“I was right here.” she said. “I was leaving the saloon with Scott when Curly Bill came up behind us and jerked his pistol!”
“Then what’s Demming doing here?” asked Wyatt.
“He was up on the roof of the saloon, with his rifle,” Jenny said. “Bill wanted Scott to turn around and make his play and Demming was going to shoot him down as soon as he turned around.”
“So what happened to Curly Bill?” asked Wyatt.
“He ran after Scott shot Demming.” Jenny said.
“And Demming was up on the roof, you say?” asked Wyatt He turned and looked up at the roof. “How did the Kid happen to see him up there?”
“He didn’t,” Jenny said. “I did. I saw him and I warned Scott.”
“You saw him.” Wyatt said “What made you think to look up there?”
“Scott told me to look.”
“I see,” said Wyatt, pursing his lips thoughtfully. “Why couldn’t he look himself?”
“Because he had his back turned.”
“And with his back turned, he knew there was someone on the roof behind him?”
Jenny saw how it was going and it wasn’t going well. “He.. he knew that Curly Bill knew he couldn’t beat him and he figured out that someone else had to have a gun on him.”
Wyatt grunted. “So he shot Ross Demming.”
“It was self-defense!” said Jenny.
“Head shot.” Wyatt said. He turned to look at the roof again. “Clear up there, eh? In the dark, too. What was Curly Bill doing all this time?”
“I told you.” Jenny said, “he ran.”
“Why didn’t he just shoot the Kid while the Kid was shooting Demming? He had the drop on him, didn’t he?”
“He.. well, he couldn’t because… “ Jenny’s voice trailed off.
“Marshal, she couldn’t have seen anything,” O’Fallon said. “She was inside, in the saloon. Ain’t that right, boys?”
“Yeah, that’s right, I saw her.” Zaber replied.
“And Curly Bill left quite a while ago,” O’Fallon said.
“Alter the Kid called him out back there in saloon.”
“The Kid called him out?” asked Wyatt.
“Its a lie!” Jenny said “He just offered to show Bill who was faster.”
“Ain’t that the same thing?” asked O’Fallon.
“They drew on each other with empty pistols!” Jenny said. “Ask anybody! They all saw!”
“And once the Kid saw he could take Curly Bill, he decided to do it for real.” said O’Fallon. “Curly Bill left and the Kid went out after him, but he ran into Ross Demming first and decided to take care of some old business.”
“It isn’t true!” shouted Jenny. “He’s making it all up!”
“What was Demming doing with a Winchester?” asked Wyatt.