Doc ambled over to us and sat down. Molly got up to get him a cup of coffee. “Thank you, Molly. Are you going to need Edith for the lunch rush?” he asked.
“I don’t think so, Doc. Alana and I can handle it; Anihu will do the cooking,” replied Molly.
“Charlie, tell Doc about Marta,” I piped in. “Get his take on it.”
He proceeded to tell him about Marta’s amnesia, what the doctor in Taos had said, and how she was acting. I was only partly listening as I was watching the stranger as Alana approached the table to get his order.
He was shaking his head “no,” and then pointed in our direction. Then I heard him raise his voice, “Get her!”
Doc was running his hand down his chin over and over pondering what Charlie had said. “Charlie, did she know everyone at the wreck site?”
Charlie was just forming an answer when Alana came to the table. “Senora Molly, the man, he will not let me wait on him. He says only you. What is it that I should do?” asked Alana, very concerned.
I started to say something, but Molly put her hand on my arm while she spoke to Alana. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him.” She got up and started over to his table.
Now the three of us were watching and I could see a smirk begin to form on the man’s face. He reached out and touched her hand and she immediately jerked it away. She was shaking her head “no” to something he said, then he became agitated and bellowed, “Sit down, I said!”
With that Molly pointed to the door and started to walk away. The man kicked his chair over and stood up. As he did I followed suit, only with the Greener in my hand. I had cocked it as I stood up. Molly saw my actions and veered off to her left so if something was to happen she wouldn’t be in the line of fire.
For several tense seconds we stood looking at each other. His smirk had changed to a snarl. “Mister, I don’t take that from any woman!” he uttered venom spewing forth. “They obey, or they get hurt!”
“You touch her, or any of the ladies here and they will be the last ones you touch,” I threatened.
“You’re scaring me plumb to death, mister,” he replied, never once looking at my shotgun, only my eyes.
I raised the barrel slightly and said, “There’s the door, get out!”
He gave a wry grin. “You going to throw me out?” he taunted.
“I’ll carry you out.”
“That would be murder,” he muttered, still with that smart-alec smile on his face. He then looked over to where Molly was standing. “Why don’t you have the other waitress come take my order?”
Molly with grim features, replied to his remark. “I don’t think so. My husband has asked you to leave. It would be good that you go, I don’t like to clean blood off the floor.”
The tension was getting thicker. He looked at Molly with the smirk he had when he first sat down. “You’re husband? He best be taking care he doesn’t rub a man the wrong way.”. He sneered, then kicked the chair that was knocked over and turned and started to walk out. As he got to the doorway, he stopped and turned his head to look at Molly again. “I’ll be seeing you.” He pushed the door open and walked out.
I waited, still standing in case he lingered by the windows or came back. I could hear Molly slowly approaching off to my right. After a minute, Charlie muttered, “Uncock that scattered gun will yuh, Miles?”
With his admonition I uncocked the gun and sat down, putting it across my lap. Molly reached for the coffeepot on the stove and filled her cup. “Let me top yours off,” she said and began to fill our cups as well.
After putting the pot back on the stove I noticed Alana standing there wringing her hands. “It’s okay, Alana,” Molly assured her. She turned her attention to me with a quizzical look on her face.
Doc had taken a sip and then broke the silence. “What was that all about?”
“I have no idea. He came in earlier, no trouble, but I didn’t feel right about him,” I informed him. “As we were walking back from the depot he bumped into me, now this.”
“Don’t feel right,” mumbled Doc. “What do you mean, don’t feel right?”
“Charlie knows, it’s something we get as lawmen; sort of a sixth sense.”
“Humpf,” he grunted. “Ever been wrong about a person?”
“Rarely,” I allowed. “Now repeat what you said about Marta before we were interrupted.”
Doc started to speak but Molly beat him to it, “Merker?”
Before I could answer, shots rang out. We saw people scurrying about on the street and Charlie was already up and running out the door. He was out the door, before I was out of my chair, then…