The Reckoning by Mike Torreano

Author:Mike Torreano [Torreano, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical, Western, mystery
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2016-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Margaret Pinshaw walked Doc Early to the door of The Sew Pretty. “Thank you, Sam, for telling me that.”

“You’re welcome, Margaret. I just thought you should know.” The doctor doffed his hat and stepped out into the brilliant morning sunshine that bathed Cottonwood’s main street. As Margaret watched him walk away, she puzzled on what the doctor had just told her. George was killed by an unusual caliber bullet, and Ike Porter had been asking about it. She didn’t know what that meant and why it might be important.

Her thoughts switched to Ike. She still didn’t know why he was looking into George’s death. How does doing that help him find his sister? It didn’t add up. She grabbed her shawl to fortify her for the walk over to the boarding house.

Knock knock. A tired face peeked out of the front bay window after the second knock. Lorraine opened her front door. “Margaret? What brings you out here this early? My, but two visits in the space of a few days. And me up to my nose in my morning cleaning. Well, come on in, you didn’t come here to hear me jaw at you.” She opened the door wide and ushered Margaret into the parlor.

“Why, thank you, Lorraine, I just wondered if Mr. Porter was here, that’s all.” Her new purple brocade dress and matching hat stood in stark contrast to Lorraine’s dowdy attire.

“Sit down, please, Margaret. He’s not here right now, left after breakfast, and I never know when he’s gonna show up again. He’s kinda mysterious and quiet—just goes about his ‘business,’ as he says. If I was a man, I don’t know as I’d want to cross him.”

Margaret sat up straight in the faded red velvet upholstered chair, feet tapping out a nervous rhythm on the bare wood floor. She said, “I don’t know what to make of him either. Sometimes I wish he’d just find out what happened to Sue and then leave.” She scrunched the white lace hanky in her lap into an unrecognizable wad. “I’d just started coming to grips with George’s death, and here he comes, stirring everything up again. I want to know about George, but at the same time, I don’t. Knowing won’t change anything. Oh, I don’t seem to know much about anything these days.”

“You too?” Lorraine came over and sat by Margaret and patted her hand gently. “I don’t have any good words, Margaret. I’m just sorry you’re all torn up inside.”

Tears fell from Margaret’s eyes. The wadded up hanky resumed its original shape as she dabbed at her face.

Lorraine said, “Come on into the kitchen, and we’ll have a good old coffee sitaround,” then led the way.

After Lorraine poured them each a steaming mug of black coffee, Margaret said, “I guess I should have pushed the sheriff to look into Sue’s disappearance harder when it happened. The last I saw her was when she left in the buckboard to deliver two hats to Emerald Tompkins at the ranch.

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