The Sherriff's First Day, Part Iii

...“My mother said he did it to survive, the farm was failing, the crops wouldn’t thrive, he had to find money, so rode with them, so desperate he’d go with criminal men. “My father’s death was quite hard, I’ll admit, but that wasn’t the reason I did it. I know he broke the law, knew what he did, even if he did it to feed his kids. “But it was later, after he had gone, we had no money, and could not last long. My mother went begging, but none would help, the town knew her husband, cursed her to hell! “I have six younger sisters back at home, we kept getting weaker, just skin and bones! My ma was so desperate, she went to DeWills, begged since her children’s stomachs went unfilled. “And to her surprise, DeWills did agree, but said ‘her kind’ shouldn’t get help for free, I didn’t know then, what he took from her, but when she came back, she looked much, much worse. “Every week she went, and came back with gold, but her eyes and face, looked more and more cold, she spoke less to me, and my sisters too, I knew something was wrong, but not what to do. “I heard the snickers, one day when in town, heard all the rumors that were going ‘round, that ma was a whore, DeWills' private poke, hothing more now than ‘a hole for his strokes.’ “ ‘My enemies wife, on the table bent,’ were the words he said, I heard it from them! I was so angry that I had no breath-- and it was the day my ma usually left. “So I went to the ranch, deep in the night, kept to the shadows to avoid a fight, I found DeWills’ window, and then peered in, I…I saw my poor mother…u-underneith him.” He paused a second, tears streamed down his face, Connolly was stunned, felt his own heart race, he moved to speak, to comfort the lad, then the kid spoke up, “It gets even more bad! “When she left that night, she saw me, hiding, ran off for our home, I could hear her crying. When I got there my sisters were asleep, but ma wasn’t there, and that frightened me. “She had to be somewhere, but I knew naught, then from the old barn I heard a gunshot. I walked out afraid of what I would find… and now I can’t get it out of my mind. “She had my pa’s shotgun clutched in her hand, she'd taken her life, and left herself damned, I couldn’t go inside, tell my sisters that they no longer would have a mother… “So I rode out, upon this half-starved horse, I had to make him pay for that horror! I couldn’t forgive him, I will not, I can’t! Not even if I’m now a wanted man!” CONCLUDES IN PART IV.