Walkers Creek - A Western

by R. Bentley Davies

  'Deputy Tanner. I do hope this doesn't mean that you're leaving us.'

  Logan whirls round to see the Sheriff stood behind him with the pearl-handled revolver held casually in his hand.

  'Ah, I was just on my way to see you,' he lies.

  'Really? And did you lose your badge?'

  'No, I have it here.' He flicks the reins over the pommel of the saddle and reaches into his pocket to retrieve the badge.

  'Why don't you wear it? Don't you want to be a deputy?' There is a bite of sarcasm in the Sheriff's voice.

  'I don't think I'm cut out for it.'

  The Sheriff takes the badge that Logan offers to him, all the while keeping the gun pointed at Logan's guts.

  'That's really quite disappointing you know. I had hoped that making you a deputy would keep you out of trouble. I guess it hasn't worked out like that. Come with me.' He waves the gun 'I've got something to show you. It turns out there was more to McLaren's house than a bit of dynamite.'

  Logan considers making a swipe for the gun or making a run for it but one-handed he'd have no chance. It was all going wrong again. His hopes of escaping the town are receding again. The Sheriff is going to lock him away for the dynamite and for killing the Mexican. He wonders if they'll try to pin Lake's death on him too.

  The Sheriff ushers him to the end of the alley where they stop. A distant rumble from the bridge over the creek signals the arrival of several horses. Logan is confused, unable to fathom what the Sheriff wants to show him. Why aren't they just going straight to the jail? He wants to escape and ride away but there is still the problem of the gun pointed at him.

  Rather than watching the riders coming up the street, Logan is looking at the front of Mannion's store. There is only one horse tied there now. Emily's horse has gone. She hasn't waited for him. He has missed his chance. She must have gone already. She has left without him. He tries to tell himself that he understands that she finds it difficult to forgive him for killing her friend, but it still hurts him. It hurts him more than his wounded arm. More than ever he wants to get away from Walkers Creek, if only for the chance of overtaking Emily on the road.

  The riders come closer and Logan realizes that it is a posse of deputies. His last remaining chances of getting out of town are slipping away by the minute. Then he starts at the realization that there is a prisoner on a horse amongst this group. Could that be Emily? Have the deputies caught her? His emotions are torn between upset that she has been caught and delight at the chance to speak to her again.

  This is all replaced with disappointment at seeing that the prisoner is not Emily at all. The deputies pull their horses to a halt alongside the Sheriff. Logan can see clearly that it is McLaren who sits bare headed on the horse with his hands tied firmly to the pommel.

  'You see,' the sheriff says to Logan, 'if you'd taken being a deputy a bit more seriously you could have had the pleasure of bringing Mr. McLaren in to be hanged.'

  'Hanged?'

  'He killed two men. Of course we'll hang him.'

  'Two?'

  'Frank Lake, the man you fought with in the hotel and a man called Sanchez who used to be a friend of my father's.'

  Logan takes a moment to take this in. McLaren is going to be hanged for killing the men that Logan has killed.

  'How do you know he did it?'

  The Sheriff bursts out laughing.

  'You see,' he says, still chuckling, 'you'd really would have made a good deputy. Listen to yourself worrying about justice and fairness.'

  'There are plenty of reasons to punish that man, but those murders aren't anything to do with him.'

  'You really are quite slow and stupid aren't you.' The Sheriff is suddenly angry and pulls Logan away from the deputies so he can speak to him without them hearing.

  Logan complains at the pain from being dragged along by his wounded arm.

  'You have no right to complain to me Tanner. You just don't get it do you? Do I need to spell it out to you? Of course I know he didn't kill those men. I'm not a blind fool. You and I both know who did it.'

  'Then why kill him? Your whole town is twisted.' Logan is no longer worried about what the Sheriff thinks of him. There is nothing left in the town for him, and the only person he felt any desire to protect has left. He will tell the Sheriff what he thinks of him and he doesn't care if that leaves his head in the same noose as McLaren's. 'What sort of a Sheriff are you that hangs a man you know to be innocent and makes a deputy of a man that you know is guilty? Is this all Humby's influence? Does he own you too?'

  'For a man that's been protected, you're pretty ungrateful.'

  'You call this protection?' he points at his bandaged arm.

  'Shouldn't you be asking why anyone would want to protect you? This town has no space for traveling mercenaries and outlaws. Oh, don't look surprised, I know your background well enough. No, protecting you isn't doing the town a favor but I'm not just looking out for the town, I'm looking out for my sister too.'

  Logan wonders why the Sheriff's sister has any relevance. He doubts he has even met her.

  'My sister, you'll have noticed, doesn't think too highly of me and takes great care to avoid me but that doesn't stop me looking out for her. I could see she was falling for you.'

  'You make as much sense as a man delirious with fever,' Logan says, interrupting, 'Who is this woman you're talking about? There's only one woman in this town that I care about--' he trails off as the pieces fall into place. The brother who offended the family so much that he was ostracized. That was no tall tale, it was the true story of her brother, the Sheriff. Emily had been trying to warn him.

  'Sheriff?' one of the deputies calls out, 'We're going to put this man in the jailhouse before the townsfolk make themselves a lynching party.'

  The Sheriff nods and the group moves off up the street.

  Logan watches them go. The last rider is dressed in black and salutes them as he passes. It is Wilson.

  'She didn't tell you did she?'

  Logan cannot find the words to answer. All his ideas of the town were shifting around like colors in a kaleidoscope. Wilson is alive and well. That pleases him more than he expected. But Emily is gone and he is talking to the brother that she won't acknowledge.

  'Now I see why you were finding it so hard to understand what was going on. Emily Nixon is my sister. I'm disappointed she didn't tell you that herself but I suppose I'm not surprised. I keep an eye out for her. I don't assign my deputies to watch over her because of the crimes she commits, I do it to keep her out of trouble as much as I can. I sent them to scare her into behaving herself and being a bit more careful. I didn't send you and Wilson to accompany Humby because I was worried about Humby's safety. I was worried about her. I know you care about her, even if you won't admit it.'

  'If it helps, I do care about her, but she isn't here any more to be cared for. She has left us both behind.'

  'Are you sure?'

  'Her horse has gone. She told me she planned to leave the town for good. She knew that Sanchez was dead. She said that there was nothing here for her any more.'

  'When?'

  'Not long ago. If you let me go now I might be able to chase her down.'

  'Let you go? I'm not stopping you going anywhere.'

  Logan gestures at the gun in the Sheriff's hand.

  The Sheriff shrugs and holsters the gun.

  'Perhaps, if you can delay a few minutes you'd permit me to ride with you?'

  'To "protect" me?'

  'To get a chance to say goodbye to my sister.'

  'You really do care about her don't you?' Now that the gun isn't pointing at him any more, Logan sees behind the facade of the Sheriff's badge for the first time and sees the man. A tired man, saddened by the loss of his family. 'What on earth did you do to make her treat you like this?'

  'What did I do? I became a deputy, a lawman.'

  'That's it?'

  'It was enough to estrange my father. He had little respect for the law an
d broke it frequently and flagrantly. It was probably best for both of us that he wouldn't have me at the ranch any more. I would have had to arrest him sooner or later. He was far more deserving of the noose than McLaren. Emily has always done her best to please her father and to do as he would do. I don't doubt that hiring you to blow up McLaren's house was an example of that. My only surprise is that she didn't ask you to kill him.'

  'I'm pretty sure she meant me to. With what's happened since, I wish I had.'

  Both men walk out into the main street, Logan leading his horses. Logan repeats his plans to leave and catch Emily on the road.

  'You're not going to make much speed with that packhorse in tow.'

  'I know, that's why I want to leave now.'

  'Fine, you go, but when you find her will you do me the favor of getting her to wait? You don't need to tell her that it's me that's coming. I have a fast horse, I might be able to overtake you anyway.'

  Logan steadies himself for the agony of hauling himself into the saddle but as he does so he sees something that makes him pause.

  He isn't sure to start with but it looks so much like her. Who else would it be? But would she really, after all she has been through? No, it is definitely Emily, and she has her arm around the odious Humby.

  The Sheriff turns to see what he is looking at and he too is taken aback at the sight.

  Logan wants to call out to her. What will he say? What can he say? He thought she felt the same way about him as he does about her, but if she is so quick to fall into the arms of a man such as Humby then maybe he was wrong.

  'Help me up,' he says to the Sheriff, determined not to stay to watch her, to see her flaunt this at him.

  'No, wait here.' The sheriff walks up the street to meet Emily and Humby as they approach.

  Logan watches the him walk toward his sister and considers turning away, dragging himself into the saddle and riding off but, without meaning to, he follows a few paces behind the Sheriff.

  'Emily, what are you doing?' her brother asks.

  'I've sold the ranch,' she says.

  'I don't care about the ranch.'

  'You never did, did you? Well, it's gone now and your friend has bought it.'

  'And has he bought you too?'

  She laughs at her brother's concern. 'Oh no, this is him being too drunk to walk without something to lean on. Here,' she untangles his arm from around her and shoves Humby toward him, 'you take him.'

  The Sheriff steps aside and Humby tumbles onto the floor.

  'That's no way to treat your friend,' she says, mocking.

  He looks at his sister with his hands on his hips. He has not spared a glance for the Mayor as he scrabbles about on the floor trying to get to his feet.

  'Does this mean you're still planning to leave town?' he asks her.

  'Yes. There is nothing for me here now.'

  'Not even me? No, I didn't think so,' he doesn't give her the chance to answer, 'but I'm surprised you didn't want to travel with Mr Tanner.'

  She looks down at her feet as though suddenly interested in the state of her boots.

  'He left without me,' she murmurs.

  'No he didn't.' Logan says as he walks up to them.

  She looks up and smiles, taking a step toward him and then seems to stop herself.

  'Were you going to leave without me? I thought you'd already gone,' she says. 'Your horse had gone from outside Mannion's.'

  'I thought that was your horse that had gone. I guess Mannion fooled us both by moving his own horse.'

  'I'm glad you're here. Perhaps we could ride together a little? I think we have some things to discuss.' She says it with a twinkle in her eye and Logan is reassured that all will be well again.

  'You can't go with him.' Humby lurches to his feet.

  'I'll do what I want.'

  'You,' he wags a finger at Logan, 'this is all your fault.'

  Logan is caught off guard by the speed of the man, despite his drunkenness, he manages to swing a punch that Logan can't quite dodge and, unable to use his arm to deflect the blow staggers back as Humby's fist connects with his cheek.

  Emily is quick too. The derringer is out of her pocket and Logan fears she will shoot the Mayor but instead she whips the barrel and the weight of the little gun into the middle of Humby's face, knocking him back onto the ground.

  'I think now would be a good time to leave.' Logan says, tasting blood where his cheek has been cut by his own teeth.

  Emily steps round Humby and throws her arms around Logan, knocking his hat off.

  Logan laughs with relief that things might just work out okay.

  'There is just one thing, before we go.'

  She lets go and allows him to pick up his hat.

  'Your brother. He's been looking out for you. For both of us. He knows what's been going on, all of it, and he's still prepared to stand here and let us ride away. Don't leave without saying something.'

  He dusts off his hat. Emily looks from him to her brother and back.

  'Our father would have--' she starts.

  'Our father wasn't a good man, Emily. He didn't have a thought for our happiness or our wellbeing, he only cared about that ranch. I'm not sad to see it burned.'

  'I really thought I would be sad,' she says, 'but I'm not. I've tried really hard to keep the ranch successful, tried to do what would have pleased father. I can see now that I was no better at pleasing him that you were.' She shakes her head. 'It isn't as simple as that though.'

  'What isn't simple?'

  'This. Us. We've spoken more words in the last five minutes that we have in five years. It isn't just going to change overnight. I'm not a good girl. You're a sheriff. We're oil and water.'

  'You may be right, and it'll take a while before you can show your face in Walkers Creek again after knocking out the Mayor in the middle of the street.' His voice is stern but he has a big smile on his face.

  She leans in and gives her brother a hug.

  'You want to take care with him,' he says, indicating Logan. 'He's not the legendary gunslinger he likes to think he is.'

  'That's okay. I've seen him in action and you're right, but I don't need a man to protect me or to fight my battles for me. I'm quite nasty enough to do that for myself.'

  Her brother just laughs and nods.

  'Perhaps I should give you the partner to that gun,' she says, pointing at the revolver in her brother's holster, 'and reunite father's guns.'

  'No,' he says after a moment, 'keep yours. There'll be another chance to pair them up.'

  They walk back to Mannion's store trying not to notice that everyone seems to be watching them. Whispers pass along, Logan presumes they must be commenting on the Mayor and his broken nose.

  Logan swings up onto his horse, unable to stifle a grunt at the discomfort. Emily mounts up alongside him.

  'I see you two are back together.' Mannion says from the door of the shop.

  'For the moment,' she replies.

  'Well then, goodbye for now, but I hope I'll see you again.'

  'I'll bring you something fashionable from San Francisco.'

  As they ride over the box bridge over the creek Logan turns to her.

  'Did you mean that back there.'

  'What?'

  'About going to San Francisco?'

  'Why not?' she says, 'We have to go somewhere. Why not there?'

  FB2 document info

  Document ID: 86b26cb8-02c0-4d61-86b3-aece068f8edc

  Document version: 1

  Document creation date: 18.6.2012

  Created using: calibre 0.8.56, FictionBook Editor Release 2.6.6 software

  Document authors :

  R. Bentley Davies

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