July 5…
Four days after Kelly’s shooting, in the early evening, three men came riding into River Bend from the west. They got a few looks, but all strangers did when they rode into a town. The men were pretty tough-looking, but that may have been because they had been riding for a while and were trail weary. Or it may have been because they were tough, period.
A little bit of both, actually.
Gus Ferrara, Rafe Runion, and Danny Boy Potter looked around to see if anyone was paying them special attention—especially a lawman. But they saw nothing unusual. “There’s a saloon, Gus,” Rafe said. “Reckon we can stop and wet our whistle a little? We promised Lem and Snarky we’d take them a bottle, too.”
“I’d rather get something to eat, first,” Gus said. “It’s not good to drink on any empty stomach. It tends to loosen the tongue a little too much. There’s a restaurant right there”—motioning with his head. “Let’s get some grub and then we’ll have a drink or two.”
“All right,” Rafe replied. “Is that ok with you, Danny Boy?”
“Sure, whatever you guys say.” Danny Boy Potter was 31 years old with a severely receding red-headed hairline, but he’d been called “Danny Boy” all his life and he didn’t mind. Rafe Runion was big, with red, alcohol-infected eyes, and heavily jowled, mainly because he liked the bottle too much. He took orders well, though, and knew how to use a gun, and those were the main reasons Trent Tolliver kept him in the gang.
So they hitched their horses in front of Wilma’s Way Station. The only indication that the place was an eatery was the writing on the front window which said, “Best steak in town.” It was also far enough away from the central business district of River Bend that the men might not garner much notice.
Gus, who was always the leader of his contingent of the Tolliver gang—when one of the Tollivers wasn’t along—had left Lem Unser and Snarky Allen at a camp a few miles outside of town.
“Why cain’t me and Snarky go, Gus?” Lem had asked. “That last town we was at didn’t have much.”
“You can’t go because the last time you were in River Bend you and Snarky made fools of yourselves and drew too much attention.” The reader might remember the fight Lem had had with Ben Baker and Snarky’s trip out of the Royal Flush Saloon over the top of the swinging doors entrance. “I don’t want people remembering you and calling the law down on us. You want to fight that marshal again?”
Lem grumbled. No, he didn’t. “But you was there, too.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t make a scene, so I doubt anybody will remember me. We’ll bring you and Snarky a bottle. That will be your reward for staying out here.”
That placated Lem. Snarky still had a question, though. “What’re we even doin’ here, Gus? We done ok in Idaho, rounded up a few hundred bucks, why don’t we just head on back to the hideout?”
“I’ve already told you, Snarky. You never listen to a thing I say. I want to find out something about that Atkins woman. And maybe Conners, too. If we get a good enough chance, we’ll plug one of them, but mainly I just want to reconnoiter and see if I can get some more information for Trent.”
“Reconnoiter” was a bit too much vocabulary for Lem. “Reckon who?”
Gus was a bit peeved. “I want to see what I can learn. That’s all. We won’t stay here long.”
So, with Lem and Snarky eating rabbit at the camp, Gus, Rafe, and Danny Boy were enjoying the “best steak in town.”
“’Best steak’, my foot,” Rafe grumbled. “This thing’s got so much gristle in it a dog could use it for a bone.”
“Yeah,” Danny Boy offered. “If this is the best this town’s got to offer, I’d hate to see the worst.”
“Well, just enjoy it. If you don’t like it, you can fill up on peanuts at the bar,” Gus said.
“Where we goin’ after we finish eatin’, Gus?” Rafe asked.
“I think we’ll go back to that saloon where we met those fellows who started the fight. I think it was called the River Bend Saloon. It’s a street or two up from here. I want to stay away from that bar we met the marshal at. That bartender was tough and he might remember me.”
“You don’t reckon they’ll remember you at this other place?”
“I don’t think they’d care one way or another.”
So, after chow, the three men headed down C Street and found the saloon. Gus had no way of knowing, of course, that Trent had been there just three nights before. They actually hadn’t missed each other by much as Trent was leaving town and Gus was riding in. Trent had detoured to the less used path up into the mountains while Gus and his group had come in via the main road.
It was dark by the time Gus, Rafe, and Danny Boy arrived at the “.ive. Be.. Salloon.” If the bartender recognized Gus, he didn’t show it. In fact, Gus thought it was a different man.
Gus looked around the saloon and didn’t see who he wanted, so he walked up to the bar. “Looking for a friend of mine,” he said. “Hardy Nippo. Reckon he’ll be in later?” It was about 7:30 now.
Willy the barman was polishing a glass. “Ain’t seen Hardy for three nights now. I think he skipped town after that woman was shot.”
“Beers for me and my boys,” Gus said, indicating Rafe and Danny Boy. “And a bottle of rye.” Then, he added, “We’re just passing through, but met Hardy before. Seemed like an ok fellow. Who got shot and why would Hardy leave town over it? Did he do the shooting?”
Bartenders in joints like the River Bend Saloon didn’t care who they talked to or what they talked about. In fact, the more patrons talked, the more booze they bought. So Willy was happy to tell these men what he knew. He grunted as he filled the beer mugs. “If Hardy Nippo had a gun in his hand, he’d blow his own foot off. No, the fella he was talking to did it, and word is that Hardy pointed her out to him. So he beat it before he got an accessory rap.” Willy handed the three men their beers and the bottle Gus had requested.
This information drew Gus’s attention more and more. “Who was shot,” he repeated, “and who did the shooting?”
“Lady named Kelly Kramer was the one who took the bullet. I didn’t know the man who shot her. I saw him in the saloon taking to Hardy, but didn’t recognize him. The rumor is that it was Trent Tolliver. That’s just rumor, though.”
“Gus, is that who—“ Rafe started to ask, but Gus cut him off with a look.
“Are you sure the name of the woman was Kelly Kramer?”
“Yeah. Kinda funny, actually. Well, sad, too. Another woman in town, Kelly Atkins, killed Trent’s brother a few weeks ago, and so ever’body figures he was gunning for her. This Kelly Kramer is the spittin’ image of Kelly Atkins, so Trent mistook her for Kelly Atkins and plugged her. That’s just saloon talk, though, I don’t think the marshal is privy to any of it. He thinks it was a jealous lover or something after this Kramer woman.” The fact that Ben did surmise that the killer had really been after Kelly Atkins was something that he kept under wraps. Only he, the two Kellys, and the doctor knew it.
“Wow,” Gus murmured, his mind racing. “Did this Kramer woman die?”
“No, she ain’t yet, and don’t look like she is. The marshal got to her in time and the doctor was able to save her. She’s still in his hospital, but I hear she’s going to be all right.”
This was indeed information that Trent would want to know. Not only did he not kill Kelly Atkins, but if the other woman lived, she could identify him.
“And Hardy left town,” Gus reiterated.
“Yeah. Can’t say I blame him.”
“Well, that’s interesting,” Gus said, then nonchalantly added, “anything else going on around here?”
“Nah, River Bend’s a pretty quiet place. ‘Scuse me, I’ve got somebody wavin’ at me for another drink.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Gus said. “We can’t stay anyway.” He finished off his beer, and said to Rafe and Danny Boy, “Come on, let’s go.”
“Just one beer?” Rafe complained.
“You can help Lem and Snarky with this bottle,” Gus replied. And he walked out with the other two men trailing him.
None of the three men said anything until they hit the outskirts of town. Then, Danny Boy spoke up. “Gus, did you know that Trent had been here?”
“No. How could I know that? When we left the hideout, he said he was going to stay there until we got back.” Gus thought a moment. “I have no idea where he is, but he can’t be too far ahead of us. That bartender said it was only three days ago.”
“Maybe he headed back to the cabin.”
“Maybe. I think that’s what we’d better do. Wait for him if he’s not there. We can’t be searching all over for him.”
“He’s not going to be happy to find out he shot the wrong woman.”
“No, he’s not. And he’s going to be even less happy when he finds out she’s still alive. Both of them.”
“Reckon we oughta go in there and kill her?” Rafe asked.
“No, I reckon we better leave well enough alone.” Gus wasn’t into woman-killing, nor was he interested in risking his neck to correct Trent Tolliver’s mistakes. “We’ll just go back to the cabin. When Trent shows up, we’ll tell him. He can do what he wants…”
And Gus Ferrara had no doubt what Trent Tolliver would want.
Kelly Kramer was indeed improving and was going to survive. “I don’t know how,” Dr. Reeves said to Kelly Atkins. “She must have the constitution of an ox even though she’s a pretty as a flower.”
Kelly A had spent a lot of time sitting with Kelly K, holding her hand, wiping her forehead, talking to her—even when Kelly K was asleep--and so forth. The doctor had pretty well kept Kelly K somnolent because when she woke up, she was in great pain. But, he did need to get some water into her and, by that third day, she could handle a little soup. She was far from recovered, though, and Dr. Reeves still kept a very close eye on her and always had someone with her. Kelly Atkins spent up to six hours a day with her namesake.
“I’m so happy she’s going to make it, Dr. Reeves,” Kelly A said. “You’ve done a wonderful job.”
“Kelly, I think you’ve had as much to do with it as anybody, if not more. Just being here with her like you’ve been. She knows it whether you think she does or not.”
Kelly A looked down at the sleeping young lady. “I feel responsible, doctor. The man wanted to kill me, not her. It’s not her fault. Who would want to kill me?” She asked that question for the 1,000th time. She had talked to Ben about it. He had been thinking about it, of course, and the name “Tolliver” had gone through his mind, but he had no evidence yet, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
“Don’t worry about it, Kelly,” he told her. “The fellow thinks he killed you, so he has no reason to come back.”
“But what if he hears about it? He’ll come back. And we don’t even know who it is.”
Ben didn’t really have an answer for that. But he tried to answer her. “How’s he going to hear about it, Kelly? He’s gone, his men are gone, and they wouldn’t dare show themselves in this town again. He won’t come back.”
Kelly wasn’t totally appeased, but there wasn’t much she could say in response. She continued to think about Rob. Where is he? If he were here, I wouldn’t worry. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me. Or maybe he doesn’t care….well, I know he doesn’t…if he did, why did he leave in the first place? He won’t be back….The girl’s mind was still mixed up when it came to Rob Conners.
Ben wanted to talk to Kelly Kramer to see if he could get a sure handle on who had shot her, but Dr. Reeves wouldn’t let him see her. “Wait a few days, Ben. She’s had an extremely traumatic experience and is still very weak. It isn’t going to help her by you forcing her to remember what happened. And a few days isn’t going to make much difference, one way or another.” Ben knew the doctor was right, but he was still frustrated. He had thought about getting up a posse and going after the shooters, but it was too late for that as well.
He’d just have to wait until the doctor let him talk to Kelly Kramer.
And then what am I going to do?
Even if he found out, for sure, who the shooter was, Ben couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t leave River Bend and go on a manhunt, roaming through a huge, empty, God-forsaken wilderness, having no idea where to look. He could tell W. T. McConnell, Captain of the territorial Rangers, just because the Rangers needed to know there was a shooter out there somewhere. But Ben got so busy with other affairs that he forgot to do it.
On the same day Gus Ferrara and his men rode into River Bend, Kelly Kramer was strong enough that Dr. Reeves let Ben talk to her. “Five minutes, Ben, that’s all I’m giving you. And I’m going to be in there with you. If she shows any signs of distress, you’re out. You understand?”
“I understand, doc. Kelly’s health comes first.”
So they walked into Kelly’s room together. Nurse Singer was there and Dr. Reeves asked her to leave, which she did. Kelly was awake, but still lying flat on her back. She was deathly pale, but her breathing was regular and her eyes were clear.
She didn’t know Ben, of course, so Dr. Reeves introduced him. “Miss Kramer, this is Ben Baker, our town Marshal.”
As always when introduced as the marshal, Ben got a double-take; there just weren’t very many black marshals around at the time; in fact, Ben was probably the only one. Kelly asked, weakly, “You’re the Marshal?”
“Yes, I am.” He got right to the point because he knew Dr. Reeves was counting the seconds. “Can I ask you a few questions about…that night? If it distresses you too much, I can wait…”
Kelly sighed and closed her eyes. “Yes, you can ask. But I don’t think I can tell you anything.”
“Just, briefly, tell me what happened.”
Kelly opened her eyes again and looked at the ceiling, but she was seeing something else…something back in time. “I was going home from work, walking down C Street. Somebody called out Kelly Atkins’ name. I automatically turned and looked because I heard the ‘Kelly’. A man was coming at me from the street. He said something about me killing his brother. Then,” and here Kelly swallowed, and her voice went very soft, “he shot me.”
The “killing his brother” part cinched it for Ben—as noted, he had been thinking that Trent Tolliver might be a good suspect simply because Kelly Atkins had killed his brother. He glanced at Dr. Reeves, who looked at him and nodded. Ben wasn’t exactly sure what that nod meant, but he continued to question Kelly. “He said you killed his brother. Did he give his name, Kelly? It’s very important.”
Kelly’s eyes were closed again and she had a grimace on her face. “I think he…I don’t know, Marshal. I saw the gun…I was scared. I tried to tell him I wasn’t Kelly Atkins…” She was getting a little agitated.
“That’s enough, Ben,” Dr. Reeves said. “Let’s go.”
“One more question, please, doctor. Kelly, did you hear the name ‘Tolliver’?”
Kelly relaxed and shook her head. “I don’t remember, Marshal. I’m sorry. I was just too scared to hear everything he said.” Then she looked at Ben. “Kelly…she wouldn’t kill anybody…she couldn’t…she’s so sweet…how could he think….?”
“You’re right, Kelly Atkins is one of the sweetest people on earth. She wouldn’t hurt a fly.” The doctor coughed in his throat, a message to Ben, so the marshal said, “Thank you, Kelly, you’ve been a big help. Get some rest.” Ben nodded at Dr. Reeves and they left the room. The doctor sent Nurse Singer back in to tend to Kelly.
“Do you know who it is, Ben?” Dr. Reeves asked.
“I’m…pretty sure, doc. Listen, don’t tell Kelly Atkins what Kelly just said about the brother. I don’t want Kelly…Kelly Atkins…to know any more about it than necessary. No sense in distressing her more than she already is.”
“But do you think that fellow will come after her, if he finds out she’s still alive?”
I KNOW he will…But that wasn’t what Ben told the doctor. He gave his pat answer. “How’s he going to know? He thinks he killed Kelly Atkins. He’s long gone and he’ll never be back. She’s safe.”
The doctor’s eyes told Ben that he wasn’t necessarily convinced, either, but he let it drop. “Well, I hope you’re right. Blood revenge can go awfully deep.”
Ben walked out of the office knowing that the doctor was right. And knowing that Kelly Atkins would never be secure as long as Trent Tolliver was alive.
And, not surprisingly, he had the same thought Kelly Atkins had. Where is Rob Conners? I could sure use you on this one, buddy…
Because Marshal Ben Baker had absolutely no doubt that Trent Tolliver would hear that Kelly Atkins was still alive. And thus, that Trent Tolliver would…
Return to River Bend…