Texas holds herself back - Why hasn't the mook called out yet?

Texas had herself primed for anything, muscles at the ready, fingers not far from her six shooter. Attack first, ask questions later. She had to do that, otherwise there was no way in hell that this was going to end badly for her. Would it have been fair? Would it have been just? It was the hesitation in the lackey’s eyes that made Texas think twice and she held herself back – knowing that she would only have herself to blame if, when, after this all went wrong…

“HEY! Jenny! Ya found anything?”

A voice cried out from somewhere else in the graveyard. Quick as whip, the possum snapped her neck in the direction of the caller and stared. Texas didn’t dare turn her neck, didn’t dare breathe. Simply watched the possum, who looked back at Texas. She raised an index finger towards her mouth, so discreetly that Texas could not have been certain that she had done so at all.

“Nothing at all, Pauline! A whole lot more nothing!”

“Well, keep looking then! Unless you want to go in the hole too?”

“Will do, Pauline!”

The distant speaker turned and carried on in the other direction, and the possum, who must have been named Jenny, seemed to visibly deflate. She looked at Texas and gave the sheriff a weary sigh.

“I really don’t want to go in the hole,” Jenny said, her mouth twisted with a nervous smile.

“No,” Texas said slowly. “No, I can’t imagine you do.”

Texas lowered herself in the bush and Jenny crawled in alongside her. But this wasn’t the place to chat. Not while they were still downwind of Roxxie’s worst. So, Texas silently gestured that the possum follow and they crawled to the edge of the graveyard, together, hunkering down beneath a large, moss-carpeted gravestone. The air still reeked of Roxxie Roo’s rancid assrips, but it wasn’t quite as offensive over here.

Now that Texas got a closer look at her, she couldn’t imagine how she had found Jenny to be threatening at all. She was possibly a head taller than Texas but much thinner. Barely anything resembling muscle on her wiry frame. She had a small pair of spectacles hooked on the bridge of her snout and her clothes – shirt, waistcoat, trousers – seemed much too baggy for her, as if they had once belonged to someone else. She looked about as much like she belonged in Roxxie’s gang as Texas did.

“You ain’t from around these parts, are ya?”

“No, I most certainly am not.” Jenny lowered her voice and leaned into Texas, keeping her gaze towards the sheriff’s voice as she spoke. “I, uh, I came from across the sea about a year ago. My plan was to study here, I’m an astronomist. Or, I suppose, I wanted to be. Unfortunately, I started running out of funds and soon enough got kicked out. I got a little **** for cash and, well, you see…”

“You fell in with the wrong crowd?”

“Yes, how could you tell?”

“We’re surrounded by the wrong crowd.”

“Oh, right. Quite. Listen, you’re the sheriff around here, right?” Jenny lifted her gaze and now seemed to be speaking with Texas’ badge. “The truth is, I’ve wanted out of this little business almost as soon as I came into it. They only really keep me around to manage their ledgers, record takings, you know, the general admin things none of them have the brains to do. And, frankly, I’m thinking they’re getting bored of having me around. So, I really need an out. Can…Can you help me?”

Texas peered over the gravestone and watched Roxxie. The golden-furred kangaroo seemed in a particularly bad mood today and to see her take it out on her own underlings was something that turned Texas’ stomach almost as bad everything that came out of Roxxie. It was no wonder that Jenny had found her breaking point. Who wouldn’t? In fact, Texas had half a mind that there were more than a few of these mooks wandering about the cemetery, questioning their value in this gang, weighing up their options.

But then, what if this was a trap? Jenny seemed so sweet, so sincere. Almost too much so. Texas was sworn to defend the innocents, uphold the law, maintain peace and order. That included protecting citizens at all costs. But this wasn't a citizen. This was one of Roxxie Roo's gang, who were far from the sweetest fruits in the orchard.

Texas looked back to Jenny and sighed. It was a hard decision that she had to make here. And she had to make sure that it was the right one.