The Law and Miss Penny

by Sharon Ihle

  Tubbs looked long and hard at Artemis. "I don't know how we're going to take care of him yet, but if I can't get to him, I might have to give the job to you. Think you can do it?"

  "I—I don't know, Tubbs." Hearing his partner's muttered oath, Artemis kept his head low and his gaze pinned to his lap. "Don't be mad at me. I ain't never done murder before, is all. I don't know how to do it."

  Tubbs took a swallow of whiskey and exhaled loudly. "I'm not mad, kid. I guess I'm a little edgy, what with finding the 'preacher' and trying to think of a way to get at him."

  "Me, too." Artemis shuddered, again reminded of exactly what that entailed, and then laughed nervously. "I'm strung up tighter than a horse thief."

  "You won't be for long, kid." He winked. "I got a little surprise for you, a kind of reward for doing such a good job with the medicine show."

  Artemis's eyes widened, but he managed to keep his voice low as he said, "A reward... for me? What is it?"

  Tubbs cocked his thumb toward the bar, and then leaned across the table. His eyes gleaming wickedly, he said, "They got a one-room crib behind the bar here. That red-haired whore over there is gonna meet us back there in that room and see if she can't help us get rid of that edgy feeling."

  "You mean you got a woman for you and me, too?" At Tubbs's nod, Artemis clutched his chest, where his heart was trying to hammer its way through. Glory be. How could he ever live through all this happiness? Or was he living in a dream?

  * * *

  After a supper of roast beef and fried oysters which her father had brought to her room, Mariah settled Daisy into a corner with a bowlful of scraps from the meal and then combed out the knot of hair at the nape of her neck. Cain would be here soon, and she'd pared her options down to just one: a near-truth that would either bring him closer to her, or drive him away. If only she had more time to discuss the changes she was going to have to make in her plans with her mother and father, then maybe—

  what she planned to do, if not why. What if Cain went directly to him after talking to her? Would her father stick to the original script, or back her up?Zack. She should at least inform Zack about

  Thinking of dashing across the hall to her parents' room, Mariah quickly tied a blue satin ribbon around the bulk of her hair and then hurried to the door. She was too late. As she reached for the knob, Cain knocked, announcing himself.

  Mariah swung the door wide and gestured for him to enter. "Hurry up and come in before someone sees you."

  Cain frowned as he stepped across the threshold. "Don't make this sound any more sordid than it already is, princess."

  He flipped his Brother Law hat onto a brass hook near the door, and released the button at the waist of his frock coat, ready to get down to business. Then he turned toward Mariah. She'd moved over by the window, offering her trim silhouette in profile. She was wearing a sky-blue dress with a royal- blue velvet bodice—colors that turned her eyes to a rich shade of amethyst—and she'd tied her hair loosely with a blue satin ribbon, which left it to spill down her back.

  He forced himself to turn away from the alluring sight, but before he could speak, Daisy scampered up to him and began rubbing her head against his boot.

  "Daisy," Mariah said, her tone a clear command. "Go lie down."

  The little dog ignored her mistress's direction and continued to rub against Cain, rolling her big brown eyes up at him in adoration.

  He gruffly said, "Go on, Daisy. Lie down." She tucked her tail between her legs, but did as he asked. His voice still carrying that commanding tone, Cain said to Mariah, "Let's get that robbery business out of the way. Then I think we'd better talk about finding a replacement for me in the medicine show."

  Mariah, who'd been doing a little pouting of her own over the way her dog continued to worship Cain, whirled on him, eyes flashing with panic. "But you can't leave—we need you."

  "We'll talk about the robbery first." His tone brooked no argument.

  "Oh... all right." She came closer to where Cain stood. "I made up the story about being robbed because Zack told me about the loan he gave you. I wanted the money back."

  "Then why the big story? Why didn't you just ask me for the twenty dollars if it meant that much to you?"

  "I was afraid you'd want to know why I needed it." She lowered her gaze. "I was embarrassed, and didn't know how to ask you."

  Cain softened his attitude, along with the rigid rules he'd set for himself. He'd sworn that he wouldn't put his hands on her or touch her in any way during this discussion, but he found himself closing the distance between them, and then taking her shoulders in his hands. "Look at me, princess. We've been able to talk about darn near anything until now. Why should you be embarrassed if the family's a little low on money? Hell, I don't have a dime to my name that isn't given to me by Zack. If anyone should feel embarrassed, it's me."

  Mariah knew then that she could proceed as planned. She'd tell him almost all of it, and let the chips fall where they may. She inched closer to Cain, leaning forward until her bodice brushed against the fabric of his coat. Then she looked up into his green eyes, seeking warmth and understanding there, and said, "This family is as flush as it's ever been. We don't need your money."

  "Then why, Mariah? Why—"

  "I didn't want you to have it, that's why. I—" She bit down on her bottom lip, shaking off a sudden attack of nerves, and then let the story fairly tumble out of her. "I did it because I couldn't stand the thought of you spending your time or your money on one of those cheap saloon girls."

  Not fully understanding, Cain laughed. "Is that what this is all about? Me having a little fun with a sporting woman?"

  "It's not about you and one of those girls, Cain." She moistened her lips. "It's about us. I can't stand the idea of you kissing anyone but me."

  He groaned. It was bad enough that he'd fallen for her, his very own cousin, but to have gotten her to thinking that there could be something between them was truly unforgivable. "Oh, hell, Mariah. I never meant to lead you on or make you think it'd be all right for us to carry on with one another. It's wrong, and all the rationalizations in the world won't make it right. That's why I have to leave the show."

  "No, you don't." Mariah slipped her arms beneath his coat, then wound them around his waist and clung to him, determined to have her own way. "You don't understand how it really is, Cain. There's something we didn't tell you after the accident, something we should have told you, but didn't because we figured life would be easier for us all this way. We were wrong."

  "This is what's wrong." He gripped her wrists and took her hands off of his body. "And nothing you can say is going to make it right between us."

  "We're not blood cousins, Cain. Doesn't that make things all right?"

  As her message sank in, Cain absently entwined her fingers with his. "Exactly what do you mean by that, Mariah? And I want the truth."

  "We're not honest-to-God cousins because Thomas Law isn't your natural father. Your mother was a widow with a young son when she married Oda's brother. You were that son, so you see? We don't share any blood."

  He wanted to believe her—God, how he wanted to believe her. "You don't know how much I'd like to accept that story, princess, but if it's really the truth, why'd you bother to lie to me in the first place?"

  "Because of the last banjo player we hired." At least this part of the story was true. "He, ah, well, he was always trying to, you know, get at me. You hadn't been with us long, and even though you hadn't tried anything yourself, Zack thought as long as you couldn't remember us, he might as well let you think we were blood relatives to make things a little easier for me. That's really all there is to it."

  At last, something that made sense. But what if the sincerity in her beautiful eyes was faked? Even if it wasn't, what was he to do now? If he went after that which he wanted so badly, if he were to take Mariah into his arms right now and kiss her until they were both crazy from wanting one another, what then? She was, after all, still hi
s cousin, if only in the vaguest sense of the word. Surely if he were to stay on with the show, his behavior around Mariah would be subject to the family's censure.

  Whether a relationship between them would be sanctioned, Cain couldn't guess. He couldn't even think about that until he was one hundred percent sure she hadn't lied to him again. Beyond these few thoughts, he was incapable of reasoning things out—especially not with Mariah looking up at him, her beautiful eyes filled with expectancy and, God help him, a fair amount of desire. Not here and not now.

  He firmly set her away from him, spinning on his heel as he said, "I hope you understand what I have to do now."

  Mariah tried to reach the door before Cain, but his longer stride outdistanced her. Without stopping for his hat, he opened the door and stepped across the threshold. "I think I ought to have a little talk with Zack and Oda. Is there any reason that I shouldn't?"

  "Not really," she said, sighing with defeat. "I told you the truth, and I expect that they will, too. Ah, but I do think it'd be best if you didn't tell them why I let you know we're not really cousins. You know, don't mention... us."

  Cain nodded once, sharply. "Go back to your room, Mariah. You and I will talk more tomorrow."

  Mariah closed her door behind him, wishing she could jump into his back pocket in order to overhear whatever happened in her parents' room. She leaned back against the wall, whispering a silent prayer that Zack would confirm her story, and then thought back to the things she'd said to Cain. She'd hoped for a little more excitement from him when she told him they weren't related, even if he did feel that he had to rush out and confirm her story. She'd longed to see a glimmer of exhilaration in his eyes, and even just a hint of the love she felt for him. Maybe, she dared to hope, she would see those things when Cain returned.

  The minutes ticked by—five, ten, fifteen. Mariah waited impatiently, crossing to the wall her room shared with her parents' to press her ear against the damask wallpaper. She repeated this step over and over, but no matter how many times she listened, the most she could hear were a few muffled chuckles. A good sign, she supposed, but what was taking Cain so long to return to her? Or did he even plan to return? Lord, what if Zack had stuck to the script, and Cain was packing up his things as he'd threatened to do. At the thought, Mariah could stand the wait no longer. She crept out into the hallway and tiptoed over to the room next door. Carefully pressing her ear just below the brass numbers 223, she picked out her mother's voice.

  "... why else would she tell Cain such a thing?"

  Then came Zack's voice, more heated than Mariah had heard it in a long time. "Could be a lot of reasons."

  "Humph. Ain't but one I can think of."

  Her father was shouting now. "If you're so danged sure that she and that miserable 'cousin' of hers are up to no good, why don't we just march over to her room and ask her about it once and for all?"

  "We ain't gonna do anything." A rare, protective tone, almost defiant. Then, quieter, "Ain't no place for you in a talk like that."

  Zack's voice came again, so hot and so angry, the volume alone gave Mariah the chills. He never raised his voice like that, not even with the mules. "Why not, woman? Because I'm not her real father? Is that what you were going to say?" His voice was quivering now. "I ain't got no real rights when it comes down to the business of her life, is that it?"

  "Oh, Zachariah, don't be such a fool. You know I'd never bring that up. Who her daddy is ain't got a thing to do with it. It's that temper of yours when Mariah and men are the subject that's got me in a fret."

  Mariah heard her mother's voice drone on, but the rest of Oda's words were lost in the sudden roar that filled her mind. Sickened, shocked, numb in some places, much too sensitive in others, she rolled away from the door and flattened her back against the plaster wall. What did it all mean? Had her entire life been a lie?

  She felt sick. She had to get away, back to the safety of her room, but she couldn't seem to make her legs move. Bracing herself against the wall, she made ready to push against it and launch herself toward her own door, but in that moment she heard someone coming up the stairs. A minute later Cain rounded the landing and came on down the hallway.

  Not now. She couldn't face him. Not now. Mariah pushed away from the door, stumbling over her own feet.

  "Mariah?" Cain noticed the odd look in her eyes as he drew closer, the kind of glazed panic in her expression. "What's wrong, princess?"

  Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get any words out, the door to room 223 opened, and Zack stood staring out at her.

  "Mariah?" he said. "What the—You're crying. What's happened to you, baby?"

  Baby? Mariah's head was buzzing. She repeated what she'd heard, hoping above all hope that he would deny Oda's words. That he would make everything all right again. "Am I really your baby, Dad? Or has it all been a lie?"

  Zack seemed to wilt against the door frame, his good leg buckling along with the wooden one. He sighed, a long, miserable sound that took every drop of breath from his body. When at last he spoke, his voice was cracked, sounding much older than his years. "You been eavesdropping on your ma and me? That it?"

  Oda squeezed herself between her husband and the door. "What's going on out here? What's the matter with Mariah?"

  Looking from Oda to Zack and then to Cain, who appeared to be completely baffled, all Mariah could think to do was turn on her heel and run to the end of the hallway. Pausing at the landing, she took only a moment to look back at her mother and Zack. Then, deliberately avoiding eye contact with Cain, she fled down the staircase, and into the night.

  Chapter 9

  At the other end of town, Artemis trudged down the middle of Main Avenue, denying himself one of Durango's biggest claims to fame—full boardwalks throughout the town and electric arc lights to illuminate them after dark. He stumbled over a particularly fresh pile of horse manure, coating his boots, but he didn't take a second's notice of the mess. Nothing mattered to him right then except what had happened in the back room at Fat Alice's Saloon.

  He'd been enormously excited at first, swollen up bigger than a mule when Pearl, she said her name was, stripped off her fancy dress and stretched out on that sagging mattress. Artemis had never even seen a naked woman before, much less bedded one, and just the thought that this Pearl was gonna let him put his hands anywhere he wanted to on her nice plump body nearly had him coming undone in his pants before he'd been in the room two minutes. Of course, all that was before Tubbs took his turn.

  Pearl made the mistake of asking Tubbs how he wanted his fun, and then called him lover-boy. Tubbs slapped that Pearl right across her painted-up mouth and told her he wasn't paying her to talk. Before he did anything else, he turned and grinned at Artemis, telling him, "Watch this and see if you can't learn a thing or two, kid." Then he tore off his trousers and climbed on top of her without so much as a "pardon me, ma'am."

  Since he'd never seen anything quite like that before either, Artemis watched them for a while, randy as a goat and still feeling big as a mule. But then he glanced beyond the sweating bodies to Pearl's face. Her indifferent gaze was fastened on the ceiling, and her mouth, untouched by Tubbs's lips, was still perfectly painted, but at the same time pinched and drawn, as if she might be uncomfortable or something. That's when Artemis noticed her hands were filled with the soiled sheets beneath her, drawn into tight little fists.

  By the time his hero had finished with Pearl, Artemis's excitement had evaporated, and in its place he felt nothing but disgust and a deep sadness. All he wanted to do was leave, disappear into the night, and pretend none of this had happened. Tubbs didn't understand that at all. He laughed at him, sounding a little like Billy as he told him that it was about time he learned to be a man. Tubbs kept on laughing, saying that he might as well take both turns with the girl since one of them didn't seem to have the heart for such work, and that's when Artemis turned and bolted from the room.

&nbs
p; Far as he knew, Tubbs would probably laugh all night long over that one, Artemis thought as he slipped in through the back door of Naegelin's Livery. Well, he could laugh all he wanted to if it made him happy, but there were just some things Artemis couldn't do. Treating a delicate little female like that was one of them.

  And he was pretty sure that killing a man for no good reason he could think of was another. It wasn't just that he didn't know how to do murder; he didn't want to learn how, either. If it turned out that Tubbs gave him the job of taking out the marshal, Artemis didn't know what he was gonna do. He only knew that if he couldn't bring himself to do the deed, Tubbs wouldn't just laugh about it. There'd be hell to pay.

  More troubled than he could remember being in his entire life, Artemis climbed under the medicine wagon and burrowed himself in the used bedding straw beneath it to hide himself from the world. Then he dropped into a fitful sleep.

  * * *

  Cain, Zack, and Oda stood in the hallway on the second floor of the Strater Hotel, staring at one another, a trio of mutes shocked into silence. Cain finally broke the silence by saying, "I'm sure what happened here between you folks is none of my business, but why don't you let me be the one to go after Mariah."

  "Isn't your place, that's why," Zack said defiantly. "This family's had a mighty tall skeleton hiding in the back of the closet for too long now. Them bones been a-rattling around trying to get out in the light for nigh onto twenty years."

  Oda, her expression as unreadable as ever, stared hard at her husband. "Buried is where they belong and where they should have stayed."

  "Well, whether we like it or not, they ain't buried no more. Them bones have risen up sure as Lazarus now, woman, and there ain't a thing we can do about it but pull together and go look for our girl."