Bullets & Lies (Talbot Roper 01)

by Randisi, Robert J.

“I’ve never heard anybody call him Donny.”

  “Let’s get back to my question.”

  “Yes, well, I’m quite a good shot, very good with my hands—”

  “A good tracker?”

  “Fair,” Prince said. “I have to admit that’s not my strong suit, but if it comes to a fight, I’ll be very helpful.”

  “Oh, it’s going to come to a fight, all right,” Roper said. “Somebody wants those three men dead.”

  “Who?”

  “I’m not sure,” Roper said, “but it might even be my own client, who sent me out to find them. If that’s the case, I’m not going to be very happy. I don’t like being used as a bird dog—especially without me knowing it.”

  “If someone wants them dead so bad,” Prince asked, “why aren’t they?”

  “I don’t know,” Roper said. “I don’t understand why three different killers weren’t sent to kill each of them. Why was it done this way?”

  “I can’t help you, sir,” Prince said.

  “Well, somebody’s got the answers,” Roper said, “either in West Virginia or Washington.” He shook his head. “This will teach me not to be soft.”

  “Soft?”

  “A wounded war hero, an attractive wife, and I agree to go running around the country for weeks at a time. What was I thinking?”

  At that moment they heard horses approaching, and then Dexter rode into camp, followed by Sally Bando and Dave Hampstead.

  “Sally’s here!” Bando shouted, announcing himself.

  He dropped off his horse and shook hands with Roper.

  “Good to see you, Sally.”

  “I got your man here, safe and sound.”

  “Anybody follow you?” Roper asked.

  “Not that we saw,” Bando said.

  A man would have to be pretty damn good to follow Bando without him knowing it.

  “Why? Somebody followed Dexter?”

  “But I knew about it,” Dexter said quickly.

  Hampstead was shaking hands with Wilkins and Templeton, then came over and asked, “Are you Roper?”

  “I am,” Roper said.

  “Do we get to find out what the hell’s going on now?” Hampstead said.

  “You do,” Roper said. “Let’s have some coffee and I’ll explain.”

  “Got any food?” Bando asked.

  “I think we’ve got some beans left in the pot,” Prince said.

  “Who’re you?” Bando asked.

  “If everyone will gather around the fire,” Roper called, “I’ll make the last of the introductions and then explain.”

  As he made his explanations, the lights in the town below winked out a few at a time. When he was finished, the town was dark.

  “Westover, huh?” Hampstead asked.

  “Yes,” Roper said.

  “Well,” Templeton said, “I’m not signin’ nothin’. Not for Westover.”

  “Zack!” Hampstead said.

  Roper looked from Templeton to Hampstead to Wilkins and asked, “What did I miss?”

  Nobody answered.

  “Okay, look,” Roper said, “I’m tired of being in the dark. I want some answers.”

  The three men stared at him.

  55

  “Are you sure this is the way to play it?” Edward Harwick asked.

  “Look, Mr. Lawyer,” Kilkenny said. “You hired me to do this job, so you’re gonna have to relax and let me do it my way.”

  “I can let you do it,” Harwick said, “but relaxing won’t be part of the deal.”

  “This is a good steak,” Kilkenny said. “You got some fine restaurants in this town.”

  They were sitting across from each other in a Hurricane, West Virginia, steak house. When Harwick got the message that Kilkenny was in town, he was surprised. He met the hired killer at his hotel, and Kilkenny explained himself in part. Now, over steaks, he made his position clear.

  “Once I heard Roper was in Gilette, Wyoming, and I realized Gilette was between Helena and Pierre, I knew what he was doing.”

  “What’s that?” Harwick asked.

  “Gathering the rest of the men on the list,” Kilkenny responded.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because that’s what I’d do,” Kilkenny said. “Roper is supposed to be good.”

  “But what makes you think he’ll bring them here?” Harwick asked.

  “What else would he do with them?” Kilkenny asked. “Roper’s gonna want some answers, and he’s gonna want them from you, or from Mrs. Westover. For that he has to come here. And he’ll bring them with him to keep them safe. Only, me and my men will be waiting for them.”

  “How many men did you bring with you?”

  “I brought five reliable gunhands,” Kilkenny said. “And when we got here, I hired some locals—not so reliable, but they know the lay of the land.”

  “When are you going to do it?”

  “As soon as they get off the train,” Kilkenny said. “You don’t want Roper getting to the Westover house, and you sure as hell don’t want him to get back to Washington, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why didn’t you just have him killed when he was here?”

  “That wasn’t the plan,” Harwick said. “Sending him after those men, and having them turn up dead one at a time, would point to him as the killer. It would look like he was a hired killer…like you.”

  “A man with Roper’s rep?” Kilkenny said. “Why would you even take that chance? Why didn’t you hire me in the first place—or somebody like me? Or when you did hire me, just let me kill him in Washington?”

  “Look,” Harwick said, “it’s your job to do what you’re paid to do, not to question the decisions.”

  Kilkenny stared across the table at the lawyer, who shifted uncomfortably beneath the killer’s gaze, and finally looked away.

  “The decisions?” he repeated. Then he smiled. “Oh, I get it. You’re a hired hand, like me. You’re not makin’ the decisions.”

  “But I am paying for your dinner,” Harwick pointed out.

  “Yeah, that you are,” Kilkenny said. He waved at a waiter. “I’m gonna have another steak.”

  56

  “So this is what you were talking about when we were riding around the countryside on horseback?” Templeton asked Tommy Dexter.

  Dexter was staring out the window at the scenery going by. He turned his head to look at Templeton and said, “Yeah, I like this a lot better than being on a horse.”

  “Not me. I like horses.”

  “Well,” Templeton said, “I guess we’re both gonna get our way, then.”

  Roper was in the stock car, checking on the horses. They had seven of them—one for him, Prince, Sally Bando, Tommy Dexter, and then Wilkins, Hampstead, and Templeton.

  They all looked solid and fit. He dropped the sorrel’s front foot and straightened up, thinking back to that night in camp when he’d demanded answers.

  “I ain’t ready to talk,” Templeton had said.

  “Me neither,” Hampstead had agreed. “We don’t know you from Adam, Roper.”

  Roper had looked at Wilkins. “You know me better than they do.”

  “But not that well,” Wilkins had said. “I think what we oughta do is head to Hurricane and have this out with Westover.”

  “I don’t know if he’s in any shape to have anything out.”

  “His wife, then. She’s the one who gave you our names, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then we should talk to her,” Templeton had said. “All of us. You’ll get your answers then, Roper.”

  The men had been stubborn after that, and even as they’d traveled together over the next few days, they wouldn’t talk. Oh, they’d sit together some nights when they camped, eat together, and talk among themselves, but around Roper and his men, not a word…

  He came back to the present as Dave Hampstead entered the car.

  “Dave.”

  “I have to tal
k to you, Roper.”

  “Sure. What’s it about?”

  “I think you know,” Hampstead said. “I’ve been a businessman for fifteen years now. Before this I hadn’t been on a horse in a long time, and I haven’t fired a gun for even longer.”

  Roper turned so he was facing the man squarely.

  “You were a soldier.”

  “Yeah, twenty years ago,” Hampstead said. “I won’t do you any good when we get there, not with a gun.”

  “So what do you want to do?”

  “I think I’d like to stay on the train.”

  “Okay,” Roper said, “why don’t you do that?”

  “The other guys won’t mind?”

  “You know Wilkins and Templeton better than I do,” Roper said.

  “I haven’t seen them for years,” Hampstead said. “I don’t know.”

  “All right, well, I’ll square it with the rest of them.”

  “Will you? Thanks, Roper.”

  “Yeah.”

  Hampstead turned to leave, almost running into Sally Bando.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Bando asked.

  “He’s scared,” Roper said. “Hasn’t handled a gun since the war apparently.”

  “So what’s he gonna do?”

  “Stay on the train.”

  “Might as well,” Bando said. “Wouldn’t do us much good anyway, would he?”

  “No, he wouldn’t.”

  Roper patted the sorrel’s neck.

  “The horses are okay,” he said. “You ready?”

  “Me? I’m always ready. So’s Tommy. What about that kid?”

  “The lieutenant? He was okay in Washington. He’ll be okay in Hurricane.”

  “And the other two?”

  “They’re not scared,” Roper said. “They’re okay. Hampstead’s the only one, but like he says, he’s been a businessman for the past fifteen years.”

  “Okay. The conductor says we should be pullin’ into the station in about twenty minutes.”

  “All right,” Roper said. “You help me bring the horses out.”

  Bando nodded.

  “We got any idea who we’re up against?” he asked.

  “Killer for hire. That’s all I know.”

  “Wish I knew who it was.”

  “Well,” Roper said. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  57

  The train pulled into the Hurricane, West Virginia, station. It was not a large station, and as people disembarked, the station started to get crowded with not only passengers, but the people who were greeting them.

  “Here we go again,” Lenny Sparr said to his partner, Mike Baker. This was the second train to arrive that day while they were waiting.

  “What are we supposed to do?” Baker asked. “Stop everybody and ask ’em if their names is Talbot Roper? And what kinda name is that? Talbot?”

  “We’re lookin’ for a bunch of men gettin’ off the train together,” his partner said. “Maybe gatherin’ around the stock car to take some horses off. We’ll know ’em when we see ’em.”

  “And where are the rest of the guys?” Baker asked. “Why’s this all up to us?”

  “They’re across the street in the hotel,” Sparr told him. “Kilkenny’s there, too, unless he’s havin’ another steak.”

  “I ain’t never seen anybody eat steak the way he does,” Sparr said. “Why don’t he weigh three hundred pounds?”

  “He’s a big man,” Baker said with a shrug. “Maybe he does.”

  Sparr shook his head, watched as people got off the train.

  “I don’t like this,” Baker said. “We don’t know what we’re doin’.”

  His friend laughed and asked, “Do we ever?”

  They started to laugh and then Baker nudged Sparr and jerked his head. Sparr turned and saw Kilkenny entering the station, with the lawyer.

  “Guess Kilkenny decided to greet Roper himself,” Baker said.

  “Come on,” Sparr said. “We better look alive.”

  “This isn’t right,” Harwick said.

  “You’re the one who knows what Roper looks like,” Kilkenny pointed out.

  “But if he sees me with you—”

  “He doesn’t know who I am.”

  “What are we going to do?” Harwick asked. “Meet every train?”

  “Starting today, yes,” Kilkenny said. “Every train. They should be here today or tomorrow.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Roper is a pro,” Kilkenny said. “He’ll be comin’ here, and it shouldn’t take him longer than today or tomorrow.”

  “How can you depend on that?”

  “You can depend on a pro, my friend,” Kilkenny said. “If he’s as good as his rep, and I think he is.”

  Passengers started to get off the train. Kilkenny forgot about the lawyer.

  Dave Hampstead got off the train and looked around. Roper told him what to do, how to act, and what to look for. By following his instructions, he noticed the men watching the train without being noticed himself. He was nervous, but he kept walking and got himself outside the station safely.

  There was a hotel across the street from the station. Roper told him not to get a room there. Don’t stay at the hotel nearest the station, or the next nearest. Get to the third one, and take a room there. Then rent a horse.

  Roper wanted Hampstead to watch the station, spot the men who would probably be watching the trains. He’d already done that. Hampstead didn’t think he had time to get a room at a hotel. Instead he went right to a livery and got a horse and buggy. When he got the buggy, he tossed his bag into it, then climbed aboard and snapped the reins at the single horse.

  Roper had told Hampstead where they’d be riding into town. All he had to do was follow the directions. He was worried he’d get lost, but Roper’s directions turned out to be perfect.

  He reached the meeting point and reined the horse in. He lit a cigarette and settled down to wait, nervously—very nervously.

  “Hampstead may make a mess of things,” Sally said. “He’s a bundle of nerves.”

  “He’ll be okay,” Roper said.

  They were riding side by side, ahead of the others. They had all gotten off the train at the station before Hurricane and ridden the rest of the way. Roper was sure the station in town would be watched, so he took advantage of the fact that Hampstead had stayed on the train.

  “He knows what to do when he gets to the station,” Roper said.

  “I don’t like nervous people,” Sally Bando said.

  “Normally, neither do I, but I think Hampstead will be just nervous enough to be careful.”

  “Hope you’re right.”

  Two hours later Roper was surprised to see a buggy up ahead of them. He expected to have to find Hampstead in a hotel. Instead the man was there, standing up in a buggy and waving.

  “Well, well…” Sally said. “Look who’s here.”

  When they reached him, Hampstead said quickly, “They’re at the train station. I saw them!”

  They surrounded him, remained astride their horses.

  “Take it easy, Davey,” Templeton said.

  “Mr. Hampstead,” Roper said, “calm down and tell me what you saw.”

  “Well, like you said, men, and all they were doing was…watching. They weren’t waiting for anyone, or waiting for the train. They were just…watching.”

  “How many did you see?”

  Hampstead hesitated, then said, “Four.”

  “If they were equals, they’d all be looking at the trains, and the people. If one of them was the boss, they’d be stealing glances at him.”

  “That makes sense,” Hampstead said. “They were looking at this big man—tall, broad shoulders, lots of red hair…”

  “Pale skin?” Roper asked. “Big knobby hands?”

  “Yeah, that’s him.”

  “Boss?” Sally said.

  Roper looked at Bando, and Dexter.

  “Kilkenny,” Roper said.
/>
  “Jesus,” Dexter said.

  “Who’s Kilkenny?” Hampstead asked.

  “A killer for hire,” Sally said. “Big rep. If he’s after you, you’re dead.”

  Hampstead swallowed hard and sat down.

  “Have you ever seen him?” Dexter asked Roper.

  “Seen him, yes, met him, no.”

  “Gone up against him?” Templeton asked.

  “No,” Roper said, then, “not yet.”

  “What do we do now?” Hampstead asked.

  “Go to town?” Wilkins asked.

  “Go to the station?” Templeton suggested.

  “No!” Hampstead said.

  Roper looked at them.

  “I have a better idea,” he said.

  “What’s that?” Wilkins asked.

  “You three want to see your old comrade, Howard Westover?”

  58

  Roper led them all to the Westover house, including Dave Hampstead in his rented buggy. He dismounted and looked at Sally Bando.

  “You and Dex stay out here.”

  “Rifles?”

  “Yes.”

  Bando and Dexter took their rifles from their saddles, walked up onto the porch, and took up position at either end.

  Roper went to the front door with Wilkins, Templeton, and Hampstead.

  “What about me?” Prince asked.

  “Cover the back.”

  “Yessir.”

  As the young lieutenant went around the back, Roper knocked on the door. When the door opened, Victoria Westover was standing there.

  “Mr. Roper,” she said. “What are you doing here?” She looked beyond him. “And who are these men?”

  “These are three of the men,” he said, “that you hired Sean Kilkenny to kill.”

  She stared at him for a few seconds, then said, “You’d better come in, then.”

  Victoria led the four men into the living room, then turned to face them.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who are these men?”

  “This is Henry Wilkins, Dave Hampstead, and Zack Templeton,” Roper said, making the introductions. “Men, this is Victoria Westover, your old buddy’s wife.” He looked at her again. “These are three of the men whose names were on the list you gave me. Gerald Quinn was dead when I reached him, killed by your man. Vince McCord had died many years ago. You lucked out there.”