by B. S. Dunn
The outlaw turned and faced the older man. He smiled beneath his hood and said, ‘That wasn’t hard now, was it?’
Then he squeezed the trigger.
The six-gun in his hand bucked and the slug hammered into the man’s chest. Myers was thrown backwards in an awkward stumble and fell to the ground. But Vince needed to make sure, and shot the prone figure once more.
‘Let’s shoot the rest of them now,’ Warren snapped.
‘No. We ain’t here to do that.’
‘Aww, shoot, why not?’
‘Because I said,’ Vince growled. ‘Come on.’
Before they disappeared into the trees, Vince and Warren took the surrendered weapons and threw them away. Less chance of them trying something that way. Then they were in their saddles and riding hard for town.
Chapter 9
It seemed to Curtis that every time he went to town of late, there was always bad news to greet him. That day wasn’t much better. And although he didn’t know it yet, it was about to get worse.
He’d come to Swiftcreek with Lester and Mary-Alice to meet the stage. They’d also decided to stock up on supplies while they were there. Once inside, the three of them found out the news about Cody Morris and Tinkler.
‘Someone knifed Cody?’ Curtis asked.
‘Sure did,’ the store clerk said. ‘Same day as someone shot Tinkler the lawyer.’
‘Does his sister know?’
‘Sure. She’s in town trying to sort out the whole blamed mess.’
Curtis glanced at Mary-Alice who was busy using Lester to help her look at cloth to make a new dress. Then he asked, ‘What mess?’
‘It seems that before he died, young Cody sold all of the timber rights to Brotherton. But Beth tells him that they weren’t Cody’s to sell. She says that her father left them equal shares in the ranch in his will.’
Curtis nodded. ‘That’s what she told me.’
‘Well, it seems that will has gone and disappeared. They’ve hunted through that office high and low but it ain’t there. Mighty convenient if you ask me.’
Curtis sighed. ‘Yeah, mighty.’
‘He’s told her that as soon as the new sheriff takes over he’s going to shift his men and equipment out there and start to work.’
‘How’d Beth take that?’
‘She told him that if anyone set foot on her range, she’d shoot them herself.’
‘What about a judge?’
‘Circuit judge don’t get here for another two weeks. Not that it would do any good. Brotherton’s the one with the signed piece of paper.’
‘What piece of paper?’ Mary-Alice asked. Curtis hadn’t noticed her approach.
He told her about what had happened.
‘Oh, dear. How dreadful. To lose her father and brother all within a few days.’
From outside came the thunder of hooves and the sound of iron rims. Then Curtis heard a shout. ‘We was held up! They killed one of the passengers.’
Blood turned to ice water in Curtis’s veins, for he knew who the dead passenger would be. He grabbed the Yellow Boy from where it leaned against the counter and said to Mary-Alice, ‘Stay here and finish your shopping.’
By the time he stepped out on to the boardwalk, the dead man had already been removed from the coach and lain down beside it.
Curtis hurried across to the stage. He pushed through the crowd and stared down at the dead man. ‘Who is he?’
‘Myers,’ answered the other passenger without looking up. ‘You know him?’
Curtis cursed under his breath. ‘Was expecting him. What happened?’
The passenger looked up and both men were suddenly in shock.
‘A pair of gunmen stopped the stage and asked for him,’ the driver Pete said, taking over. ‘Then they shot him down cold. They knew he was coming in on it. Don’t know what he did, but someone didn’t like him doing it.’
‘What’s going on here?’ Brotherton asked, pushing through the crowd.
Curtis broke his gaze away from the passenger and snapped at the timber man, ‘You should know. You were behind it.’
Brotherton faked innocence. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘That dead feller was coming in to buy up tracts of timber on our land. Was even going to pay more than you were. Somehow you found out and had him killed.’
Brotherton’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’d be careful with what you say, Curtis. False accusations might get you into trouble.’
It was then that El Tigre bared his claws. He stepped in close and said in a low voice, ‘If you send it my way, then send it shooting, because I’ll kill it dead. There’s a war coming, Brotherton, and when it’s over, we’ll see who’s left standing.’
Not waiting for a reply, Curtis turned away from Brotherton and walked off. If he hadn’t, El Tigre might have killed him then and there.
As he was walking away, Beth Morris caught his eye. He crossed over the street to her and looked at her. ‘I’m sorry about your brother.’
Her reply was something he wasn’t expecting: ‘I need your help.’
He frowned. ‘OK, what with?’
‘Brotherton has a paper with my brother’s signature on it giving him the rights to all of our timber. My brother couldn’t have signed it because both he and I were to get the ranch.’
‘Yet Brotherton has it and your father’s will has disappeared.’
‘Yes. And I know he’s behind it. Tinkler is dead, and without that will I can’t prove a thing.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Brotherton is moving his equipment into place tomorrow and it will be set up on the range he is logging,’ Beth explained. ‘But to do that he needs to cross my land. It’s the only way he can get there. I heard my father speak about you, Jim. About what you’ve done. I need you to stand with my men to stop them crossing my land. They need someone like you to lead them.’
‘Is that all?’
She shook her head. ‘You offered to find the killer of my father. I need you to find his will instead. Without that will, I stand to lose everything.’
He thought about it. Helping her out would provide the opportunity to check out her hands. ‘All right, I’ll help.’
‘There you are.’
Curtis turned and saw Mary-Alice and Lester coming towards them. Her face softened when she saw Beth and she hurried up to her and took her by the hand. ‘I’m so sorry about your father and brother. Please, if there is anything I can do. . . .’
‘Can I borrow your man?’ Beth blurted out.
Mary-Alice’s face turned red. ‘No. I mean yes. Ahh, I mean he’s not my man.’
Her reply served to confuse Beth somewhat.
Curtis said, ‘What she means is that we’re business partners, no more.’
‘Oh. Sorry.’
Curtis glanced at Lester. ‘You’ll need to step up while I’m gone. Keep close to the homestead and an eye out for anything that’s not right. And don’t try to take on anything by yourself. Brotherton is dangerous.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ Lester said.
‘Oh, I almost forgot,’ Mary-Alice said. ‘Did the man come on the stage?’
‘Good to meet you, Mr Reynolds,’ Brotherton greeted the stranger from the stage. ‘You come highly recommended. I trust that your journey wasn’t too uncomfortable?’
Reynolds stared at the man behind the desk then glanced at Vince. ‘Let’s just say that it was interesting.’
Vince’s face remained passive. He’d heard a lot about Reynolds in his travels. After the war, Reynolds had taken up a sheriff’s badge for a year or so. Then someone had come along and asked him to clean up a town in Texas that the carpetbaggers were having trouble with. They paid well. Really well, so he’d taken the job. Before long he was riding through Texas cleaning up one town after another. Somewhere along the way the lines became blurred and it became more about the money and less about the law.
Now it didn’t matter which side he was on, so long as he got his m
oney and the person paying him was happy.
Reynolds continued, ‘We agreed on a price.’
‘Yes. Five hundred up front and then two hundred per week.’
‘That’s right. Now, what do you want me to do?’
Brotherton smiled. ‘Enforce the law.’
‘Your law?’
‘Of course.’
‘Uh huh.’
‘Tomorrow I intend to move men and equipment on to land I just acquired for logging. I want you to ride with them and see that they are left alone.’
‘Acquired legally?’
‘I have a piece of paper with a signature on it.’
Reynolds noticed that he didn’t say yes.
Brotherton went on. ‘There have been a lot of deaths about here lately that will need investigating. I’ll give you the details about them later. If possible, I’d like it so that something was laid at the feet of a certain man we’re having trouble with. Get rid of him and I’ll double the five hundred.’
‘Who?’
‘Feller called Jim Curtis.’
It would be, Reynolds thought. ‘You got anything in mind?’
‘He killed three of my men.’
‘Witnesses?’
‘What do you want witnesses for?’ Vince asked. ‘I’d have thought that wouldn’t matter to you.’
Reynolds let his cold stare settle on the man he was sure had held up the stage. ‘It doesn’t.’
‘I can find as many as you need,’ Brotherton said. ‘I don’t care if he’s found not guilty at the trial. By then it won’t matter.’
‘And if he won’t come quietly?’
Brotherton’s eyes flared. ‘Then kill him, damn it. Do I have to spell it out?’
‘Nope, I reckon you don’t.’
Chapter 10
There was only one trail to the timber country that Brotherton now claimed as his, and it cut right through Circle M. And as the wagons approached Circle M range loaded with men and equipment, Jack Reynolds noticed the strung-out line of riders along the crest of the ridge the wagons needed to take.
A quick count had them at eight, and the timber men had them outnumbered as well as outgunned. But maybe it could be resolved peacefully with no bloodshed. After all, there was the signed piece of paper in his pocket.
When he got close enough to make out faces clearly, his heart sank. There, sitting his horse at the centre of the line, was Jim Curtis. Right then he knew that there would be no peace. They drew up on the rutted trail when there was twenty feet between them. Out front was Reynolds, Vince and Andrews. On either side of Curtis was Beth and Sam, her new foreman.
Every one of the Circle M riders had rifles ready to use. Except for Curtis. He had a messenger gun. Nothing deterred an ornery man like a double load of buckshot.
‘Howdy, Jim,’ Reynolds said.
‘Captain.’
Confused glances shot between those on both sides.
‘Been a while,’ Curtis continued.
Reynolds nodded. ‘It has. How you been keeping?’
‘Fine, fine,’ Curtis said as both men skirted the issue confronting them. ‘I see you’ve got some new friends.’
‘It is what it is. You’ve been busy since the war.’
‘Could say the same about you.’
Finally, ‘Shall we discuss what’s about to happen here?’
‘What’s about to happen?’
Reynolds reached into his pocket and took out the piece of paper. He moved his horse closer to Curtis and passed him what he had.
Curtis read it and handed it back. ‘The kid never had the power to sell it to Brotherton. What you’ve got there needs two signatures. The old man left the ranch to both his kids.’
‘You have a copy of it?’
‘It’s disappeared,’ said Beth. ‘And the lawyer has been killed so we can’t ask him. But there is one thing I can do. To get to where you want to go you have to cross Circle M range. But this is as far as you go. If you want to get there, find another way.’
‘From what I’ve been told, there’s no other way.’
‘Hell, let’s just shoot our way through,’ Andrews snarled. ‘We got them outnumbered.’
Curtis moved the messenger gun so that it was pointed at the killer. ‘Have at it. But you won’t get two feet.’
‘Whoa, Jim. We don’t want a bloodbath, do we?’
‘I guess that’s up to Brotherton.’
Reynolds sighed. ‘I didn’t want to have to do this, Jim, but I’ve received a complaint about you killing three men. I guess now is as good a time as any to take you in.’
Curtis’ face remained passive. He said, ‘It was self-defence, Captain. They tried and lost.’
‘I guess then we’ll work it out in town.’
‘I ain’t going anywhere.’
‘You don’t really want to shoot it out with me, do you? We go way back, Jim. Come in and I’ll sort it out.’
Reynolds was right. Curtis didn’t want to kill his former commanding officer. ‘All right. But there is one condition.’
‘What is it?’
‘No one tries to cross Circle M land until this all goes before a judge.’
‘OK,’ Reynolds said. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’
Curtis passed the messenger gun to Sam. ‘Take this, I’ll be back.’
‘We ain’t taking all of this equipment back to town,’ Andrews growled.
The new sheriff shrugged. ‘Leave it here then.’
‘What if they try to damage it?’
‘Then leave some people to keep an eye on it. Come on, Jim, let’s get this sorted out.’
Beth said, ‘Be careful, Jim. I don’t like this.’
‘I’ll be fine, Beth. The captain will see me right.’
Reynolds smiled at her. ‘He’ll be fine, ma’am.’
The cell door clanged shut behind Curtis and almost immediately his blood ran cold. ‘I don’t see why you have to lock me up. There were plenty of witnesses.’
‘Makes it official. It won’t be for long. I’ll go and make some enquiries and be right back.’
‘Can you answer something for me, Captain?’
‘What?’
‘Are the stories true?’
‘I could ask you the same thing, Jim.’
Curtis nodded. ‘I guess you could.’
‘They were tough times after the war.’
‘Yeah. They were. A man did what he could to get by.’
‘He did,’ Reynolds agreed. ‘I took up a badge and you went to Mexico to join the revolution. Made a name for yourself, from what I heard.’
‘You too.’
‘Good with a gun.’
‘They say that about you.’
‘Interesting, ain’t it?’ Reynolds commented. ‘Both of us here in this town. Good at what we do. Another war going on. Yep, real interesting.’
Right then, when Curtis looked deep into Reynolds’ eyes, he knew that before this was all over, one of them would be dead.
‘Now is the time to move,’ Brotherton said with confidence. ‘With Curtis locked away, we can kill two birds with one stone.’
‘I’m willing,’ said Andrews, eager to spill more blood.
‘Tell us what you want done,’ Vince said.
Reynolds stood near the door while the discussion continued.
‘We now have the chance to take the northern stand from that damned Mary-Alice and we can shift the equipment on to the Circle M,’ Brotherton explained.
‘I’ll take the woman,’ Andrews’ voice was cold. ‘I owe her.’
‘I don’t want her dead. Just take her somewhere and convince her to sign the land over to us. Burn her house and everything else as well. We won’t be needing it.’
Andrews grunted. ‘What do you want done with her when it’s signed?’
‘Kill her.’
‘No!’ Reynolds snapped. ‘Let her go.’
The three men stared at him. Vince sneered at him. ‘What’s this? A killer wi
th a conscience?’
‘Let’s just say I don’t like killing women.’
‘I don’t care who I kill,’ Andrews snapped.
Reynolds nodded. ‘Figured as much. I’ll put it another way. You do, and I’ll kill you.’
Andrews squared up his shoulders and let his hand drop to his six-gun in a threatening gesture.
In a low voice, Reynolds said, ‘Think about it.’
A long silence enveloped the room, an icy chill pervading the air, and just when it seemed that blood was about to be spilled, Brotherton’s voice cut through the tension. ‘All right, have it your way. Let her live. It won’t much matter once we have it anyway.’
Happy with that, Reynolds asked, ‘What do you want me to do with Curtis?’
‘Investigate the shooting. It’ll keep him out of the way while we do what we have to. Then let him go when we’re done. Or kill him, it don’t matter.’
‘When do you want that equipment moved?’ Vince asked.
‘Tonight. Get it done.’
‘And the woman?’ said Andrews.
‘No time like the present. Where are you going to take her?’
‘There’s an old cabin in the shadows of Crazy Woman Peak. I’ll take a couple of men and head there with her.’
Brotherton’s face grew hard. ‘I don’t need to tell you that there is a lot of money riding on the outcome of this. Don’t let me down.’
‘Well, am I getting out of here or what?’ Curtis asked Reynolds.
The last rays of a reddish sunset shining through the barred back window of the jail told Curtis that he’d been there too long.
‘Not today, Jim. I’m still looking into things. I have to tell you the people I talked to haven’t convinced me that it was self-defence.’
Curtis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘It might help if you didn’t talk to just Brotherton’s men.’
‘I’ll see what I can dig up tomorrow. Who knows, a new day might bring a few changes.’
There was something strange in the way Reynolds said it. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘What?’
‘The way you said that last bit.’
Reynolds shrugged. ‘Nothing to it.’
Curtis knew he was lying. ‘Why did you throw your lot in with Brotherton, Captain? He’s bad through and through. The man I knew was different.’