THE DODGE CITY MASSACRE (A Jess Williams Novel.) (19 page)

             
“Like he was really going to collect it anyway,” said Bodine.

             
“Hey, I am pretty good with a pistol you know,” replied Parks, trying to redeem some of his reputation.

             
“Good,” said Bodine, “then why don’t you use your pistol skills and join me and Jess in Kansas City. We could sure use the help.”

             
“Alright, I’ll go with you. If there are some really good gunslingers there maybe I’ll get a shot at one or two of them,” replied Parks.

             
Sara, who was now cleaning the dishes while the men were drinking and having their conversation, turned around. “You mean to tell me that you just finished up with a gunfight with seventeen men today and you want to go to Kansas City and get into more gunfights? I think you men are crazy,” said Sara.

             
“Maybe,” replied Jess, “but we are going make a lot of money before it’s over. Besides, the gunslingers over in Kansas City killed Sheriff Kitchner and he was a good friend of John’s, so they need to be dealt with and those are the kinds of men I go after.”

             
“So, when are you fellas leaving town?” asked Sheriff Fowler.

             
“First thing in the morning,” replied John. “We can’t afford to waste any more time before those men responsible for Sheriff Kitchner’s death decide to move on.”

             
“Well, we have two extra rooms upstairs,” said Mayor Smythe. “Jess gets one of them and you two will have to fight over the other one.”

             
“John can have it,” said Parks. “I’ve already got a room paid for at the boarding house down the street.”

             
“I guess that works out just fine,” replied Mayor Smythe. “Just make sure you men are here tomorrow morning by seven because Sara here will cook up a real nice big breakfast for you men.”

             
“If it was as good as the supper we just finished up with, it’ll be worth another whack on the head,” replied Parks.

             
“Speak for yourself,” Jess chuckled. “Mayor Smythe, I’m going to need a new hat tomorrow as well as a new shirt.”

             
“I’m sorry, Jess,” said Mayor Smythe, “in all the commotion today, I forgot to ask how bad you got hit.”

             
“It wasn’t anything. It was more of a burn than anything else. The bullet didn’t even pierce the skin. I cleaned it up with some alcohol and put a bandage on it over at Andy’s.”

             
“Do you need Sara to sew on some more of those little pockets where you keep your shotgun shells?”

             
“Yes, if she wouldn’t mind, but I do want to look at one of the cartridge belts you have in stock. I need one that can carry different kinds of cartridges in it.”

             
“I have exactly what you need. Sara can pick out a shirt for you and have it ready in the morning and you can pick out your new hat along with one of those cartridge belts before you men leave tomorrow. I suppose you’ll want some more ammunition tomorrow too.”

             
“Absolutely, I always like to be stocked up,” replied Jess.

             
They all retired for the night and got a good night’s sleep. In the morning, Jess, Bodine, Parks and Andy showed up for breakfast. Jess ordered eggs over easy since he didn’t get that very often and Sara knew exactly how he liked them. Of course, he loaded up on fried potatoes, some sausage gravy and a small mountain of flapjacks. They all filled up, knowing this would be the last really good meal they would be having for quite a while. After they were done, Jess thanked Sara for the job she did sewing up his new shirt with the pockets for shotgun shells. Then he walked into the store with Jim to pick out a new cartridge belt. Jim showed him three different ones and Jess took the one Jim recommended. It was perfect. It held shotgun shells, Winchester cartridges, the heavy cartridges he used for his Sharps rifle as well as a dozen .45 cartridges. He placed the boxes of ammunition in a box that Jim gave him and he loaded his cartridge belt and put it on. It was somewhat uncomfortable, but he would eventually get used to it. It did, however, hold his two cut-down shotguns better than his holster alone did. Jim Smythe showed Jess how he could just throw the cartridge belt over his shoulder or over his neck if he found that wearing it above his gun holster became uncomfortable or got in the way of any of the other weapons he carried.

             
“Thanks Mayor Smythe, this will work out just fine and thanks for all the hospitality and great food,” said Jess.

             
“You’re always welcome here, but do me a favor. Quit calling me mayor. Call me Jim like you always did.”

             
“No problem there, I always felt kind of funny calling you Mayor Smythe. I had to think for a second before I addressed you and I have to admit, it did feel a little strange.”

             
“What are you going to do about this Stidham fellow out in New York City who put that blood bounty on your head?” asked Jim.

             
“Before I leave town, I’m going to wire my two friends in New York City, Carl and Murray and ask them to find this Henry Stidham fellow and give him a message from me,” replied Jess.

             
“What will the message be?”

             
“If he doesn’t cancel the bounty he put on my head, he’ll go to sleep one night and not wake up the next morning because I’ll sneak into his room and put a pillow on his face and smother him to death.”

             
“You know, that would sound pretty mean coming from anyone else, but not from you. I guess you have good reason though, since every gunslinger and bounty hunter in the west will keep trying to collect it,” replied Jim.

             
“Several have tried already and it is getting to be quite a distraction. It’s hard enough being in the business I’m in without everyone trying to kill me for the money,” replied Jess.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

              Jess, John and Jeff rode out of Black Creek after Jess stopped and sent the message to Carl and Murray in New York regarding Stidham. It would be a hard five day’s ride. On the fourth day, they made camp about two hours out of Kansas City where they found a creek and a large bunch of heavy trees. Jess always liked to have an escape route and some cover in case of any ambush that might happen.

             
“Well,” said Jess, as John cooked up some beans and salt pork along with some coffee, “I wonder how many men we will be dealing with when we get to Kansas City.”

             
“I’m not sure, but I’ll bet Kelly Winn will be there. He’s the one I shot in the shoulder in the shootout in the saloon there. We locked him up and right after that I quit on Sheriff Kitchner. He’s the one that bunch of gunslingers broke out of jail and killed Sheriff Kitchner and wounded his deputy, Saul Wicks. I sure hope I find Winn there because if I do, I’ll finish what I started by putting a bullet in his chest. He was worth two hundred and fifty dollars in bounty money before, but after killing a lawman, I’m sure they’ve upped it considerably.”

             
“I’d like to know if we are going to all share in the bounty money from any men we kill in Kansas City?” asked Parks.

             
“I thought all you cared about was upping your reputation as a gunslinger,” replied Jess, sarcastically.

             
“I do, but I just lost out on fifteen thousand dollars,” replied Parks.

             
Bodine laughed. “Yeah, like you had a chance of collecting any of it. I do agree though that we should split the money up three ways. What do you say, Jess?”

             
“It’s fine with me,” replied Jess. They all got their bedrolls out and turned in for the night.

             
Jess, Bodine and Parks rode into Kansas City before noon. They stabled their horses and got rooms at a hotel there and took baths and changed clothes. After that, they walked over to the sheriff’s office to find Deputy Saul Wicks sitting behind the desk.

             
“I didn’t think I’d see you back here, John, but I’m sure glad you came,” said Wicks, as he stood up and shook hands with John.

             
“How’s that shoulder doing?” asked Bodine, looking at the blood seeping through Saul Wicks shirt. He had been shot in the right shoulder and that was his gun hand.

             
“It’s been one thing after another. It got infected and the doctor had to clean it out and then it happened again. It’s been a pretty painful thing,” replied Wicks. He looked over the other two men who had come in with John. “You don’t have to introduce this one,” said Wicks, “nice to meet you, Mr. Williams. I’ve heard an awful lot about you lately.”

             
“It’s nice to meet you too, Saul,” replied Jess as he shook hands with Saul Wicks. “This here is Jeff Parks. He decided to come along with us to help you out with your problem,” said Jess.

             
“I need all the help I can get,” replied Saul, as he shook hands with Jeff. “I’ve got probably ten gunslingers in this bunch lead by that damn Kelly Winn and they come to town every other day in groups of five or six at a time and there ain’t a damn thing I can do about it. They always keep one man outside of the saloon with a Winchester and if I so much as even open the door he’ll just plug me and there ain’t any sense in getting killed for nothing. I’ve been waiting for some help from the U.S. Marshal’s Division, but nobody had responded yet. If just one or two of them came in, I’d take them on, but they never come into town with less than five men at a time.”

             
“Sheriff Kitchner should’ve listened to me and let Winn out of that jail cell with a thirty minute head start and let me go after him for the bounty on his head. I’d have killed him for sure,” said Bodine.

             
“Ironically, that’s was exactly the last thing Sheriff Kitchner said just before he passed on,” replied Wicks.

             
“Saul, are any of them in town right now?” asked Jess.

             
“No, if they were, they’d have a man posted outside the saloon like I said. They didn’t come in yesterday so I’m guessing they might come in later today. I’ve been trying to put a posse together, but I can’t seem to get more than one or two and that ain’t enough to handle these men. Every one of them is a hardened gunslinger.”

             
“Saul, why doesn’t the mayor or the town council appoint another sheriff and some more deputies?” asked Bodine.

             
“For the same reason I can’t put together a posse to go after them. The townsfolk watched them gun down Sheriff Kitchner without even giving him a warning. They just opened fire and killed him and I got this hole in me in the process. I thought for sure they were going to kill me too, but instead they told me not to even come out of the jail whenever they came to town,” replied Saul.

             
“Well Saul, tell the town council and the mayor that we’ll handle the problem, but they have to stay out of it and leave us to handle it our way. Otherwise, we will turn around right now and leave. We’ll be over at the saloon waiting for their answer,” said Jess.

             
Jess, Bodine and Parks walked over to Harry’s Saloon and when they walked in, Jake, the barkeep, smiled a wide grin at the sight of John. “John Bodine you are one welcome sight right about now. I don’t see any badge on you though. You didn’t come back to work as a deputy again?” asked Jake.

             
“No, I’m still working the bounty hunting business with my partner here, Jess Williams,” replied Bodine as he pointed over to Jess, who had already positioned himself in his usual spot, at the far end of the bar with a wall to his back.

             
“Holy shit, so you’re really
the
Jess Williams?” asked Jake, as he came over to shake hands with Jess.

             
“Yes, it’s really me,” replied Jess.

             
“I’ve heard all kinds of stories about you over the last few years and they are some very interesting stories indeed. Are they all true?” asked Jake.

             
“Probably,” replied Jess.

             
“This here is Jeff Parks,” said Bodine. He decided to throw in with us and avenge the death of Sheriff Kitchner.”

             
“Well, that’s great, but that bunch of gunslingers is pretty tough. They never come in with less than five men at a time and everyone in town is scared to death of them. Those bastards trampled a young boy to death with their horses on their way out of town and there was no reason for it. That poor boy was a mangled mess and I suppose he was lucky he didn’t live. If he had, he’d surely be messed up and crippled for life. Hell, my business has been real bad since they came and broke that Kelly Winn out of jail and did what they did.”