Sarah had been close. Ever since the death of his father and his time on the owl hoot trail with Kitty and the others, he had scarcely thought of Sarah Price.
A flurry of cat calls went up from the other cell as Frankie the Kid and his cohorts took notice of the attractive girl now throwing herself on Jeremy Carlin.
“Now if that don’t beat all,” Frankie said. “What you got, Carlin? A babe like that and twenty thousand dollars and you’re stuck in here?”
Sarah broke off the kiss and leaned back, still holding Jeremy’s cheeks. She glared angrily at the boys in the other cells.
“Don’t pay them no mind,” Jeremy said. “They’re just punks.”
“Oh, Jeremy,” Sarah said. “I’ve missed you so. Remember those times down at the pond.?”
“Yes, Sarah,“ Jeremy said wistfully. “I do.” Pleasant memories were creeping back into his brain and he suddenly felt very sad.
“Oh, Jeremy, why did things have to turn out like this?”
Reality suddenly flooded back. “Your father. It was all his………” The words came out tinged with anger.
Sarah removed her hands from Jeremy’s face and took a step back. “My father. Yes I know.” She let her head bow and her e
yes closed momentarily.
She lifted her head again and her eyes opened. “That’s why I can’t let him do this to you, Jeremy.” She stepped closer and lowered her voice. “That’s why I came here. I came to help you get away.”
Dandy Jim Butler looked up suddenly. He thought he heard what she said, but he wasn’t completely sure. If he had heard correctly, he couldn’t believe that Simon Price’s daughter had anything but harm in store for Jeremy. He sorely hoped that Jeremy wouldn’t believe her either.
Flo’s room was in complete disarray. Dresser drawers were open and clothing was hanging out. Some were strewn about the floor. Furniture was turned over and it certainly looked like there had been a robbery or at least someone had been looking for something.
“See Marshal,” Flo said waving her arms as if presenting the grand scene. “Just like I told you. I’ve been robbed.”
Matt stepped further into the room, gazing about. He walked to the window, pulled the curtains aside and lifted the blind. He felt along the edges of the window and tested the lock. It was secure.. “Didn’t come in the window. Door didn’t seem to have been broken into. How’d they get in?”
“Why, they must have broken in through the door,” Flo offered in the way of explanation. There was a slight nervousness and a touch of uncertainty in her voice.
“But there was no damage to the door. Did you perhaps leave it unlocked?’
“Why, no. I always lock it when I leave the room” She rushed to the door that was still standing open. The key was still in the lock inside the door. “See,” she said grasping the door knob. Then she stepped back, pressing her palm to her chest feigning surprise. “Oh, my,” she said apologetically. “I guess I didn’t. Look the key is still in the lock.” She shoved the door closed, plucked the key from the lock and dropped it down the top of her low cut blouse. “Silly me,” she said. “I almost never do that. I won’t let it happen again. I’m sure of that.”
Sarah Price pulled a Smith and Wesson .38 revolver from her jacket pocket and slid it through the bars pushing it into Jeremy’s hands. She squared her body in front of him to hide the motion.
“What..what are doing?” Jeremy said with sudden surprise. His voice was almost a whisper. Dandy Jim’s interest was more piqued. He strained his ears trying to hear, but the words were too muffled.
“I’m getting you out of here,” Sarah whispered. “I’ve got a horse waiting for you out back.”
“But the deputy?”
“Don’t worry about him. Just call him in and when he comes, you get the drop on him. Get him to let you out. Then you lock him up and then you ride out. It‘ll be that easy.”
“I can’t do that,” Jeremy protested, although his mind was racing with the thought of escape and freedom.
“Yes, you can. You’ve got to. My father’s been talking about hanging you. I can’t let that happen.”
“But what about you? You’ll be in trouble for helping me.”
“My father won’t do anything to me. Besides, we can make it look like you took advantage of me. When you call him in, I’ll be turned around with my back against the bars. You put an arm around my neck and point the gun at my head.”
“But I can’t,” Jeremy protested.
“You have to,” Sarah ordered. “If you’re not going to call him in here, I’ll get him in here myself.” She let out scream and whirled to place her back against the bars.
“Quick! Your arm around me. Put the gun to my head,” she whispered.
The sudden movement startled Dandy Jim Butler. He leaped to his feet. “Hey what are doing?” He blurted.
At the same instant Deputy Sims appeared in the cell area. He halted coming up short at the sight before him. “What’s going on here?” He exclaimed, reaching for his hip and realizing he wasn’t wearing a gun.
Whether he liked it or not, Jeremy knew the play had been opened. There was nothing else he could do, but see it through.
“Don’t move, Deputy!” Jeremy ordered. “Or I’ll kill the girl.”
“Jeremy!” Butler shouted. “Don’t do this.” He stepped forward behind Jeremy.
“I hear you back there, Jim,” Jeremy said without turning his attention from the deputy. “The same goes for you too. Don’t try anything or the girl gets it.”
Butler hardly believed that but he stepped back and away anyhow. “It’s your play, son,” he said. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I hope so too,” Jeremy thought to himself. His hand trembled and the gun muzzle wavered. “I hope so, too.”
Chapter Eighteen
Wildcat Kitty and the Cyclone Kid Page 19