The Outlaws: Jess (25 page)

Had she moved back to Zach's place? If so,
why? There was only one way to find out. He ran outside to saddle
his horse and was stunned to see Meg's horse in the lean-to beside
his own mount. Relief washed over him. Meg had merely walked to
town and would be back shortly.

Minutes turned into an hour, and Jess began
to worry in earnest. He paced in front of the house until a blanket
of darkness settled over the land. Suddenly he knew that something
was terribly wrong.

His first thought was that Arlo Skully had
hurt Meg, and that thought sent him into a towering rage. If Skully
touched one hair on her head, he'd make the bastard sorry.
Returning to the lean-to, Jess saddled his horse and headed over to
the sheriff's office. Perhaps Bufford knew something he didn't.

Bufford wasn't at his office but Jess found
him at the Whistle Stop, trying to subdue a rambunctious cowboy
who'd had too much to drink.

"Howdy, Doc," Bufford said as he pointed the
drunken cowboy in the direction of the door.

"Can I speak with you in private,
sheriff?"

"Sure thing. Let's step outside."

Jess followed Bufford out the swinging doors.
Before Jess could state his business, they were joined by Deputy
Taylor.

"Is it all right if my deputy stays?" Bufford
asked.

Jess nodded. "Has either of you seen Meg
Lincoln today? She mentioned earlier that she intended to ride out
to Zach Purdee's house, but her horse is still in the lean-to. Her
clothes and carpetbag are missing and I don't know what to make of
it. We were going to be married next week. I can't believe she'd up
and leave without a word."

"Congratulations on your upcoming marriage,"
Bufford said. "Have you been out to Purdee's house yet? Maybe she
hired a wagon."

"I saw Miz Lincoln today," Deputy Taylor
injected.

"When?" Jess asked eagerly.

"At the train depot. I saw her board the
three o'clock to Denver."

Jess felt as if his world had tilted. "That's
impossible! Meg wouldn't leave without telling me. We were going to
be married. Just last night we..." His words ended abruptly as he
recalled the passion they had shared last night. "It must have been
someone else you saw."

"No sir, Doc, it was Miz Lincoln, all right.
I remember because she was dressed in britches and packing guns.
Oh, one more thing. She wasn't alone."

Jess paled, not certain he wanted to hear the
rest. But of course he had to. "Who was she with?"

"That fancy gambling man," Taylor answered.
"The one with the funny name."

"Arlo Skully?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Thought it strange
that she was with him, but since nothing looked amiss, I didn't
interfere."

"The bastard," Jess growled. "I'll kill
him."

"I think it's about time you told me what's
going on," Bufford said. "Shall we stroll over to my office?
There's not too much you can do right now. Besides, I want to know
about Arlo Skully."

Jess fumed in impotent rage as he accompanied
Bufford and Tayler to the jailhouse. He paced back and forth while
Bufford waited for him to begin, his fingers steepled in front of
him.

"At one time Meg was married to Arlo Skully,"
Jess revealed. "She was sixteen. For reasons I'm not free to
explain, Skully savagely beat Meg a few days into their marriage.
Zach Purdee found her wandering on the prairie more dead than alive
and nursed her back to health. Eventually Meg filed for and was
granted an annulment.

"She never thought Skully would barge into
her life again, but he did," Jess continued. He claimed they were
still married and wanted to take her away. She refused."

He turned to Taylor. "Are you sure Meg wasn't
being forced by Skully? He could have had a gun in her back."

"Meg had her belongings with her," Bufford
reminded him. "She must have planned this ahead of time."

"She hated Skully," Jess protested, still
fighting for reason.

"Women change their minds."

As much as Jess wanted to believe otherwise,
he feared Bufford was right. Meg had planned this all along. Arlo
might have beaten her to within an inch of her life, but obviously
she still felt something for him. It hurt like hell to think that
Meg could be so easily led astray by the fancy man. Didn't she know
he would hurt her again?

"You saw her yesterday, sheriff, did she
mention anything about leaving town?"

"No, our conversation was brief. She
collected her reward and asked to look over the wanted posters
again. I had business elsewhere and left her to peruse the
posters."

A stunned expression marched across Jess's
face. Meg had told him she hadn't had a chance to remove his poster
from the sheriff's drawer. What the hell was going on?

"That's the last I saw of her," Bufford
continued.

"As I said before, the last time I saw her
she was boarding a train," Taylor repeated.

"I'm sorry, Doc," Bufford offered. "I didn't
know you two were getting hitched. Maybe Meg just decided to go
after an outlaw and didn't want to tell you. She knew you'd worry
and fuss at her."

Jess shook his head. "I'm afraid it's more
than that, sheriff. I reckon I'll go back home and try to make some
sense out of this."

"Do you think this Skully fellow will harm
her?" Bufford asked. "Meg always struck me as a woman who could
take care of herself. She wouldn't have lasted in the bounty
hunting business as long as she did if that wasn't true."

Jess had to agree, but that didn't make him
feel any better.

"Good-bye, sheriff, deputy. I've got a heap
of thinking to do."

Jess rode home in a daze. He took care of his
horse and let himself in the door without memory of doing so. His
brain was muddled, his thoughts confused. He lit a lamp and carried
it up to his bedroom, too upset to eat. He pulled a chair to the
window and stared morosely into the darkness, trying to figure out
what the hell had gone wrong.

Last night Meg was the woman of his dreams.
Warm, passionate, loving. They had loved and slept and loved again,
their passion unquenchable. Why had she lied about the poster? He
didn't give a damn about anything as long as she loved him. And
though she hadn't said the words, he knew intuitively that she
did
love him.

Love illumined her eyes when she looked at
him. It flowed from her heart and filled her soul. He wasn't born
yesterday. She loved him. She did!

But what if he was wrong? What if she were
the best damn actor in the world? What if she loved Arlo? What
reason would she have for making a fool of him?

Nothing made sense. Obviously Meg didn't
trust him enough to confide in him. His mind grew so groggy wotj
thoughts and suppositions that Jess's head began to nod. Finally he
rose, undressed, and crawled into bed. Sleep claim him before he'd
resolved a thing where Meg was concerned.

After the worst night of his life, Jess arose
early and prepared for the day. He steered clear of the kitchen,
where he'd last seen Meg, and decided to forego breakfast. His
first patient arrived early. Toward noon he received a message that
Mrs. Larkins was in labor and having problems. And so his day
went.

Three miserable, tension filled days passed.
Jess kept waiting for a message, a telegram, anything from Meg, but
nothing arrived. Another train bound for Denver was due and Jess
pondered whether or not he should purchase a ticket and follow Meg.
His heart said yes but his pride said no. Then he considered his
chances of finding Meg should he decide to go to Denver. Meg and
Arlo could have gotten off the train anywhere between Cheyenne and
Denver, diminishing his chances of ever finding her.

In the end, Jess decided to remain in
Cheyenne. Why should he chase after a woman who cared nothing about
him? What he'd thought was love must have simply been lust on Meg's
part. The love he'd perceived had been an illusion, something he
wanted to believe in and now knew didn't exist.

Jess was putting his instruments and
medicines away for the day when he heard the bell over the door
announce another patient. Sighing tiredly, he walked from the
examining room into the reception area. He bit back a groan when he
saw Zach standing just inside the door.

"Howdy, Doc, I just got off the train. I'm on
my way to see Mary and decided to stop in and let you know I'm
back. How's Meggie? I had the strangest feeling when I hit town,
that's why I stopped here first. You didn't let her go off bounty
hunting, did you?"

"Sit down, Zach," Jess invited. Shocking the
man was the last thing he wanted to do. "You're looking well."

"I'm feeling good, Doc. That medicine has
worked wonders. I feel like a new man. Of course, having inherited
a fortune from my wife didn't hurt any. I'm rich, Doc. Now I can
marry Mary and take care of Meggie. Meggie will never have to
endanger her life again."

Zach searched Jess's face, his own smile
dissolving as he sank down into the nearest chair. "Something's
wrong, ain't it? It's Meggie. Something happened to her. Tell me,
Doc, I can take it."

"A lot has happened since you left," Jess
began. "Arlo Skully turned up in town."

Zach shot to his feet. "The hell he did! What
happened? Did he hurt Meg?"

"As far as I know, he didn't, though he did
try to convince her to leave town with him. He claimed their
marriage was still valid."

"The hell it is!"

Zach's face had turned so red that Jess
sought to calm him. "I brought her to town, where I could protect
her. I intended for her to stay with me until you returned. Then we
were going to get married."

"Now that
is
good news."

"You're not going to like the rest. Meg left
town with Skully four days ago. She was seen boarding the Denver
Express. I didn't want to believe it but there were witnesses; the
facts were indisputable. Obviously Meg preferred Skully. What hurt
the most was that she cared for me so little for me that she didn't
bother leaving note. She just up and left."

"Meggie would never go anywhere with Arlo
Skully," Zach said with conviction. "She loved you. She couldn't
hide that from me. You're a damn fool if you think Meggie left
willingly with Skully."

Jess wanted to believe Zach, God he wanted to
believe him. If there was a logical explanation for Meg's abrupt
departure, he needed desperately to hear it.

"I just don't understand. Everything was fine
between us before Meg left. She said she was going to ride out to
the house for the rest of her clothing and that's the last I saw or
heard from her. It doesn't make sense."

"Arlo forced her," Zach said with
conviction.

"Deputy Taylor saw them together and swore
she boarded the train without any coercion from Skully. Sheriff
Bufford said she'd collected her five hundred dollar reward the day
before."

"What are you gonna do about it, Doc?" Zach
challenged. "Something smells fishy to me. I don't like it one damn
bit. How long has Meggie been gone?"

"Four days," Jess said. "I've argued with
myself about going after her but logic prevailed. She could have
gotten off the train anywhere between here and Denver. Where would
I start? Besides," he stated with little warmth, "she left me. What
do you think that did to my pride? I loved her, Zach, and I'm
hurting."

"I gotta think about this," Zach said,
dropping into a chair. "Do you think Skully knew you were wanted
and threatened to expose you if Meg didn't go with him?"

"I've considered that," Jess ventured. "If
that's the case, Meg should have trusted me to find a solution. I
don't really think Skully knew about me, although he kept insisting
that he'd seen me before. He just couldn't remember where."

"There you have it," Zach exclaimed
excitedly. "You gotta save her, Doc. Arlo Skully is one mean
bastard."

Jess's expression turned mutinous. "Meg made
her choice, Zach. She's too damn independent. She should have
trusted me."

"Is that your last word, Doc? I thought you
loved Meggie."

"I'm too tired to think straight, Zach, and
you look exhausted. You're risking your health if you don't go home
and get some rest."

A stubborn frown darkened Zach's worn
features. "If you won't go after her, I will."

"You just returned from an exhausting trip.
Rest a few days, then we'll decide together what's to be done. Go
see Mrs. Dowling. She's probably eager to see you."

"You're right, Doc, I'm too tired to worry
properly. I'll head over to Mary's and come back tomorrow. By then
I should be clear-headed and better able to think this through. But
I ain't letting you off the hook. If something happens to Meggie,
I'll never forgive you."

For a moment Jess saw a glimpse of the hard,
relentless man Zach had been at the height of his career.

Jess closed and locked the door behind Zach
and went into the kitchen to fix himself something to eat. He
hadn't the energy nor the will to buy his meal out tonight. He
found biscuits left over from the day before and opened a can of
beans. Then he sat down and ate without really tasting the food. He
finished quickly and went up to bed, where he spent half the night
being angry at Meg for disappearing without a word and the other
half worrying about her.

Jess fell into a troubled sleep around dawn.
He was awakened abruptly when he heard a ruckus at the front door.
The room was awash in light and he realized he had overslept. He
pulled on his shirt and trousers and raced downstairs. He opened
the door and found the meat cutter from the grocery store on his
doorstep. He was holding a bloody towel around his hand. His name
was Tom Rooker.

"The knife slipped, Doc," Rooker said. "I
reckon I need a few stitches."