The Sheriff

“Chang Li, who did this to you?” asked the white-haired physician. The battered Chinaman gave no reply. Dr. Ledet instructed Kate, “Let’s get him into the back room, Miss VanNam.”

Once there, they carefully lifted the suffering man up onto the examining table. While the doctor turned away to wash his hands, Kate stood gently patting Chang Li’s shoulder while she stated, “Two bullies, Doctor. Both very large, very dirty men. One had a black eye patch, the other a full red beard.”

Over his shoulder as he soaped his hands, Ledet said, “Titus Kelton is the one-eyed man. The red-bearded fellow is Jim Spears. Miscreants both. Always trouble, they are. Mean as snakes and—”

“I must go, Dr. Ledet,” Kate interrupted, then smiled down at Chang Li. “The doctor will care for you.”

“Yes, yes, you go on, child. I’ll take over,” Dr. Ledet said as he dried his hands on a clean white cloth.

Once outside she took a deep breath but quickly lifted her skirts and hurried across the dusty street. The few men who were loitering about noted the set of her jaw and the flash of her eyes. Everyone wisely stayed out of her way.

She marched two blocks up the sidewalk to the city jail.

Blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light inside the office, Kate saw Fortune’s fearless sheriff, his feet propped up on his desk, his hands laced across his stomach. He was dozing in his chair.

Her anger immediately flared.

While a poor, defenseless little Chinaman was being brutally beaten in an alley two blocks away, the town marshal was asleep at his desk. Unforgivable! Seething, Kate swept over to Travis. Peaceful as a baby he was, shiny star moving up and down on his chest with his slow, rhythmic breathing.

She reached out and shoved his booted feet to the floor.

“What the devil!” he snarled.

“I’ll tell you what the devil!” Kate said, leaning close. “You! You’re the devil! The big, bad sheriff who’s supposed to be some kind of legend. Everybody talks about your he-man prowess, your pistol-packing, rifle-toting, frontier-taming…your unsurpassed greatness. You think you’re tough. You’re not so tough. Dear Lord, here you are sleeping on the job! You’re supposed to keep the peace in this town, Sheriff! Do it!”

She turned to leave. Travis’s hand caught hold of her flowing skirts.

“You let me go!” she ordered, trying desperately to free herself.

“Go? You came here to make a complaint, didn’t you?” He reeled her in by her skirt. To her chagrin, he plunked her down hard on his left knee. “Make it. Tell me what has happened to bring you here in such a state of agitation.”

“I am not agitated and you are not awake. I’ll come back later to—”

“You’re going nowhere until you tell me what this is all about.”

“Let me up this minute or I will scream,” she warned.

“No you won’t,” said Travis, clamping a long arm around her trim waist.

Kate stiffened. “I will, so help me.”

“You do and I’ll arrest you for disturbing the peace,” he said, unsmiling. “Toss you right into a cell and lock you up. Now what’s on your mind, Miss VanNam?”

Leaning away from his muscular chest as far as she possibly could, Kate stated, “Two of your town bullies—Titus Kelton and Jim Spears—have beaten a poor, helpless man within an inch of his life while you were sitting here sound asleep!”

Travis said nothing. Looking directly into his dark eyes, she continued, “They attempted to cut off his queue, but I got there in time! Swear to me you’ll make them pay.”

“I swear,” Travis said. He yawned, pushed her to her feet and rose to his own. “Anything else I can do for you?”

Kate took a step back. “What are you going to do to them?”

“Find ’em first,” he said with slow smile that made her want to smack his smug face.

“And then?”

Travis shrugged broad shoulders, “Perhaps a dose of their own medicine.”

Kate was appalled. “For heaven’s sake, are you saying that you intend to beat them?”

“What would you suggest I do with them?” he asked, running a hand through his thick raven hair. He reached for his hat.

“Why, that’s barbaric! You simply cannot behave like an animal, Sheriff. You’re supposed to be an officer of the law and—”

“I am the law, Miss VanNam. And you have just reported a criminal act, one that calls for harsh punishment. This is not Boston. It’s Fortune, California. If you don’t like the way things are done here, may I suggest you return to the civilized East.” He picked up his gun belt, slung it around his hips and buckled it. “You come in here and tell me that Kelton and Spears beat up a defenseless man. Fine, I believe you. Now believe me when I tell you that they will pay.”

Travis stepped around her, headed for the door.

“Marshal McCloud.”

He turned back to look at her. “Yes, Miss VanNam?”

“Don’t ever do that again.”

“What’s that, Miss VanNam?”

“Sit me on your knee.” Her face flushed as she said the words.

Travis put his hat on his head and adjusted the brim. “Wake me like that again and you’ll be lucky if I don’t turn you over my knee.”

He tipped his hat and left Kate glaring after him. She watched him unhurriedly cross the street, and felt again the heat of his arm around her waist when he’d sat her on his knee. She shivered inwardly. There was an air of mystery and power about the town sheriff that both repelled and excited her. He was handsome in a ruthless way and she had no doubt there were women who looked upon him with favor.

Kate shook herself out of her foolish reveries and hurried back to Dr. Ledet’s office to check on the patient.

For the next hour she stayed at the physician’s elbow, assisting in any way she could while he worked on Chang Li. Dr. Ledet had given the suffering man a liberal dose of laudanum, and Chang Li was now sleeping soundly.

When finally the doctor was finished with the task, and both he and Kate had washed their hands, he quietly motioned her to precede him out of the room.

Once they were in the front office, Kate reached for her reticule. “How much does he owe you, Doctor? I want to pay.”

“Not a thing, Kate.” He smiled as he rolled his sleeves down. She tried again, but he refused to take any money. He said, “Chang Li is resting well, so we’ll leave him here in my office for a couple of days. He’s going to be fine. Sore for a while, but no permanent damage was done.”

Kate nodded. “Thanks to you.”

“No, I’d say it’s thanks to you, child.” He chuckled and said, “You faced down the town bullies. I don’t know of many men, much less a woman, who would….”

A disturbance outside caused the doctor to stop speaking. He and Kate exchanged glances, then quickly turned to look out the window.

Marshal Travis McCloud, mounted atop a snorting Appaloosa stallion, came riding down the center of the Main Street with two big, dirty prisoners—one with a black eye patch, the other with a full red beard—stumbling behind him. A long length of rope was wrapped around their bound hands and tied to the sheriff’s gun belt.