Chapter One—The Principles

Part One: Unwelcome News

August 28…
          Trent Tolliver and his men didn’t procrastinate on their way back to their mountain hideout. He thought, briefly, about going through a town, maybe a robbery or two, but Terrell talked him out of it.
          “Trent, it’s not going to take long for the news to get out that we killed Conners. I don’t object to that grave marker you left, but you did tell the world that we did it. I wouldn’t be surprised if every lawman in 500 miles knew it by now. And it won’t take McConnell long to make some deductions when Allie Summer doesn’t show up. We disappeared after we killed that Atkins woman. I think it would be a good idea to do the same thing now.” He was a little perturbed. “We’re finished in this territory now.”
         Trent considered. “No, we’re not, because nobody can prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we killed Conners and those two women. That wooden marker can’t convict us. But yeah, you’re probably right about lying low for awhile. It wouldn’t hurt. We need to plan what we’re going to do next anyway. Let’s go on back to the cabin. If Gus is there, we can send him for supplies.”
          Terrell was still concerned that a jury would convict them over that headstone, especially one in River Bend where Conners was so well liked. On top of that, the killing of Kelly Atkins would also probably be attributed to the Tollivers. Hopefully, nobody else had heard Trent tell that woman that she was dying because she had killed a Tolliver, but that couldn’t be counted on. Terrell was glad the three were dead, but he was uneasy about the whole thing.
          So, the day before Rob Conners found Allie Summer, Trent and his men arrived back at their Absaroka lair. Gus, and the men who had gone with him, were indeed there. It was a lovely little cabin, backed up against an unscalable mountain wall, with a stream that flowed out from an underground passage about 30 yards away. A small corral finished the place. It was hard to find—no lawman ever had—and would have been easy to defend if it had been found. The logs the cabin was built from were solid and thick as were the door and shuttered windows. It had been built as an outlaw hideout and it had served its purpose well.
          “How’d it go, boss?” Gus asked as he helped the others with their horses.
          “We got ‘em all, Gus. Conners, the Ranger, and that Atkins woman. All of them.” Trent smiled and repeated to Gus, “Revenge is sweet.”
          Even though Trent seemed happy enough, Gus didn’t like the look in his boss’s eyes; they were still a little too wild. So Gus didn’t especially want to be the bearer of bad news. But the job fell on his shoulders.
         “Well, I hate to rain on your party, Trent,” he said, “but you didn’t get them all. Kelly Atkins is still alive.”
          Trent stopped from removing his saddle and looked at him. “What did you say?” Trent asked.
          Gus replied, “We came through River Bend on our way home, thinking we might find something out about Kelly Atkins and Conners. Had no idea you’d already been there. Well, what we found out was that you shot the wrong woman. She’s supposed to be a dead ringer for the Atkins woman, but you didn’t kill Kelly Atkins.”
          There were several men around, unsaddling horses and so forth. They had all stopped to listen to Gus—those who hadn’t been with him—and they all stared at Trent when he was presented with Gus’s message. Trent glared at him.
          “You mean that idiot, Hardy whatever-his-name is, told me to shoot the wrong woman?”
          “Well, again, we were told that that woman you shot looks almost exactly like Kelly Atkins so Hardy could have mistaken her in the dark. And that woman’s name is Kelly, too.”
          Trent was doing a slow burn. Terrell was watching him, expecting an eruption, and ready to intervene, if necessary.
          Gus sighed, having to pile bad news on top of bad. “That’s not all of it, boss,” he said.
          “You better not tell me that Conners and that Ranger are still alive.”
          “I don’t know anything about that,” Gus replied, “but the woman you shot didn’t die. She’s still alive and is going to live.”
          Trent may have indeed snapped. With a venomous expression on his face, he pulled his gun and stuck it in Gus Ferrara’s face. “Tell me that you killed her when you were in River Bend, mister, so that I won’t kill you. That woman can identify me and put a rope around my neck.”
          Gus now truly feared for his life because of Trent’s demeanor. He threw up his hands and tried to back up. “Trent, we didn’t know where she was—“
          “Well, I know where you are,” the oldest Tolliver said, and cocked his revolver.
          Terrell slapped his arm, just as he pulled the trigger and the shot went wild. “Stop it, Trent! It isn’t Gus’s fault and it wasn’t his responsibility to try to find that woman and kill her. Leave him be.”
          Trent turned on his younger brother, enraged. “That woman saw me, little brother,” and the last words were spoken was some degree of sarcasm. “I told her my name…” Then he stopped, exhaled audibly, and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, ok, you’re right. I’m sorry, Gus. I just lost it for a moment.” He turned and walked a few feet away, looking up at the sun-splashed mountains rocks above the cabin.
          Without looking back, he said again, “She can identify me. So she’s got to die, too.” Then he looked at Gus. “Did you get her name?”
          “Kelly Kramer.”
          “Looks like the Atkins woman, huh.”
          “I didn’t see her, but that’s what the bartender said. Twin sister, or close to it.”
          “How we gonna find her, boss?” Hank Frobisher asked. “We goin’ back to River Bend?”
          By way of an answer, Trent spoke to all of his men. “You better believe we are. We leave tomorrow, first thing…”
  
Part Two: Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest

Same day…
          “Hardy, do you know where we is? We been wanderin’ around for days and I ain’t seen nuthin’ but rocks, trees, and buzzards.”
          Hardy Nippo was starting to get a few grumbles from his traveling mates, Rhino, Duke, Sampson, and Digger. If Hardy was going to give an honest answer to Duke’s question, he would have said, “no,” he didn’t have the faintest idea where they were. But he said, “Yeah, ‘course I know where we are. That place is just a few miles ahead.”
          “I don’t even remember the name of the town we’re supposed to rob,” Digger muttered.
          “And we ain’t never robbed a bank before,” Sampson threw in. “Fact is, I ain’t never even robbed a little old lady, much less a bank.”
          “It cain’t be that hard,” Hardy replied. “You cover your face, walk in, stick a gun in the teller’s face, and say ‘gimme all your money.’ He does it, or he gets his head blowed off.”
          “But I don’t even have a gun, Hardy,” Digger said. “What’m I supposed to do? Point a fanger at the feller? What if’n he points his fanger back? His might be loaded. Mine ain’t.”
          “Well, then, you can just stay outside with the horses. We need somebody to do that so they won’t run off while we’re puillin’ the job.”
          “Can I help him, Hardy?” Sampson asked. “I ain’t got no gun, neither.”
          Duke had a few brain cells, but he wasn’t overly endowed with them. He said, “I don’t know about this, Hardy. If Tolliver wants that gold so bad, why don’t he go rob that bank?”
          “He told us why, you meathead. He and his boys have got to lay low for awhile for killin’ Kelly Atkins. We’ve got to do this job. Don’t you want to ride with the Tollivers?”
          “Not especially,” Duke said, too dumb to be dishonest. “A feller could get killed that way. Or have the law on his tail fer the rest of his life. Why would I wanna do that?”
          “You got anything better to do?”
          “We wasn’t doin’ so bad in River Bend. We weren’t gettin’ rich or nuthin’, but we had a bottle ever night or so. ‘Tweren’t so bad. Beats bein’ lost out here where even God cain’t find us.”
          “Is that all you want outta life, Duke? A bottle every night or so? Ain’t you got more ambition than that?”
          Duke had never had any ambition in his life so he didn’t know what it was. So he didn’t say anything.
          But Digger did. “Hardy, do you think you can find the Tolliver hideout onct we rob that bank? Provided we get away with it, of course.”
          Truth be told, Hardy Nippo couldn’t remember the name of the town, either, where the bank was that they were to rob, hadn’t a clue how to follow the directions Trent had given him to the hideout, and had been looking for a convenient way out of the whole mess himself. He sorta missed the easy life in River Bend, too. “Well, if that’s the way you boys feel, we’ll just go on back to River Bend. I cain’t rob that bank all by myself. I know Mr. Tolliver is going to be almighty disappointed that we didn’t do the job, but we’ll just tell him that the gold shipment was too well guarded. Had a whole bunch of army fellers surrounding it.”
          “Yeah, that’s what we’ll tell him,” Rhino said, finally speaking up, and showing a little enthusiasm. “The army would be guardin’ gold anyway, wouldn’t they?”
          “We ain’t never gonna see Trent Tolliver again,” Duke said. “He ain’t gonna come back to River Bend. Marshal’d throw his hide in the hoosegow and hang ‘im the next day. If’n the town didn’t lynch him first. Killin’ Kelly Atkins was dumb, dumb, dumb. Ever’body in town loved her, even me. Trent better not ever show his face in River Bend again.”
          “Yeah, well, he had to kill ‘er, Duke,” Hardy said. “She kilt his brother. What would you a’done?”
          “I don’t know, Hardy. I’d like to kill my brother, too. He’s a horse’s back end if’n there ever was one. I vote we go back to River Bend. I’m thirsty an’ I’m tired of drinkin’ water. What do the rest of you say?”
          It was unanimous—even Hardy wanted to, though he voted “no.” “All right,” he said. “If you boys don’t want nuthin’ more in life than a bottle…”
          “The bottle’s been pretty good to me, Hardy,” Digger said. “And a whole lot safer than havin’ the law after us. What if some sheriff started shootin’ at us? One of us might get hit. What would we do then? I don’t like the sight o’ blood, ‘specially my own.”
          “Aw, yore such a sissy, Digger. But let’s go on back home.” He sighed—for effect. “I guess our dream o’ riding with the Tollivers is busted. I ‘magine Duke’s right anyway. Trent ain’t never gonna show his face in River Bend again, so we’ll never see him anyway.”
          Right. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong….

Part Three: New Friends

September 1…
          The two Kellys—Atkins and Kramer—were having lunch together at a Chinese restaurant in River Bend. It was Monday, so it was Kelly K’s day off, and “I’d love to have lunch with you,” she had told Kelly A when the latter had asked her, “but I eat most of my meals at the Gold Dust, so I prefer going somewhere else, if you don’t mind.” Even though meals were included with her $12 rent at Mrs. Bowden’s, Kelly ate at the restaurant most of the time—mainly because that’s where she was most of the time during eating hours. It didn’t matter to her; she liked the food at the Gold Dust and Oscar and Sudsy let her have it for free. It suited her just fine.
          Kelly Atkins was happy to go the Chinese restaurant, though for some reason, on that day, she remembered Nicholas Backstrom. We went to this restaurant the day before…he died…it was the last place we ate together…Kelly wasn’t able to say (or think) “the day before I shot him”; that was a thought she’d rather not have. But she remembered that last Chinese meal with him. But she was relieved to realize that the thought didn’t pain her any more. He was gone from her life and from her heart.
          But whenever Nicholas Backstrom did enter her mind, Rob Conners wasn’t far behind. In fact, Rob Conners was there even when Nicholas Backstrom wasn’t. It had been barely a month since Rob’s “burial,” so he was far from buried in Kelly’s heart. And it was noticeable to her new namesake friend.
          “It’s Rob, isn’t it,” Kelly K said, as she saw Kelly A shove her food around her plate, not eating much of it. Kelly A tried to keep up a brave face and usually did a fairly good job. But today…the restaurant…reminding her of Nicholas Backstrom… reminding her of Rob Conners….
          She glanced up quickly at Kelly K, then a whimsical smile crossed her lips. “You know, you never did tell me about what happened between you and Rob.”
          “Well, ‘between’ really isn’t the right word,” Kelly K replied. “He came through Upton, just traveling, I guess. There was a man there who thought he owned me. I was standing in front of a shop when Rob rode by, and he sorta smiled at me. He thought I looked like you, remember. Well, Freddie—this other guy—saw Rob smile at me and took offense. Rob let him know pretty fast that there wasn’t anything between the two of us. Anyway, I thought Rob handled himself pretty well.” She shrugged. “I wanted to get out of Upton. I had wanted to for a long time. So I…asked Rob if I could ride with him a little while.” She made a face. “I told him I was going to Bandera where I had an aunt an uncle. I never intended to go there. I have two aunts there, but they are both intolerable. I didn’t know where I was going, I just saw Rob as a chance to get out of Upton. He talked about Clearwater Valley and River Bend and made the area sound real nice, so I decided to come here. I’m glad I did. I love it here.”
          “It almost got you killed, Kelly,” Kelly A replied.
          “Well, there’s that,” Kelly K responded. “But that hasn’t dampened my feelings for River Bend. The people are really nice, and especially since I was shot. Incidentally, did the marshal ever figure out who shot me?”
          Kelly A nodded. “He’s pretty sure, yeah.”
          “Who was it?”
          Kelly A didn’t really want to talk about it, but she figured she owed it to Kelly K. “His name is Trent Tolliver. He was after me, not you, Kelly. I killed his brother a few months ago, so I guess he was after revenge.”
          Kelly K’s eyes got big. This was all news to her. “Yes! I remember now. He said his name was Tolliver. He’s the one who killed Rob, too, isn’t he?”
          A pain shot through Kelly Atkins. “Yeah.”
          “And you killed one of his brothers, too? Why?”
          “Apparently, this brother—Top was his name, I think—had a run-in with Ben Baker and wanted to kill him. Well, I had just gotten my rifle repaired and was standing on the sidewalk when I saw this Top Tolliver point his rifle at Ben. I yelled at Ben, Tolliver shot and missed…” And she shrugged. “I didn’t miss.” A little more melancholy swept over Kelly Atkins. “I don’t like killing people, Kelly, but he was trying to kill Ben.”
          “Well, you did the right thing, of course. Anybody would have done it.” She paused reflectively. “So his brother wants to kill you, just like he did Rob.” Kelly K then looked at her friend. “Kelly, what if he finds out he didn’t kill you? He’ll come back, won’t he?”
          That was another thought that didn’t exactly make Kelly A happy. “Probably.” And then, because misery loves company, she added, rather thoughtlessly, “And if he finds out you’re still alive, he’ll probably want to kill you, too, because you can identify him as the man who shot you.”
          Once again, Kelly K’s eyes got big and, for a few moments, she stared at nothing, letting that piece of data settle into her mind. “Oh, no,” she whispered. Then, focusing back on Kelly Atkins, she said softly, “Kelly, what are we going to do?”
          Kelly, realizing that she had probably just pulled a boner, replied, “Well, Ben thinks there’s nothing to worry about. I mean, Tolliver thinks he killed me. How is he going to find out otherwise? He’s not going to come back to River Bend. If he does, Ben will arrest him. So he’s a long way from here now and we’ll never see him again. Don’t worry about it.”
          Kelly Kramer hadn’t been born the day before and she wasn’t buying that any more than Kelly Atkins had when Ben had first suggested it to her. “But what if he does find out?”
          Kelly Atkins replied, “Well, Ben is here. He’ll protect us.” Oh, Rob…Rob… why aren’t you here…Why…why…why did you ever leave?...
          Kelly Kramer looked at Kelly Atkins. “Kelly,” she said, “tell me truthfully that you aren’t going to be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life, expecting to see Trent Tolliver there.”
          Kelly A didn’t like to tell lies, so she kept her mouth shut. Well, not exactly. She just changed the subject. “You didn’t tell Rob you were coming here?”
          Kelly K shook her head. “I didn’t tell you the whole story. Freddie came after me. He found me and forced me to head back to Upton with him. It was at night and Rob was asleep. Well, I guess when Rob got up the next morning and saw I wasn’t there—“
          “He went after you, found you, and told Freddie to beat it in a way that Freddie got the message,” Kelly A finished. “That’s Rob.”
          “He killed Freddie,” Kelly K said, “but he had to because Freddie was trying to kill him. It was self-defense.”
          Kelly Atkins shook her head in wonder. “He was always doing things like that, Kelly. He risked his life more times than I can count for people who couldn’t pay him back in any way.” And Kelly lowered her eyes, thinking back…
          “You loved him, didn’t you,” Kelly K said softly.
          Kelly A thought about how she wanted to respond to that. “I don’t know.” She did lie that time. “But it doesn’t really matter. He’s gone for good this time.” She shook her head again, this time in disbelief. “I just can’t believe the Tollivers could have got him. That just doesn’t sound like Rob.” She sighed. “But it was. The body was unrecognizable, but he was wearing a scarf I had given him before he left River Bend and he had a letter in his pocket”—and here Kelly had to stop to catch herself from crying—“that he had written to me but never sent.” She smiled sadly at Kelly Kramer. She reached into her blouse pocket and pulled out the letter. “I always carry it with me. I don’t know why.”
          Right then, Dave Lee, the young architect who had a bit of a crush on Kelly Atkins, came up to the table. Dave was a tall, dark-headed man, with a perpetual smile on his face and a good sense of humor. And very handsome. Kelly liked him—well, both Kellys did—but Rob was a little too close in time for Kelly Atkins to become enamored with someone else. Still, she didn’t mind his attention. He didn’t exactly ignore Kelly Kramer, but he seemed to be a little fonder of Kelly Atkins, perhaps because he had known her longer.
          “Hello, Kelly,” he said, looking from one Kelly to the other. “I can say that and you don’t know which one of you I’m talking to.”
          The two ladies laughed. Kelly Kramer replied, “I think I know which one of us you mean.” She knew that Dave had an interest in the other Kelly. Her namesake blushed because she knew, too.
          “The problem is,” Dave said, “I can’t tell the two of you apart. And nobody else can, either.” That wasn’t exactly true, of course. The people who had known Kelly Atkins for a long time could make the distinction, but some of the newer people in town, who were just getting introduced around, did have some problems. And, as noted earlier in the story, the two Kellys had some fun with it on occasion. Dave knew which was which by now, but he did have to look twice. The color of their eyes was what usually gave the two girls away.
          So, as usual, Kelly Atkins spoke up and said, “I’m Kelly Kramer and she’s Kelly Atkins.”
          Dave was wise to that trick, but he played along. He looked at Kelly Atkins and said, “Well, no offense, Miss Kramer, but I’d like to invite Miss Atkins to dinner this coming Friday night. I regret it cannot be sooner due to business commitments.” He then looked at Kelly Kramer with a twinkle in his eyes. “Miss Atkins, would you do me the honor of sharing a meal with me? Let’s say at…the Gold Dust?”
          That really tickled the girls because Kelly Kramer would be there, of course, working as a waitress. Kelly K threw a quick glance at Kelly A, who briefly nodded her head. “Well, kind sir, I appreciate the invitation and I will most gladly accept.” She motioned across the table to Kelly Atkins. “Kelly will be serving us, of course. She’s the best waitress at the Gold Dust.”
          That got a chuckle from Kelly A and Dave because Kelly Kramer was the only waitress at the Gold Dust Café, at least every day but Monday. Kelly K then said, “And I’m sure she’ll do a good job. Be sure and leave her a big tip.” And that got another laugh from Dave and Kelly A.
          Still talking to Kelly K, Dave said, “I don’t know about that. The prices at the Gold Dust are so high, that I might not be able to leave a tip.” Kelly K made a face at him, but she knew he was joking. Then Dave said—still looking at Kelly Kramer—“Say, about 6 PM? Would that suit you?”
          Once again, Kelly K glanced across the table and received a nod from Kelly A. “Yes, that will be fine, thank you. I will look forward to it.”
          “I certainly will, too,” Dave said. “Well, I must leave this beautiful company. I wish you both a good day.” And, as he turned to leave, he gave Kelly Atkins a wink.
          “Bye, Dave,” the girls said.
          The two Kellys watched him leave. “He’s nice,” Kelly K said. “And handsome. And it’s obvious he’s very fond of you.”
          “I don’t know,” Kelly A replied. “But yes, he’s a nice man and very nice looking.” But he’s not Rob
          Kelly K—almost like twins sometimes seem to do—was reading Kelly A’s mind. “I’m sorry, Kelly,” she said, “but Rob’s gone. You can’t hold onto him forever. You must look ahead. Dave likes you. At least try.”
          Kelly A gave her a soft, but somewhat sad smile. “You’re right, Kelly. I know you are. And I like Dave, too. Rob’s just…a little too near time-wise, I guess. But I said I’d go to dinner with Dave Friday, and that’s what I’ll do.”
          At least that was the plan.
          It was a date Kelly wouldn’t keep.

Part Four: Frustration and Disgust

Same day, September 1…
          “Howdy, Marshal. Nice day today, ain’t it.”
          Marshal Ben Baker waved at the passerby on horseback. “Hi, Chet. Yep, lovely day.” And Chet rode on by, going about his business.
          And it was a lovely, pre-fall day in Clearwater Valley. Given the latitude and altitude of the valley, fall came a little earlier than it did in many climes, but the sun was shining, the temperature was warm but not hot, and a soft wind was blowing in from the mountains to cool off what heat there was. A made-to-order day, actually.
          But Ben wasn’t enjoying it. He was standing in front of his office, looking at a town he had come to love because the people of River Bend had accepted him as a human being, not as a skin color. It didn’t hurt that Ben had been fair, honest, and diligent in his protection of the rights and property of the citizens of Clearwater Valley. But all the same, it was the best place Ben had ever lived and he never wanted to leave. And he gained pleasure and a sense of reward in being the town Marshal.
          Usually. But not today. On this day, Ben Baker was feeling rather helpless. Captain W. T. McConnell had spoken to him a few weeks ago about “gut feelings” that lawmen get sometimes. Ben thought he had understood at the time what McConnell meant, but now he was sure he did. Because Ben’s guts were churning inside him, roiling and rolling like a volcanic earthquake. They’re coming back…I know they are…
          As much as Ben had tried to calm Kelly Atkins’ fears about the return of Trent Tolliver to finish his revenge, the marshal had a…gut feeling. There was no rhyme or reason to it. There was nothing objective to which Ben could point that gave the slightest indication that the Tolliver gang was headed his way. For all I know, they could be in Mexico by now….
          But they weren’t. Ben just knew they weren’t. And what am I going to do when they arrive? Turley is a good man, but he’s way out of his league on this one
          Then Ben smiled wryly. For that matter, so am I…
          Not having anything pressing to do at the moment, Ben mounted his horse and rode out to the cemetery. He had done this a couple of times before since the death of Rob Conners, and he went and stood at Rob’s grave again, his hat off, looking down at the unforgiving mound of earth that covered the body of the man whom Ben Baker considered the best friend he had ever had. There were some new flowers on the grave. Ben gave another wry smile at that. “Kelly’s been here again, I see,” he said. He squatted down and positioned the flowers a little closer to the gravestone. “That woman loves you, buddy. I just wish you were here to make her happy.”
          Then Ben sighed. “And I miss you, too. I wouldn’t be what I am now, the happiest I’ve ever been in my life, if it weren’t for you.” He thought back to their meeting, almost a year prior, in the town of Windy. As recounted earlier in this story, Ben had been the local barber, struggling to make ends meet because most of the men who came for his services wouldn’t pay him; they thought he was still a slave. Rob Conners had been the first man in—how long?—to treat Ben as an equal, to let Ben stand beside him and not behind him, to defend him when others tried to put Ben “in his place.” The big Negro had never forgotten that, and never would. Ben hadn’t taken Rob Conners’ death as hard as Kelly Atkins. But Rob’s death had hurt Ben more than anything he could remember since his mother had been sold away from him at the plantation where they had been slaves.
          “And I need you now, Rob. More than ever before.” Still sitting on his heels, Ben stared at the grave thoughtfully, not really seeing anything but trying to “think” the way Rob Conners would. It wasn’t the first time he’d tried to do that. What would Rob do? How would he handle the Tollivers? Then Ben shook his head. How in the world could he let Trent Tolliver kill him? That just doesn’t sound like the Rob Conners I knew…Nobody could sneak up on Rob…nobody could beat him to the draw…that right hand of his could slap a rattlesnake silly…………
          And then Ben’s face got hard, but only because his intelligent, perceptive mind was working in overdrive. He thought back…Caz…the wagon…the body…Ben closed his eyes, thinking, seeing, picturing….Then he lowered his head and sighed in disgust. How could I be so blind?...
          Ben opened his eyes. He stood up—and kicked Kelly Atkins’ flowers off the grave. And he turned and walked away.

Part Five: In a Cavern, On a Mountain,
Explicating for What’s Mine

The same day, September 1…
          “I’m ready to go home,” Allie Summer told me, and for that reason she was becoming as wiggly, squiggly, squirmy, and aggravating as a worm on a fishhook. It also told me that she was getting better, physically. And as much as I wanted to get to River Bend, too, I was going to make sure Allie was truly ready to travel. I let her know that, too.
          To review just a moment. I had found Allie on August 29, so we had been inhabiting the cave for about three days now. The herbal concoction she had instructed me to create had done wonders in reducing the swelling on her ankle, but it hadn’t cured the sprain. “You’re liable to feel that for weeks,” I said to her. “A sprain can be worse than a break.”
          “Yeah, but I can ride,” she said. Actually, she was walking better, though with a noticeable limp. The wound on her head was healing nicely, so that wasn’t going to be a problem as long as we kept it clean and medicated. “I’d hate to see the poor rock you hit,” I told her.
          “Aw, shut up,” she replied, and I laughed.
          Part of the problem in getting off that mountain was the weather we faced. It had begun to rain the day before—September 1st—and it had not stopped drizzling the whole time, and often it rained pretty hard. So we were hoping the weather would clear before we left. Allie was anxious to get back to Ranger HQ. “I know Daddy McConnell will be concerned about where I am,” she said.
          “He’s in Idaho,” I reminded her.
          “I don’t care where he is,” she responded. “I want to be in Port Station. And points north, south, east, and west. I’ve seen all the rocks, dirt, and bugs I want to see,” she said. “But I’m especially tired of eating your cooking. I’m ready to get back to work, Rob.”
          “Yeah, I can understand that. But you’re going to have to take it easy on that leg for awhile.”
          “I can ride,” she repeated, as if Ranger could take her anywhere she wanted to go, inside or out.
          But she wasn’t the only one, of course, who wanted to leave. I knew what McConnell and Ben meant about a “gut” feeling. I had no reason to believe that Trent Tolliver was within 1,000 miles of River Bend, but I just…knew…he was. And that he was coming after Kelly. And that I had to be there, for her sake.
          So, I said to Allie, “Yes, I’ve got to get to River Bend. They think I’m dead, remember.”
          Allie responded, “That’s not why you want to get there. You don’t care if those people think you’re dead or not.”
          I thought about that a moment, and realized she was probably right. But all I said was, “Oh?”
          “It’s Kelly Atkins, isn’t it.”
          I just looked at her and didn’t say anything.
          “You’re going to marry her, aren’t you.”
          This time I did respond. “Well, I’m going to ask her. I don’t know what she’ll say.”
          “She’ll say yes.”
          “And just how do you know that? You don’t know what she thinks about me. You only met her briefly and that was several months ago.”
          Allie shrugged. “She’d be dumb not to.”
          I grunted at that. “Maybe, maybe not, but, Allie, I do know I’ve got to be there. If Trent Tolliver gets to River Bend before I do…” I left that hanging.
          She tried to reassure me. “Rob, he has no reason to show up in River Bend, and every reason not to. He thinks she’s dead. Why would he go back?”
          I looked at her. “Is that what you really think, Allie?”
          “Well, it’s logical…” But I could tell she wasn’t terribly convinced herself. “But I know you want to get there, just to make sure.”
          I looked outside the cave. It was late afternoon and raining softly, the sound actually quite calming. And with the thunder rumbling in the background and the warm fire next to us, it was a peaceful, serene setting. But that was not anything near the way I was feeling. And Allie sensed it. “She’ll be there, Rob, and she’ll marry you. And you’ll make her happy and she’ll do the same for you.”
          I looked back at her briefly. We were idling away the time playing cards. I shifted the subject slightly. “How long are you going to do this, Allie? I mean, is being a Ranger what you want for the rest of your life? Marriage? A family? Is any of that in your future?”
          She thought on it a moment. “Maybe. But not at the moment. I enjoy what I’m doing, Rob, and I think I’m pretty good at it.”
          “You’re the best.”
          It was her turn to grunt. “I’m not so sure about that. You’ve had to save my can twice in the last year, with Nicholas Backstrom and now this. And incidentally, I am truly and very grateful to you for what you’ve done.” She shook her head. “I’ve been in some tight places before, but nothing like what happened with Backstrom and now the Tollivers.”
          “Allie, anybody that has a gun and has to use it occasionally is going to have some close shaves. I’ve had my share. And we all need help at times. The bottom line is, you got Backstrom—“
          “Kelly Atkins got Backstrom.”
          “But she never would have had the chance if you hadn’t gone after him in the first place. No, Allie, Backstrom is your kill. And if you hadn’t done what you did, he and that fat banker would own all of Clearwater Valley by now, Kelly would be married to him with him planning to kill her, and Gail Sanders would probably be dead. Do you have any idea how many lives and homes you saved? And this thing with the Tollivers—you had absolutely no idea they were after you and it was sheer luck they found you. And it never would have happened if McConnell had let you go after them like you begged him to several times. He told me when I saw him in Wickerville that he wishes he had let you get them.”
          “Did he really say that?” Allie asked softly.
          “Yes, he did. You’re his best, he doesn’t want to lose you, and if you ever do decide to go another direction, the Rangers will miss you. But there will be a whole lot of rejoicing among the outlaw corps in this territory, that’s for sure.”
          She smiled whimsically. “Maybe someday, Rob…but, like I said, I enjoy what I’m doing. I guess I’m married to the Rangers and I really have never considered doing anything else. I haven’t found a man who I want to marry. If I do, and I love him more than I love the Rangers, then I’ll quit my job and be with him.”
          I was curious. “Why did you join the Rangers in the first place? It’s a little…peculiar…that a woman would want to be a lawman.”
          She nodded. “I know, but I’ve wanted to do this since I was four or five years old.” Allie then related to me the story of her kitty and McConnell pulling it out of the tree for her. “After that, I was obsessed with becoming a lawman. My father and mother thought I would grow out of it, but I never did. It didn’t hurt that I seemed to be a natural with weapons and my father taught be everything he knew—which was encyclopedic—about living and moving in the forest. I was 17 years old when my parents were killed”—and here she recounted that tale briefly—“and I immediately made my way to Port Station and asked if I could be a Ranger.”
          “How did you convince McConnell to hire you?”
          She smiled. “Oh, I had my ways. But they had nothing to do with male-female relations. He and I have never had that kind of relationship.”
          “It never crossed my mind that you had. What do you want to do if you do leave the Rangers? A ranch?”
          She slowly shook her head. “I don’t know, Rob. I really haven’t thought about it. Right now, I’m a Ranger, I’m proud of it, and I intend to stay a Ranger for as far into the future as I can see.” And again, she smiled at me rather whimsically. “It’s my life, Rob. I like to think I’m helping people by getting the bad guys behind bars or six feet underground, and I like that thought. It’s something I can live with right now, as dangerous as it may be. And if it does cost me my life…well, I can go to my grave believing I’ve done some good while I was here on earth.”
          I looked at her for several seconds. “You’re a remarkable and beautiful woman, Allie Summer, inside and out.”
          “Thank you, Rob.” Then, with a playful smile on her face, she asked, “Am I as beautiful as Kelly Atkins?”
          I paused a moment before I answered, then I said, “Allie, right now, to me, there is no woman on this earth as beautiful as Kelly Atkins.”
          She turned her head away and I thought I saw some wetness in her eyes. “That’s the way it ought to be, Rob.”
          I added, “But you run her a close second.”
          She looked back at me and her eyes were clear, so maybe I hadn’t seen the tears I thought I had seen. “Let’s get out of here tomorrow regardless of the weather. Kelly needs you.”
          I half-chuckled. “She doesn’t even know I’m alive.”
          “Then she needs to find out that you are.”
          I simply nodded.
          “And we’ll get there before the Tollivers. If they even go back, which I doubt they’ll ever do.”
          That was a nice thought.
          But that’s all it was…