The Librarian

Episode 20

Harriet was astonished as Amanda stepped into the room and pointed the big gun at Thomas again. She quickly moved between them, her hands out in protest. Outside in the hall voices were raised in a confusion of fear and surprise. Amanda reached back and shut the door, locking it.

"What are you doing? For God's sake, Amanda why did you shoot him?" Harriet knelt down and examined the wound in Thomas's side. Blood was soaking into is shirt and jacket and he was gasping for breath. "Get the doctor, hurry! He needs help, Amanda."

The banging on the door didn't seem to bother Amanda as she walked around and stood looking down at Thomas. Harriet screamed out for a doctor, hoping she would be heard over the chattering voices. She grabbed a towel from the table and pushed it into the wound, applying pressure.

"Get help, Amanda, you have to get help!"

"Shoot the wounded, isn't that what you do?" Her voice was calm and sounded almost dreamy.

Harriet stood and reached for the gun, receiving a shocking smack on the face that sent her back onto the bed.

"They're all alike, Harriet. All of them. Just one thing in their filthy minds. I saved you."

The statement confirmed just how far Amanda had retreated into her emotional hell, and it prompted flashbacks in Harriet of her own.

"Mr. Wilkes was just dropping off the reward money from the Governor – he wasn't doing anything, Amanda."

"He would have, but he won't anymore."

A loud banging on the door, accompanied by Sheriff Becker's booming voice stopped any further action.

"Miss Folio, are you alright? Are you in there? I'm going to break down this door so stand clear."

"Wait! Wait, Sheriff. There's a situation . . ." Harriet looked pleadingly at Amanda. "Please stop this and give me the gun. We can sort all this out after we help Thomas."

"The only solution is if we go away together. Away from here and find a place of our own."

The gun was now pointed at the door and Harriet knew she would shoot the first person through.

"If that's what it will take to have you calm down and stop this dangerous behaviour . . . fine, that's what we'll do."

Amanda's gun hand dropped and she turned to look at her friend. "Do you mean that? Do you really mean that, Harriet?"

"Yes, now please, give me the gun." She stood and reached her hand out, praying there wouldn't be another outburst. Just as she got the gun, the door flew open, a few splinters from around the lock scattering across the room. Harriet yelled that all was okay as Becker and some townsmen barged through the doorway, guns, and voices raised in threatening anger.

"We need the doctor, quickly!" Harriet yelled again, but the Doc was already in the room ordering the men to get Thomas onto the bed. Becker held Amanda by the arm and steered both the women out of the room and into the hallway.

"Alright, back up. Get out of the way, all of yuh."

Colleen pushed her way past and tried to peer into the room.

"Nope, stay back, ma'am. It's a mess and it will all be taken care of later. Right now I want all the people out of here. Have you got another room where we can talk, I don't want a big to-do out in the street if I have to go to my office."

Aaron appeared on the stairway, calling out to Harriet."

Becker pushed the women after Colleen and waved Aaron back. "Nope, nobody else up here. Downstairs, everyone." he followed Colleen into another room and they shut and locked the door.

"Alright now, Miss Folio, you first. What in tarnation happened in there?"

****

Aaron paced around the hotel lobby in a fit of frustration. He'd seen Harriet so he knew she was all right, or looked alight at any rate. And Amanda as well . . . his thoughts were interrupted as Doc led the group of men carrying Thomas on an ironing board supplied by the kitchen staff.

"Doc! What the devil happened?"

"Mr. Wilkes here took a mighty big calibre bullet through his side. Lost a lot 'o blood."

"Who shot him? Was anyone else hurt" Aaron had to trot after the Doc as the entourage headed for his office.

"Son, love to talk to yuh and give an interview, but right now my business is patching up the Governor's aide. You might watch for Avery pullin' out what's left of his hair."

Aaron peeled off and stood watching the men trot up onto the walk and into the Doc's office. He turned and jogged over to the print shop and told John to start setting up a frame for a new front page.

****

"There's nothing you can say this time, Enid. I'm done. Finished. Even if the people here forgave me, Mayhew won't."

"You have nothing to be forgiven for," Enid said, feeling her ability to convince the mayor waning. "You don't even know what happened yet."

"I know his aide was gunned down in a hotel room in our town . . . and by a woman! If it was that Miss Folio again I'll have her tossed out of here if it's the last thing I do."

"You're running way ahead of the facts again, Avery. You don't know what happened or why."
"You can bet Mayhew will tell me, and damn quick."

"Then stop whining, Avery." She saw his mouth and eyes pop open. "Go and see him now. Be bold. Tell him you've got everything under control and you'll get to the bottom of it before he leaves today."

"Whining?"

"Yes, and to be perfectly blunt, I'm tired of hearing it." Avery ran a palm over his hair, his mouth slack and his eyes unfocused. "And I would recommend moving soon before you lose the advantage."

She grabbed her handbag, snatched her shawl and bonnet from the coat hook and left the office.

****

Aaron threw down his pencil and cursed. His mind was not on writing news but seeing Harriet. John asked if they could use the same set-up as before and Aaron just nodded.

"How about, in the Bembo, we say, Governor's Visit Come a Cropper?"

"That's pretty good, John, only it should be comes - or came. No, comes is more immediate. That's good, set it up and underneath again we'll say . . . Series of bizarre incidents mar Governor Mayhew's presentation." Keep it in one line, John."

"Are you setting the body?"

"I will . . . as soon as I can think of what to write. You've seen the kind of things I say in our news stories, how would you compliment your headline?"

John stopped work and stared at his employer. "Are you asking me to write the story?"

"Depends on your answer. I think your apprentice days are over by now. Just need to polish the grammar and spelling."

He wiped his hands on a rag and stood up. "I'd start with the storm, and then go on about the ditch. Next about the stage arriving and how he should've went slower—"

"Gone. Should have gone slower, and don't use contractions."

"Okay. And about the Governor making the best of it, tootin' around town in his chair and meetin' folks."

"John, write out what you think you would say, I'll read it over and between us we can print an issue that will cover everything and be entertaining to read."

"Where are you goin'?"

"I need to see how Wilkes is and what's happening with the sheriff. It will all be in the news, John." He pulled on his hat, winked, and left the shop.