“I’ve got a taste for good solid horses,” Roper said. “At the time I was buying, he was the best I could find.”
“Best money could buy?” Wilkins asked. “I ain’t never had the money to buy a fine horse.”
“It wasn’t about money,” Roper said. “It was about the best horse.”
“You get some rest,” Wilkins told him. “I’ll watch awhile.”
“Okay.”
“A sorrel and a buckskin, huh?”
“That’s right.”
Wilkins nodded, took up position at the fire. He looked at the whiskey bottle but didn’t touch it.
50
“How much further?” Dave Hampstead asked.
“Just up ahead,” Sally Bando said. “A few miles.”
“What are we gonna do if we get there and your friends aren’t there?” Hampstead asked.
“We’ll wait,” Bando said, “that’s what we’ll do.”
Hampstead looked around him, then down at himself.
“Look at me,” he said. “I’m a mess, riding a horse for the first time in years, and just on your say-so—the say-so of a man I never met before.”
“Hey,” Bando said, “I had those other names, didn’t I?”
“Yah, you did, but you didn’t let me send a telegram or anything, to check it out.”
Bando looked at him.
“You wanna go back?” he asked. “Strike out by yourself? Is that what you wanna do?”
“By myself?” Hampstead said. “Not now, not here. No, I’m stuck now, aren’t I?”
“Yah,” Bando said, “we’re all stuck, until Roper tells us what the hell is goin’ on.”
East of Gilette, Dexter and Zack Templeton were riding in silence. Templeton rode real easy, sat a horse like he was born to it. Dexter did most of his work in Denver, not out on a horse. He knew his colleague Bando rode all the time, but his own ass was sore from too many days in the saddle after too many days in the city. When he saw Bando, he knew the man would be very happy after several days on a horse.
“You okay?” Templeton asked.
“I prefer to travel by rail these days,” Dexter said.
“Not me. I love bein’ on a horse.”
“We should be there pretty soon,” Dexter said. “Maybe after Roper tells us what this is all about, I can take a train home.”
Templeton looked behind them.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothin’.”
“If you know something, or feel something, let me know now.”
“I just been havin’ this feelin’ that somebody’s followin’ us.”
“How long?”
“Last day or so.”
Dexter reined in and looked back.
“How many?” he asked.
“Don’t know,” Templeton said. “Like I said, just a feeling.”
“Well,” Dexter said, “let’s pick it up, then. I’d like to get there before nightfall.”
Templeton nodded his agreement.
51
“Gonna be dark soon,” Wilkins said around a mouthful of bacon and beans.
“Yeah,” Roper said.
“We won’t be able to see ’em if they ride in at night.”
“Should be a full moon, like last night,” Roper said.
“When was they supposed to be here?” Wilkins asked.
“Whenever they get here,” Roper said. “It depended on what they found when they got to Templeton and Hampstead, and when they got started from Helena and Pierre.”
Even through it was fall, this far north there was already a chill in the air. They huddled near the fire, their coats pulled tightly around them.
“Pierre,” Wilkins said. “I don’t even know where that is.”
“South Dakota.”
“Never been up that way. Have you?”
“Yep.”
“You been all over, ain’t ya?”
“Pretty much.”
“You been to other countries?”
“Some.”
“I ain’t never traveled no place,” Wilkins said. “Just been on my place since the war.”
They stared down at the town for a few moments, and then Roper said, “Henry.”
“Yeah?”
“Tell me what happened.”
“Whataya mean, what happened? Where?”
“In the war.”
Wilkins stared at him and said, “I still don’t know what you mean—”
“Come on,” Roper said. “When I told you I had some affidavits for you and the others to sign, I saw your face. Why don’t you want to sign one?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t wanna sign one,” Wilkins said. “I said I wanted to wait until I talked to Davey and Zack.”
“Yes, but why? Is there some secret you’ve all got? Is that what nobody’s telling me?”
“You got a client, Roper. Maybe she shoulda told you everythin’ she was supposed to.”
“And what didn’t she tell me?”
“Ain’t for me to say,” Wilkins said.
“So when Hampstead and Templeton get here, if they say it’s okay to talk, you’ll all talk?”
“I ain’t sayin’ there’s anythin’ to talk about,” Wilkins said, “but let’s wait until they get here afore we talk any more about it, okay?”
“Sure,” Roper said, “that’s okay.”
“What’s that?”
“What?”
“Down there.” Wilkins pointed. “I thought I saw something to the east.”
Roper fished in his saddlebag and came out with a spyglass. He put it to one eye and extended it.
“How long you had that?” Wilkins asked.
“Since the war.”
“Why didn’t you take it out before now?”
“I haven’t needed it before now.”
He trained the spyglass east, peered through it, and saw two men on horseback—one of the horses a buckskin.
“You got good eyes, Henry,” he said. “That’s my man Dexter with Zack Templeton.”
“Lemme see.”
Roper handed over the spyglass. Wilkins put it to his eye and said, “That’s Zack, all right. From here he ain’t changed much.”
“You can tell?”
Wilkins lowered the glass and looked at Roper.
“He still sits a horse like he was born to it.”
Roper said, “You stay here.”
“Where you goin’?”
“Down to get them and bring them here.”
“Why don’t I come with you?”
“Because I don’t want to be noticed,” Roper said. “One of us is enough to get them.”
“You’re gonna leave me up here alone?”
“Nobody knows where we are, Henry.”
“Then why you worried about bein’ noticed?”
Roper started saddling his horse and said, “Just wait here. I won’t be long.”
Wilkins continued looking through the spyglass while Roper finished saddling his palomino.
“Why don’t you give that poor horse a name?” Wilkins asked.
“A smart man once told me it made no sense to name something you might someday have to eat.”
He swung into the saddle as Wilkins said, “Jesus, I’d never eat a horse.”
“You ever been hungry enough to eat a horse?” Roper asked.
“Well, yeah, but—”
“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”
52
Actually, Roper had not given the palomino a name because he couldn’t think of a good one. So he ended up calling him “Boy” or “Big Boy” or “Big Fella” and they got along just fine.
He tried to figure a good point at which to intercept the two riders, and he hoped he’d be able to do it without getting shot.
“Stop!”
“What is it?” Templeton asked.
They reined their horses in.
“Listen,” Dexter said.
They both listened for a few secon
ds, and then Templeton said, “That’s a horse.”
“And it’s not comin’ from behind us,” Dexter pointed out.
“Okay,” Templeton said, “so somebody’s comin’ toward us?”
“Sounds like it. Over here, quick.”
Dexter led Templeton to a stand of rocks large enough for them to hide behind.
“Let’s see who it is,” he said, drawing his gun. “If he’s a stranger, we’ll let him go by.”
“Maybe he’ll run into whoever’s followin’ us and they’ll kill each other.”
“That would be helpful,” Dexter said, and then, “Shh,” as the rider got closer.
Wilkins saw what Roper was doing, riding down to cut the two men off before they reached town. But he also saw the two men stop, and then hide behind some rocks. He tried to figure a way to signal Roper, thinking about a shot, but that would have just alerted everybody.
Helplessly, he watched and hoped the men wouldn’t startle each other and start shooting.
Roper urged his horse on, hoping he hadn’t missed the two riders. He looked up where Wilkins was. Too bad the man couldn’t signal him.
He got down to where he thought a good intercept point would be, but they weren’t there. He decided to just keep riding east.
“Hold it!” somebody shouted from just behind him.
“Dexter, you ass, you want to get yourself shot?” Roper shouted.
Dexter came out from behind a rock, leading his horse and laughing.
“How the hell are you, Roper?”
“Looking for you.”
“You saw us comin’?” Dexter asked.
“Saw you? Hell, you make so much damn noise, I heard you. Where’s Templeton?”
“Right here.” A tall man in his forties came from behind the rocks, leading a horse of his own.
“Nice to see you safe and sound, Mr. Templeton. I got a friend of yours up there waiting to see you.”
“Wilkins?”
“That’s right. Why don’t you two mount up?”
“We better,” Dexter said. “We got somebody doggin’ our trail.”
“What?” Roper turned to look. “Where?”
“A ways back,” Dexter said, mounting up. “Templeton felt him first, and then me.”
“Wilkins is up high with a spyglass,” Roper said. “Maybe he sees him. Let’s go and find out.”
When they rode into camp, Wilkins shouted immediately, “You got a tail!”
“You see him?” Roper asked.
“Yup.”
“Show me.”
“Hey, Henry,” Templeton said.
“Zack, you ol’ dog, you still sit a horse—”
“Let’s put off the hellos until you show me,” Roper said.
“Yeah, fine. Here.” Wilkins handed him the spyglass. “A little east of town, just about where you picked these fellers up. He looks lost now.”
Roper put the spyglass to his eye and looked down. Sure enough, he saw a man riding in small circles, like he wasn’t sure where to go.
“How long’s he been doggin’ you, Tommy?” Roper asked Dexter.
“We only noticed him a day ago,” Dexter said. “Could be longer.”
Roper focused the spyglass, trying to get a closer look, because there was something familiar about the man. Only he wasn’t sure…
“Shit,” he said.
“What is it?” Dexter asked.
“I think I know this jasper.”
“From where?” Wilkins asked.
“Whataya wanna do with him?” Tommy Dexter asked.
The man was close enough to take with a rifle shot, but that wasn’t what Roper had in mind.
“The way he looks and the way he sits a horse…”
“Lemme see,” Dexter said.
Roper handed the spyglass over.
“I see it,” Dexter said. “He sits his horse like an Army man.”
“Yeah, he does.”
“Hell,” Templeton said, “I still do that. Don’t mean nothin’.”
“But it’s more than that,” Roper said. “Tommy, cover him with your rifle. I’m going to go down and get him.”
“When do you want me to kill him?” Dexter asked.
Roper mounted his horse, hesitated, then said, “As soon as you see that he brought somebody with him.”
He rode out of camp again.
53
Roper rode harder than he had before. He wanted to get to the man before he started for Gilette. If he’d been tracking Templeton and Dexter since South Dakota, and lost them now, that would be unusual. However, if he was just following them, then he was confused by the fact that they were suddenly gone.
As he approached the point where he’d found Dexter and Templeton, he slowed his horse to a walk. When he didn’t see the rider, he reined his horse in.
“Come on out!” he called.
He waited.
“Come on, I saw you from above. I know you’re here.”
Finally, the man rode his horse out from behind the same rock Dexter had used.
“Well,” Roper said, “I thought I recognized you through my spyglass. Prince, right? I’m sorry, I don’t remember your rank. Private? Corporal?”
“Actually, it’s lieutenant,” Prince said.
“And what are you doing here, Lieutenant?” Roper asked.
“My boss sent me to find you,” Prince said. “Or should I say, to help you.”
“Really? And who would your boss be? No, wait, let me guess, my old friend Donny White.”
“Mr. White is my boss, yes.”
“You sit your horse too much like a soldier, Lieutenant,” Roper said. “It’s a dead giveaway.”
“I’ll have to remember that, Mr. Roper.”
“Well, come on,” Roper said. “We’ve got a fire and some coffee going.”
“Lead the way, sir.”
Roper led Prince to the camp, where they dismounted. All the other men eyed the young soldier with suspicion, until Roper introduced him.
“The lieutenant and I worked together in Washington,” he said without getting more specific. “He was sent to help us apparently.”
“How did he find us?” Wilkins asked.
“I went to Pierre to locate Mr. Templeton,” Prince said. “I got there soon after he and Mr. Dexter had pulled out. I tracked them for a day, then caught sight of them. I’ve been following them since, figuring they would take me to Mr. Roper.”
Wilkins looked at Roper.
“If he could do that, then anybody else could, too.”
“There was no one else following,” Prince said. “I’m quite sure of that.”
“Somebody could’ve come up with the same plan,” Dexter pointed out, “only they could’ve gone to Helena and started there.”
“That’s true,” Roper said. “I was expecting Sally to get here today as well. If he and Dave Hampstead do get here, it’ll be after dark.”
“Maybe they’ll camp not far from here and come in by mornin’,” Wilkins said.
“Could be. Lieutenant, sit by the fire and have some coffee. I think we have enough bacon and beans for everyone.”
Prince approached the fire, and the other men made room for him. Roper jerked his head at Dexter, and they walked a little ways off.
“I want you to ride down west of town and wait for Sally,” he said. “If he’s close enough to town, he’ll keep riding through the dark ’til he gets here.”
“That’s what I figured,” Dexter said. “Only why are we waitin’ up here and not in town?”
Roper explained the situation, and Dexter ended up laughing.
“You got run out of town?”
“I did. I don’t think it’s so funny.”
“Well, I do and so will Sally.”
“Never mind,” Roper said.
“How about if I go down to town and wait?” Dexter suggested. “Nobody there knows me.”
“So many strangers in town too close together will be suspicious,�
�� Roper said. “If you ride in, then Sally and Hampstead ride in…no.” He shook his head. “I’ve probably already attracted too much attention as it is. Let’s do it my way.”
“Hey,” Dexter said, “you’re the boss.”
Dexter walked to his horse and mounted up as Roper walked to the fire.
“Where’s he goin’?” Wilkins asked.
“He’s going to wait for Bando and Hampstead outside of town,” Roper said. “I don’t want them riding in if they don’t have to.”
“Too much attention,” Prince said.
“That’s right.”
“You might already have that problem,” Prince said.
“What do you mean?”
“I stopped in a town earlier today, one that Dexter and Mr. Templeton bypassed.”
“And?”
“The word is out that you gunned down three men in the street in Gilette.”
“Already?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Damn it,” Roper said. “The killer is sure to hear that, or see it in a newspaper.”
“It’ll take him days to get here,” Prince said.
“Depending on where he is when he sees it,” Roper said. “We’re going to have to leave here tomorrow.”
“And go where?” Prince asked.
“Well,” Roper said, looking around the fire, “after Sally Bando gets here with Hampstead and we talk about it, I think I’d like us all to go to Hurricane, West Virginia.”
“And what’s there?” Zack Templeton asked.
“Hopefully,” Roper said, “answers.”
54
Roper split the watch with Prince. He left Wilkins and Templeton to sit off by themselves and discuss the situation.
“How much do you know?” he asked Prince. They were sitting at the fire before Prince turned in and Roper went on watch.
“About what?”
“About what’s going on,” Roper said. “About why I was sent out here. About whatever Victoria Westover and your boss are keeping from me.”
“Actually,” Prince said, “I don’t know anything. I was just told to find you and help you.”
“White told you this?”
Prince nodded. “He’s my boss.”
“Why did Donny think you’d be able to help me?” Roper asked.
“Donny?” Prince asked with a laugh.
“We go back a long way.”
Bullets & Lies (Talbot Roper 01) Page 16