Logan's Promise

by Nancy Howard

  “Who's Travis Belcher?”

  "Oh, he's the scumbag I got arrested for murdering two women years ago, over in Miner’s Hill. I thought he was tried convicted and got hanged. Evidently, that didn't happen. Anyway, I need to ride out to this Connor Junction place, to see what is going on.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Gavin says. “Not without me you ain’t.

  “He says in the letter, for me to come alone, Gavin.”

  “To hell with what he says in his letter. You and I both know that you could very well be walking into a trap. You know nothing about this twin sister, he mentions, or even if she exists at all. So this could be just a trap, a way for him to lure you out there, to kill you. You've got too much to lose now, Logan, to go out there by yourself.

  “Your a mother and have two children. You have your mom and this ranch, not to mention me. So we go together—besides if we can take him alive, I'll arrest him and see that he doesn't get away this time. I'll have two of my deputies go with us to back us up.”

  “Okay,” she says, knowing Gavin is right, “Do you know where this Connor Junction is?”

  “Yes, I do, it's about a four days ride from here. Fifty or so miles north of Santa Fe. I was wondering, do you think he is mistaken about the woman he's holding?”

  “I don't know, Gavin. I just don't know. I know nothing about a sister. I’m just as shocked to learn about all of this as you are, so I guess we'll find out.”

  That evening at dinner Logan tells Catherine about the rider and the letter. She told her that she and Gavin would be leaving the next day, and would be gone for a few days. Logan showed her the letter from Belcher, that mentions a twin sister. She tells Catherine that she knows nothing about a sister. She always thought that she was an only child, and that Belcher could be lying and drawing her into a trap, with this sister story. And they'll not really know if any of this is true, until they get to Connor Junction.

  Catherine is curious about the part that talks about a twin sister, too, and she's understandably fearful that Logan could get hurt or even killed. Logan assures her mother that Gavin and a couple of his deputies are going along, and that she is not going out to this Connor Junction alone. Logan tries to calm Catherine's fears, telling her that she will have plenty of help. Catherine knows it would be useless to try and talk Logan out of doing this. If she has a sister, she needs to know. Catherine wants her to know, and is aware that this journey is very important to her.

  38

  Logan and Gavin make ready to leave the ranch the next morning. Catherine stands beside Logan's horse and tells her again to be very careful, and to come home alive. Logan tells the woman to try not to worry, that she would come home alive. Logan hugs her mom and her kids. Molly asks where they're going, and Logan tells her that she and daddy have some business to attend too. She tells the little girl to be good, and to mind her Grandmother and Zelda and to help them with Chad. Then she and Gavin give the little girl another big hug and kiss, and kiss the baby. Logan hugs her mother one more time telling her again to try not to worry about them. Then they mount up and ride away. Both of them turning around several times, looking back to wave at their family, until they're over the rise and out of site.

  When they reach the entrance to the ranch they are joined by two of Gavin's deputies. A guy named Will and another by the name of Oliver. The two men have been waiting for Gavin and Logan to show up, there's no need for introductions. They immediately turn and head down the main road, that will take them left and to the west toward Connor Junction. They waste no time, it is of the essence to them. Especially if Belcher is holding someone he says is Logan's twin—hostage.

  The morning after leaving they figure they have at least a three day ride ahead of them.

  The forth morning Logan gets up on her horse and groans a little.

  “What was that about,” Gavin asks? Grinning.

  “I don't know about you, but I don't miss this at all.”

  “Miss what?” He knows what she's about to say.

  “Camping out, and sleeping on this damn, cold, hard, ground again. That's what. I miss our nice, soft, bed.”

  “You're, spoiled my dear.”

  “That's bad?” She teases.

  “No, it ain't, and you're right, I don't miss camping out either. Even though this job makes me camp out once in a while, when me and the boys here are after someone. I always think about how nice it'll be to get back into that nice soft, warm, bed with you.”

  Logan smiles, teasing him again. “See! Somebody else is spoiled, too.”

  “Speakin' of, I was gonna say dear, this is like the old days. Me and you out huntin' some bad guys together.”

  “Yeah, I know, it's not like we've never done this before. Right? That's what I was trying to make mom understand at dinner last night.”

  “I think she knows. She loves you Logan, and worries about you when we have to do these things. She's lost two daughters and a husband and doesn't want to lose you, too. But she also knows how important this trip is to you. And she knows you're not doing this alone. You're with me and my deputies.”

  “Yes, she does, and that love goes both ways. She's one great lady, and an even better mother to me. I'm, so very lucky to have her.”

  Gavin shakes his head in agreement. He knows how close Logan and Catherine are.

  Logan, Gavin, and the deputies mount up to begin the rest of the journey to Conner Junction. And along the way Gavin being a lawman becomes curious. He wants to hear the whole story about how she had the misfortune of getting to know Travis Belcher.

  “So, my dear, you've never told me the complete story of how got mixed up with Belcher?”

  “It's, really kind of a long story, I didn't want to bore you with the details.”

  “What are you talking about? You won't bore me, I'm a lawman, and want to know these things. You mentioned, when you got that letter yesterday, something about having him arrested for the murder of two women, years ago.”

  “Yeah, I did, it was just before I met you in Las Cruces. I sorta stumbled into the whole situation, really.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, I had been down around Silver City several weeks before, and had captured a couple of petty thieves for the sheriff there. And after I collected the bounty on them I decided to head back north to Miner's Hill.”

  “You had a friend there, right?”

  “Yeah, Jim Ramsey. He bought this very gun and holster that I am wearing, right now.”

  “So, what went on,” Gavin asks? As they ride along beside each other, Gavin toeing the pack mule, with the two deputies following about ten yards behind them.

  “Well, I arrived that day and got Warrior stabled.” She pauses, thinking of her big horse, she rode for years.

  “Anyway, on my way to the hotel I noticed a gallows being built. So when I checked in, I asked the clerk who was being hanged? He told me that it was Jim, and at first I didn't believe him. But then he filled me in on the details. He said Jim had been tried and convicted of murdering a woman saloon owner, named Big Sue. He told me that he was convicted because he was the last person to see her alive. I knew that didn’t sound like him.”

  “Circumstantial evidence, that you of course didn't believe.”

  “Right. Anyway, after I got my gear into my room, I immediately went to the jail to see Jim. He told me that someone else had killed Sue. That she was alive when he left her room the night in question. He swore he would never do such a thing, and I believed him. He said that she told him about some guy named, Travis Belcher. That he owed her money, and that he'd confessed to her that he had killed another girl. She told Jim, that she told this Travis guy after he told her what he'd done. That he had to pay her to keep her mouth shut. Because she would go to the sheriff if he didn't pay her, and she'd turn him in.”

  “Blackmail,” Gavin says.

  “Precisely. And after she said that to him, he told her he'd kill her if she did that. And Jim, told the jury
what she said, and they questioned Belcher. And of course he lied and told them he hadn’t seen Sue in days.

  Gavin just shakes his head.

  “So, I set about looking for this guy, Travis Belcher, and I wasn't even sure he was still around. I decided to gamble that he was, and decided to look for him. I knew I had to get the proof that he was the murderer, in order to get Jim cleared of any wrongdoing.

  “Experience has taught us these guys hang out in saloons, so I started my search there. There were three in town. This woman known as big Sue, owned the Dancing Lady, so I went to her place first. I didn't find him there, so I went to a place called The Dry Run. It was really small, he wasn't there either. I had one more shot, because at this point I was wondering where he might be. So, I went to the last place called the Golden Slipper.

  “Once I got inside, I immediately got blind sided by a big drunken cowboy. He grabbed me and I had to literally fight him off. Then after I did that, and I had everyone’s attention. I told this room full of people my name, and that I was looking for Travis. No one spoke up, and I can't blame them. I was standing in the middle of the room, with my gun in hand. And a lot of them knew my name and reputation. Luckily, the barkeep nodded to me that Travis was upstairs, and held up four fingers. Telling me he was in room four. So, I went up and kicked in the door to that room. And sure enough, there he was, I found him naked as a jaybird—standing over some saloon girl, that he’d hurt.

  “When I got inside the room I was pointing my gun straight at him. The saloon girl was laying on the floor—next to the bed—out cold. So, asked him what happened to her and he said she fell out of bed and hit her head on the floor, knocking her out. I didn’t believe him and was sure he had hit her and hurt her. So, I ordered him out of the room, because I wanted to take him to the sheriff.”

  “Naked?”

  “No, I did let him put his johns and boots on,” She smiled.

  Gavin, laughs, as he tries to picture this all in his mind.

  “Anyway, the sheriff let him go, and that made me mad as a hornet. Because he lied to me about hurting the saloon girl, too. I was almost sure I had the killer, but I still needed proof.”

  “How did you get it?

  “Well, I got lucky. The next morning, Joe Domingas, the owner of the gun shop where Jim bought my gun for me had heard I was in town. He came to the hotel and knocked on my door. He told me that he heard Belcher bragging about murdering Sue, and another girl named Melissa Reyes. He said that he and some other guy were in the alley behind his shop. So, I put my gun on, and we went to see.

  “When we got back to the alley behind Joe's shop, Belcher had disappeared. But his drinking buddy was still there. And you'll never guess who that was?”

  Who?”

  “A guy, by the name of Gabe Phelps. He was the guy who was with that damned army sergeant that I killed, when I was nineteen, that was going to rape me.”

  You gotta be kidding me? Did he remember you?”

  “Did he?”

  They both laugh.

  “He was scared shitless of me.”

  They laughed even louder.

  “Anyway, I used my little persuader here on my hip to get him to tell me what Belcher had said.”

  “I can only imagine,” he grins, shaking his head.

  “He told me that, yes, Belcher did confess to the murders, and that he'd tell a jury that. So Joe took Gabe to the sheriff, and I went back to the Golden Slipper. It was about ten in the morning as I walked in. And sure enough, Belcher was there in a card game. Which I rudely interrupted.”

  Gavin laughs again, causing Logan to smile and shake her head.

  “What did you do?”

  “I walked up behind him and I kicked his chair out from under him. That’s what I did.”

  Gavin laughs out loud.

  “He got up off the floor and saw it was me, and he tried desperately to get away from me. He grabbed a cowboys gun, and jumped over the bar and shot at me from behind it. He missed. I returned his fire and hit him in the left shoulder. The gun he grabbed, only had one bullet in the chamber. And when he tried to shoot it again, it was empty, so he threw it at me. Then he jumped over the bar and tried to runaway. I wanted to kill him so bad, I had to restrain myself, Gavin. I hated him.”

  “I imagine you did. He was willing to let your friend be hanged for murders that he committed.”

  “Yeah, he was, and you know, he didn't care. Anyway, rather than kill him, I butt shot him, twice.”

  Gavin laughs out loud upon hearing his wife say that, and he almost falls off of his horse.

  She's laughing too, and adds, “he cried you shot me in the ass. He said it twice.”

  Gavin laughs even louder, bending over.

  “I told him I wanted to kill him, but I needed him to confess to those murders,” she paused. “I also told him, I would also probably regret not killing him someday. I guess that was a self fulfilling prophecy on my part.”

  “Well, let me say this to you, my dear. What you did was one hell of a good job of old fashioned police work.”

  “Thanks, I had, too, I had to help Jim. He was innocent.”

  He shakes his head in agreement, “And until you got that letter yesterday at the ranch, you thought Belcher was dead.”

  “Yeah, I did, I hadn't given him a thought in years. He was the slimiest bastard I'd ever tried to catch.”

  “Worse than Cutter Hargrove?”

  “In some ways, yes. Cutter, I'm sure you remember, was just plain mean. You knew it by just looking at him, to just stay the hell away from him. But Belcher on the other hand is shifty, a bully, and a coward, who prays on people weaker than him.”

  “So what about this sister thing? I think he's trying to lure you into a trap?”

  “That could be, Gavin, with a guy like Belcher you never know. You know that as well as I do.”

  “If he does have your twin, what are you going to do?”

  “Take her home with us, and take care of her.”

  “Like you do everybody else,” he murmurs.

  She looks at him.

  “Don't look at me like that,” he says to her softly. “You know what I'm talking about Logan. You're protective as hell of everyone who you love. I see it with the kids, with Catherine and with me.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “No, no, sweetheart. You're taking what I'm trying to say here, wrong. It's quite the opposite. It is perhaps one of your greatest qualities, and there are many of those I might add. Something that I and everyone admires about you so much. I saw it in you long before we got married. You are so loyal, resilient, independent, and strong, and yes did I mention—oh so beautiful. You have shown those qualities over and over again, not just to me, but to everyone around Folsom. Those are the traits that John saw in you, and that he grew to love so much about you. Just like I have.

  She smiles hearing him compliment her. He's quiet for a second.

  “And, while we're on that subject. You know, you may not be John Sanderson's blood daughter, but Bye-God girl you're just like him. If someone would have not known the two of you before he passed away, and you'd have been someplace together, they'd have never believed that you were adopted. Blood or not you’re John Sanderson’s daughter.

  She looked at him, cocking her head and shaking it yes.

  “One more thing that man loved you. Like I said after he passed away, he'd come into town and brag about you, and talk about you. It was so great to hear him do that, and he meant it, Logan, from the bottom of his heart.”

  Logan was quiet as she listened to her husband, then says, “I know and I loved him, too. Just before our wedding he came into the office, and we had one of our father/daughter talks, and he told me how he and Catherine had always felt about me,” She pauses. “God I miss him so much, Gavin.”

  “I know you do,” he says, looking at her.

  39

  Connor Junction is an old dilapidated railroad depot, where the train
to Albuquerque stops once a day to take on water. The land around it is mostly flat to gently rolling, allowing one to see something or someone approaching at a great distance. There is some vegetation, scrub trees and brush, and an occasional stand of cottonwood and ash trees. The main building has been abandoned for years, and is in a bad state of disrepair. The front door has been torn off, and most of the glass in the windows are out. It populated mostly by bugs, field mice and other small critters now. There used to be a ticket agent stationed here, and people could board the train, but the agent is long gone and so are the people. All that is left is the building, the water tower, and an old outhouse.

  Belcher learned of this place some years ago, when he was on the run from the law in the territory. He hid out here off and on over the years, until he thought it was safe to move on. He always thought of the junction as a good place to hold up. It was out in the middle of nowhere, abandoned, and the only humans you were likely see is when the train stopped.

  It has now been seven days since Chris took Belcher's letter to Sanderson's Hill to deliver it to, Logan. Travis knows she got it, because Chris rode back out to where Belcher was and told him he delivered it to her. He's expecting her soon. He and Burl along with Duel are setting near the front of the old building. They could see anything coming out the doorway. Duel and Burl are at the windows. Kirk is keeping watch on the rear. Falon is laying on the floor across the room, lifeless, and out cold.

  “You think she's comin', Travis,” Burl asks?”

  “Yeah. Why the hell wouldn't she, Burl?”

  “Cause, I was just thinkin', you're takin' a hell of a chance, here.”

  “Yeah, how ya figure that?”

  “Well, for one thing, maybe you didn't hear me so damn good the other day, when I told you that Logan was no one to mess with when she was a bounty hunter. You should know that better'n anyone. So what if she kills you and us, before you kill her? Did you ever consider that, Travis?”

  “No! And Burl, it ain't gonna fuckin’ happen that way,” he says, raising his voice. “I will kill her, and her. Trust me.” He points at Falon, as he tires of Burl Haggar questioning his reason for wanting to kill, Logan.