The Six-Gun Solution (TimeWars 12)

“Well, now, I’m not tellin’ you any secrets,” said the barman. “The whole town knows all about it. Part of it’s a question of property, too. In more ways than one. See. Johnny and Josie built their house on money Josie’s daddy sent her, only Johnny owns the lot it stands on. One time, when Wyatt was away, Johnny came to try and dispossess her. Only Wyatt had asked Morgan to look in on her from time to time and Morg was there. They had some words and Morg knocked Johnny clear off the front porch_ Johnny didn’t bother Josie anymore after that, but you can see why he’s never been too fond of the Earps. And it’s like their trouble with property was just like the trouble many folks had here in town.”

“How’s that?” asked Lucas, plunking down for two more drinks.

“Well,” said the barman, pouring. “Arizona’s still a territory, you understand, and we ain’t never had much in the way of law around here. Back when the boom got started, there was a good deal of lot jumpin’ goin’ on and it got so it wasn’t very clear who owned what, you understand. Well, the mayor at that time. Alder Randall, went and transferred all the titles to the company of Clark and Gray. Seems the law let him do that, for the purpose of getting all the paperwork cleared up or somethin’. Only what Clark and Gray did was turn around and demand payment for all the lots in town and those who wouldn’t pay were threatened with eviction. Some of the boys they used to do the dirty work were the same cowboys who were doin’ a lot of the rustlin’ in these parts. It turned into one big mess, let me tell you, and there’s still lawsuits pending over the whole thing. It pretty near split the town in half. There was Clark and Gray and their friends in the County Ring, who own the Nugget and hold some of the offices in town, and there was John Clum, who’s now the mayor and runs the Epitaph and a bunch of local businessmen around here who sided up with him.

“Now the Earps own some property in Tombstone,” he continued, “and they got involved in the whole thing, as well. When they first came here, they were goin’ to open up a stage line, only we already had two lines so the Earps got into other business. They own some mining claims around here and got interest in one of the saloons, plus a few more things. Virgil got himself a badge and Wyatt wrangled himself an appointment as deputy U.S. Marshal. Between them, they got the power to make Morgan deputy if need be and Wyatt’s always got Doc Holliday and one or two others to back him up. Now on the other side, you got the County Ring, and Johnny

Behan is their man, along with his deputies, Billy Breakenridge and Frank

Stilwell. And Stilwell, for certain, with his buddy. Pete Spencer, has done some rustlin’ with Ike Clanton. So we got ourselves one big kettle of stew on the boil, let me tell you.”

“Sounds like something’s bound to come to a head sooner or later,” Lucas agreed. “Looks like I picked an interesting time to arrive in Tombstone.”

“That you did, partner. And now that the Montana Kid’s in town, there’s no tellin’ what’s liable to happen.”

“Tell me about the Montana Kid.” said Lucas. “Who is he?”

“I don’t rightly know,” the barman replied, this time standing Lucas to a drink. He was clearly enjoying himself with his captive audience. “He came into town a while back lookin’ for some friends of his, three men named Ben Summers, Josh Billings and Joe McEnery had a small claim up in the hills. Only they’d been murdered ‘bout two weeks before. Nobody ever learned who did it. Anyways, the Kid was in the Oriental, askin’ questions, when this fracas breaks out between Bat Masterson and a couple of Ike Clanton’s boys, Slim Carter and Jack Demming. Slim and Jack both jerked their pistols and it looked bad for Masterson, but the Kid shot ’em both quick as you please, dead center in the heart, each one. I didn’t see it myself, sorry to say, but folks that did say the Kid’s draw was the fastest thing they’d ever seen.”

“Really?”

“That’s what they say, and I can believe it, too. Why, just the other day. Ross Demming that’s Jack’s brother-came in here lookin’ for the Kid with Frank Mclaury. The Kid was sittin’ right at that table over them, with Jenny Reilly. she’s a saloon girl over at the Oriental. Jenny’s about the prettiest girl anyone’s ever seen in town and she was real popular. I can tell you, but since the Kid arrived in town. Jenny won’t have anything to do with anybody else, if you catch my drift-beg pardon, Ma’am,” he added, with a glance at Andre. “So there’s a lot of cowboys aren’t too pleased to have the Kid around. Anyways, there the Kid was, sittin’ right there and havin’ himself a meal, talkin’ to Jenny, when in comes Ross Demming, full of fight, with Frank McLaury to back him up. Both men wearin’ guns. too, and the Kid had given his to Virgil Earp, ’cause of the ordinance, you know.”

“So the Kid was unarmed?” asked Lucas.

“It sure looked that way,” the barman said. By now, they had an audience. “Jenny tried to talk Frank into makin’ Ross back off, hut Frank wasn’t havin’ any of it. The Kid just sat there, quiet as you please, tellin’ the boys he didn’t want any trouble. When Frank found out he didn’t have a gun, he offered to let the Kid use one of his. And right then Doc Holliday came in and got the drop on ’em. Made ’em both leave and as soon as they got outside. Virgil and, Morgan took their guns and led ’em off to jail.”

“So the Kid got lucky,” Lucas said.

“Well, that’s what Doc told him,” the barman replied. “Asked him what he’d have done if it hadn’t been for him showin’ up when he did. And what happened next. I saw with my own eyes. The Kid makes a move like this…” the barman demonstrated, crossing his wrists,”… and pulls out two little knives and throws ’em, so fast you couldn’t hardly see him move. And they went right into the wall there, where Frank and Ross were standin’. If you go on over there, you can see where they went in. Let me tell you. I’ve seen some fast men in my time, but never anything like that, not in all my born days! You want to get yourself a story, mister, the Kid’s the man you want to see. Hardly old enough to take a drink, yet there’s not a grown man in this town won’t step aside to make way for him.”

“Sounds like a fascinating individual.” said Lucas. “Where can I find him?”

“Well, sir, he’s got a room right here in this hotel. You stick around, you’re bound to see him and I’ll be pleased to point him out to you. Or you can head on over to the Oriental. Kid’s been spendin’ time down there, since he got sweet on Jenny. And there ain’t been much trouble down there since the Kid has been around, no, sir! Even Wyatt harp had to admit that.”

“How do the Earps feel about the Kid?” asked Lucas.

“Virgil he don’t care one way or the other, long as the Kid stays out of trouble. Wyatt, he didn’t care for him one bit and told him to leave town, but Doc Holliday seems to like the Kid and I guess he had a word with Wyatt. Anyways, since Wyatt has an interest in the Oriental, and the Kid bein’ there keeps trouble down, seems Wyatt doesn’t mind too much. But I don’t think he trusts the Kid, entirely.”

Lucas thanked the barman for all the information and left him a generous tip, then he decided to head over to the Oriental saloon.

“You might as well check out some of the local stores,” he said to Andre. “Meet some of the local women, see what you can learn. Respectable women of this time didn’t hang out in saloons

Andre grimaced. “Right,” she said. “I’ll meet you back here later.”

As they stood on the walk in front of the hotel, Finn Delaney came riding by He nodded and touched the brim of his Stetson. Lucas nodded back.

“He’s right on time.” he said. “Which leaves only Darkness.” He sighed. “Damn it. I hate not knowing what he’s up to.”

“From the way he talked, it’s pretty serious.” said Andre.

“Yeah. Here we are trying to pull off a temporal adjustment mission and meanwhile. we’re part of something in his past that he’s trying to change. Only he can’t tell us what it is, any more than we can tell the people here. The only difference is that they don’t know what they’re caught up in and we do. Or at least we know that we’re caught up in something_ God knows what.”

“There’s not much point in worrying about it now, since there’s nothing we can do about it anyway.” she said. “At least not until Darkness tells us what it is.”

“That’s just what worries me.” said Lucas. “What if he’s wrong? What if whatever it is he expects us to do back here isn’t the right thing to do? How the hell do we know?”

“We don’t. We’re simply going to have to trust him.”