Summary: Adam Cartwright and Black Bear deal out justice in Carson City. This story was written for the Chaps & Spurs 2025 2nd Quarter Challenge.
Rating: K+
Word Count: 2192

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Where the Cards Fell

My naked gun gleamed in the hot noon sun, curls of smoke lingering at the muzzle. My heart pounded in my chest and my legs felt like molasses as I took a few steps towards the body of a man lying on his back in the dirt. Blood seeped from a hole in his chest. There must have been another way…he didn’t have to die…but I’ll never know now.

A calming hand was placed on my shoulder, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the man I’d just killed.

“Marty, he left you no choice,” Ben Cartwright’s soothing voice attempted to console me.

Huh…no choice…in other words…he had it comin’. It was as if the only thing owed to him for his actions was ever going to be a single bullet to the heart.

A crowd finally gathered around the body, Sheriff Roy Coffee among them.

“Anyone see what happened?” he asked, looking around at the crowd expectantly.

 

*****

 

“I’d like to cash this bank draft, please,” Adam said to the teller at the Carson City Bank. Black Bear glanced over at the two men from her position at the window. The Ponderosa’s revenue had been good that year, but its business matters were tedious, and the window afforded her an entertaining view of the street where she could watch the entire civilization of the big city walk by. The teller looked at the piece of paper that he had been handed before dishing out the amount in gold double eagles.

Black Bear looked back out the window just in time to see a couple of men being thrown bodily out of a nearby saloon and gambling room.

“But he was cheating! I know it!” one of them shouted. This piqued Marty Black’s interest. She loved to play cards every once in a while, but as much as she loved playing, she despised cheaters. She would often enter a game when she noticed someone was cheating and then reveled in beating them at their own game.

“Marty?” Adam inquired coming to stand beside Black Bear. “What’s going on?”

“Wanna get a drink at the saloon over there?” Black Bear asked without removing her eyes from the two men that were ejected from the establishment.

“Why? What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Those men claim that someone cheated them out of their money.”

“And you want to cheat the cheater?” Adam asked with a knowing smile. Black Bear looked at him and smiled back. Adam had been privy to a couple of Marty Black’s “Cheater Hustles” at the Silver Dollar Saloon back in Virginia City, and he was intrigued to see her at work in a new city.

“Well, let’s go then,” Adam quipped and together they crossed the dusty street and entered the Lucky Break Saloon.

The air inside was thick with the smell of tobacco and whiskey, and from the far corner, the jaunty sound of a tinny piano wafted across the heads of the patrons.

“Well, if they couldn’t handle the loss, they shouldn’t have played,” a man’s voice carried above the music. Black Bear looked over at the table where the voice came from and saw a man in a grey coat gathering a large pot of winnings onto the table in front of him, his black curled mustache twitching with joy.

“Well?” Adam whispered. “Whaddya think?”

“I think I’m a little short on pocket money,” Black Bear whispered back.

“Here. I trust ya,” Adam replied and handed her the pouch of money they’d just received at the bank. Black Bear smiled her thanks before walking over to the gambling table. Adam casually walked up to the bar and ordered a beer.

“Got room for one more?” Black Bear asked as if she were just looking for a friendly game. The man in grey looked her up and down before answering, “Seat’s yours if you’ve got the cash for it.”

“This enough?” Black Bear returned, setting down the heavy leather pouch onto the table, coins clicking audibly.

“Plenty,” the man grinned. “My name’s Jack Delaney.”

“Nice to meet you,” Black Bear responded. “Name’s Helen Brady.” And with that she sat down, and the game was on.

“What’ll we play?” she inquired.

“Five-Card Draw ok with you?” Delaney offered.

“Sounds good to me,” was the answer.

Jack Delaney dealt quickly, hand after hand. Black Bear noticed that he was faster than most in dealing from the bottom of the deck or sliding favorable cards into his sleeves. But her hawk-like eyes saw every bit of it. Most every round she lost, but there were few times that she won and that frustrated Delaney to no end.

“You’re not bad,” he commented at one point. “Better than most I’ve played today.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” Black Bear replied, “But I’ve seen better.” By now, a crowd had begun to gather around the table.

“Better?!” Jack fumed. 

“Yes. Places like New Orleans and San Francisco boast some mighty fine players.”

Delaney smoldered in silence as the next hand progressed. Black Bear could tell he was getting sloppy in his double dealing and began to bait her trap by winning the next several hands.

“Well, I think that’s enough for me,” she said casually. “I don’t want to deprive you of all your money in one go.”

Jack Delaney’s face was red with anger, mustache drooping furiously, and he was sweating profusely.

“How about this,” he said, trying to keep an even tone. “One more hand, winner takes all?”

“Ok. You have a deal,” Black Bear agreed and pushed all of her remaining money into the center. As Jack Delaney followed suit and began to deal the final cards, Black glanced over at Adam and gave him a quick wink to reassure him that she wouldn’t lose his hard-earned money.

She picked up her hand and was surprised to see that she held three queens and two other cards that were useless to her. She was sure now that Jack Delaney had slipped up.

Delaney looked at his cards and quickly exchanged two of them. Black Bear’s keen sight saw that one of the cards came from his sleeve.

So, she thought, you’re going for a straight while I try to buck you with a three of a kind. A good hand in any other situation, but not this one.

“Well, Miss Brady, how many for your last hand?” Jack Delaney inquired. He tried to sound confident, but there was a shakiness to his voice that told Black Bear that he was worried.

“Just two,” she replied coolly, setting down her useless cards. Delaney was visibly shocked as he fumbled to give her her cards.

Oh…you didn’t mean to give me three queens, did ya? Black Bear thought with amusement. As she looked at her new cards, it took everything she had to suppress a smile. The fourth and final queen. The queen that was only supposed to help out a pair of pocket queens. But somehow, in his nervousness, Jack Delaney had slipped up and had given her a queen too early out of his very own sleeve stash. Black Bear let her face fall slightly, and her opponent breathed a sigh of relief.

“Straight,” Delaney triumphed. “What do you have, Miss Brady?”

Black Bear then looked him straight in the eyes and smiled her mischievous smile.

“Gee, all I have are two pair,” she said as she laid out her four glorious queens. “A pair of queens and another pair of queens.”

The room erupted with cheers while Jack’s eyes blazed.

“But-but-that’s impossible!” he seethed.

“Oh, but it isn’t,” Black Bear replied calmly. “That’s what happens when you try to deal cards from the bottom of the deck instead of the ones in your sleeve.”

The crowd now murmured, and someone pulled up Jack’s sleeve.

“She’s right! He’s been cheatin’!” the man declared. Another man picked up the deck and exclaimed, “Hey! These cards are marked!”

“Jack Delaney, your poker playing days are done in Carson City,” Black Bear informed the cheater as she gathered up her winnings. “And, by the way, your cheating is an abomination when you get worked up. You should really learn to control that temper of yours…makes ya sloppy.” She could sense Delaney’s fury trying to burrow holes into her, but Black Bear was far too levelheaded to care. Adam walked up to her.

“You ready to go?” he asked.

“Sure am,” she replied, and together they left Carson City.

 

*****

 

Adam and I rode into Virginia City and were greeted by his father Ben Cartwright.

“Well, did ya get the money?” Ben asked.

“Yes, sir,” Adam replied, handing his father the pouch.

“Why’s it so heavy?”

“A little side business venture,” I answered with a smile as I dismounted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ben returned, but he couldn’t help smiling as he said it.

“Well, ya see, Pa, there was a cheater in the saloon, and she just relieved him of his winnings,” Adam answered, with a smile on his face too.

I was about to smile as well, but then I noticed Ben’s face change from one of amusement to one of concern.

“It wouldn’t happen to have been that man coming down the street, would it?” he inquired, wagging his finger in the direction of his gaze.

As I stepped out from behind my horse, I saw Jack Delaney riding hell bent down the street towards me. He stopped in front of the hotel a few yards away and dismounted.

“Helen Brady! I want my money back!” he shouted angrily.

“Go home, Jack Delaney, you lost fair and square albeit you were trying to cheat me,” I answered calmly. Delaney took a few steps towards me.

“I’m not leaving till I get my money back!”

“No,” I thundered darkly. “Now go home before you do something that you might regret.” I turned my back to him, and perhaps it was a tenderfoot mistake, but it was the only way to diffuse the situation.

It didn’t work.

I heard the creak of leather and the hurried angry shuffle as Delaney got his revolver out of its holster.

“Marty!” I heard Adam’s voice call out, but I was already moving. I whirled around to my left and onto my knee as I pulled my own gun from its place at my hip.

A shot rang out, and I felt Jack Delaney’s bullet graze across the top of my left shoulder.

Two more shots rang out, one more from his gun and one from mine. His bullet kicked the dirt up at my feet, but mine was too accurate and struck him square in the chest. Jack Delaney gasped and looked shocked as I stood to my feet. Then he collapsed onto his back and lay still and unmoving.

Commotion filled the street as I took a few unsteady steps towards the man. Scattered thoughts flew about in my mind. Surely there must have been another way to avoid this.

Ben tried to comfort me, but it didn’t help much. I’d never killed anyone in a showdown before. I’d wounded a few but never killed. That was one of my stepfather’s rules to keep me out of a hangman’s noose.

“Anyone see what happened?” Sheriff Coffee inquired of the crowd.

“This man tried to shoot her in the back,” Ben explained.

“Why? He seems to be a complete stranger here. What would he have against her?”

“Black Bear won money from him in Carson City by exposing him for the cheater he was,” Adam added. I nodded my agreement slowly, unable to tear my eyes away from the slowly spreading red stain on Delaney’s grey coat.

“Sounds like a clear case of self-defense then,” Sheriff Coffee concluded. “Alright, folks, show’s over. Let’s get this body off the street.”

And with that, it was all over and Ben, Adam, and I rode back to the Ponderosa. Little Joe and Hoss listened to the tale as we ate dinner. I tried to pretend that I was unfazed by the needless death of the gambler and told my side of the card game as best I could.

But truthfully, I was tormented by the thought that even though a city may very well be called civilized, abominable acts could still be carried out without a second thought by anyone with a naked gun. Someone like me.

“Martina,” Adam whispered to me as Hop Sing cleared away the dishes. “You may have shot the gun, but Delaney killed himself when he pulled his own.”

His words sunk in and slowly began to soothe my soul. I began to understand that there was a difference between a cold-blooded killing and self-defense. But I’d like to think there might be a better way, and that maybe someday in the future I’ll be able to find it.

–The End–

Author’s note:  The challenge words were: Abomination, Civilization, Revenue, Molasses, Naked