Marshal Justice Sterling's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Sterling sat in the saddle outside the laundry and did not move. The girl watched him through the steamy window. He had a name now, and a knife, and a witness. He also had a problem. The moment he rode out to hunt Ransom, the girl stood alone. Ransom knew her face. One rider sent ahead, one whisper in the wrong saloon, and she would be gone before Sterling found his man. He could not hunt and guard her both. So the killer stayed free while the marshal stood still. He turned the pinto and rode to the courthouse. The stone walls stood square and heavy in the morning heat. Beside the main doors sat the little jail block, low and grim. The deputy swept the front steps, the same steps he had swept as a boy. Sterling swung down. "I need someone I trust to watch a child," he said. "Day and night. I can't ride out until I know she's safe." The deputy leaned on his broom. "I can hold a door. I can't be in two places if Ransom brings friends." A voice cut in from the shade. "Then don't put her behind one door. Put her behind a wall." Ruby MacAllister stepped down from the boardwalk, red hair loose, boots quiet on the stone. She worked the far saloon and knew every drinker in the county by name and by glass. She looked at Sterling the way she always did, like he was a man worth keeping alive. "Ransom drinks at the Silver Spur. He talks when he drinks. I hear things you never will." Sterling frowned. "This isn't your fight." "You rode after three men alone," Ruby said. Her voice dropped. "Two came back. I'm not watching you do that blind again." She nodded at the jail block. "That holding cell has one door and stone on three sides. Lock the girl in there. Feed her, sit with her. I'll send word the second Ransom moves." Sterling looked at the severe little block beside the courthouse. One door. Thick walls. The deputy could hold it. Ruby could hear the town breathing from behind her bar. He had been trying to solve the problem with one man. She had handed him three. He rode back for the girl himself. He walked her into the holding cell and set his star on the cot beside her. "You stay here," he said. "He can't reach you through stone." The deputy took a chair by the door and laid a shotgun across his knees. Sterling mounted the pinto. The horse tossed its head, easy now, ready for road. His witness was walled in and watched. His path was clear at last. He could hunt Cole Ransom. Then Ruby caught his stirrup. "One more thing," she said quietly. "Ransom left town at dawn. Rode north. He already knows she talked."