by Jake Logan
Reardon cursed and took aim for another shot, but Slocum was rolling on the ground. At the new barn, Booker Milam took in the situation quickly. His six-gun was strapped on around his waist, and he pulled it out as he started running. No one expected an old cowhand to be so fleet on his feet. Milam was fast. He had covered half the distance to Reardon’s location before Reardon, his attention on Slocum, was quite aware that he was coming. Slocum’s sides were killing him, but he pulled out his Colt and finally rolled over onto his belly. He tried to locate the shooter. He saw Milam running. He looked where Milam seemed to be heading, and then he saw Reardon stand up. Reardon raised the rifle to his shoulder and took aim at Milam. Slocum fired a shot, too far for a good pistol shot, but it got Reardon’s attention. Reardon turned to aim at Slocum again. Just then, Milam stopped running. He raised his six-gun and took careful aim. He fired, and Reardon jerked, hit in the chest.
Reardon stood wobbling for a moment. He dropped his rifle. He looked down at the hole in his chest, which was spurting blood. His eyes widened. His jaw dropped. His hands clutched at the fresh hole, and blood squirted out between his fingers. He felt his knees weaken, and then he fell back hard onto the ground. Milam ran up to where he lay, pointing his six-gun at the prostrate form. He moved in closer and toed the body. It did not move. The man was dead.
Slocum was on his feet, his ribs hurting like hell, but he walked out to where Milam stood, now shoving his gun back into the holster. “You know him?” said Milam as Slocum approached.
“Reardon,” said Slocum. “I kicked his balls.”
“One of Kansas Totum’s boys then?” said Milam.
“That’s right.”
“Do we tell the sheriff about this?”
“If we tell him, he won’t do anything,” Slocum said. “Let’s just bury the son of a bitch where he lays. Let them wonder what happened to him.”
The rest of the cowboys had gathered around by then, and Marjo said, “I’ll just fetch a shovel.”
It was well into the afternoon of the next day when Kansas and his new gang were seated once more in the back room of the Range Boss Saloon. There were two bottles of whiskey on the table and all of their glasses were full. Sundown especially was agitated. He was itching for action.
“So where is that ole boy you sent out there to do that job?” he asked Kansas. “He oughta be back by now. Hell, he shoulda been back last night. Early this morning at the latest.”
“It might’ve took him longer than we expected,” Kansas said. “It takes a few hours to ride out there. He might come riding in here pretty soon now.”
“I bet that Slocum killed him dead,” said Sundown.
“Why ain’t he brought in the body then?” said Kansas. “The last time he killed one of my boys, he brought in the body to show the sheriff.”
“And what happened?”
“Well, nothing.”
“So he wouldn’t bother trying that again, would he?”
Kansas took a slug of whiskey. “Maybe you’re right about that.”
“Maybe one of us ought to do the job,” said Sundown.
“They’ve got a full crew out there now,” Kansas said. “And after Reardon tried it last night, they’ll be watching real close. It’s more dangerous now.”
“So what the hell did you hire us on for? To set around drinking your whiskey?”
“Just give me a little time to figure this out,” said Kansas. “Hell, I don’t know what you’re complaining about. You’re getting paid whether you sit around on your ass or rustle cows.”
“I don’t like being idle,” Sundown said. “I like to be doing something.”
“You all wait here. I got an idea.” Kansas stood up and left the room.
“I don’t know about the rest of you boys,” said Sundown, “but I got half a mind to ride out of here.”
“Hell,” said Payne, “you just got half a mind.”
“I got mind enough to handle you and two more like you.”
“Shit,” said Payne.
Outside, Totum was walking toward the sheriff’s office. He saw Benton headed for the saloon. He stopped him on the sidewalk. “Carl,” he said, “let’s go back to your office.”
“I was headed for the saloon,” Benton said.
“We need to talk in private.”
“All right.”
Benton turned around and walked with Totum back to his office. They went in and took chairs. “Now what’s this all about?” said Benton.
“Carl, you recall what you done for me the last time I needed a special job done?”
“You talking about Vance Kirk?” said Benton.
“That’s right. I couldn’t trust my boys to get it done right, and you went out and took care of it.”
“I didn’t like doing it. You know that.”
“But you got paid well for it, didn’t you?”
“I never complained.”
“I need it done again.”
“You just hired on a whole new crew. What’s wrong with one of them doing the job?”
“Carl, that Kirk gal has got a new crew too. None of my boys could get close enough to do it. Reardon went out there last night, and we ain’t seen him since. I need to get rid of Slocum. Now. I need to have it done right and get it over with. I need you to take care of it.”
“It’ll cost you more than the last time,” said the sheriff. “Slocum’s a slick gunhand. More than Kirk was.”
“Hell,” said Totum, “the way you got Kirk, it didn’t matter how good he was. You dropped him from behind. Besides, Slocum ain’t in the best shape after what the boys done to him.”
“I got lucky with Kirk. He give me a good shot. That’s all. It might not happen that way with Slocum. And as far as his condition is concerned, I watched him take on those same boys right out there in the street. He seemed all right to me. It’ll cost you more.”
“All right. All right. Just as long as you get the job done.”
“I’ll get up early in the morning and go out there,” said Benton.
“What’s wrong with now?”
“It’s too late in the day. It’d be well after dark before I got there. I’ll leave first thing in the morning. Now let me ask you a question.”
“What is it?”
“Once I get rid of Slocum, what do you mean to do?”
“The gal’s daddy’s been killed. Then she got Slocum. When he’s out of the way, she’ll cave in. Likely, that new bunch of cowhands will do like the last crew did. They’ll light out and leave her to handle things by herself. When she sees that she ain’t got no help, she’ll either sell out, or I’ll get rid of her too and forge the papers. I’ll get that place.”
Totum left the office, and Benton sat there for a moment in deep thought. He had been an honest lawman for most of his life, cleaning up rough towns, arresting or killing outlaws. He had built himself a fine reputation in Kansas, New Mexico, and Texas. His story had been published in several Eastern newspapers even. But one morning, he had realized that he was getting older, and he did not have any money in the bank to speak of. He wondered what would become of him when he got too old to work any longer. What would he do to stay alive? Sweep saloons? He couldn’t face that. Then he had gotten the job in Dead Dog, and he had met that slimy Kansas Totum. It was the opportunity of his lifetime, and he took it. Now he was in too deep to get out, but now he had money in the bank as well. He got up and took a rifle off the gun rack on the wall. Then he sat down at his desk again and started checking it over. He had a job to do tomorrow.
Out at the ranch, the work on the barn was moving along well. Slocum had decided that he would sleep in the bunkhouse with the rest of the hands. With Tex having a new husband, it seemed a bit awkward to stay in the house. They were keeping one man awake at all times to watch for anyone trying to sneak up to the house or onto the ranch property. Nothing had happened since Milam had killed that one trying to drop Slocum. Slocum and Milam had struck up a friendship after that
too. Milam had known Vance Kirk, and they sometimes sat and told tales of the earlier days, talking about some of the crazy things Kirk had done.
Along toward sundown, four riders came through the ranch gate. Tupper was on guard. He rushed back to the house to warn the others, and they all got guns and waited. Soon, the riders were nearing the house, and Bobby Hooper shouted out, “It’s all right. It’s my paw.” Everyone relaxed. Hooper and the others rode on up to the house and dismounted. Bobby introduced everyone all around. The other riders were Bobby’s brothers. After some visiting and small talk, Old Man Hooper got down to business.
“Daughter,” he said to Tex, “I have a proposition for you. Since we’re all family now, what do you say we take down the fence between our properties and run our herds together? We can combine our crews too. Run one big ranch. What do you say?”
Tex looked at Bobby. “I leave it up to you, Tex,” Bobby said. “This was your place before we got married. You got a right to make any decision about it.”
Tex looked at Slocum. “What do you think?” she asked.
“I don’t know that it’s my place to say anything,” Slocum answered.
“You were just about Daddy’s best friend,” Tex said. “I want to know what you think.”
“All right,” he said. “It sounds like a damn good idea to me. It’ll make a bigger ranch and a stronger one. It’ll make it all the more trouble for Kansas Totum and his bunch to move against you. It’s an all-around good idea. Only one thing.”
“What’s that?” said Tex.
Slocum looked from Tex to Bobby and then to Old Man Hooper. “Bobby’s got brothers. You need to draw up some papers about the ranch ownership. What’s going to happen when Mr. Hooper’s gone? That sort of thing. If you get the papers all drawn up where everyone’s happy with it, then I’d say go for it.”
“He’s right, of course,” said Hooper. “I’ll get right to work on that.”
Carl Benton rode out of Dead Dog before daylight. He was wearing his six-gun and had his rifle in the saddle boot. His face wore a look of grim determination. He was riding out to kill a man, and not just any man, but Slocum, Slocum the notorious gunfighter. He had heard of Slocum before, although he had never met him until he rode into Dead Dog. But what he had seen after Slocum’s arrival in the area more than matched the things he had heard. Slocum had killed one of Totum’s men, maybe a second one. He had been beaten severely by three of them, and then recovered sufficiently to beat them up, all of them at once, worse than they had done to him. There was no question about it. Slocum was a man to be reckoned with. Benton knew that if he was not very careful, he could be the one to die that day.
He counted on Slocum’s not knowing of his connection with Kansas Totum. He knew that Slocum was frustrated with him for not pursuing an investigation of Totum, but he did not think that Slocum knew of his involvement with the man. His plan was to use his position as sheriff to gain access to the ranch and to Slocum. From there, he would have to play it by ear, see what happened, and take advantage of the situation. One thing he knew for sure was that it would not be a fair fight. He meant to take no chances with Slocum.
He would have to get Slocum from behind, and he would have to get him alone, away from the others. He could not count on his job covering a murder, or convincing the bunch of cowhands out at the ranch to just let it be. If they were to see him do the deed, they would likely cut him down right there. At the very least, they would all get together and be witnesses against him. He had to get Slocum alone.
Thinking further, Benton decided that when Totum had paid him for this dirty job, he would have enough money to get along on. He knew that there was more money to be made, but he did not think that he needed it. He would take the money he already had piled up in the bank, and the money for killing Slocum, and then, without telling Totum or anyone else, he would slip out of town in the middle of the night. He would go someplace far away, California or Arizona, Washington or Oregon. This business with Totum had gotten way out of hand. He did not like the new bunch Totum had brought into Dead Dog. They were a bad bunch, especially that ugly son of a bitch Sundown. A pasty-faced, pale-skinned, twisted-mouth, long-haired, and long-legged bastard with a real mean streak. Benton did not want anything to do with them. He had to get out. He would start life all over again, but not as a lawman.
Slocum found that he could swing a hammer at last, and he was helping with the final touches on the barn. Everyone was working on it except Tex, who was in the house fixing supper for the whole crew, and Goody, who was standing watch. Slocum could swing a hammer all right, but it had been a long time. He was not very accurate. He missed the nail head and hit his thumb.
“Ow. God damn it,” he shouted.
Booker Milam gave a hearty laugh, and when he was finished guffawing, he said, “Slocum, I think you better get your ass down from there. Let somebody else finish up that job.”
“Aw, hell,” said Slocum. “I’m all right.”
“We need you for gunfighting if it ever comes to that. If you smash up all your fingers, you won’t be worth nothing to us. Come on down.”
Bitching and moaning all the way, Slocum came down from the ladder he was on. Marjo stepped up and took the hammer from him. “I’ll take that dangerous weapon,” he said. Slocum stood sucking his hurt thumb. He was thinking that it was a good thing it was on his left hand. Goody came riding up just then. “The sheriff’s coming,” he said. Slocum was secretly relieved. He strolled out to meet Benton wondering what the son of a bitch was up to. Benton rode up and dismounted.
“Howdy, Slocum,” he said, and he extended his hand.
Slocum looked at it for a moment, skepticism on his face. At last he shook it. “Benton,” he said. “What brings you all the way out here?”
“I came out to talk with you,” Benton said.
“So talk.”
“Well.” Benton looked around while he spoke, making sure that no one else was within earshot. “I heard some rumblings in town. I heard that one of Totum’s men came out here looking for you. Reardon. He ain’t been seen since. You know anything about that?”
Slocum thought for a minute before answering. Then he nodded toward the woods not far away from the house. “He’s buried out there,” he said. “He came out shooting.”
“Did you kill him?”
“I don’t seem to recall just who it was got him, Sheriff,” Slocum said.
“All right. I understand. But he was killed on Kirk ranch property after he started shooting. That right?”
“That’s right.”
“When I heard that he’d come out here, Slocum, it got me to thinking about what you and Miss Kirk have been telling me all along.”
“Miss Kirk is now Mrs. Hooper,” Slocum said, “but go on.”
“Mrs. Hooper?” said Benton. “Which Hooper?”
“Bobby.”
“Well, how about that. Does that mean they’re putting the two places together?”
“It does.”
“Well, now.” Benton was thinking that that was all the more reason to clear out. The Hoopers, combined with the new Kirk crew, would be tough foes to deal with. Well, let Totum worry about it. If they killed Totum, so much the better for Benton. There would be no witnesses to what he had done. “Well,” he went on, “I got to thinking about all that circumstantial evidence you was talking about. There is a pile of it. More now that Reardon came out here shooting.”
“It seems like a pretty good pile to me,” said Slocum. He was really wondering about Benton by this time. Something had made Benton interested in searching for the truth. Could it be that he had been right about Benton in the first place? That he was a good lawman? That Charlene had been wrong about him? Maybe she had just seen him in a conversation with Totum, maybe just having a drink or something, and had misinterpreted things. He decided to play along and see what would come.
“Let’s go back to the beginning and talk it through,” said Benton.
“We know that Totum had made a few offers to Kirk. He had been turned down every time. Then someone shot Kirk in the back.”
“That’s the way I understand it,” said Slocum.
“And Kirk was shot right over there,” said Benton, pointing to the corral.
Slocum pointed toward the patch of woods and said, “By someone lurking out under them trees.”
“Right. Would you say that it had to be someone familiar with the property and the habits around here? I mean, would a stranger know where to hide and when to wait for Kirk to be out at the corral?”
“Not likely,” said Slocum.
“So it was someone who knew him pretty well and knew the layout out here.”
“Totum had been out several times making his offers,” said Slocum.
“Right again. Now, after Kirk was killed, Totum came out again a couple of times to make offers to the daughter. Nothing else happened till the night you was out here and killed Billy Bob.”
“Far as I know, that’s right,” said Slocum. “Then I took the body to town and Totum got you to arrest me.”
“His aim was likely to have you convicted and tried for murder. Hopefully, get you hanged.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“But it didn’t work. Then them three came out here and beat you up. How did that happen, by the way?”
“They come on me sleeping out under the trees after dark. When I woke up, they was standing on my hands. You can figure out the rest.”
“Yeah. Anyhow, you come to town later and got them back for it. Now Reardon’s over there in the trees pushing up daisies, and, oh, yeah, you might not have heard, but the other two are dead.’
“How’d that happen?” Slocum asked.
“They was laid up in a room at the hotel all bandaged up from your beating, and someone unknown went in and knifed them to death.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“I figure that Totum didn’t want to keep paying them when they were laid up, but he was afraid to leave them where they could talk, so he had them killed. Likely, by one of this new bunch he brought in. By the way, Slocum, it’s a mean bunch. I’d be real careful was I you.”