Title: Presumption of Guilt - 1

Author: hisgoodgirl

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss. I got nada but my imagination.

Characters: Crew, omc, ofc.

Warning: PG for graphic violence, profanity and other grownup things.

Setting: In the town of Silverton, on Santo, immediately prior to “The Train Job”.

Words: 2,700

A/N: As a kid, my two favorite TV genres were westerns and detective shows. I finally decided to tackle both in a mix I’ve thought of as “Firefly CSI”. Remember, feedback is what writers and their muses live for, dear readers.

X - posted from my LiveJournal.

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Presumption of Guilt

Chapter One

As he rose from deep sleep, Jayne Cobb’s first awareness was pain. His tongue felt like an old sock stuck to the roof of his mouth, and his head felt like some god-forsaken hundan was pounding on it with a gun butt. He coughed and his sharp in-breath brought with it the sweet, heavy smell of liquor and sex and a familiar metallic scent he couldn’t quite place.

How much had he drunk last night? He had no idea, but the world-class hangover he was sporting testified to plenty. Had there been a woman? He vaguely remembered a pretty brunette with china blue eyes, a classy gal he’d hooked up with once before on Santo. Wasn’t often he picked up a woman that elegant, but he figured there was no accounting for women’s tastes. He could hear the clip-clop of horses’ hooves on the street and the muffled hum of hovercraft and small freight vehicles. Beneath that was the low rumble of feet on the boardwalk that ran along the fronts of the stores, bars and hotels of Silverton.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The racket was deafening. Why in the di yu would some fool be hammering away at this hour of the morning?

He eased one swollen eye open just enough to see the room was in total disarray, with an overturned chair and several empty bottles. Musta had me quite a bender , he concluded, then gro