"Whoa!" cried the wily old Judge. "I guess that feller at the bar got under your skin .. or maybe the aforementioned Fortner." He paused and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"That fella didn't bother me one bit. And Fortner's my boss, I do my job," Caroline retorted.

"If'n I were you, I'd stay far away from that new stranger in town, Miss Mundee. He's got a long list of crimes under his belt, as long as a whore's dream. As your friend, and I really am your friend, Missy, I'd stay as far away from him as possible."

"You? You are my friend?" Caroline laughed at the thought of it. How the man ever figured that was the case was beyond her. They'd barely had a single conversation since he arrived without Fortner being in it too.

He cleared a space at the kitchen table. One directly across from him.

"Why don't you set right down and take a nice long break. I'll fix it with your boss."

"I'm gonna pay a visit to the outhouse, if ya don't mind. And for an educated man you sure are slow on the uptake. Did I not just tell you to fuck off? How much clearer I gotta make it? I despise you. Yer a snake in the grass. I don't want nothin' ta do with you," she upbraided him in a hard tone of voice accompanied by a glare.

He cleared a space at the kitchen table. One directly across from him.

"Why don't you set right down and take a nice long break. I'll fix it with your boss."

"I'm gonna pay a visit to the outhouse, if ya don't mind. And for an educated man you sure are slow on the uptake. Did I not just tell you to fuck off? How much clearer I gotta make it? I despise you. Yer a snake in the grass. I don't want nothin' ta do with you," she upbraided him in a hard tone of voice accompanied by a glare.

Priest chuckled.  "Oh I heard you alright," he managed to say through his wad of tobacco.  "But if'n your averse to snakes in the grass, you'll not find a truer one than Jake Murrell.  The things he's done to women, even pretty ones like you, had to be written in Latin 'cause they're too horrible to put in English."

He issued a sigh.

"I'm just tellin' you.  That's all."

She took Priest over a plate of beef stew and dumplings: while he had his mouth full, he couldn't wind up Caroline any more.

"Now you just sit there and hush Mister Judge Priest, and git some food down you. You look like stick o' wood that's been starved half to death, and you Miss Caroline, you eaten yet today? Couple o dumplin's wouldn't do you any harm either!" she chided. Messalina McMahon was one of life's 'feeders'.

Hiram cleared the tobacco out of his mouth with a lightning bolt of chaw into a spittoon.

"That's mighty kind of you, Miss Messalina," he responded gratefully.  "You are a credit to your race.  That's for certain."

"Then maybes we could all sit down and you can tell us the truth about who this feller is out there and why he's got you scuttlin' back here into MY kitchen, where you, Mister Priest, never set foot in unless it's regular feedin' time!" she suggested.

"You willing?" he asked the fiery Caroline.  "There's plenty of room and plenty to eat."

Good ol' sweet Messalina tried to intervene, smooth over the tense exchange with offers of some of her delicious food, the woman made fine dumplings that was for sure, Caroline had to admit.

"...and you Miss Caroline, you eaten yet today? Couple o dumplin's wouldn't do you any harm either!" she chided.

"I had eggs and bacon this mornin', you made it," Caroline reminded her. Though some dumplings would go down nice and satisfying...well cept for the company at the table.

"That's mighty kind of you, Miss Messalina," Hiram responded gratefully. "You are a credit to your race. That's for certain."

"Then maybes we could all sit down and you can tell us the truth about who this feller is out there and why he's got you scuttlin' back here into MY kitchen, where you, Mister Priest, never set foot in unless it's regular feedin' time!" she suggested.

Caroline thought, yeah that was a good question. Why was he so afraid of Murrell, what was up between those two.

"You willing?" he asked the fiery Caroline. "There's plenty of room and plenty to eat."

"I already said I gotta go to the outhouse to..........you know. But for yer dumplin's, hon, I will be back and partake of some," she conceded for Messalina's sake not because of that old cretin. But she might just learn something while she was eating.

"Be back," enough talk, she really did have to go and spun about to head out the back. It would not take her long.

Caroline thought, yeah that was a good question. Why was he so afraid of Murrell, what was up between those two?

"You willing?" he asked the fiery Caroline. "There's plenty of room and plenty to eat."

"I already said I gotta go to the outhouse to..........you know. But for yer dumplin's, hon, I will be back and partake of some," she conceded for Messalina's sake not because of that old cretin. But she might just learn something while she was eating.

"Be back," enough talk, she really did have to go and spun about to head out the back. It would not take her long.

Priest tugged at his chin.

"Sure enough, Miss Messalina.  Pull up a chair, and we'll wait while Miss Caroline gets back.  It's something you ought to know too.  But while we wait, can  you get me a tin of that wonderful coffee you got brewed?"

While he waited, he took out a deck of cards from his waistcoat pocket.  Adroitly, he shuffled them with his spidery fingers.  The cards made a sound like a Gatling Gun only softer.  Once done with that, he set the deck face down in front of him and stared at it.  Where do I cut them? He wondered.  Finally he just made a stab at the deck with his right hand, splitting the deck in half.  When he turned his right hand over, he saw the first face-up card.  It was the Ace of Spades.  

He smiled.  Luck was on his side, Murrell or not.

Despite all the others' apparent disbelief, Caroline really did have to relieve herself. Unsurprising considering all the liquor and, truth be told, water she drank on the job. It did not take her long and she was back in the kitchen. Priest had his cards out, is that all the man ever did was play with those things. Whatever, as far as she was concerned, he could play with rattlesnakes whilst blindfolded.

She moved up to the closest chair and took a seat. Messalina had promised dumplings and indeed there was a bowl of them waiting for her. They were tasty, anything the negro cook made was good stuff. Nothing fancy but solid food, comforting really.

"Well, Mister Priest, you ready to tell us what all this hubbabubba's all about? Who is that feller out there and how come the sight of him's got you in here a-clutterin' up my kitchen?" Messalina pressed him.

"Yeah, let's hear it. Not that anyone can really believe much of which that comes out of yer mouth," Caroline added then took a bit of the first dumpling.

Priest tucked his cards back into his pocket.

The big-chested cook was scolding him, just like she scolded everyone, but rather than verbal jousts with her, he preferred to just nod and agree.

Then came the willowy Caroline.  Well next to the cook, that tubby piano player looked svelte.  She sat across from him.

"Yeah, let's hear it. Not that anyone can really believe much of which that comes out of yer mouth," Caroline added then took a bit of the first dumpling.

Why is she do damned ornery?  wondered Priest.  He couldn't recall ever saying anything awful to her. 

"There's a lot a can say when the subject comes to Jacob Murrell," he began in his most judicious voice.  "He's out of Natchez, the most corrupt town in these United States.  His whole family is as crooked as a hounds hind leg, but Jacob takes the cake.  He's killed men in knife fights .. men who didn't deserve to die.  He's been the head of a counterfeiting ring, trafficking in liquor to the Indians, murdered three women, one because she was a carrying his child.  He tortured an enemy of his. While the man was still alive, he slit his belly and pulled out his intestines and fed em to a hungry pack of dogs."

The old man took a sip of coffee and continued.

"I sent him up the river to a prison in Kansas.  Then what happened?  The politicians let him and a bunch like him out the door on some technicality."  He sighed.  "Now he's here, and he's looking for trouble."

Caroline listened to Priest go on with a real scary litany of horrible crimes this Murrell supposedly done and frowned. When he paused to take a sip of his coffee, she had to ask.

"So why on earth is he is still walkin' around free?"  He should have been hung if he'd really done all that. Least in her opinion. They've hung folk for far less.

"I sent him up the river to a prison in Kansas. Then what happened? The politicians let him and a bunch like him out the door on some technicality." He sighed. "Now he's here, and he's looking for trouble."

"Prison? He deserved to get his neck stretched for all that," Caroline commented.

"And why would these so called politicians want such an evil and dangerous man still roamin' about? They usually do things for a reason, these here politicians of yers."

She glanced at Messalina and then back to Priest.

"I don't believe ya," was her assessment.