The Law of Surprise [On Hold]

Mayorsbroke

“How can I vanish when I’m right here?” She set down the small bauble she had been studying.

“Would you follow?” He impatiently pulled on her.

Tess winced at his grip on her arm. Her fingers worried at his and tried to pry them away.

“I am following.”

“Follow faster,” he said, fixing her with an icy stare.

“Alright — you don’t have to yell!”

“Who says I’m yelling?”

“You’re yelling!”

Exasperated, Marsh came to a stop. Taking a deep breath, he slowly released it before continuing.

“I have a bounty to collect. The sheriff is at the north side of town.”

“So? Go pick up your bounty.” Tess shook her head and held out her arms. “I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

Marsh bit his lip to keep from swearing. “Tess, you’re what folks call an easy mark. If I leave you here for five seconds, you will be bereft of every valuable you carry! Whatever the vendors don’t weasel out of you will be stripped by thieves!”

She gaped at him, her cheeks flushing pink at his admonishment.

“Come with me now.”

“You don’t have to be so rude,” she mumbled, looking away from him.

“I’m not being rude,” he said, his voice level. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“Please.” Marsh sighed and looked to the sky as if it could give him help. “Will you come with me? I promise I will let you look at whatever you’d like on the way back through, but I have business to finish first.”

When she didn’t answer, he bowed his head to catch her eye. “Tess?”

Her hazel eyes were rimmed with red but she finally met his gaze. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” he said and managed a small smile.

She kept up with him. Occasionally he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure she was still there. He thought that her eye might be captured by the glint of some trinket, but she was always there, her gaze fixed on his.

At one point she called out to him as she got caught in the cross traffic. Her hands gripped at his scabbard to stay behind him and not get swept away in the throng of bodies.

“I’ve never seen so many people,” she said loudly, her eyes wide. When they finally made it to the sheriff’s office and closed the door to the street noise, he heard her give a relieved exhale.

A burley man lounged behind a desk towards the corner of the room. His booted feet were crossed at the ankles and they rested on the desktop. A soft snore rose from the back of his throat as he happily dozed.

“Irv.” Marsh called out. When Irv didn’t rouse, Marsh moved towards him and swept the man’s feet off the desk with a push. They landed on the floor with a loud thump and startled the man awake.

“What kind of operation are you running around here, Irv?” He asked with a smirk as the man in the chair blinked up at him.

“Must be awfully shoddy if I keep hiring you.” He held out a hand and Marsh took it in a strong shake. “Did you clear those thieves out of Rabbit Creek?”

“Thief, singular, and yes.”

Irv finally realized someone else was in the room with them. He leaned sideways to see around Marsh. Leveling a smile at Tess, he glanced back and forth between her and the man standing before him.