by: Miss Raye

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"It ain't right!"

"Shut up and do what you're told!"

"No.. it ain't right.. I ain't gonna let you kill them."

He cringed as another gunshot cracked through the air. The man, still tied to the chair, fell backwards and lay on the floor, his leg twitching as his blood colored the floor.

The children screamed at the sound, "Daddy!"

Aidan stepped forward, staring into his uncle's face, "That's enough... you don't need to kill them!"

"Get out of my face boy!"

He didn't know where the gumption came from, but it was all he had left. "I said no!"

"You gonna kill him too?" It was the wife that spoke, anger seething from her eyes as she strained against the ropes.

Barnabus Crandall cursed and aimed his gun for the woman's head, "Shut your mouth woman, or your children'll be orphans before the night is out."

"Please Uncle...you've taken the money, they ain't got much else. Let's go." His tone seemed almost whiny... it was so plaintive that even the woman, who was so angry a minute before turned to look at him.

"Mind your mouth boy, I'm in charge here."

Finding a last reserve of strength he pressed on, "Please."

Well, whiskey and hard luck had made Barnabus mean, real mean. The boy hit the floor unconscious, he body barely made a sound as it crumpled in a heap. "I said, mind your mouth."

The children screamed and the woman bared her teeth, "You'll rot in hell for this."

Barnabus motioned for the men to continue ransacking the house. He opened the cylinder and spun it along his arm, two bullets left in the chamber. "Two bullets Mrs. Marcus, one for you and one for one of your children. Any last words-"

"Nothing you'd want to hear."

"Fine. Then I'll kill one of your boys first-" He raised his gun and pulled back the hammer.

Her younger son whimpered and she tore her gaze away from him and back to her tormentor, "Leave him alone you monster! He's only a boy!"

He grinned and trained the gun on the boys chest. "Boys grow up. I don't need some young pup on my tail...thinkin' he's gonna avenge his Mama." He fired and the boy slumped over, his head lolling from his shoulders.

Her scream ripped through the cabin and she struggled against the ropes. Knocking over her own chair, she tried to drag her chair in front of her other son., "Davy..quiet down baby.. quiet-"

The second shot rang out and Davy's chair fell to the floor beside her. His vacant eyes bored into hers ... cold and unseeing.

"Davy.. Davy... "she gasped out his name again and again, her cries howling through the air like a banshee.

Feeling the wave of anger smash over him, Barnabus let it take control. He aimed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger.

It clicked in impotent rage and he merely stared as she flinched beneath him.

Her fear dissolved as she looked on him with new eyes. Eyes empty of love and life stared him down, "I don't care how you do it.. just get it over with. Kill me."

"What?"

Her voice ran like ice cold water, "You heard me... I want to die."

He chuckled and moved closer, sliding his knife free from his belt, "I think I can oblige."

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Dawn broke over the little cabin, it's feeble rays of light, barely able to reach the motionless forms inside. The barn smoldered as the fire struggled to die out. With hardly a thing left to burn, it was simply starved.

The Sheriff and his two deputies raced out toward the trailing clouds of gray smoke, silence wedged between them. They dismounted and patrolled the grounds, even though their instincts told them that the men responsible were long gone.

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James Hickok and Teaspoon Hunter rode into town just scant minutes after the sheriff left. They made their way toward the jail, only to be hailed by an old man standing at the edge of the walk.

Pointing his cane toward the west he intoned the news. "They'd be out there.. looks like the Marcus place went up in flames last night."

Teaspoon shifted in his saddle, the news unsettling, even though it re: strangers. "Doesn't sound like the sheriff expected this."

The elderly man shook his head, "No.. no one would, the Marcus family is pretty quiet. Man, wife.. two young boys. Don't know much else."

Teaspoon tipped his hat and turned his mount only to find Jimmy already leading his horse toward the west. "You seem pretty sure that we'll be heading out there Jimmy."

Jimmy looked back over his shoulder, "We're goin' ain't we?" Teaspoon nodded, "You know me too well son, much too well."

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Tom Haskell slipped his hands under Mrs. Marcus' shoulders and braced his legs to lift, "Kill .... me..."

His face froze in horror, "Sh-sh---sheriff Harmon?"

The sheriff turned toward his deputy, "What is it Tom?"

"Please...."

Tom nodded toward the woman laid out on the floor, "Did you hear that?"

The sheriff was at his side in a moment, "Mrs. Marcus...? Mrs. Marcus, can you hear me?"

Her eyes searched about, every movement excruciating. "The boy..."

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Sheriff Harmon wiped at his face with a kerchief, "Looks like that's the whole family."

"Sheriff!"

The lawmen reached for their weapons before seein' the glint off of the silver stars pinned on their shirts.

Teaspoon reined in a few feet away, tipping his hat as he did, "We were ridin' through, thought we'd come out and help."

"Mighty obliged, Marshal ----"

"Hunter, Teaspoon Hunter, I'm the Marshal over in Sweetwater," as Teaspoon dismounted the sheriff nodded recognition, "and this here's my deputy James Butler-"

"Well Mr. Hickok, Marshal Hunter, glad you stopped in.. but right now all we need," he turned away and set a wooden handle into Teaspoon's hands, "is help diggin' the holes."

Jimmy walked past Teaspoon and the sheriff, over to the shaded side of the house where all the bodies had been laid out. Covered by handmade quilts, they where laid out side by side, father, the two boys, and their mother. Deputy Haskell was just about to cover over her face when Jimmy's hand stopped him. "What happened?"

Tom huffed out a breath, tryin' to still the tears that threatened his composure. "All killed, sometime last night."

"This the mother?"

"Yeah.. when we found them this morning.." his voice broke and Jimmy's heart froze, "she was still alive."

One of the smoldering timbers of the barn cracked and half the structure fell into a heap.

"Alive? How-"

"Dunno.. I mean, carved up the way she was... we all thought she was dead."

"Then.-"

"She tried to tell us what happened... but the only thing we could understand was," He pointed over to the cottonwood tree, "the boy .. the boy.. she kept repeating it over and over, until she died."

Jimmy looked at the boy, he couldn't be more than fourteen years old. His head hung forward even though he was bound to the tree, "You're sayin' the boy did it?"

Haskell shook his head, "That's the only thing we can figure. I was her dyin' words that told us."

Looking down at her face, Jimmy felt the bile rise up in her throat. She'd seen her husband and children killed and survived through the night, ripped open and layin' on the floor. He bowed his head as he covered her with the blanket, "So what happens now?"

Teaspoon walked up, holding out a shovel, "We bury them son."

Jimmy stood and took the shovel in his hands, "We ain't gonna wait to take them into town."

The sheriff spoke next, "As it stands, we don't have a graveyard in town." He looked around the property, "We bury them where we can."

He blanched, but gripped the shovel with resolve, "Where do we dig?"

The sheriff nodded at the cottonwood where the boy was tied up. "Under the tree I guess, looks like there's enough room under the shade of that tree, maybe give them some comfort."

Deputy Haskell bristled, "Comfort? Hardly. The only comfort they'll get is when we hang that murderer."

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Later that day, Teaspoon and Jimmy stood outside the sheriff's office, quietly discussing the case. "Don't seem right Teaspoon, that boy ain't big enough to cut up a woman-"

Teaspoon didn't seem convinced either, but was tryin' to rationalize the crime to himself, "Dunno Jimmy, they say that when a body is mighty angry.. they'll have the strength of a person twice their size."

"Angry? Did that boy seem angry to you?"

"No.. but we weren't there last night, we don't know what happened."

A chair splintered inside and Jimmy was through the door in an instant. The boy stood in the middle of his cell, staring impassively at the deputy. Haskell gripped the bars between his hands and pressed his face against the bars, "What is your name!?"

"Haskell? What are you doin'?"

Reaching down for his gun, Haskell turned to the Marshal, "I'm gonna get some answers."

Jimmy slipped Haskell's gun from his holster, "Not like this."

Red in the face, the deputy looked about ready to use his bare hands, "Stay out of this."

Jimmy'd already turned to the bars, "You best answer him." When all he got was a stoic look, he asked the question again. "What is your name?"

Teaspoon joined Jimmy at the cell wall, "You wanna tell us what happened last night?"

The boy stared out, a vacant look his only defense.

"I told you Teaspoon, the boy's hardened."

"I ain't gonna tell you how to do your job Sheriff, but I want you to look at that boy and tell me you think he could get the jump on the whole family and tie them up without any help."

Sheriff Harmon's eyes narrowed, "Then he'd best be giving up the names of the men that were with him."

"What for?"

They all stared at the boy, it was the first thing he'd said since they'd found him.

Teaspoon took advantage of the momentary silence, "So that we can bring the others to justice."

"Others?" There was real fear in the boy's voice, "there weren't no others."

"Told you-" boasted Haskell.

Jimmy moved closer to the bars, "Come on now.. this ain't no joke boy."

"I know it ain't no joke, but it's the answer I got."

Haskell shook the bars with rage, "and we're gonna hang you boy.. just wait.. we're gonna hang you!"

The boy stared back with icy blue eyes, "Then get it over with."

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Leaning against the bar, Jimmy lowered his voice as he talked about the murders with Teaspoon, "I still say it don't make sense."

Teaspoon set his glass on the wooden runner of the bar, "I can see your point son, but the woman said-"

Jimmy set his sandwich down on the plate, "She didn't say anything... not really. She said 'the boy,' but that could have meant anything."

Nodding, Teaspoon motioned toward the window. Across the street, one of the deputies paced outside, shotgun held in his hands. Sometime that morning a crowd had gathered. The West, for all it's wide open spaces, was a 'small' place when it came to gossip.

Angry voices had started to call to the lawmen inside the jail. They wanted a hanging and they wanted it today. Luckily the law had stood fast so far. The crowd continued to gather and the voice were growing too loud to ignore. "They seem pretty convinced."

Jimmy scoffed, "Since when have you gone by what someone else thought?"

Teaspoon shook his head side to side, a wry smile stretched his lips, "Son? Anyone ever tell you you know how to cut a man to the quick?"

Jimmy's shoulder shook with a single huff of laughter, "Learned it from you Teaspoon."

The easy banter between the two stopped as the crowd roared it's displeasure outside.

Straightening up, Teaspoon laid some coins on the counter, "Well, we ain't gonna get to the bottom of this standing around here."

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The two lawmen, sans badges made their way slowly through the crowded tables. As they neared the doorway, a group of men shouldered their way through the doors. Their boots brought in half of the dirt from the road, "Set up the shots! We've got ourselves a powerful thirst."

Teaspoon found and opening in the procession and slipped through. Jimmy, on the other hand, was trapped between a table and a serving girl. She wasn't particularly worried about him, it was the saddle tramp pawin' at her that she was worried about. "Hey, give me your order, but keep your hands off, I ain't that kind of girl."

The man leered down at her, "Aw honey.. there ain't no question what kind of girl you are!" He snatched a full mug of beer off her tray,

The leader of the group moved forward, "I'll have a beer." She nodded and moved to pass him, "What's goin' on outside?"

She shrugged and moved on past him.

He seemed angry at her for ignoring the question.

Another one of his men caught the arm of a man on his way out of the Saloon, "You gonna tell us?"

The man stood frozen, his mouth hung open in fright.

"Hey now, you boys leave him alone." The frightened man ran out of the Saloon and around the corner out of sight. All eyes turned to the 'drunk' leaning against the wall, "There now, no need to hurt him, cain't you see, he's probably scared of his own shadow."

"What about you old man?

"Me?" Teaspoon slipped his thumbs under his suspenders and smoothed them down. "I'm not afraid of much..." he took a moment to measure up all the men in the group. "What did you want to know?"

The leader stepped forward, "Well now, we just rode into town, thinkin' of stayin' for a spell," He looked over his shoulder at the crowd in the street, "but that crowd out there looks pretty mad. You know what they're shoutin' about?"

"Seems they brought in-"

"That murderin' scum!" Another man from the town mowed through the batwing doors, and hailed a serving girl for a drink. "Them Law-dawg ain't gonna let us hang the bastard!"

"Hang who?"

The man off the street tossed back a shot of whiskey at the bar, "The spawn of satan himself. Murdered the Marcus family last night, all four of them. Well hell," another shot was tossed back into his gullet, "if they ain't gonna let us hang him... then there's gonna be a whole mess of angry people around town."

"Well that's ridiculous!" answered the leader. He leaned closer to Teaspoon, "Seems to me like the law just ought to hand the boy over to the crowd and let them spare the town the cost of a fancy hangin'."

He moved on to join the rest of his men, leaving Teaspoon staring after him. Jimmy moved closer as the leader was swallowed up in the group of men pushing against the bar. "Did you hear that?"

Teaspoon nodded, "Yep, seems like things are makin' more sense by the minute."

Jimmy moved off toward the bar, only to be pulled back, "Let me go!"

"Not until you start thinkin' like a law man."

"He's guilty."

"Son, we know that, but we've got to prove it first."

"Teaspoon!"

"Jimmy-"

The batwing doors at the corner of the room burst inward with a rush of air, "He's gone!"

Every head swung around, but no one would ever know who called out, "Who?"

"The boy! He's gone!"

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Copyright 2001