TW12 The Six-Gun Solution NEW (14 page)

"Well, near as I can tell, the bad blood between the Earps and the McLaurys got started back around July of last year," said the barman, a loquacious sort who clearly liked to gossip. He needed little prompting. "See, some soldiers came to town one day to see the Earps. Seems some mules got stolen from out at Camp Rucker and they wanted some help from the local law to track the rustlers down. Well, sir, the trail took 'em out to the McLaury ranch. They found some mules, all right, but they couldn't prove that they were Army mules. Frank McLaury said that they were his and the Earps thought that the brands were changed. Anyways, they couldn't prove the mules were stolen and the Army didn't get 'em back, but Frank McLaury didn't like bein' called a thief and he went around tellin’ anyone who'd listen how the Earps were spreadin’ lies about him."

"Did Frank McLaury steal the mules?" asked Lucas.

"I'm not sayin’ he did and I'm not sayin' he didn't," said the barman, “but it wouldn't have been the first time stock was rustled around here. There's been a lot of that sort of thing goin' on. And lately, there's been some stage robberies, as well. We got a lot of silver bullion goin' out and not all of it gets to where it's goin'. See, lot of small ranchers around here have done a bit of rustlin' from time to time. There's nothin’ unusual about it. Folks take a ride across the border and come back with some stock. Mexicans do the same damn thing. Been goin' on for years. Only now there's talk that some of the ranchers around here have taken to robbin' stages as well as rustlin’ stock and some of that talk is comin’ from the Earps and others. And that ain't the half of it."

"What's the rest?" asked Lucas, paying for another couple of drinks.

"Well, the Mclaurys are real tight with the Clantons," said the barman. "And they're all friends of Sheriff Johnny Behan. Now Johnny, he's not a bad sort, you understand, but he doesn't go out of his way to look for trouble, if you get my drift. Now a while back, this girl showed up in town, name of Josie Marcus. She was an actress came to town with a show called Pinafore on Wheels. Seems she knew Johnny from before. Anyway, the two of them set up house together and Johnny was introducin’ her to everybody as his fiancée. Only it seems that Josie didn't care too much for the sort of company that Johnny kept. Boys like the Clantons, the McLaurys, Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo. They'd have these all-night poker games out at Johnny's place and I guess Josie didn't like it. Anyway, it wasn't long before they had a fallin' out and Josie took up with Wyatt Earp."

"So you're saying there's a love triangle involved?" asked Andre.

"Well, now, I’m not tellin’ you any secrets," said the barman. "The whole town knows all about it. Part of it's a question of property, too. In more ways than one. See, Johnny and Josie built their house on money Josie's daddy sent her, only Johnny owns the lot it stands on. One time, when Wyatt was away, Johnny came to try and dispossess her. Only Wyatt had asked Morgan to look in on her from time to time and Morg was there. They had some words and Morg knocked Johnny clear off the front porch. Johnny didn't bother Josie anymore after that, but you can see why he's never been too fond of the Earps. And it's like their trouble with property was just like the trouble many folks had here in town."

"How's that?" asked Lucas, plunking down for two more drinks.

"Well," said the barman, pouring. "Arizona's still a territory, you understand, and we ain't never had much in the way of law around here. Back when the boom got started, there was a good deal of lot jumpin' goin' on and it got so it wasn't very clear who owned what, you understand. Well, the mayor at that time, Alder Randall, went and transferred all the titles to the company of Clark and Gray. Seems the law let him do that, for the purpose of getting all the paperwork cleared up or somethin'. Only what Clark and Gray did was turn around and demand payment for all the lots in town and those who wouldn't pay were threatened with eviction. Some of the boys they used to do the dirty work were the same cowboys who were doin' a lot of the rustlin' in these parts. It turned into one big mess, let me tell you, and there's still lawsuits pending over the whole thing. It pretty near split the town in half. There was Clark and Gray and their friends in the County Ring, who own the Nugget and hold some of the offices in town, and there was John Clum, who's now the mayor and runs the Epitaph and a bunch of local businessmen around here who sided up with him.

"Now the Earps own some property in Tombstone," he continued, "and they got involved in the whole thing, as well. When they first came here, they were goin' to open up a stage line, only we already had two lines so the Earps got into other business. They own some mining claims around here and got interest in one of the saloons, plus a few more things. Virgil got himself a badge and Wyatt wrangled himself an appointment as deputy U.S. Marshal. Between them, they got the power to make Morgan deputy if need be and Wyatt's always got Doc Holliday and one or two others to back him up. Now on the other side, you got the County Ring, and Johnny Behan is their man, along with his deputies, Billy Breakenridge and Frank Stilwell. And Stilwell, for certain, with his buddy. Pete Spencer, has done some rustlin' with Ike Clanton. So we got ourselves one big kettle of stew on the boil, let me tell you."

"Sounds like something's bound to come to a head sooner or later," Lucas agreed. "Looks like I picked an interesting time to arrive in Tombstone."

"That you did, partner. And now that the Montana Kid's in town, there's no tellin' what's liable to happen."

"Tell me about the Montana Kid," said Lucas. "Who is he?"

"I don't rightly know," the barman replied, this time standing Lucas to a drink. He was clearly enjoying himself with his captive audience. "He came into town a while back lookin’ for some friends of his, three men named Ben Summers, Josh Billings and Joe McEnery had a small claim up in the hills. Only they'd been murdered 'bout two weeks before. Nobody ever learned who did it. Anyways, the Kid was in the Oriental, askin' questions, when this fracas breaks out between Bat Masterson and a couple of Ike Clanton's boys, Slim Carter and Jack Demming. Slim and Jack both jerked their pistols and it looked bad for Masterson, but the Kid shot ‘em both quick as you please, dead center in the heart, each one. I didn't see it myself, sorry to say, but folks that did say the Kid's draw was the fastest thing they'd ever seen."

"Really?"

"That’s what they say, and I can believe it, too. Why, just the other day, Ross Demming—that's Jack's brother—came in here lookin’ for the Kid with Frank Mclaury. The Kid was sittin' right at that table over them, with Jenny Reilly. She's a saloon girl over at the Oriental. Jenny's about the prettiest girl anyone's ever seen in town and she was real popular. I can tell you, but since the Kid arrived in town, Jenny won't have anything to do with anybody else, if you catch my drift—beg pardon, Ma'am," he added, with a glance at Andre. "So there's a lot of cowboys aren't too pleased to have the Kid around. Anyways, there the Kid was, sittin' right there and havin' himself a meal, talkin’ to Jenny, when in comes Ross Demming, full of fight, with Frank McLaury to back him up. Both men wearin' guns. too, and the Kid had given his to Virgil Earp, 'cause of the ordinance, you know."

"So the Kid was unarmed?" asked Lucas.

"It sure looked that way," the barman said. By now, they had an audience.

"Jenny tried to talk Frank into makin’ Ross back off, hut Frank wasn't havin' any of it. The Kid just sat there, quiet as you please, tellin’ the boys he didn't want any trouble. When Frank found out he didn't have a gun, he offered to let the Kid use one of his. And right then Doc Holliday came in and got the drop on 'em. Made ‘em both leave and as soon as they got outside. Virgil and, Morgan took their guns and led 'em off to jail."

"So the Kid got lucky," Lucas said.

"Well, that's what Doc told him," the barman replied. "Asked him what he'd have done if it hadn't been for him showin’ up when he did. And what happened next, I saw with my own eyes. The Kid makes a move like this . . ." the barman demonstrated, crossing his wrists,". . . and pulls out two little knives and throws 'em, so fast you couldn't hardly see him move. And they went right into the wall there, where Frank and Ross were standin'. If you go on over there, you can see where they went in. Let me tell you. I've seen some fast men in my time, but never anything like that, not in all my born days! You want to get yourself a story, mister, the Kid's the man you want to see. Hardly old enough to take a drink, yet there's not a grown man in this town won't step aside to make way for him."

"Sounds like a fascinating individual," said Lucas. "Where can I find him?"

"Well, sir, he's got a room right here in this hotel. You stick around, you're bound to see him and I'll be pleased to point him out to you. Or you can head on over to the Oriental. Kid's been spendin' time down there, since he got sweet on Jenny. And there ain't been much trouble down there since the Kid has been around, no, sir! Even Wyatt harp had to admit that."

"How do the Earps feel about the Kid?" asked Lucas.

“Virgil he don't care one way or the other, long as the Kid stays out of trouble. Wyatt, he didn't care for him one bit and told him to leave town, but Doc Holliday seems to like the Kid and I guess he had a word with Wyatt. Anyways, since Wyatt has an interest in the Oriental, and the Kid bein' there keeps trouble down, seems Wyatt doesn't mind too much. But I don't think he trusts the Kid, entirely."

Lucas thanked the barman for all the information and left him a generous tip, then he decided to head over to the Oriental saloon.

"You might as well check out some of the local stores," he said to Andre. "Meet some of the local women, see what you can learn. Respectable women of this time didn't hang out in saloons.”.

Andre grimaced. "Right," she said. "I'll meet you back here later."

As they stood on the walk in front of the hotel, Finn Delaney came riding by He nodded and touched the brim of his Stetson. Lucas nodded back.

"He's right on time." he said. "Which leaves only Darkness." He sighed. "Damn it. I hate not knowing what he's up to."

"From the way he talked, it's pretty serious." said Andre.

"Yeah. Here we are trying to pull off a temporal adjustment mission and meanwhile. we're part of something in his past that he’s trying to change. Only he can't tell us what it is, any more than we can tell the people here. The only difference is that they don't know what they're caught up in and we do. Or at least we know that we're caught up in something, God knows what.”

"There's not much point in worrying about it now, since there's nothing we can do about it anyway." she said. "At least not until Darkness tells us what it is."

"That's just what worries me." said Lucas. "What if he's wrong? What if whatever it is he expects us to do back here isn't the right thing to do? How the hell do we know?"

"We don't. We're simply going to have to trust him."

"Yeah. He wants our trust, only he won't give us his."

"Maybe he can't afford to." she said. "It's like he said, if we know more than we should, it could affect the outcome."

"Only what is the outcome?" Lucas asked, with exasperation. He paused as several people passed by, then turned to Andre. "What happened in the future, where he came from? Was it a timestream split? A chain reaction? An invasion from the parallel timeline? What?"

"There's no way we can know,” she said. ”We don't know what time period he came from. Even if we were crazy enough to take the risk and clock ahead, we wouldn't know which sector to check out. Or if we'd be able to make it back."

"He made it back."

"He's faster than light. We're not. Don't even think about it, Lucas. It would be crazy. It's against all the rules."

"How do we know he's playing by the rules?"

"We don't," she said. "But where he came from, the rules might have ceased to matter. We've got to trust him, Lucas. We have no other choice. Remember what he said. When the time comes for whatever it is we have to do, there'll be no time for doubt or hesitation."

"I know. I've been thinking about that. It tells me that whatever it is that's going to happen, or that has already happened from his temporal point of view, is going to happen so fast that a split second could make all the difference. And that scares the hell out of me."

"It scares me, too," she said "But I have to believe that Darkness knows what he's doing. After all. if it hadn't been for him, I would have lost you.”

Lucas looked at her and took her hands in his. "I'm very much aware of that myself," he said. He smiled. "I wouldn't have come back from the dead for just anyone, you know."

"Just don't die on me again," she said, "or so help me. I'll kill you. Remember, you promised to marry me."

He grinned. "That promise was extorted under false pretenses."

"I might hold you to it just the same.”

“We'll talk about it later. In about eight hundred years. Meanwhile, let's split up and see what we can learn. I'll meet you back here later."

Jenny was sitting beside a dapper man who was dealing in a card game when Scott came into the Oriental Saloon. The moment she saw him, she whispered something to the man, got up and rushed over to him.

"Hi. stranger," she said, with a dazzling smile. "I missed you."

"Who was that man you were sitting with?" asked Scott, as he stepped up to the bar. Frank Leslie set a glass of whiskey before him with a wink.

“You jealous?" Jenny asked, coyly.

Scott was surprised to discover that he was. That wasn't a good sign. It wasn't a good sign at all. He couldn't afford to get involved. Or was he already involved?

"Maybe," he said. "What if I am?"

"I think I like that," Jenny said, pressing up against him and rubbing his chest.

"Who is he?"

"That's Ben Stone. He's the gambler I told you about. Came to town just a little while before you did."

"About the same time my friends were killed?" asked Scott, softly.

She looked at him wide-eyed "You think he might have had something to do with it?"