A Lethal Lady

“What were you able to get from the lady?

“Nothing, just that her name is Rouse LeRoy,” she denies. Jesey, I need you to keep a close eye on her.

-Do you think she’s capable of running away again?

“It's a possibility, I can't let her leave without knowing where she’s coming from. I sense that she is hiding a lot of important things, and I suspect that her stay in town will bring us some complications.

-Tom, you should let her go. She can bring trouble if we keep her here, we are a quiet town. People are already talking about the stranger, maybe it's better to let her go as soon as she can ride. I don't care about her service.

The sheriff touches the tip of his hat. Send for me if anything happens.

Tom, it's in everybody's best interest to get that lady out of town.

-I'll think about it, but for now, Miss LeRoy stays.

The doctor nods as he watches him go, then flattens his lips and denies. He thought this girl would only bring misfortune but the sheriff had the last word. He hoped he was not making a mistake with his decision.

[.]

He had managed to keep away any bandits that came to town, really, it was said that he was the best of many in the vicinity. incorruptible, and that was a serious problem for the bandits, he was not like other sheriffs, who with a few coin: let him do whatever he wanted to do.

Tom Wesley was so different, Rouse heard a lot about him, it was always said that he would be the last town he would come to. In fact he avoided it numerous times, the man was not known for welcoming strangers. But there she was, in the damn town, trapped and unable to leave.

That sheriff would never let her go willingly, not before she told him everything he wanted to know.

-Damn itt -she mutters under her breath.

Rouse looks at the daylight through the window, it was imperative for her to get out of that town...

[.]

Tom was walking, the first rays of the sun were coming down, he was on his way to the police station, when he met a little boy on the street. It was he who was in charge of shining the shoes of those who could afford it.

-Sheriffl Sheriffi Is it true that he found a naked woman in the desert?

-Go home, boy," he answered without even seeing him.

-But was she?

-If you don’t go home, I swear I'll give you a good thrashing” Tom stops to look at him.

Yes, yes, I'm going.

The boy runs off with his cleaning supplies. Tom adjusts the overcoat and continues walking. It was obvious that everyon was aware of the woman's arrival, but he would take care to quell the rumors later. He didn't want the rumor to spread th a half-naked stranger had arrived in town and was badly wounded in the process.

As he entered the police station, he greeted his right hand...

-Good morning, Harry.

-Sheriffl -He stands up. The night was pretty quiet.

“You can release all the prisoners now, but leave a warning for each of them.

Yes, right away.

Tom sits behind his desk and pulls out a wad of posters showing the faces of many outlaws, along with a hefty reward at the bottom. He goes through them one by one, but as far as he could remember, he hadn't seen a woman among those pamphlets. It was very rare to come across a woman as an outlaw.

However, it could not be said that they did not exist, certainly, that if there were many women who liked to break the law: And for a strange

xtra reason, he suspected that Miss LeRoy was one of them, for the simple fact that she appeared out of nowhere and all badly wounded spoke volumes about her.

It was an important reason not to let her go, if she was a bandit, he would apply justice to her. If she ended up in his tow she should have given up her life of debauchery. And if he was wrong, and the woman was simply assaulted, then he wou apologize and grant her her freedom.

Tom checked every last printout, some were so worn that he could barely make out the outlaw’s face. But he was aware that they were all men, he was going to have to send for the new list of outlaws to keep up to date. And if the mysterious lady appeared in any of them, then he would be in serious trouble.

“What are you looking for, Sheriff? -Harry asks as he watches him look over the papers.

-1 need you to request the new list of bandits as soon as possible.

That will take a couple of days, sheriff. The train from the city of Tombstone will be arriving in that time, so it will take m at least a day to get to the city to ask for your order.

Then you'd better get going at once. I need that list as soon as possible.

-All right, sheriff.

Take the best horse, and don't go unarmed.

Yes, sheriff. -Yes, sheriff. Ill be right out.

Tom nods as he watches his partner leave, Harry could fend for himself in case anything came up. He was shrewd enough not to let them kill him, at least the order would soon be placed and he would find out who this woman was.

[.]

That afternoon, Rouse was ready to get to her feet. If she prolonged her stay in that bed, she would never get up. A whole day on a cot was not her ideal way out, and the longer she stayed in Coloma, the longer the debt she owed the sheriff would grow.

That could not happen, but she had to find a way to escape from the town and in case she could not do it, at least try to pay the damned sheriff, that way she would be free of him. As she sat up in bed, she immediately felt a sharp pang in her side, but she held it in.

A few hours earlier, a woman had entered the room to leave a dress on a chair. Although she warned her that she wasn't sure it would fit, and also suggested that she not get up because of the wounds on her body. But Rouse was not willing tc be defeated by those wounds, with determination she managed to stand up even though the soles of her feet hurt like hell, she took the dress and looked at it.

-Damn, it's not even my taste,” she mumbled, letting out her breath.

But that was better, than having to keep on being in her underwear, it was annoying that the a*****e sheriff was seeing he naked. She had enough that he would find her in the desert, with almost no clothes on.

The blonde looks at that tight corset, she doubted she could wear it. Not at the moment. So she dressed with what she could wear, it was not the same to wear a corset with those dresses, but she would manage until she no longer felt pain. She tightened the braids of the dress in front, as much as she could bear, and tied a sturdy knot so it wouldn't come loos when she walked. It was a somewhat stained maid's dress, not what society women usually wore. Rouse let out her breatl she took the brown cowboy boots the woman left for her and Luckily they were one size too big. Which gave her the advantage, since her feet were bandaged.

Well, she was ready to leave the house and try to find a way to get some money to get out of that town...

Just as she was about to leave the room, the door opened, letting in Tom Wesley himself, who looked at her from head to toe in astonishment.

“Where do you think you are going?