Chapter 7

Oh, Shit! Which door to try? Well, there was nothing for it—they had to check both rooms, no matter which one contained Arthur Harrison. Jack was standing near the door on the right, so he opened it far enough to determine that the room was empty.

That was all the information they needed, so Jack and Bill opened the door to Harrison's bedroom and slipped inside. Harrison was sleeping naked and on his back. Bill sneaked up to the side of the bed and dropped on one knee into Harrison's solar plexus. While his breath whooshed out, Bill stuck the muzzle of his pistol under Harrison's chin and ordered him to stay quiet.

Meanwhile, Annie had removed her hat and had slipped to the other side of the bed. While Harrison was immobilized, she tied each ankle to the bedpost at the foot of the bed, using rope she had taken from the revenge kit. She then moved up and tied Harrison's wrists to the head of the bed in the same manner as his ankles. Harrison was now securely fastened to his bed and was not going anywhere, but he had regained his breath.

To keep him from calling for help, Annie stuffed a rag into his mouth and tied another cloth over it to hold it in place. Bill stepped back, and Annie slapped Harrison's face to get his attention. "Do ya recognize me?" she asked. Harrison looked at her for a moment and nodded; she was obviously the young woman who had just recently payed a social call on him.

"I'm gona kill ya, but, first, I'll tell ya why. Ya hired Jake Blade ta murder my pa when he wouldn't sell ya his ranch fer less than it wuz worth. Then, ya took advantage of my ma an' paid her even less when she had ta sell ta pay off some debts. Fortunately, she came out of this all right, though ya didn't care one way or the other.

"Now, I'll tell ya my original plan fer how ta kill ya. I wuz gonna cut out yer eyes soz ya'd be blind, then I wuz gonna cut out yer tongue soz ya couldn't tell anybody who did this ta ya. I brought a hatchet ta cut off yer fingers soz ya couldn't write my name. Then I wuz gonna use the back of the hatchet ta smash yer elbows and knees soz they'd never function again. Last, I wuz gonna cut off yer cock an' balls an' stuff 'em in yer mouth.

"Lucky fer ya, I'm just too tenderhearted ta really do them things. Instead, I'm gonna hang ya, but in a novel way soz that yer neck ain't broken, but ya jus' strangles. I figure that it'll take ya 'bout 10-15 minutes ta die that way, an' I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it."

By now, Harrison was really frightened and was shaking his head and trying to shout through his gag. Annie took another piece of rope and fashioned a loop to go around his neck. She slipped it on Harrison and began to tighten it. She drew the loop tighter and tighter until Harrison could no longer breathe. "Shit! I can't do it!" she moaned and started crying.

Harrison thought that he had gotten a reprieve, but that thought didn't last long. Annie snatched up the hatchet and swung it as hard as she could to bury it in Harrison's chest. Then, still crying, she ran out of the room.

The ax missed Harrison's heart, but buried itself in a lung. Blood began to flow and filled his lung, then spilled over into his other lung. In three or four minutes, Arthur Harrison, thief, murderer, and would-be cattle baron, drowned in his own blood.

Meanwhile, Annie rushed out of the house, still crying and not in the least trying to remain quiet and unnoticed. Bill caught up to her as she reached the horses, and the two of them rode away with Annie still crying hysterically. Bill led them to a stand of trees where they dismounted, and Bill held Annie in his arms until she was finally able to get herself back under control. They remounted and rode away.

Bill led them to a swift stream, and they rode upstream about two miles before he led them to the main road leading into Hendly Pass. There were so many tracks already on the road that there was no worry about them being tracked into town, even if they were followed from the stream.

They returned to the hotel and went up the back stairs after putting up their horses. Annie was still not completely recovered from her hysterical breakdown at Harrison's ranch. Bill was concerned about her, since he had never seen her quite like this, before. They stripped and got in bed; Annie needed to be held and loved. It was nearly dawn by the time they got to it, but Annie needed a full sex session before she could finally get to sleep. They decided to sleep in that day and didn't get up until time for lunch.

When they got up, Annie put on her men's clothes since she didn't feel like putting up with the social restrictions that she would have to face as a woman. After lunch, they wandered into a saloon. In there, they were regaled with the outlandish stories of what had happened at Harrison's ranch the previous night. People were practically agog over the way he had been found with the hatchet buried in his chest. It seemed that nobody knew who had done the deed, but everybody had a different theory about the how and why of it. Whatever and whoever were the cause of the murder, nobody connected Annie/Jack and Bill with the deed. Jack seemed to be numb to all the conjecture, but Bill was relieved that neither of them was connected to the bizarre happening.

They hung out in various saloons most of the afternoon, but ate an early supper and went back to their hotel room to consider their options. Annie wanted talk and sex and talk and sex until after midnight. Just before going to sleep, Annie broke into tears, but these appeared to be tears of relief that the whole quest was over, and she could relax for the first time in nearly ten years. The next morning, they set out for Austin and Alice's boarding house, but Annie was still dressed as Jack Hightower.

In Austin, Annie related to Alice, her mother, what had happened that night at Harrison's ranch in excruciating detail. Alice "turned a little green around the gills," but bore up under the intense emotional pressure of the story much better than Bill expected. When Annie was finished with her story, the two women embraced and cried a little bit, but that was the last time that subject was mentioned.

Bill commented that he needed to get some sort of job, since they could not continue to live off of Alice's charity. Alice insisted that it was not charity having the two stay with her, but Bill was adamant that a man should pay his own way. Annie and Alice looked at each other and shrugged. The both knew that there was no way that they could argue with Bill when he thought that his honor and integrity were in danger.

Bill looked around Austin for available jobs, but all he could find that would fit his qualifications was as a swamper, and that didn't pay enough to be worth his effort. After a month of searching, Bill was still unsuccessful at finding employment, and he was becoming very hard to live with. Finally, in desperation, Annie suggested that she re-assume the persona of Jack Hightower and they take up bounty hunting as a serious occupation, rather than the cover that they had been using. She argued that they were both well qualified for the job, and the pay was good to excellent. Alice was appalled, but Bill thought that it was a great idea. The next day, they went to the courthouse to pick up a set of wanted posters.

All that afternoon and evening, they poured over the posters, memorizing the pictures and mapping out a plan of attack. They thought that the best thing that they could do was to head north. Annie speculated that, based on her short experience in Oklahoma, there should be a higher concentration of evil doers hiding out in Oklahoma than hanging around in Texas. Bill had no better idea, so they decided to spend tomorrow getting ready for the trip to Oklahoma, and to leave the next day.