Title: Presumption of Guilt – Chapter 9

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: 3,000

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”. Click my name to access the previous chapters. If you’re following this tale, I’d really appreciate hearing what you think, and if you’re enjoying it, please pimp it to your friends. Thanks!

X - posted from my LiveJournal.

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Presumption of Guilt

Chapter Nine

Back aboard Serenity after the close call with the lynch mob, Mal lingered over a pot of tea, pondering the confounding situation he found himself in. This certainly wasn’t the first time since picking up Jayne on Caliban that Mal considered cutting his losses and leaving the merc behind.

Why, then, hadn’t he ordered Wash to break atmo for the Black?

It wasn’t that he felt a strong sense of personal loyalty to Jayne. In fact, the big merc had an uncanny knack of getting on his last nerve. Yes, he was strong and a good tracker and handy in a firefight, but so were plenty of other men, men with fewer liabilities. The captain thought about Kaylee’s remark about how quiet it had been on the ship without Jayne, and Mal had to admit he appreciated that quietness a heap. There had been none of the man’s coarse humor and suggestive remarks, no ruckuses between him and the Doc. Peace of mind was good.

Except that Mal knew that was the one thing he would forfeit forever if he did the logical thing and left Jayne Cobb to the wobbly wheels of Justice on this god-forsaken little moon.

During the war it was understood that you never left a man behind. With th