Storm Rollin' In (Justice, Montana)

[Andy McCall]

The day after her run-in with Mullins found Andy retracing her steps from the previous day, along the outbound pathway that Crawfish'd ambushed her on. She wanted her gun back; weren't right to walk around with one outta two holsters empty. She wasn't about to buy herself a new one either, since all she had to do was go back along the path to find it. Assumin' o' course, if no one hadn't taken it before she'd get there.

The mare walked on slowly, Andy feeling fresh from her night's sleep. Over her normal tan trousers she wore a pair of long-legged suede chaps that had seen many years of use. There weren't no cattle to move today on any of the outlying ranches, but rather she wore them to help keep a tight wrap on her wound. It felt marginally better, but certainly not by much.

Too bad she'd given her stolen bottle of laudinum back to the mayor. All things considered though, Andy figured it was for the best.

Following the footprints belonging to both Mullins and herself was easy. No rains had come through to wash them out. She even spotted where she'd fallen, and not far off was her gun.

Andy smiled to herself, and slowly she stood in her stirrups, mindful to keep most of her weight on her good leg while dismounting. One hand kept a hold of the reigns as she bent down to pick up the fallen revolver, and blowing at the dust that covered it, she slipped it back into its' holster.

Mullins' clothes were also still laying on the ground where he'd discarded them. Andy bit her lip at the sight of them, almost feeling bad for the man despite the bullet he'd put in her leg.

For whatever reason she couldn't figure, Andy picked those up as well. Merciful heavens they stunk, and not just from bein' out during the night either she suspected. Making a face, she rolled them up into a bundle, laying them across the back of her saddle and securing them with leather ties. For as much as she detested Crawfish Mullins, he was still a man without clothes, and she supposed that it'd be the least she could do for him, returnin' them. His own dropped revolver was also picked up, and that she stuffed into the back of her pants.

Getting back into the saddle proved more difficult than getting out of it, but Andy managed well enough, turning the mare around and heading back into town.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

The outskirts of Justice was a bit of a hodge-podge of tents and establishments of questionable repute. The landscape was dominated by the Bareback Brothel, but opposite that were the Chinese shanties. A leg up from the pitiable miners who could claim only canvas tents, if that, the Chinese supplied cheap labor and questionable potables to the town, whether the law allowed it or not.

Father Hu was already tending to the three chickens he managed to keep in the mesh cage adjacent to his shanty. He sang a song of the old country as he fed three skinny hens a handful of corn. He eventually found his way to a second-hand rocking chair in front of an open fire, where he tended to a pair of fried eggs and a small teapot. It was still a bit early for out-of-towners, who tended to wake a good deal closer to noon.

Father Hu was too old for any manly work, but he had enough sons who could do that sort of thing. He could at least raise some animals, and he sold painted glass, repaired pocket watches, and other odd jobs. There was also the opium, which he'd put into a pipe for the miners, or distill into laudinum or chocolates for the few ladies of town. It was a humble living, but he was very proud.

[Andy McCall]

Andy enjoyed the ride, letting her horse walk at a leisurely pace down the road. It was a fair bit better than having to walk, at any rate.

She entered Justice's outskirts, passing by the early risers making their way to and fro. She didn't really consider the fringe society here to be seperate. In her mind it was a definite part of town no matter how much Mayor Truss disliked the less than lawful activities that it was home to. No town out west was pure, not even Justice.

Spotting a familiar face, Andy guided the mare toward's Father Hu's own little 'slice of paradise', and slowing to a stop, she gave the old man a grin and leaned forward to rest an arm on the wide horn of her saddle.

He sat in his rocking chair, like always.

"Young men shouldn't be sitting in rocking chairs whien there's a brothel right across the street, full of ladies waiting to make a man happy," she teased good-naturedly.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Father Hu greeted "Lady Andy" with a big smile that dominated his wrinkles.

"I no get where I am in life to pay for what I find for free!"

It was a boastful lie, but Father Hu had the sort of life that was hard to dissect the realism from the mythology.

"You know I have three those places in San Francisco, name for me!"

[Andy McCall]

Andy laughed. There was always something different to listen to whenever she talked to Father Hu. She shifted in her saddle, the leather creaking beneath her.

"San Francisco, huh?"

There was a moment of thought as Andy inclined her head up to the clear blue sky. She tsk'ed at him, bringing her eyes back down to his.

"You should be there an' not here then, I'd say. San Francisco's a heap more comfortable than this ol' town."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Father Hu waved the air as if he were dismissing a pesky insect.

"No way it old news. Everybody go. Everybody think go there, make big. Like New York City."

He bade her to dismount her horse and to come sit on the "good sofa" which was an upturned whisky crate that had linens and good pillows affixed to it lovingly.

"I go New York City once. Meet Abraham Lincoln."

Father Hu poured tea for the both of them.

"He tall man."

[Andy McCall]

Obeying his beckon, Andy was careful to dismount. She knew that Doc Lenard had said to stay out of the saddle, but there was no way she'd be able to do that for long.

She didn't worry about her mare, and let the horse stand alone. With her hobbled gait, Andy approached Father Hu's 'sofa', slowly lowering herself to sit.

She accepted the tea he held out for her.

"That's what I heard," she murmured before taking a careful sip.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"I show you!"

Deceptively spry, Hu ducked into the shanty, and after about ten seconds of pilfering, came up with a distressed leather-framed photograph. It was Abraham Lincoln, attending some gala event in the city. Hu pressed it into Andy's hands, and an age-gnarled finger carefully oriented an unremarkable spot in a throng of people assembled behind the former president.

"Who that handsome man?"

He waggled his long white eyebrows cattily, leaving her to look at his treasured photograph as he sat down.

[Andy McCall]

It wasn't exactly the clearest photograph, but it was good enough to where she could make out the face that he'd pointed to.

Andy smiled wide.

"Well hell's bells. I'da never figured you for the politic'n type."

Reverently, she laid the photo in his lap.

"Or was you jus' visiting?"

[Hu Xaio Jien]

The smile faded a bit on Hu's face, and he got a distant look to his face.

"I don't remember."

Shrugging, he took his seat, and tended to the rest of the foodstuffs in the skillet.

"You walk funny Lady Andy, you have rough night?"

Taking the skillet off the flame, he dispensed the bigger share of the contents onto a plate that he gave to his guest.

[Andy McCall]

To her, there were just no eggs in town like the ones Father Hu made. He could fry 'em up plain on a rock in the sun and they'd still somehow taste better than any others she'd ever had. It weren't no obsession, but she'd wondered plenty of times whether it was some sort of spice from China that he used.

Andy never passed up the opportunity to enjoy them though, and she gladly took the plate he gave to her.

"Mullins. Him an' Kip ambushed me up the road there, yesterday," she waved her fork up the road in the direction she'd come from.

"Done shot me in the leg."

She took a bite, savoring the taste.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu's normally jovial expression turned sour, like a pleasant dish with a shot of vinegar added suddenly.

"Da shabi, Chou ba guai Laowai."

He shook his head as he made his own plate.

"He no good. I hope you shoot him back."

[Andy McCall]

A devious grin was all she gave him, and swallowing another forkfull, Andy leaned back on the cushions.

"Naw. He might be a dumb ox, but I ain't gonna shoot him."

A knowing look was given to him then. Father Hu had been there three years back, and knew how things'd gone southward.

"If I did that, Truss'd probably put a rope 'round my neck.

"I marched 'im in his johns and hat through town and made 'im pay to get me stitched up. Figure he's still in a cell though."

She gave an offhand gesture to the bundled up clothes tied to the back of her saddle.

"I picked up 'is clothes, was gonna take 'em to 'im later."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

The offended expression on Father Hu's face was enough of a response.

"Oh Lady, you stink for days. Go burn that! I have clean clothes."

A demure woman with salt & pepper hair peered out of the shanty at the pair. Hu looked at her, and spoke a rapid bit of Cantonese to her. She smiled politely to Andy, and went back inside, eventually coming out with a parcel.

[Andy McCall]

Taken aback, Andy stared at Father Hu, and when the woman reappeared with the package, she reached up to idly scratch an itch on her neck.

"Oh you don' hafta do that. I ain't wearin' 'em, just deliverin' 'em."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu pointed at the parcel on her saddle.

"Those no good, smell like sewer. Take."

He insisted, pressing the clothes into her hands.

"No charge, burn that Gan ni niang before I taste it."

[Andy McCall]

She knew better than to refuse his gift, and giving him a gracious smile, Andy tucked the packed clothes beside her and started in on her eggs again.

A few bites, and she leaned back a little to regard her host thoughtfully. He'd been - well, accroding to himself that is - all over the country. He always had a story to tell about anything.

"You know much 'bout Two Dollar Jim?"

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Father Hu pondered that little chestnut over a thoughtful sip of tea.

"I know what everybody know. All about shooting. He kill many men, but take only two dollar."

In a moment of introspection, his eyebrows floated up a bit.

"I think he only part real. Other part is how people think he real. He have big name. Make a good story."

[Andy McCall]

She finished her eggs and left the plate in her lap.

"He's here you know. In town. Met him yesterday."

Andy was pretty sure that Father Hu already knew; he seemed to know most things that went on in town.

"He's quiet; don't say much t'all. He came to see me at Doc Lenard's yesterday too, and let me borrow a derringer like the one I used to have."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"I see him come from Lady House."

Hu's polite term for the Bareback, but it was an earnest assessment.

"Had to be him."

He extended his index and middle fingers of his right hand, and held them before his eyes.

"Like eagle, his eyes."

He held onto his teacup with both hands, sitting deep in contemplation.

"I think something big is coming."

[Andy McCall]

True to form, the old man knew in his own way that something was up, and Andy wondered for a moment whether he possessed some ancient power from China that let him see the things that weren't in plain sight.

"Ain't no doubtin' it."

Again she thought of the night before, and with a sidelong look she grinned at Father Hu.

"Almost stayed with 'im last night, too. Awful temptin'."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

That was telling.

"You no make bed?"

He'd already long since figured Andy was a sort of modern hedonist, and had thought he had understood her ways to a large degree. She still had some ways of confounding that intuition.

[Andy McCall]

Andy absently took up the fork once more, drawing designs in the leftover grease on her plate.

"He don't see me, I think. When he looks at me, he's seein' someone else."

She gave a sorta apologetic shrug then.

"Might not bother some girls, but it bothers me. Man I'm with should be thinkin' o' me, not no one else."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Father Hu said little for once, a troubled look on his face. He was miles deep into contemplating what Andy was saying. What strife did Two Dollar Jim portend to this town?

He filed it away with pleasantries, taking Andy's hand as he liberated her of an empty plate.

"Come, I make you something nice."

He opened the rickety door of his shanty, and led Andy into one of the two rooms, one which was dominated by a series of three ink prints that had been made on newspaper stock with loving care.

"You pick and take. Only fifty cent."

[Andy McCall]

Andy let him lead her inside, a smile on her face as they passed through the doorway. It smelled so different in Father Hu's home; like spice and incense and something else that she couldn't quite put a finger to. Nothing like what most places in Justice smelled like. It was a welcome thing.

Eyes going to the prints he indicated, she looked at each one. All three were gorgeous.

She gave his gnarled hand a squeeze.

"You made these?"

[Hu Xaio Jien]

With no puffery to lay on his art that her compliment couldn't best, Father Hu nodded.

"I sell to people who pay, but only few in town buy."

He shrugged. He knew Andy fancied that sort of thing. The Mayor had taken some prints, provided that he keep it low profile. That was understandable.

"That one good thing about San Francisco. Dandies with money like pretty pictures."

[Andy McCall]

"Ain't that the truth," she answered wistfully.

Each print was unique and different from the other, but all three together were gorgeous. Father Hu had wonderful talents; was a shame not many people appreciated the arts in Justice.

Fishing a few dollar notes out of her pocket, she pressed them into Father Hu's hand.

"The middle one I think. I like it the best."

Andy gave a quick look around, then back to his face.

"You have any incense left? I'm almost out."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"OK."

Hu carefully negotiated the somewhat-cluttered room, and fished through a couple of containers, until he found a bundle of brown sticks held fast with twine. He held them briefly to his nose, setting them aside while he produced three more bundles.

"You see if you like? I sell bundle, ten cents."

[Andy McCall]

A wide smile, and Andy took up the bundles that he passed to her, smelling at each one.

"I'll take them all."

Patting his hand that still held the two dollars she'd given him, Andy leaned over and gave his wrinkled cheek a light kiss.

"Keep the change."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

The old man's cheeks found a rosy hue as he smiled.

"Oh you my number one customer Andy McCall."

Hu laid the bundles parallel to each other, wrapping the entire collection in a bit of burlap, and tying both ends with twine as he handed them to her.

"Just burn one of each at a time. No burn together. They good by themselves, but no good with each other."

[Andy McCall]

Nodding sagely at his words, Andy took the incense from him and tucked them beneath one arm. She gestured to the print she'd chosen.

"It ok if I pick that up later, on my way home? I still got rounds to make an' I don't want it gettin' messed up."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu was dead-set on one-upping her.

"That no good. You let my son take it where you want it. He put it up and everything."

Which son that meant was another story. Hu had so many that even he was hard-pressed at times to keep track.

[Andy McCall]

Not quite expecting the offer, Andy only found herself nodding as she turned to hobble back outside.

""Guess jus' tell him to put it in my room."

Whichever son Father Hu sent to do the job mattered little to her, and strange as it was, the old Chinaman and his boys were the only ones that Andy'd let into her small cabin that was situated a short ways out of town. Plenty of folks knew where she lived, but none she'd ever invited.

She plucked the parcel of clothes up from where she'd set it on the 'sofa'.

"Which boy of yors you gonna send?"

Even she, after all this time, didn't know exactly how many the old man had managed to sire.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu scratched his beard absent-mindedly. This daunting task of micro-management was such that he had to count on the logistic brain of his wife to figure which one was best disposed to the task. She hovered in the adjacent room making meat pies as he rapid-fired an exchange in Cantonese. It lasted for nearly a minute, with his wife's tone getting a little sharper, and his tone getting a little more timid. He eventually nodded, and turned to Andy.

"Zhou Ping, he come home in one hour."

[Andy McCall]

It was always fun in its' own way to hear Father Hu and his wife going back and forth.

Andy started limping back toward her mare who was still waiting patiently.

"I'll be back through by then," she called over her shoulder while stowing the incense bundles in one saddlepack, and the clothes into another on the other side.

Some careful navigation and balancing brought her up, and she swung her bad leg over the saddle and down into the other stirrup.

Andy gave a parting smile to the old man as she took up the reigns, and blew him a kiss.

[Hu Xaio Jien]

"Wait."

He bade her to hold for a few moments while he rushed back into the shanty. He returned with a small, burlap-wrapped parcel.

"You no should walk and ride like that Andy. You take. Pay later."

It didn't need to be said what he was giving her.

[Andy McCall]

Oh she knew the look of what he brought to her, and Andy gave him a relieved sigh as she leaned down to take it from him.

Carefully she stowed it away in one of the few hidden pockets on the inside of a saddlebag. It wouldn't do to have it taken away.

She gave Father Hu a thankful smile.

"Your wife is a lucky woman to have such a caring man for a husband."

[Hu Xaio Jien]

Hu smiled sheepishly.

"I thankful she no know English. She snore and have hairy pits. If she no cook good, I find young pretty girl like you."

[Andy McCall]

Andy gave a laugh at that, winking at him.

"Too bad for me then I suppose."

She urged her mare forward, leaving the old man behind. He was charming in the best of ways, and she enjoyed each visit that she had with him. Her stop had given her not only more incense, but apparently new clothes and even something take the edge off her dull yet constant pain. She toyed with the idea of taking a few drops before getting into Justice proper, but thought the better of it.

She was only here to give Mullins his clothes back after all. Didn't need to run the risk of endin' up in a cell right beside 'im.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor was up early, and took a walk about town. He kept a genial expression to him, but beneath that was a slow-burning sense of dread. His eyes panned from person to person, each greeting him and seemingly oblivious of the storm he could see on the horizon. He should be pleased, what with Crawfish Mullins now more or less toothless and removing a threat to law and order, but he wasn't. Mullins was a dullard, and his kin were at least the sort of villains who he could understand and play the game against. Two Dollar Jim emanated an eerie sense of wildness. A gale wind that you couldn't predict the direction. You only knew that it would be a hard wind.

[Andy McCall]

At a gentle jog, Andy let her mare take her down through the start of the main drag. With an unlit cigarette clamped between her teeth, she smiled at those she passed, giving a few nods and waves. Folks it seemed were eager to start their own days here in Justice.

Only vaguely could she pick up the unpleasant odor coming from the rolled up clothes behind her saddle; she'd have to oil the leather tie straps well that evening to get rid of the stink. How did that man stand wearing those things? Or for that matter, how did he stand himself?

Andy sat in her saddle easily, rolling with her mount's gait, and it wasn't too long before she spotted Truss. Course he was out early; he always was. Weren't no surprise.

Not slowing, Andy gave the mayor a grin and a nod, passing him on her way up the dusty road and toward the jail further on.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

As she passed, the Mayor made a face.

"Did something die?" He asked her as she rode on, not sure if he heard her or not.

[Andy McCall]

Andy didn't look back as she rode on, only taking one hand from the reigns to point over her shoulder at the bundle of clothes.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

His brow furrowed. He knew that stink. Judging by the direction she was headed, he put two and two together.

"He's not there."

Why she felt compelled to carry those accursed duds to that scoundrel he couldn't figure out. One of her many eccentricities.

[Andy McCall]

Giving a scowl that he couldn't see, Andy pulled the dun to a slow stop and turned her around before starting back in Truss' direction at a walk.

She struck a match against the horn of her saddle, bringing the flame up to light her smoke before dropping it into the dirt and taking in a lungfll of tobacco.

"Well where is he then, if he ain't inna cell?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Told you I'd take care of him."

He spoke to her matter-of-factly in a way that suggested it might not be the sort of conversation to be had on a public street. The cigar in his teeth stood up a bit as he clenched his teeth on it.

"No arrests. Nothing on the record. He's not going to be a problem in my town again."

[Andy McCall]

"I know what you told me."

She stopped the mare in front of him, leaning forward on the saddlehorn and copying with her cigarette the way he chewed on his cigar.

"Don't mean I can't return his things though."

She plucked the smoke from her lips and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"So where is he."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Mr. Truss cast his eyes down the thoroughfare in the opposite direction she was headed, back toward the outskirts.

"Not sure, but I don't think he's liable to be coming to Justice any time soon."

He'd humor her intrigue, but only so far. Shifting his feet, he looked back at her, wincing as he looked indirectly into the sunlight.

"You in a hurry to find him? I think that might be a first for ol' Crawfish."

[Andy McCall]

Andy caught the direction he'd stared, and gave a bit of a sigh. Having to ride back outta Justice and find wherever Mullins had gone wasn't something she looked forward to.

"Inna hurry to get these things offa my saddle."

She didn't figure Truss to understand why she was carryin' them around in the first place, but neither did she. Just one o' those 'good samaritan' things that happened upon a person she figured.

"Whereabouts you think he is outside of Justice then?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor plucked his cigar from his mouth, regarding it as he thought about her question.

"Farther up the trail I gather. Either rolled up to Virginia City, or maybe ventured to tuck tail for Coeur d'Alene. Some place with money, where he can be somebody else's problem."

He reached into his pocket, retrieving his watch to check the exact time.

"Last I saw of him was sun-up. If he were industrious, I'd say he'd have 30 miles on you. Being that he's not, he's probably asleep in the miner camps."

[Andy McCall]

Andy made a face at that, coming to the conclusion that returning Mullins' clothes was more trouble than it was worth. But still, she'd set out to do it, and she never enjoyed not finishin' things she started. It was annoying all the same, and she looked away from the mayor and down the way.

Was it really worth it?

Crossing her arms over her chest, Andy turned her eyes back to Truss, staring down at him from her perch as she thought on what to do.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

He still couldn't put a finger on her peculiarity.

"You really think he's gonna even want those smelly duds in the first place? I admire your resolute demeanor Andy, but not your sanity."

[Andy McCall]

"He'd want 'em if you booted 'im out without nothin' but what he came in with."

Which was to say, only his johns and hat. Andy pulled on her cigarette.

"What're you gonna say when his kin come rollin' in, askin' why one of their own was sent out without his clothes."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Let's be clear here. Crawfish Mullins left Justice of his own volition and sound judgment. It was his choice to make, and he did."

He knew the angle she was going for, but he wasn't going to swallow the bait.

"If I thought I was risking the Mullins Clan's ire, I would've just locked him up and thrown the key away."

[Andy McCall]

"Aw hell."

Sitting back up in the saddle, Andy twisted in her seat, untying the leather straps that held Mullins' clothes secure. Lord they stunk. Like a three day dead mule. Pulling them loose, she tossed them to the mayor without warning.

"Be sure to give those to 'em when they come knockin' on yor door then."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor froze with a mortified grimace on his face, opening his hands and letting the filthy clothing fall to the ground like somebody's slippery spilled entrails. His fine cigar fell from his slack jaw, snuffing on the dirt below.

He looked up at Andy with a glower, kicking the garments in the dust as he did.

"I ought to fine you for littering, or just being plain stubborn."

It was a toothless threat. He just wanted her to cool her heels and find a less cumbersome hobby for a few days. Crossing with both Crawfish and Two Dollar was giving the Mayor a common face to his headaches.

[Andy McCall]

Andy laughed at that. It was a light-hearted sound, and she smiled wide at Truss. Returning Mullins his clothes now far from her thoughts, she gestured to his fallen cigar.

"Yor just mad cause you ruined yor cigar."

A wink, and she stood up in her stirrups, dismounting carefully. She came around the front of her mare, shifting the reigns into one hand while nudging the dominican with the toe of her boot. It wasn't worth saving, as when it'd fallen it'd landed on Mullins' trousers.

"How 'bout I just buy you a new one an' we c'n call it even."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

It would be unseemly for a woman of her reputation to buy him a glass of water if he were on fire, but he never declined her polite company at least.

"Don't worry about that."

Quick on the draw for somebody who had never carried a gun for a profession, Mr. Truss already had a replacement, ejected from a cardboard tube and on his brass trimming blade, before he deposited the tapered end between his teeth again.

"I will liberate you of a match though."

[Andy McCall]

Andy supposed that it was best to simply give him a match instead of actually lighting the end of his cigar, and so she held up an unlit matchstick for him to take.

For a few moments she eyed those who passed by them, noting that some turned confused gazes to the clothes on the ground before going on their own ways. She supposed that there were odder things to see.

Her gaze went to the hotel, and she blinked.

"I bought a print from Father Hu this mornin'. Very pretty."

It wasn't anything to start any sort of conversation, but it was something to fill the empty air while she wondered if she should call on Jim.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The corners of the Mayor's mouth upturned sligtly as he raked the match head along the nearest stirrup, bringing the yellow flame gingerly to the tip of the Dominican.

"He's got a steady hand, that one."

By rule, Chinamen were strange and untrustworthy, filling any place they inhabited with con games and opium, but they were also industrious in their own way, and fussed less than the Irish or negroes with manual work.

"I picked up three for the Missus myself. If he painted vases I'd probably lose my roll on her account. Makes her miss San Francisco quite a bit."

He got a glint in his eye, thinking about a time long past.

[Roy Mullins]

There weren't much that could stop the determined bulk of Roy Mullins. Or the dogs that constantly followed in his wake. A stocky man with the everpresent Mullins anger, he was a sight that no one wished to see on a bad day. With shrewd eyes and a perpetual scowl on his face, the uncle of Crawfish Mullins was not a man to be taken lightly or shrugged off without a thought.

Today found him stalking through Justice, two of his dogs obediently following at his heels. They had been trained - like the rest of the others - to attack at his word, but unless he spoke that word they stayed at his side. Not to say they didn't growl at anyone that came too close though.

Beady eyes spotted Mayor Truss standing in the street with the hussy herself, Andy McCall. Even if Zeke was an idiot, it didn't mean McCall would get away with what she done.

His jaw set itself, and he started resolutely for the pair.

Once near enough to be heard, he spoke.

"Hear you got my nephew locked up; Kip sez that whore done it!"

[Andy McCall]

Only one voice like that.

A sharp turn of her head in the direction of Roy Mullins, and Andy stiffened just a little. Kip's pa was a force to be reckoned with for sure; one that even Andy herself avoided at all costs.

Using the mayor as a shield, she looked around him at the man and his dogs comin' their way.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor's sharp eyes met Roy Mullins' own. By that time, his cigar was fully lit, and he let the match fall. They had an adversarial history, but one that was strangely festooned with mutual respect. However much of a heel that Crawfish was, Roy and the majority of his clan functioned with some sort of strange honor among thieves. That wasn't to say they were to be taken lightly. They were likely the toughest ne'er do wells in western Montana.

"I can take you down to the lock-up Roy, but Crawfish isn't there."

The Mayor was concious of the notion that neither the sheriff nor any of his deputies were in line of sight. They were off on some other beat most likely. At least taking Roy Mullins down to the pokey would tip the Sheriff and his boys as to the goings-on.

[Roy Mullins]

Roy sneered at them both as he drew closer. The dogs stayed their course with him. That the mayor said Zeke wasn't in a cell was not a concern just yet. It was confounding all the same, but he wasn't going to address that right now. No, now he had other disputes to discuss.

"And why isn't McCall in there too? My boy said she cheated Zeke in a game of cards."

Roy stopped before Mayor Truss, squaring his shoulders as he stood. For now he ignored Andy, who stood behind the mayor.

"Or have you started lettin' card cheats go without punishment these days. Seems my nephew was just doin' your job for you."

[Andy McCall]

Andy bristled at that, forcefully pulling her cigarette from between her teeth and dropping it to the ground. With a heel mashing it into the dirt, she threw an arm past Truss, pointing at Roy Mullins.

"I ain't no cheat, Crawfish is just that bad," she growled angrily, "and Kip don't know anything."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Mayor Truss was quick to ease her back. She might be right, but no sense tossing whisky on an open fire.

"I'll tell you like I told him, he's more than welcome to file a complaint with the Sheriff. That's how we settle criminal grievances in town. As it stands, the only witnesses are this one and Crawfish, both just happened to be drunk or stoned out of their gourd."

Unlike Andy, he kept his voice even, and almost casual. Getting riled up was a quick way to nowhere. Both he and Roy knew that Crawfish was a liability at Poker, Faro, and Blackjack even when plain sober, but that wasn't Roy's angle in the first place.

[Roy Mullins]

Roy scowled, his dogs by now sitting on either side of him. He said nothing to McCall, only taking her objection with a twisted lip, looking down to her over his nose. The mayor however, he regarded with a far more critical eye. The man was crafty, to be sure of it. His attempt at steering Roy away from his intended target was noted and discarded in the same vein.

"I don't recall hearin' about her filing a complaint with your sheriff, and my nephew still got sent to a cell. Seems you've got a breakdown happening with the way you're despensin' law, or someone's playin' favorites."

It wasn't so much the word as it was the way he said it that the mayor would understand completely. Even Roy knew his inferrence was untrue, but that didn't matter to him. He'd drag his own mother's name through the mud to get what he wanted. And what he wanted now out of Truss was a loss of the mayor's ever tightly gaurded control.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Nobody's arrested anyone here, Roy. I suspect your nephew's liable to be sleepin' one off in the mining camps. I'm afraid you've come a long stroll into town for not much."

The only reaction Roy got out of his inference was for the Mayor to gently remove his cigar from his teeth and to curl his lower lip over his teeth slightly. A moment later, the cigar returned to where it had been. Being mayor meant that you had to live among paradoxes and learn how to swallow more pride than you ought to. If the stakes were less than the town and the people in it, he'd have popped him one for it.

"I can rustle up a deputy to kick in some tent flaps, if that's your notion. We find Crawfish, sober him up with a shower and coffee, and then we'll talk about those charges."

[Two Dollar Jim]

The double doors to the Sockeye swung open, and Jim walked easy out of the premises, setting his hat atop his head to shield his eyes from the sun. Out on the thoroughfare, he'd noticed the conspicuous sort of behavior of people steppin' aside. That didn't happen for anything other than trouble. Jim walked toward it, mindful to get an eye-full of whoever was cross.

Turns out it was Andy, the Mayor, and a fella who cast about as long a shadow as Mr. Truss did. If that didn't put a point across, the two ornery dogs at his flanks underscored it. What type of fella brings business to town like that without having something else to say?

[Roy Mullins]

So. It was to be talk of charges then, was it? Roy grinned maliciously. He seen McCall at Hu's place before she'd gone into town, and seen what'd passed between their hands.

"I don't need your deputies to help with anything. Now, if its' charges you want, than fine. Go look in the whore's saddlebag; inside pocket on the left."

[Andy McCall]

Her attention focused on Roy, Andy didn't notice Jim in the least. She'd been quiet during the exchange between Mullins and the Mayor, but the notion of her even doing anything with Truss aside from talking set her off. It was her own sense of odd respect for the man in the face of Roy's underlying accusation.

But when the elder Mullins essentially ratted her out, she screwed her face into a fierce scowl.

"Ain't nothin' in there but incense and some new clothes."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor detested this game, but he had to play it anyway.

"Suppose I get the sheriff for this search, Roy? What's he gonna find?"

He at least wanted it from the man's mouth. He'd find a suitable crucible for the truth later on.

Another figure entered his peripheral view, as Jim stepped out from the Sockeye. Ice water ran in his blood now, but he didn't dare linger his eyes on the shootist. He couldn't afford him any of his paranoia right now.

[Roy Mullins]

"I seen her with Hu out the way. If she got herself some incense and clothes that's just fine, but those aren't all she got."

Roy gave McCall an evil smile. She had nowhere to run now. She'd been spotted, and he was going to make sure she got the reward she deserved for humiliating one of his own kin - no matter how stupid Crawfish was.

Roy patted one of his dogs on the head, and the canine licked his fingers.

"Bet that gunshot wound is pretty painful, isn't it McCall. Sure nice of Hu to give you some laudinum to take the edge off."

[Andy McCall]

Furious beyond words almost, Andy balled her hands into fists. She suddenly wished she hadn't dropped her smoke onto the ground, as she'da thrown it at him if she still had it.

As it was, Andy straightened up, not affording Roy any sort of answer.

She turned on her heel and threw up a hand to grab the saddlehorn while putting a foot in the stirrup to mount.

"I ain't gotta listen to this. I got things to do."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

His hands were tied, and he put a hand on Andy's reigns. He'd known her enough to know that either there was truth to that, or he'd hit too close to home.

His teeth clamped down on his cigar.

"Is it true?"

He locked eyes on her, and asked her plainly. That was only half of the matter. He was more interested in her honesty.

[Andy McCall]

Her foot came out of the stirrup, and Andy gave a defiant look to Truss. What would he do if she said that it was? Or worse yet, what would he do if she denied Roy's accusation, only to be found out? Neither uncertainty was particularly enjoyable to dwell on.

She still hadn't seen Jim, all of her attentions going to the Mayor.

For a moment she tensed up, but it wasn't long before she leaned against her mare. Her voice was a growl, but the tone was directed more to Roy than it was to Truss.

"He only gave it t'me for the pain. Wasn't even my idea; ain't asked for it, he just gave it t'me."

[Roy Mullins]

Roy's smile went wider, and he rocked back on his heels in self-satisfaction. A part of him was shocked that she'd admit to it at all even.

"Seems your little free-wheelin' whore's got herself an addiction there, Truss."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor gently reached into Andy's saddlebag. She looked petulant, but didn't stop him from it. He pulled exactly what Roy had suggested he would find. Again he plucked his cigar, curling his lower lip. Roy was right to some degree, he had a sort of understanding with Andy, and did let certain transgressions pass. This one couldn't go by the wayside.

By this time, there was a deputy within sight. The Mayor whistled for him, turned to Andy, and gave her a look that was at once wistful and apologetic, but also stern.

[Andy McCall]

"So yor just gonna let me walk 'round hurtin'?"

Andy stood rooted as the deputy answered Truss' beckon, closing the distance to the group. Didn't mean she had to like what Roy'd gotten her into.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

She knew what she was doing. The Mayor wished she would just take this on the chin. Roy caught her slipping. Best to just take it and get it over with.

"You played hooky on Doc Lenard, Andy. If you needed laudinum, he's a legal dispenser."

He shook his head.

"It's two days in the pen and twenty dollars. Don't make this into more than it is."

That was more of a plea from him than a command.

[Roy Mullins]

Roy Mullins was more than pleased with himself, and the look on his face spoke volumes of that. He grinned, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Andy.

"Best do what your man says, McCall."

Another jab at the Mayor.

[Andy McCall]

If it were anyone but Truss, Andy would've made as much of a fuss as she could. But, owing to the fact that the Mayor was considered a valued friend, Andy only pulled a cigarette out from her case and put it between her lips.

She lit it, and gave Roy an icy stare as the deputy stopped at Truss' side.

"He ain't my man," she hissed.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

As the deputy came to take custody of Andy, Mr. Truss looked grim-faced at Roy.

"I don't need an echo, Roy. You want Crawfish, I'll take a man with you to look. If not, I've got a busy day ahead of me."

[Roy Mullins]

"Don't need you or any of your men, Alex. I can find Zeke on my own just fine."

Mullins was happy enough with the outcome of his little visit to town. For now at least. He'd come across Crawfish at some point, but he'd been more determined to make the day a bit more difficult for Truss and McCall before doing anything like finding his idiot nephew. Truth of the matter was that Roy couldn't care less about what Crawfish was doing or what he'd gotten himself in to.

He only vaguely wished that it'd been him that shot McCall in the leg.

Turning to leave, he gave a parting wink to Andy and snapped his fingers at the dogs, who came alive and sprang to their feet to follow him.

He laughed at it all as he headed off, a deep laugh that held the undertones of cruelty.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor watched Roy bound off with his rotten mutts, his jawline tense as he clamped down on his cigar. With firmly-bottled rage, he carefully manipulated the bottle of laudinum, opening the stopper and pouring the opiate onto the dirt at his feet. When the syrupy stream ended, he kicked at the dust in an impotent display, catching sight of Jim out of the corner of his eye.

He didn't say a word. He pocketed the empty bottle, and stormed after the deputy and Andy. He had to see this thing through now.

[Andy McCall]

She'd had to quicken her hobbled pace, but Andy was game enough to walk with the deputy, who held her arm in a loose grip. Her mare followed dutifully behind.

She was quiet as they walked, fuming at this sudden downturn of luck. Of all the stupid things to be pinned with, it was the kind gesture of an old man that was sending her to jail for two days with a twenty dollar fine. But, she bore it in silence for now. Didn't mean she couldn't be angry 'bout it though. And she couldn't be mad at Truss either; he'd only been doing his job.

Still though. Still.

The deputy was mindful of her limp as they ascended the shallow steps and headed across the front porch, and when he opened the door she hobbled inside after tossing her half-smoked cigarette away.

What came next was anyone's guess, and she steeled herself for whatever Truss might do.

The door closed behind the three, and Andy whirled around on her good leg, fists clenched as she looked up to the Mayor.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Mayor Truss said little. Andy knew the procedure, this was hardly her first turn in his jail cell. The deputy had the decorum to be discrete and polite.

"Miss McCall, gonna have to sequester those shootin' irons, ma'am."

Young kid, looked about twenty. He flushed a bit as he made his request. The Mayor looked onward.

[Andy McCall]

Still keeping her eyes on Truss, Andy forcefully unbuckled her gunbelt, shoving it roughly into the deputy's chest.

She pulled her cigarette case from her back pocket and waved it in the mayor's face.

"You gonna take this too?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Though it was the deputy's call, he deferred to the Mayor, who shook his head. The deputy seemed a little relieved at being able to extend a minor kindness.

"Don't throw this in my face, you knew what you were doing. You think I'm happy to have to be here?"

[Andy McCall]

"Of course I knew what I was doing," she grumbled, stuffing the case back into her pocket and turning around to head for the back room that held the cells.

"I was gonna take Mullins his clothes back, go get the print I bought, take it home, and then have a few drops and rest.

"Nothing unlawful in that. Weren't gonna do it in town. That's why I had it hid away."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The deputy assisted her in putting other personal effects into inventory, so that she retained only her basic clothing and a few other harmless amenities. The Mayor frowned at the way she stood.

"Let's see that shot, Andy."

[Andy McCall]

A brief confused look was all she gave to him, and hobbling into a cell that she knew well enough, Andy lowered herself to sit down on the cot against the far wall.

The deputy was ignored as she kicked off her boots, and they landed on the floor heavily.

"Why."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"To see if it's festering you stubborn mule."

Tired of the runaround, Mayor Truss jerked a thumb outside.

"You want laudinum for pain? Only one place in town to get it, and he's damn sure gonna want to see the damage."

[Andy McCall]

"Fine."

With a determined expression that remained fixed on Truss, Andy roughly rolled up her pantleg, putting the pain her motions caused to the side. It was easy to see in her eyes though that she was hiding her discomfort.

With the leg of her jeans rolled up past the thin gauze bandage, she lay her leg across the cot and gestured to it.

"There."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Again, the Mayor's lower lip curled over his teeth.

"Unwrap it."

[Andy McCall]

Andy gave him a frustrated sigh then, but did as she was told. She was toeing the line enough as it was, and decided it best to simply obey the man at this point. Roy Mullins had done a good job of ruining her day.

Thin fingers working carefully, she peeled away the gauze to expose the wound. It was swollen and red, the stitches plain to see, and she looked back to Truss, wondering what he'd do now.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

It looked slightly infected, the skin puffy and with a glossy sheen around the edges. Lightly pink, then pale before the entry wound. Thankfully not festering or gangrenous, but she probably could use a salve, and something to ease the pain. A fresh wrap wouldn't hurt either.

"I'll get Doc Lenard to redress that, and see to the pain."

It was the best he could to to accomodate her. He met her eyes, hoping that she understood this was not done out of capriciousness.

[Andy McCall]

Andy pursed her lips in thought, curbing any other retort that she'd had. All things considered, the Mayor was being generous in his treatment of her, and she figured it best to be grateful for that.

"Do what you gotta."

A thought occurred to her then.

"What 'bout my horse?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"I'll have the Half Moon put her up for two days. Easy on the greens?"

It was a ten dollar surcharge for upkeep, but the Mayor just figured to take it out of the fine that would be levied on her. No need to add extra stress.

He figured any further dawdling would be conspicuous, so he excused himself for the door. He paused in the middle of opening, and looked back to her.

"I don't think either of us want to be the bad guy again. Don't let this get you sore, and come out with any notions on big Roy."

It was a plea that he doubted either of them would keep.

[Andy McCall]

"Wouldn't dream of it."

Her tone gave weight to his own doubts, that much was for certain.

She rewrapped the bandage and rolled down the leg of her jeans.

Laying down on the cot fully, Andy rolled over on her side to stare at the wall. She had no desire to watch the Mayor leave; best to just start countin' bricks till she was let out.

Two days in here was certainly not the longest stint she'd pulled, but it still meant a lot of boredom was headed her way. How long had it been since the last time she'd found herself in Truss' jail? No way to tell, but she figured it'd been a coupla months at the very least. It was cyclical in a way, whether her transgressions were minor or not.

Either way, every few months she always managed to find herself in the same cell once more.

[Two Dollar Jim]

About half an hour passed, before the deputy opened the front door, spoke to somebody in the threshold, then stepped in to rap on Andy's cell bars.

"Andy, you got a visitor."

[Andy McCall]

It was Roy Mullins, come to gloat. She knew it was. She figured that mean old cuss would be comin' to call at some point. He wouldn't let her get by without as much.

She didn't turn away from the wall, instead Andy wrapped her arms around her middle as she focussed on the wall a foot away and answered the deputy.

"Kinda busy right now, Frank."

[Two Dollar Jim]

"Count all them bricks yet?"

Jim stood by the doorway with Frank, the deputy. He held his arms at the door while Frank temporarily confiscated his pistols, so that he would be able to visit the inmate.

"I saw it go down with you, Truss, and that big fella."

[Andy McCall]

Andy turned on her cot, suddenly sitting up as she'd not expected Jim to be her visitor. She gave him a helpless smile, watching as he was relieved of his guns.

"I'm sure everyone saw that."

She moved to sit on the edge of the cot.

"Was Roy Mullins. Shoulda expected something like this I s'ppose."

[Two Dollar Jim]

Jim had heard the name. Maybe the assumption was that he was supposed to be swayed by the gravitas of it. It didn't pan out that way.

"Hmm."

He shrugged in a non-chalant way, pulling a wooden stool adjacent to her cell to sit down at.

"The man walks with a lot of confidence. Just him and those two dogs of his. Seems a bit fool-hearted to me."

[Andy McCall]

"He's got more'n just those two. Keeps a pack of 'em at his place."

Standing from the cot, Andy moved to the front of her cell and sat down on the floor close to where Jim had pulled up a stool.

"Trains 'em to attack for him, tells folks he'll turn 'em into dog chow if'n they don't do what he wants."

She fished out her cigarette case and pulled out a smoke. She had no matches, and so settled for simply holding the rolled tobacco between two fingers.

"Could be foolish for him to walk around like that, but no one's ever had the guts to really call him out on anything."

She sighed and gave Jim a funny look.

"You know, I only came into town today to give Mullins 'is clothes back after yesterday. Figured I'd be in 'n out.

"Guess I figured wrong."

[Two Dollar Jim]

Jim gave a small smile at that little nugget of irony.

"You should have killed him when you had him dead to rights."

He looked away momentarily, becoming somewhat introspective.

"Then again, I should've done the same."

[Andy McCall]

"Ain't nobody that can do anything 'bout that now I reckon."

Andy looked sidelong at him.

"Course, if either of us had done that, there wouldn't be no jail cells involved. One of us'd be on the end of a rope"

Just the thought of it made her put a hand to her throat, idly rubbing along the point where her jawline met her neck.

[Two Dollar Jim]

A thing like death wasn't a thing to deter Jim's thoughts.

"Think they'd make you swing on account of a cretin like Mullins?"

[Andy McCall]

With a look at him, Andy blew out a snorted breath.

"Think? Aw hell, I know they would.

"I ain't got no family here or nothing, so no one would miss some wanderin', card-playin' whore."

[Two Dollar Jim]

He gave her a funny look.

"Figure you'd be doing the world a favor. In the scheme of things, you're royalty by comparison."

[Andy McCall]

Andy leaned against the bars, twirling the cigarette in her hand and staring at the ground.

"Doin' the world a favor don't mean squat here. Mullins might be a dumb ox, but he's still protected by the law just like th'rest of us here."

Wishing to go on to a different line of thought that had nothing to do with Mullins or his clan, Andy poked at his leg through the cell bars.

"What're you doin' here anyway? I thought you'd be out playin' cards or somethin'."

[Two Dollar Jim]

"I was."

The unfortunate side effect of prolonged success at the table is that you make a game into a slaughterhouse. Jim had succeeded in making money, but also running off most of the competition, at least for now.

"Thinned the herd a bit, so I figured I could take a break."

He'd done well enough to make sure he could keep an extended stay in town, and was eyeing a horse if his luck kept up.

"I'm sure there's no shortage of miners that'll come my way, so I can afford to take my time."

Still, his mind revolved around Roy Mullins. The guy was a bully, but also one that had an inflated opinion of himself. Inwardly, he toyed with the idea of going back to that moment in time, and putting a bullet in the man's head.

"How long you cooped up?"

[Andy McCall]

"Two days. Not the longest I've spent in here, but still. Also got a twenty dollar fine tacked on, but that's expected."

She shrugged at that.

"Mayor enjoys finin' folks while lettin' 'em sit inna cell. Can't blame him though. Works good for most."

It didn't need to be said that Andy had spent many more than just one or two stays in Truss' jail. It was something she'd become used to.

"I was talkin' to him last night after I left," even while in a cell it was apparent that Andy spoke of Truss without any sort of real anger.

"Said he was worried 'bout not knowin' what you'd be bringing to town."

[Two Dollar Jim]

Jim empathized with the Mayor. He could understand a man who was set to do the right thing, and even though they came to blows of a sort, he didn't feel any ill feelings for the man. Still, his game of blood wasn't finished.

"I don't think the Mayor has anything to worry about."

It wasn't an admission of absolution from violence.

"I reckon that one-eared man's already pushed out of town. I'll stay long enough to get my feet, then I figure I'll push out for Virginia City."

He wasn't sure if that was the answer Andy wanted to hear.

[Andy McCall]

"Oh."

Whether she was disappointed or not, Andy didn't show it.

"Hate to say it, but I've a feelin' the Mayor'll be happy for that."

[Two Dollar Jim]

"I know he will be. He's looking over his shoulder for a gunfight to break out. Can't be good for a man's nerves. Wasn't my intention to do wrong by him."

Why was he telling her this? What was he even doing here? Did he hope to hear something he wasn't going to ask? Did he want her to ask him to stay?

[Andy McCall]

For a minute or two Andy was quiet. She wasn't about to ask him to stay; a man like him did what he wanted, and he had his sights set on only one thing. There was also the matter of him not really seein' her, but that she pushed away like a bad piece of meat. She'd no reason to entertain the thought.

Course, she couldn't really help it.

"Think you might be rollin' back this way after you find yor man?"

[Two Dollar Jim]

She compelled him to look in a place that he'd never looked. A life after. What did he honestly expect to happen, once he'd taken care of the one-eared man? Being morose, he'd expected to be on the end of a rope, but Andy's question begged him to consider the alternative. He smiled, albeit carefully.

"Could think of worse things to do."

He stole a glance at her, to see the expression she wore at the tail end of her question.

[Andy McCall]

Andy stared at the cigarette in her hands, thinking on that one. She tried to keep her face neutral, and ended up biting at her lower lip.

"S'ppose you could."

She looked up to the small window, at the light streaming in through the bars.

"Y'oughtta come back. It ain't all that bad here."

She forced a smile and patted at the floor.

"Even the cells are cozy."

[Two Dollar Jim]

That sort of black humor appealed to Jim, and his smile broadened. In a strange way, he could imagine himself coming back to Justice, and even finding a strange acquaintance with the jail cell as she did, though obviously he'd like to avoid that sort of entanglement.

"I brought you somethin'."

He slowly withdrew an object, holding it up for the deputy to approve, before passing it to her. It was a dime store harmonica.

[Andy McCall]

With her smoke in one hand and the harmonica in her other, Andy turned it over in her palm, looking at it. It wasn't anything specially designed or fancy like she seen in a few of the trinket shops 'round town, but that didn't matter much to her. Harmonicas weren't meant t'be decorated in flouncy patterns. Least in her mind they weren't.

This one looked to have traveled a fair bit. Least as far as Jim had.

"Thanks."

Andy smiled at him then, shifting a little against the bars so that she was more comfortable.

"'Fraid I ain't that good with musical stuff though."

[Two Dollar Jim]

"Don't really gotta be. It's somethin' that's felt."

He produced one of his own, and ran a couple of low, haunting notes on it.

"Good way to pass time, I've found."

[Andy McCall]

Andy smiled wider then, thinking of the two days she had to spend in here. Seems a harmonica was as good a thing as any to keep her occupied. She stared down at it in her hand, and stuck her cigarette behind her ear as she listened to Jim play a few notes.

Whatever melody he played sounded lonesome almost, the reedy tone of the instrument doing a good job of accentuating that feeling.

"Sounds kinda sad to me," she mumbled, her smile fading away.

[Two Dollar Jim]

A little self concious at that assessment, Jim gave a slight shrug, and put the instrument away.

"Just an example, I guess. You can play peppy stuff too. It's easy to learn."

Jim gestured for the deputy, and negotiated the liberty of a match, offering to share the flame for his cigarillo to light her own smoke.

[Andy McCall]

His offer was gratefully accepted, and Andy pulled deep as he lit the end of her cigarette, murmuring her thanks. She leaned her head back against the bars, blowing out a thin stream of smoke.

"So I guess by the time I'm outta here yor gonna already be on yor way to Virginia City then."

She turned the harmonica over in her hand again, running an index finger over its' shape.

"Shame."

[Two Dollar Jim]

"Don't have to be."

The ember glowed red on the cigarillo as Jim shrugged.

"Ain't got a real notion of which way he went. Trail's cold outside the Bareback, so I figure I can cool my heels a little."

[Andy McCall]

Andy gave him a sorta apologetic sidelong look from her spot.

"You got a man yor wantin' to put in the ground. Way I see it, ain't no sense waitin' around near a cold trail. Less'n you think he's comin' back, movin' on is probably the best thing t'do."

Reaching through the bars then, she gave a pat to the toe of his boot.

"Ain't tryin' to get rid of you, jus' tryin' to help. Course, I wouldn't mind if you stayed, but ain't my decision t'make."

[Two Dollar Jim]

Jim didn't say anything. It wasn't the answer he was hoping she'd have. Exhaling slowly, he stood to his feet.

"Well, I guess I could light out that way, see if I get any nibbles. If not, I'll at least have some place to fall back on."

[Andy McCall]

"You should stay."

The words were out of her mouth before she knew it, and there was no way she could unsay 'em.

Self-conscious for the first time in a long while, Andy stayed where she was, staring down at the harmonica he'd given her.

[Two Dollar Jim]

He shook his head.

"You were right the first time."

He looked away, looked back, and gave a little smile.

"You won't have to wait long to see me again."

And with that, he was gone.