Now Playing: One Arm Lightning
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Episode Nine concluded with:
“This cloth was
torn from the dress I was gonna give my sister on her birthday. Only she don’t
want the dress no more. Not since my old buddies murdered me in front of the
store where I was buyin’ it. So, here, Stan, this is for you!”
He dropped the piece of cloth onto the bartender. Stanley Wiggins gave no
response. He’d never respond to anything again.
There was a loud pounding at the door. Sheriff Rob Laverty shouted from
outside, “Stanley, you in there? What’s goin’ on?”
One Arm Lightning stood up and looked at the door with anticipation. “Well,
well, looks like the party is jus’ gettin’ started.”
Episode Ten
***
“Try again, Laverty! What’s this
town paying you for?” A few stray pieces of tobacco flew from Fenton Goulding’s
mouth as he made his demand.
The sheriff took a deep breath.
Goulding had been harsh and demanding on him since the ambush of Wes Torveen.
Laverty figured Goulding was trying to reassert his authority after failing
miserably in helping to bring down One Arm Lightning.
Rob Laverty again pounded on the
locked door of the Shooting Star. “I don’t think there’s anyone in there, Mr.
Goulding. Stanley has probably gone home for the night.”
“I’m not so sure. Two barflys came
by the Rome a few minutes ago and told me they heard a shot from inside there.”
“Well, if you want me to break down
this door on the word of two barflies--”
“You don’t have to break down the
door!” Goulding brought a key ring out of his pocket. His hands trembled as he
loosened one key from the bunch. Laverty realized that the saloon owner really
thought there was something wrong inside the Shooting Star and wanted no direct
part in it.
As if to confirm Laverty’s thoughts,
Fenton Goulding handed the lawman a key, and harrumphed, “Report back to me
when you’re finished.” He then stomped off.
The sheriff gritted his teeth and
said nothing. He only had a little more time of putting up with the likes of
Fenton Goulding. Soon, stories of the man who killed One Arm Lightning would be
everywhere. Rob Laverty would be a hero, and heroes don’t have to tolerate
fools.
The sheriff opened the door and was
surprised by the lights that were still on behind the bar. “Stanley,--you
here?”
Laverty moved cautiously toward the
bar; even so, he collided with several chairs. The back lights covered only a
small patch of the saloon.
But when he got behind the bar he
had a clear view of the corpse of Stanley Wiggins. The lawman inhaled and took
a step back as if death were a disease that could be transmitted.
He slowly stepped toward the body
and crouched over it, picking up a piece of fabric that lay on the corpse.
“It’s gingham, looks like it was cut from that dress Torveen bought for his
sister,” the sheriff whispered. A piece
of paper was pinned to the back of the fabric and there was writing on it.
The note made Laverty’s throat go
tight. What he heard caused his entire
body to tremble.
Tomorrow: Episode Eleven of One Arm
Lightning
