The Rebel by Julianne MacLean Read Free Book Online Page B

sheriff's office soon enough, and this whole thing would be straightened out.
    She stopped, however, when something tickled and buzzed behind her ear. She scratched and tousled her hair, then realized with a terrible surge of panic that a June bug was stuck in her hair!
    Jessica shrieked. She tried to brush it away, but it was tangled in her long wet locks. She tossed her head around, flailed her arms in all directions, and jumped through the puddles to try and escape.
    Boom! Another gunshot ripped through the night. Her heart exploded with fear, and she tripped backwards over a plank in the street. Down she went, splashing into a puddle on her backside. No sooner than her butt began to throb, she looked up to see a man falling out of a second story window!
    He dropped onto the over-hanging roof and rolled straight toward her. Jessica scrambled to her feet and slipped through the slick muck, barely escaping the plummeting man's path. Just as she slid out of the way, he landed heavily in front of her, splashing muddy water onto her cheeks.
    A second later, a metal object dropped into a puddle beside her.
    "Sir!" she hollered, dropping to her hands and knees to help him. "Are you all right?"
    He was face down in the mud, and Jessica was just about to roll him over when the saloon doors swung open, smacking against the outside wall. Men and women poured out and gathered on the boardwalk to stare at her in shocked silence.
    "What in God's name happened?" someone asked.
    “This man fell out of a window,” Jessica replied. “He needs help.”
    The stranger ran toward her and together, they rolled the injured man onto his back. Jessica stared in horror at his face. A clean bullet hole gaped between his eyes, and blood trickled down his nose.
    “Dear Lord,” the stranger said. He stood up and quickly backed away.
    “Somebody call 911!” Jessica shouted. She pressed her ear to the man’s chest to listen for a heartbeat. When she heard nothing, she knew there was no hope, but she still wanted an ambulance. A cop car, too.
    If there was such a thing in this backward place.
    “Will somebody call an ambulance?” she shouted in frustration.
    “Now...just be calm, miss,” the stranger said. “We don't want any trouble.”
    “What are you talking about?” she replied. “I don't want to cause trouble. I’m trying to help him. Doesn’t anyone have a cell phone?”
    That particular request was met with blank stares.
    “I saw her wavin’ a gun around like some kind of lunatic!” someone offered.
    “I wasn’t waving a gun,” she explained. “I was trying to kill a June bug."
    There was a series of 'oohs' and 'ahs' from the crowd as everyone backed away in unison.
    Realizing she was quickly becoming a primary suspect in this man’s murder, Jessica raised both hands in the air and stood. "Look, everyone needs to stay calm. It wasn't me. I was just trying to help him."
    "Do you know who this is?" the stranger asked.
    Jessica shook her head. “No.”
    "That's Left Hand Lou!" someone called out from the crowd.
    Before Jessica had a chance to comprehend what this meant, people rushed over to get a look at the corpse.
    "He's wanted in three states!" someone hollered. "You just killed the fastest draw this side of the Mississippi!"
    What did they think she had done? She hadn't shot him! And what did they mean—the fastest draw this side of the Mississippi? This wasn’t Gunsmoke, for pity’s sake.
    "Wait a minute,” she said. “Seriously. There’s been a mistake.”
    Just then, a deep voice cut through the commotion. "Can I ask what's going on in this little gathering of yours?"
    Unable to discern from where the voice had come, she looked all around through the darkness.
    "Ma’am? I asked you a question." The crowd parted, clearing a wide path for the inquiring man to approach. Jessica was finally able to get a glimpse at him, although the brim of his black hat shadowed his face from the dim lantern light spilling out of