Blood Duel

Epilogue

Jeeter Frost was never caught.

Dodge City hired a new schoolmarm. As for the old one, about six years after her disappearance, a rumor spread that Ernestine Prescott had been spotted in California, and was happily married to a small man who ran a tavern.

Seamus Glickman quit his job as undersheriff. He went back East, to Philadelphia, and lived with his sister for a while before opening a shop that specialized in the finest of clothes for men.

Sheriff Hinkle was reelected but did not go on to become a federal marshal. He made no mention of Jeeter Frost or the schoolmarm in his campaign speeches.

Frank Lafferty worked first in Denver and later in San Francisco. He was a leading journalist of his day, even if, as his critics pointed out, his journalism pandered to those with prurient interests. He also wrote penny dreadfuls, his most popular entitled Chester Luce, Shootist Supreme.

As for Coffin Varnish, within a year it was just another ghost town.

The Andersons, Dolph and Filippa, moved to Minnesota. They loved the bitter cold and deep snow. It reminded them of home.

The Giorgios received a letter from Italy and sailed for Naples, never to be heard from again.

Placido and Arturo returned to their village in Mexico. They were happy to be back among people who, as Placido put it, were not loco.

Winifred Curry saw to it that Chester and Adolphina were properly buried. He even paid for headstones—small headstones—from the money he made when he put their bodies on display. A dead mayor was a novelty. A dead woman was a sensation. He estimated three-fourths of the county came to view them, at a dollar a view.