

### MURDER In the OLD WEST

### By Robert D. Coleman

Copyright © 2020 by Robert D. Coleman

Smashwords Edition

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### Table of Contents

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
Chapter 12  
Chapter 13  
Chapter 14  
Chapter 15  
Chapter 16

Author's Note

CHAPTER 1

(Present Day)

Texas Ranger John Carter and his partner Ranger Jessia James pulled up in front of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum in Waco Texas. Parking his truck he says to her. "Have you ever been in here?" She looks out the window at the statue of the cowboy on a horse with a Texas flag. "No." She says. "But I have always wanted to. That's why when you said you were coming over here to research your ancestry I wanted to tag along." Carter smiled and said. "I have heard so many stories about old Jeb Carter growing up."

They get out and walk up to the door and go inside and up to the counter where a woman was working. She looks up at them and says. "Well, it's always nice to see Texas Rangers come by. What can I do for you?" Carter smiles and says. "I'm Ranger John Carter. I called and made an appointment to do some research." She looks at her papers. "What was the name you were researching?" Ranger Jeb Carter, I believe he was active starting around the mid-1850s. She pulls out a file. "This is what I found on him. Keep in mind they didn't keep very good records back then." He takes the file. "Thank you." He says. She looks back at him. "You have the same last name, are you related?" she asks. "Yes," Carter says. "He was my Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather." She smiles. "Well, I hope this is helpful. You can go into our research room and look it over if you like." She points to a room off to the side.

He walks into the room and sets down at the table and James sets across from him. She looks over at him. "This is so cool. So what's in there Pops?" she asks. Carter opened up the folder and took out what was inside. The first thing he picked up was a copy of an old picture. He looked at it and handed it to James. "Is this a picture of his Ranger unit?" Carter looked up from the papers. "Yes, I think so." She looked closer at the picture. "Which one is he?" She asks. Carter looks at the picture again. "The 2nd one from the left in the back." James takes back the picture and looks closely at it. "He looks a lot like you, and I can see some Tom in him too. How old was he here?" Carter looks up. "Most likely mid 20's." Carter hands her a piece of paper. It was a photocopy of a receipt where he bought a Colt .36 caliber revolver. He paid a whole $9.00 dollars for it." James looks it over. "That's cool." She says.

Carter looks through the rest of the papers. "Looks like he was with Captain John (Rip) Ford at the Battle of Robe Creek against the Comanche." Her eyes got big. "I have read about that." Carter looks over the paper again and then looks up at James. "Looks like that's about it. I guess I really didn't expect there to be much. They just didn't keep records back then. He closes the file.

James looks over at him. "So fill me in on what you already knew about him?" Carter pauses for a moment. "Well, I was told that he had a knack for remembering things. He must have had some kind of photographic memory. This made him a very good card player, or so I have been told. It was also helpful in his Ranger career, he was a detective before his time. And also a sought after horse trainer." James smiles. "Wow. That's cool." Carter stands up. "Ya, it is. I wish I could have known him."

*

(Waco Texas 1858)

Jeb Carter jerks awake to the sound of someone beating on his door to his room. "Jeb Carter I know you're in there. Open up this door I need my money!" He recognized the voice at that of Alice Cook, the landlady to the boarding house he was staying in. He sat up in the bed as he heard a key enter the lock on the door. He jumped up as the door swung open. Mis. Cook was an older later in her late 50"s short and heavy with long gray hair put up in a bun. She was startled to see Jeb standing there with nothing but his underwear on. Her eyes got big as she quickly looked away.

Jeb grabbed the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around his waist. With her head still down she says. "Mr. Carter, You are several weeks behind on the rent. I need my money today." Jeb nods. "Yes ma'am, I know, I'm very sorry. I will get it to you today. She turns to leave. "See that you do. Good day, Mr. Carter." She turns and leaves and closes the door behind her.

He throws the blanket back over on the bed and walks over to the dresser and pours some water out of the picture into the wash pan. He washes his face and looks up in the mirror as he dries his face with a towel. He rubbed the three days worth of stubble on his face. He combed his Jet back hair that was cut short well above his ears. He made up some shaving cream and stuck his shaving brush down in it and rubbed it on his face with the brush. He took out his straight razor and quickly shaved. He took the towel and wiped off his face. He looked back in the mirror. Looked good. He was a tall man 6 foot 2 inches on about a 210-pound muscular frame.

He opened up the dresser drawer and pulled out a pair of pants. He pulled them on and then sat down in the chair and put on his socks and black boots. He then grabbed the red shirt that was hanging on the back of the chair and put it on and then pulled his suspenders over his shoulders and put on his black vest and gun belt. He pulled out his .36 caliber Colt revolver and checked the load and placed it back in his holster.

He pulled his vest back and on the inside was a 100 dollar bill pinned to his vest. It was his last 100 dollars. Normally he could take that 100 dollars and find a poker game and turn that 100 dollars into a 1000 dollars in a few hours. He was good, very good. He had a knack for reading people and playing the odds. In a fair game, he almost always won. The problem is when you are good. Word gets out, and soon nobody wants to play with you.

He also had done some horse training but even that had dried up lately. His main job up until a few months ago was as a Texas Ranger. He had seen action in a Comanche uprising which they had called the Battle of Robe Creek but after that things had settled down. Captain Paul Duncan had his budget cut and could only keep on the Rangers that had families so he had let him go.

Putting on his black cowboy hat he walked outside. It was a bright sunny morning. He walked across the street to the Saloon. Walking inside he saw the bar was empty, but it was early. Nobody was playing at the 5 card tables. He walked to the back where there was dinner. He pulled out a chair and sat down. A few moments later the waitress Conny walked up and said. "Morning Jeb. What can I get for you this morning?" He looked up at her and smiled. "Morning Conny, bacon eggs and coffee." "Coming right up."

A few minutes later Conny brought him his breakfast. "Can I get you anything else hun?" He looked over his food and back up at her. "No thank you, Conny." She turns and walks away as he starts eating. He looks out the window and wonders what he is going to do today. He should saddle up his horse Bossy today and take her out. He was sure she was itching to get out. Bossy was by far the best horse he had ever owned. He had been offered a lot of money for her. But he had always turned them down. Bossy would never be for sale at any price.

As he finished his breakfast a man walked up to his table. He looked up to see Jack Sanders standing at his table. "Good morning Mr. Sanders," Jeb said. "Good morning Carter. May I set down?" Sanders asks. "Yes," Jeb said. Sanders pulls out a chair across from Jeb and sets down. Jeb looks up. "What can I do for you?" he asks. Sanders looks across the table and says. "Those horses you broke for me a few months ago. They are doing well, but they are just not performing as I expected. Can you come out and work with them some more?" Jeb took the last bite of his breakfast and picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth and then looked over at Sanders. "Just what were you expecting? Mr. Sanders." There was a long pause, "Well." Sanders said. "Quite frankly I was expecting them to be more like your horse." Jeb smiled and laughed. "Well Mr. Sanders, few horses are like Bossy. But I do know what your problem is." Sanders gives him a confused look and says. "What would that be?" Jeb looks back at him. "Your horses are of poor quality. When you buy poor quality horses and bread them to poor quality horses, you get poor quality horses. There is only so much I can do with that. Keep working with them, they will get better. But they will never be Bossy, it's just not in them." Sanders doesn't say another word, he just gets up and walks off. Jeb watches him walk out the door. I guess I could have worked with his sub-par horses some more and took more of his money. But there was only so much he could do with poor quality horses.

He paid for his meal and walked back into the Saloon to his surprise there was a card game going and the four men playing he didn't know. Things were looking up. He went over to the bar. He should take what money he had left and go pay Mrs. Cook. but he quickly put that thought out of his mind. He would catch up with her later. He put his money on the bar. "Chips please," he told the bartender. Getting his chips he walked over to the men at the table. "This chair open gentlemen?" the other men looked up at him. "As long as those chips sit down with you." A man with a droopy mustache said.

For the next hour, they played and he had turned the 98 dollars he had into over 250 dollars. The next hand he drew a pair of aces and a king a deuce and 3. He raised the pot with one man folding and the others to raise. He held the aces and king and discarded the rest. When a man walked in and over to the table. "Jeb, I need a word with you?" Jeb glanced up to see Percy Smith, the town drunk. Jeb frowned. "Not now Percy." He was dealt his new cards. Looking at them he drew ace and king. Now he had an ace-king full house. Percy then spoke up again. "Captain Duncan wants to see you right away." He glances over at Percy. "I'm busy Percy," Jeb said. One of the men smiled as he looked at his cards and said. "I'm in for two hundred and pushed his chips out there. The next man folded. The third man looked at his cards and said. "I will go, your two hundred and raise you fifty. The first man put fifty more dollars in the pot and they all turned to Jeb. Percy spoke up again. "When Captain Duncan sends for one of his men he expects him to come." Jeb's face turns red with anger turns to Percy. "You tell Captain Duncan, that I don't work for him anymore so I'm not one of his men." Percy turns and leaves. The first man lays down his hand. Two pairs. The 2nd man lays down his hand three fives. Jeb smiles big as he lays down his full house and pulls in his over 800 dollar pot. The other three men get up. One of them says. "I don't believe your luck!"They walk away leaving Jeb counting his chips.

Jeb hears the door of the saloon open and close. He then hears the familiar voice. "Carter!" He turns to see Captain Duncan walking toward him. He stands next to Carter and looks down at him sitting at the table. "Did Percy come and tell you that I needed to see you?" Jeb, still counting his chips says. "Yes, he did." Duncan frowns and says. "Then why are you still here and not in my office?" Jeb stands up and faces Duncan. "Because I don't work for you anymore! Remember you said. I can only pay the men with families. So I don't jump when you say jump anymore!"

Jeb takes his chips over to the bar and gives them to the bartender to cash in. Duncan follows him. He looks around to see if anybody is in earshot and then says. "Carter I need your help." Jeb puts his money in his pocket and turns to Duncan. "Ok, Captain what do you need?" Duncan pauses for a moment. "I have a dead man in a room over at the Silver Dollar Saloon. I need you to take a look at it." Jeb takes a deep breath. "If the man was just dead, you wouldn't need me. Who is he." Duncan looks around again. "It's Richard Sims." Jeb looks at him with a surprised look on his face. "Is that rich banker Richard Sims?" Duncan nods. "Yes, that would be the one." Jeb looks back at him. "Well, I see now why you wanted me to look at it. Only about half the people in this town wanted to kill him." "Yes," Duncan said. "So you can understand the need to be discreet."

Duncan reaches in his pocket and pulls out a Ranger badge and hands it to Jeb. "You will need this." Jeb takes it and pins it to his shirt over his heart. He looks up at Duncan. "Did you move the body or anything?" Duncan shakes his head. "No, I knew you wouldn't like that. Everything is just how we found it." "Good," Jeb says. "I'm glad you have learned something."

CHAPTER 2

They walk outside and head down the street to the Silver Dollar Saloon. When they get there and walk inside they find the owner Bob Randle standing behind the bar. There are a few girls working on the mostly empty floor. They walk straight to the stairs and go up to the rooms. Walking down the hall Duncan says. "You know there is a good chance that this was just an accident." Jeb glances at him but says nothing.

When they reach the room there is a deputy standing outside. He moves out of the way and Carter and Duncan and the deputy enter the room. Jeb stops and slowly looks around. He sees Richard Sims laying naked on the floor face down his head and surrounding area covered with blood. Jeb turns to Duncan. "Well, I can tell you for sure this was no accident. He was murdered." Duncan frowns. "How can you be sure of that? You can smell the alcohol, maybe he was drunk and fell and hit his head on the nightstand." Jeb kneels down and takes a closer look at the head wound and looks back up at Duncan. "Well unless he fell and got up and fell again. That didn't happen. He has two wounds to the head. The blanket from the bed is wrapped around his foot. That tells me he was in bed when he was killed." Jeb stands up and looks up and then points to the ceiling. "There you see that." Duncan looks. "What is that?" Jeb looks back at him. "Blood." Duncan frowns. "How did it get up there?" Jeb looks down at the bed and then back up to the ceiling. "It's cast-off of the weapon. Whatever was used to kill him slung blood up there."

Jeb looks around some more. He kneels down and looks at Sim's head again. "He was killed with something that had a round end to it. He stands up and says. "Sims was laying on his back in the bed. Whoever killed him was straddling him. At some point, the killer grabbed something most likely off the nightstand and hit him with it twice before he rolled them both off the bed. Jeb looked around and walked over to a clothing chest and looked under it. He reached under and pulled out a whiskey bottle. He holds it up for Duncan to see. "Murder weapon. Rounded end. When they picked it up. Whatever whiskey was in it poured out. Giving us a strong alcohol smell."

Duncan walks over and takes the whiskey bottle and looks at it and then looks back up at Jeb. "Ok, I'm with you so far. Have any idea who did it?" Jeb looks down at the body. "Ok, The man is naked in a room a mile from his home. So I think it's safe to say we are looking for a woman that's not his wife." Duncan shakes his head.

Jeb picks up the lamp and moves it closer to the body and kneels down beside it. He takes a small round object out of his pocket and puts it up to his eye and looks over the body. "What is that?" Duncan asks. Jeb looks up. "It's a small magnifying glass." Jeb goes back to looking over the body. He takes a pair of tweezers out of his vest pocket and picks something up with them. He stands up and shows Duncan. "Long red hair." He takes out his handkerchief and places the hair on it.

Jeb kneels back down and picks up the dead man's arm. "He is getting stiff so he has been dead for at least 6 hours." Duncan looks over Jeb's shoulder. "I don't even want to know how you know that." Jeb looks up. "I read about stuff." Duncans eyes get big. "I don't know what's more strange, somebody, writing about how bodies get stiff or somebody that would want to read about it."

Jeb looks up at Duncan. "There is blood on his fingers." Duncan looks around and says. "Well, there is blood everywhere." Jeb looks back at his fingers threw the magnifying glass. "It's not his blood," Jeb says. Duncan gets a confused look on his face. "Now how in the hell would you know that?" Jeb turns to him. "If he had grabbed his head or something. There would be a lot of blood. There's not, very little blood on his fingers and some underneath his fingernails." Duncan throws his hand up. "Ok, what the fuck does this mean?" Jeb smiles. "He scratched her, deep enough to draw blood. Which means we are looking for a red-headed woman with a scratch mark most likely on her hip." Duncan looks at Jeb. "Ok, guess we need to talk to Bob Randle and see who was working last night.

They go outside into the hall and Duncan turns to the deputy he had working the door. "Get somebody to help you get the body down to the undertaker. The deputy nods and they all head down the stairs into the saloon. They are met by Sheriff Rankin. Rankin walks up to them. "You come up with anything?" Duncan turns to him. "Yes, we are looking for a red-headed woman." They walk over to the bar where Bob Randle is working. Randle looks over at them and says. "Can we get the dead guy out of my room now?" "We are working on that now," Duncan says.

Jeb walks up to the bar. "Why was Richard Sims in one of your rooms last night when he lives less than a mile away?" Jeb asks. "How the hell should I know!" Randle said. Jeb takes a long look at Randle. "Don't play dumb Randle," he said. Randle looks away then back at Jeb. "I had a deal with Sims. He got a room every Wednesday night. I would slip him a key and he would go up the backstairs." "Ok," Jeb said. "What girl did he take up with him last night?" Randle takes a deep breath. "He always went up alone. I guess one of the girls joined him later. But I don't have any idea who."

"Well, we do," Jeb said. " What redheads were working last night? Randle looks across the floor to where their girls are working. Mary, Rachel, and Kathy were working last night." Randle says. "We are going to need to talk to them," says Jeb. Randle looks over at the girl and says in a loud voice. "Mary, Rachel, Kathy," They look up and he waves for them to come over. They walk over to Jeb, Duncan and Sheriff Rankin.

Jeb nods. "Good morning ladies. If you don't mind, we have some questions for you." The girls look at each other then back at Jeb who then asks. "Which one of you was in Richard Sims' room last night? They all three shook their heads no. "Well," Jeb says. "We have reason to believe that one of you killed Richard Sims." Rachel and Kathy looked shocked. "Killed him?" Rachel said, "Richard Sims is dead?" Jeb nodded. "He is dead, but before he died, he scratched his killer and drew blood. So this can be cleared up quickly, just raise up your dress and let's take a look at your hip. Rachel and Kathy looked even more surprised.

Rachel and Kathy pulled up their dress to show no scratch. Jeb and Captain Duncan turn to Mary. "How about you Mary?" Jeb says. She looks away nervously. "Show them, Mary!" Rachel says. Mary doesn't move. Rachel reaches over and pulls up Mary's dress showing a deep scratch mark. "Oh my gosh!" Rachel says.

Mary looks over at Duncan and back at Jeb. "He was going to leave his wife and we were going away together. But when I ask him about it. He just laughed. He said he would never leave his wife for a saloon whore. I didn't mean to kill him." She started to cry. Jeb looked at her. "It doesn't matter what you meant. It matters what you did."

Sheriff Rankin walks over and takes Mary by the arm and leads her away. Kathy walks up to Jeb. He smiles at her. She slaps him across the face. Jeb looks at her with big eyes. "What was that for?" She frowns. "For thinking, I was a murderer!" As she turns and walks away, Jeb says. "I never thought it was you!" He pauses for a moment and then says. "Are you still going to wash those shirts for me?" She turns and takes a hard look at him and walks out the door.

Jeb walks back to the bar and finds Captain Duncan laughing at him. "Sometimes you just can't win," Duncan says. Jeb shakes his head. "You got that right." Duncan smiles. "I have to admit I'm impressed. The way you just put all that together." Jeb nods. "Thank you, Captain." "Can I buy you a drink?" Duncan says. "Oh yes," Jeb says. "After all that you can buy more than one."

They walk over to a table and set down. Duncan yells to Randle. "Two whiskeys." "Coming right up," Randle says. Jeb reaches up and takes his Ranger badge off. "I guess you will be wanting this back." He slides it across the table to Duncan. Duncan picks it up. "There is one other thing I need you to do for me." Jeb rolls his eyes and says. "And that would be?" Jeb asks. Randle walks up and sets their whiskeys down. Duncan looks across the table and says. "I got a telegraph from the Sheriff over in Fairfield in Freestone County. A Rancher there Edward Kingsworth has dammed up a creek running across his property, cutting off the water going to another rancher, Buck Logan. "Logan has filed a complaint with the territory judge. But the problem, it will be over a month before the judge is back in Fairfield. Logan can't make it that long without water for his crops and livestock. So it's a powder keg waiting to explode into a full-scale range war. I need you to ride over there and try to keep the peace until the judge gets there." Jeb looks at him and reaches down and picks up his whiskey and drinks it all in one swallow. He looks across the table at Duncan. "How in the hell am I going to do that?" Duncan drinks his whiskey. "I don't know, but I need you on this," Duncan said. Jeb holds up his glass for Randle to bring him another drink. "It's a 2-day ride over to Fairfield," Jeb said. "I know," Duncan said. There was a long pause and then Jeb says. "I guess I can head that way first thing in the morning." "Good," Duncan says. "You're going to need this." He slides the Ranger badge across the table. Jeb takes it and puts it back on.``

Jeb picks up a deck of cards and starts shuffling them. He looks over at Duncan. "Want to try to get some of that money you owe me back? Duncan stands up. Oh no! I know better than to play cards with you." Duncan turns and leaves

Jeb sets there for a while shuffling the card, nobody to play in here. He gets up and walks outside and down the street and finds Alice Cook and pays her the money he owes her. Walking down the street toward the livery stable an older woman approaches him. "Mr. Carter," she says. Jeb stops and removes his hat and says. "Yes, ma'am. What can I do for you?" She looks at him for a moment and then reaches up and slaps him across the face, "How dare you!" Jeb looks at her with a confused look on his face. She then says. "I'm Amber Sims. You have humiliated my family! I will never be able to show my face in town again." Jeb looks at her. "But ma'am I found your husband's killer." She looks up at him and frowns. "And in the process, you have ruined his reputation and mine. Richard and I had an understanding. He took care of his needs discreetly not to embarrass me. Now because of you, the whole town knows!" He looks at her and says. "I am truly sorry for any embarrassment I have caused you and I am very sorry for your loss." She turns and walks away.

He puts his hat back on and looks as she walks off. He felt his face. Sometimes it was a thankless job. He walked down to the stable and went down to the stall that Bossy was in. She got excited when she saw him and stuck her head over the gate and rubbed her nose on his chest. He petted and rubbed her head. She was a big jet black mare. She was 2 years old, he had her since she was a small colt. He had trained her well. She would come when he whistled and she could let herself in and out of almost any gate. He could ride her without a bit and bridle. She was by far the best horse he had ever owned. He had been offered a lot of money for her. But she was not for sale at any price.

He feeds her some hay and grain and then he picks up a brush and brushes her good. She enjoyed that. "We are going on a ride tomorrow girl." He finished brushing her and opened the gate and closed it behind him. "I will see you in the morning girl." He started walking out the front of the stable when he heard a gate open and he looked behind him to see Bossy had opened the gate and let herself out and was following him. He turned around and she rubbed her nose on his cheek. "Bossy." He said. "Get back in that stall. We will have all day tomorrow, together." He points and she turns around and walks back inside the stable. "Close the gate," he yelled in a loud voice. "He hears the gate close and he smiles and turns and walks down the street.

As he walks down the boardwalk he meets Captain Duncan. "Carter," Duncan says. "I got a telegraph that there has been increased Comanche activity between here and Fairfield. You might want to give them a wide berth." Jeb shakes his head. "No, that will take too long. I will be alright." Duncan thinks for a moment. "I don't have any other men to send with you. But take the dog, Ringo, He can smell a Comanche a mile away." Jeb nods. "I will head out first thing in the morning." "Ok," Duncan says. "Telegraph me when you get there and let me know what's going on." "I will Captain."

CHAPTER 3

Jeb Carter set up in bed and threw the covers back and sat on the side of the bed. He rubbed his eyes, he has slept well and that was a good thing because he would be sleeping on the trail tonight and that was never a good night's sleep. He got up and sat in a chair beside the bed and put on his socks and pants. Pulling his suspenders over his shoulders he walked over to the window and looked outside. The sun was just starting to come up. He always enjoyed watching the sun come up, but there was no time for that today. He walked over to the chest and poured some water into his washbowl and washed his face, he then put his shirt and vest on and then sat back down and pulled on his boots. Walking over to the table he put his gun belt on and checked the load in his gun. He picked up this Winchester rifle and saddlebag that had everything he would need for a night on the trail and threw it over his shoulder. Putting his bedroll under his arm he looked around the room. I guess I have everything I need.

He walked across the street to the saloon and diner. Walking through the saloon it was empty this time of day, the bartender was washing glasses. He laid his stuff down on a table and walked into the dinner and found a table. Conny came over and took his order. He looked out the window, the sun was now up over the building, he needed to hurry and get gone.

Conny brought him his meal and he ate quickly. Conny brought him his ticket and he paid her and gave her a nice tip. She smiled. "Thank you, Jeb." He smiled back at her. "Your welcome Conny, I'm going to be gone for a few days." "Oh really, where you headed?" She said. He stood up and put his wallet back in his pocket. "I'm headed over to Fairfield. Got two ranchers fighting over water." She smiled. "Well, you be careful Jeb Carter. You know you still owe me that dinner you promised to buy me." He winked at her. "As soon as I get back we are going to do that." She smiles. "I will hold you to that," she says as she turns to walk off.

Jeb gathered up his stuff and headed down the street to the stable. Walking down to Bossy's stall she saw him and came over to the gate. He rubbed her on the nose. "Morning Bossy." He opened up the gate and went inside. He picked up the brush and stroked her back with it, to make sure there were no stickers or bur on her back. He then picked up her blanket and inspected it before putting it across her back. Bossy got excited when he did that. She knew that meant she was going out. He then placed the saddle on her back, she was tall at 17 hands. He had always liked tall strong horses. Cinching up the saddle he then took the bridle off the wall where it was hanging and brought it over to her. She easily took the bit and he buckled the bridle up, He had ridden her many times without a bit and bridle she was that well trained.

He then placed his saddlebag and bedroll on the back and placed the Winchester in the holster. Walking her outside he grabbed the reins and put his foot in the left stirrup and swung on her. He slightly goosed Bossy with the heel of his boot and she started walking down the street till they got to Captain Duncan's office, he pulled Bossy up and stopped and Duncan came out. "Are you ready to go?" Duncan said. "We are ready to head that way," Jeb said. "Try to keep those ranchers apart till the judge gets there." Said Duncan. "I will give it my best," Jeb says. Jeb whistles. "Ringo!" Jeb yells. The yellow Lab dog comes running up to Bossy and Jeb. Jeb looks back at Duncan. "See you in a few weeks, Captain."

Jeb goosed Bossy and they galloped out of town. For the next four hours, they rode hard and made good time. Bossy could go all day at this pace. When they came upon a creek they stopped and Jeb got off Bossy and let her get some water and take a break. Laying down her rains Bossy wandered out into the creek till the water was about knee-deep on her. Jeb sat down on a rock and drank from his canteen and took some jerky out of his pocket and took a bite.

Jeb looked around but didn't see Ringo. He whistled but got no response. He stood up and heard Ringo back down the creek. Ringo was a well-trained dog and didn't just bark for no reason. Walking down the creek and around the corner till he saw Ringo and them he saw what he was barking at. He quickly grew his gun and walked closer. What he saw was an about eight-year-old Comanche boy with his foot caught in a small game trap. He made a whistling sound and Ringo stopped barking and returned to him.

Jeb slowly looked around and didn't see any signs of more Comanche. He started moving toward the boy, who was obviously in pain. When he got closer the boy looked at him and pulled a knife. Jeb stopped and put his gun away and held up his hands. "I know you don't understand me. But I'm not going to hurt you." Jeb pointed toward the trap and moved his hands apart hoping the boy would understand he wanted to get him out of the trap. The boy hesitated for a moment then put the knife away. Jeb reached down and with both hands pulled the two metal bars that were closed around the boy's ankle. He pulled the apart and the boy pulled his foot out. Jeb let go and the trap snapped closed. The boys started to move away and try to run, but Jeb grabbed him and stopped him. The boy briefly fought him. Setting the boys down Jeb held up his hands to put the boy at ease. Pointing at the boy's ankle. "I need to look at that," Jeb said. The boy calmed down. Jeb pointed at himself. "My name is Carter." He then points at the boy. "What is your name?" the boy is silent for a moment and then says. "Quanah." Jeb smiles. "Ok Quanah, I'm going to look at your ankle."

He pulled the boy's leg toward him and took off his moccasin and looked at his ankle. It was badly bruised but he didn't think it was broken. But the boy would not be able to walk back to his camp. If he had a horse it was gone now. So now what did he do? The Comanche would not take kindly to a white man walking into their camp with one of their boys. But he could not just leave the boy here. He looked over at the boy. Quanah, I'm going to take you back to your camp." Jeb bends down and picks the boy up and carries him back to where Bossy was grazing on some grass. He puts the boy down and picks up the rains and puts them around Bossy's neck and then picks the boy up and puts him on Bossy and then gets up behind the boy. "Ok Quanah, do you know the way?" The boy points and they head in that direction. Jeb thought to himself, I wish there was some way I could get him back to his people without riding into their camp. But he didn't see any other way.

They rode for about 30 minutes with Quanah showing the way, as they rode across some open ground, Bossy started getting uneasy he looked over at Ringo who was looking around with the hair on his back standing up. Jeb reached down with his right hand and thumbed the rawhide off the hammer of his gun. About that time an arrow landed about 10 feet in front of Bossy who shifted her weight to her back legs ready to run as soon as Jeb gave her the command. Jeb slowly raised his hands. If they had wanted to kill him they could have.

He looked around to see 5 Comanche braves riding toward him with an extra horse. He was betting that it was Quanah"s horse that had made its way back to camp without him and these braves were sent out to find him.

Ringo started barking and going crazy. "Down Ringo," Jeb yelled and the dog settled down. They rode up and quickly surrounded him. One of them jumped off his horse and quickly pulled Quanah off of Bossy; another one pulled Jeb off and forced him to his knees. They took his gun and tied his hand in front of him and around his waist. He took this as a good sign, at least they were not going to kill him on the spot.

They lifted Jeb back up on Bossy and took the reins and led her behind there horses. Quanah was back on his horse. They spoke to each other in Comanche but Jeb didn't understand it. About 20 minutes later they came over a hill and there it was a camp of about 30 or so teepee's. Everybody stopped to look as they rode into camp, there were several fires going mostly females working the fires. There were also other children running around.

They stopped in the center of camp and Brave walked up to them and spoke to the other Braves. Jeb could tell by the respect that was given to this Brave he must be there Chief. A female Squaw ran up to Quanah and pulled him off the horse, she sat him down and looked at his ankle. Quanah looked over at Jeb and pointed and turned back to the Squaw that Jeb assumed was his mother and he spoke to her. She then stood up and walked over to the Chief and spoke to him. The Chief looked at Jeb. Jeb makes eye contact with him and says, "I found the boy with his foot in a trap. I freed him and was returning him to you." There was a long moment of silence. The Squaw then spoke to him. Then they both looked back at Jeb. "My name is Carter," Jeb said, pointing to himself. The Squaw spoke to him again, this time saying the word Carter in her sentence. It was now that Jeb realized now that the Squaw understood at least some English. The Chief pointed to himself and said. "Nocona." Ok, Jeb thought we got past introductions.

Nocona walked over to Bossy and pulled Jeb off the horse, They stood there looking at each other for a moment. Nocona pulled his knife and cut the ropes away from Jeb's hands. Nocona motions for him to follow him. He leads the way inside one of the teepees they set down across from each other. The Squaw joined them and handed Jeb a bowl that contained some kind of cooked meat. She also handed Nocona a bowl. She then sat down beside Nocona. "Thank you," Jeb said.

Jeb took a bite of the meat, he knew now it was buffalo it was good. Nocona didn't say much while they ate. A few moments later Brave entered the teepee and said something to Nocona and they both got up and left. The Squaw got up and got some water in a wooden cup and handed it to Jeb. "Thank you." He said. It was now that he noticed that she had blue eyes. She was not Comanche. The sun had turned her skin dark and her hair was dark. She had obviously been with them for a long time. He pointed to himself. "My name is Carter. What's yours?" He asks. At first, she didn't say anything. Then she looked at him and said. "Naduah." He took a drink from the cup. That was obviously her Indian name and not her birth name. She might not even remember her real name.

When Jeb finished eating he got up and walked out of the teepee and found Nocona waiting outside with Bossy, he handed him the reins and gave him back his gun. Jeb took it. "Thank you," he said, putting his gun back in his holster. Nocona said something to him he didn't understand. He swung up on Bossy. He turned and headed out of camp at a slow walk. As soon as he got to the edge of the camp he nudged Bossy and she picked up the pace. He wanted to put some distance between him and that camp as quickly as he could. He couldn't help thinking about Naduah. Did her family know she was alive? Why didn't the Comanche ransom her back like they did most prisoners? Well most likely because she married the Chief. She looked happy and well taken care of. She had children. She had been with them so long now, it was the only life she knew. She probably would not want to go back to the white man's world.

They traveled till it was too dark to see. Finding a place to make camp near a small stream, Jeb pulled Bossy up and got off and pulled his saddlebag and rifle off. He then loosed the cinch on the saddle and pulled it off of Bossy. She had worked up a nice sweat, he took the brush out of his bag and brushed her down good. He removed the bit and bridle and let her wander around and graze. Most men staked their horses out at night to keep them close and easy to catch. But there was no need for that with Bossy. She would go to the stream for water and the graze close by but she would not go far. In the morning he would just whistle and she would come running.

He walked around in the woods and found him some firewood and brought it back and made him a fire. He ate a little bit of jerky before laying out his bedroll and laying down. It had been a long day. Knowing that the Comanche were in the area would keep him from sleeping well tonight. But Ringo would wake him if there was any sign of trouble. But he would sleep with his Colt .36 pistol close along with his Winchester rifle.

With some luck, he would make it to Fairfield sometime tomorrow afternoon. He didn't know what kind of mess he was going to find when he got there. Two big ranches on the verge of a range war over a dammed-up creek that was keeping water from flowing threw one ranch to the other. Who knew how long it would be before the territory judge got back in the area. He just had to figure out some way to keep the peace till then.

CHAPTER 4

As the sun started coming up over the tree's Jeb threw his blanket back and sat up. The ground was hard and cold but he had slept better than he thought he would. He looked around and saw Ringo sleeping next to the fire. It was a cool crisp morning, but it would warm up quickly when the sun got up good. He could see Bossy grazing in the distance. He picked up his boots and shook them out, wanted to make sure nothing had crawled in them before he put them on.

He walked over to his saddlebag and pulled out a small skillet and a hand full of eggs. He scrambled him and Ringo some eggs and they ate. He would be glad when they got to Fairfield and could get a good meal. He put out the fire and rolled up this bedroll.

He whistled and Bossy came running up, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a sugar cube and gave it to her, she loved that. He brushed her down good and then saddled her up when he was done he put his boot in the stirrup and swung upon her taking the reins he looked over at Ringo. "Let's go, Ringo." They headed down the trail.

They had been riding for a few hours at a good pace when they came over a hill and something caught Jeb's eye and he stopped and looked. He saw three men one older heavy set and two younger men and Negro slave hands tied and hanging from a limb of a tree the two younger men had been beating him with a strap. The older man sat on his horse and watched.

Jeb got a sick feeling. He didn't believe in slavery. But it was a way of life in Texas. He had heard the talk of succession and Texas leaving the Union and the possibility of war. He didn't believe it would come to that.

He watched as the men took the slave down. Good, it was over. But then one of the men started tying the roop in a noose then throwing it over the limb of the tree. It was then that he realized that they were going to hang the slave. Jeb reached into his pocket and pulled out his Ranger badge and put it back on his shirt. He couldn't let this happen. He nudged Bossy and he took his gun out and fired a shot in the air just as the men were lifting the slave upon a mule. The men stopped and looked as Jeb and Bossy ran up to them.

He pulled Bossy up and put the gun back in his holster. He looked over at the heavyset man sitting on the horse. "I'm Texas Ranger Jeb Carter, take that man down and take that noose off his neck." The heavyset man looked at him with an angry look. "I'm Melvin Wright, his slave belongs to me! He is a runaway, This is none of your business So be on your way." Jeb looks over at the other two men and back at Wright. "Well, I'm making it my business. Now take him down!"

One of the other men moved over to Jeb's left, leaving one man on his left and Right in the middle on his horse and one man to his right. The man on the left said. "Just give the word Boss and we will end this." Jeb looks at the man and goes back to Wright. "You don't get one of these." Jeb points to his Ranger badge. "Without being good with one of these." Pulling his coat back away from his gun. "I can see by that fat belly of yours that your gun on your hip is just for show. But if one of your men touches their guns, my first shot goes right through the 2nd button on your shirt. I'm going to then come over and shoot you." He looks to the man on the left. He then turns to the man on the right. "While all this is going on, Ringo here." Jeb points to Ringo who is looking at the man on the right baring teeth. "He is going to chew on you, and when he is done, I may be in a pissy mood and shoot you too."

There was a long silence, then Wright says. "You can't do this! It's not legal, he is my property." Jeb smiles. "I'm not talking legal, I'm talking right and wrong." There was another long silence, then Jeb says. "Tell you what I will do. How much is that Slave worth?" Wright gets a confused look on his face then says. "I paid 400 dollars for him." Jeb nods. "I will give you 200 dollars for him and you ride away" Wright frowns "He is worth twice that!" Jeb now frowns. "You were going to hang him! A dead slave is worth nothing! Or do we go back to plan A where I shoot you and then you and Ringo, chew's on you!"

Wright thinks for a moment then nods. "Ok." He says. Jeb takes his wallet out of his coat and counts out 210 dollars. "I'm going to give you an extra 10 dollars for the mule." He rides over to Wright and hands him the money. "Now if you will write me out a bill of sale we will be done." Wright takes out a writing pad and an ink bottle and pin and writes out a bill of sale and hands it to Jeb. "Thank you," Jeb says. "Now If you have any ideas of following us. Ringo will smell you coming a mile away."

Wright doesn't say anything but turns and the tree men ride off. Jeb turns Bossy and walks over to the mule that the slave is sitting on and takes out his knife and cuts his hands free. The slave reaches up and takes the noose off his neck. Jeb asked. "What's your name?" The slave turns to Jeb, careful not to look him in the eye and says. " Yes sir, my name is Isaiah." Jeb nods and extends his hand and says. "Nice to meet you, Isaiah. My name is Jeb Carter." Isaiah hesitates before taking Jeb's hand. They shake and Isaiah says. "Thank you, Master Carter." Jeb shakes his head. "Don't call me that. I don't believe in slavery. But If I didn't buy you. They would have just hung you as soon as I left. As long as you are with me you will be treated with the same respect as any other man. Now in the presents of others that are not as understanding of a free Negro man, we may have to put on an act, at least till I can figure out something else to do. Do you understand?" Isaiah nods. "Yes, Mr. Jeb." "Ok," Jeb says. "Let's move in case they want to be stupid and come back."

They rode mostly in silence for the next hour. Jeb knew that Isaiah was tired. Riding a bareback mule after having you back laid open could not be compatible. Jeb found a large oak tree that was shady and pulled up. "Let's take a break here," Jeb said as he dismounted Bossy, he walked over to where Isaiah was sliding off the mule. He took the mule's reins and tied her to a low limb in the oak tree.

He walked over to Isaiah who was obviously in pain but was trying to pretend he was not. "Let me take a look at your back," Jeb said. Isaiah removed what was left of his bloody shirt. He was a very big man standing at least 6 foot 4 inches tall and 250 pounds or better and very muscular. Looking at his back, he had long cuts all up and down his back. Jeb took his canteen and poured some water over a clean rag and tried to clean it up at best he would with what he had.

Jeb could see scars from other times he had been beaten. "Why did you run away?" Jeb asked. Isaiah looked down and said. "Master Wright sold my wife and son, I was trying to get back to them." "I see," Jeb said. "Why didn't he sell you too?" Jeb could see anger growing in him as he said. "The man didn't want me. Said he had all the field niggers he needed. But he wanted my wife to cook and take care of the house." Jeb finished cleaning his back and walked back over to Bossy and took a shirt out of his back and handed it to Isaiah. "Put this on, it's not going to fit but it's better than nothing.

As Isaiah put this shirt on the sleeves came about halfway down his forearm and would barely button. Jeb says. "We will get you a better shirt when we get to town." Jeb turns away and then stops and turns back to Isaiah and says. "You knew that Wright would come looking for you and what would happen when he found you?" Isaiah nodded and said. "I did, but I didn't care. I wanted my family back." Jeb swung up on Bossy. "Do you know who bought them?" Jeb asks. Isaiah jumped up on the mule. "Yes sir, his name is Buck Logan, He lives around Fairfield." Jeb turns Bossy to face him. "Well, I have some business with Logan. When we get to Fairfield I will talk to him. But you gotta let me handle it." Isaiah shook his head. "Yes, sir!" Jeb turned Bossy toward the trail and they started moving. "If we hurry we can make it to Fairfield in a few hours." Jeb said.

They made good time and as they rode into town they got a few looks. They made their way down the main street till Jeb saw a sign that said. Doctor Robert Porter M.D. Jeb pulled Bossy up to the hitching post and he got off. There was no need to tie Bossy to the post, She would not move till Jeb came back out. Isaiah dismounted and tied the mule to the post. "Let's get your back looked at," Jeb said. Isaiah followed Jeb to the door. "Mr. Jeb my back is fine." Jeb opened the door and said. "We will let the Doctor be the judge of that."

Inside they found an examining table, a desk, and chair with a man sitting in the chair with his head down on the desk. Jeb walked over to the man. "Excuse me," Jeb said. The man raised his head and looked at Jeb and put his head back down on the desk. "What do you want?" The man said. Jeb looked down at him. "We are looking for Doctor Porter," Jeb said. The man raised his head again. "Well, you found him. Now go away! I'm closed." Jeb was startled, that was not the response he was expecting. "Well, Doc I'm Texas Ranger Jeb Carter and I need you to look at this man's back."

Jeb could smell the alcohol and suspected the Doctor was drunk, but nevertheless, he still needed his help. Doc Porter sat up and put on his glasses and looked at Jeb. He was an older man in his 50's graying hair and slightly overweight. Then he looked over at Isaiah. "He is a slave. I don't work on slaves!" Dr. Porter laid his head back down on his desk. Jeb felt his anger grow. He reached down and grabbed the Doctor by the back of his shirt and pulled him upright. "Damn it Doc, I need you to look at him!" Dr. Porter raised his hands up. "Alright! I will look at him."

Dr. Porter stood up and staggered toward the exam table. He pointed to Isaiah. Take your shirt off and lay down on the table. Isaiah did as he was told and Dr. Porter looked at the cuts on his back. He looks over at Jeb. "You put a good beating on him." Jeb walked over to him. "I didn't do this. It was his former owners." Porter walks over and gets some things out of the cabinet and comes back to the table. "This is going to hurt." He says as he starts cleaning the cuts.

A few moments later Jeb hears the door open and a man walks in wearing a sheriff's badge. The man walks up to Jeb and offers his hand and says. "Word travels fast around here when a Texas Ranger rides into town. I'm Sheriff Rusty Brown." Jeb smiles as he takes the sheriff's hand and they shake. "I'm Ranger Jeb Carter." Brown returns the smile. "Are there more Ranger's with you or coming?" Jeb shakes his head. "No, I'm the only one."

Sheriff Brown's smile disappears. "When I telegraphed Captain Duncan and asked for help, he said he was sending his best man. I was hoping he was sending several Rangers with you. There is only me and one other Deputy. I'm afraid just one more man is not going to help much." Jeb nods. "I understand Sheriff, Just what are we up against?" Jeb said.

Brown pulls up a chair and sets down as does Jeb. He takes his Cowboy hat off and looks over at Jeb and says. "Well we have two large Ranches, The Kingsworth Ranch run by Edward Kingsworth, there is a large creek that runs across the Kingsworth Ranch, well a few weeks ago Kingsworth and his son and son in law, damned up the creek to build a large lake on their property. The problem is that the same creek runs across the Logan Ranch, run by Buck Logan. Logan needs that water for his crops and livestock. Buck Logan has demanded that Kingsworth remove the damn. To which, Kingsnorth had said hell no. So you see Ranger Carter, we got a situation that is about to explode."

Jeb sat there for a moment thinking. "I think we need to pay a visit to Kingsworth, see if we can get him to at least release some of the water till the judge comes to town," Jeb says. "We can try that," Brown says. "But he has been resistant when I have suggested that." Jeb stands up. "We will just have to give it another try and hope that we can reason with him."

About that time the door opens and in comes a beautiful young woman maybe in her mid 20's tall with long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a long printed blue dress. She was obviously upset, she rushed over to the Doctor. "Dr. Porter," She said. Dr. Porter looks up at her. "Yes, Beth?" The Doctor says as he turns to her. She frantically looks at him. "My father is hurt! I think he fell out of the loft in the barn." "Is he alert? Could he talk to you?" She shakes her head. "No. I couldn't get him to respond. I couldn't move him, He was too heavy.

Dr. Porter turns and grabs his bag. Sheriff Brown says. "Is your buggy hooked up Doc?" The Doctor nods. It's outback. Jeb looks at the Doctor knowing that he has been drinking he says. "Isaiah will drive you Doc. The Sheriff and I will ride out ahead.

Jeb and the Sheriff walk outside. Sheriff Brown says. It's just a few miles out to their ranch, are you going to need a fresh horse?" "No. Bossy is fine." Jeb says as he whistles and Bossy starts following them down the street. When they get to the Sheriff's office Brown gets up on the horse that is tied out front and Jeb gets up on Bossy and they head down the street.

When they get just outside of town Brown says. "That was Beth Mathison, Her father Paul Mathison has the Ranch that runs alongside both the Kingsworth Ranch and the Logan Ranch." Jeb looks over at him. "Was his Ranch affected by the creek dam?" Jeb asked. "No," Brown says. Mathison had another source of water. But both Kingsworth and Logan have been trying to buy him out. Mathison has always refused to sell. But rumor has it that Mathison is in some financial trouble with the bank. The bank is in Kingsworth's pocket." Jeb looks over at him. "So this whole thing with the creek could just be a power play by Kingsworth to drive Mathison and Logan under and buy their land from the bank." Duncan smiles. "I think you may be onto something."

As they rode up to the Mathison ranch house the headed toward the barn that Beth Mathison said was where she found her father. Getting off their horses both men hurried into the barn. They found Paul Mathison laying on his back. It was obvious he was dead. Sheriff Brown bent down and checked to be sure. He then stood up and both men looked around. They saw a freshly broken board in the loft.

Brown looked back down at Mathison on the ground and said. "Looks like it's obvious. He was up in the loft, stepped on a bad board it broke and he lost his balance and he fell over the side, breaking his neck in the fall."

Jeb looks around some more and then back down at the body. He looks at Brown and says. "No Sheriff, This was no accident. He was murdered!"

CHAPTER 5

Sheriff Brown looks around again and then says. "Capitan Duncan said you were the best Ranger he had ever worked with, that you looked at things differently than most people. But how in the hell do you get murder out of this? He obviously fell." Jeb looks up from the body. "Sheriff, that's what the killer wanted us to think. Look, the body is lying on his back neck broken. He also has a broken nose. His nose is bleeding a lot. If he fell out of the loft backward and landed on his neck and back. How did he break his nose?" Jeb asked.

Brown looks at the body. "That's a good question. I guess he somehow managed to turn over" Jeb shakes his head. "No, you don't take a fall like that and break your neck and then turn over. He couldn't do it." Brown then takes a deep breath. "Ok, maybe Beth turned him over when she found him?" Jeb points to the body. "Look how big this man is and how small she is. She couldn't have turned him over, and even if she did. Look at his shirt. There are drops of blood on his shirt. His nose was broken when he was standing up." Brown looks over at Jeb and frowns. "Ok, I can't explain that." Jeb then points to the other side of the barn. "Look at his cowboy hat, it's way over there. If it was on his head. How did it get over there?"

Jeb then walks over to the ladder and climbs into the loft, Brown follows him. When they both get up there they look around. Jeb then says. This barn is not that old. This is all new wood." They walk over to where the board is broken. Jeb looks at it and says. "This board is not rotted or anything." He takes a closer look. "There is an indent here like it was hit with something." Jeb then looks around and walks over and picks up a pitchfork and walks back over to the broken board. He takes the handle end of the pitchfork and puts it in the indent on the board and then looks over at Brown. "Fits perfectly." Brown looks at Jeb with wide eyes. "That's amazing." Jeb lays the pitchfork down and looks around. "And why would he even be up here? There is nothing up here he would have needed." Brown nods. "I'm with you now, he was murdered."

They climb down the latter out of the loft. Jeb walks back over to Paul Mathison's body and kneels down and picks up his right hand and looks at it. "His knuckles are scuffed up. He got in at least one good shot." Jeb picks up both arms and works the joints. "Stiffness is just now starting. He died most likely just before Beth Mathison found him." Brown eyes get big as he looks down on Jeb. "Are you some kind of a doctor?" Jeb stands up. "No, I wanted to be, but my family didn't have the money to send me to school. I have read some medical books. I have this kind of gift of remembering things." Brown shakes his head. "Ya, you're kinda scaring me. I would have said this was an accident and moved on."

Jeb turns and sees a door at the back of the barn. "Let's see what's outback." They both walk through the back door and look around. Over to one side is a hitching post. Jeb walks over to it and looks around. "There was a horse tied to the post." Jeb kneels down on one knee. "There are some bootprints here." Jeb points to the boot prints by the post. "This is where he stepped down off the horse. His right boot heel has a damaged spot, it makes a unique print." Brown looks at the print. "So you're saying that our killer has a damaged boot?" Jeb turns to Brown. "Yes, that's what I'm saying." Brown scratches his head. "So what do we do? Start checking boots till we find a damaged one?" Jeb looks over at Brown and says. "No. If we start checking boots, word will get back to him and he will get rid of the boots and we will lose our only lead. He most likely doesn't even know they are damaged. How often do you look at the heel of your boots? We need to keep this quiet and hope that he keeps wearing them."

They walk back into the barn and over to the body. Jeb looks down on the body and then over at Brown. "I think we are looking for somebody that Mathison knew, somebody much younger and stronger. "He fairly easily overpowered Mathison used a twisting motion to break his neck." Jeb looks down at the body again. "Mathison was about 5 foot 9 inches tall. Our killer was taller by at least 4 inches putting him over 6 feet tall." Brown throws his hands up in the air. "Now how the hell do you know that?" Brown asks. "To break a man's neck like that you would have to get a hold of them from behind and use a downward twisting motion, so he would need to be taller. He would have also had to have learned how to do that. So he was most likely in the army at some point." Brown's eyes got big again. "You're scaring the shit out of me again."

About that time they hear the Doctor's buggy pulling up outside. They step outside to see Isaiah pulling up the Buggy with Isaiah's mule tied behind. Doctor Porter slowly got out and Beth Mathison quickly jumped out after the doctor and ran toward the barn. Sheriff Brown grabbed her and stopped her. "He is gone Beth, there is nothing you can do for him." She starts sobbing into his shoulder. Doctor Porter staggers past them into the barn. Sheriff Brown says to Beth. "Let's go in the house and sit down." he then leads her away toward the house.

Jeb walks over to Isaiah and says. "There are some horses in the pin on the side of the barn. Find a good one and hook it up to the wagon on the other side of the barn. Then we can load the body up to take back to town." Isaiah nods. "Yes, sir Mr. Jeb."

Jeb then walks back into the barn as Doctor Porter is standing up and turns to him. "Well, there is nothing I can do for him." He then reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a flask and takes a drink and walks past Jeb out of the barn. Jeb looks around for a few minutes to make sure he has not missed anything. This job had the potential of getting out of hand quickly. He had a gut feeling that this had something to do with the feuding ranchers. With Paul Mathison getting caught in the middle and it got him killed.

Jeb heard Isaiah pull the wagon up out in front of the barn, Jeb opened the door and Isaiah walked inside. They picked up the body of Paul Mathison and put it in the back of the wagon. "See if you can find something to cover him up with. I need to talk to Beth Mathison before we leave." Jeb said. "Yes sir." Isaiah says.

Jeb walks over to the house and knocks on the door. "Come in." He hears Beth Mathison say from the inside. Jeb opens the door and walks inside to see Sheriff Rusty Brown sitting at a table with Beth. He walks up to the table. "This is Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter." Beth stands up and extends her hand. "It's very nice to meet you, Ranger Carter." Jeb takes her hand. "I'm very sorry for your loss." Says Jeb. Beth sets back down. "Please Mr. Carter, have a seat. Can I get you some coffee?" "No thank you," Jeb says, setting down.

Jeb looks over at Beth. "Miss Mathison, I don't know if the Sheriff told you or not, but we don't think your father's death was an accident. She looks at him with a surprised look on her face. She looks over at Brown and them back at Jeb. "No he didn't," she says. Jeb glances over at Brown. "I was waiting for you," Brown says.

Jeb looks at her. "We think somebody rode up and tied his horse behind the barn not to be seen. He confronted your father, a fight ensued your father was overpowered and killed. The killer then tried to make it look like an accident." Her eyes get big. "Oh my gosh! Who would do that?" "Well," Jeb says. "That's what we were hoping you could help us with." She nods. "Yes of course anything I can do to help." there was a moment of silence then Jeb says. "Did your father have any enemies? Anybody that might want to hurt him?" Beth looks at him and says. "My Father had some problems with Edward Kingsworth, he wanted to buy our place. When my father would not sell. Mr. Kingsworth hired all our ranch hands and paid them more money including our foreman Duke Long. Not long after Duke went to work for Mr. Kingsworth he married Kingsworth's daughter Maggy." Jeb looks across at Beth who is trying to fight back tears. He says. "So Edward Kingsworth was trying to strong-arm your father into selling his ranch?" Beth nods. "Yes," she says.

Jeb considers his next question for a moment then asks. "What about Buck Logan, what kind of a relationship did your father have with him?" Beth wipes tears from her eyes and says. "Well, they were very good friends. But Logan also wanted to buy our place or at least the part that has water on it. When Father wouldn't sell they had a falling out. Logan becomes desperate after Mr. Kingsworth dams the creek. Father and Mr. Logan had several heated arguments recently." Jeb glanced over at Sheriff Brown, who had sat silent and let Jeb ask all the questions. "Ok, Miss Mathison." Beth forced a smile and said. "Please call me Beth," "Ok Beth," Jeb said. "We need for now to keep the fact that your Father was murdered quiet, just between the three of us. We need whoever killed your father to think that we believe it was an accident." Beth nods. "If you think that is best, Ranger Carter." Jeb reaches over and takes her hand. "I'm very sorry for your loss, Beth, and please call me Jeb."

Jeb and Sheriff Brown stand up. "I will make sure your father's body gets to the undertaker Will Bradly," Brown says. He then turns to Jeb. "We can get yall set up at the jail or there's a rooming house down the street." Jeb nods, "The jail will be fine." Beth looks at them. "No." She says. "You won't stay at the jail when we have an empty bunkhouse here." Jeb looks over at her. "Thank you very much, Beth, But we don't want to put you out." She frowns. "Nonsense, It's no trouble at all. Bed your horse down in the barn and I will bring you clean linen. Jeb looks at her. "Thank you, Beth, that's very kind of you.

Brown and Jeb walk out the front door onto the porch. "I want to go see both Edward Kingsworth and Buck Logan tomorrow," Jeb said. "Ok, I will ride out and pick you up in the morning." Brown says as he walks over and gets his horse and ties it behind the wagon. He then walks over to a chair, sitting next to the barn where Doctor Porter is sleeping. He reaches down and shakes the doctor by the shoulder. Porter jumps awake. "Hey Doc, I'm headed back to town. You up to driving your buggy?" "Yes," Porter says. Standing up and reaching in his pocket and pulling out his flask and taking a sip. He then walks over to his buggy and gets in. Brown gets in the wagon and they head to town.

Isaiah walks up and Jeb says to him. "We are staying here in the bunkhouse, In the morning the Sheriff and I are going to see Kingsworth and Logan, You're going to stay here. When I talk to Logan, I will check on your family. I will try to get him to sell them to me. But If he won't do that, I will try to get him to take you. If you don't have a problem with that? That will at least get your family together." Isaiah nods. "Yes sir, Mr, Jeb, Thank you so much." Jeb slaps him on the shoulder. "Your welcome, Let's get Bossy and your mule bedded down."

Jeb and Isaiah get the stock taken care of and they come out of the barn and see Beth Mathison walking toward the bunkhouse carrying some bed linen, when she saw them she turned and walked toward them. "He is some linen for your beds and I found some of my father's shirts that will fit you better than the one you have on Isaiah." Isaiah smiles. "Thank you, ma'am." Isaiah says as he takes the linen from her and turns and walks toward the bunkhouse."

Jeb smiles, "It's very kind of you to let us stay, Thank you." "Your welcome." as she turns and walks back toward the house. Jeb enters the bunkhouse and looks around. It's very nice. Fireplace, table chairs, one big room, and four smaller rooms with two beds each in them. It looks like it was built to house eight men but could expand to ten to twelve.

They got settled in and a few hours later just as it was getting dark Jeb walked out on the porch and saw Beth was outside sitting on the porch of the house. He walked over to the house. "Mind if I join you?" Jeb asked. She smiled, her beauty was captivating even though her eyes were red from crying. "Not at all, Mr. Carter oh I mean Jeb." She said. He walks up on the porch and takes the chair beside her.

They sit there in silence for a few moments and then Beth gets up and lights the lamp as It is now getting dark. She sets back down and says, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't run this ranch on my own. Edward Kingsworth will make sure nobody works for me. I know Father was behind on the note payment. I'm sure the Bank with the encouragement of Kingsworth will foreclose soon." She says. "I'm sorry Beth." He says. "Do you have any more family around here?" She shakes her head. "No, I have an Aunt and Uncle that live in Alabama, That is where we were from before we moved out here." Jeb turns his head to her. "My family was from Alabama also. My father and mother came here when I was a baby. They got a Mexican land grant. My Father fought alongside General Houston at San Jacinto." She has a surprised look on her face. "You know General Houston?" "Yes." He says. "My father and I were friends. "He is a Senator in Washington now. There is talk he is coming back to run for Governor If that's true. He will end all this succession talk." "I hope so." She says. "I was quite surprised to see you own a slave." "Yes." He says. "That's not what it looks like. He ran away to be with his family and his owner caught him, I came across them fixing to hang him, I bought him to save his life. I don't believe in slavery. Buck Logan owns his family, I'm going to either buy them or turn him over to him, so his family can stay together." She looks at him surprised. "That is very kind of you." He smiles. "Thank you."

They talked for several hours and Jeb enjoyed every moment of it. As he walked back to the bunkhouse he thought. Not only did he have to try to prevent a range war and solve a murder and now he was worried about what would happen to Beth Mathison.

CHAPTER 6

Jeb sat up in bed and swung his feet over the side. He had been awake for a while, but it was time to get up now. He rubbed his face and then walked over to the dresser and took out a match and lit the lamp. He then poured some water into the bowl and washed his face. He took some pants he had placed in the dresser and put them on, he then walked over to the window and looked out. The cool breeze on his face felt good.

Walking back over to the dresser he looked into the mirror and then rubbed the three-day growth of beard on his face, he took his straight-edge razor and soap out of his bag and he lathered up his face and shaved. Washing his face clean he looked back in the mirror. Much better he thought,

He finished getting dressed and picked up his gun belt that was hanging over the back of a chair and put it on. Grabbing his cowboy hat off the back of the same chair he put it on. Walking out of his room he found Isaiah up and dressed. "Good morning Mr. Jeb," Isaiah said as he handed him a cup of coffee. "Good morning Isaiah, Thank you." Jeb takes a sip of the coffee and sits down at the table. He looks up at Isaiah. "Get some coffee and set down." Isaiah nods awkwardly and says. "Yes sir." He gets some coffee and sits down. Jeb takes a sip. "You're going to have to stop with all the yes sir's and just get compatible around me." Isaiah nods and says. "Yes sir." Jeb smiles and laughs out loud. "Guess that's going to take some work." Isaiah smiles and starts to say yes sir but stops himself.

They drink their coffee and Jeb looks over at Isaiah and says. "While I'm gone today If you don't mind. Help Miss Mathison around here, I'm sure she has a place she wants to bury her father, if you will dig the grave for her I would appreciate it." Isaiah looks back at him and starts again to say yes sir but again stops himself and says. "Yes, I will be glad to take care of that." Jeb smiles and stands up and walks out on the porch. It's nice and cool outside as the sun is starting to come up, He looks across at the Ranch house and Beth Mathison walks out and yells over at him. "Coffee is ready and breakfast in 15 minutes, You and Isaiah come over." She turns and walks back inside before he can respond.

Jeb walks back to the door and opens it and leans in and says to Isaiah. "Beth has called us to breakfast." Jeb waits for Isaiah to join him and they both walk over to the main house. Opening the door to the smell of bacon. When they enter the dining area Beth comes out of the kitchen and smiles. "Good morning, gentlemen. Have a seat." Jeb pulls out a chair at the table and sets down, Isaiah hesitates for a moment and then sits down.

A few moments later Beth comes out of the kitchen carrying a bowl of eggs and a pan of bacon. She sets them down on the table and returns to the kitchen and comes back with a pan of biscuits and a picture of milk. She sets them down on the table and then gets three plates and places one in front of both of them and puts one down for herself next to Jeb. She looks over at Jeb. "Will you say, Grace." Jeb hesitates for a moment thinking of how to start, he then bows his head as he starts to speak and he feels Beth take his hand. "Dear heavenly father please bless this food to the nourishment of our body. Please lead, guide, and protect us, these are the blessings we ask through Christ, amen." Beth looks at him and smiles. "Please help yourself," she says.

Jeb and Beth fill their plates. Beth looks over at Isaiah who is clearly uncomfortable. "Please Isaiah, help yourself." Isaiah nods. "Yes ma'am." He says as he starts filling his place. When he is done he picks his place up and stands up and starts walking toward the door. "Hey, where are you going?" Jeb asked. Isaiah turns to him. "I was going to go eat on the porch, Mr. Jeb." Jeb looks at Beth and then back to Isaiah. "No. Set back down and eat with us." Isaiah slowly turns back to the table. "Yes, Mr. Jeb," he says as he sits back down.

As they finish eating Jeb says. "I think that was the best breakfast I have ever eaten. Thank you, Beth." Beth rolls her eyes but smiles big. "Well thank you." Isaiah looks over at her. "Yes very good ma'am, thank you," he says. "You're more than welcome Isaiah," she says.

She turns back to Jeb. "What are your plans today?" She asks. Jeb takes his last bite of breakfast and wipes his mouth with his napkin and says. "I'm going to ride into town and meet the Sheriff and we are going out to see Edward Kingsworth and talk to him about letting some water out of the dammed creek. We are also going to go see Buck Logan and try to calm him down." She is silent for a moment and then Beth says. "Do you think Edward Kingsworth had anything to do with my father's death?" He turns to her and says. "I don't know Beth. But I will tell you this, I'm going to get to the bottom of it. But for now, we gotta keep it quiet. Let people think it was an accident. Trust me, Beth, I'm on it." She nods. "Will you let me know what you find out?" Jeb smiles. "Yes, I will." She smiles. "Thank you, Jeb."

Isaiah stands up. "Mr. Jeb, would you like for me to get Bossy ready to go?" Jeb looks up at him. "Yes please Isaiah, If you don't mind." As Isaiah turns to leave he says. "Don't mind at all Mr. Jeb."

Beth stands up and walks into the kitchen and returns with a coffee pot. "Will you drink another cup with me while he gets Bossy ready." "Yes please," Jeb says as she pours him a cup and then herself one and sits back down. He takes a sip and then says. "Isaiah will be glad to dig your father's grave for you. Just show him where you want it." She gives him a sad look. "Why I had not even thought about that, thank you for being so kind." He looks over at her. "No problem at all. It's the least we can do. You have been so kind as to put us up."

Jeb takes another sip of his coffee he looks over at Beth. He was captivated by her beauty, but he tried to put that out of his mind. She had just suffered a tragedy with the loss of her father and now with the possibility of losing her home.

He stands up and pushes his chair under the table. He looks to Beth. "I guess I better be on my way." She smiles and follows him as he goes out the front door. Isaiah walks up and says. "Bossy is ready to go for you, I left her in the stall for you Mr. Jeb." Jeb nods. "Thank you, Isaiah." He said. Jeb steps off the porch and whistles. Beth and Isaiah both look surprised when hearing a gate open from the barn and see Bossy run out and up to Jeb, who grabs the saddle horn and steps upon her. Isaiah says. "How did she get out? I closed the gate." Jeb turns Bossy back to them. "Oh, she can let herself out any time she wants. Jeb then grabs the brim of his hat and nods to Beth. "I will be back later." He looks down at Ringo. "Stay Ringo." He says as he rides off.

As Jeb rides into town he sees that the streets are busy with a lot of people moving around. He stops at the sheriff's office and steps down off of Bossy. He walks up to the door and enters. Sheriff Rusty Brown looks up from behind his desk. "Good morning Ranger Carter." He says. "Morning," Jeb says as he walks up and takes a seat. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?" Brown says." "No, thank you, I have had my fill this morning," Jeb says.

Brown then looks at Jeb and says. "So where are we going to start?" he asks. "I want to start with Edward Kingsworth, He seems to be the one that is causing all the problems. He wants Paul Mathison's Ranch, when he won't sell, he hires away all his hands to try to make him default on his loans. Then Mathison is killed. He dams a creek to try to force Buck Logan his biggest competition to go under. I want to know what he has to say about it. Then I want to go see Buck Logan and see what he has to say." Sheriff Brown stands up. "Well, I guess we need to be on our way."

About that time the door opens and a man walks in "Good morning Sheriff." The man says. "Do you have a moment?" Sheriff Brown shakes the man's hand and says. "I was just fixing to leave." He turns to Jeb. "This is Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter." The man turns to Jeb and offers his hand. "I'm Kyle Lambert, I own the bank." Jeb takes his hand. "Nice to meet you, sir," Jeb says.

Lambert turns back to Brown. "Sheriff I understand that Paul Mathison has died?" Lambert asks. "Sheriff Brown nods. "Yes, unfortunately, that's true." "I see," Lambert says. "Can I ask what happened?" Brown glances at Jeb and then back to Lambert. "It looks like he fell out of the loft in his barn and broke his neck." A small smile comes across Lambert's face. "I see," he says. "I had just talked with Mr. Mathison and given him two weeks to come up with the money that he owed the bank. I guess now I can go ahead and foreclose. I will give the daughter, what's her name Beth, a week to get off the place." Jeb felt the anger grow inside him as he took a hard look at Lambert and said. "What you could do is show a little decency and give her some time, she just lost her father and now you're going to put her out of her home!" Lamberts give Jeb a startled look and says. "Mr. Carter, I run a business, and time is money. The sooner we can foreclose the sooner the bank can recoup its money." Jeb's face gets red with anger. "You could at least give her the two weeks you were going to give her father." Lambert looks Jeb in the eye. "Yes, I could. But I'm not!" Lambert then turns to Brown. "I will have the papers drawn up and bring them to you to serve. Thank you, gentlemen, good day." Lambert turns and leaves. Jeb turns and looks at Brown. "Do you believe that son of a bitch?" Brown shakes his head. "Yes, I can believe it. I would be willing to bet that Edward Kingsworth already has a deal to buy the note to the Mathison's place from the bank." Jeb nods. "I want to talk to this asshole Kingsworth more than ever now!"

They walked outside and Sheriff Brown stepped up on his horse as did Jeb on Bossy and they headed out of town. It was a mostly quiet ride out to the Kingsworth Ranch both men thinking of what they were going to say to Kingsworth. The Ranch was huge, the largest in the County by far. As they rode up to the house there were Ranch hands everywhere all of them stopped to look at them as they rode by. When they got to the house the dismounted and tied their horses.

A man walked up to them and said. "Can I help you with something Sheriff?" Brown shakes hands with the man. Brown looks over his shoulder at Jeb and says. "This is Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter." He turns back at the man, "This is Duke Long, Mr. Kingsworth's son in law." Jeb shakes that man's hand. Brown then says. "Duke we need to speak to Mr. Kingsworth." Long frowns. "I'm afraid that is not going to happen. Mr. Kingsworth's not feeling good today. He is not taking visitors." Brown and Jeb look at each other and then Jeb says. "It's important that we speak to him. We won't take long." Long shakes his head. "I'm sorry, you came this far for nothing but the answer is still no."

About that time another man walks up. "What's going on here?" The man says. He looks at Jeb. "I'm Alan Kingsworth." Jeb and Alan shake hands. "I'm Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter." Duke Long turns to Alan Kingsworkth and says. "I was just telling them that your father is too ill to see them." Alan looks at Duke and then back to Brown and Jeb and says. "I'm sure Father is up to see the Sheriff and Ranger Carter. This way please."

Sheriff Brown and Jeb follow Alan Kingsworth and walk away from an obviously aggravated Duke Long. They walk down a long hall and come to a door and Alan knocks and opens the door. They find Edward Kingsworth sitting behind a desk looking at papers. He takes his glasses off and looks up. "Father Shariff Brown and Texas Ranger Jeb Carter are here to see you," Alan says. They walk up to the desk and he offers his hand first to Sheriff Brown and then to Jeb, as Jeb takes his hand, Kingsworth says. "What can I do for you?" Kingsworth then sets back in his chair and coughs several times as he gathers himself Jeb says. "We would like to talk to you about the dam you have put across the creek. By damming the creek you have cut off water to other Ranches, so their crops and livestock need that water. We would like you to consider letting water out until the judge gets here to rule on the legality of the dam." There was a moment of silence then Kingsworth coughed again. When he was finished he looked at them and said. "Like hell, I will. I'm not letting any water out of that lake. I need that water. They should have planned better." Jeb frowned and said, "Mr. Kingsworth, I have been told you have other sources of water, you can get by. They can't." Kingsworth looks up at Jeb. "Mr. Carter, It's not my problem if they have water or not. Now good day to you sir."

About that time Alan Kingsworth spoke up. "Father, I don't think it's too much to ask that we let some water out, just until the Judge comes?" An angry Edward Kingsworth turns to his son. "We will not! I'm trying to plan for the future. Your future and the future of this Ranch."

Jeb and Sheriff Brown turned to leave when Jeb stopped and turned back to Kingsworth and said, "You know Mr. Kingsworth I think you know that when the Judge comes to town he is going to rule against you and you will have to open the dam up and let water out. But that's not your goal. Your goal is to drive all the smaller Ranches out of business before that happens. It's my job to keep them from killing you before that happens. You're not making my job any easier.

Jeb and Brown turn and leave. When they get outside Brown says to Jeb. "Well, you just stuck your nose in the biggest hornet's nest in Freestone County. Jeb steps up on Bossy and says. "Good, maybe I shook him up some. Maybe now that arrogant son of a bitch will make a mistake, and when he does. I'm going to be there.

CHAPTER 7

They ride for the next hour or so mostly in silence as Jeb thinks about what he needs to do next. Thanks could get out of hand quickly. They were going to need more help. When they got back to town he was going to telegraph Capitan Duncan and try to get more help.

Jeb looked over and saw a large group of buzzards circling over what looked like a house in the distance. He pulled Bossy up and Sheriff Brown followed suit. "What's that over there?" Jeb asked. "That's the old Jason Fuller place, He has a small farm between Kingsworth and Logan." Jeb turns Bossy toward the house and says. "Let ride over there and check it out."

They ride toward the house when they get there they are shocked by what they find. Jason Fuller is laying across the rail of the porch of the house dead with an arrow, throwing his chest, and from the look of it, he has been scalped. They dismount their horses and Brown draws his gun and starts looking around. Jeb knows from the work of the buzzards and the smell that this happened days ago. He looks over at Brown. "You can put that away Sheriff, they are long gone." Brown puts his gun away and says. "We haven't had any problems with the Comanche in years. I got to get back to town and warn them the town may be attacked." Jeb turns to him. "Hold up Sheriff, let's check this out first."

Jeb walks over and takes a closer look at the body and then the ground. He then walks over to Brown who looks at him and says. "You're going to do that scary stuff again aren't you?" Jeb looks around again and then says. "Well, there is no need to warn the town. First, this happened days ago. If the Comanche were going to attract the town, they would have already done it. Second, look at how they took his scalp. It's jagged sloppy done with a dull knife. Comanche would have been smooth and quick, and Comanche only took scalps as a trophy of a great victory. I don't think killing one old man would qualify as a great victory." Jeb rolls the man over and pulls the arrow out of his chest and says. "If this was fired at close range it would have penetrated much deeper. Look at the arrowhead. It's old and dull, a Comanche would never use one like that. I'm betting the arrow was used to cover up a bullet hole." Jeb then walks out in the front of the house. "Look," he says. "All the horse prints out here are shoed horses, not a single unshoed Comanche pony." Jeb then walks over to the smokehouse and opens it up and looks inside. "Smokehouse full of meat. Comanche would have never left that. They would have taken what they wanted and burned this house to the ground. Plus I happen to know that the Comanche ware no ware near here two days ago because I crossed paths with them on my ride over here. Somebody killed Mr. Fuller and tried to make it look like the Comanche." Sheriff Brown looks at Jeb with wide eyes. "Wow, that's amazing how you put all that together. I would have never come up with that."

Jeb walks over to the hitching post. "He tied his horse here. Look at this." Brown walks over and looks where Jeb is pointing. "Right boot print, with a damaged heel. The same man that killed Paul Mathison also killed Jason Fuller. Fuller has been dead longer so he killed him first and then he killed Mathison.

They walked back over to the house and went inside. Jeb turns to Brown. "Fuller lived alone?" Jeb asks. "Yes," Brown says. "He kept mostly to himself. Came into town about once a month or so." They walked into what looked like Fuller's office. Behind the desk in a bucket were some old Comanche arrows. Jeb points to them. "Look what we have here," Jeb says pointing at the bucket. There were five arrows in the bucket. Jeb looked at them and pointed. "The dust in the bottom of the bucket has a void where a Six arrow was. This is where he got the arrow." Brown walks over and looks. "Well, I'll be damned."

Jeb looks at Brown. "Why would anybody want to kill Jason Fuller?" Brown shook his head. "I don't know, as far as I know, he didn't have any enemies. His place was small." There was silence for a moment and then Jeb asked. "Does Fuller's place have water?" Brown gives him a surprised look. "Yes, It has a fairly large lake." Jeb smiles. "A lake that would be very useful to Buck Logan who needs water. It would also be useful to Edward Kingsworth if for no other reason to keep Logan from getting it."

Jeb and Brown look around and find nothing else out of place. Jeb walks up to Brown. "I need you to take Fuller's body back to town. Get Doc Porter to find the bullet I'm sure that in that body. I'm going on to see Buck Logan." Brown starts moving toward the door. "Ok, but Doc's not going to like it," Brown says.

They head outside and find a horse in the barn and tie Fuller's body across the horses back and Sheriff Brown heads back to town and Jeb starts toward the Logan Ranch.

On the ride over Jeb saw the drying up creek bed, what little water there was would be gone soon. When he rode up to the house he had several ranch hands look at him. He stopped in front of the house and got off of Bossy. A man walked up. "Can I help you with something Sir?" The man said. Jeb turned to him. "I'm here to see Buck Logan," Jeb said. The man nodded and said. "This way sir." Jeb followed the man into the house and they went into what looked like Logan's office. The man turned to Jeb and said. "Please have a seat. Mr. Logan will be with you shortly." "Thank you," Jeb said as the man left. He looked around, it was a nice office with a big desk and some bookshelf behind it. There were two chairs set in front of the desk.

About that time a man probably in his late 50's with gray balding hair walked in and over to Jeb and offered his hand to shake. "I'm Buck Logan, What can I do for you?" Jeb takes his hand and shakes. "I'm Texas Ranger Jeb Carter, there are some things I would like to talk to you about if you have time?" Logan starts walking behind his desk and sits down. "Yes, of course, Please Ranger Carter, have a seat."

Jeb sits down and looks across the desk at Logan. "Mr. Logan, I want to talk to you about the dam that Edward Kingsworth has put up and your lawsuit." Logan friendly demeanor changes. "There's not much to talk about Ranger Carter, he is either going to take that dam out or I'm going to take it out for him." Jeb looks at Logan. "Sir, With all due respect, I'm asking you to wait for the judge to come and rule on your lawsuit. If you take action to remove the dam, there will be bloodshed and I want to prevent that." Logan frowns. "Ranger Carter, I believe that the judge will rule in my favor. But I don't have time to wait. My livestock need that water! If I wait they die and with it, my Ranch and everything I have built here will die. That's what Kingsworth is counting on; he knows he can't win in court. He is just trying to force me under and buy my Ranch from his banker friend. I'm not going to let that happen!" Jeb nods. "I understand your situation. I'm going to telegraph and try to find the judge and tell him it's an emergency and try to get him here as fast as I can." Jeb said. Logan sits back in his chair. "Thank your Ranger Carter, I don't want bloodshed any more than you do. But I will do what I have to do." Jeb nods, "I understand sir."

Jeb waits a moment and then looks at Logan and says. "There was one more thing I wanted to talk to you about. A few months ago you bought a slave and her son from a man named Melvin Wright?" Logan nods. "Yes, I did. What is this about?" Jeb pauses for a moment. "Well Sir, A few days ago, I bought a slave Isaiah from Mr. Wright. He is the husband to your slave Gin and father to her son Joseph. I'm trying to get the family back together. Would you be willing to sell them to me? I will be glad to pay you more than what you paid for them."

Logan sits there for a moment and then says. "I'm afraid Gin and the boy are not for sale. They have worked out very well for me and she seems to have gotten over the separation from her husband." "I see," Jeb says. "What about if I sell him to you? I will make you a very good price on him." Logan shakes his head. "No, I had the chance to buy him also when I bought them. I don't have any need for him."

Jeb stands up and shakes hands with Logan. "Thank you, sir," Jeb says and he turns to leave, and then he stops and turns back to Logan and says. "What if I just give him to you? I'm just trying to get his family back together again." Logan then says. "I'm sorry Ranger Carter, with everything I have going on now I just can't take on another slave. But thank you for your generous offer. Jeb turns to leave and Logan says. "Ranger Carter, I'm not a heartless man, I give my slaves Sunday off. He can come over and visit. But I don't want any problems." Jeb smiles, "Thank you, sir, I will bring him over Sunday.

Jeb made his way out of the house and got on Bossy and made the ride back to town. When he arrived it was almost dark, he pulled Bossy up in front of the Sheriff's office and got off and went inside. He found Sheriff Brown sitting behind his desk, he looked up at him. "Have any luck with Buck Logan?" Jeb sat down across from Brown. "Well we had a chat but if things don't change soon, he is going to take matters into his own hands." Brown takes his hat off and runs his hands through his hair. "I was afraid he was going to say something like that. What do we do now?" Jeb sat there for a moment. "Well, I'm going to telegraph Captain Duncan and try to get us some more help. I'm also going to try to find Judge James Black and try to get him here as soon as possible." Brown looks over at Jeb. "We are going to need a lot more help. I only have one part-time deputy. There is no way we are going to be able to keep the peace with just the three of us." Jeb nods. "Ok let me work on that. Did you take Fuller's body to Doc?" "Yes I did, But he said he doesn't work on dead bodies." Jeb stands up angry. "That drunk ass son of a bitch! We need to know for sure if he was shot or not! Is he the best you got for a Doctor in this town?" Brown looks up at him. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Doc wasn't always like that. About a year ago his wife died of pneumonia. Not only does he feel the loss of his wife of 30 years, but also his failure as a doctor to save her. So he numbs the pain with a bottle." Jeb sets back down. "Does he have any family?" Jeb asks. "He has a daughter whose name was Rose, She left several years ago. I think she is in Dallas." "Has anybody tried to contact her?" Jeb asked. "I don't know if Doc tried to contact her or not. I wanted to respect his privacy." Jeb stands back up. "Well, privacy or not, I think somebody needs to tell her that her mother died and her father is in bad shape!"

Jeb walked outside. His telegraph office was closed by now, so that would have to wait till morning. He walked down to the saloon and went inside. There were a number of poker games going, as good as he was at cards he could make a killing here in a town where nobody knew him. But he needed to focus on the job at hand. He looked over and found Doctor Porter sitting in the corner with a glass and bottle sitting on his table. He walked over and sat down. "Evening Doc," Jeb said. Doctor Porter looked up at him and his eyes focused. "Oh Mr. Texas Ranger, how are you this fine evening?" Jeb smiled. "I'm good Doc, but I need you to do something for me. I need you to dig the bullet out of Jason Fuller's body?" Porter looks surprised. "Jason Fuller is dead?" He asks "Yes, Sheriff Brown brought him into town today." Doc was silent. "Oh yes, the Sheriff did say something about it. I'm afraid there is nothing I can do for dead people." Jeb nods. "I understand Doc, but it's important that I get that bullet and prove that he was shot." Porter looks over at him. "Well if it's important I guess I can make an exception," Doc says as he stands up and picks up his bag.

They walk out of the saloon and over to the undertaker's office and knock on the door. Will Bradley answers the door. "Can I help you with something?" he asks. "Yes," Jeb says. I need Doc to look at Jason Fuller's body." Bradley gives them a surprised look. "I can assure you that Mr. Fuller is very much dead." Jeb smiles. "Yes, I know. I need Doc to dig a bullet out of his body." Bradley gives them a confused look. "Oh well then, come right in. He is in the back.

They find Fuller's body laying on a table. Doc walks over to the body. "This man has been scalped!" Jeb walks over to him. "Yes I know, but it's the bullet that we need." Doc takes the flask out of his pocket and takes a drink. "Ok, let's get started."

Jeb and Bradley walk back to the front room and wait. About 10 minutes later Doc Porter comes out and hands Jeb a deformed bullet. "This what you need?" Doc says. Jeb smiles. "Yes, This proves he was shot. Thank you, Doc." Porter takes out his flask and takes a drink. He looks over at Jeb. "You can buy me a drink sometime." Jeb nods. "Will do Doc."

Jeb puts the deformed bullet in his pants pocket and walks outside and down the street, to where he left Bossy. He steps up on her. It's getting dark now and he needs to hurry and get back out to the Mathison place. He needs to talk to Isaiah and tell him things didn't go well with Buck Logan. He hoped he would understand and give him more time to work something out.

He was really looking forward to seeing Beth Mathison, she had been on his mind all day. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He hated that she was having such a hard time, losing her father and now it looked like she would lose her home. He had to find some way to make sure that didn't happen.

As he rode up he saw Isaiah step out of the barn, he rode up to him and got off of Bossy. Isaiah takes the rains and says. "I will take care of her Mr. Jeb. Miss Beth said when you got here, for you to come to the house she is keeping dinner for you." Jeb smiled. "Thank you, Isaiah." Jeb follows him into the barn. "There is something I need to talk to you about Isaiah." Isaiah pulls Bossy's saddle off and turns to Jeb. "Yes sir," Isaiah says. Jeb then looks at him and says. "I talked to Buck Logan about your wife and son." Isaiah's eyes lit up. "Did you see them? Are they ok?" he says. Jeb shakes his head. "No, I didn't see them. "I tried to get Logan to sell them to me. I offered him more than he paid for them. He said no. I offered to sell you to him. He said he didn't need you. I told him to keep the family together I would give you to him at no cost. He again said no. But as I was leaving he offered to let you come visit Sunday as long as there were no problems." Isaiah nods his head, obviously disappointed. "Thank you, Mr. Jeb, at least I will get to see them." Jeb pats Isaiah on the shoulder and says. "I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep trying to work something out, just give me some time." "Thank you," Isaiah says

Jeb walks across to the house and Beth Mathison meets him at the door. "I thought I heard you ride up. Come In, I have been keeping dinner warm for you." Jeb smiles and walks in and takes his cowboy hat off and hangs it on the coat rack on the wall. "Thank you, But you shouldn't have gone to any trouble." She smiles at him. "No trouble at all Jeb." He walks over and sets down at the table and she brings him a plate. He looks up at her. "It looks good." He picks up his knife and fork and starts to cut up his meat when he hears her clear her throat. He looks up at her and she clears her throat again. "Oh yes." He said. They both then bow their heads and Jeb says. "Please bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. Please lead, guide, and protect us, these are the blessings we ask through christ. Amen.

She smiles at him and he smiles back. Jeb starts eating and after a moment her smile disappears and she asks. "Did you find out anything about who killed my father?" Jeb swallows his bite of food and turns to her. "I talked to Edward Kingsworth, he is a very hard cold man. He didn't tell me anything to make me think that he killed your father. But it's early in the investigation. If he was involved it was most likely one of his men that did it. If that's the case, they're most likely going to talk, and that's where I will get him."

"I also talked to Buck Logan. He is not going to hold off long on his conflict with Kingsworth over the dammed-up creek. He also wouldn't work with me on Isaiah's family. But he is going to let them visit." She looks over at him. "That's good. Better than nothing." She says. Jeb nods. "Well, I'm not giving up on that yet."

She reaches over and takes his hand. "I know you will keep trying." he squeezes her hand and says. "Then there was the big thing that happened. We found Jason Fuller dead. It was made to look like Comanche, did it. But I found a boot print with the same damaged heel that I found here. The same person that killed your father killed Jason Fuller."

He looked up at Beth and saw tears running down her face. He put his arm around her. "I didn't mean to upset you." She looks up at him and says. "It's just who would do this? Kill my Father a God-loving man and Mr. Fuller, he kept himself never hurt anybody. I just don't understand." He looked down at her and wiped away her tears with his thumb. Even crying she was beautiful. He so wanted to kiss her. Then he was angry at himself for even having that thought. She was upset and hurting, she needed him, but not in that way. He had to put that out of his mind. She laid her head on his shoulder and he held her for a few moments.

After she pulled back away from him, he finished eating his dinner. He smiled at her. "It was very good. Thank you." She smiled back at him. "Your welcome." She said. She pauses for a moment and then she says. "Will Bradly Is bringing Father back out here tomorrow to bury, Isaiah was so kind to dig the grave for me out by the old oak tree. Pastor Shaw is coming out to say a few words. I would like very much for you to come?" Jeb nods. "Of course I will be there." She smiled "Thank you." She said as the smile faded away and her eyes welled up with tears again. "I'm sure the Bank will be foreclosing soon. I am not sure what to do. Even if I could find a way to pay the note. There is no way I can run this ranch by myself. I have some family back in Alabama, maybe I will move there." He took her hand. "Try not to worry. Things have a way of working out with God's help. Just pray and have faith.

He squeezed her hand and stood up. "Thank you for dinner. Get some rest." She stood up and picked up his plate. "Good night Jeb." He turned and walked out the front door and stopped on the porch and looked up at the stars. Somehow he was going to find a way to help her.

CHAPTER 8

Jeb sits up in bed and throws the covers back and puts his legs over the side of the bed, he rubs his face. He had tossed and turned for hours before he went to sleep and now he was already awake. It was still very dark outside. He got up and walked over to the dresser and took a match out of the box and lit the lamp. He picked up his pocket watch and popped it open. It was 4:30 am. No wonder it was still dark outside. He closed the watch. It was a very nice gold watch that he had won in a poker game. He poured some water out of a picture into a large bowl and washed his face. Walking over to a chair he put his pants, socks, and boots on. He pulls his suspenders up over his bare shoulders. He picks up the lamp and walks out into the main room. He can hear Isaiah snoring. He smiles and chuckles to himself, at least one of them could get some sleep.

He opens the front door and walks outside, it's a warm night and he was hoping it was cooler outside. He pulls up a chair on the porch and sets down. He is going to have a busy day today, but it is going to be hours before the sun comes up. He looks across at the main house and sees something and he stands up to look. He sees Beth Mathison setting on her front porch. She smiles when she sees him and raises her coffee cup up and waves for him to come over. He smiles back at her and starts walking across to the main house. When he gets about halfway across, he sees Beth's eyes get big as she looks at him. It's at that time that he realizes that he doesn't have a shirt on.

He quickly turns around and returns to the bunkhouse and puts his shirt on and pulls his suspenders up and heads back out to find Beth laughing at him and he pulls up a chair and sets down. She hands him a cup of coffee that she had gotten for him while he was getting his shirt. He takes the cup and says. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect to run into anybody this time of the morning." She sets back in her chair. "It's quite alright." He looks over at her, "So what are you doing up this time of the morning?" he asks. She takes a sip of coffee and says. "I have been having a hard time sleeping lately." He takes a sip of his coffee and says. "I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep."

She turns to him. "How did you get that scar on your shoulder?" He reaches up and touches his shoulder and feels the scar under his shirt. He looks down, not sure what to say. He then looks back up at her and says. "I got shot." She takes a sip of her coffee. "I see." She says. "Does that happen often in your line of work?" He sets back in his chair. "No. As a matter of fact, it's the only time it has happened." She turns her head to him and smiles. "Well, that's good." She says. "Have you shot many people? She asks. Jeb nods. "Yes I have used my gun, and yes I have shot people." Jeb then takes his finger and taps it on the side of his head. "But I prefer to use my head and think things through. I have this gift for remembering details, it comes in handy a lot." She nods and takes a sip of her coffee. "That's impressive," she says.

They sit and talk for the next two hours or so and watch the sun come up. Finishing their 2nd cup of coffee, Jeb looks over and sees Isaiah come out of the bunkhouse. Beth stands up. "I guess I should get breakfast ready, You and Isaiah come over in about 30 minutes." Jeb stands up. "Yes thank you. I enjoyed visiting with you." She smiles at him. "As did I." She says, turning to go into the house.

Jeb walks across to the bunkhouse and meets Isaiah. "It's not what you think," Jeb says. Isaiah looks down at the ground. "Oh Mr. Jeb, I was not thinking anything!" Jeb smiles and slaps Isaiah on the shoulder. "Well, what you were not thinking. It wasn't." Jeb then walks back into the bunkhouse and Isaiah shakes his head and gives a small smile as he walks to the stable.

Jeb put on his nicer shirt and Isaiah tended to Bossy and the other animals in the stable. They then walked over and ate breakfast with Beth. She was an amazing cook. They heard a wagon outside and Beth looked to see Will Bradley and Pastor Shaw, With the wooden coffin of Paul Mathison in the back. Beth, who is visibly shaken by the sight of her father's coffin asks Jeb. "Can you show them to the gravesite? I'm going to go get ready." "Yes, of cores," Jeb says. Beth turns and walks to her room, trying hard to hold back tears.

Jeb and Isaiah meet them outside and they take the coffin over to the gravesite and unload it. When they are done Jeb notices people from town riding in on horseback and wagons. It's then that Jeb sees Edward Kingsworth come riding in along with his son, Alan Kingsworth, and his son in law Duke Long. Jeb watches them closely as they get off their horses and walk over to Beth Mathison and offer their condolences. He can't hear what is said, but he can see that Beth greets Edward Kingsworth very coldly, only saying a few words to him and his son Alan. When she gets to Duke Long she smiles and warmly greets him. He had been Paul Mathison's foreman before going to work at the Kingsworth Ranch.

Everybody starts moving toward the gravesite. It's now the Jeb sees Buck Logan getting off his horse. Jeb walks over and stands next to Beth Mathison while Pastor Shaw speaks some words over Paul Mathison's coffin and closes with a prayer. Beth takes Jeb's hand as she weeps.

People start moving away and Beth starts walking toward the house. Jeb starts walking with her when he notices that Buck Logan is heading toward Edward Kingsworth. Jeb knows this could get out of hand quickly. Jeb whispers in Beth's ear. "I have to head off a problem." She looks at him confused, but then she sees Logan and Kingsworth and knows what he is talking about.

Jeb looks over and also sees Sheriff Rusty Brown also heading toward them. Walking up Jeb could hear Logan say. "You better open that dam up and let that water out or I am going to do It for you!" Kingsworth turns red in the face and starts coughing hard. When he catches his breath he looks at Logan and says. "Like hell, you will!" Kingsworth starts coughing again and his Son Alan grabs his father by the arm and tries to turn him away. Logan then loudly shouts, "I will see you dead if that's what it takes Edward!"

As Alan Kingsworth leads his father away, Sheriff Brown says to Jeb. "What are we going to do now?" Jeb turns to him and says. "First I'm going to ride into town and telegraph Captain Duncan and try to get some help. Then we got to get the two of them together and work out some kind of a peaceful resolution."

Jeb saddles up Bossy and rides back into town with Sheriff Brown. Jeb goes straight to the telegraph office and steps down off of Bossy and goes inside. A man comes out of the back and says. "Can I help you?" The man asks. Jeb picks up a pin and dips it in the ink and starts writing. He then says to the man, "I'm Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter. I need to send this to Texas Ranger Captain Paul Duncan in Waco Texas. Jeb hands the man the note. Jeb then writes out the 2nd note and hands it to the man. "I need to send this to Rose Porter in Dallas Texas. The man takes the 2nd note and reads it. "I will get these out as soon as I can. We have a line down and I got a man out working on it now." Jeb reaches into his pocket and pulls out two gold dollars and puts it on the counter. "If you get a reply send it down to the Sheriff's Office." The man nods and says. "Sure thing Ranger Carter." "Thank you," Jeb says leaving the office.

Outside Jeb starts walking the few blocks to the Sheriff's Office, he whistles and Bossy follows him down there and stops at the water trough in front of the office. Jeb opens the door and goes inside and finds Sheriff Brown behind his desk and another man sweeping the floor. Brown looks up and Jeb and says. "Ranger Carter, this is my Deputy Tim Cooper." Cooper walks over and shakes hands with Jeb. "Nice to meet you, Ranger Carter." Jeb smiles. "Nice to meet you."

Jeb sits down across from Brown. "I sent a telegraph to Captain Duncan, hopefully, he can get us some help." Brown looks over at Jeb. "In the meantime. What are we going to do?" Jeb takes his cowboy hat off and puts it on the desk. "We get Kingsworth and Logan in the same room and keep them there till we get something worked out." Brown turns to Deputy Cooper and says. "Tim, ride out to the Kingsworth Ranch and ask Mr. Kingsworth if he can come in and talk to us in the morning at 10 am." Cooper nods. "Sure thing boss." Cooper turns and leaves. Brown turns back to Jeb. "Buck Logan is most likely still in town. He comes in and plays poker several nights a week, stays in one of the rooms over the saloon." Jeb stands up. "Well, I guess I will go find him. Maybe get in a poker game myself. It's a good way to get information on our murders.

Jeb gets up and leaves and as he walks down the street, he whistles and Bossy follows him down to the saloon. Inside he sees several poker tables full of players playing, He finds Buck Logan playing over in the corner. He goes to the bar and looks at the bartender and says. "Beer please." The bartender brings him a large glass of beer. "Thank you," Jeb says, dropping two bits on the counter.

Jeb turns and walks over to the table that Buck Logan is playing at. The table is full, this is obviously the high roller table. Logan looks at him. "Can I help you with something Ranger Carter?" "Yes," Jeb says. "I need you to come by the Sheriff's Office at 10 am in the morning." Logan looks up at him with an annoyed look on his face. "May I ask why?" Logan says. Jeb pauses for a moment and then says. "I need you to sit down with Edward Kingsworth and let's work something." Logan looks at his cards and says. "Unless it's Kingsworth taking out that dam and letting the water run free, there is nothing to talk about!" Jeb nods. "I would like for you to come anyway and let's talk." Logan looks up from his card. "Ok, I will come. But I'm not making any promises. Now, Ranger Carter, I would like to get back to my game." Jeb takes a drink from his beer. "Thank you, Mr. Logan."

Jeb walks back to the bar and drinks his beer. He watches Logan play poker. He is not as good a player as he thinks he is. He watches the other tables. Almost everybody in this room has some kind of tell on their game. Playing cards with these people would be easy pickings.

He gets up and goes outside and gets Bossy and takes her down to the stable where she can be fed, watered and made more comfortable. He then returns to the saloon and gets another beer. He still has most of the money he won in Waco before he came here. That would be enough to get started. He waited for a chair at a table to open up and then he walked over and said to the men at the table. "Is this chair open gentleman?" One of the men looks up at him. "Sure as long as you have the money you're willing to part with." Jeb smiles and sets down.

For the next few hours of playing poker, he won a little over 200 dollars. Several players had come and gone. A big part of his game came from reading the other players, knowing when they had a good hand and when they were bluffing. A young cowboy had sat down at the table a few hands ago and Jeb had been watching him. He didn't want to say anything till he was sure. But now he was. He turned to the cowboy and asked. "What was your name?" The cowboy looked at him nervously. "Chris Wells." Jeb picked up the deck of cards, it was his turn to deal. He looks back at Wells. "Mr. Wells, You need to pick up your money and leave." Wells sets back in his chair and gives Jeb a hard look." "What the hell do you mean?" Jeb just looks down at the deck of cards in his hand. "Your cheating! Take your money and go." Wells frowns. "That's a damn lie!" Wells says. " Jeb hands the deck of cards in his hand to the player to his left. "Count the cards please." The man takes the deck of cards and starts counting them. When he is done, he says. "49 cards." Jeb shakes his head. "Last I heard a deck has 52 cards." Jeb quickly reaches over and grabs Wells by the wrist and twists his arm around. 3 cards come popping out of his shirt sleeve. Wells tries to throw a punch but Jeb is quicker and hits him right in the teeth with his left fist. Well falls back out of his chair to the floor. Wells then reaches for his gun but again Jeb is faster drawing his gun and pointing it right at Wells on the floor. "Drop it!" Jeb says. Wells lets his gun fall to the floor and Jeb kicks it away. "Get up," Jeb says. Wells pulls himself to his feet. Jeb puts his gun away. He gives Wells a cold look. "You're going to get out of here and you're going to stay out of this saloon. Understand?" Wells nods and says. "Yes." He starts walking toward his gun and Jeb says. "I'm going to hold on to that for now. You can pick it up at the Sheriff's Office." Wells doesn't say anything else, he just turns and leaves. Jeb walks over and picks the gun up.

Buck Logan had been watching from his corner table. He yells over at Jeb. "Ranger Carter, Well played, I don't have any use for card cheats. We have an empty chair. Come play with us." Jeb walks over and sets down. "This table may be a little rich for my blood, but it will give it a go.

For the next few hours, they play and Jeb wins several big hands. Jeb sits there looking at his cards. Everybody had bet big in the opening round of this hand. Jeb took two cards. Logan dealt him two and Jeb looked at them. Jeb pushed all his chips out on the table. "That will be 800 dollars." Three of the other players threw down their cards and folded. Logan took a long hard look at Jeb. "Your bluffing Carter!" Jeb looked at him. "No, I'm not. But It's going to cost you to find out." Logan then counted out the 800 dollars worth of chips and put them in the pot. Then he counted out another 200 and put that in. "I will see you and raise you 200." Jeb looked back at his hand and then over at Logan. Logan then says. "I see you're a little short. I tell you what I will do. Your throw in the fine horse of yours and we will call it even." Jeb looks at him and smiles. Bossy is worth a lot more than that. Tell you what I will do. I will throw in Bossy and you throw in your slave Gin and her son." Logan reaches into his pocket and pulls a piece of paper and writes out a bill of sale for Gin and her son. He throws it into the pot and says. "It's a good thing I want that damn horse." Jeb writes out a bill of sale for Bossy and puts it in the pot.

Logan then smiles as he lays down his cards, three queens and two jacks, a full house. "Logan smiles big. "That horse is going to be the centerpiece of Logan Ranch." Jeb then lays down his cards. "I don't think so, Mr. Logan." Jeb cards are four Kings and Ace high. Logan looks at it in disbelief. "You had a hand that can't be beaten. The only thing that beats four Kings is four Aces, You had an Ace so you knew that hand was not in play." Logan shakes his head. "You never really risk that horse." Jeb pulls the notes and chips over to him. "No, I would have never risked Bossy for any amount of money." Logan stands up. "You can pick up Gin when you come to visit on Sunday if that is alright?" Jeb nods. "That will be fine Mr. Logan. I will see you in the Sheriff's Office at 10 am." Logan starts walking off. "I will be there Ranger Carter."

Jeb cashed in his chips and walked out of the saloon with a lot more money than he had when he came in there. He didn't pick up much information on Edward Kingsworth, People in town were careful what they said about him. But the most important thing that he had accomplished was getting Isaiah's family back together. In the short time, they had known each other Jeb had found Isaiah to be a loyal friend. That is how he thought of him, not as a slave but as a friend. He couldn't wait to get back to the Mathison place to tell Isaiah that his family would be soon back together.

CHAPTER 9

Jeb rode into the Mathison Ranch and looked around and didn't see anybody. Beth was most likely working on dinner and Isaiah might have ridden out to check on the stock.

He stepped down off of Bossy and walked her into the stable. He pulled the saddle and bridle off of her and put them away. He picked up the brush and walked back to her and brushed her down good. Bossy loved a good brushing. When he was down he walked down to the stall and opened it up and went inside and placed her some hay in the rack and some grain in the trough. As she ate he patted her on the neck as he turned and left the stall closing it behind him.

As he walked through the stall two men jumped out and each grabbed him by his arms. He tried to reach for his gun, but the men pulled his arms behind his back. A third man came out of the shadows and walked up to Jeb and hit him hard in the gut. Jeb bent over in pain. One of the men held him while the other tied his hands behind his back. Jeb raises his head and looks at the man who hit him. "Who the fuck are you?" Jeb asks. The man walks up to him and says. "You don't need to be talking, just listen." The man stuck a rag in Jeb's mouth. He then hit Jeb with a right and left to the face and then one more to the gut. The man stopped and said. "Ok, now that I have your attention. You need to leave town. Right now and don't come back." The man then hits him with a right and left to the face again. Jeb can feel the blood running from his nose. The man then lifts Jeb's head up and looks him in the eye. "Do you fucking understand me?" the man then takes the rag out of Jeb's mouth. Jeb spits blood out of his mouth and he looks at the man and whistles.

Jeb then hears the latch on Bossy's stall open. The man holding Jeb's left arm looks up to see Bossy charging through the stable hitting the man knocking him to the ground. About that time Ringo comes running into the stable growling and baring teeth and grabs the man holding Jeb's right arm. Jeb falls to his knees and tries to free his hands. The man that had hit Jeb looks and sees Bossy pawing at the man on the ground and Ringo all over the other man and he turns and starts running toward the door, as he goes through the door, he comes stumbling backward and falls onto his back senseless. Jeb looks to see Isaiah come through the door with his right hand made into a fisk.

Isaiah walks over and takes the ropes off of Jeb. "You alright Mr. Jeb?" Jeb nods as he stands up. The man that Ringo is on is yelling. "Get him off of me!" Jeb whistles again and Ringo backs off but is still growling and baring teeth. Bossy steps back from over the other man and settles down.

Jeb wipes the blood from his face and draws his gun and points it at the two men. Jeb hands Isaiah the rope they had used to tie him up with and says. "Cut this in half and tie them up with it." Isaiah takes the rope and cuts it in half and ties them both up with it. Jeb then says to the men. "Set down." They set down against the wall. Isaiah turns and looks at the man laying on the ground, who is starting to move. "What about him? Mr. Jeb." Jeb glances that way and says. "Find some more rope and tie him up too."

Jeb walks over to the two men who are both in a lot of pain. He sees a hoof mark on the man's shirt. Jeb spits blood again and says. "Looks like Bossy got you good." Jeb reaches down and pulls the man's shirt back. His shoulder was red and bruised and bleeding. The man winces in pain. "The damn horse stepped on me," he says. Jeb nods. "Yes, it looks like it." Jeb moves over to the other man. The shirt sleeve on his left arm is red with blood. Jeb grabs the shirt on the shoulder and rips it down. Exposing several deep bite marks and cuts. Jeb shakes his head. "Looks like Ringo did some damage to you too." The man cries out in pain. "I need a doctor." He says. Jeb frowns. "A doctor! Were you going to get me a doctor?" Jeb says. Isaiah drags the other man over and sets him down beside the others. Jeb looked at him, the whole left side of his head was swollen and his eye was getting black. You don't look so good. Jeb says.

Jeb then stands up and faces the three men. "Ok," Jeb says. "I'm going to ask this one time. Who sent you?" There was a moment of silence and then the men looked at each other and the one with the dog bites says. "Fuck you! I need a doctor," Jeb looks over at Isaiah and then back at the other two men. "So the two of you got anything to say?" The man with the swollen face shakes his head no. The man in the middle says. "He will kill us if we talk!" Jeb shakes his head. "I see," Jeb says. "What makes you think I won't kill you?" The three men look at each other with fear in their eyes but say nothing.

"Well," Jeb says. "I tried to work this out the easy way. But now you're going to make me use more extreme measures. Jeb looks over at Isaiah and says. "Keep an eye on them for a few minutes." Isaiah nods and says. "Yes sir, Mr. Jeb."

Jeb walks out of the stable and down to the smokehouse and gets three pieces of meat and then returns to the stable. He stands in front of the three men, he then drops one piece of meat in each of their laps. The three men look at each other confused. Jeb then whistles, Incomes Ringo, who is standing in front of the three men growling and baring teeth. The three men's eyes get big as you can see the fear come into their eyes. Jeb looks at them and says. "Ringo is hungry and he likes smoked meat. But he is trained well and he won't eat until I give him the command. So now, who are you working for?" Ringo growls and moves closer. The men look at each other and the man on the end says, "No! Keep that dog back!" Jeb frowns. "Well tell me what I need to know!" The man pushes back to the wall as Ringo gets closer. "Ok, I will tell you!" Jeb looks over at Ringo. "Down Ringo." Ringo takes three steps back and lays down.

The man looks up at Jeb. "Kingsworth, We were working for Edward Kingsworth. He paid us to run you off. He said not to kill you but give you a clear message to leave town." Jeb smiles. "Now was that so hard?" Jeb takes out his knife and walks over and stabs the meat in their laps and drops it in front of Ringo, Who happily eats it up.

Jeb looks at them. "Ok, I just got one more thing to do." He walks over and lifts each of there right legs up and looks at the heel of there boots. None of them has a damaged heel. He then picks up their guns and dumps out the load and puts an empty gun back in their holsters. "Ok, this is what's going to happen. I'm assuming you have horses stashed someplace around here. You're going to get on your horses and ride into town and let Doc patch you up. Then you're going to leave Fairfield and Freestone County and not come back. Do you understand?" The three men nod. Isaiah helps them to their feet and cuts the rope. They leave the stable and Jeb and Isaiah watch them as they walk off.

Isaiah turns to Jeb. "Are you alright Mr. Jeb." Jeb's head is pounding and his chest and ribs are sore. "Yes, I'm fine." He says as he starts walking toward the main house. Jeb knocks on the door before going inside. They walk around to the kitchen area. Beth hears them coming and says. "I was just fixing to come to get yall. Dinner is ready." She looks up at Jeb and is shocked. "Oh my gosh, what happened to you?" She asks. Jeb pulls out a chair and sets down. He is feeling light-headed but doesn't want Beth to know that. "Some of Edward Kingsworth's men tried to convince me to leave town." Beth runs and gets a rag and gets it wet in some cool water and comes back and washes the dried blood from his face. "That Edward Kingsworth is an evil man!" she says. Jeb tries to smile. "Well, I won't argue that point," Jeb says. After she finishes wiping the blood away. "Are you hurt any place else?" She asks. "Ribs." He says. She looks down at his bloody shirt. "Take your shirt off." Jeb unbuttons his shirt and takes it off. She is shocked to see bruising on his upper body.

She turns to Isaiah and says. "Isaiah, ride into town and get Doc Porter." Jeb shakes his head. "No. Thank you, Beth. But I will be fine." She looks at him. "You most certainly are not fine." She gets another wet rag and wipes it over his face again. The cool rag dose feels good. He smiles. "Thank you." He says. She looks at him. "Are you sure you don't need the doctor?" he nods. "Yes, I'm sure. But that dinner smells good."

She steps back. And looks over at Isaiah. "Set down Isaiah, I will get you a plate." She says. Isaiah pulls out a chair and sets down and Beth goes into the kitchen.

Beth returns and sets them each a plate. Jeb looks it over. It looks so good. Steak and potatoes and bread, It just didn't get any better than that. Beth was such a good cook. He hoped he would be able to eat with his mouth and jaw sore. He picked up his knife and started to cut his meat when Beth cleared her throat. He stopped and picked up on her cue to say grace. He reached over and took her hand. "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless this food to the nourishment of our body. Please lead, guide, and protect us. These are the blessings we ask through christ. Amen.

They all started eating when Jeb remembered the news he had forgotten with all that had happened. He smiled big as he looked over at Isaiah. "Isaiah, when we go visit your family Sunday. We are going to bring them back with us. I managed to get control of them. So you will all be back together." Isaiah's eyes got big with excitement. "Oh thank you, Mr. Jeb, Thank you so much." Isaiah is overcome with emotion and fighting back tears. He stands up and reaches to hug Jeb but thinks better of it and stops. Jeb stands up and opens his arms up. "Come on with it," he says. Isaiah gives him an awkward hug. "Thank you so much," Isaiah says as they set back down.

Beth is smiling ear to ear. She says. "That is great. How did you pull that off? I thought Mr. Logan had refused to sell them. Jeb looks at Beth, knowing he is going to have to come clean about how he acquired them. "Well," Jeb said. "He didn't want to sell them." Beth looks back at him confused. "Well, how did you get them? She asks. He pauses for a moment. He knew she was going to ask that. "I won them in a poker game." He looks over at her. She was no longer smiling. "Oh Jeb, you didn't?' She says. Jeb swallows a bite of his stake. Trying to stall for time to think of what to say. He looks over at her. "It was the only way Beth, I played till I had a hand that he couldn't beat." She reaches over and puts her hand on his arm. "I guess God was looking out for you. It all worked out in the end." He smiles back at her. "Thank you," he says.

Isaiah stands up. "Well, I don't care how you did it. I will have my family again. Thank you, Mr. Jeb." Isaiah said. Jeb looks up at him. "Your welcome," he says. Isaiah turns to Beth. "Dinner was good Miss Beth. I'm going to head to bed now, Good night." Beth gets up and picks up the plates. "Good night Isaiah."

Beth returns with a cup of coffee for Jeb and her. "Thank you," Jeb says as she hands him his cup. She sits down next to him and takes a sip of coffee. "Will you hook up the buggy for me in the morning? I need to go to town." She asks. Jeb takes a sip of his coffee. "Yes." He says. "I have a meeting with Kingsworth and Logan at 10 am. I'm going to try one more time to talk some sense into them." She takes a sip and nods. "Good luck with that. I'm going to go see Kyle Lambert, see how long I have before I get evicted. Then I'm going to telegraph my uncle in Alabama and see if I can come to stay with him for a while." Beth lowers her head and fights back tears. Jeb takes her hand. "I want to talk to Lambert too. I have come into some money. I'm sure we can work something out with him." She smiles. "Thank you, Jeb, but I can't ask you to do that." he squeezes her hand. "You're not asking, I want to do it." She lays her head on his shoulder. "I know you do. But it's still not right." He smiles. "Well right or wrong, I'm still going to talk to him about it."

Jeb stands up. "Looks like we both have a big day tomorrow, we better get some sleep. She stands up and hugs him. "Good night Jeb."

CHAPTER 10

They all got up early the next morning. Beth cooked a great breakfast. After they ate Jeb and Isaiah hooked up the buggy for Beth and pulled it up in front of the house. Beth came out wearing a beautiful blue dress, she had her hair pulled back in a bun and had a matching bluebonnet on. She took Jeb's hand and he helped her up into the buggy. He steps up behind her and takes the reins. Isaiah steps up on 'Bossy and they head to town.

Pulling up in front of the bank at about 9 am, Jeb gets out of the buggy and helps Beth down. He turns to Isaiah. "Take the buggy and Bossy down to the stable if you don't mind. I will meet you back at the Sheriff"s office." Isaiah nods and says. "Yes sir, Mr. Jeb." as he ties Bossy to the back of the buggy and then gets in the buggy and heads down the street.

Jeb and Beth walk up to the door of the Bank and Jeb opens the door and holds it for Beth to walk in. They look over and see Kyle Lambert working at his desk. They walk over and he looks up. "Miss Mathison and Ranger Carter, good to see you. Please have a seat." Jeb and Beth take the two seats in front of his desk. He looks over at Beth and smiles. "I'm glad you came in, Miss Mathison, it will save me a trip out to see you." He reaches in his desk and pulls out some papers and hands them to her. She takes the papers and glances at them. "What is this?" She asks. He looks over at her. "It's an eviction notice. You have five days to be off the place." She lowers her head and looks over the papers. She looks back up at him. "If I had a little more time, I could come up with some money?" She asks. "He frowns and shakes his head. "I had already talked to your father about this, I can't give you any more time." She looks up with anger in her eyes. "My father is dead! He can't very well come up with the money now! I'm asking you to give me more time!" He looks over at her. "I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Mathison. But your name was not on the note. I'm very sorry."

Jeb looks over at Lambert and says. "What if I bought the note or I just bought the place from the bank?" Lambert looks back at Jeb. "One of our stockholders has a right of first refusal on the place. I'm sure he will be exercising his option as soon as the paperwork is finished." Jeb frowns. "Let me guess, Your stockholder is Edward Kingsworth?" Lambert sets back in his chair. "I'm afraid I can't give out that information." Jeb and Beth stand up. Jeb looks back at Lambert. "I can see how things work around here." They start walking toward the door. Lambert smiles and says. "It's just business, Mr. Carter."

Jeb opens the door for Beth and they walk outside. Beth turns to Jeb. "I'm going to go telegraph my uncle and then head home and start packing up my stuff. I won't have room to take much." Jeb takes her hand. "Don't give up yet. Things still might work out." She smiles. "Thank you, Jeb, for everything you have done, but it sounds really final." he squeezes her hand. "Get Isaiah to drive you back. I may be late, But don't give up yet," he says. She smiles and gives him a brief hug and starts walking toward the telegraph office.

He watches her walk away and thinks. I have got to find some way to help her. I know there has to be away. I just have to find it. He turned and walked down to the Sheriff's Office. Inside he found Sheriff Rusty Brown setting behind his desk and Deputy Tim Cooper sweeping the floor. They both looked up when Jeb walked in, Brown says. "Morning Ranger Carter." Jeb sits down and says, "Morning Sheriff." Cooper hands Jeb a cup of coffee. Jeb takes it and looks back and says. "Thank you, Tim."

Jeb takes a sip and looks at Brown. "Have you heard from either one of them? It's almost time." Brown shakes his head. "No not a word yet." About that time the door opened and in walked Buck Logan. Both Jeb and Sheriff Brown stand up and shake hands with Logan. "Thank you for coming Mr. Logan. Have a seat." Jeb said. Logan looks over at both men and says. "I'm sure this won't take long." Tim hands Logan a cup of coffee. "Thank you, son," Logan says to Tim. Brown takes a sip of coffee and says to Logan. "We want to get something worked out. We don't want anybody to get hurt." Logan sets down. "I don't see any way around that now Sheriff," says Logan.

They hear the front door open and they all look up to see Edward Kingsworth walk in using a cane to steady himself. He looks pale. His son Alan Kingsworth came in after him. Jeb, Sheriff Brown, and Buck Logan all stand up. "Thank you for coming Mr. Kingsworth," Jeb said. Your men that you sent to run me out of town will not be coming back." Kingsworth gives him a confused look. "I don't know what you're talking about." Jeb takes a step toward him. "Ok, If that's how you want to play it. That's not really why we are here anyway." Kingsworth coughs hard, he covers his mouth with a white handkerchief. He then angrily says. "Then why are we here Ranger Carter?"

Jeb looks at both Kingsworth and Logan and then says. "We want to get something worked out, on that dammed creek. Kingsworth frowns. "There is nothing to work out! The creek crosses my property. The water is mine, the dam is mine. There is nothing for us to talk about." Logan coldly looks Kingsworth in the eye and says. "We will see about that, Edward. My patience has run out!"

The door to the office opens and Edward Kingsworth's son in law Duke Long rushes in and up to Kingsworth and says. "Logan's men blew the dam this morning. Gary Harris was standing watch, they killed him." Edward Kingsworth turns to Buck Logan. "How dare you! Harris was a good man." Logan looks over at Sheriff Brown. "Sheriff, I will have you know that I had nothing to do with this!"

Jeb gets between Kingsworth and Logan, he looks at Long and asks. "Did anybody see what happened?" Long shakes his head. "We heard the explosion and rode out and found the dam destroyed and Harris dead. Who else could it be?" Jeb looks around the room at everybody. "Ok, the Sheriff and I are going to check this out. We don't need to jump to any conclusions." Edward Kingsworth looked over at Buck Logan and started to speak but started coughing hard. Alan Kingsworth steps in. "Let's get you home Father." They start walking toward the door. Duke Long points his finger at Logan. "There will be hell to pay," he says. Logan stares back. "I will see you and your whole family in hell, Edward!"

They all go outside, Kingsworth and his son go in one direction and Logan in the other. Duke Long takes the horse that has Gary Harris's body tied across it and starts leading it away. "Hold up," Jeb says. Long stops and looks at Jeb. Jeb and Sheriff Brown walk over to the body. Jeb looks at it and turns to Brown. "He has been shot in the back, at close range. Jeb takes Harris' gun out of its holster and smells it, he opens it up and looks at the load. "This gun has not been fired." He puts it back in the holster. Long starts leading him away.

Jeb turns to Brown, something is not right about this. We need to ride out to that Dam and look around. Jeb walks down to the stable and gets Bossy and rides back and meets Sheriff Brown and they ride out to the Kingsworth Ranch where the creek had been Damed. When they got there they could see where somebody had planted dynamite and blown a huge hole in the Dam. Water was now rushing through.

They saw a chair sitting under a shade tree overlooking the Dam. This must be where Gary Harris was watching. They rode up and dismounted. Jeb looked around. Brown looked at him and said. "Are you going to do that thing you do?" Jeb looked over his shoulder at Brown. "Yes," he said. He looked around some more and then said. "If men came from the Logan Ranch, Harris would have seen them coming from a long way off. Look at this." Jeb points to a rifle leaning up against a tree. "He never touched his rifle." Brown looks at the gun and then toward the Logan Ranch. "Your right," Brown said. Jeb turned and looked toward the Kingsworth Ranch. "Somebody rode up from behind him. Somebody he knew and trusted. That's why he didn't touch the rifle. Sheriff Brown nodded. "It's scary how you come up with this shit."

They walk over to the bank of the creek. Jeb looks around. "There is only one set of boot prints. This was the work of one man not a group of men, and look here." Jeb points to a boot print in some soft ground. He looks back at Brown. "A damaged right heel," Jeb says. Sheriff Brown looks at the boot print. "Well, I'll be damned. You're saying that the man that killed Gary Harris and blew up this Dam is the same man that killed Paul Mathison and Jason Fuller?" Jeb nods. "You're getting the hang of this. Yes, that's what I'm saying."

Thay saddle backs up on their horses, "So what do we do now?" Brown asks. Jeb shakes his head. "I don't know yet. We will never convince Kingsworth that Logan didn't do this. All hell could break loose any minute." They sit in silence for a few moments and then Jeb says. "We have to find this man with the damaged heel. He is our killer and master manipulator. He is the key to everything. Let's get back to town."

When they rode back into town, Sheriff Brown went back to his office and Jeb stopped off by the sable and fed and watered Bossy, after she was taken care of he walked down to the saloon. They were busy for the late afternoon. He walked up to the bar and took a stool. The bartender walked over to him and asked. "What can I get for you?" Jeb looked at him. "Beer Please." The bartender nodded and came back with a glass of beer. He took a drink and put the glass down.

Looking around the room he was surprised to see Buck Logan setting at a table in the corner playing cards. He watched them play for a while. Logan was winning, but he was not a very good player. When they took a break, Jeb walked over to Logan's table. Logan turned to him. "Ranger Carter, are you here to protect me or arrest me?" Jeb smiled and sat down. "I'm not here for either, right now." Logan smiles. "So what do I owe the pleasure?" Logan said. Jeb took a drink of his beer. "I was just surprised to see you here. I figured after what happened with Kingsworth and the Dam you would be laying low." Logan picks up a deck of cards and starts shuffling them and says. "I had nothing to do with blowing that Dam." Jeb takes another drink of beer. "Well, I believe you. But you're going to have a hard time convincing Kingsworth of that." Logan looks over at him. "Edward Kingsworth is a sick old man. He is not going to come after me." Jeb looks back at Logan. "Just how sick is he?" Jeb asks. Logan stops shuffling the card and says. "There was a time when we were friends. He told me over a year ago that he had some kind of lung disease, he told me the name of it but I don't remember. He said it was bad and they didn't expect him to live very long and that was a year ago. He is trying to build up his Ranch for his son Alan. I can respect that, but not at the cost of my Ranch."

The other men came back over to play some more cards. Jeb started to get up when Logan says. "Play a few hands with us, Ranger Carter." Jeb sat back in his chair. Well, he really didn't want to play. But he might get some information. Plus taking their money would be just too easy. He takes out his wallet and the bartender brings him some chips. "Deal me in," he said.

For the next several hours they played cards. One by one the other players dropped out till it was just Jeb and Logan. Logan takes a drink of his beer and says. "You are one hell of a poker player Carter! I would like to keep trying to get some of my money back. But I'm too tired and too drunk and you're too good. So I think I will call it a night." Jeb smiles. "Very well. We will play again soon." Jeb shakes Logan's hand. Logan stands up and says. "Oh, we will. You have too much of my money."

Jeb takes his chips to the bar and cashes them in. Well, again he had not got too much information but had won a lot of money. He looked over and saw sitting at a table in the corner Doc Porter he was leaning over a double whiskey nodding off. Jeb walked over and sat down. Doc looked up at him. "Ranger Carter, nice of you to join me. Can I buy you a drink?" Jeb had already drank more beer than he should, says. "No not tonight Doc." Doc picked up his drink and finished it. "Suit yourself," Doc says. He then looks over at Jeb. "I patched those men you sent me the other day. They would not say what happened but, from the dog bites and hoof prints and broken jaw I figured it had to have something to do with you." Jeb smiles. "Well Doc, They got what they had coming." Doc nods. "I'm sure they did."

Doc starts to get up and then sets back down. Jeb stands up and gets Doc by the arm. "Why don't you let me help you back to your place," Doc says nothing and let Jeb help him to his feet. As they walk out the door Jeb asks. "Where do you live Doc?" They stop and Doc looks down the street. "I have a small house at the edge of town. But I just can't bear to sleep there without her. I have been sleeping in my office." Doc's office was just across the street so Jeb helped him over there.

Walking inside there was a small bed in the back. He helped Doc back there and laid him down. He took his shoes off and covered him up. "Get some rest Doc.," Jeb said as he was leaving.

Opening the door and stepping outside. Jeb heard a gunshot close by. He looked across the street, it was getting dark but he could see a silhouette of a man stumbling and falling to the ground at the corner of the saloon across the street. Jeb drew his gun and quickly looked around and didn't see anybody. He hurried across the street as the bartender was coming outside. Sheriff Brown also came rushing out of his office.

When Jeb reached the man he knelt down beside him. The man had been shot in the upper part of the back just below the neck. Sheriff Brown asks. "Anybody see anything?" As Jeb rolled the man over he said. "There was nobody close to him." Jeb felt for a pulse. "He's dead," Jeb said. The bartender brought a lamp closer so they could see his face. Jeb looked with shock and surprise "Its Alan Kingsworth!" he said. Brown looks around "Aw hell, where did the shot come from?" Jeb took the lamp and got a closer look at the exit wound. He turns to Brown. "The exit is lower than the entrance wound, which means he was shot from a downward angle. Jeb stands up and looks around. "That window above the saloon. That's where the shot came from."

Jeb turns to the bartender. "Stay here with the body. Nobody touches anything." Jeb and Sheriff Brown run inside the saloon and up the stairs to the room that they rented out. Running down to the end they stop at the last door. "This is it," Jeb says. They both draw their guns. Jeb opens the door that is not locked and they go inside. There is a lamp burning on a table, they look around. The room is simple, just a bed and a dresser, and a chair set by the window. Jeb walks over and looks out the window. There is a clear line of sight to where the bartender is standing and the body on the ground. He looks over at Brown. "Shot came from here. Whoever killed him sat in this chair and waited" Brown walks over and looks out the window.

Jeb looks around the room and sees something on the floor next to the bed. He walks over and picks up a gun laying on the floor. Brown walks over to him. Jeb smells the gun. "It's been fired recently.' he says. looking closer at the gun Jeb see's the initials B.L. on the butt of the gun. Jeb and Brown look at each other for a moment then Jeb says. "Buck Logan."

CHAPTER 11

Jeb and Sheriff Brown stare at each other for a moment, then Jeb says. "I was just playing cards with Buck Logan about an hour ago. He was tired and very drunk." Brown takes the gun from Jeb and looks at it. "I know Logan sometimes stays in town when he is drinking and playing cards. He gets a room here above the saloon." Jeb takes the gun back and opens it up. "One round has been fired," Jeb said. He closes the gun and looks at Brown and says. "But why would he leave the gun here? A gun with his initials on it? Doesn't make any sense." Brown nods, "Didn't you say he was drunk? Maybe he dropped it?" Jeb shakes his head. "The Buck Logan I was playing cards with was too drunk to keep playing, much less to shoot anybody. I think this gun was planted here for us to find." Jeb said. Brown looks out the window at the body of Alan Kingsworth. "When Edward Kingsworth finds out about this all hell is going to break loose! So what do we do now?" Brown says. Jeb takes the gun and puts it in his belt behind his back. "We go find Buck Logan."

They walk out of the room and look down into the saloon. There is a young girl cleaning tables. Sheriff Brown shouts down to her. "What room is Buck Logan in?" He asks. She looks up at him and then walks over behind the bar and looks at a logbook. She looks up and says. "He is in room 8." She says. Brown looks back. "Thank you."

They walk down to room 8 and Jeb knocks on the door. There is no answer. He knocks again. Again no answer. Jeb tries the knob and the door opens. Walking inside the room is dark. But they can hear, snoring coming from the bed. Brown takes a match out of his pocket and strikes it. He finds a lamp and lights it.

They see Buck Logan laying on the bed fully clothed except his boots, snoring loudly. They walk over to the bed and Jeb shakes his shoulder several times. Logan slowly opens his eyes and looks up at them. "Carter! What the hell." Logan says. Jeb looks down at him. "Mr. Logan, we need to talk to you." Logan frowns and sets up in bed and swings his legs over the side. He holds his hands to his head. "The room is spinning," Logan says.

Jeb pulls the gun they found out of his belt and shows it to Logan. "Is this your gun?" Jeb asked. Logan looks at it and tries to make his eyes focus. "Yes, that's my gun. How did you get it?" Jeb hands the gun to Sheriff Brown. He picks up Logan's right arm, raises it up to his face and smells. Logan looks up at Brown. "What the hell is he doing?" Brown's eyes get big with a confused look on his face, shrugs his shoulders. Jeb puts Logan's arm down. "I was smelling for gunpowder on your sleeve," Jeb says. He turns back to Brown. "If he had fired a gun in the last hour there would have been gunpowder on his sleeve. I don't smell any." Logan frowns. "How did you get my gun?" he asks. Jeb looks at Brown and the back at Logan. "We found it in one of the front rooms facing the street. It's been fired recently. We believe it was used to kill Alan Kingsworth." Logan gets a shocked look on his face and says. Alan is dead?" he asks. Jeb shakes his head. "Yes, killed with your gun. Right down the hall to where you are. The same day that you blew up the Dam and threatened Edward Kingsworth and his family." Logan's eyes get big and he holds out his hands. "I didn't blow that Dam and I certainly didn't kill Alan Kingsworth, I liked Alan. I know, I made threats this morning, but I didn't mean it." Logan says. Jeb takes the gun from Brown and puts it behind his back in his belt. "So how did your gun get in that room?" Logan gives him a confused look and says. "That gun stays in the desk drawer in my office. I never take it out and never use it. I have no idea how it got there."

"Ok," Jeb says. "Let's go downstairs and get some coffee in you." Jeb reaches down and picks up Logan's boots. He looks at the right heel before handing them to Logan. No damage. Logan puts on his boots and they head downstairs to the saloon. Jeb can tell that Logan is still drunk. He walks Logan over to a chair in the corner. "Set down, I will get you some coffee." Logan sits down and Jeb starts toward the bar and motions for Brown to come with him. "Can I get some coffee black," Jeb says to the girl now working behind the bar. There are not many people in the saloon now. Most are probably outside gawking at the body.

Jeb turns to Brown. "I don't think he did it." Brown gives him a surprised look and says. "Why not? The gun is his, he was in the area, he threatened the Kingsworth family, that gives him a motive." Jeb nods. "I know all that. But there was no gun powder on his sleeve, and look at him, he is too drunk to shoot anybody." Brown's eyes get big. "Well, it doesn't matter what we think. Edward Kingsworth will think he did it. So if it was somebody else, we better figure it out and fast."

Jeb turns and starts toward the door. "I'm going to look at the body again. Get some coffee in him." outside Jeb sees a crowd around the body. Making his way through he sees the bartender standing by him. He looks at Jeb. "I did as you ask, nobody has touched him." "Thank you," Jeb says as he kneels down close to the body. He reached down and looked at his right boot heel. No damage. He rolls the body over on his back. There is a piece of paper in his vest pocket, he pulls it out and reads it, it says. Come to the saloon at 9, we need to talk. B.L. Jeb looked the note over and put it in his pocket. It looked to be a note from Buck Logan to get him to come here. It was more evidence that would make Buck Logan look guilty. But he had a feeling just like Paul Mathison, Jason Fuller, and Garry Harris this was not what it seemed to be.

Jeb stands up and looks at two of the men standing around. "Can you go get Will Bradley and get him to come over and get the body?" The two men nod. "Yes sir, right away." one of the men said. Jeb walks back into the saloon and over to the table that Sheriff Brown and Buck Logan were setting at. He took the note out of his pocket and showed it to Logan. "Did you write this and send it to Alan Kingsworth? Jeb asks. Logan takes a sip of his coffee and looks at it. "No! I didn't write that." Brown picks up the note and looks at it and then looks back up at Jeb but says nothing.

Jeb puts the note back in his pocket and says. "I'm going to take one more look around. He goes back upstairs to the room the shot was fired from, he looks around and walks over to the window that the shot was fired from. He has to think like the killer. He points his finger out the window like he was firing a gun, he then steps back and pretends to drop the gun, where he found it. He walks out of the room. He can't go down the front stairs into the saloon, too many people would see him, everybody in the saloon had heard the shot and were up moving. He walks down the balcony by the other rooms until he comes to the back stairs leading down to the back door. The killer could have come this way and nobody would have seen him. Going down the stairs to the door he pickles up a lamp by the door and goes outside. There is a hitching post next to the door. He sees fresh horse manure, so he knows a horse has been tied here. He bends down on one knee and looks. The ground is soft from a brief rain shower this morning. Then he sees it, a bootprint with a damaged heel. "The same man that had killed Paul Mathison and tried to make it look like an accident, and killed Jason Fuller and tried to make it look like a Comanche attract, and killed Gary Harris and blew the Dam and tried to made it look like Logan's men, had now killed Alan Kingsworth. He had to find this man.

Jeb walked through the back door Into the saloon, he looked over at Brown and Logan sitting at the table in the corner. Logan was still drinking coffee. Jeb walks over to the bar and motions to Brown to join him. Brown gets up and comes over to the bar. Jeb looks at him and says. "There's a boot print out back with a damaged heel." Brown looks at him surprised. "You mean the same guy that killed the others killed Alan Kingsworth?" Jeb nods. "Yes, that's what it looks like." Brown looks over at Logan. "So what are we going to do with him?" Brown asks. Jeb looks over at Logan and then back at Brown. "All the evidence points to him. We are going to have to arrest him. It's the only way we can protect him. You know Edward Kingsworth is going to come after him and probably get a lot of people killed in the crossfire."

They get up and walk over to the table that Buck Logan is setting at, Sheriff Brown looks down at Logan. "I'm sorry Buck, But you're going to have to come with us." Logan looks at him, the coffee has sobered him up some. "What for? Where are we going?" Logan says looking at both Brown and Jeb. Jeb then says. "Mr. Logan, All the evidence of Alan Kingsworth's death points to you. We are still looking into it. I'm not convinced you did it. But in the meantime, we are going to have to lock you up. In part for your own safety." Logan looks up angrily with bloodshot eyes. "I didn't do this! I didn't kill Alan!" Jeb nods and says. "I understand, but to a lot of people, it's going to look like you did. So for us to have time to get to the bottom of this, you are going to have to be locked up."

Brown grabs Logan's arm and helps him stand up and they all walk out of the saloon over to the jail. Inside they walk Logan to the back cell and open the door and Logan walks inside. Sheriff Brown closes the cell door and locks it. "I'm sorry Buck," Brown says. Logan sits down on the bunk. "Just find who did this, for me and Edward."

Brown walks back up to the front office and says to Jeb. "I will ride out to the Kingsworth Ranch in the morning and tell Edward, all hells going to break loose." Jeb pauses for a moment trying to think what to say. "I will ride out there with you, maybe we can talk him into letting us handle it and not doing anything stupid." Brown sits down behind his desk. "I hope you are right." Jeb moves toward the door. "I will be back before daylight."

Jeb walks down to the stable and gets Bossy and heads back to the Mathison place. The ride out there Jeb has time to think. What's going to be his next play. He has to find a way to buy himself enough time to find the real killer before Edward Kingsworth burns the town down.

Riding into the Mathison place he can see a light on in the main house, Beth is still up. She is probably wondering what happened to him. There is also a light in the bunkhouse. Isaiah is waiting up for him too.

He rides up to the stable and steps down off of Bossy and walks her inside. He pulls her saddle and bridle off and he picks up a brush and she follows him down to the last stall. He puts some hay, and feed out for her while he brushes her down. Bossy always loved a good brushing.

Jeb looked up to see Beth Mathison walk into the stable. "You have a long day?" She asks. He looks over at her and smiles. "You would not believe the day I have had." She walks over into the stall and pets Bossy. She looks at him with those gorgeous blue eyes and says. "I'm sorry, what all happened?" She asks. He stops brushing Bossy and turns to her and says. "Well after we left the bank I had a meeting with Edward Kingsworth and Buck Logan, the meeting did not go well and then we found out that some men had blown up the Dam on Kingsworth's place. This didn't sit well with Kingsworth, Logan made some threats. Just when you think things can't get worse, later that night somebody kills Alan Kingsworth and all the evidence points to Logan."

Beth's eyes get big and she puts her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh, Alan is dead?" Buck Logan killed him?" She says trying to hold back tears. Jeb puts his arm around her. "Yes, Alan is dead and all the evidence points to Logan, but I don't think he did it. I think he was set up. I think it is the same man that killed your father and the others." She looks up at him. "What are you going to do?" She asks. "I don't know yet. I'm riding out early in the morning to meet Edward Kingsworth and inform him that Alan is dead." She lays her head on his shoulder. I'm sure that's not going to go well." She says.

Jeb turns and closes Bossy's stall. He turns back to Beth, she looks at him and says. "I sent a telegraph to my uncle in Alabama. I told him that Popa had died and I was losing the Ranch. I'm sure he will invite me to come to live with them. I won't be able to take much. Jeb takes her hand. "I'm not giving up on things working out somehow," he said. She smiles. "I know you haven't, but you heard Mr. Lambert this morning. We are running out of time." He lowers his head and looks her in the eyes. "Don't give up on me." She nods.

He pulls her close and looks deeply into her eyes. He had wanted to kiss her since the day they met. It might be now or never. He slowly moved toward her lips giving her every chance to stop him. She didn't and when their lips met he held her tight and kissed her deep and hard. It was the most amazing kiss, he felt things he had not felt in a long time. She seemed to be feeling the same way. When they broke away she laid her head on his chest for a moment. When she pulled back they looked at each other awkwardly and then they both smiled and then she said. "I will have breakfast ready for you early in the morning." He smiled and said. "Thank you." She turned to leave and took a few steps and then turned back and walked back over to him and hugged him, it felt good to have his arms around her. "She then turned and walked toward the door. "Good night." She said as she left. "Good Night." He says.

Jeb just stood there for a few moments. He felt weak in the knees. He had never felt this way about any other woman. Somehow, someway, he had to work everything out before she left. Because he was falling in love with Beth Mathison.

CHAPTER 12

Jeb set up in bed and threw the covers back and sat on the side of the bed. He rubbed his face. Then he thought about what was going to happen today. He frowned, could he just crawl back into bed? Well, that was not going to happen. He was not having very much luck sleeping anyway. He got up and walked over to the dresser and picked up a match and struck it and lit the lamp. He picked up his pocket watch and looked at it. It was almost 5 am. He wondered if Beth was up yet? Now thinking of Beth brought a smile to his face as he remembered the kiss. Oh, and what a kiss it was!

He sat down in a chair and put his socks and pants on, pulling his suspenders over his shoulder he looked in the mirror. He poured some water out of a picture into a wash pan and washed his face. He then soaped up his face and shaved. He looked back in the mirror. Much better he thought. He pulled his boots on and put on a clean shirt. He put on his gun belt and checked the load and then picked up his cowboy hat and he was ready to go.

He walked out into the main room and looked and saw Isaiah was also up and dressed. Jeb smiled. "Good morning Isaiah." Isaiah nodded and smiled. "Good morning Mr. Jeb. I have some coffee ready. Can I get you a cup?" Jeb smiled. "Yes thank you." Isaiah poured them both a cup and they sat down at the table. Isaiah looked at Jeb. "What do you have planned for today? Isaiah asks. Jeb takes a sip of his coffee and looks at him and says. "It's going to be a long day. Alan Kingsworth was killed last night. Buck Logan has been arrested for it. I have my doubts that he did it. I have to go see Edward Kingsworth and tell him his son is dead. I don't expect that to go well." Isaiah's eyes get big and says. "Oh Mr. Jeb, that's not good. A lot of people could get hurt." Jeb takes another sip of his coffee. "Yes, that's why I have to find who really did kill him and fast." Isaiah takes a sip of his coffee. "What can I do to help you, Mr. Jeb?" Jeb paused for a moment and said. "Well Isaiah, if you don't mind, you can come to town with me this morning and help Deputy Cooper keep watch on Buck Logan while Sheriff Brown and I go see Edward Kingsworth. I'm not expecting any problems until after we get back. But I would feel better if Deputy Cooper was not alone." Isaiah nodded, "Yes Mr. Jeb I would be glad too," he said. Jeb stands up. "Thank you, Isaiah. Tomorrow we are still picking up your family." Isaiah smiles big. "Yes, sir Mr. Jeb."

As they walk outside Jeb says. "When we get Gen and Joseph, I'm not sure where we are going to go or what we are going to do. But I'm going to work something out. Don't give up on me." Isaiah smiles. "I won't Mr. Jeb, you have already done so much for my family." Jeb slaps Isaiah on the back. "Good. Now let's get some breakfast."

They walked across to the main house and saw that there were lights on so they knocked and entered. Beth looked up as she sets plates down at the table. She smiled. "Good morning," she said. "Have a seat, breakfast will be right out. Jeb and Isaiah sit down and a moment later Beth comes back out with plates of eggs and bacon, she sets them down. "Jeb looks at her. "Good morning, thank you." Isaiah smiles and says. "Thank you, Miss Beth." She returns to the kitchen and comes back out with a pan of biscuits, she places them on the table and sits down.

She reaches over and takes Jeb's hand and then reaches over and takes Isaiah's hand and she says. "Jeb, will you say grace please?' Jeb and Isaiah both remover there hats and Jeb says. "Dear heavenly Father, please bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. Please lead, guide, and protect us. These are the blessings we ask through christ. Amen."

They start eating. Jeb says. "This is very good, Beth." Isaiah nods and says. "Yes very good, Thank you, ma'am." She smiles and says. "You're both welcome," she says. They all eat a few more bites when Beth says. "You and Sheriff Brown are going to see Edward Kingsworth this morning?" Jeb nods. "Yes, I'm not looking forward to that. Isaiah is coming into town with me and helping out at the jail while we are gone. I don't know when we will be back. Depends on how it goes." She looks over at him. "Well be careful, Edward is not going to take the news well." Jeb nods. "We will." She finishes another bite and says. "Maybe when I get settled at my uncles, I can send for a few more things. I hate having to leave everything." She looks down at her food and fights back tears. Jeb reaches over and takes her hand. "Don't give up yet." She nods but is unable to say anything.

Isaiah stands up. "I will go get Bossy and one of the other horses ready." Jeb looks up. "Thank you." Isaiah puts his hat back on and leaves. Jeb squeezes Beth's hand. "It's going to be alright. I'm still working on it." She shakes her head. "I know you are. But I have got to be realistic and be prepared." Jeb stands up and puts his cowboy hat back on. "Be realistic, but don't give up on me yet."

He starts walking toward the door when he hears her say. "Jeb." He stops and turns toward her. She comes running toward him and into his arms and kisses him. After a long amazing kiss, she looks up into his eyes. "Be careful, Jeb Carter." He smiles. "I will," he says.

Jeb turns and walks outside, he still felt weak in the knees from the kiss. He saw Isaiah walking toward him leading Bossy and one of the Mathison's horses toward him, he handed Bossy's rains to him and he petted Bossy on the neck. "Good morning Bossy, he said as he mounted her. They headed toward town with Ringo following them.

When they got to town, they pulled up in front of the Sheriff's Office and dismounted and went inside. They found Sheriff Rusty Brown setting behind his desk and Deputy Tim Cooper came walking up from the back. "Good Morning," Jeb said. Sheriff Brown looked at him. "Morning."

Jeb sat down across from Brown. "Would you like some coffee?" Brown asks. "No thank you, we need to get a move on. We need to get to Edward Kingsworth before he starts looking for Alan." Brown stands up. "Sometimes Alan would stay in town. So they might not be looking for him yet. But your right, we need to go."

Jeb stands up and looks over at Isaiah and says. "We will be back as soon as we can. Just stay here with Deputy Cooper." "Yes sir," Mr. Jeb," Isaiah responds. They walk outside and mount up on their horses and head out of town toward the Kingsworth Ranch. They didn't say much on the ride out there. Both men were in deep thought.

Riding up to the Ranch, there were several Ranch hands walking around. They rode up to the main house and dismounted and tied Bossy and Brown's horse to the hitching post. They were walking up to the door when Duke Long, Edward Kingsworth's son in law walked out and met them. "Sheriff Brown, Ranger Carter can I help you with something?" Brown and Carter shook hands with Long and Brown said. "Duke we need to talk to Edward. It's very important." Long looks back at them. "I'm afraid Mr. Kingsworth had a rough night and is just now eating breakfast. This way."

Duke Long leads them inside and down a hall to the dining room. They find Edward Kingsworth sitting at the end of a long table. A plate of mostly uneaten food set in front of him. He looks up and sees them. He starts to speak but starts coughing and puts a handkerchief to his mouth. They stand off to one side and wait for him to finish. When he catches his breath he takes the handkerchief down and Jeb can see that there is fresh blood on it. He wipes his mouth and turns and looks at them.

Duke Long then says. "Edward, Sheriff Brown, and Ranger Carter would like to have a word with you," Kingsworth says to them. "Good morning gentleman. What can I do for you?" Jeb and Brown take their hats off and Brown pauses for a moment, not knowing just how to start and then he says. "Edward. I'm afraid we have some bad news. Your son Alan was killed last night in town." Kingsworth is silent and the blood drains out of his face and he becomes pail. He looks up at them and tries to speak and then starts coughing. Duke Long then jumps in and says. "My God, What happened?" Brown turns to him. "He was shot in the back outside the saloon." Long gets a shocked look on his face. "Who did this?" Brown pauses and then says. "We found a gun in one of the rooms over the saloon. It belonged to Buck Logan." Long's eyes get big. "He just threatened us yesterday." Brown nods. "I know, he was staying the night in one of the rooms over the saloon. We have him in custody."

Jeb then speaks up. "There are some things about it that's not right. Why would he leave a gun in the room that is clearly his? We found him sleeping and drunk in his room."

Edward Kingsworth has now regained his composure and his face is now red with anger. He struggles to stand up and looks over at them and points toward them. "Today I'm going to mourn my boy, tomorrow I'm going to bury my boy. Then come Monday I'm going to have vengeance for my boy. So you feed that son of a bitch good. Come Monday I'm going to hang him from that big tree at the edge of town and send him to hell!"

Kingsworth starts coughing again. Duke Long walks over and takes Kingsworth by the arm. "Let's go lay down Edward." he then looks over at Jeb and Brown. "You can see yourself out please."

They walk outside and mount up and start the ride back to town. They ride in silence for a long while, neither man in the mood to talk. Sheriff Brown pulls up his horse and stops. Jeb pulls up Bossy. "So what are we going to do now?" Brown asks. Jeb looks back at the trail behind them. "He has men following us. They are staying just out of sight. But you can tell by the dust the horses are making. We need to keep moving." They start moving along the trail. Jeb then says. "We have today and tomorrow to find the killer or he is going to lynch Logan on Monday and with what men we have there is little we can do to stop him. I'm going to send another telegram to Captain Duncan, but I don't think there is much he can do. If he could have sent help he already would have." Brown turns to Jeb and says. "Can we just take Logan and get him out of town someplace safe?" Jeb paused for a moment and then said. "I'm sure that's what the men fallowing us are for. To keep us from moving him." Brown turns and looks behind them. "They are going to watch the jail and make sure we don't move him until Kingsworth is ready to lynch him?" Jeb nods. "I'm betting that's is the plan."

CHAPTER 13

Jeb and Sheriff Brown rode back into town and up to the Sheriff's office. Brown tired his horse to the hitching post and Jeb just dropped Bossy's rains and they walked inside. Deputy Cooper and Isaiah were waiting inside. Cooper looked at them and said. "How did it go with Kingsworth?" Brown sits down behind his desk. "About as well as you would expect. Not good at all."

Jeb hung his hat on the hat reach and he heard Buck Logan holler from the back. "Hey, what did Edward say?" Jeb looks over at Brown but says nothing and he then walks over and picks up a wooden chair and then grabs the cell keys off the wall and walks back to Buck Logan's Cell. He unlocks the door and enters the cell and sets the chair down across from Logan's bunk that he was setting on. Jeb sits down. Logan looks at him. "So what did he say?" Jeb pauses for a moment and then says. "Well, he says he is going to mourn Alan today. Bury Alan tomorrow and Lynch you on Monday. So we don't have a lot of time." Logan looks down at the floor. "Well, that's kinda what I was expecting, but you got to believe me, I didn't Kill Alan Kingsworth!" he said. "Do you know of anybody that would want to frame you for this?" Jeb asks. Logan shakes his head. "No, not anybody," he said. Jeb then rubs the back of his head thinking. "Where did you keep the gun and who had access to it?" Jeb asks. Logan looks over at Jeb. "That gun was in a drawer, in my desk. I had not used it for years. My late wife bought it for me." Jeb nods. "Ok, who knew it was there?" He asks. Logan thinks for a moment. "Well, my housekeeper Kate and maybe a few of the other hands.''Ok." Jeb says. "When I go out there tomorrow to pick up Gin. I will talk to Kate and find out what she knows." Logan shakes his head. "Ok, Thank you, Ranger Carter." Jeb stands up and picks up the chair. "Don't thank me yet. Got a lot of work to do and little time to do it." Jeb locks the cell door behind him. He looks to the bars at Logan. "I don't believe you did this and I'm going to do everything I can to prove it.

Jeb walks back up to the office and says to Sheriff Brown. "I'm going to go send Captain Duncan another telegraph." He turns to Isaiah. "Come on with me." Isaiah follows Jeb out the door and they walk down to the telegraph office. The man behind the counter says. "Ranger Carter. I got a message back for you." He hands Jeb a piece of paper and Jeb reads it. Jeb folds it up and puts it in his pocket. Jeb frowns. Isaiah says to him. "What's wrong Mr. Jeb?" Jeb looks up at him. Capitan Duncan is sending us help but they won't get here till the end of next week. That will be too late." Jeb walks over to the counter and takes a piece of paper and starts writing out a telegraph to send. It says. To Texas Ranger Captain Paul Duncan, Waco Texas. The situation has gotten worse. Man has been killed. The person we arrested I believe is innocent. We are holding him for his protection. Victim family threatening to lynch him. We are in great need of help. Texas Ranger Jeb Carter. He hands the paper, back to the clerk. "Send this, please, any replay sent over to the Sheriff's office." The clerk takes the paper. "I will send it right now," the clerk says.

They walk back outside. Jeb looks down the street. "I don't know what to do now. But I think better on a full stomach." he turns to Isaiah. "You hungry?" Isaiah smiles. " Yes sir, a man my size is always hungry." They walk over to the cafe and opens the door and starts to enter, Isaiah is hesitating. "You coming?" Jeb says. Isaiah slowly enters the cafe. They find a table and set down. Jeb takes his hat off as does Isiaih who looks nervously around. The waiter comes over to the table. He gives Isaiah a hard look. He then says to Jeb. "What can I get for you?" Jeb looks up at him. "We will each have a steak and potato." The man looks over at Isaiah and says. "We don't serve negro's here!" Jeb slowly looks up at the waiter and says. "I'm not in the mood for this shit. Bring us our food!" The waiter pauses for a moment and then leaves. Isaiah starts to stand up. "You can just bring me something outside Mr. Jeb, It's fine." Jeb puts his man on Isaiah's arm. "No. Sit down. We are eating." Isaiah slowly sits back down. A moment later another man enters from the back and walks up to the table and says. "My name is Bruce Kellum, I own the cafe, as my waiter told you, we don't serve niggers! So I'm going to ask you to leave." Kellum then grabs Isaiah by the arm and jerks him up. Jeb quickly jumps to his feet and throws a hard right fisk hitting Kellum hard in the jaw and he staggers back and down to the floor. He reaches for his gun, but Jeb is much faster and pulls his first. Jeb looks down at the man. "As I said, I'm not in the mood for this!" Jeb reaches down and takes Kellum's gun from his holster and puts it on the table. He looks over at the waiter standing in the door to the kitchen and says. "Get to work on those steaks!" The waiter turns and goes into the kitchen. Jeb looks back down at Kellum on the floor. "I will leave the gun on the table when we leave. He may need some help in the kitchen." Kellum gets up and wipes blood from his mouth and walks to the kitchen.

About 15 minutes later the waiter returns to their table with their food. As they eat, Jeb tries to think of a way he can convince Edward Kingsworth that Buck Logan didn't kill his son. Nothing short of finding the real killer was going to work. Jeb takes the last bite of his steak and says to Isaiah and asks. "Was your steak good?" Isaiah shakes his head. "Yes sir, very good. Thank you." Jeb smiles. "Steaks were good. Service is not so good." Jeb gets up and puts his hat back on and pays the bill, as Bruce Kellum stands in the door of the kitchen and gives him a hard look as they leave.

They leave the cafe and walk down to the saloon. Jeb looks around as he walks up to the bar. There are several people playing cards and some just drinking at the bar.

The bartender asks. "What will you have?" Jeb turns to Isaiah and asks. "You want anything, Isaiah?" Isaiah sits down at the end of the bar. "No sir, thank you." Jeb turns back to the bartender. "Beer please." The bartender moves down to the other end of the bar and returns with a glass of beer. "Thank you," Jeb says as he sits down and takes a drink.

Jeb notices that several people are now looking at him. One man walks over to him. "You are that Texas Ranger?" Jeb takes another drink of his beer and says. "Yes sir. I'm Texas Ranger Jeb Carter, what can I do for you?" The man scratches his beard stubble and says. "I heard Buck Logan killed Alan Kingsworth and you're holding him down at the jail?" The bar gets quiet and several other men walk up and stand around them. Jeb looks them all over and comes back to the man speaking. "We are investigating Alan Kingsworth's murder. That's about all I can say." A big man standing to Jeb's left says. "Doesn't look like you're investigating anything. Looks like you're drinking beer." Jeb smiles and turns back to the bar. The big man grabs Jeb by the arm and jerks him around and says. "I'm talking to you!" Jeb then smashes his glass of beer over his head. The man falls to the ground. He quickly tries to get up and staggers a few steps and then gets his balance and pulls a knife and comes toward Jeb. Jeb draws his fisk back to hit the man, but before he gets to him, Isaiah steps in front of him and grabs the man by the shirt and belt and lifts him up and throws him over the bar.

Several of the other men in the bar start coming toward Isaiah. Jeb draws his gun. "Ok, that will be enough." The men started backing off and Jeb and Isaiah started toward the door. When they get outside, Jeb puts his gun away. He looks at Isaiah and smiles big. "That was a big guy you threw like a rag over the bar." Isaiah gives a slight smile. "I got your back, Mr. Jeb.

They start walking down the street when Isaiah says. "Mr. Jeb, can you teach me how to shoot a gun?" Jeb stops and pauses for a moment. "Yes, I can teach you how to shoot. Everybody should know how to protect themselves and their family." Jeb then walks down the alley beside the saloon. He finds a crate with 8 empty whiskey bottles in it. "This will do."He picks up the crate and hands it to Isaiah. They walk down to the Sheriff's office. He opens the door and Isaiah walks in. Jeb paused and looked around and saw two men across the street watching. It was some of Kingsworth's men he was sure.

Walking inside he saw Sheriff Brown at his desk and Deputy Cooper walking up from the back. Brown looks up and says. "I hear you have been busy." Jeb smiles, "Just a little bit." Brown looks at the crate that Isaiah is holding. Jeb says. "We are going to do a little bit of shooting practice." Brown nods. "There is a spot right behind the office we use."

Jeb and Isiah's walk threw the office by the cells. Buck Logan is laying on his bunk in his cell. Going out the back door Jeb looks around. He sees two men, down the alley watching the back door, one on each side, more of Kingsworth's men. They walk about 50 feet behind the office and place 6 of the whiskey bottle's neck down in the sand. They walk back and Jeb stands and looks at them a moment. He then quickly draws his gun and fires three shots from the hip, hitting all three bottles. Jeb then takes the 2 bottles out of the crate and hands them to Isaiah. "Throw these high in the air one and then the other." Jeb gets ready and nods, Isaiah throws one then the other in the air. Jeb draws and fires hitting the first one and then fires again and hits the 2nd one. Isaiah's eyes get big. "That's good shooting Mr. Jeb."

Jeb empties the 5 spent cartridges out and replaces them. He then hands the gun to Isaiah. "Ok, point the gun and extend your arm. Look down the barrel and place the sight on the bottle and slowly squeeze the trigger. Isaiah does this and fires and misses, he fires again and misses. He looks over at Jeb. "Keep trying," Jeb says. Isaiah fires four more times each time a miss. He hands the gun back to Jeb who reloads and puts the gun back in his holster. "Let's try something else," Jeb says as he turns and walks back into the office, he returns with a rifle and hands it to Isaiah. "Put this tight to your shoulder and look down the sights and squeeze the trigger. Isaiah does this and fires and misses and fires again and misses. Jeb then walks back into the office and returns with a shotgun. He loads it and hands It to Isaiah. "Try this," Jeb said. Isaiah aims and fires and bust two of the bottles. He looks back at Jeb and smiles. Jeb smiles back and says. "Your weapon of choice, at least for now."

They went back inside and Jeb sits down at a table and thinks about the four murders and how they were staged. The only lead he had to go on was the damaged boot heel. Who would gain the most by killing them? After the first two, he was sure it was Edward Kingsworth or somebody working for him. To get the land that Paul Mathison and Jason Fuller owned. But would he blow up his own dam and kill his man Gary Harris to frame Buck Logan? He certainly wouldn't kill his own son to frame Logan for the murder.

Buck Logan or some of his men might have killed Mathison and Fuller. To try to get the water that they had. But he was sure Logan didn't blow the dam and he was surely set up for the Alan Kingswoth murder. There was a big piece to this puzzle missing. He had to find it.

Jeb stood up and grabbed the wooden chair and cell keys and again walked back to Buck Logan's cell. Logan sat up when he saw him enter his cell and sat the chair down. Jeb sits down across from Logan. "You said that at one time you and Edward Kingsworth were friends. What happened?" Logan rubbed his face and looked over at Jeb. "Yes, we were friends. We settled here about the same time. At first, our Ranches were miles apart. But as they grew, they became closer together. There was this piece of land I wanted and bought. I didn't know Edward wanted it too. He claimed I bought it out from under him. That's how the bad blood started. After his wife died and I lost my wife. We both became more ruthless. When Edward first got sick he started thinking of passing the Ranch down to Alan. He wanted it to be the biggest and best. Damming that creek was a move to force me to default on loans. You know about the sweetheart deal he has with the bank. He knew Judge Black would rule against him in court. But he also knew he would not get here in time." Jeb shook his head. "Thank you, that clears up some things. I'm going to talk to Kate in the morning. I will let you know if I find out anything." Logan lays back down on his bunk. "Thank Carter."

Jeb gets up and takes his chair out and locks the cell and walks back to the front. He turns to Sheriff Brown. "I'm going out to Logan's place in the morning to talk to Kate. I will see you when I get back." Brown puts his feet up on his desk and leans back in his chair. "Ok, good night," he said.

Jeb and Isaiah saddle up and ride back out to the Mathison place. When they get there. They find Beth setting out on the porch waiting for them. They dismounted in front of the main house. Isaiah held out his hand. "I will take care of the horses, Mr. Jeb. he said. Jeb hands Bossy's reins to him and walks up on the porch. Beth looks at him and smiles. "Long hard day?" she asks as she moves down on the porch swing for him to sit next to her. "Yes." He says setting down. "How did it go with Edward Kingsworth?" He looks down and shakes his head. "It could not have gone any worse. He is going to bury Alan tomorrow and Monday he is going to lynch Buck Logan. So that gives me about 36 hours to find the real killer." She reaches over and takes his hand. "Oh my gosh. What are you going to do?" she asks. He looks over at her. "That's just it. I don't know. I have one good clue and that's it. I'm running out of time. I should be able to figure it out." She lays her head on his shoulder. "You will figure it out. I know you will.

The set there in silence for a few minutes. Beth raised up her head and looks over at Jeb with a tear running down her cheek. "What's wrong? He asks. She wipes away the tear and says. "The northbound stagecoach comes through Monday afternoon. There is not another one for weeks. I have to be on it. To get to my uncle's." Jeb is overcome with sadness. He can't let her go. He turns and takes both her hands and looks her in the eye. "Beth please don't go. I will work everything out. At worst we can all go back to Waco." She puts both hands on each side of his face and looks him in the eyes. "You're a wonderful man Jeb Carter, I have feelings for you and I want to be with you. But I can't travel with a man I'm not married to, and you also have Isaiah and Gin and Joseph to take care of and you have a one-room place back in Waco. I can't ask you to take care of me too." She kisses him softly on the lips. "Good night, sweet man," she says as she gets up and walks inside.

Jeb sat there thinking for a few minutes. She was right. He could barely take care of himself, how was he going to take care of Isaiah and his family. Got up and started walking to the bunkhouse. He had about 36 hours to figure everything

out or he would lose the woman he was falling in love with.

CHAPTER 14

Jeb threw the covers back and sat up on the side of the bed. He had no idea what time it was, but he had been lying awake for hours so he might as well get up. He stood up and walked over and lit the lamp. He picked up his pocket watch and looked at it. 5:20 am. It was later than he thought. He looked out the window. The sun would start coming up soon. He grabbed a pair of clean socks and pants and put them on. He looked in the mirror, his hair was a mess so he picked up a comb and brushed it. He poured some water in a washbowl and washed his face. He looked back in the mirror and rubbed his chin. He has a little stubble but didn't feel like shaving. He sat down and pulled his boots on. He walked back over and looked out the window again. There was a light on in the main house, Beth was up. He thought about what she had said last night. He was still upset about it, but he knew she was right.

He could hear Isaiah moving around in the other room. He obviously could not sleep either. But he had a good reason for not sleeping. He was going to see his family today. He put his shirt on and pulled up his suspenders and walked out into the main room and lit the lamp. A few moments later Isaiah joined him. "Good morning, Isaiah are you ready for today?" Isaiah smiles big. "Good morning Mr. Jeb, Yes sir I'm ready." Jeb grabs his hat and puts it on. "Ok, let's" see if Beth has some coffee ready." Isaiah puts his hat on and starts for the door and stops and turns to Jeb. "Mr. Jeb, I just want to thank you for all you have done for me and my family." Jeb smiles, You're welcome. No matter how things turn out, in the next few days. I'm going to make sure your family is always together. Now let's get some coffee."

They walked across to the main house and knocked on the door. "Come in." They heard Beth say from the other side of the door. They opened the door to find that Beth had already had breakfast waiting on them. "Good morning," Jeb said as he removed his hat and sits down. "Good morning, Miss Beth," Isaiah says as he sits down. Beth walks up to the table and smiles at both of them. "Good morning gentleman," she says, setting down.

They join hands and Jeb says grace and they start eating. Jeb looks over at Beth. "Did you sleep well?" He asks. She shakes her head. "No, I didn't." She says. "Guess just too much on my mind." Jeb swallows a bite of his food. "I was awake most of the night also. Guess we both got too much on our mind." They eat in silence for a few moments and then Beth says. "You're going to Buck Logan's place this morning to pick up Isaiah's wife and son aren't you?" she asks. Jeb turns to her. "Yes, I also want to talk to his housekeeper Kate. She might know something about the gun we found, that was used to kill Alan Kingsworth." "I see," Beth says.

They finish eating. "That was very good, Beth," Jeb says. Isaiah looks at Beth and smiles. "Yes very good, Miss Beth." She looks at them. "You're very welcome." Isaiah stands up. "I'm going to go get the wagon and team hooked up and Bossy ready." Jeb nods. "I will be out to help you as soon as I finish this half a cup of coffee." Isaiah puts on his hat and starts toward the door when Beth says. "Get a horse ready for me also If you don't mind Isaiah." Jeb and Isaiah both look at her. "Yes, Miss Beth," Isaiah says. "I would like to come with yall today. There's not anything for me to do here. If you don't mind?" Jeb takes a sip of his coffee. "No, not at all," he says. Isaiah heads to the stable and Jeb helps Beth clean off the breakfast dishes.

When they are done they head outside to the stable where Isaiah has the team ready to go and is saddling Beth's horse. Jeb and Beth walk down to Bossy's stall and Jeb starts getting her ready. "She is a beautiful horse," Beth says, petting her on the neck. "Oh yes," Jeb says smiling big. "She is my pride and joy." He brushes her back down well before putting the saddle on her.

When he finished saddling Bossy they walked back up to where Isaiah had Beth's horse ready. He handed her the reins. "How long has it been since you rode? Jeb asks. She puts her left foot in the stirrup and swings up and hooks her right leg around the saddle horn and she then smooths out her dress. She looks down at Jeb. "I will have you know I'm a very good rider." He smiles and walks over to Bossy and steps upon her. They ride out of the barn and see Isaiah waiting for them with the wagon and team.

They headed out to the Logan place. Beth was a good rider. He kept glancing over at her. He was captivated by her beauty. He enjoyed the ride and making small talk with Beth. It had taken his mind off the problems he was going to face soon.

When they rode into the Logan Ranch there were several people walking around. Isaiah stopped the wagon next to the stable. He pushed down on the brake and wrapped the reins around the brake and looks around his eyes stop when he sees a beautiful, negro woman that must be Gin. He jumps off the wagon and runs toward her. She looks up and sees him and smiles big and runs toward him. She jumps in his big arms and they embrace. Jeb steps down off of Bossy and helps Beth down from her horse. Jeb ties the horses to the post.

Jeb and Beth waited, while Isaiah and Gin visited, not wanting to intrude on their reunion. When Isaiah looked over at them, they walked over. Isaiah looked at Jeb and said. "Gin, this is Texas Ranger, Jeb Carter, He saved my life and helped me find you and get our family back together." She slowly reaches out to shake Jeb's hand. "Thank you so much, Master Carter. She says.looking down and not making eye contact. "Jeb smiles as he takes her hand. "Your very welcome Gin, Please call me Jeb. I'm your friend not your master." Gin nods and steps back not quite understanding what Jeb said. Isaiah looks over at Beth and says. "This is Miss Beth Mathison, we have been staying out at her place. She has been so kind." Gin reaches out and shakes hands with Beth. Beth smiles. "It's so nice to meet you Gin," Beth says.

About that time they hear a boy say "Popa." they turn to see a Negro boy about 6 years old run to Isaiah. Isaiah grabs the boy and picks him up and hugs him. "Joseph, I have missed you son." Isaiah puts the boy down and says to both Jeb and Beth. "This is my son Joseph." Joseph shakes Jeb's hand and then Beth's. "Nice to meet you, Joseph," Jeb says. Joseph then turns back to Isaiah and hugs him again. "I have missed you, Popa," he says.

Jeb turns to Gin. "I have been trying to help Mr. Logan, I need to talk to his housekeeper Kate. Do you know where I might find her?" Jeb asks. Gin looks around. "I have not seen Miss Kate this morning. She lives over at the guest house, I will show you.

They all follow Gin as she walks down to the small house on the end and goes up to the door and knocks. She waits and knocks again. "Miss Kate, are you in there?" She turns back to the others. "This is not like Miss Kate. She is always out working by now." Jeb reaches for the doorknob and pushes the door open. Gin enters the house first and looks around and then screams and runs out. Jeb, Isaiah, and Beth enter and look. Beth gasps and puts her hand over her mouth and turns and leaves. Jeb and Isaiah see Kate hanging over the side of the staircase. Another man comes in. "What's going on here?" He says. He looks up and sees Kate hanging there. "Oh my gosh," he says.

Jeb says to Isaiah. "Go up the stairs and lower her down." Isaiah runs up the stairs and gets the rope loose and Jeb and the other man get Kate and lowers her to the floor. The man looks at Jeb. "Who are you?" he asks. Jeb turns to him. I'm Texas Ranger Jeb Carter, I came here to ask Miss Kate some questions that might help Mr. Logan. We found her like this." He looks back at Jeb. "I'm Jim Pike, the Ranch foreman."

Jeb knelt down and loosened the rope that was tied in a hangman's noose and removed it from her neck. He then took his fingers and felt around her neck. Pike gave him a strange look. "What are you doing?" he asks. "I'm checking to see if her neck is broken," Jeb said. Pike frowns. "What does it matter, she is dead." Jeb looks up at him. "Oh, it matters. Can you light that lamp and bring it over please." Pike walks over and lights the lamp and brings it over and holds it down close to the neck of Kate. Jeb then takes the magnifying glass out of his pocket and takes a close look at where the rope hit on her neck and below there was some discoloration. Jeb then takes his fingers and opens up one eyelid and looks at her eye. He stands up and picks up the rope. He turns to Pike. "Is this rope from your stable?" Pike looks at it. "It looks like a different rope than the ones we use." He says. Jeb looks at the rope and back at Pike. "Will you go check and see if you have any ropes missing?" Pike gives him a confused look. "Yes, I don't know why it matters?" Jeb nods. "Thank you and it matters." Pike turns and leaves.

Jeb rolls up the rope and turns and looks at Isaiah and they walk outside where Beth and Gin and Joseph are waiting. Gin is crying and Isaiah walks over and consoles her. Jeb looks at Beth and motions for her to come with him. They walk a few feet away to keep anybody from overhearing. He stops and says. "She didn't hang herself, she was murdered," he says. Beth's eyes get big. "How do you know that?" she asks. "If she jumped from the top of the stairs, she would have broken her neck. It's not broken. There would have been rope burns where the rope hit her neck. There wasn't. There was skin discolor under where the rope hit. But the big thing. Blood vessels broken in her eyes. That's a sign of strangulation."

Beth looks at him in shock. "That's amazing how you figured all that out." He shrugs. "You just have to look and let the body tell you what happened." He holds up the rope. "What woman would know how to make a hangman's noose?" She looks at the rope. "I wouldn't," she said. Jeb then bends the rope. "It's stiff, What woman's hands would be strong enough to make eight turns with that stiff rope." She takes the rope and tries to bend it. "I couldn't wrap it around eight times." She says. He takes the rope from her. "My point. She couldn't."

Ranch foreman Jim Pike comes walking up. "All the ropes in the stable are still there. They were all bought at the same time, so they are just alike. That one your holding is a little different." Jeb nods. "Thank you. Can you get a blanket or something and wrap the body up in it and put it in our wagon." pike looks confused. "Why do you want to take her to town? We can just bury her here." Pike said. "I want Doc Porter to look at the body." Now Pike is really confused. "Why, she is dead?" Jeb starts getting annoyed now. "I want to know how she died," Jeb says in a stern voice. Pike then spouts off. "She hung herself." Jeb, angry now, steps up on Pike. "Can we just get her in the wagon, please." Pike looks down. "Yes sir, right away."

Jeb and Beth waited around while Isaiah and Gin got the little stuff she had and loaded it up on the wagon and Pike and his men wrapped Kate's body in a blanket and put her in the back. When they got ready to leave Jeb realized that Joseph would be in the back with the body. Jeb didn't like that so he walked over to Joseph and belt down. "Hey Joseph, Would you like to ride my horse Bossy?" Joseph's eyes got. "Yes," he said. He took Joseph by the hand and they walked over to Bossy. Jeb looked down at Joseph. "This is Bossy, She is the best horse I have ever had." He reaches down and lifts Joseph up on Bossy's back. Joseph got a scared look on his face. "Will she buck?" Joseph asks. Jeb hands him the reins. "No, she won't buck. Don't worry." Joseph smiles. "Yes sir."

Jeb walks over and sits down on the back of the wagon. Beth rides over to Joseph and she looks over and smiles at Jeb. They make the ride into town and pull up and stop in front of the undertaker Will Bradley's office. Bradley sees them and comes out. Jeb gets off the wagon and says to Bradley. "This woman's name was Kate, I don't know her last name but I will find out. I need Doc to come to look at her before you start on her." Bradley glances at the body and then looks at Jeb. "Business sure has gotten good sense you came to town Ranger Carter." Jeb gives Bradley an angry look but says nothing.

Beth gets down from her horse and ties it to the back of the wagon. Jeb walks over to Isaiah. "Can you drop Bossy and Beth's horse off at the stable and then you can head back to the Mathison place and get Gin and Joseph settled." Isaiah nods. "Do you need me to come back and help you?" Jeb shakes his head. "No, I will be ok. Spend time with your family."

Beth and Jeb walked over to where they knew Doc would be this time of day, the saloon. As they walked up to the swinging doors, Beth hesitated, Jeb turned to her. "You don't have to go inside." She put her head down. "No, it's fine. I just never been in a saloon before," she says. They push the door open, step inside, and look around. Jeb finds Doc sitting at a table in the corner with his head down on the table. A bottle of whiskey and a glass next to him. Jeb walks over and sits down next to him and shakes Doc's shoulders. "Doc, wake up, I need your help." At first, Doc just moans. Then he slowly raises his head and tries to get his eyes to focus.

"Ranger Carter is that you?" He asks. "Yes," Jeb says. " I need you to come with me and look at a body for me." Doc looks at him confused. "A body? A dead body?" Jeb nods. "Yes, Doc." Doc reaches for the whiskey bottle and starts to pour a drink. "I have told you before, Ranger Carter I don't work on dead bodies, talk to Will Bradley." Jeb takes the bottle away from Doc and says. "The body is already over at Bradley's, I just need you to look at it and confirm what killed her." Doc gives Jeb an annoyed look. "You're not going to leave me alone or give me that bottle back till I do this right?" Doc asks. Jeb nods. "Yes," he says.

He grabs Doc by the arm and Beth grabs the other arm and they help him to his feet. "Well let's go," Doc says. They walk out of the saloon and down the street to Will Bradley's office. They go inside. Bradley says to them. "She is in the back." They walk back to where she is and Jeb says. "I need to know if her neck is broken." Doc feels around the neck. "No, her neck is not broken." he then looks at her neck more closely. Jeb hands him his magnifying glass from his pocket. Dock gives him a surprised look. "Thank you." Doc looks at her neck thru the magnifying glass. He then opens one of her eyelids and looks at her eye. He trunks back to Jeb and hands him back the magnifying glass. "She was strangled, her windpipe was crushed by a strong hand. But you already knew that didn't you, Ranger Carter? Jeb nods. "Yes, I just needed you to confirm it." Doc smiled. "You should have been a doctor."

They hear the front door open and they all look and Will Bradley walks back up to the front. They hear a female voice say. "I was told that Doctor Porter was here?" Doc walks past Jeb and Beth toward the front room and Jeb and Beth followed. Doc hesitates as he sees the young red-headed woman. "Rose?" He says. She turns and looks at him and smiles and starts toward him. "Papa." She says hugging him. "Why didn't you let me know about Moma?" Tears start coming down his face. "I couldn't save her. I was ashamed. I couldn't face you. I'm so sorry." She holds him tight. "I know you did everything you could. I should have been here to help you." they held each other for a long moment. She looks him in the eye and says. "I'm here now and I'm going to take care of you. I love you, Papa, let's go down to the house."

Doc starts toward the door, Rose looks over her shoulder and sees Jeb's Ranger badge. "You must be Ranger Carter." Jeb smiles. "Yes ma'am." she smiles. "Thank you for your telegram. I'm very grateful." "Your welcome," Jeb says. Doc gives him a surprised look and smiles and nods. Rose and Doc leave and Beth takes Jeb's arm. "That was very sweet of you." Jeb looks over at Beth. "I don't like to see good men suffer."

They walk outside, Jeb looks down the street and says. "I need to go to the Sheriff's office and fill in Sheriff Brown on Kate's death." She looks at him. "I need to go to the freight station and find out when the stagecoach comes threw tomorrow. I will come down there when I'm done." Jeb nods, "Ok, see you in a bit."

On the walk down to the Sheriff's office, Jeb found himself thinking more about how to keep Beth off that stagecoach than finding a killer.

CHAPTER 15

When Jeb got to the Sheriff Office, he found Sheriff Brown at his desk and Deputy Cooper was off to the side cleaning a rifle. They both looked up as Jeb walked in. "What did you find out from kate? Brown asks. Jeb looks at both of them. "Let's all go in the back, so I can tell Logan too." Jeb grabs the cell keys and Brown and Cooper follow him back to Logan's cell. Logan is sitting on his bunk playing with a deck of cards. They open the door and enter the cell. "Did you talk to Kate? Logan asks. Jeb shakes his head. "No. She is dead." All three men get a surprised look on their faces. Logan stands up. "Dead. What happened?" He asks. Jeb pauses for a moment then says. "It was made to look like she hung herself, but she didn't. She was murdered, strangled." Logan frowns. "Why would anybody kill her? She was a sweet lady." Jeb turns to him. "I'm thinking that she knew something about the gun. She knew who killed Alan Kingsworth and he had to keep her quiet." Brown then spoke up. "Did you find any boot prints, is it our same guy? He asks. "No, I didn't find any. Jeb said. "But it's the same guy, you can bet on it." Logan's face gets red. Edward Kingsworth is going to hang me in the morning! You have to find this guy." They all look at Logan. Jeb says. "We haven't given up. We are still working on it."

They stepped out of the cell and locked Logan back up and walked back up to the front. Jeb sat in the chair across from the desk. Kate was their only lead. Time was running out.

They sat there thinking for the next hour. Nobody has much to say. They heard somebody at the door. They looked up to see the door come open and see Edward Kingsworth come walking in. Jeb's hand slowly lowered to his gun. "There is no need for that, Ranger Carter," Kingsworth said. He looks over at Sheriff Brown. "We buried Alan today. I'm going home to get some rest. Tomorrow morning I will be coming for Buck Logan. Turn him over to me and nobody else has to get hurt." Kingsworth then starts coughing hard, he takes out a white handkerchief and puts it to his mouth, when he is done you can see the blood he has coughed up. Sheriff Brown then says. "Edward, we are holding Logan for court. Let's do this the right way." Kingsworth's face gets red with anger. "I will get vengeance for my son one way or the other. You know how many men I have and how many you have. Ask yourself, is he worth dying for? I will be back in the morning." Kingsworth turns and leaves.

Jeb and Sheriff Brown look at each other. Jeb says. "Well, I guess he made it clear what he is going to do. Let's get some rest and try to come up with a plan for tomorrow" Brown and deputy Cooper nod and Jeb walk outside and looks down the street. Beth should be done with what she was doing. He was tempted to go by the saloon and get a beer but about the time he saw Beth walking up the boardwalk and he walked over to meet her. She looked at him and smiled. Stagecoach leaves at 1 pm tomorrow." She says. Jeb looks at her and tries to force a smile.

They walk back to the stable and get Bossy and her horse and head back to the ranch. Jeb enjoyed chatting with Beth on the ride. She is a very good rider. He never really understood how women could ride sidesaddle and stay on the horse. But she does it with grace and beauty.

When they rode up at the Ranch they found Isaiah and Joseph outside the stable. Jeb dismounted Bossy and handed the reins to Isaiah and walked over and helped Beth down off of her horse. "Thank you," she said. She turns to Isaiah. "Are you and your family hungry? "Isaiah smiles at her. " Gin fixed us dinner in the bunkhouse," he said. "Good," she says.

Jeb follows Beth over to the main house and Beth fixes them a quick dinner. After they enjoy their meal they go into the study. Jeb sits down on a sofa and Beth says. "I have just the thing. I will be right back." She leaves and a few minutes later returns with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She hands the bottle to Jeb and a corkscrew. "I don't know much about wine, but my father said this was a good one. I can't take it with me so we might as well enjoy it." Jeb smiles and opens the bottle and pours them both a glass. Beth takes her glass and takes a big drink. Jeb laughs, You might want to slow that down some." he says as he takes a sip. "He nods his head. "Good." She takes another drink slower this time. "I guess so. Is this what it's supposed to taste like?" "Yes," Jeb says. "And very expensive, I will bet."

Beth takes another drink then snuggles up next to Jeb. "You should sleepover here tonight." She says. Jeb's eyes get big and he gives her a look. She smiles and takes another drink. "Stick your eyes back in your head. I mean the guest room down the hall. Let Isaiah and Gin have some privacy tonight. Jeb nods and smiles. Their eyes meet and she leans in and he kisses her. He pulls her close and passion takes over for a moment and then they look in each other's eyes. "This can't end tomorrow," Jeb says. She takes a drink of her wine as does he. "I can't think of any other way." She says. "There won't be another stage for weeks. The bank is going to foreclose any day. I won't have any place to stay. It's going to take all the money I have just to get there. I don't have any choice." There is a moment of silence then Jeb says. "I have some money, I could put you up someplace till we have everything worked out." She lays her head on his shoulder. "I can't ask you to do that. I would not be right to be taken care of by a man I'm not married to. You and Isaiah and Gin are welcome to stay here till the new owners kick you out." She finishes off her glass of wine and lays her head back down on his shoulder.

It feels good having her next to him he thinks as he tries to come up with something to say to get her to stay. "I'm going to be busy in the morning. But please don't leave. I will take you to Alabama myself if you still want to go. Jeb looks down and Beth is sleeping on his shoulder. The wine must have done her in. He eases up and picks her up and carries her to her room and lays her on the bed. He takes her shoes off and covers her with a light blanket. He kisses her on the cheek and turns and walks down to the room on the other end. The wine had gone to his head too, as he got to undress and lays down on the bed. He is quickly asleep.

Several hours later Jeb opens one eye and sees that light is starting to come in the window. He closes his eyes and starts to dose off again when he feels movement next to him. He opens his eyes back up. Then he closes them again. He must have forgotten to put Ringo out last night. Then he opens his eyes again. Now he is awake. He is in the main house and Ringo is not in here. He slowly raises his head and looks over his shoulder and is shocked to see Beth Mathison snuggled up against his back. Oh my, he thought. He had put her in her bed last night after she had fallen asleep. How did she get here? Jeb reaches over and gently shakes her shoulder. She moves a little bit and does not wake. He does it again. She opens her eyes and sees him and jumps back with her eyes big. "What are you doing in my bed?" She asks. Jeb looks back at her. "I believe you are in my bed." She looks around and sits up. How did I get here?" She asks. Jeb shakes his head. "I don't know. You fell asleep last night. I carried you to your bed and covered you up and came in here. I just woke up and found you here." She looks around again. "Ok, I woke up and put my gown on and I couldn't find you, so I went looking for you. Guess I found you and went back to sleep." Jeb shakes his head. "Guess so," he says. She stands up and starts toward the door. "I will get breakfast ready." She takes a few steps and stops and turns to Jeb. "We didn't do anything else last night, did we? I don't remember much. Must have been the wind.? "Jeb smiles. "I carried you to your room and coved you up and kissed your forehead. That's it." She nods. "Good." She starts out of the room again when Jeb says. "Beth." She stops and turns back to him. "If we had done something else. You would remember. Trust me." Her face turns red and she leaves the room. Jeb smiles big as he gets up to get dressed.

Jeb walked into the kitchen to find Beth was dressed and starting breakfast. He comes up behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Go get Isaiah, Gin, and Joseph and tell them to come to breakfast." Jeb nods. "Yes, ma'am." He says. He turns and walks outside and over to the bunkhouse. Joseph is playing on the front porch. "Joseph. Tell your parents that breakfast will be ready soon." Joseph looks up at him. "Yes sir," he said as he ran into the house.

Jeb turns around and heads back to the main house and sits down at the table. A few minutes later Isaiah and Gin and Joseph come in and sit down. "Good morning," Jeb says. "Morning Mr. Jeb," Isaiah says. Gin smiles and says. "Morning sir." Beth brings the food out and sets it on the table. Jeb says grace and they start eating.

Jeb turns to Gin. "Gin, what can you tell me about Kate?" Kate nervously looks over at Jeb. "Well sir, she was very nice. She kept a very clean house for Master Logan. She was very kind to me." Jeb nods. "Was she married? Have any family?" Jeb asks. Gin shakes her head. "I believe her husband died a few years ago. I don't think they had any children. I do think she had a man that was courting her." Jeb swallows a bite of his food quickly. "This man. Do you know his name? He asks. She shakes her head. She never did say his name. She was upset the last time I saw her. I think they might have broken up." Jeb paused for a moment. "Do you know of anybody that might know who this man is?" Gin shakes her head. "No, But Miss Kate was always writing things down in a book." Jeb got excited and said. "Kate kept a journal?" Gin looks back at him. "I don't know what that is. But she wrote things down in a book."

Jeb wiped his mouth off with his napkin. He turns to Gin. "Thank you Gin, that was very helpful." Jeb gets up and starts walking toward the door. Beth follows him out on the porch. "What are you going to do? She asks. "I'm got to get to town and talk to Sheriff Brown and then go back out to the Logan Ranch and find that Journal. If she wrote everything down as Gin said. The name of the killer is in that Journaled." He starts moving fast to the stable then he stops and turns around and runs back to Beth and takes her in his arms and kisses her. He looks her in the eye and says. "I have got to go. Please don't leave until you talk to me." she hugs him. "I will wait as long as I can. Stagecoach leaves at 1 pm." Jeb starts toward the stable. "I will be there!" He says.

Jeb quickly saddles Bossy and quickly makes the ride into town and pulls Bossy up in front of the Sheriff's Office. He looks to see that Kingsworth's men are still watching. Going inside he finds Sheriff Brown and Deputy Cooper looking out the window. Brown looks at Jeb and says. "They will be coming soon." Jeb walks over to Brown. "I got to get back out to the Logan Ranch, Kate kept a Journal, there is a good chance our killer's name is in it."

Brown and Cooper look at each other and then back to Jeb. "We can try to hold out till you get back. But who knows when Kingsworth will make his move." Brown said. Jeb hears something and looks out the window. "Too late," Jeb says. He walks over and takes a rifle out of the case and walks back over to the door. The door quickly opens and a man with a gun tries to come inside. Jeb hits him hard with the stock of the rifle. The man falls to the ground. Jeb then turns the rifle on a 2nd man coming in behind him. "Drop that gun!" The man drops it and Jeb pulls him inside.

Jeb hands the man to Brown, and Cooper picks up the man on the floor upon his feet, his nose bleeding. They hear the back door open and Jeb rushes to the back with his gun still drawn. Jeb sees Isaiah standing over one of Kingsworth's men on the floor. Isaiah looks at Jeb and says. "He was trying to get in from the back," Isaiah said. Jeb walks up to him and looks down on the man hurting on the floor and then at Isaiah. "What are you doing here? You should be with your family." Isaiah picks the man up off of the floor. "My place is with you, Mr. Jeb."

Deputy Cooper locked the 3 men up as Jeb and Sheriff Brown watched out the window. "This was just to see how hard it's going to be. They will be back with more men." Jeb said. They keep watching for a few more minutes. "I gotta get that Journal. It's the only way to prove who did it." Jeb said. "You better hurry. We will hold them off as long as we can." Brown says.

Jeb heads out the front door and swings up on Bossy and they leave town on a dead run. Bossy's long strides covered a lot of ground quickly. When they rode into the Logan Ranch, Jeb pulled up in front of the guest house where they had found Kate's body. One of the hands asks Jeb. "Can I help you with something sir?" Jeb jumps off of Bossy. "Yes, can you show me Kate's room. Your boss's life depends on it." The hand nods and starts toward the guest house. "Yes, this way." Inside, he points his finger up. "First room on the right at the top of the stairs," he says. "Thank you, Can you get my horse some water please?" Jeb asks. "Yes." The man says as Jeb runs up the stairs.

Looking around the room, where would she keep it. He saw a nightstand next to the bed. On top of it was an oil lamp and pen with an ink well next to it. Pulling out the drawer he found a book. This is it! It had her name on the front. Kate Tompson. He opened it up and read the last few pages. He knew who the killer was now. It all made sense now. Now he had to get back to town before they lynched an innocent man.

CHAPTER 16

Jeb ran down the stairs and out the door. He whistled, Bossy raised her head from the water trough and came running, Jeb grabbed the saddle horn as she ran by and swung up on her and they were gone with her breaking stride. He hated to push Bossy so hard but a man's life depended on it. She didn't seem to mind. It felt like the harder and faster they went the stronger she got.

As they came into town he noticed not any people on the street. He pulled up in front of the Sheriff Office and ran to the door and went inside. He found Deputy Cooper laying on the floor unconscious. Sheriff Brown was struggling to get up from behind his desk. He had a large cut on his head. "Are you ok? What happened?" Jeb asks. "Brown sits down in his chair. "They overwhelmed us, flooded in here with a dozen men or more." Jeb checks Cooper who is coming around. He then goes down the hall to the cells. He finds Isaiah on his knees trying to get up. "Isaiah, are you ok?" Jeb asks. "Yes sir, Mr. Jeb, I'm sorry. There were just too many of them." Jeb helps him up. "It's ok, Isaiah I'm just glad you're ok. Jeb looks over at Logan's cell to see that he is gone.

Jeb runs back through the office and out the front door. He whistles for Bossy who comes running. He swings up on her again and they are running to the other end of town where that big tree is. As they head down the street Jeb can see where they have rolled two wagons across the street, to keep other wagons and horses from coming down the street. He can see a big crowd of people gathered around the area of the tree. He doesn't slow Bossy down coming up on the wagons. She will know what to do, as they get to the neck of the two wagons, Bossy becomes airborne and Jumps the wagons at the neck. She lands smoothly runs up into the crowd. He pulls her to a stop. He can see Buck Logan on the back of a bareback horse under the big tree with a hangman's noose around his neck. Edward Kingsworth is standing behind the horse ready to slap it and run out from under Logan.

Jeb pulls his gun and fires in the air. "You stop right now Kingsworth!" Kingsworth stops and looks at Jeb. "Carter you need to get the hell out of here. This son of a bitch is going to hang!" Jeb cocks his gun and points it at Kingsworth. "He didn't kill Alan, I can prove it." Jeb takes the journal out of his saddlebag. This is Kate Thomson's journal, she stole Buck Logan's gun and gave it to the killer to frame Logan." Kingsworth frowns and says. "And who would this killer be?" Jeb turns and looks at the person standing right behind Kingsworth. He points his gun at him. It was your son in law, Duke Long." Long shouts. "What this man is crazy." it's all here in the journal. Jeb rides up and hands the Journal to Kingsworth.

Jeb looks at Duke Long. "When you came here you worked for Paul Mathison, but when you found out that Edward Kingsworth was sick you started courting his daughter, after you married her you got your foot in the door. You knew Edward had a first refusal agreement with the bank on and property that was foreclosed on. So you kill Paul Mathison and make it look like an accident. But I can prove it was no accident and I can put you there. Then you killed Jason Fuller and made it look like a Comanche raid. But I know for a fact that the Comanche were nowhere near his place. I can also put you there too. You convinced Edward to dam the creek to make a conflict with Logan. But it was you that blew the dam and killed Gary Harris and made it look like Logan's people. I can also put you there at the time. But you had one problem. When Edward died he was leaving everything to his only son Alan. That would make you just a glorified ranch hand. You had to get rid of Alan, so you started a relationship with Kate Thompson, you got her to steal Logan's gun and you sent Alan a note that he thought came from Logan. You killed Alan and left the gun to frame Logan, and I can put you there at the time too. Oh, and when Kate realized what you had done you couldn't take a chance on her talking so you killed her too. You knew Alan's death would set Edward off and he would lynch Logan, Then you would have his Ranch too. The only thing left was for Edward to die and it would be all yours. Oh, and you know how I can place you at all of those places. You have a damaged right boot heel. You left distinct prints at every place. Why don't you show us your right heel?"

Edward Kingsworth looks at Duke Long with shock in his eyes. "My god Duke! You killed Alan! Long looks back and forth not knowing what to do. Then he looks at Jeb and shouts. "No!" and goes for his gun. Jeb fires and hits him in the chest and he falls back dead.

Jeb gets down off of Bossy and walks up to his body. He reaches down and pulls his right boot off and looks at it. Damaged heel. He shows it to Kingsworth and throws the boot down. He then walks over and pulls out his knife and cuts Logan's hands-free. Logan takes the noose off his neck and gets down off of the horse.

Edward Kingsworth walks up to Buck Logan. "I'm sorry Buck, I feel like a old sick fool." Logan looks hard at him and says. "Well, you are an old fool. But It looks like you were manipulated." Kingsworth forces a smile. "Can I buy a drink?" Logan looks at him. "You can buy me several drinks." They turn and start walking toward the saloon. Jeb stands there and watches them walk away. Your welcome guys he thinks as he walks back to Bossy.

He pets her on the neck and pulls a sugar cube out of his pocket. She had worked up a good sweat. He could not have pulled this off without her. He walked her back to the stable and got her brushed down and fed well.

He then walked back to the saloon. Inside he saw Edward Kingsworth and Buck Logan sitting at a table. Looks like all had been forgiven. He heard somebody call his name. "Ranger Carter." he looked to see Doc Porter sitting at a table to the side. He walked over to him. Doc smiles and lifts up a coffee cup. "Only coffee," Doc says. He looks a lot better and is dressed nicely. Doc then says. "Thank you for contacting Rose. I didn't think she could forgive me, for not saving her mother. I didn't give her much credit. She has been very understanding and loving, Thank you again." Jeb smiled and pats Doc on the shoulder and says. Your very welcome Doc.

Jeb then hears his name called again. He looks up to see Buck Logan waving him over. He walks over to their table. Logan looks up at him. "I didn't get a chance to thank you, Ranger Carter," Logan says as he reached out his hand. Jeb takes Logan's hand and they shake. "Your welcome," Jeb says. Edward Kingsworth then looks at Jeb. "I also owe you a great debt." Kingsworth extends his hand and Jeb takes it. "If there is anything I can ever do for you, please let me know. Kingsworth says.

Jeb paused for a moment and then sat down. He looks at Kingsworth. "As a matter of fact, there is something you can do for me." Kingsworth is surprised but says. "Yes, anything." Jeb then says. "I want you to waive your right of first refusal on the Mathison place and let me buy it. Kingsworth shrugs. "Very well." Kingsworth looks around the saloon and sees Kyle Lambert. He yells across the room. "Kyle." Lambert looks up and walks over to the table. "Yes sir. Mr. Kingsworth." Kingsworth takes a drink of his beer. "I'm waving my right of first refusal on the Mathison place, Mr. Carter here wants to buy the note." Lambert nods. "We can draw the papers up now. Just come over to my office." Jeb stands up and shakes Kingsworth's hand. "Thank you Mr. Kingsworth." Kingsworth smiles. "You're very welcome."

Jeb and Lambert walk over to the bank and Jeb signs the note papers and takes the money he had won playing poker with Logan and makes the down payment. Lambert hands him the papers. "The place is yours now." Jeb puts the papers in his vest pocket and shakes Lambert's hand. "Thank you. Mr. Lambert."

Jeb walks outside and sees Sheriff Brown and Isaiah coming toward him. Brown walks up and says. "Thank you, Ranger Carter, if it was not for you, I don't want to think of what could have happened here." They shake hands. "How's your head? Jeb asks. Brown shrugs. It hurts but I will be ok." Brown then walks on down the street. Jeb looks over at Isaiah. "How are you doing?" Jeb asks. Isaiah rubs his head. "I'm fine Mr. Jeb." Jeb smiles. "Thank you for your help," Jeb says shaking Isaiah's hand. "You're welcome, I will always have your back." Jeb slaps him on the shoulder. "Now you better get back to your wife and son," he said.

Jeb started walking down the street, he could not help but be happy with how things had turned out. He takes his pocket watch out of his vest and looks at it. His eyes get big as he looks at the watch, 1:10 pm. Oh no! The stage that Beth was leaving on was leaving at 1:00 pm. He started running down the street to the freight station. No this couldn't be happening.

When he got there there was no stagecoach outside. He opened the door and quickly went inside and up to the counter. The man behind the counter said. "Can I help your sir?" Jeb gave him a panicked look. "Has the stage left yet?" The man looked up and said. "It just left a few minutes ago." Jeb slaps the counter with his hand. "Was there a young woman on board?" Jeb asks. "Yes, she kept looking like she was waiting for somebody. I told her we could not hold the stage any longer. She got on board." Jeb nodded. "Thank you."

Jeb walked outside and looked down the street. He didn't do everything he had done today, just to come up 10 minutes short. He started running toward the stable. When he got there he went back to Bossy's stall and opened the gate. "I'm sorry to do this to you girl. But we got one more hard run today."

He saddled her up as quickly as he could and they headed out of town on a dead run. They followed the road till they came to the creek. The stage would have to go along the creek until they got to the bridge. If they swam the creek here, they could cut several miles off and maybe have a chance to catch them. "Ok, girl we got to swim." they got in the water and Bossy swam across the creek and then the race was back on. When they got back to the road they could see dust coming up ahead of them. That had to be the stage. Bossy started to close ground and Jeb could now see the stage. He pulled his gun and fired two shots in the air. The driver looked back, but didn't stop. He fired two more shots. The stage started to slow down and stop.

Jeb pulled Bossy up quickly and started to jump off, but he got his left foot caught in the stirrup, he fell to the ground. When he opened his eyes he was looking up at Bossy looking down at him. Then he saw the face of Beth Mathison next to Bossy. "Jeb Carter," she said. "Just what do you think you are doing?" Jeb sets up. "I was trying to catch you." She smiles, "I waited as long as I could." He stands up. "I was a little busy, solving several murders and stoping a lynching and Buying a Ranch." Jeb takes the papers out of his vest. "I bought your Ranch, You don't have to leave." She smiles. He then gets down on a knee. "Oh and one more thing. Beth Mathison, I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me? Her eyes get big. "Yes." I will marry you." he stands up and takes her in his arms and kisses her.

The stagecoach driver then says. "Can we leave now?" Jeb doesn't stop the kiss he just raises his left hand and points for them to go. The driver throws down her bag and the stage leaves.

Jeb pulls back and hugs Beth. "If we cut across it only a few miles to the Ranch. Jeb helps Beth up on Bossy and he gets up behind her and they start the ride home. "I want to raise some really nice horses, I'm good with horses. Maybe a few cows, and kids lots of kids. We got to spread Carter's all over Freestone County." She looks over her shoulder at him. "Oh really now," she says. "I'm sure Captain Duncan will still have some Ranger work for me to do. "He says. She smiles "You're good at that too."

They ride into the Ranch and find Isaiah and Gin sitting on the porch of the bunkhouse and Joseph playing with Ringo. Jeb gets off of Bossy and helps Beth down. Isaiah and Gin walk up. Jeb looks at them. "We are getting married and this is home now for good." Isaiah and Gin look at each other and smile and hug. "That's great Mr. Jeb," Isaiah says. Jeb and Beth start walking toward the house. Jeb turns back to Isaiah. "We have a lot of work to do getting this place in shape. My friend." Isaiah smiles. "We will get it done, Jeb." Joseph walks up to Isaiah and looks up at him. "Popa are we going to live here?" Isaiah looks down at him. "Yes son, this is home." Joseph then says. "Is Mr. Jeb our new master?" Isaiah rubs Joseph on the head. "No son, he is our friend.

Author's note

I hope you enjoyed

Murder in the Old West

Look for the stand-alone story

Murder threw a Killer's Eyes

John Carter and his team

Investigate a serial killer

In Waco Texas

trebor4145@gmail.com
