After the Fall

Ruth hid behind a crop of rocks when the sheriff and his deputy charged up the mountain path. Luke rode over to greet the pair where they could see the town beneath a pearly blue sky.

Sheriff Clayburn was considered too old for the job no one wanted. His unruly white hair curled under his hat. His stocky build sagged on the saddle. "Lucas! What a surprise to find you here. Me and Cody were heading up to see you."

Cody leaned in his saddle and nodded. He was in his early twenties, wide shoulders and a thick jaw. He was part Indian and grew up in an orphanage.

Luke drew closer to Clayburn who he considered a friend. "My guess would be you weren't coming over for a cup of tea."

"Well, we've heard your mail order bride might be wanted back east for the murder of her husband. And we got reason to believe a bounty hunter made his way toward you to make hay. As you might suspect our rumor mill in town puts out."

"I'm thinking the bounty hunter took a wrong turn on a treacherous pass." Luke took the men on horseback over to the precipice where they could train their eyes on a lone body strewn over rocks.

Cody dismounted and slipped down the trail to have a closer look. The sheriff wasn't about to mince words while waiting for his deputy to give him more details. "We found his horse wandering through town."

There was some thick air of silence between them. Luke looked away from where Ruth was hiding.

Clayburn met Luke's eyes. "Where is she, Luke? You don't want to get in trouble for harboring a fugitive."

"I'd say she's missing. I was looking for her. If the bounty hunter's dead, it wouldn't be in her favor to wander."

Clayburn licked his dry lips and blew air through his moustache. "We go back some, Luke. I suspect she must have pulled the wool over your eyes. But I know you're a good man. It won't pay to have her out here alone."

Cody climbed up over the precipice, but no one could read his eyes. He looked at Clayburn. "She was with him. They must have tried to find their way down in the dark."

Clayburn looked past Luke and Cody. Luke turned to see Ruth standing near the boulders in her torn dress.

The sheriff rode over to her. "I need to take you into custody, ma'am."

She looked at Luke, as if resigned to her fate. She held her hands out, expecting to be cuffed.

"That won't be necessary," Said Clayburn.

His deputy mounted and rode over, where he put Ruth on his horse. Clayburn rode over to Luke.

Luke took him to task. "You know she has a daughter? Seven years old."

"I'm sorry, Luke. You might want to bring the girl into town. It will take a few days before transportation is made for her back east. Clayburn looked at Cody and Ruth on the horse. "What did you find below?"

Cody answered. "It looks like he may have fallen in the darkness. An accident." He looked at Luke after he said it.

"Maybe so. Maybe so. Do you have anything to say about how he died, Ruth?"

She looked at Luke then Clayburn. "Like he said, he fell." The sheriff seemed to want her to talk some more. "It was dark. I begged him not to try it. He was ahead of me. He slipped and fell. The horse bolted. The mare must have had better eyes than mine. I stayed put, afraid to move an inch until daybreak."

Satisfied, the sheriff and deputy headed over to the main trail.

After they disappeared over the edge, Luke turned back toward his cabin, knowing he'd have to bring her daughter into town where a judge would decide her fate.