“Lawmen aren’t too popular in boomtowns, Ed,” Jerry said. “People shine you on because they want a break when they step out of line or they want you to back their play when they find themselves in a tight spot. When you let them down, things tend to get awkward after that. Being distant saves a lot of disappointment all around.”
He flicked the deputy marshal star pinned to his chest. “Being a lawman is a lonely business, but it’s the only business I know.”
“Heard something about you finding yourself on the other side of the law.” Edison looked up the tracks to see if the train was coming. “Heard you served your share of time in a Texas jail.”
“You heard right,” Jerry said. “Didn’t run afoul of the law, though. Just one man’s version of it. But I served three years before they realized I was right, so here I am.”
“Sounds like you’ve been around a couple of boomtowns in your time,” Edison observed. “You look kind of young to have that much experience.”
Jerry smiled. “But I’ve got an old soul, amigo. A very old soul indeed.”
“Then you ought to know friends are important, especially in a boomtown like this.”
Jerry shrugged as he joined Edison in looking up the tracks, waiting on the train to show up. “I’ve got friends.”
“They’re in Helena, and Helena’s a long way from here.”
Jerry considered that. “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Ed? You and your deputies.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Edison warned him. “I mean, I don’t have a problem with you. Hell, I don’t know you well enough to know if I even like you or not. But even if I did, I can’t speak for all of the men in my department.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. But I guess you’re talking about your Hancock deputies.”
“You guess right,” Edison told him. “They’re still pretty raw about Al Brenner being locked up and Grant going free.”
Jerry had figured that would be the case. “I had nothing to do with that.”
Edison laughed. “You had plenty to do with it. Hell, you were part of the shoot-out at the jail that killed plenty of those boys. I don’t know if you or Billy or Aaron planted more Hancock boys in the cemetery, but I’d hate to have my life depend on the difference.”
Jerry hoped the train got there soon. He had never enjoyed making small talk with anyone, and Edison was turning out to be a talker. “I never killed a man who didn’t have it coming, Ed. You’ll just have to take my word on that. And as far as the Hancocks go, I hope they’ve learned their lesson and know enough to leave me alone.”
“Hancocks don’t stop,” Edison told him. “They keep running at something until they tear it down. I’ve done a lot of traveling in my life, too, and I’ve never seen a family quite like them. And there’s a hell of a lot of them, too. Bastards breed like rabbits.”
“Guess it’s a good thing for me that I’ve got lots of bullets.” He elbowed the chief. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Edison shook his head. “Well, my conscience is clear. I’ve said what I came here to say. Whatever happens next between you and them, you can’t say you weren’t warned.”
“I knew it before you said it, Chief, but I appreciate the effort just the same.” He was relieved when the sound of the train horn echoed in the distance. “And it looks like our new mayor is almost here.”
Both men stood up to stretch their legs before the train pulled into the station.
Jerry Halstead found himself liking Steve Edison. From what Mackey had told him, the bowlegged former gunman was just corruptible enough to be trustworthy. Jerry had always gotten along with that sort, and he imagined the same would hold true in Edison’s case. He never trusted a man who was not at least a bit crooked, except of course, for Aaron and his Uncle Billy.
As the train came into view, Edison said, “Wish you’d get your damned hair cut, though. Can hardly blame some people taking you for a breed.”
“I suppose I can’t,” Jerry said. “Not until they’re foolish enough to try to do something about it.”
* * *
After the train pulled in and the passengers began stepping down from their cars, Jerry spotted Pappy right away.
The spectacle of him brought a smile to Jerry Halstead’s face.
Pappy was sporting a top hat and black suit with a red, white, and blue sash across his chest. He wore gray gloves and had a porter in tow carrying his bags. He had trimmed his iron-gray beard to a much more manageable, close-cropped affair that made him look like a man of importance.
The new mayor was clearly so pleased with his new position that even Jerry could not help but be happy for him.
“Mr. Mayor.” Jerry swept off his hat with a flourish. “Welcome home to Dover Station.”
“Jerry, my boy!” The Irishman locked him in a bear hug and lifted Sim Halstead’s boy off the ground as if he was still a youngster. “It’s great to see at least one friendly face to greet me after so much time away.”
Edison extended a hand to the new elected official. “Congratulations, sir. Me and my men look forward to working with you.”
Pappy pumped the chief’s hand enthusiastically. “Not all of them, I’m sure, but we’ll be settlin’ that soon enough. Now, when’s the swearin’-in ceremony?”
“Got Doc Ridley and his Bible waiting for you in your office right now,” Edison told him as they began to walk the length of the platform. “The town wanted to wait until you got back to decide on a date, but they’re itching to have it soon. Tomorrow, in fact. Some men are building a platform the width of Front Street right now. After everything that’s happened, a celebration like this is exactly what this town needs.”
“As do I, Chief,” Pappy said. “As do I. And I have wonderful news. Aaron and Katie have finally wed.”
Jerry laughed. “So Aaron finally found someone who could take a joke. Good for them!”
“Guess that means they’ll be making their home in Helena now,” Edison said.
“Looks that way,” Pappy said. “Judge Forester is anxious for Aaron to focus on his marshalin’ duties, which is fine by me. It’s time he took hold of that job and made something of it.” He snapped his gloved fingers. “I almost forgot. I’ve brought cigars for the occasion. The finest in Helena, or so they told me.”
He summoned the porter with his bags to hold one while he opened it and handed out enough cigars for Jerry, Edison, and the two deputies he had brought with him. “And I’ve got a few boxes more comin’ on the next train. I’ve got to say, I never had a taste for these things before, but now, I find ’em quite enjoyable.”
Jerry took one and drew the cigar under his nose. Pappy might not know a good cigar when he had one, but Jerry did. And this one seemed fine. “What good is a politician without a cigar?”
Pappy feigned insult. “Heaven forbid I ever become a politician. I’m a public servant, boyo, and don’t you go forgettin’ it. And don’t go lettin’ me forget it, either. If I ever get too big for my britches, tap me on the back of the head and remind me I’m still just an old dirt farmer from Longford.”
“Spoken like a true politician,” Jerry observed.
Even Edison had to laugh at that one.
Jerry sensed someone behind them and turned in time to see the doors of the station building slam open before five men walked out onto the platform. They all had the short faces and deep-set eyes Jerry had come to recognize as the common look of the Hancock clan.
And all of them had pistols on their hips.
Jerry put himself between the mayor and the newcomers. “Can I help you boys with something?”
Edison and his men formed a tight ring around Pappy. The porter moved behind them with his bags.
“Sure can,” said the Hancock man in front. “You can tell me what you bastards think is so funny.”
“Bastards, is it?” Pappy bit off the end of his cigar and spat it onto the floor. He edged his way around Jerry and dug a box of matche
s out of his pocket.
“Now, I can’t say much for the lineage of these men, save young Halstead here, but I’ll have you boys know I’m no bastard. Patrick and Rose Mackey were wedded according to the rites of Rome in St. Michael’s Church in Longford almost sixty years ago.”
The new mayor thumbed a match alive and brought the flame to his cigar, before waving it dead. “So, you might want to watch where you throw that word around, son.”
“I know where I’m throwing it and who at,” the Hancock man said. “And I’m throwing it at you, you donkey bastard.”
“Well, in that case, I suppose I’ll have to do somethin’ about it.” He tucked his cigar into his mouth and tossed his hat to the porter, who struggled to catch it before it hit the platform. He unbuttoned his coat and held the flaps open for the Hancock men to see. “But, as I’m unarmed, we’ll have to settle this the old-fashioned way? With fists. I’ll even leave me gloves on so as not to cut up your pretty faces.”
Jerry again moved between him and the Hancock men. “They look like the kind of men who fight fair to you, Mr. Mayor?”
Pappy eyed the men. “They can fight however they want. The result’ll be the same.”
Jerry never took his eyes off the men. “You’ve got bigger business to attend to, Mayor. Chief, escort Mayor Mackey to the Municipal Building so he can get started on his new duties.”
Pappy looked up at Jerry and spoke in a low voice. “What are you doin’? For God’s sake, there’s only five of them. Little ones at that.”
“Wouldn’t do having the mayor getting into a brawl on his first day back, now would it?” Jerry grinned at the Hancock men. “And like you said, there’s only five of them. Little ones at that. I’ll be just fine.”
Pappy frowned as he took his hat back from the porter. “If I knew bein’ mayor would be so borin’, I never would’ve taken the job.”
Pappy reluctantly let Edison and his men walk him back to the Municipal Building, leaving Jerry on the platform to face the five men alone.
The leader pointed at him. “You’re that breed Mackey left behind to mind the store for him, ain’t ya?”
Jerry casually bit off the end of his cigar and, like Pappy, spat the end on the platform. “I’m not a breed, but yeah, I’m the one Mackey left behind.”
“Guess that means you’re not any good,” said the blond man standing behind the leader, “seein’ as how he didn’t seem fit to bring you with him.”
“I suppose I’ve always been good enough.” Jerry dug out a match from his pocket and struck it on his belt, bringing the flame to his cigar without taking his eyes off the men. “Guess there’s only one way for you boys to find out.”
He waved the match dead and flicked it onto the platform. “But you’re not going to find out by talking me to death. You came here to do something, so you might as well get to it.”
The five men flinched as if they had all been slapped at the same time, but they did not go near their pistols.
Jerry took a good draw on the cigar and removed it from his mouth with his left hand. His right was flat against the holster of the Colt Thunder on his hip.
The leader pointed at him again. “You and your friends are the reason why Al’s not coming home any time soon. Said they locked him away for five years for that phony charge you pinned on him.”
“Five?” Jerry grinned. “I heard it was up to ten after he acted up in the courtroom.”
“Might as well be fifty, for all the difference it makes to us.”
“Makes a big difference to me.” Jerry let the cigar smoke drift from his nose. “Means one less Hancock boy I’ll have to kill. Too bad, too. I was kind of hoping for the chance to plug him myself. Figured it would set the rest of your bunch back on your heels. But, I guess I’ll have to make do with you boys.”
Jerry was not smiling anymore. “So, let’s drop the ring and set to pulling.”
The men looked around at the few men and women who had remained on the platform to watch what happened next.
“You hear that,” one of the other Hancock men called out to them. “This man threatened our lives. Anything that happens now is within our rights. We’re defending ourselves, and you’re all witnesses.”
“They’re witnesses, all right.” Jerry took another puff on his cigar. “Witnesses to you boys pulling your pistols and dying soon after. Might get my name in the paper. Maybe get a fancy name like they hung on Mackey. Get myself famous.”
The leader’s shoulders twitched as he reached for the pistol in his belt.
Jerry drew and fired before the Hancock man cleared leather. His bullet hit his target in the throat.
The remaining four Hancock men parted as their leader stumbled backward, dropping his pistol as he clutched his bleeding throat. He fell backward, landing on his rump as life leaked between his fingers. Slowly, he sagged back and gurgled as he fell limp on the platform.
The four men looked down at their fallen relative, then at Jerry.
And at the smoking Colt that was still aimed at them.
“Go on,” Halstead encouraged. “Any of you boys want to join him?”
But he knew the remaining men were too scared by what they had just seen to do much of anything. And how fast it had happened. But Jerry also knew men were at their most unpredictable when they were scared.
The blond one said, “Mister, you’ve got no idea what you’ve started here today.”
“Then why don’t we finish it?” He smiled. “It’s still four on one. Who knows? One of you might even live.”
But the men backed away from their fallen relative, keeping their hands away from their sides.
Jerry aimed at Blondie. “Where do you think you’re going?” He nodded down at the dead Hancock. “Dover Station’s a clean town, boys. Pick up your trash and take it with you.”
The four Hancock men reluctantly came back, picked up their fallen relative, and carried him inside the station house.
Only when the men were out of sight did Jerry holster his pistol and sit back down on the bench to resume smoking the cigar Pappy had given him. It was a good cigar and worth the time it took to enjoy it properly.
The stationmaster, a man whose name Jerry could never remember, popped out of the station house. His round face already red, he pointed down at the dark bloodstain left by the dead man on the platform and yelled at Jerry. “Are you responsible for this?”
“Depends on how you look at it.” He pondered the question as he smoked. “I’m the one who shot him but wouldn’t have done it if he’d just walked away.” He decided that was just about right as he looked at the stationmaster. “Yes, sir, I suppose responsibility is an awfully tough idea to nail down when it comes to something like this.”
“Not when you’ve got a bloodstain the size of Texas on my platform it ain’t.” He waggled a finger at Jerry. “I just had four Hancock men carry a dead man through my station. My customers are fit to be tied over it. One woman fainted at the sight.”
But Jerry had never been concerned about customers of any kind. “They’ll get over it, especially if they’ve got a round-trip ticket.”
The little railroad man only grew redder. “And what about that bloodstain on my floor?”
“I suggest you get a porter to come out and clean it up while it’s still fresh. It’ll be twice as hard to get rid of when it’s dry.”
“I have half a mind to—”
Jerry looked at him the way he had always looked at men who were about to say too much or go too far. He had never seen his own look himself, as there had never been a mirror around when he did it.
But he did not need a mirror to know the result was always the same. The man barking at him either backed down or threw down.
And given that the stationmaster was unarmed, Jerry imagined he would back down.
Which he did, but not without a final word before stomping back into the station house. “You’re a cold piece, Deputy. A very cold piece indeed.”
Jerry puffed on his cigar. He saw no reason to argue with a fact.
CHAPTER 17
Two weeks later, Lode Star, Montana
Mackey ducked his head back inside the barn, just as a round hit the frame.
“Those boys can shoot.”
Billy stole a quick look at the crooked log cabin where the miners were holed up as he fed a fresh round into his Sharps. The Winchester was propped up against the wall next to him. “You mind telling me again why we’re here?”
They’d had this discussion several times on the two-day ride out of Helena to the mining town. “Judge Forester’s got paper on Brett Colburn. You know that.”
“I do know that.” Billy switched to the Winchester and began feeding rounds from his belt. “I’m wondering why you and I are out here. You’re supposed to be in an office reading papers and spending time with Katie.”
They flinched as another miner fired into the barn. “Lynch is better at that kind of thing than I am. He’s happier in Helena, and I’m happier here. And Katie knows I’ve got a job to do.”
Both men ducked as a double-barreled shotgun boomed before buckshot peppered the gaping entrance to the barn.
The shooting from the cabin had started as soon as they had ridden into range. Mackey and Billy had barely had enough time to tie their horses behind the barn and enter through the back door. They had not even been able to announce themselves as the law before the shooting started.
Mackey looked around the barn and saw a ladder leading up to the ceiling. “Think you could make it up to the hayloft if I give you cover?”
Billy shook his head. “Not with the kind of fire they’re laying into us. The ladder’s exposed, and you can’t give me cover while I climb it. Like you said, those boys can shoot.”
Mackey knew Billy was right and cursed himself for voicing such a stupid idea. He wondered if, after two weeks of marriage, he was already beginning to lose his edge.
Then he had an idea. “Use the Sharps to blow a hole in that door. A little less cover might change their thinking a bit.”
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