Chapter 4

Anna introduced Ethel to her father, Jonas Strong, when they met him in Wilsonville. Jonas was owner and manager of the bank and was a pillar of the community. He was surprised to see a woman dressed as Ethel was, but was completely taken by her when he found out that she had saved his daughter's life. He was impressed by any woman who had the gumption to be a gunfighter, and he was further impressed by the way she was armed.

Jonas wanted to get to know Ethel better, so he and Anna stayed in town overnight to let Ethel do her detective work. All three took hotel rooms, but the hotel was crowded, so the two women agreed to share a room. Anna was too embarrassed to follow Ethel into a saloon, but her father wanted to see how Ethel handled herself as a detective.

They went into the first saloon, one frequented by Jonas, and Jonas joined a poker game while Ethel talked to the bartender and to the saloon whores. The bartender knew of Charley Wilson by reputation, but he was not allowed into this particular saloon because of the number of fights that he had started. The whores also knew of Charley and his friends, but had not seen any of them since the last time Charley had been thrown out of the saloon over six months ago.

Ethel went to report to Jonas that she was ready to move on to the next saloon, but was stopped when the professional poker sharp greeted her as The Poker Queen. Of course, everybody at the table had to hear that story, so Ethel stayed around for a few hands at the request of Jonas. She stayed through six hands and won two of them, so she left with extra money in her pocket.

Jonas stayed behind while Ethel visited the other three saloons in town. Nobody knew where she could find any of the men she was hunting. Bill Apwell had been in town a week ago, but nobody knew where he was now. Ethel left the last saloon disappointed, but not discouraged—she would stay on the hunt no matter how many times she was disappointed.

Ethel returned to the first saloon and rejoined the poker game. She won a few more hands before the game broke up about 10:00 PM. This was a relatively slow night and her total winnings came to only $22. Oh, well, it was nice meeting Jonas' friends. They returned to the hotel and went to bed.

Anna was fascinated by Ethel's underwear. Her breasts were not as large as Ethel's, but she did get tired of them swinging around unfettered. As for the underpants, she could immediately see the utility of them, so she decided to make a set of underwear for herself.

Ethel returned home with Anna and Jonas that evening. There Ethel met Anna's mother, Hester, and her brother, Adam. Ethel found both of them to be just as nice as Anna and Jonas. Hester acted has housekeeper and Adam served as foreman of the Rocking S ranch.

That evening, Jonas asked Ethel if she would stay around a while and teach Anna to shoot as well as she did. He was especially interested in having her learn to handle a pistol, but the rifle and the shotgun were also of interest. Ethel gently, but firmly, refused to become a full time teacher, but agreed to show Anna the fundamentals. They would start the next morning and Ethel would spend a week with Anna, but, after that, she wanted to resume her hunt for the murderers of Archy.

The next morning before Jonas left for the bank, Ethel put on a demonstration of her skill with a pistol. Adam was stupefied by Ethel's speed at drawing the crossdraw. She demonstrated the fine points and said that she would teach him at the same time she taught Anna.

They found a safe place to practice, and Ethel got both of them started. Anna concentrated on learning to shoot her modified Colt Navy, while Adam worked on the crossdraw with his big .45 caliber Colt. Also, Adam was flabbergasted by how fast Ethel could reload her S&W compared to Adam with his Colt.

At the end of a week, Ethel bid the Strong family goodbye and left to return to Mayberry to look for another lead. On the way back, she cut north a bit to visit the town of Goober Springs. There was no particular reason to go there, it was just one of those places she wanted to include in what she was now calling her "whore brigade."

Ethel pulled into Goober Springs at pretty close to noon, so she dropped off at the first saloon she saw for a Mexican beer. She came through the door and immediately detected the odor of a freshly fired gun. There was a crowd of people gathered at one end of the bar, so she went over to see what was going on. A saloon whore was lying on the floor with a big pool of blood under her and a big bullet hole in her chest between her breasts.

Two other whores were standing there wringing their hands in desperation and frustration because they could do nothing to help their friend. Ethel knew enough to squat down and check the injured woman's pulse. There was none, and a look at her eyes established that the woman was dead. She turned away from the murdered woman and asked what had happened.

One of the whores said, "It was Hank Smith. He was the one who shot poor Jenny. That bastard better not come back in here again or I will shoot him, myself."

"Hank Smith? Which way did he go?"

There were several blank stares, and then one patron pointed to the door leading out to the jakes. "He ran out that way. It wuz 'bout 10 minutes ago."

Ethel ran to the door and looked out. There were no buildings or other obstructions behind the saloon, so the man could have run anywhere. Totally without any marker to suggest the best route to follow in chasing after Smith, Ethel mentally threw up her hands and turned back to the crowd around the dead whore. Ethel asked, "Why did Smith shoot the whore? Does anybody know?"

One of the whores said, "Jenny was screamin' at him that he wouldn't pay her the 10 cents he owed her fer the blow job she had just given him. I guess he just got tired of her naggin'."

Shaking her head, Ethel walked out of the saloon. It was a cinch that she wasn't going to get any useful information from that bunch for a while. She went to the other saloon in town and found it all abuzz over the shooting down the street. The whores were obviously upset that a sister had been killed over such a trivial sum, but they all knew that the same fate could be theirs at any time. Ethel did get them calmed down enough to discuss her problem and to offer the reward of a double-eagle for a firm lead that led to her finding Charley Wilson.

It looked like there was not going to be much help received from Goober Springs this time, so Ethel left for Mayberry. Hopefully, she could pick up something useful there. Ethel looked up her helpful whore at the Double-Eagle Saloon, but the woman was nowhere to be found. Ethel decided to wait for her friend, and the whore came straggling in about an hour later. She had obviously been beaten about the head and face and could hardly walk.

Ethel rushed over to see what had happened, but the whore screamed when she saw Ethel and tried to run away. She was in such sad shape that she collapsed on the floor instead. Ethel bent down to help the woman, but she was pushed away. "Please stay away from me! He said he would kill me the next time I talked ta ya."

"Who was that? Who beat you up?"

"It wuz Sam Hunter. He said that Ed Jones wuz killed cuz I talked ta ya. He said that I better never do it again."

"Where is Sam Hunter. If you tell me, I'll fix him so that he can never hurt you or any other woman again."

"Sam Hunter is down at the Ace Livery Stable. Ya kin cotch him ifen ya hurry."

Ethel got directions to the livery stable in question and left at a dead run toward the place. It took her only three minutes to get there, and she saw Sam Hunter at the far end of the lot. Ethel yelled as loud as she could, "SAM HUNTER! I'M COMING AFTER YOU! STOP WHERE YOU ARE, YOU COWARD!"

That last word was what stopped Hunter in his tracks. He was just stupid enough that being called a coward was probably the one insult he could not ignore. He turned around and reached for his gun, even though the range was too long for just the average pistol shooter. Ethel knew that she could not hit him at this range while she was running, so she ducked behind a loaded wagon just as he fired his first shot. She said to herself, "That's one." The bullet flew passed her and hit a man in the fleshy part of the thigh as he walked down the street.