Slamming the jail door in Holmes' face was a strange sensation Prissy. You know how long I had been tracking him. How much I want to put him either behind bars or under the ground. And now there he was, standing in my cell. Wasn't quite sure how I felt about it to be honest. But I knew the job wasn't done. He had been in prison before, a few times, and was either released or busted out. And I knew the rest of his gang was not that far away. No way they were gonna just let him hang. I wanted to take him out of Red Creek and get him to Abilene or Wichita where we could secure him better. But the Judge said no, he was gonna be tried and hung in Red Creek. Well I knew there was gonna be trouble, and I didn't have the men for it. So I went to Mitchelson. He agreed to send some of his cowboys into town again as security. They might not have been the best men for the job, but my hope was their numbers would deter things from going off the track. Obviously, I was wrong.
During Johnny's trail, I tried not to present to hard of a case against him. I was hoping, for your sake, they would just give him a prison sentence. But once the judge ordered a hanging, I knew there was nothing I could do for him. I also knew Johnny wasn't going to give me any trouble in the small time he had left. He had accepted his fate. Holmes was a different story. He was a problem the moment he stepped inside. He kept railing against us, telling us we were all dead men. There was no way he was gonna hang in a shit town like Red Creek. He said, well Prissy I am guessing you can imagine the things he said. It wasn't pretty, but it didn't bother me none. I was worried about his men though. I made sure we paid attention to every little thing. We watched the roads into town. We questioned strangers. I checked the locks at the jail every 30 minutes or so. Not that any of it mattered in the end.
It was the morning after Johnny's trial that Gus, the manager at Rosie's came to the jail to see me. He said that Ruby was in bad shape. She had been drinking all night and refused to be put to bed. He said she had become angry and agitated this morning, yelling at her staff and breaking some dishes. Said she started calling out for me and wanted Gus to bring me to her. I thought it was strange, she had seemed a level headed woman to me, but I went. I left Fingers and Shots at the jail and walked with Gus down to her place.
As you know, it turned out to be a hell of a morning.
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