Chapter 1

He’d been sheriff for almost five years when the cattle crew came through and brought hell with them.

Jeremy Quinn was a good man, prone to calmly talking people into not doing anything stupid or illegal. He had a knack for getting drunks to calm down and go home or come with him to the jail before they broke something or someone.

He kept a watchful yet quiet eye on all the gambling at the saloon. He knew all of the men in town who played poker on a regular basis and knew the ones with fast fingers. When a stranger came in and sat in on a game he watched long enough to know if he was dealing with a stranger who played poker or a poker player who was a stranger.

That’s what got him killed.

The cattle crew came through and several were at three different tables. One of the tables also had a stranger playing and he looked like he was setting up a major play. Jeremy walked around the saloon like usual. He gave a tip of the hat to the saloon girls as they walked towards the stairs with a soon to be happy cowboy.

Suddenly a cowboy jumped up from his seat and yelled, “Damn tinhorn!”

He drew his gun and the stranger suddenly was holding a sleeve gun and the two men shot at the same time. The stranger dropped into his seat; the cowboy fell to the floor. Jeremy sped to the table and immediately saw that both men were alive.

“Somebody get Doc! These two need help.”

“That one don’t need the Doc he needs the undertaker,” one of the cattle outfit said.

With those words the speaker drew and shot the stranger in the chest. Jeremy turned to face the cowboy. He was going to talk to him but instead the cowboy shot him through the heart. Barney Kruger, the bartender, took out the shooter with a slug from his shotgun and suddenly all in the saloon was quiet.

Several of the locals rushed to check on Jeremy, who was very dead. The rest of the men in the cattle outfit began to gather together in case they needed to defend themselves.

Barney called out from behind the bar as he reload the shotgun, “Who’s trail boss?”

“That would be me,” a tall thin man answered. “Names Tom Spokes.”

“Mr. Spokes, I assume that these were your men?”

“They were. Parker there is a hot head, or he was. Travis there was his partner.”

Doc came running in and looked over the scene. He quickly moved to the man with the most people around him figuring that was the one still alive. He was wrong. The stranger was dead. The man who shot him first was dead. The man who killed the stranger was dead. And Jeremy was dead.

While Doc was going from man to man, Barney waved one of the locals over to him. They spoke briefly and the man took off out the door.

“Alright,” Doc ordered. “I need some of you men to take these bodies out the back door and set them on the ground just to the left of the door. I’ll be right out there. DO NOT take anything from their bodies. No checking pockets or taking pistols.”

Doc then went to Barney.

“What the hell happened Barney?”

“The cowboy jumped up and shot the stranger. The stranger must have known he got caught cheating because they both shot at the same time. The stranger was wounded and that cowboy over there came over and killed him. Jeremy came over to control the situation and that fella killed Jeremy. I leveled him with my shotgun.”

Barney suddenly realized what he’s done.

“That fella over there is the trail boss. Name’s Tom Spokes. Seems level headed.”

“Seems like someone should go and get Claude. Since Jeremy’s dead, the Mayor should be here.”

“I sent for him and I sent a man out to the Ruby Ranch.”

“Ruby Ranch?”

“Yeah, I thought maybe he could help.”

“Good idea, if Elizabeth lets him come.”

We were enjoying a nice quiet afternoon. Well, I was enjoying it. I’d just finished cleaning the stable and feeding the horses with three stacks of hay. My Grulla stallion had become my close personal friend and he was always vying for my attention whenever he saw me. He seemed to come to a whole new level of life when I was in the saddle. It often seemed that if I didn’t rein him in that he would run forever.

Elizabeth was sitting in her rocking chair with our new daughter Hanna Ruby in her arms and suckling on her well freckled breast. Our son, almost two year old John Black, was chewing on a piece of rawhide to get his teeth broken in.

Whenever I got to stop for a bit, I always took stock of my family. I was, in my mind, the luckiest man in the world. I’d come to this area about six years ago and in a matter of a few days, I’d been made sheriff, killed off a gang that had been running the town. I’d fallen in love with a saloon girl named Ruby, her real name was Elizabeth, and been able to purchase a ranch from the bank. Yup, I, Chris O’Dell was a very lucky man.

We both heard the sound of a running horse at the same time. I looked out of curiosity, Elizabeth looked out of concern. Whenever there was a rider, the speed of its approach increased Elizabeth’s concern. Having been sheriff for a very short time, the townspeople, or some of them, still thought of me when there was trouble.

The rider dismounted and unlatched the gate. He led his horse onto our property, closed the gated, latching it. Then he remounted and ran his horse to the house. That set off Elizabeth. She immediately removed Hanna from her breast and picked up John. She took them into the house and I could hear her lever a shell into one of the Winchester’s we kept under each of our windows.

I stood as the rider approached the house. He pulled up and spoke from horseback.

“Mr. O’Dell. Doc sent me out to let you know that Jeremy had been killed.”

“Killed!?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come down off that horse and talk to me.”

The man dismounted and tied the horse to the rail and stepped onto the porch. I pointed to one of the chairs and he sat down.

“Now tell me what happened.”

The fella told me the story and that Barney had sent him to get the Mayor and then get me.

“Why me?”

“I don’t know sir. He said go and after all the shooting, I figured he knew something I didn’t, so I came as fast as I could.”

I had listened to all he said and then I stood and yelled into the house.

“Elizabeth, we’re gonna have a guest for dinner and maybe for the night.”

“Should I get the kids out of their room?”

“Sir?” the man asked.

“Yes,”

“I’m pretty used to sleeping on the range. If you got a soft spot in the hayloft you won’t have to put your kids out.”

“I’ve spent many a night sleeping on the ground and I know a bed is better.”

“I normally sleep in a bed, sir. I’m just saying, don’t put your kids out on my account.”

“Well, you don’t feel that way about dinner, do you?”

“No sir. I’ve never turned down a home cooked meal. I’d be honored to sit at your table.”

In the morning, we had breakfast and I saddled the Grulla and after kissing Elizabeth and the children good bye, Warren, that was the fella’s name we found out at dinner, and I headed for town. We didn’t ride hard but we didn’t go slow. When we rode into town, his horse was tired but the Grulla was just hitting his stride.

I went to the livery and left the Grulla there and headed for the bank to see the mayor, Claude Du Bois. I walked slowly, checking the town for anything unusual. It was late afternoon when we arrived and it seemed to be very quiet as I walked down the boardwalk.

There were several new buildings going up. One was the new post office another was a bigger bank. I walked into the old bank post office and found Claude sitting at his desk. He looked a bit harried.

“Hello Claude.”

“Chris! How are you?”

“I’m good. Elizabeth sends her best.”

“Thank you.”

“Now that the pleasantries are done, what brings me back here from my little heaven?”

“Jeremy has been killed.”

“I heard.”

“Well the cattle outfit that the cowboys were with are still in town and it looks like they are going to be around for a while.”

“What about their beef?”

“They sold the beef and were on their way back to their home when they stopped here. Now they are making sounds like they are going to stay for a while.”

“And that is bad?”

“Chris, their trail boss is a good man but they have some riders who are a lot like Brundle. Without Jeremy to sort of calm things down, I think the folks would appreciate you being seen around town.”

“Claude, what does Ed think of this idea?”

“Ed understands. He’s still a little upset because Sarah left him. I don’t know if you knew but Sarah told him that after being with Royal Knight she didn’t think that Ed was much of a lover. She treated him pretty badly in public before she left for parts unknown. He spends some time at the saloon with a girl named Sadie.”

“I didn’t have all the details but it sounds like a bad thing over all. So what am I needed to do? Do I need to wear a badge? Do I have the authority to jail people?”

“You do; to all of that. We always had you on the books as a deputy sheriff so you have the same power as Jeremy.”

“OK. Do me a favor and send word out to the ranch, tell Elizabeth so she’s not fretting. She might come into town on that mare of hers and just start shooting people.”

“I’ll take care of it. It shouldn’t be for more than a few days to a week.”

“Let’s hope. What about hiring a new sheriff. Jeremy was a singular man.”

“He was that.”

“Do you have any prospects? Anyone who might have been a good deputy?”

“There were a few men interested but Jeremy didn’t think much of them.”

“OK. But let’s be clear. This is not a permanent thing and I will not be sheriff.”

“I understand. Let me get your message out to Elizabeth.”

“OK. I’m going to go see Maggie and get something to eat.”

I shook Claude’s hand and left the bank. I started to walked to the left on the boardwalk towards the café. I walked in and saw a table that allowed me to look out over the entire street so I sat and watched to see if anything was going on around the saloon.

“Chris O’Dell! You must have heard that we had more elk meatloaf for dinner.”

“Hello, Maggie. I’d like to tell you that the truth is I’ve been asked to fill in as sheriff while they replace Jeremy.”

“Oh Chris, that was horrible. Jeremy never saw it coming. He was a good man.”

“He was that Maggie. How about some of that meatloaf and some coffee?”

“Sure and I have some apple pie.”

“That sounds good.”

“How are Elizabeth and the babies?”

“All are doing well. I’ll tell Elizabeth you asked about her.”

“When do you think you’ll bring the family to town?”

“Well they got me filling in as sheriff like I said, so I’m guessing that she and the kids may show up sooner than later.”

“Be sure to bring them by.”

“I will.”

Maggie went off and came back with a cup of coffee. I sat there wondering if this was going to be an easy couple of days, or something I’d really not like to be involved in. I’d been asked to fill in before. Jeremy had to go to Dodge City when his father died and I filled in for two weeks. That was an uneventful couple of weeks.

I sat there drinking coffee and waiting for dinner when I noticed that there were a few men gathered outside the saloon. I watched and waited to see what was going on. I didn’t want to go charging in and make more trouble than there really was.

Maggie brought my meal and I asked her, “Maggie, what can you tell me about this outfit that came in and what they’ve done since Jeremy was killed?”

“I guess they’re like most outfits. Some guys are nice and polite and some are not.”

“Do any seem to be bigger trouble makers than others?”

“Not here. You might want to ask the girls at the saloon.”

I looked at her for a few seconds.

“Maggie, I remember not too long ago when you didn’t seem to care about the girls at the saloon too much.”

“I know. But after getting to know Elizabeth I realized that those girls are no different than most. They just have a limited way to make their way in the world. I found out that Ruby was a wonderful woman regardless if her name was Ruby or Elizabeth. Besides, I heard through the grape vine that you would shoot anyone who disrespected Elizabeth.”

I looked at her and smiled at the words I’d said to Elizabeth a few years back. At the time I was angry at the way my then new acquaintance Ruby was being treated. Now I wouldn’t even think of shooting someone. Maybe.

A body came flying out of the saloon doors, coming to rest in the street. I watched as a big man came out of the door and began to kick the much smaller defenseless man. I stood slowly and walked out the door and across the street. I didn’t want to seem like I was going to be aggressive. As I got closer I could hear the big man.

“ ... think you are a better man than me. When I say a woman is mine, I mean it.”

“Hey! Back down!, Now!” I shouted as I continued to move towards him.

“And who are you?”

“I’m the man asking you to back away and leave that man alone,” I said, still walking.

“And if I don’t?”