Sleep was just about to fall over Lewiston when he heard the floorboards in the hall creek. He had moved the chair in front of the door last night, just in case something like this happened. So, when he sprang up he was out the door with his gun pointed in an instant. To his annoyance however, it wasn't an attempt being made on his client's life. Annoyingly, it was just Archie trying to make another escape.

He stood there frozen, looking down the barrel of the gun. Lewiston put the hammer back into place and said, "Sorry. I thought someone was after you. Now get back to your room."

"You can't protect me!" Archie was finally able to spout out after being scared half to death.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Lewiston stated. "Now get back in there."

"No one can!"

The lawyer was finally fed up with his client. Sick of seeing him standing there, sweating and looking scared, Lewiston grabbed him by the collar and forced him through the door of his room, roaring, "Get in there!"

Archie's room was a mess as Lewiston dragged his client back into it. Papers and bottles all over the floor. It looked like a child threw a temper tantrum in the room, just like Archie was doing now as he did his best to break Lewiston's grip with no avail.

Lewiston threw him onto the bed and pointed his gun at him as he yelled, "I'm sick of going through this! You're staying in this room!"

"The longer I stay still, the easier target I'll be!" Archie said, looking up from his bed.

"So you're going to go out into the open? Genius!" On the last word, Lewiston put his gun away, before he completely lost his temper and shot him.

A knock was heard at the door. Lewiston looked back and asked, "Who is it?"

"Deputy Runnels." He said as he peaked his head in the door with a smile.

Archie looked at Lewiston as he suspiciously asked, "What is this?"

"I need to go out today. The deputy here is going to keep guard while I'm gone." The lawyer told his client as he walked back over to the door.

"Go? Where are you going?" Archie cried.

"I need to go and work on your case. We need a strong defense, don't we?" Lewiston then turned his attention to the deputy and told him, "Keep him in your sight."

"You got it," Runnels responded."

Lewiston gave him a smile and left, closing the door behind. There was an awkward silence between Archie and Runnels. Finally, the deputy broke the silence and asked, "Do we have a deck of cards here?"

Annoyed, Archie turned away from him and folded his arms.

Thankfully, Deputy Runnels agreed to loan Lewiston his horse for the day. He had hoped that all of his business could be taken care of in town, but Lewiston thought it was best to pay a visit to the victim's family. He learned that the Landen's owned farmland outside of town and it was quite a trek on foot, but easy to make on horseback. The three of them, Lewiston, the deputy, and the sheriff, also agreed they would take turns watching Archie, since the stakes got raised by the attempt made on his life the night before. They had this talk outside the saloon as soon as the law came and Archie was none the wiser, because he was too busy pissing himself at the bar.

As Lewiston came to his destination, he slowed the horse up. A grand house sat on a great patch of land. Green grass, rich soil and just enough trees that a child could have a field day climbing. Behind the house was a series of small buildings. Barns, stables, boarding houses, and anything that a decent farm needed for its animals and its farmhands.

Lewiston hitched the horse to one of the fence posts in the front yard and slowly made his way through the property as he looked around. The closer he got to the back of the house, the more he heard the sounds of a crack, getting louder and louder. He recognized this sound quite well from all the times his own mother forced him outside to do this. The sound he was hearing was someone chopping wood and the sound of chopping wood meant that someone was home. So, what better place to start?

On top of an old, scarred up stump, Russ Landen placed another log down and raised the axe over his head and brought it down, cutting the wood in half with one swing. His shirt was off and he was glistening with sweat. Lewiston could tell he had been doing this for a while. Russ had the determination of someone who was trying to keep busy and not let the demons take over his mind. Lewiston understood this as well. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. The sound of the match and the smell of sulfur caught Russ' attention and he turned around to see the lawyer standing there proudly with his tall top hat.

"Mr. Landen, I presume?" Lewiston said to him.

"Yeah," he answered back. Wiping the sweat off his forehead. He had thin dark hair that he combed forward and hard features of a face made out of stone, that didn't make a lot of expression.

"Care to take a break and talk to me for a while?" Lewiston asked.

Russ looked him up and down and almost made a frown with his expressionless face. Thankfully Lewiston could tell what emotion he was feeling with his voice when he spoke.

"You're that bastard's lawyer, aren't you?" he barked.

"That I am. And you're the father of that poor boy."

"Does it keep you awake at night, knowing you're defending a murderer?" He asked as he wedged his axe into the tree stump and took a few steps towards Lewiston to fully face him. The lawyer was actually relieved by this, because the potential weapon was now out of the equation.

"No," Lewiston answered, "But what does keep me awake at night is people trying to kill me."

"I heard about that."

"Heard? So you had nothing to do with it?" Lewiston clarified.

Russ crossed his arms and responded, "I believe the Sheriff will vouch that if I wanted that man dead, I would do it with my own two hands."

"Russ!" A voice called out, catching both of their attentions. Walking up the hill to the house was clearly the patriarch of the family. He was nicely dressed and wore a white hat. He was a well fed older man whose wrinkles were just now beginning to stay permanent. Walking up behind him were a couple of strong farmhands with serious faces. One of them had a scar on his left eyebrow that hung over his cold dark eyes. Lewiston wasn't yet sure he had to worry about any of them quite yet, but he knew that if he did, it was going to be this cold gentleman he should worry about.

"That's enough talking with his kind," the patriarch said to Russ. "How about you go inside and get yourself something to drink."

Without saying a word, Russ nodded and walked around the house. Lewiston felt all the attention fall onto him as the group of men looked at him. To break the silence and to show he was not intimidated, Lewiston asked, "And you are?"

"Sawyer Landen," he answered, "And you must be the famous Lewiston Lee. The fighting lawyer."

"I see tall tales run strong in these parts. I just got a few lucky shots off." Lewiston said, dismissing the compliment.

"Lucky? You killed three men."

"They were up close."

"What brings you here?" Sawyer asked, tiring of the game Lewiston was playing.

"I hear this family has a lot of money. Enough money to hire," Lewiston looked around at all the other men Sawyer had with him as he said, "Strong hands."

"Are you accusing my son of hiring hitmen?" Sawyer said, unwavering.

"I'm not accusing anybody of anything, but if anyone was hiring hitmen, I'd tell them to stop it." Lewiston calmly stated as he took another puff of his cigarette, not breaking eye contact with Sawyer.

"That man murdered my grandson."

"And he will be tried."

"You're trying to get him off!"

"And I will," Lewiston said with a cool smile.

The man with a scar over his eye went to make a move towards Lewiston, but Sawyer held out his arm, stopping him. He looked back at Lewiston and said, "What kind of justice is that?"

"Not justice. Life. It's just the way it is sometimes." Lewiston acted as if his full attention was going to his cigarette.

"I hope he pays well." Sawyer coldly told the lawyer.

"I'm not doing this for money," Lewiston said, pretending he just remembered that Sawyer was there, "and I'm damn sure not doing it for him. But I need to do this, and no one is going to stop me. Don't get in my way. Say your peace in court and move on."

Lewiston turned around and felt all the eyes on his back. He flicked his cigarette on the ground and started walking around the house. Around the corner, leaning against the wall, was Russ. Lewiston could tell that he had listened to the whole thing. Without looking at him, Lewiston stopped walking and told him, "Mr. Landen. Good day." And with that, kept walking.

He rode Runnels' horse back into town. He made sure to take the long way into town and looked back multiple times to make sure he wasn't followed. He wasn't, but the experienced lawyer knew better. Russ may have not had anything to do with the men last night, but Sawyer did. He didn't need to say it out loud for Lewiston to know. He could tell it in his eyes that Archie going to jail wasn't going to be enough. That's why Lewiston knew that another attempt was going to be made on his client and he needed to get back and be ready.

Lewiston rode the horse up to the saloon and hitched it. He was sure the deputy was at his wits end with Archie and needed a break. However, the moment he made one step towards the door he heard his voice come from behind him.

"Lewiston!" Shouted Runnels as he ran up the street. "I'm sorry! I lost him!"

"What?!" Lewiston exclaimed.

"I just went to take a piss and came right back, and that son of a bitch was gone!" The deputy spouted out in between breaths.

"Grab the sheriff," Lewiston told him, "and we'll split up to find him."

The deputy nodded and took off running back down the street. Of course Lewiston left out that they were on limited time. Sawyer's men were surely on their way and they wanted blood.