Deputy at Large

by Judge Rodriguez

  JOHN STOPS AT THE DOOR to the Mallory’s apartment. This is the first time he’s been through it. He can’t believe Joseph and Laura are gone. He didn’t recognize the third body under the sheet, but he knows Joseph and Laura are there. He said a silent prayer over the older couple, asking for the Almighty to let them rest in peace. He’s so mad, he could rend whomever did this limb from limb with his bare hands.

  As he goes through the door, he sees Joey questioning Paul while they’re standing just outside of the door to Sean’s room. John walks up and quietly says, “Andy is with her father. Can you tell me what happened?”

  Paul turns from looking at Joey and faces John directly. “I was just explaining to the marshal, here.”

  John sees the look Joey gives him and is again reminded that the name of Blackwolf fits her perfectly. Her eyes are rimmed red in anger, posture is a tightly coiled spring. John gets the feeling she would invite any opportunity given her to be able to lash out.

  John looks at Paul and shakes his head. “Well, now that I’m, here, please start over, so I can grasp the situation.”

  Paul looks at Joey, who nods in response to the unasked question. He sighs and motions toward the chairs and couch. “I’m sorry. As you can tell, I’m hurt and today has been a very long day.”

  John and Joey follow the large man over to the chairs and seat themselves, while he sits at the end of the couch.

  “Doc Lopez and I were eating lunch around noon, when we heard what sounded like gunshots down the street. A couple of minutes later, Brigit and Andy ran in.” He sighs and John notices the big man’s face starts to get pale. “Sean talked to Brigit for a moment and then ran upstairs. Brigit went into the kitchen, came out with several knives, told Andy to hide and came over to Doc Lopez and me.”

  John looks a little more closely at the large German, noting he’s starting to sweat profusely. “You okay?”

  He nods. “Just hurting is all. Brigit told us that someone named Richard may be coming, and that we needed to try and defend ourselves. As she gave us each a knife, she looked around to make sure Andy was hidden well enough.

  “That was when the three men barged in. The one in the center tried to get to Brigit. I got in between’em, but the other two fought me and let the center get to Brigit. Doc Lopez charged in and kept them from ganging up on me. The one that was later identified as Richard, said something like, ‘Found you,’ and started struggling with Brigit.

  “She screamed and fought back with her knife. Even over the sounds of our struggles and my heart hammering in my ears, I could still hear his laughter. The harder she fought back, the more he laughed.” He wipes the sweat pouring off his face.

  John and Joey share a look of concern.

  Paul waves at their looks. “Sean came downstairs holding a revolver and yelling something to the effect of ‘Leave her alone or die.’ Richard laughed all the more and kept struggling with Brigit. Sean fired at him, but missed and hit one of the guys I was fighting against. When he got shot, he fell to the ground and dislocated my shoulder when he tried to take me down with him. I tried to get to Richard but that was when the third guy killed Doc Lopez and came after me.” His hands shaking heavily, he wipes the perspiration off his face. “I guess Joseph and Laura heard the gunshot, because they came rushing in the back door.” He shakes his head, and tears stream down his face. “Richard grabbed Brigit’s forearms in one hand with his other, he shot down Laura, then turned and shot Sean.”

  He shakes his head, apparently trying to banish the memory. “Joseph charged at him, brandishing a shovel. Richard laughed again, then gunned him down, too.”

  John looks at Joey, whose eyes are rimmed red as tears stream down her face. She’s noticeably trembling in her fury.

  He looks back at Paul, who is now white as a sheet, perspiring profusely and crying in his frustration. A spreading red stain on the man’s side catches his attention. He stands up and moves over to help the large man, but is waved off.

  Paul grunts. “I need to finish. I’ll be okay until I get done.”

  Joey takes one look at the blood stain, jumps up from her chair and goes to what John suspects is the linen closet just inside the storage room.

  John shakes his head. “At least let us help while you talk. You’re about to pass out.”

  Paul nods and lifts his shirt to show John the gash on his side.

  John whistles low and takes the towel handed him by Joey, pressing it against the wound tightly. John looks at Joey’s concerned expression, then turns back to Paul. “We’re gonna need to deal with this. If you can finish in the next couple of minutes that it’s going to take for us to find the stuff to patch you up, fine. Otherwise, it’s gonna need to wait.”

  Paul nods and says, “When Sean got shot, he dropped the gun. Brigit wrenched herself free while Richard was distracted by the gun-play, got the gun, fired and missed Richard, but shot the guy I was fighting.”

  He grunts in pain as John removes the towel to examine the wound. John looks at Joey and says, “Liquor and a sewing kit, please.”

  Joey nods and almost runs from the room.

  Paul looks around a bit and smiles weakly. “I never thought this would be how I die.”

  “Are you joshing me? You’ll probably outlive all of us. Continue.”

  Paul clears his throat. “When Brigit shot that guy, Andy poked her head around the doorway of the restaurant and screamed at the sight. Richard smiled and started moving toward her. Brigit screamed out and then shot Richard in the leg, I think.”

  Joey comes back in the room quickly.

  John takes the bottle of whiskey she hands him, opens it, and looks at Paul and says, “Brace yourself. This is gonna hurt. A lot.”

  Paul nods, scoots down into the couch and grits his teeth. He screams as John pours the liquor on the wound and passes out from the pain.

  John examines the wound and shakes his head. The man may be a German, but he has the luck of the Irish. The gash missed all the major organs and arteries. He mops up the blood and liquor, pours more into the wound to help clean it, then takes the needle and thread from Joey. Quickly, he stitches the wound closed. He takes his belt knife, cuts the towel apart and makes a bandage out of it.

  As he finishes, Joey nods in appreciation of the work. She looks around a moment, then says, “You’re pretty good at that.”

  “Practice. I’ve had to patch up my fair share of troopers before. Thankfully, his wound missed all the big stuff.” John feels the large man’s shoulder and groans. “We’ll never get his shoulder fixed if we don’t do it now. Can you help me?”

  Joey nods and, being careful of the bandage, rolls Paul onto his side. John takes the man’s left arm, pulls it out of the sling and rotates it slightly, then yanks sharply. The wet grinding pop is drowned out by Paul’s unconscious scream.

  John checks on his large friend and finds him still unconscious. “The ability to be passed out is one of God’s greatest gifts to mankind we’ve ever had.” His half-smile is ironic as he looks at Joey.

  She nods and asks, “What’d he say while I was gone?”

  He tells her and asks how Josh and Andy are doing.

  “She was quietly talking to him when I got down there. I couldn’t make sense of the conversation, but she may have been telling him what happened.”

  John muses, “You know, when I saw Josh adopt Andy, I just KNEW something bad was going to happen.”

  Joey looks at him, “You mean to tell me you’re blaming all this on ANDY?”

  John shakes his head. “No, but, when she got adopted, I knew that something bad was going to happen. It’s like feeling like someone is standing there around the next corner, waiting to trip you.” He shakes his head. “I don’t think I can explain it any better than that. Sorry.” He turns at the sound of the bedroom door opening.

  David and Rebekah leave the well-lit room and quietly close the door.

  John looks at his young friend, pouring his curiosity into h
is face.

  David sighs and sits heavily into a chair, passing his hand over his eyes, his bearing exhausted.

  Sympathetically, John hands the bottle of whiskey to the young doctor.

  David takes one look at the bottle, considers it a moment, shakes his head and hands it back.

  Seeing the exchange, Rebekah says quietly, “I’ll get us some drinks,” then turns and heads downstairs.

  David motions toward Paul. “I heard him screaming. Were ya gutting him or something?”

  John grins ironically. “Nah. Stitched him up and put his shoulder back in place. How’s Sean?”

  “Unless he gets an infection, he’ll live. It was actually just a flesh wound. Thank God. It could have been so much worse.”

  Joey steps forward. “May I go in and see Brigit?”

  “Sean is resting, but as long as you’re quiet, I think she would welcome the company.”

  She nods, turns, knocks on the door quietly and enters the room, closing the door behind her.

  John looks at his young friend. “How are YOU doing?”

  “Removing the bullet and stitching him up took more out of me than I might like to admit, but I’ll live. I pray to the Almighty that he does, too. Most likely, he will be up and moving around in a day or two. Maybe three, I think.”

  John is impressed. “Did you find out anything of what happened while you were in there?”

  David shakes his head, looks at his wife as she walks in, takes the pitcher of water that is handed to him by her and drinks most of it in one long drink.

  Over the next forty-five minutes, John relays what Paul told him and Joey. He also tells David about his working on the huge man.

  David examines John’s handiwork closely and expresses his delight. “Considering you’re neither a medicine man, or a doctor, this is really good work! I’m thoroughly impressed!”

  “The better part of thirty years in the cavalry will do that to a man,” John says sardonically.

  They turn and look as Joey emerges from the room. She crosses her arms and sighs heavily. “We need sleep, food and water. Not in that order.”

  David holds up the pitcher of water, now mostly empty and offers it to her.

  She nods her thanks as she takes it and drains the rest of it down her throat.

  John stands and looks around. “I think I’m gonna go see if I can find somewhere we can put the horses for the night.”

  Joey says quietly, “There’s a storage room in the back. One of the last times I came here, Sean told me that sometimes when he gets in too late to drop the rig off at the livery, he’ll put both the rig and the horse up in there. There’s a place for the saddles, and you should be able to put all the horses in there. It’s just on the other side of the bathhouse.”

  John nods his thanks. “How’s Brigit?”

  The look Joey gives him is incredulous at best. “How do you think she is? She just fought off the devil, but it cost her the family she’s finally gotten.”

  John nods in understanding. “Think she’ll be willing to leave Sean’s side long enough to eat?”

  Joey shakes her head. “I’ll take her some food. I doubt she’ll ever leave his side again.”

  John smiles grimly. There’s nothing like tragedy to awaken love in a couple. “Well, I’ll look into putting the horses up. Think you might be able to whip some food up or have Rebekah do it?”

  Joey nods, expression somewhat uncertain.

  John sighs. “She might not want to. I’m not asking for a lot. Maybe sandwiches, or something. We all need food, like you said.”

  She nods, this time expression more understanding.

  John heads downstairs to see to the horses. As he passes the restaurant, he sees Josh and Andy talking quietly at a table in the large room.

  Josh looks up at John and acknowledges him with a short wave and a nod.

  Chapter 18

  Jake glances out the door, making sure John has actually left. Times like this make Jake think something really is broken in his blood-brother.

  Those screams upstairs earlier, had John written all over them. No one can bring the hurt on, like him. Jake still questions John’s conversion, much like John apparently questions Jake’s.

  He looks down at the young girl sitting in his lap. She finished telling him what happened less than two minutes ago. Once she was sure she wasn’t gonna get into trouble, her tongue loosened and horror spewed forth.

  What she told Jake was about what he expected: hearing gunfire, seeing the Mallory’s dead, blood everywhere. What surprised Jake, however, was that Andy had been able to help put out the fire at Paul’s livery, even after everything that had gone on. She said they torched it after they escaped the hotel, just to spite the big German.

  Jake looks in wonder at the beautiful, brave child in his lap. This time last week, he was going through Norman on his way to White, then Denver. He marvels that so much has changed since then.

  Andy looks up at Jake with eyes red from the constant tears going through them for more than an hour. In her quiet voice, Jake hears the young girl’s strength in trying to control her fear. “Did you do what you needed to, Papa?”

  Jake nods slowly. “I won’t need to leave you like that again, unless it’s to catch the bad men that did all this.” He motions toward the Mallorys. He immediately regrets doing that after he sees the look in her eyes. “Oh, my timid little rabbit. Between me and your Uncle John, there’s no one that’s gonna get away from us. If the sheriff doesn’t catch them, we’ll have to. You’re not wanting them to get away with hurting all these people, are you?”

  She shakes her head, eyes never leaving his face.

  Jake nods, more to himself, than to her. He can feel the road stretching out in front of him.

  Joey comes downstairs again and looks at Jake. “So, I think it high time we whip something up for everyone. Would you mind helping, Andy?”

  Andy turns to look at her and shakes her head. “I’ve been a good helper around here lately. “Her eyes widen, tears form and she buries her face in to Jake’s chest.

  Jake strokes her head and back for a moment before saying, “Come on, sweetheart. Neither Marshal Blackwolf or I know where anything is in the kitchen. I’m starting to get hungry, too, ya know.”

  His daughter rubs her face on his shirt a few times and sniffles loudly. She sits upright, wipes the rest of the tears from her face and nods. Apparently, the rest stiffened her spine, because she gets off his lap and stands straight.

  Jake grunts and groans as he stands up from the chair. Andy grabs his hand, then leads both of the adults into the kitchen.

  JOHN LOOKS ACROSS THE table at the young doctor and his wife, then at Josh and his daughter. They all eat their food quietly.

  Andy just picks at her plate, with small bits of ham and a potato.

  John looks back at David. “So, Doc. Think Sean will be okay?”

  David looks at him curiously and, when John motions to Josh and Andy indicating that the question is for their benefit, nods. “Yeah, he’ll be up and around in no time. Paul is gonna take a bit longer, his injuries require him to rest for several weeks, I would imagine.”

  Andy looks at Josh, her face one big question mark.

  Josh cocks his head, much like a dog does and asks, “What is it, child?”

  She gazes at him, then at David, then Rebekah, then John, then back at David. “Sean is gonna be okay?”

  David nods.

  “Paul is too?”

  David nods.

  “Are you sure?”

  David nods slowly. “Yes, child. You see, I’m a doctor. I help people when they get hurt.”

  “But you can’t help Gramma Laura or Grampa Joe?”

  “No, child. No man has that power. Only God does. Tonight, they dine at His table. Of that, I am more than certain.”

  Tears gather in her eyes. “I sure do miss them somethin’ fierce.”

  “So do we all, child. So do we all.” David’s
face is compassionate. He looks at his wife, kisses her hand a moment, then says quietly, “I’ll be back. I need to go check on Paul and Sean.” As he stands, he looks pointedly at Andy. “I could use some help. Would like to help me out?”

  She looks at her father a moment, then back at David. “Could I?”

  David smiles and nods. “I wouldn’t have offered, if you weren’t allowed.”

  She sighs and scoots the chair out, jumps to the ground, then pushes it back in. “That’s part of my job around here. Gramma Laura says it keeps’em out from under foot,” the last bit barely came out with her voice cracking in emotion.

  John, knowing she is thinking of the older couple, nods in agreement. “You’re doing a good job, Andy.”

  Andy gives him a half smile and nods to David, saying she’s ready to go.

  They both go upstairs, carefully, to avoid any missteps on the stairs.

  John looks at Josh. “So, did she tell you about the attack?”

  Josh sighs and explains how Andy saw the people running out from the bank while she and Brigit were at the store. She ran in, told Brigit, they rushed out and Brigit saw Richard. They ran back to the hotel, Brigit told Andy to hide and the little girl ran in to the kitchen. She heard most of the scuffle, but didn’t see it. Curiosity got the better of her as she heard all the gunshots earlier and poked her head out of the restaurant. “When she saw the bodies of the Mallorys and Doc Lopez, she screamed. Richard came after her and Brigit shot him. Apparently she hit him well enough, he got scared and left.”

  John strokes his jawline. Andy’s story matches with what Paul told him. “I got a few more details, but what I was told ended there. What happened after that?”

  “She said she hid in the kitchen for a couple more minutes, but came out when Paul yelled ‘my stables’. She ran out and helped carry water to put out the fire. When the sheriff showed up, she bolted back into hiding again, this time only coming out when I came in calling for her.”

  John shakes his head. Poor kid. She’s gotta be all sorts of messed up about this. “Well, at least Richard couldn’t do anything to her.”