"So how come he's shot?" the sheriff questioned.
"Well, that's a long story," Monty said. "First, let me make the introductions. Sheriff, this is Laura, out here from Montreal on a business trip and getting more excitement than she'd planned on. Laura, meet Sheriff Williams, the man who keeps things lawful out here in the country."
"Pleased to meet you, Laura," said the sheriff, shaking her hand and tipping his Stetson. "This must be a pretty good story. Why don't you give me the highlights?"
Laura laughed. "It's a pretty amazing story. Like Monty said, he held a gun on us all the way down here, then locked us in a room in the house. Monty got out through the attic to get his rifle from the barn, but this guy found he'd gone so he took me as hostage in the truck. I thought I was on my way to Mexico when we reached the highway here, but Monty showed up ahead of us on his horse, and shot this murderer to stop him." She paused. "But is Monty going to be in trouble for shooting him?" Laura asked anxiously.
The sheriff laughed. "If he'd done this in San Francisco, probably, but out here, he'll get a medal instead of getting in trouble. There will have to be a hearing, but I'd bet anything that the judge will be giving him a commendation, not any penalty. If Monty gets in trouble over this, I'll eat my hat."
Monty turned to Laura and chuckled, "If you knew how much the sheriff loves that big white Stetson of his, you'd know that's a solid bet."
The sheriff turned serious. "If you'll excuse me, I've got to go ride herd on my deputies and see that we do everything by the book - we sure don't want this guy getting off because some defense lawyer claims we screwed up. But I do need you both to come into town to give a complete statement. Looks like your truck is out of commission, Monty, so I can give you two a lift to town when I get things cleaned up here."
"Well, I need to get my horse back home," Monty said. "I can ride him there, and maybe you can bring Laura over to the place and pick me up when you're done here."
"Sounds good," agreed the sheriff. "It will probably take another half hour to wrap things up here, so that gives you lots of time to ride back to your place. Sorry you had your visit to California spoiled by something like this, Laura, but I'm glad you had Monty on your side -he's a good man. I'm afraid you'll have to come back sometime in the next year or so for this murder trial, because you were pretty involved, but I hope that trip won't be as eventful. Now I've really got to go check on things if we're to get out of here before morning."