Brother's Keeper (Justice, Montana)

[Andy McCall]

She'd been out of jail for a few days now. Long enough for her bad mood and angry thoughts on Roy Mullins to settle some. Not all the way, but now they'd been reduced to a simmer. Andy wasn't about to forget what he done. Doc Lenard had visited her in her cell and patched her up some more, and once out, Andy went back to him and had the gunshot redressed. He'd fussed at her some, but it was nothing unusual. Doctors did that she figured.

Mr. Truss was as good as his word, and'd had her mare put up at the Half Moon. Course now the horse was outside of Doc's infirmary at the hitching post and waiting patiently for Andy to finish up her visit.

Stepping out of the door, she scratched absently at an itch on her arm as Doc Lenard followed her out.

"And don't do anything that'll aggravate it, Andy. Last thing you want is for it to get so infected that I gotta saw your leg off."

"Don't worry."

Andy knew that it was a threat that held at least some water, and she moved to stand at the porch railing. She nodded at the doctor as he handed her a small cloth-wrapped bottle.

"And stay out of jail this time. If you need laudinum, come to me and not that Chinaman."

"Yes sir."

She stared down the road, squinting into the sun. Maybe she hoped to see Jim out and about?

It was futile; he'd already left town.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor could watch her excuse herself from jail, as he had a vantage of it all. He sipped coffee from a flecked ceramic mug, with the blinds drawn at his office. He'd been stoic about this latest debacle and otherwise let her serve her time alone, though he did hear from the grapevine that Two Dollar Jim paid her a short visit before pulling out of town.

The Mayor sighed, setting down his coffee. That looked like an averted disaster at least. Every day that Jim was in town it felt like his throat was tight. But he'd dispensed with that threat to face a new one. His gamble with the Mullins clan hadn't paid off.

As Andy made her way onto the main drag, he wondered how she'd take that news.

[Andy McCall]

Where would she go from here? Seemed like she didn't really have all that much planned for the day except to visit Doc Lenard, and Andy found herself stopping in the middle of the road, the mare at her heels. She looked back the way she'd come, then tracked her gaze across to he mayor's office. Weren't nothing to speak of with Truss, and she let her eyes keep going down the road.

The Sockeye was as good a place as any to drum up some cash and put her in better spirits, so Andy started forward once more. She wasn't gonna go lookin' for someone to bed, since Doc Lenard had expressly forbid that, but he'd said nothin' about playing cards.

Maybe after a few hours she'd head back home and sleep off the day. Was about as much as she felt like doing, really.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor scrubbed his schedule for the next two hours, and grabbed his overcoat and hat to take a stroll. He figured Andy for a creature of habit, and that he'd find her making minor trouble at the Sockeye. That, he calculated, was the best spot to catch up with her.

He walked down the thoroughfare and toward the Sockeye, pushing through the double doors as inconspicuously as possible.

[Andy McCall]

Normally Andy was easy to spot in the Sockeye, a rowdy little blonde who always had a crowd around her and a bottle or two in front of her. But now, owing to the nature of her frame of mind, Andy had holed herself up at a table by herself. Strange, how walking in with certain intentions she'd figured on just sitting alone and nursing a glass of whiskey.

She pulled out the harmonica Jim had given to her, toying with it and twirling it in circles on the weathered tabletop.

She didn't even notice when someone came to stand on the other side of the table, and when she did, Andy stopped playing with the harmonica to look off to the side.

"Got it legal this time," she sighed, pulling out the wrapped laudinum bottle and setting it beside the instrument.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Good to know."

The Mayor didn't give a damn, as long as she was able to keep her nose clean. He hated to put her in the clink, and she didn't care for being there. He took the seat across from her after draping his coat on the back, and set his hat aside.

"How's the leg?"

[Andy McCall]

"Still there."

Andy tipped her glass up, looking at Truss from over the rim. She set it down gently, and gave the Mayor a shrug.

"Suspect it'll be 'round for a while."

Leaning back in her seat, Andy set a hand on the harmonica and pulled it from the table, replacing it in her pocket. She stared at Truss, wondering why he was here. Normally when he came to the saloon it was to socialize with new arrivals or break up a fight with his deputies. He might not've been the sheriff, but he was still mayor aand exercised his authority accordingly.

"Don't figure you came in here for just a drink."

Andy looked back over her shoulder at the door, then back to Truss.

"Roy come back to accuse me of somethin' new?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

He didn't immediately answer, instead snapping his finger at the barkeep.

"Tad, you have a single malt on hand?"

The mustachioed bartender dutifully plucked a dusty bottle from his shelf, filling a tumbler halfway with the smoky, peaty whisky. He set it across from the mayor on a napkin. When he returned to the bar, Mr. Truss's lower lip curled over his teeth.

"Crawfish is back in town."

[Andy McCall]

She didn't even bat an eye. Instead, Andy just let out an annoyed sigh. In some ways she felt bad for the mayor, havin' to deal with folk like the Mullins clan.

"Ain't surprised, to be honest."

Andy rose slightly from her seat then, moving to the chair beside Truss so that her back was no longer towards the door. Best to stay sharp now.

"Least you tried t'keep 'im out."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Stormclouds were rolling in his eyes, and he just looked ahead, nursing his scotch.

"It's just a matter of time, I suppose. That oaf's gonna do something cross and kick over all sorts of hell. As hard as I try to push him on up the trail, that fool's going to put down roots here, and bring all of his usual baggage."

Another drink. He looked at Andy.

"Eventually I'm gonna have to throw the book at that heel. And when I do, this town's going to hell in a handbasket."

[Andy McCall]

Andy pursed her lips and took a sip from her glass.

"Wish I knew how t'help."

Pulling the bottle of laudinum closer, she carefully undid the stopper. She wouldn't take any in front of the Mayor, but without a handful of cards to occupy her fingers, opening and closing the bottle was just as good a substitute.

Finally.

"Jim said I shoulda shot 'im when I had the chance. Don't fancy havin' my own swingin' party though."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The mayor gave her a funny expression.

"You think you'd swing over a cur like Crawfish? Maybe if you'd done him in with a meat tenderizer and ate his spleen while praising Satan. Pretty white ladies don't tend to swing, even ones with interesting habits."

[Andy McCall]

"Ain't no killer, Truss."

Bored of the laudinum bottle, Andy leaned back and set her eyes to the door.

"Sides. Law is the law here in town, and even I don't got a notion to cross over th'line with both feet."

But, what he said made her wonder, and Andy chewed on her bottom lip.

"Even if I did that, his kin'd come callin'. I know you don't want that."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor waved a hand with a weak smile.

"I was just asking rhetorical questions."

Still, the words had been said, which began to turn some interesting thoughts about in his head too. There was a high probability now that things would end up with blood, and Truss, while no stranger to the subject from afar, was keen to minimize his exposure to it. He now wondered if he should avoid it unto the last, or turn to face the approaching wolf on his tail.

[Andy McCall]

That smile was one she'd seen a few times. Meant he'd started thinking on something. Given the nature of their conversation, Andy wasn't sure exactly what was going on in the Mayor's head, or whether she wanted to know either.

Upending her glass, Andy finished the dregs of her whiskey. Picking up the bottle, she slowly rose to her feet with a groan.

"Best get to figurin' stuff out then. Don't know what you could do to run that oaf outta town," she pushed her chair in towards the table.

"... aside from torturin' him."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

He met her eyes briefly, turning them back to his glass for another drink.

"Don't think he'd take the hint, personally."

He drank methodically, not able to enjoy the drink in front of him. It was just something to occupy his body while his mind was here, and everywhere.

How had he gotten into this mess? Nine out of ten days being Mayor of a town like Justice was a slice of heaven. He really felt like he was doing meaningful work. Then a day rolled around like this and he wondered just how frighteningly easy it would be to watch it all burn in the span of a sparrow's song.

[Roy Mullins]

Just outside of town


RoyMullins sat atop his horse, a small pack of mangy dogs surrounding him. None strayed too far from their master, as they'd been trained to never do anything without a word from him.

On a small hill the gave a normally peaceful view of Justice, Roy sat fuming in his saddle. He spit a stream of tobacco to the side, rolling his tongue over his front teeth in thought.

Finally, he leaned back a little as if to stretch, and turning to the left, he scowled at the younger man at his side.

"Tell me again what he done."

[Crawfish Mullins]

Crawfish shook his head energetically, his eyes wide open and blank. He was being compelled to look in a place where he did not want to look.

"He ain't done nothin' Big Roy. Ain't d-done nothin'."

Sweat beaded on his shiny red face as his slack jaw trembled a bit.

[Roy Mullins]

This was getting tiresome.

Roy leaned liesurely on the saddlehorn and fixed his eyes on his nephew. His gaze was in stark contrast to the way his body moved, and the look on his face was one that Crawfish had seen many times before.

"You tell me. I don't care if you're my sister's boy... if you don't say anything I'll put the dogs on you."

[Crawfish Mullins]

"No please!"

He fell to his knees, shielding himself with open palms as if the mere words were weapons. He sat on the ground on the verge of a sob, shaking like a leaf.

"Ain't gon' go back on him. I felt like I was a-gon' die. Like I jus' drownin' in a river."

[Roy Mullins]

"Heh."

Amused at Zeke's reaction, Roy was quiet for a few thoughtful seconds. Drowning in a river, eh? They were getting somewhere now, however slowly. His mount shifted its' stance, and the dogs each looked up to Roy in unison as if expecting an order.

"Seems t'me that the Mayor is forgetting his place. However dumb you is, you're still a Mullins. So start acting like one.

"Now. Tell me what he done so's I can fix it."

[Crawfish Mullins]

The sobs suddenly stopped, and as if catatonic, Crawfish began to account for his four missing days.

"It ain't Truss what done it. He don' turn me loose or so he say, and I jus' went on down a-ways, and then some chinamen done did it on me."

He flailed about wildly.

"They did some dirty cheat fightin' an' I got cold-cocked. Came to an' was in some barn or somethin'. Some chinamen here and there, hell I dunno they all look alike. They's somebody else too."

[Roy Mullins]

Roy sneered down at Crawfish.

"I don't care if a group of chinamen done it. Truss let it happen, and so as far as I'm concerned he done it."

That there was someone other than a chinaman was filed away for future thought. Right now, he was more concerned with immediate retribution.

Eyes going from Zeke, Roy let his gaze pan down over the town down below. Towards the edge was a familiar enough ranch house, and he gave a hmph. He knew the Mayor was already out in town, and that of course meant that dear Mrs. Truss was home by herself. Just her and the Mayor's two little girls.

"Already done sent McCall to a cell," he started thoughtfully, still mulling over the possibilities of what he would do, "... ain't enough to fix the wrong done, but it's a start."

[Crawfish Mullins]

Standing behind Roy's long shadow, Crawfish slowly started to develop something resembling a spine. He regained his wits, slowly, and rose to his feet, wiping his face on his sleeve. His demeanor turned as dour as his uncle.

"Bastards. Them sons-a-bitches. I ain't gon' take it no more."

[Roy Mullins]

Roy looked down at Crawfish, frowning in thought before spitting another stream of tobacco to the ground. The boy was nothing more than a spineless idiot, but he was still kin. Unfortunately.

"Course you ain't, you yellow nitwit.

"I figure McCall's already out of jail, so if you got more business with that whore, best take care of it."

Eyes going back down to the Mayor's house, Roy grinned maliciously.

"Me an' your Pa are gonna take care of the Mayor."

[Crawfish Mullins]

Crawfish cast his cruel eyes toward the town. He pulled his henry rifle from the effects that Roy had stowed on his saddle, and slung the lever forward.

"She's mine. Her an' that fella of hers. Good as dead!"

[Roy Mullins]

"He done left town, boy."

Pulling on the reigns, Roy gave a short whistle and the dogs surrounding him leapt to the feet. They swarmed around the legs of his horse as the animal backed away from the hill's crest. Turning around, he nudged his mount into a walk, taking him away from Crawfish.

"Ain't no one to stop you, but I ain't comin' for you if you get yourself caught this time."

[Crawfish Mullins]

"Ain't gon' need no help."

Emboldened, Crawfish was already on his way to town.

"Gon' do what I been aimin' to do 'for all this happened."

Andy McCall was gonna come to grips, and pay for everything she had comin' to him. And when she was took care of, it was that other fella's turn. This town was gonna burn.

[Shoney Mullins]

Shoney Mullins was back in Justice.

After having been run out of town years before, she found herself riding back in. Law hadn't seen her yet. None of her kin had seen her yet, though not a few minutes ago she'd seen that bastard uncle of hers, Roy Mullins and her mule brother Zeke up on a ridge that overlooked the town.

She stood beneath the awning of the bank, casually leaning against one of the deck posts. She'd already seen Truss, though the Mayor of Justice hadn't yet seen her. It was for the better. She wouldn't put herself in front of the man just yet. No, there were other matters that needed tending.

Zeke was making his way down into town, and Shoney watched with mild interest as he hefted that henry rifle of his. Roy'd gone back down the other side of the hill, but she'd deal with him at another time.

But Zeke.

Brother and sister had accounts to settle, whether he realized the time had come or not.

Shoney Mullins was back in Justice.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor decided to retire home for lunch, rather than to give the Flapjack his daily patronage. He had things on his mind, and he just needed a pinch of quiet, and some home cooking to sort him out. Then again, the town seemed to be in sleep mode today. The volume was already turned down to an eerie degree. Maybe it wasn't peace & quiet he was after, but maybe just bustle of a different sort then? He donned his hat and coat after settling affairs at his office, and stepped out onto the porch. He had two deputies standing about, waiting on him.

"Where's the Sheriff?"

The taller of the two deputies spoke.

"Out by the chinese shantytown. Got some nervous folks about."

His eyes narrowed at the immaculate blue sky. And it was a pretty day. Still, he could feel a gnawing in his gut. He returned his eyes to the deputies, glancing at each.

"This isn't some damned Fort Sumter comin' down, stop looking so dour."

They always looked that way though. The problem now is that he was looking at a mirror of himself. Who was he to say anyway? The Sheriff knew that things were looking bad, and he had his boys out to make sure that wasn't going to happen.

He took a step off the porch, paused, and turned back around to go back in his office. His assistant rose when he came in, but Truss shooed him away.

"I'm not here."

He retreated to the back of his office, and to a dusty footlocker. After opening it and removing reams of folders and documents, he happened upon a hand carved walnut box. He looked at it with unblinking eyes, and carefully opened the lid, like he risked disturbing a vicious beast sleeping inside.

[Shoney Mullins]

He was getting closer, in his own world of idiot madness that from the look of things, he'd perfected in the years she'd been gone. Shoney narrowed her eyes a little, but otherwise didn't move an inch. No need to let him notice her just yet.

Folks it seemed could sense things, and she wondered if today was one of those days that they did. Not many seemed to be out, and those that were walked with their heads down and their destinations firmly in mind. Guess today wasn't a day for distractions. To her it wouldn't matter though. She'd step out if there were two people around or a hundred. The diminished number today only made noticing her a little easier.

Shoney watched as her brother came closer. He looked like a man possessed, with no ability to see around him, only in front. She guessed that that meant she'd have to put herself in his way.

Stepping away from the post, she came down the stairs with a loose gait, strolling to the center of the dusty road.

[Crawfish Mullins]

Crawfish didn't hardly see her till she was right upon him. Even then, he stood there for a moment with a dumb face, trying to make his brain parse the idea that his black sheep of a sister was standing in front of him as if she deserved to. He was torn for a few moments, part still trying to single-mindedly track down Andy McCall, and the other trying to deal with this distraction.

"What?''

It was about the most intelligent thing that Crawfish could find to croak, all things considered.

[Shoney Mullins]

Shoney glared at him, her face screwing into a look of contempt. It was infuriating that she shared blood with this cretin. Even when they were younger he took particular delight in tormenting her; until she started fighting back at least. Then he'd turn tail and run, only to return with Kip so's they could gang up on her. For a brief moment she wondered where Roy's red-headed spawn had got off to, but discarded the thought just as quickly.

Her voice was low and smooth, with a tense undercurrent.

"Thought you'd be happier to see me."

[Crawfish Mullins]

He screwed his hands around the wooden grips of his rifle as he gave a stained-tooth smile.

"Oh hoo boy you gon' catch some hell com' yer way when Ol' Roy knows you're in town."

He spat tobacco juice onto her boots.

[Shoney Mullins]

Disgusted, Shoney looked to her boots, but otherwise didn't move. She looked back to him from over the tops of her eyes.

"Roy'll know soon enough. S'you I'm talkin' to now though."

Almost too casually, she rested an arm on the but of her gun.

"Heard you got into it with some Chinamen. Pity they ain't killed you."

[Crawfish Mullins]

"Lucky you, they ain't done it."

The sound of a hammer drawing back on a henry rifle sounded like a thud in both of their ears. He glanced down at her hand, back up to her eyes. It hadn't yet been done yet, but the die had been cast. Something ugly was about to happen on a very public street, in the middle of the day.

The tensed up crows feet at Crawfish's eyes relaxed a bit, as the rifle butt moved up toward his shoulder.

[Shoney Mullins]

With a scowl, Shoney shifted her arm so that the palm of her hand rested on the handle of her revolver. It was a move to match his own.

The folks that were out had already seen the two, and most veered away to the nearest doorway to vacate the street. Probably a smart decision on everyone's part.

Shoney knew that her return would cause this, but she welcomed it with open arms. Her whole family would get theirs.

"You gonna shoot your little sister, Zeke?"

[Crawfish Mullins]

His eyes narrowed again.

"Ain't ne'er had one. You ain't no kin o' mine!"

He stepped away, which was the prelude to giving his henry rifle enough clearance for him to bring the barrel up to her chest and fire.

[Shoney Mullins]

His step back was met with a swift step forward, and Shoney shot out her arm to deflect the rifle barrel away. In the same motion, she came up with her other hand, catching the underside of his jaw with a fist that was surprisingly solid.

She'd toughened up considerably during her years away, and wasn't about to let her older brother settle things 'tween them with the decided advantage of a rifle barrel at her chest.

[Crawfish Mullins]

The haymaker as he was backpedaling left Crawfish up-ended, falling backwards as his rifle clattered to the ground. With the hammer back, the hair trigger slipped from the fall enough so that a shot rang out. If the town didn't know that something rotten was going down before, it sure did now.

Crawfish lay in the dirt for a split second, and wasn't sure whether to reach for the rifle on the ground or his revolver in his holster. One thing was for sure, he wasn't throwing punches with his kid sister anymore. This was a game of blood now.

[Shoney Mullins]

Her gun came out then, like an uncoiling rattlesnake, and Shoney thundered off two quick shots, both sending the herny rifle out of Zeke's reach. The bullets splintered the wood stock, destroying it.

Another step forward brought her over him, and she menacingly pointed the gun down at him as he drew his own.

"None of ya'll shoulda run me out. Not you, Roy, Pa, or even that damn Truss!"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Shoney Mullins!"

Of all the surreal things to see on the way back to his house. The deputies no doubt heard the shot, and were seconds from being on the scene. But in the here and now, it was the Mayor, Shoney Mullins, and her cur of a brother Crawfish, locked in a moment. Only at this strange point in time did the Mayor feel the gravity of what pulled inexorably at his side.

He drew his gun.

[Shoney Mullins]

The voice that called her name made her pause, and her eyes became like steel. Without turning her attention from Zeke, Shoney gripped her gun just a little tighter.

She figured that he'd show up at some point, drawn by gunfire, and that it wouldn't be long before his deputies came callin' either. But until then, she wasn't about to let up on her brother just because the Mayor called her name.

"Ain't your turn, Truss! You's just gonna hafta wait till I'm through with my brother!"

[Crawfish Mullins]

The sound of that voice, and the visage of the man behind it caused Crawfish's eyes to widen. The wounds of his prior injustices were torn open all over again, and his lower lip trembled.

"Y-y-you!"

He looked wild-eyed from the Mayor to Shoney and back.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"There's not gonna be any killing in this town."

He said it with that familiar granite voice, not just to Shoney and to Crawfish, but also a bit to himself. That he even held a gun in his hands now was itself a surreal experience.

"Doesn't have to be this way."

Three people. Three guns. No love lost.

[Shoney Mullins]

The look on her brother's face made her sneer at him, and Shoney slowly cocked back the hammer of her revolver. She was ready to shoot Zeke. Shoot him dead; him and all the rest of her kin.

"Only way it's gotta be."

Now she did look back to him, though only partially so that she could keep her brother in her sights.

"Bad blood's gotta be cleaned."

There was so much in the words she spoke, that it was unmistakeable for the Mayor to not grasp their whole meaning.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"Stand down, I'm not gonna be a party to this."

The righteous vindication that Shoney bore battered against the walls of the rule of law, and Crawfish Mullins lie somewhere in between. What she was keen on doing was something Truss empathized, but there was no way he could sanction an execution in his streets. Likewise, the very presence of Crawfish in town meant that something awful was going sideways.

"Both of you'd best to be layin' down arms."

In his heart, he knew that this was going to come to a choice. A terrible choice.

[Shoney Mullins]

The following seconds were tense, as Shoney inwardly seethed. She had her right, and in her mind she was allowed her retribution. No one, not her kin nor Truss nor his lawmen could take that away from her.

It was that Mullins streak in her that drove her toward what she knew was owed to her.

She pushed the hammer back forward. It was a ponderous movement, and she ground her teeth while standing up just a little straighter. And in the next moment, she snapped her arm towards Zeke once more, pulling the trigger.

[Crawfish Mullins]

In a crescendoing moment of both rage and terror, Crawfish's face contorted into a thousand feelings as his gnarled shooting hand found purchase around the checkered cocobolo of his single action army revolver. It cleared the holster, the drag of steel sight post against leather raking across his ears. He swung toward his target, closed his eyes, and fired at the Mayor.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

He could feel the moment approaching, constricting around his throat in a grip that threatened to suffocate him. There were no words. No words to stop this. No words to delay the fight another day. It was now, and the decision was now. There were only two choices to be made. The Mayor's hands, unaccustomed to pistoleer's work, seemed steered by somebody else.

All he heard was the shot. The next concious thought was to see the smoke from his gun barrel, curling in Crawfish Mullin's direction.

[Shoney Mullins]

Two other reports trailed hers, and Shoney took two steps back. She felt no pain, nothing. She'd not even been shot. In some ways she was upset that her brother had chosen to aim for Truss instead of her.

Shoney shifted her stance then, facing the Mayor, baring her teeth while squinting into the sun.

[Andy McCall]

Andy McCall had heard the first gunshot from across town, and knew exactly who's gun it was that'd been fired. Weren't hard to figure out, she'd heard it too many times before.

Racing down the main drag at a full gallop, she urged her mare faster. Whatever trouble Crawfish Mullins had started, she had a good enough notion that it wasn't pretty. Course, nothing could really prepare her for the sight in front of her as she pulled her horse to a sliding stop just behind Mayor Truss.

Shoney Mullins.

And Crawfish Mullins on the ground.

That damn woman had come back, though Andy knew that it'd happen at some point. She was there when everything happened all them years back.

Weren't no words that needed to be said.

Ignoring the pain in her leg, Andy slid from her saddle to stand behind and to the side of the Mayor. She drew one of her guns, leveling it at Shoney.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The first concious thought through the Mayor's mind was just that - an affirmation that he was still thinking, and still alive. The moment had passed and only the ringing in his ears remained.

He barely even registered Andy's presence when she arrived. Shoney was still standing, as he was. He looked in Crawfish's direction, and gently eased the barrel of Andy's revolver downward.

"Damn it."

He dropped the gun in the dirt, not noticing his own blood smeared onto the ivory handle.

Crawfish Mullins still lay in the dirt, leaking from two holes.

One in his shoulder.

And one in his head.

[Shoney Mullins]

With a forceful motion Shoney shoved her gun back into its' holster. She said nothing, didn't have to. With her brother dead, it meant she could go on to the smarter ones of the bunch. The rest of her kin. They'd be a damn sight harder to put down than Zeke, 'specially Roy, but that was no deterrent.

Shoney took a single step backwards, then turned on her heel and started on her way out of town.

Wasn't anything left to say, and when she was done with her family, she'd come back and finish her business with Truss.

[Andy McCall]

Truss might not've seen the blood on his revolver, but Andy did. Not hard to miss, something like blood.

Also not hard to miss was Crawfish, lifeless on the ground and unmoving due to the killing bullet - whoever it belonged to. She watched Shoney turn to leave, and stooping down, Andy plucked the Mayor's gun from the dirt.

"You been shot," she whispered.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor watched Shoney walk away. He was impotent to force her to stay. What should he say? 'Stop, Murderer!' There were two bullets in Crawfish Mullins' dead body, weren't there?

No, it was best she leave. What would he do if she didn't?

Now the dull pain came. And the throbbing. That deep ache in the thick of his arm as a ribbon of red blood squeezed through a hole, or so he imagined. He merely looked down at his hand, watching the crimson beads lazily fall off the knife edge of his palm, with a child's fascination. Today was a day of firsts.

He looked up to Andy and immediately averted his eyes. He didn't want to see a look of understanding meeting him.

[Andy McCall]

"Looked like he done plugged us both."

A sigh as Shoney's figure grew smaller. Andy carefully tucked Truss' bloodstained gun into the back of her pants before reaching a hand out to grasp at his sleeve.

"C'mon. Best get to Doc Lenard."

Crawfish she chose to ignore. Dead bodies had a way of gettin' to a person; especially ones with holes in their heads. She wanted to say more, but knew that it would be for the best if she avoided any discussion of self-defense. She had no wishes to pour any salt into the wound that she knew had opened up in his mind.

Instead she cast a last look to the other woman's back.

"I ain't ever gon' understand that one."

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Brought back up to the forefront, the Mayor could taste the bile in the back of his throat; that saline buildup of saliva signaling the revulsion and dread of a thing long ago put away.

He looked along with her.

"Best hope you don't have to, either."

He hoped against everything that she was gone again, but he could feel that it wasn't the case. Every little thing that crossed his path told him that today was just a small beginning of something bigger than he cared to think of.

[Shoney Mullins]

She was passing by the Mayor's home, and could feel both pairs of eyes on her retreating back. Andy McCall had grown up from the last time she'd been in town. The last time. She could never forgot her last day in Justice, and the way Truss had looked at her before turning his back to her.

Shoney stopped. That righteous anger that burned against the Mayor boiled over, and shoulders hunching forward she turned on her heel, pointing to both Truss and Andy.

"My brother is taken care of, Truss!"

Her finger went to the Mayor's home.

"Is yours?!"

She didn't wait for an answer, instead turning about and continuing on her way.

[Andy McCall]

Now what in the hell was that woman spoutin' off about now? Her thoughts suddenly blank, Andy felt her jaw go slack for a few moments as a single realization hit her like a slap in the face. Brother? Mayor Truss had a brother? Course, she shouldn't really be surprised. Lotsa folks had brothers an' sisters, an' the Mayor was no different. They'd never had any sort of conversation of his family aside from his wife and girls, so it was entirely possible she figured.

Looking up to the Mayor, Andy slowly reholstered her revolver. She gave him a confused gaze, her eyes searching his features and trying to pick apart his expression.

"Brother?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

The Mayor closed his eyes, the outburst from Shoney cut every bit as deep as the bullet did. He turned away from Andy's question, but in the end he still addressed it.

"Yeah. Horse thief."

He hoped that she didn't feel keen on prying further. It was a painful topic.

[Andy McCall]

She might've let it all well enough alone, but Andy couldn't help her rabid curiosity. It was plain to see that the Mayor wasn't so interested as her, but she had to know.

They walked slowly back into town, once more headed for Doc Lenard's, and Andy pulled a clean workrag from the nearest saddlebag draped behind her rig.

She gingerly reached a hand out to put the rag in his bloodied hand.

"Him bein' a horse thief don't tell me much," she prompted.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

"In my family, and my line of work, that ought to tell you everything you need to know."

The Mayor squeezed on the rag, which began to saturate with lazily trickling blood. The ooze increased incrementally with each squeeze. The throbbing could be heard in his ears. Had he really just shot a man dead just now? He couldn't even sink into the morass of his own shock, due to Andy's distraction.

"I'm the only one who still calls him that, but its been five years since I've even seen him."

[Andy McCall]

Andy thought about that. It made sense in its' own way, that Truss would hold more'n a bit of a sore spot for a horse thievin' brother - especially considering how straightlaced the Mayor himself was. She could've stopped there and been done with it, but she wanted to know more.

"But how'd Shoney know 'bout him?"

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Truss gave her a look that was nearly pleading.

"I'm tired."

It was a simple statement that transcended everything. Physically, mentally, but spiritually by far. He looked down to the bloody kerchief in his hands.

"Everything I've done in this town these past years, and I've just sold it all away."

[Andy McCall]

At that she scoffed.

"Sold it away?"

Andy rolled her eyes and blew out a snorted breath, stuffing her thumbs into the front of her gunbelt as they walked. Him sayin' he was tired wasn't nothing but a way to stop talkin' about painful memories, and that much Andy could respect. Now though she turned from talk of family to the here and now.

"And if you hadn't done shot 'im? What then? Self defense ain't a thing to look badly on."

The last time she'd spoken those words had been in her own defense from him. Now though, she said them in defense of him, from his own self.

[Harold Alexander Truss]

Was it self defense? Was that it? Why had he gone back for the gun? Was he just minding his business, or was he looking for a confrontation? He was forced to revisit that terrible moment. What if he hadn't pulled a gun? Would he have been content to watch Shoney and Crawfish erase each other from the earth?

No. He played it again and again. He made a choice to fight.

He stiffened up, departing from his introspection, lest Andy get a further glimpse of his hypocrisy.

"It's done. Now, we gotta deal with what comes next."