Chapter Text
*****
He was going to kill him... that's all there was to it and no one would ever find a trace of one Chris Larabee. One ornery, prickly, temperamental, moody sonofabitch. No one would blame him neither.
Vin bit down his irritation at Chris, he'd left Chris and his moods back at the ranch for a reason; a damned good one, too. As he slipped into the Standish Tavern, Inez waved to him from behind the bar and Vin tipped his hat toward her. He slid into his usual chair, getting a nod from Buck and Ezra as he leaned back to get comfortable.
"Where's Chris?" Buck asked from behind his beer mug.
Vin just shrugged.
"Trouble at the Larabee-Tanner ranch?" Ezra asked, head tilted to the side.
Vin shrugged again.
"C'mon, Vin, you can tell 'ole Buck. Chris threaten to shoot ya or something?"
"Ain't me in danger of getting shot about now," Vin mumbled before he could stop himself.
Buck laughed at him, as Vin knew he would, and Ezra tilted his head further to the side to get a better look at Vin's face, half hidden by the wide brim of his hat.
"Your eye is blackening nicely, Vin. By tomorrow at this time, your face will display most of the colors in the rainbow, if I'm not mistaken."
"Hope Chris' got a matching one, pard," Buck said as he motioned Inez over. She turned around, ignoring him and Buck sighed. "You'd think since she's going to be my wife, she could bring me a beer."
Vin, taken by surprise, laughed out loud. Hell, he wasn't in any laughing mood. Damn Buck, anyways.
"So?" Buck asked.
"So what?"
"Chris got a matching shiner?"
"Bring me back a beer," Vin said in response. "I figure you'll be serving a few once you get near that bar."
Buck's smile fell away and Vin's smile widened. Shit, that smarted. He hoped Chris pounded his hand with that damned hammer, would serve him right. Bastard.
"Mr Tanner?" Ezra's voice broke into his wishing Chris would fall and break his damn leg.
"What?"
"Are you staying in town tonight?"
"I reckon, why?"
"Sheriff Dunne is taking his wife fishing in the morning and would like someone to watch over the citizens."
Fishing? Casey wasn't too big, just yet, but she was expecting a baby. Why in the hell would JD take her fishing? Probably because she'd go without him, otherwise. Vin studied Ezra for a minute, thinking things through. He hadn't planned to spend the entire next day in town, but he supposed it would serve Chris right. He was in such a hurry to get the damn barn finished, let him work his ass off in the heat.
Ezra watched him impatiently. He knew Vin well enough to know prompting him would only shut him up. "You supposed to do it?" Vin finally asked.
"Supposed to is such a loaded word." Ezra shot right back.
"Knock it off, Ezra, I ain't in the mood for any of your dancin'."
"Cohabiting with Mr. Larabee has brought out your most charming side, I see."
"If I can have your room until morning, I'll do it," Vin said before Ezra could plead his case. "And not a word I'm there, either."
"I wouldn't dream of giving away your location, Mr. Tanner. You may spend the night in my room as I have other plans. There is one condition, however."
There always was. He stared at Ezra without saying a word.
"You bathe before sleeping in my bed and you wear one of my nightshirts. I had my bedding laundered only yesterday."
"That's two conditions. And if'n it's all the same to you, I'll just sleep in what nature gave me. Nightshirts are for women. And you're paying for the bath."
"Of course," Ezra sighed out and Vin wanted to belt him one.
He should back out now and make Ezra do the job he agreed to. But he was here, in town, unexpected and he didn't have money for a room and his wagon was out on the ranch. Hell, he should just go sleep out, but he wanted company. Any company but Chris, that is. Hell, he weren't much better company himself if Ezra's reaction meant anything. "And you buy my dinner, breakfast and a bottle of rotgot."
"Mr. Tanner! Half a day watching the dust blow around Main Street is hardly worth a bed, a bath, two meals, and your libations."
"Then do it yourself, Ezra. Hell, the money you're gonna make tonight will more than cover my needs, I reckon."
"You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Tanner." Ezra said as he flipped Vin two silver dollars. "That should be enough for your bath and evening meal. I'll tell Inez to put your drinks on my tab."
"Did I just hear what I think I heard?" Buck nearly yelled, approaching the table juggling a round of beers.
"Vin will be taking over my duties tomorrow. Good day gentlemen," Ezra said as he stood.
Vin was sure that disdain he heard in the 'gentlemen' was directed at him, but then he looked at Buck and decided it was meant for both of them. Ezra never did make no secret what he thought of Vin and Buck's manners.
"Here, Vin, take Ezra's drink. You look like you need it."
Vin took the offered beers, downing the first in one long swallow.
"So," Buck started once Vin set to sipping his second beer. "What did Chris hit ya for? And is the body hid?"
Vin gave Buck a little grin at that. Buck would understand better than anybody.
Vin spoke soft enough no one could overhear. Telling Buck was one thing, letting anyone else hear was another story all together. "We're working on the new barn."
"So what are you doing here?"
Vin shrugged.
"I been there, pard, I been there," Buck said, shaking his head and taking another sip of his beer.
"Ya ever think about strangling him?" Vin asked quietly.
Buck started laughing and Vin felt his irritation ratchet up another notch.
"Hell," Buck said once he got control of himself, "Strangle, shoot, knife, punch..." Buck's words trailed off into more laughter and Vin couldn't help it, he started laughing a little too.
"Weren't nothin, really. He's just in a mood cause of the heat. I'm in a mood, too."
"Gettin old will do that to a man."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Chris turns forty on Friday. That's enough to make a man snappish."
Vin went still. Damn, so that's what that was all about!
"Sarah always made a big to-do about Chris' birthday. And he made one out of hers, too. He used to say it was the most important day of the year, well... until Adam was born, anyway..."
Buck's jabbering faded away as Vin tried to recall just what set Chris off, exactly.
It was hot, too hot to be out working on a barn, but Vin kept his mouth shut. They had big plans and if they were going to have the new, eight stall barn done by first frost, three months away, they needed to work on it. They had too many other daily chores to let the barn wait. Fall would be there before they knew it and if they didn't get some work on it done each week, winter would be on them before they finished it. Worse still, they had a mare due to foal in two months and since the old lean-to barn got knocked down in the last big storm, they had nowhere for the mare to foal.
Vin finished hauling another pile of lumber from the staging area and walked toward the pump. He was gonna sweat away to dust, he kept this up. He gave Chris' back a dirty look. Larabee thought he could make it cooler by willing it so? Stubborn jackass. Vin stripped off his shirts and doused himself with a bucket of water. Not only did Chris insist they work their tails off in the heat of the day, but the durn fool walked around without a shirt on.
Vin wasn't sure exactly what the date, or even the week was, but he knew high summer when he felt it. Probably the middle of July, he guessed. He didn't have no need to know the day or the date. JD kept a calendar in the jail, but Vin never looked at it.
Vin dunked his shirts in the bucket, then bent his head to wet it under the pump. He took his time getting dressed, his back to Chris. He didn't need to see him, he could feel him seething even with him all the way over there.
Weren't no two ways about it, Chris was in a mood, had been for awhile now. Vin couldn't figure out what set him off and he didn't much care at this point what exactly set Larabee to brooding. If'n it was something he did, he weren't no Shaman, Chris would just have to tell him what it was. And if weren't something he did, well then, Larabee had no call to take it out on him.
But Vin let things roll off him like other men didn't; he didn't worry about the small irritations life was always serving up. He figured it was the reason Chris tolerated him like no other. Make that he put up with Chris like not many others would. Man couldn't do much about his nature. And there was more than enough about Chris that he admired, respected and appreciated than he could put into words. He'd just have to remember that when Larabee made his hair hurt.
And boy howdy, Larabee was making even his short hairs hurt this week. Vin studied the lumber pile, deciding if he could use the dwindling stock of lumber to make an excuse to head to the hills. They could do for some more trees soon. But Chris planed the lumber and he said when to get more. Vin didn't have as much experience turning trees into buildings so he let Chris lead the way. But he did have experience living in the desert and what a blamed fool thing it was to work through the mid-day heat. Hell, he was getting his back up again... and the cooling water wasn't helping him stay calm anymore.
"Vin!" Chris shouted and Vin nearly kicked the bucket over. So much for not letting Larabee goad him to a place he didn't feel like going.
Vin took his time, moving like a sane person in the heat. Chris' skin starting to turn red, and Vin couldn't tell if it was from working or from the sun. Would serve his pasty white ass right, to get all burned up. Vin'd laid in a supply of aloe at the beginning of summer, just for days like this. Man as pale as Chris had no call to be walking around half naked in the desert. Stupid white man.
"You going to stand around all day or you going to help?"
Vin didn't answer. Wasn't no way to answer that without starting a fight.
"I want to have the framing finished before dinner."
Vin slowly made his way to where Chris had the framing laid out. There was an awful lot of it; Vin didn't think they needed a barn so big, but Chris insisted. Eight double sized stalls, somebody was thinking big - and it wasn't Vin.
"Still don't see the need for this many stalls," Vin mumbled as he shifted to get more comfortable. His blamed back was acting up again, too.
Chris sighed deep and Vin knew things were going to come to a head. Ever since they started work on the damned barn, things weren't good. They hadn't so much as kissed since they nearly knocked each other senseless the first day of work.
"Horses won't hardly use 'em, most times," Vin said as he bent to help Chris move a section of framing.
"And I suppose you forgot about last winter when we couldn't get out of the house for three days because of the snow. The horses we're buying and breeding aren't indian ponies. They need the shelter of a good barn."
"Well maybe we ought to be buying mustangs, then," Vin shot back.
That earned him a glare, and that made the hairs on his neck stand up. Larabee ought to point them eyes of his and that stare somewheres else. It didn't do no good where Vin was concerned anyways. He'd been stared down by men evil to the core, no ornery gunslinger with rules about shootin people in the back weren't gonna scare him.
"I figure I'll take a trip to get some more trees tomorrow. Be gone about four days, I reckon." Vin said after looking away from Chris and to the horizon. "Weather ain't gonna let up, I figure some time under the trees would be good."
Vin looked back to Chris to find him glaring even harder, if that was possible.
"You figure, huh?" Chris bit out and Vin met his eyes again.
"Yeah, I do." Vin drawled out, letting his tense stance go loose limbed. Nothing riled Chris up like Vin going relaxed as Chris worked himself into a lather.
"Going to be gone four days or so?" Chris asked, head tilted to the side and Vin nodded.
Just what the hell did Chris want from him, anyways. He had that look in his eye like he was trying to figure something out, something Vin wasn't a party to, and that irked him even more.
"Boys are coming out to raise the framing on Friday," Chris said, all deceptively casual-like. Chris turned back to his framing and Vin felt like he'd just missed something important. Something really important, the way Chris went at that wood.
"What day is today?" Vin asked during a lull in the hammering.
Chris turned around to face Vin again, hands going to his hips. His face, even redder than before, went all closed and stoney-eyed and Vin knew he was getting close to the splinter worrying Chris' backside.
Chris got that look in his eye, the one usually said someone was about to get shot. He dropped his hammer to the ground and stalked past Vin and over to the pump. He took his time wetting himself down, pushing past Vin, forcing him out of his way as he went back to his wood. Chris went back to hammering without looking at Vin.
"Fine," Vin said over the din. "I'm leaving tonight. Be back in four days, whatever day that is. How many trees do you want?"
When he got no answer from Chris, Vin stalked away, only to be stopped by Chris spinning him around.
"Leave off, Chris," Vin said, shaking his arm free.
"How the hell can you not know what day it is?" Chris spat out. "Do you even know what month it is?" Chris asked, sarcasm and disdain clear in his voice and body language.
Chris never looked at him like that, like he was less because he was a little different in the way he lived his life. Ezra would look at him like that every so often, but Chris never had.
Made Vin want to hit him, but Vin wasn't a man to give in to his impulses.
"If it's all fired important, why don't you just tell me what day it is?" Vin asked, keeping his voice soft and his words slow.
"Now why would I go and do that?" Chris asked. "You don't need to know things like the day or date. Why would you care about things like that?" Chris asked, looking at Vin like he was a simpleton again.
"I ain't stupid, Chris, and I won't stand for you treating me as such. At least I ain't stupid enough to work through the mid-day sun." Vin got in Chris' space, jabbing at his chest with his finger. "I don't need to know the date to know that only an idiot would work in the summer sun without a shirt or hat!"
He didn't see it coming. One second he was yelling at Chris, jabbing him in the chest, the next he was on his backside on the ground. Bastard blind-sided him!
Vin shot to his feet, ready to give as good as he just got, but Chris was ready for him and popped him one again, this time catching him right in the eye. Vin crouched low, ready to knock Chris off his feet. Hell, he didn't want to do this. It was too god damned hot to fight. He staggered off, reeling a little from the two sharp blows, but he didn't check for blood. He whistled for his horse, not looking back at Chris. Chris wanted a fight and Vin weren't in the mood to give Chris anything he wanted. Fuck him.
When Peso trotted over to him, Vin grabbed a fistful of mane and jumped on.
"Where are you going?" Chris called after him, but Vin rode on without a backward glance. "Vin!"
Let him work on the blamed barn by his own self, Vin fumed. He spent the entire ride to town trying to figure out just what the hell happened. He was no closer to knowing when he stepped into the Standish Tavern.
Buck may have told him, though. Buck was still prattling on, had been the entire time Vin was lost in thought. He interrupted him, hand in the air. "What day is today?"
"Tuesday," Buck answered, without giving him any grief about it, either. Well, didn't that just beat all. Chris' birthday was three days away. And Vin planned to be out hunting trees. Of all the durned things to rile a man. He was so pissed off because Vin was going to miss his birthday? No how, that couldn't be it.
"Chris' birthday is Friday?" Vin asked Buck. He still didn't quite believe all that lather was over something so simple.
"Sure is. Old man's going to be forty," Buck said around a laugh.
"You ain't too far behind, are ya, Buck?" Vin teased.
"I got four years before I'm ready for the rocker on the porch, Junior. Least I'm a man and not some half-grown boy," Buck teased back.
"I ain't been a boy in so long, I'm not sure I ever was one," Vin answered, serious again.
"How old are you then?"
"Don't rightly know, Buck. Twenty-seven or twenty-eight, I suppose. Once my Ma passed, I didn't have someone to keep track of such things."
Buck gave him a strange look and Vin shrugged. He'd never lived by a calendar, he couldn't understand why it was all so fired important what the date was.
"Hmmm... you're the same age as Sarah would be... or thereabouts. Ain't that funny?" Buck asked, giving Vin a pointed look.
Vin didn't react. Buck didn't know what he and Chris got up to out on their ranch and Vin didn't figure it was any of his business.
"Chris being so much older was one of the things her pa hated about him. But women are always ready to settle down earlier than men, ain't they?" Buck asked, looking toward Inez.
"Don't know about that, Buck," Vin drawled.
"Don't know why JD was in such an all-fired hurry to get hitched, neither," Buck grumped. "Boy's only twenty-one."
A stray thought struck Vin, then. "Buck, you know when everyone's birthday is and how old they are?"
"Course I do," Buck said, finally giving Vin the strange look he'd been waiting for. "All but yours. Funny it never came up before. When is your birthday, Vin?"
Vin didn't answer. Truth was, he didn't know or care. He hadn't been raised celebrating birthdays... or any days for that matter. He'd celebrated seasons, not days.
Buck shrugged off Vin's non-answer and asked, "So what are you getting Chris for his birthday?"
Vin shrugged. He'd never given someone a birthday gift before. He had no idea where to even start. "Bottle of that rye he likes so much, maybe?" He hadn't meant for it to come out a question, but it had anyway.
Buck looked at him, head tilted to the side, considering. "That'd be a good start, Vin. You got three days to figure it out. You'll come up with something."
"Where are you going?" Vin asked as Buck rose from the table.
"I gotta go get prettied up for the picnic I'm taking Inez on tomorrow. We're riding out with JD and Casey first thing in the morning."
"I'm heading to the bathhouse, too," Vin called to Buck. Maybe he could get Buck to give him some ideas for a birthday present for Chris. If it was that important to Chris, Vin would mark Chris' birthday.
Vin followed Buck to the bathhouse, plopping down one of Ezra's silver dollars onto the desk to pay for his bath. He collected his change and pocketed it, thinking what he could do with the fifty cents he just spent on a bath. He shoulda went out to the creek and bathed, instead of spending the only money he had.
He drew his curtain and stripped out of his sweaty clothes. He sunk into the warm water, wishing it was a cool creek instead. He still couldn't wrap his mind around Chris getting ornery over a birthday. He tried to think back... a few months before, Chris had mentioned his birthday. What did he say... the last day of July! That's right.
"Open that curtain so I can talk to you," Buck called out.
"I'm already soaking, Buck."
"I ain't gonna look at you, Vin," Buck called out, too loud for just a curtain separating them. "Even JD don't hide behind a curtain. Ain't no ladies in here, no call to be shy."
"Ain't shy, Buck," Vin said right before he dunked his head. "Just want to have a bath in peace," he said, shaking the water from his hair.
"It's only us in here, can't get much more peaceful than that," Buck called back.
Vin gave a little snort as he lathered his hair. Buck and peace? Vin wasn't too good with numbers, but he knew that didn't add up to quiet. Vin finished his bath quickly, listening to Buck prattle on about goings on in town. He didn't come to town all that often any more, only when he and Chris needed supplies or the company of others. Maybe they should come to town more often, seeing how they were irritating each other so much.
But the irritating only started in the past week, Vin was sure of it. Before that, things had been pretty normal. Up early, before the sun most days. Sometimes a little toss before they got up, sometimes not. Breakfast always fixed by Chris, with a noon meal gathered by Vin. Chores, checking their land and horses, more chores, sometimes a break for some more fun, usually right where they were when the mood took them. Then dinner, hunted or cured meat that Vin got them, then bed with the sun. If they'd managed a whole day without fucking, they'd fuck before sleep. Or even on days they'd managed to fit in some closeness they'd do it again.
Vin couldn't ever remember being happier. Until Chris got ornery about a week or so ago. Each day Chris managed to get Vin's back up until he was just as ornery as Chris had taken to being.
Vin dressed behind his curtain, strapping on his gun and knife last, listening to Buck prattle on, still. He was awful glad he'd come to town, suddenly. He waited for Buck to finish and dress, then followed him back into the street.
"Got plans for dinner, Vin?" Buck asked and Vin shook his head. "I gotta go order up something for the picnic tomorrow, why don't we grab some grub at the same time?"
Vin nodded and followed Buck to the rooming house. He didn't get free meals anymore, not since he and Chris stopped being full-time peacekeepers six months before. As Deputy sheriff, Buck still got free meals though.
Vin settled at the table, deciding what he should order, pretty quick. If he only ordered a plate of beans, he'd have a dollar and a quarter to spend on Chris' gift. Not much to speak of, but better than nothing.
"You've been awful quiet, Vin," Buck said once they'd ordered their dinner and Buck's picnic basket for the next day. "What are ya stewin about?"
"Jist thinking," Vin offered as he bit into a roll. "You seen Josiah today?" Vin asked.
"He and Nate and Raine went out to Raine's village yesterday to do some planning for the ceremony. Won't be back until late tomorrow," Buck answered around a mouthful of dinner roll.
Vin chewed his roll, his mind lost in thought. It was no use, he wasn't any good with this kind of thing.
"Who do you think will be next?" Buck asked, interrupting Vin's thoughts.
"To do what?"
"Get hitched. JD's already up and done it, Nate's doing it next month and me and Inez are just waiting for her parents to let us know when they can make it here. Way I figure it is that we're all falling one by one."
"Don't know about that, Buck."
"You think it will be Josiah or Ezra?"
Vin looked at him then, not sure just where he was headed. Buck looked innocent enough, but Buck could pry better than most of the old biddies in town. Man was downright sneaky, sometimes. Vin just shrugged as the waitress brought him his plate of beans. Buck, distracted by his own heaping plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes let it drop and Vin felt like he'd just dodged a bullet. He and Chris weren't trying to hide but Buck didn't need to go poking into their business. He'd probably already figured things out for himself anyways.
Vin went back to his pondering, thinking back about what Buck said about Sarah making a holiday out of Chris' birthday. Maybe that was what was eating at him and not that Vin didn't pay no mind... either Chris was missing what he used to have, or he expected Vin to celebrate the same way Sarah had. He'd have to think on it some more before he went and did something foolish.
Vin mopped up the bean juice with the last of his bread and licked his fingers clean. Buck pushed his plate back at the same time, leaving half his mashed potatoes.
"You gonna eat that?" Vin asked, pointing at the plate.
"All yours, Vin. Inez's been filling me up right good. Boy, can that woman cook! Chris must be feeding you pretty good, you look like you've filled out some." Buck said and Vin got suspicious again.
Chris weren't no filly. His throbbing eye was proof of that. If it was a normal day, one where they started the day with Chris' dick inside him, he'd have that little twinge to remind him, too.
Vin felt his cheeks flush, thinking about Chris' dick. He concentrated on the food, keeping his face hidden from Buck's prying eyes.
"I gotta go make sure I can get a buggy for tomorrow, Vin. I'll see you out at your place Friday. Tell Chris... never mind," Buck called out, "I'm sure I'll be seeing him soon enough. He'll stew until tomorrow, then he'll come to town."
As if Buck took all the energy in the room when he left, Vin was suddenly exhausted. He didn't look too close at what he thought Buck was trying to tell him. He didn't want to.
He still had to see to Peso and check in with JD at the jail before he could turn in for the night. He didn't think he could sleep, but he planned to be up early in the morning and he'd try to go to bed early.
He was halfway to the jail when a single gunshot rang out. Vin listened for a second, trying to be sure where the shot came from. He drew his gun before heading for the jail. Before he could slip in the door, JD came out, covered in blood, face white and eyes wide.
"JD!" Vin shouted. He hurried the rest of the way to the jail to check on JD. He ducked past JD, and checked inside. He couldn't see into the shadows too good and he half turned to check on JD. Those were brains all over him. Vin relaxed a little, if JD was covered in brains, they sure weren't his own.
He cautiously stepped into the dim of the jail house, spotting the feet in the far cell almost immediately. Looked like a prisoner went and shot himself. Vin pulled up, sure there was no threat, and went back out to check on JD.
"What happened, kid," he asked softly. Looked like JD was about to bolt any second.
Buck came round the corner, gun drawn, followed by Ezra.
"What's all the shooting about, boys?" Buck shouted.
"Jed Nelson went and shot himself. I don't know what happened... a bounty hunter brought him in this morning."
Nelson had a bounty on him, one hundred dollars, alive, for suspicion of murder. Nelson was a kid, barely twenty, a big strapping blond ranch boy from out north of town. He was the last one seen with Katy Wills, a working girl new to town. Kid was stinking drunk and known to get violent. He took off before JD could arrest him. That had been near Christmas time. Judge Travis set a low bounty to get him back to town for trial.
Buck moved JD aside and stepped into the jail. "Sure made a mess," Buck called out. "Guess he didn't want to hang."
Vin, Ezra and JD followed Buck into the jail. Vin leaned against the desk and surveyed the damage. Blood spattered all over the far wall of the cell, Nelson's lifeless body, his head half gone, he still held JD's gun in his lifeless hand.
"I've known Jed for a few years," JD stammered as Vin took in the scene. "He seemed quiet, like he had no fight left in him. When he got ahold of my gun, I thought I was a goner. He didn't even look at me, just grabbed my gun and blew his head off."
Vin thought on Buck's words for a minute, but they didn't make any kind of sense. Nelson wouldn'tve hanged even if he was found guilty. No witnesses, a crime of passion, the victim a working girl. Weren't no way a jury would've hanged him. Sent him to prison, maybe. Hanged him... not even if he was guilty.
"He say anything at all, JD?" Vin asked.
"Nope, not one word all day."
"Feller brought him in say anything?" Buck asked, as he pulled a blanket over the body.
"No, though he seemed a little strange for a bounty hunter."
"Strange how?" Buck asked.
"I'm not sure... he dressed awful nice and talked like Ezra."
"I had lunch with him this afternoon," Ezra said. "He was entirely too civilized to be a bounty hunter."
"You mean the two of you had dealings with a bounty hunter today and you didn't let anyone know?" Buck demanded, glancing at Vin.
"I thought Vin was out at his place, Buck, I would have warned him Friday," JD said.
"As soon as I was aware of his profession and that he hails from Mr. Tanner's home state, I shared a meal with him to ascertain his intentions. I assure you, he left town right after lunch."
"Something ain't right, here," Buck said, shaking his head. "Why would Jed Nelson up and blow his head off? JD, you sure there was nothing about this bounty hunter seemed a little off?"
"He dressed awfully nice for a bounty hunter, seemed educated too. Other than that he was a nice enough fellow."
"Quite charming," Ezra called out from behind JD's desk. "Ah, here it is," Ezra said, opening the log book. "Marvin Leroy Loch, paid one hundred dollars."
Vin froze in place as Ezra read the name. His vision tunneled into almost blackness and the blood rushing through his head blocked his hearing. He could feel the others still in the room, but he couldn't see or hear them. Marvin Leroy Loch... a name he hadn't let into his head for going on six years... He couldn't breathe, suddenly. He staggered toward the door and if the others said anything, he wouldn't have known. Once outside, he took big gulps of air. Within seconds, he got hold of himself and scanned the street. He had business to take care of. Nothing else mattered. Nothing.
"Ezra," Vin called out. "You sure this fellow left town?" Vin made sure he had control over his emotions, keeping the question as casual as he could. He was going hunting and he wasn't bringing anyone with him.
"I saw him off personally, Mr. Tanner. I assure you, he won't be back. I fear he found our lovely town lacking in stimulation."
"He say where he was headed?" Vin asked softly.
"I do believe he was going to Albuquerque."
Vin didn't pay the others any mind... though he thought he heard the word undertaker. That's right, Nelson would need to be buried. Vin couldn't think straight... sounds... smells... it was all coming back and it took all he had to get off that porch and head for the livery. His hand went to his gun automatically, then to the knife at his belt. He gripped the handle, his vision tunneling again. It got awfully cold, suddenly, and Vin wrapped his arms around himself. He had to get on his horse, that's what he had to do.
Within fifteen minutes of hearing Loch's name, Vin was on his trail. The biggest piece of unfinished business in his life and Vin couldn't get his thoughts together. Loch was still alive... he was here, in town just a few hours ago. Vin may even have missed him by only a few minutes. He kicked Peso into a trot, riding bareback with only a bridal. He'd left all his gear back at the ranch. He didn't need anything but his horse and his gun, anyway. Didn't matter. Nothing mattered except killing Loch.