Part 4
By Nesciri
Lou suddenly awoke by a large thud coming from the kitchen. Looking around she saw that Cody was still sleeping in his bunk. Buck was still sleeping from the laudanum, but she couldn't see Noah in his bunk. She quickly put on her pants and with a gun in hand and barefoot she slipped into the kitchen just to bump into Noah.
"What happened?" she asked silently, not wanting to wake up Buck and Cody unnecessarily.
"I'm not sure," Noah confessed. "I went out for some fresh air and then I saw Jesse head out from her as if the devil was after him. Noah frowned and Lou looked sharply at him.
"You OK?"
"I got a terrible headache." Noah smiled weakly. "I better head out after him, wherever he's going," he added tiredly.
"Why did he leave?" Lou asked worriedly.
"Beats me."
"You need any help?" Lou asked seeing Noah's tired face. "Your headache---"
"No, I'll be fine. It will probably pass as soon as I get going."
"Where are you going?"
"I can only imagine that he's gone to see Teaspoon, so I better head into town."
"All right, " Lou mumbled hesitantly. "Take care."
"I will. You better get back in bed."
Lou went back into the room after Noah had headed out after Jesse. She wondered vaguely what could have made Jesse take off in the middle of the night, but she was too tired to even be upset. She strolled over to Buck, but there was no change. He was still lying there, immobile. For a second she feared that he was dead, he was so still. But then she saw his chest heave slowly and she relaxed some. She pondered waking Cody up, but then thought better of it and returned to bed. She was sure Noah would find Jesse and get him back safely.
*****
Barak was upset. He had been sure that the boy would head into town and had been furious when he realized that he had gone in another direction. The death of the boy would have weakened the bond among the riders and made his effort to get the girl so much easier. Now he was by no means sure that he would succeed. When he'd come to a small farm he had let his rage take over as he'd killed the three people living there. Then he had another idea; if he could managed to lure the marshal out, then the death of the marshal would serve the same purpose as he’d hoped the death of the boy would do.
******
Teaspoon stumbled into the office around midnight. Pouring himself some coffee from the warm iron stove he removed his boots and hat and sank down on the chair to his desk. He'd just finished a round through town to ensure that there would be no more murders. So far everything was quiet and he was almost hoping that his nightly stroll had made a difference. Maybe there wouldn't be any more murders. Slowly sipping his coffee he felt his eyelids getting heavier and he had to concentrate not to fall asleep. When the saloon owner Hayes entered the office an hour later he found Teaspoon sound asleep in his chair with his feet on the table. Hayes cleared his throat, wakening Teaspoon up. He took one glance on the man standing by the door.
"Oh no," he said low.
Hayes nodded.
"One of the guests found her on his way to the stable."
"Her?" Teaspoon reached for his boots. This was exactly what he'd hoped not would happen.
"A young girl."
"One of your girls?" Teaspoon asked as he reached for his hat.
"Not this time. They know better than go out alone, especially now, when there's a murderer around." Hayes hesitated. "It's Greenwald's daughter."
"Oh no," Teaspoon whispered. Greenwald ran a small farm just outside town and he and his wife had already lost a son in skirmish outside Ft. Laramie. They had only their daughter left and now she was dead.
"I'll have a look," Teaspoon promised.
"Then I can return to the saloon?"
Teaspoon nodded.
"Thanks for letting me know, Hayes."
"I hope you find the bastard," the saloon owner said and left.
******
Teaspoon kneeled by the girl. Her death had been as violent as the others’ and he was beginning to suspect that there was only one murderer. He couldn't understand how he had missed this on his nightly watch. It was as if somebody knew where he was. Well, all he could do right now was to see that the girl came to the undertaker and then notify her parents.
He placed a blanket over the lifeless body and headed over to the undertaker. Less than an hour later he was on his way to Greenwald's place.
******
The small farm was in darkness when he arrived and with a sad heart Teaspoon realized that the girl's parents was unaware of their daughter's fate. Sighing deeply he dismounted and walked up to the house. As he knocked on the door, to his surprise, it slowly swung open.
"Mr. Greenwald? Tom?" Teaspoon peered into the dark room. There was something eerie with the place and he drew his gun.
"Tom? Eliza?" His voice echoed in the hallway as he carefully stepped inside, gun in hand.
He peered up the stairs but seeing nothing he continued towards the kitchen. When he opened the door he almost had a feeling of that there was something there. The pale moonlight illuminated the kitchen as Teaspoon felt a cold shiver down his spine. There, on the floor, lay the Greenwalds in their own blood, both with their throats cut. He closed his eyes for a second, fighting nausea. What sick bastard was it that had killed a whole family for no reason at all, he thought sternly. For a moment Teaspoon stood still listening for sounds. When he failed to hear anything he looked around in search of any traces of the murderer. To his surprise there was nothing. He wondered if the girl, Carrie, had been killed here too and then dragged to town for him or somebody else to discover it. A second too late he realized that the girl was a bait to get him out here. He never saw his attacker but he felt the knife enter his body just blow his ribs on his right side. The knife was removed at once only to one more time find it's way into his body. Teaspoon felt himself go weak in the knees as blood soaked his shirt. Desperately he tried to get away from the attacker's firm grip around his neck, but he'd been surprised at the attack and he could feel his strength ebbing out of him for every second that passed. This is it, he thought before he felt the attacker released his grip on him and he sank to the floor. As in a fog he looked up and saw a dark figure leave the room as silently as he had came. There was something familiar with the stance of the man but his dizzy brain refused to make a connection. Slowly Teaspoon sank into unconsciousness.
*****
Barak smiled as he felt the older man sink down under him, when suddenly he felt himself loose his control. Not only was the boy, Noah, stronger than he'd expected and resisted the murder of his friend, but somebody or something was aiding him in regaining control of his body again. Barak, who not yet had received the strength from his three recent killings, realized that he was forced to let go, or he'll fail. Cursing he returned to recede inside Noah's mind until another opportunity came by.
*****
Noah suddenly realized that he suffered from a severe headache and that he felt sick. Trying to get to his feet he wondered where he was. The last he remembered was him talking to Lou and then that he headed out from the station. Now he was somewhere else and it only took him a second to realize that he was at Greenwalds' place. He saw his horse standing next to Teaspoon's and he assumed that he had followed Teaspoon's tracks out here. He wished he could remember, but his mind refused to cooperate. Suddenly he heard somebody moan and he started walking briskly towards the house. The movement restored him somewhat, and he begun to feel better. Until he saw what had happened in the kitchen. At first look he realized that both Mr. and Mrs. Greenwald were dead and there was nothing he could do for them. But it was Teaspoon he'd heard and when he saw the old stationmaster lying on the floor, he felt as if a cold hand had gripped around his heart.
*****
Teaspoon realized that somebody was moving him. Fighting confusion, he tried to let whoever it was know that he was awake.
"Take it easy, Teaspoon." It took a few seconds for the exhausted Teaspoon to recognize the voice.
"Noah? What are you doing here?" he mumbled as Noah tied something around his body.
"You’re not gonna believe this, but I was looking for Jesse," Noah explained as he tried to stop the blood from the two wounds.
"Did you see anybody?" Teaspoon asked. "You must have come just after the murderer - did you see anybody leave?"
Noah shook his head sadly.
"No, sorry, Teaspoon, but I didn’t see a soul."
Teaspoon muttered something to himself.
"He killed them just to lure me out here," he mumbled, "and I didn’t see it. You must have frightened him off."
"Maybe," Noah admitted and straightened himself up to take a look at his handiwork. It wasn’t a pretty bandage, but at least it had stopped the bleeding. To be honest, he didn’t really remember how he ended out here in the first place. The last thing he remembered was how he rode out after Jesse and that he had lost the boy’s track and therefore had decided to head into town. From there on his mind seemed to be blank. He thought that he’d been too occupied by worry for Jesse to care where he’d been going and him ending up at the farm was pure chance.
"You’re sure you didn’t see anybody?" Teaspoon asked again as if he couldn’t believe that the murderer had escaped again. "Nothing at all?"
"Nothing," Noah mumbled as he tried to get Teaspoon on his feet. "Come on, Teaspoon, we have to get you to Doc."
Suddenly it dawned on Teaspoon what Noah had said earlier.
"What do you mean you were out here looking for Jesse?" he asked as he tried to stand.
"Jesse took off little more than three hours ago," Noah replied between teeth as he supported Teaspoon.
"Where?"
"I don’t know - I tried to find him when I ran into -- this."
"The young fool probably think he’ll be able to catch the killer singlehandle," Teaspoon muttered as they slowly walked out of the house. Outside Noah looked for a wagon, knowing that Teaspoon would not be able to ride. Soon enough he found it and after he had helped Teaspoon up he headed into town as fast as he could.
*****
It was almost morning when Noah held in the wagon by Doc's house. Teaspoon had refused to lie down and was sitting next to him, fighting the dizziness and weariness caused by the blood loss.
"Hang in there, Teaspoon," Noah said as he jumped off the wagon and walked up to the house. Doc had already heard the wagon and was on his way out before Noah reached the house.
"What's happened?" he asked as he met Noah.
"Teaspoon's hurt. Somebody put a knife in him."
"Let's have a look then."
*****
Mr. Denning slowly helped Rachel out of the wagon.
"You’re sure about this, Rachel?" Mrs. Denning asked as she watched her friend descend. "You know you’re more than welcome to stay with us."
"Thanks Ellen, but I should be here, especially now when Jesse’s sick."
"Just as you know, you’re welcomed back at any time," Ellen Denning smiled.
"I’ll remember that," Rachel promised as Mr. And Mrs. Denning headed back. Rachel turned around and looked at the station. It seemed awfully quiet and for a moment she wondered if there was anybody home. Being out at Ellen had been a nice break, but she hadn’t been able to enjoy it too much with the pain from her burns. It had subsided some, enough for her to go home. Even if she wouldn’t be able to do much work, she wanted to be there for the riders, especially since Jesse was sick. Besides, the riders needed someone that took saw to it that they did there chores. She waved a cheerful goodbye to Mr. And Mrs. Denning and started to walk up to the bunkhouse. The station seemed too quiet and she realized that the riders, despite the late hour, still must be sleeping. Prepared to give them a piece of her mind of what she thought about such behavior she stepped up to the door and opened it. What she saw made her frown. There were only three riders in the bunkhouse. Lou, who was sleeping on her bunk, blanket beneath her, appeared just to have dropped off to sleep since she was till wearing her trousers. Cody was sleeping the dreamless sleep of the exhausted. A quick glance over to Buck told her that he too seemed to be in a deep sleep. Rachel quickly crossed the room and walked over to the kitchen only to find Jesse’s bunk empty. Bewildered she walked back into the bunkhouse. This time both she managed to wake both Lou and Cody.
"What’s happened here?" she asked. "Where’s Jesse?"
Lou tiredly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as Cody yawned audibly.
"You’ll never believe it," he mumbled and stretched .
"We’ve been having some bad luck lately," Lou tried to explain.
"We’ve had enough bad luck to last us a lifetime," Cody said as he swung his leg over the side. Rachel looked at them, unconsciously aware that she wondered why Buck hadn’t woke up, but more concerned about other things.
"Where’s Jesse?" she asked again.
"He’s gone." Lou said as she reached for her shirt.
"What do you mean gone?"
"He took off in the middle of the night – Noah headed out after him. They should be back any time now." Lou looked over to Buck’s bunk. "Buck’s still asleep?"
"Yes." Rachel frowned at the way Lou asked the question and she quickly walked over to Buck. One look was enough to tell her that it was not a natural sleep. Buck looked awfully pale and it was with some difficulty she saw him breathe.
"What’s wrong?" she asked and turned to the others who were getting dressed.
Lou shrugged.
"Nobody knows. He just collapsed the day before yesterday in pain. Doc was here but he couldn’t do anything, ‘cept give him something to sleep on."
"When did he do that?" Rachel asked and touched Buck’s forehead.
"Yesterday morning."
"And he hasn’t wake up yet?" Rachel tried to hide her worry.
Lou shook her head as Cody walked up to Rachel.
"I’m sure he’ll be all right, probably just tired. I know I wouldn’t have any problems sleeping for that long."
"Bet you wouldn’t," Lou replied with a smile at Cody’s attempt to lighten up the situation. He was just as concerned as the rest of them, and she knew it. And Cody knew that she knew.
Rachel was about to ask them more questions when they heard a wagon roll into the yard. Unable to grasp the situation, Rachel looked out the window to see Doc and Noah arriving. When the wagon turned around, she also saw a pale Teaspoon sitting behind them. But there was no Jesse. Rachel looked at the others.
"It’s Teaspoon and Noah," she said and walked outside to greet them. Lou and Cody followed in her footsteps.
"What’s happened?" she asked. "Where’s Jesse?"
"I don’t know." Noah’s reply was swift as he jumped off and then helped Teaspoon to the ground. When the others saw the bloodstained shirt and the bandage beneath it, they rushed to his assistance. Rachel was unable to do anything but stare and in despair she turned to Doc. Teaspoon saw it.
"Just help me sit down and I’ll explain everything," he said weakly. "I’ll need your help," he added to the riders. "Doc just came along to see to Buck."
Doc nodded.
"I wanted to know how he was doing after sleeping," he explained.
"He’s still sleeping," Lou replied.
"Still sleeping?" Doc looked aghast at them. "Let me see him."
Rachel led the way into the bunkhouse as Teaspoon sat down on the porch to catch his breath and to wait and see what Doc would say about Buck. The others gathered around him.
"Shouldn’t you be resting?" Noah asked.
"I’ll wait and see what Doc have to say. Then we need to discuss this."
A few minutes later Doc returned.
"How’s Buck?" Teaspoon asked. Doc looked at the riders and hesitated. Then he sighed and sat down on the porch.
"Well, he’s not sleeping. I’m afraid he’s unconscious."
"But he was just gonna sleep. That was what you told us!" Lou exclaimed.
"That’s what I thought. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like this."
"Can we get him out of it?" Cody asked.
"I don’t know. Time will tell."
Teaspoon looked at Doc.
"There’s something you’re not telling us, Doc."
Doc nodded and continued with some hesitation.
"I’ve seen this before. People can fall into an unconscious state before --- death. Now it isn’t always true, but ---" Doc left the sentence unfinished. The riders looked at each other, then Lou turned away.
"Thank you, Doc," Teaspoon said softly.
"Let me know if anything happens."
"We will."
Silence fell as Doc left the station. Then Lou turned to Teaspoon.
"I know, Lou," Teaspoon said before she could open her mouth. "But there’s nothing we can do right now – we better concentrate on what we can do."
An hour later they were still seated on the porch, discussing the situation. There was a lot on their minds and there was a lot to be done. Rachel and Lou was worried over Jesse and wanted to send somebody out to look for him. Teaspoon was eager to get the man that had stabbed him and who had killed all those people. He was now convinced that there was only one murderer.
"We have to split you up," Teaspoon said as he tenderly touched his bandage. He had insisted that they decided on an action plan before he would get some rest, but the long time sitting up was beginning to take its toll on him.
"Cody, I want you to head into town. I’ll swear you in as a deputy. Find out everything you can about the Greenwald murders. Noah and Lou, I want you to head over to Ft. Kearney – I have an old friend there who might be of some assistance."
"What about Jesse?" Lou asked. "Why can’t Noah head over to Ft. Kearney on his own, and then I can search for Jesse?"
"I don’t want to send out single riders while this murderer is on the loose. It’s safer if you ride together. It might be that this murderer is keeping an eye on what I’m doing and if he see you head out, he might try and stop you. I want you Cody to get a search ready in town to go out and look for Jesse. If everything seem calm in town, you might lead it. But only when you’re sure that there wont be another murder. Is that clear?"
Cody nodded and looked at Lou.
"I’ll do anything to find him, don’t you worry," he assured her.
Lou sighed.
"All right then. So Noah and I head over to Ft. Kearney. What are we going to do there?"
"I want you to find a man called Nelson. He’s an old friend of mine and he knows more about tracking people than anyone I know."
To be continued Chapter VII
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Copyright 1999: not be be reproduced
