Fans of classic Westerns like the Fort Smith series on Amazon- Check out Judged by Twelve

"I can't condone this," Parker sat across from Eldridge and poured coffee from a tin pot. He pushed a cup over to the Marshal and blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip of his own.

"I'm not asking your sanction," said Sample.

"You killed these men outside the commission of your sworn duty."

"They were a couple of murders," he ignored the cup of coffee. "They killed her."

Parker watched the Marshal bite back a sob. His long fingers shook with rage as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

"The law was going to let them get away with it."

"I wasn't," said Parker.

"You didn't have a choice. The Senator and his ilk were going to make you let them go, let them get away with it."

"I would have ignored them."

"And they would have killed your wife," Sample growled. "Or your child. Or both. Hell, they would have burned down your house with the three of you in it and not lost a night of sleep over it."

"But they were just instruments, Eldridge," Parker explained. "We use the law to hold the instruments accountable."

"And they just get replaced."

"Be that as it may," said Parker. "I know the truth of the matter. I know who pulls the strings for here and in Washington. But you played a hand I can't back. You put me in an untenable position."

He opened up the lapel of his coat and removed a piece of paper from his breast pocket that he laid on the table between them.

"What is it?"

Eldridge reached over and turned it around so he could read it.

"A warrant for your arrest," Parker said. "Came in by special messenger. Rufus brought it to me."

Eldridge leaned back in his chair, right hand sliding off the wood to rest on his belt next to his holster.

"He here to take me in?"

Parker shook his head.

"As soon as he read it, he told me he had to go on some other business first. Said he wouldn't be back for three or four days."

Sample nodded.

"And Pete?"

"He took Pete with him."

"You want the celebrity of taking me in all by your lonesome?"

Parker looked wounded.

"Eldridge," he sighed. "I want you to run."

That surprised the Marshal. Parker was a paragon of law and order, the man who tamed Fort Smith. That he was now suggesting collusion and abetting a wanted man gave him pause.

"You got an ambush set up outside?" he whispered. "Did those railway men get to you?"

Parker shook his head, but the color ran from his neck to his cheeks.

"I am not so easily bought," he muttered. "And you are too mule headed to know a gesture of friendship when it is offered."

He glared at Eldridge as his cheeks quivered.

The Marshal moved his hand from his weapon, and slipped it to the side of his coat. He unpinned the silver star from his chest and laid it on top of the warrant.

"Forgive me," he said. "I've been at this business too long that I expect a waylay in every ally."

Parker took a deep breath and let it go. He grabbed his coffee cup, and Eldridge watched to see if his hand shook as he took a sip.

It did not.

"Three days is a long time," he said.

"Maybe four, if I can't give instruction to execute the warrant."

Sample stood and held out his hand. Parker pushed his chair back and took it as he stood up.

The two men held their grip for a moment longer than normal.

"We really did something here," said Parker.

"We really did."

Sample let go and lifted up his cup. He guzzled the coffee like whiskey and made his way to the door before emotion or prudence would make either man change his mind.

He didn't turn back to wave, nor say another word as he exited, just swallowed down the upsurge of feeling that threatened to overtake him.

There would be time for sadness later, if he could get some ground between him and the town.

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