Unfinished Business
Ch. 3
by Alias
e-mail: [email protected]
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"Miss Wilmington. Excuse me, Miss Wilmington!" Laurie stopped when
she heard Ezra’s voice. What did he want?
She started walking again when the gambler caught up with her.
"Yes?"
"I could not help but notice that you have been somewhat…distracted
these last few nights." ‘Distracted’ was putting it mildly. The poor
girl had looked as if she was going to jump out of her skin. However,
there was no gentlemanly way to say that. He had also noticed Vin’s
added interest in the young saloonkeeper had started around the same
time, but didn’t consider that to be a broachable subject.
"I’ve…had a lot on my mind. But thank you for asking." He noticed
her eyes darting along the street before them, as if she was searching
for something.
"Yes, well, I was wondering if there was some way that I could be of
assistance." She looked at him as if that was the most surprising
thing she had ever heard. Why must people react like that every time
he offered his assistance? It was really quite insulting.
"Thanks, but nothing’s…" She trailed off, apparently finding what-or
rather, who- she had been looking for, Vin. "…Wrong. There’s nothing
wrong. Excuse me."
He, however, saw something that she hadn’t seen- at least not at
first- who Vin had been obviously looking for, despite his normal
unconcerned slouch. It was the young man to whom Chris had brought
his attention to the night before.
*******************************
Laurie wasn’t as surprised as she had seemed at Ezra’s offer of help.
She knew he was a pretty decent guy, even though he’d probably deny
it with his dying breath. When she’d first taken over the saloon, and
the people in town had been so hostile and outraged about a woman
owning the saloon, she knew that he had, in a roundabout way, been
partially responsible for the amount of acceptance that she had
acchieved. She had just been distracted, and his offer had caught her
off guard. Poor guy had probably taken it the wrong way though.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to explain it to him. She had to
find Vin.
If even half of what she remembered about the night before had been
real, then she had to find him before he…before he….before he what?
She wanted to say "Before he killed Eric in cold blood," but a part of
her wanted him to. For whatever reason, Vin had been appointed, or
maybe had appointed himself, as her guardian, and she didn’t know how
far he’d go in that duty.
She stopped when she saw Vin, who had seemed as bored and
disinterested as he always did a moment ago, suddenly start moving in
the direction of the hotel. Following him with her eyes, she felt her
heart and stomach drop to her ankles when she saw who he was headed for.
*******************************
Vin had felt the anger building in him throughout the night as he
watched Laurie. An hour and a half’s sleep hadn’t chased any of it
away, and hanging around the general store all morning, waiting for
Collins, hadn’t helped either. If he’d been thinking straight, he
woulda high-tailed it outa town until he calmed down. He wasn’t
thinking straight though, and for some reason, thinking straight and
calming down didn’t seem all that important right now. They seemed
even less important when he finally saw Collins coming out of the hotel.
*******************************
Eric had just spotted Laurie walking with the fancily dressed man-
Ezra Standish, yet another peacekeeper, he wondered if they took
shifts watching the girl or something-when some one he hadn’t seen
grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him to the side of
the hotel. He wasn’t surprised to see that it was Tanner.
"You seem to be making a habit of th-" He stopped, gasping as he felt
Tanner’s hand squeeze his throat.
"I was just wondering," the man snarled, "Just what is it that makes
a man drag a fourteen-year-old girl into an alley and rape her?"
*******************************
Laurie froze when she heard Vin’s question. For some reason, it made
her blood run cold. She didn’t realize that she was shaking until she
felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She glanced down, seeing the
rich, dark green fabric and swallowing her scream. Ezra.
"Why don’t you ask her."
Vin glanced back, only just realizing that Laurie and Ezra were there.
Damn, why hadn’t he heard them coming?
Because he hadn’t been thinking straight, he realized. Looking at
Laurie’s face, he realized that the only thing keeping her up was
Ezra’s hand.
"Laurie, I…" He trailed off, not knowing what to say. If he’d known
she was standing there, he never would have…
He felt Ezra’s hand on his arm. He’d been so intent on Laurie, he
hadn’t realized that the gambler had left her side.
"Vin, Vin let go." He wondered why Ezra’s voice sounded so different,
as if he were talking to a man holding another at gun point. "Vin,
you’re killing him, he can’t breath."
What? Ki- Vin lookedc at Collins and realized that his hand had
contracted around his throat, he was moments from passing out.
"Please." Her voice was barely a whisper, and he didn’t know if she
was asking him to kill Collins, or to let him go. He let go,
watching the man tumble down, Ezra’s quickly extended arm the only
thing that kept him from falling into the dirt.
Vin looked back over to where Laurie had been, but she was gone. He
glanced back at Ezra, and, seeing his slight nod, took off after her.
*******************************
Ezra clapped the gasping man on the back, hiding his smile at the
pained cough.
"Well, Sir, it seems as if you have overstayed your welcome."
"What is it with you people?"
"I beg your pardon."
"First, that damn bounty hunter kicks me out of the saloon, and then,
the same night, he attacks me in my own hotel room." Ezra hid his
surprise, THAT was news to him. Although, from what he’d overheard
just minutes ago, he couldn’t say he blamed Vin. "And now this? Is
that what you ‘protectors’ do, attack and threaten everyone who comes
to this town?"
Ezra swallowed his immediate response, that they only chased off and
attacked men who hurt their friends. "Yes, well, Mr. Tanner seems to
have the urge to…protect…Miss Wilmington above and beyond the call of
duty. Sadly, he lacks the finesse to accomplish the job with any
degree of subtlety."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, for example, had I been the first to know of what Mr. Tanner has
accused you of, I would not have bothered with threats, I would have
simply made you incapable of ever performing such an act ever again."
For a moment, the look in the con man’s eyes made Eric think that he
might decide to do it anyways. And then the look was gone.
"Now, Sir, the Butterfield stage should be here in about twenty
minutes., plenty of time for you to pack your belongings. I have it
on very good authority that it is very comfortable, that you can
barely feel the bumps on the path. Unless, of course, you have a
horse of your own, in which case I would be thrilled to have young
Thomas ready it while you pack..."
*******************************
Vin was just leaving the saloon after asking Jim, the man Laurie had
watch the saloon for her during the day, if he’d seen her-which he
hadn’t-when he saw Laurie gallop out of town on that horse Buck had
got her right after she got to town. Part of him said to let her go,
give her time to deal with last night and this morning. And the other
part of him was screaming that he should go after her.
*******************************
"I never asked you to do that." Laurie didn’t bother looking up. As
far as she knew, only one other person knew about this spot, although
he normally turned around when he saw she was there. Ever since she’d
killed Louisa Hart, she had come here to think, to get away from the
world, and Vin knew that, he used it for the same reason. She’d also
seen him leaving the saloon when she’d left town, and knew that he’d
seen her too.
"I know."
"Then…why?"
"Because…" He paused, not really knowing what to tell her, since he
didn’t really know why himself. All he knew was that the thought of
that bastard being anywhere within a hundred miles of Laurie made him
sick. "I don’t want him to be around you."
"It’s not your place to decide."
"I know." And he didn’t give a damn whose place it was, he was making
it his place.
*******************************
"Are you allright?" Laurie groaned, as soon as she’d seen Buck riding
towards her like a bat outa hell, she’d know that he was in high
‘Mother Hen’ mode.
"of course I’m all right, why wouldn’t I be?"
"Tom said that you looked upset when you had him saddle Sable." She
made a mental note to shoot Tom. Wasn’t there anyone in Four Corners
who didn’t report her every movement to Buck?
"He was wrong." Buck just snorted.
They rode in silence for a few moments, until Buck decided to bring up
the other reason he’d come looking for her.
"You been to Bitter Creek lately Brat?"
"I haven’t been there period, why?"
"Sheriff’s been shot, Judge Travis needs someone to watch things for a
while.’
"You?" The Judge must have forgotten a very important detail about
Buck, something along the lines of the fact that he chased after just
about every female withing a hundred miles of him over the age of
sixteen. The only exceptions being herself and Mary Travis.
Although, she suspected that the only reason Mrs. Travis was an
exception was because of Chris, even if he was to stupid to realize
how he felt about the widow. Bitter Creek might end up lynching Buck
if he stayed true to colors.
"Yup, give me a chance to see Olivia again." Laurie grinned, for
once, the female he wanted to see wasn’t a beautiful woman, but a
six-year-old. If Buck wasn’t careful, he’d turn the kid into a
younger version of her. Already acted like she was his own kid.
"Wanna come?"
"I can’t, I have to take care of the saloon."
"Get someone to watch it. J.D. or Ezra or-"
"Buck, think about the most valuable and important thing you own. Got
it? Good, now, think about leaving J.D. or Ezra in charge of it."
"I loaned J.D. my hat once."
"That’s not the most important thing you own, and you thought you were
gonna die." Well, that was true. He didn’t like to talk about it,
but when Anderson had cut him with that damn sword of his, Buck woulda
swore on anything and everything that had ever mattered to him that he
was gonna die. Otherwise, he never woulda let the kid touch his hat.
"You could always s-"
"Finish that thought and I’ll knock you off your horse."
*******************************
"And don’t let her get in the middle of anymore damn fights." The
five men- Chris had known exactly why Buck had wanted to talk to them,
and hadn’t bothered to come- sighed with relief when they realized
that the "Protect Laurie or Die" speech was over. In retrospect, they
really should have known. Five seconds after Laurie had told Buck
that she was staying in Four Corners and had bought the saloon, Buck
had apparently decided that the seven of them had been hired to
protect his sister 24 hours a day, and not the town.
"Just when did our job go from protecting this town to babysitting one
lil lady who’s better with a gun than half the men around here?"
Josiah asked as soon as Buck was out of earshot and he, J.D., and Ezra
were headed for the saloon.
Vin was about to stop Ezra when Nathan stopped him with a hand on his
shoulder.
"Got a minute?"
"Looks like."
"You plannin’ in telling me how Laurie really got her hand cut up?"
"She told you."
"Yeah, she did. And now I’d like to know what really happened." Vin
sighed. He’d known that Nathan would bring it up eventually, he’d
just hoped it wouldn’t be until he’d gotten everything worked out.
"She ran into someone she had a bad run in with a few years ago, and
it upset her so much that she broke a glass with her hand."
‘She was in Boston a few years ago. Ain’t likely two people from
there are gonna end up here. ‘Specially two who know each other."
Vin shrugged and started walking away, hoping to end the conversation.
"If anyone ever gets around to asking me, I won’t lie about those
cuts, but I won’t go around volunteering information either." Vin
nodded, his eyes conveying his thanks. It was all he could ask of the
doc. "Just…try not to get me into trouble with Buck, okay?"
*******************************
"You gentlemen go ahead, I believe I shall remain outside for a while."
Josiah and J.D. tried to hide their astonishment. Ezra not going into
the saloon was a shock, but Josiah, at least, knew that he had a
reason. J.D., however, was to flabbergasted.
"But Ezra, you ne-" J.D. didn’t get out the rest, as Josiah clapped
his hand on the boy’s shoulder, leading-or rather, dragging-him inside.
Ezra didn’t have long to wait. He didn’t know exactly what Vin and
Nathan were talking about, but he had a good idea as to the subject
matter. The very same subject that had obviously been on Vin mind for
the last few days, as anyone who was as attuned to the bounty hunter’s
affectations as he was could see. The same subject, in fact, that had
been on Ezra’s mind since that morning.
Vin leaned up against the wall next to Ezra, looking out into the
street.
"So, watt’d you do with him?’
"If you are referring to this mornings vermin, he decided that it was
best for his health to seek new climes."
"Thanks." Vin stopped, not knowing how to broach the other subject.
"What you heard, it shouldn’t have happened."
"Are you referring to the subject matter, or to this mornings incident?"
"You shouldn’t have heard. And what he did to Laurie definitely
shouldn’t have happened."
Ezra looked at the bounty hunter. He had suspected that the man’s
feelings for Buck sister had gone beyond mere friendship when he had
heard the malice and hatred in his voice that morning, and the worry
and panic in his eyes when he had realized that Laurie had left. The
passion behind that statement strengthened his belief.
*******************************
Eric pulled and cut the weeds that had already grown around the grave,
barely over three weeks old. There was no name on it, it was just a
simple wooden cross.
"They didn’t even bother to find out who you were. Just another
person killed by their precious protectors."
He stopped cutting, holding the blade in his palm.
"Those fools you were with shouldn’t have let it happen." He
remembered their fate, clutching the blade tighter, feeling it pierce
his skin.. "Of course, they’ll never have the chance to abandon
another fellow again, I saw to that."
He took the bloody blade and began carving letters into the wooden
cross.
"Those men, they think they’re God. So does that little whore, Laurie
Wilmington. You remember her, don’t you Jim? We went to school with
her. Always been an uppity little thing. Even worse now, owns the
local saloon. But they aren’t God, none of them are, and someone
needs to remind them of that, especially your murderer."