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him.
    â€œNo,” Sam said, “I mean, tell me what happened out there today that you thought happened before.”
    Stone sucked on his cough drop in earnest and eyed the Ranger closely for a moment.
    â€œForget it,” he said after consideration. “You think I’m being foolish.” He turned toward his office a block away and said over his shoulder, “Let’s go see how the doctor’s doing cutting out Dobbs’ bullet.”

Chapter 4

    Inside the sheriff’s office, the two lawmen stood watching from outside the cell as Dr. Tierney inventoried his surgical instruments, wiped them with an alcohol-dampened cloth and placed them back in a leather pouch. Dobbs was still sleeping under the dose of powerful chloroform.
    The Ranger gazed straight ahead through the open cell door and spoke sidelong to Stone.
    â€œI don’t think you were being foolish, Sheriff,” he said, reviving the conversation that Stone had cut short only moments earlier. “I’m still curious what you were thinking out there when the woman swung the shotgun up.”
    â€œWhy are you so curious?” Stone asked.
    â€œBecause I saw how fast you acted,” Sam said. “It was almost like you
did
know what was coming next.”
    â€œThe way you saw what was coming when you butted Dirty Donald before he talked himself into trying to kill you?” Stone asked.
    â€œHuh-uh, that was different,” Sam said. “I know what Ferry was apt to do if I didn’t stop him. But I didn’t think it was something that had happened before.”
    Sheriff Stone paused and looked away in contemplation for a moment. Then he adjusted the cough drop in his mouth and let out a breath.
    â€œIt started the minute I asked if you ever heard of Silas Rudabaugh. You said you’d heard of him, but never had cause to meet him.” He looked at Sam and continued. “When you said that, I knew exactly what was going to happen next—right up to running to stop Mama Belleza, and the shotgun going off. Everything that happened seemed like it had happened before—”
    â€œDéjà vu, they call it,” Dr. Tierney said, walking out of the cell rolling his shirtsleeves down, his surgical pouch over his shoulder. “It means you’ve ‘already seen’ it.” He gave a tired smile to the staring lawmen. “It’s a condition of a confused or overstimulated brain. A person sees something, hears something, even though it just happened, his brain thinks it happened in the past instead of the present. So it comes into mind as a memory instead of a current event.”
    â€œA confused brain . . . ?” Stone said skeptically. “I know I’ve done a powerful lot of drinking, Doc. But that’s over now—I’m sober as a Mormon.”
    â€œI’m glad you’re sober, Sheriff,” the doctor said. “But this happens to people who’ve never had a drop in their lives.” He gave a shrug. “We don’t know much about it, but there’s a doctor from Algeria studying the condition.”
    â€œYou’re saying there’s nothing spooky about it?” Stone asked.
    â€œOnly if you believe, as the spiritualists do, that it’s a clairvoyant experience, or a memory from a past life.” He picked up his suit coat, draped it over his forearm and nodded toward Dobbs’ cell. “He’ll sleep awhile longer. I’ll be back to check on him tomorrow afternoon.”
    â€œObliged, Doctor,” said Sam, both he and Stone touching their hat brims as the doctor opened the door and walked out.
    â€œSo there you have it,” Sam said to Stone as the door closed behind Dr. Tierney. He looked him up and down. “Nothing eerie about thinking something has happened before.”
    Stone said, “The doctor is a good hand at cutting out bullets and tending the sick. But I wouldn’t put much store