Jake

by Cynthia Woolf

  To be free. To be able to live my life on my own terms. It was a heady thought.

  Becky was concentrating on panning the gold. So much so that she didn’t see the riders until they were almost right upon Jake.

  “Jake,” she yelled over the roar of the river. He didn’t hear. “Jake! Behind you.”

  The riders were galloping down the embankment when Jake finally looked up and saw them coming. He dropped his pan and pulled his Colt revolver from its holster.

  Becky waded out of the river as fast as she could and then ran down the creek edge toward Jake, her Colt drawn.

  The men bore down on Jake one of them getting close enough to take a swipe at him with the butt of his rifle. They apparently didn’t want him dead because neither one shot at him and they’d had plenty of opportunity.

  Becky stopped, held her gun with both hands and fired. The first rider fell from his horse into the river not twenty feet from Jake. The second rider, a big man, kept coming but had drawn his gun and aimed at Becky. Jake shot him and he fell off his horse onto the bank of the river.

  Both men were down, wounded, but not dead. Becky had shot her man in the shoulder. He waded out of the river where he’d fallen and went for his sidearm and she shot him again. This time he didn’t move.

  The man Jake shot lay face up on the ground. The wind knocked out of him and a wound in his belly. He was going to die. Belly wounds meant slow dying with agonizing pain. Being gut shot was the worst way to die.

  Jake walked up to the man. It was the bounty hunter from the bar.

  “Why didn’t you shoot me?”

  The man didn’t answer.

  “You know you’re gut shot. It’ll be a slow death because I’m goin’ to just leave you where you lay. The animals will come around and gnaw on you and you’ll still be alive.” He leaned down, his face directly in the bounty hunters. “I can help with that.”

  The man groaned. “Poster says wanted alive. Couldn’t take the chance that we’d miss and kill you.”

  “What poster?”

  “Wanted poster out of Missouri.” The man groaned in agony. “Now help me. Get me to a doc.”

  “Were you working with Billy?” asked Jake, while he prodded the man with his boot.

  “Who?”

  “Billy Finnegan. How do you know him?” demanded Jake, prodding the man’s side, close to the wound.

  “Knew him from before. He used to be a bounty hunter sometimes himself, afor he got saddled with a daughter. Was a sheriff back in the day, too, but got tired of the long hours and low pay. Heard he got himself a claim here and came looking.”

  “Did you bring the Wanted poster with you or get it in town?”

  “I ain’t sayin’ no more ’til I get me a doctor,” groaned the man.

  Jake moved his foot against the man’s wound.

  “Oww. Stop. I’ll talk. I’ll talk.”

  “Where did you get the poster?”

  “Missouri. We’re carrying a lot of them. Never know when you’re gonna run into a bounty. Like you. A thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

  The man’s face was turning gray. He was going to die a lot sooner than Jake anticipated his wound worse than he’d thought to begin with.

  It is a lot. Too much, thought Jake.

  “How old is the poster?”

  “Just a couple of months. June maybe. A doctor…now.” His voice was a mere whisper now and he was starting to gurgle as blood filled his throat.

  Jake spoke softly. “You’re beyond Doc Cochran’s help.” He walked over to where the bounty hunter’s gun lay, picked the weapon up and unloaded it as he returned to the man. “There’s one round in the chamber. Make it count.” He handed the gun to the wounded man and turned to walk away. The man started to shoot Jake, then changed his mind, and turned the gun on himself. When the shot fired, Becky jumped but Jake just kept walking toward her.

  “How did you know he wouldn’t shoot you in the back?” asked Becky, shaking from their encounter.

  Jake shrugged. “I didn’t, but he really didn’t have much choice. The wolves and coyotes would have eaten him alive if he didn’t do it himself. I wouldn’t want that would you?”

  “No. I’d kill myself, too,” she answered.

  “You get their horses. We’ll take them into Deadwood. I want to make sure there are no more Wanted posters on them.”

  “You’re afraid there’s one for Zach, too, aren’t you?”

  He nodded. “If there is, then Billy probably gave him up, too.”

  She bit her lower lip. “I’m sorry, Jake. I had no idea that Billy had ever been a bounty hunter or that he’d been out of the bottle long enough to hold down a job like a sheriff. Who in their right mind would hire Billy to be the sheriff in their town?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t make much sense.”

  Jake patted down the big bounty hunter first. He found three Wanted posters including the one for him but none were for Zach. He moved on them to the smaller man that Becky had killed. He thought about that now. She’d killed a man to save him. He owed her his life.

  He looked over to where she was with the two hay burners the men had been riding. They were not prime horseflesh but Becky could get about ten dollars apiece at the livery for them, once the bounty hunters had been dropped off at the undertakers.

  There was a lot of need for the undertaker in Deadwood. The cemetery was doing a brisk business and so was Doc Cochran. At least once a day someone shot and killed someone else. Whether it was over a claim or a woman, it didn’t matter. With the free flowing liquor and tempers running high, people got killed. And those people needed buried. There were even professional pall bearers because no one wanted to spend that much time away from their claim or liquor or whore.

  There were only two women that Jake could definitely say were not whores. Lily Sutter at the mercantile and Becky. Oh, he knew there must be more good women but he hadn’t met them. For that matter he hadn’t met the whores either and didn’t expect to. He didn’t want sex that meant nothing. He wanted Becky. And she definitely meant something.

  The thing was he wasn’t sure just what she meant to him. He cared for her greatly. It started just wanting her to be safe, now it was something more. Something greater. But could he give her what she wanted. Hell he wasn’t even sure about that. What in the heck did she want, really want? Him? The house? Kids?

  He couldn’t do that to her. Give her a life that might mean picking up and running at any time. She needed roots. She needed a place of her own that she could live in and grow old in. Jake couldn’t give that to her right now. Maybe one day. He fully believed he would be exonerated, it was just a matter of time. And he knew the colonel would be punished for Elizabeth’s rape and murder, whether through the justice system or at the end of his gun, the colonel would pay.

  But not today.

  CHAPTER 7

  They needed to get these bodies to Deadwood. While there he might look for Billy. It was time he paid a visit to The Gem. Billy should be drunk by now, if he was following his normal routine. If he wasn’t, it would be another nail in his coffin, more proof he was working with the dead bounty hunters. How many more would he send? Would he try to take Jake himself? Please, God, let him try. Jake would like nothing better than to send Billy to the graveyard in a box.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t risk hurting Becky. She was still attached to her father, even though she hated him, at the same time she wanted his love. As much as she wanted her freedom from Billy, she wouldn’t just leave him. She might not even if she had the money, though Jake was betting she would. That was why he was helping her. There was a connection that was hard to break. She’d been with Billy for fifteen years. Taking care of him, keeping a roof over their head and food on the table. Working her fingers to the bone, whether panning for gold like she was now or cleaning rooms for some hotel in some town or cleaning stalls in the livery of another. She was always the one who worked, who supported them.
What would she do, when she didn’t have to worry about those things? When she didn’t have to worry about Billy any longer?

  “Are you ready?”

  Becky’s voice brought him out of his reverie. Those questions were for later. Later when they’d gotten rid of these bodies and even later when they’d made enough money for her to buy the house she wanted.

  She brought the bounty hunters horses over to where he stood. The horses hadn’t run far, just to the nearest patch of grass. Jake hefted the smaller of the two men over the saddle on one of the horses and tied him on. The second bounty hunter was the big man that he’d seen with Billy. Because of his size, he needed Becky’s help heaving the man over the saddle. Together they did it and he tied him tightly to the horse.

  They each took the reins of one horse and started walking to town. Deadwood was only about a mile away, twenty minutes walking with the horses. When they came to his brother’s camp, they stopped. David and Hannah came running up to them.

  “Uncle Jake,” they called to him.

  “Stay back. Both of you stay right where you are.” He didn’t need them having nightmares from seeing two dead men.

  They stopped in their tracks and waited for him.

  He hobbled the horses and he and Becky walked over to the kids. “Where’s your dad?”

  “He’s in the river,” said Hannah. She held her doll in her arms like it was a baby.

  “What you have there, Jake?” Zach said as he came up the embankment to the camp.

  “Bounty hunters,” answered Jake.

  “What?! Where did they come from? We didn’t see anyone go by here; they must have skirted us to get you by surprise. David would have let you know…”

  “I haven’t been up on the hill yet today, Uncle Zach. I have to watch Hannah while Dad works in the water.”

  Zach nodded. “That’s right I forgot. In any case we didn’t see these men pass.”

  Liam joined them. He rolled down his sleeves as he walked up the hill. “What’s going on here? Are those two men dead? Tell me you don’t have dead men on those horses with my children here.” He turned quickly to David. “Get your sister and go back by the tent.”

  David grabbed Hannah’s hand and took her with him.

  “Wish I could,” said Jake. He stood next to Becky. “We had to kill them before they killed us.”

  “The big one is the bounty hunter Billy was talking to. Jake must have told you about it,” said Becky.

  Liam nodded.

  “I’m worth $1000, alive.” Jake handed Liam the Wanted poster “They must want me pretty bad to put that kind of bounty on my head. I was lucky they wanted me alive. It’s got to be Mayor Green. He’s the only one I can imagine would put up that kind of money. He wants to find out the truth and he’s not sure of it, since the sheriff refused to arrest me. Anyway, these men” he pointed at the two dead men slung over the horses like two elk carcasses. “They were on me before I saw or heard them. Becky had to kill that one,” he pointed at the smaller man tied to a big pie bald horse. “He was about to take me out with the butt of his rifle. Then he tried to shoot her. It was totally self-defense. “

  “That’s not good,” said Liam.

  “Of course, it’s not good.”

  “No, it means they won’t let anyone get in their way and they will kill the person that does.”

  The seriousness of that struck Jake like a lightning bolt. “They’d kill anyone who got in their way.”

  “Did you find a poster for me?” asked Zach.

  “No, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one, just that they didn’t have it on them.”

  Zach nodded again. “I suspect that if there is one on you, there’s one on me, unless the Army is trying to keep this in house. After all I’m still only wanted for being AWOL, aiding and abetting an accused murderer and striking a superior officer. All punishable by time in the Fort Leavenworth stockade.”

  “I get the point,” said Jake. “I’ll have Becky check at the newspaper office and hardware store to see if they have any more posters.”

  “Newspaper office? Hardware store?” asked Zach.

  “Since there is no sheriff’s office where else would you have me check for Wanted posters?” said Jake. “There’s a new freight office that does the mail now. We’ll check there, too.”

  “We could check at The Gem,” said Becky. “Al Swerengen, the owner, might know. Of course, he’s mercenary enough to want to turn you in himself.”

  “I think we’re better off talking to Billy first.” Jake’s hands formed fists of their own accord. He couldn’t think of anything better right now than beating Billy into the ground.

  “I don’t know if Billy will be in any kind of shape to talk to you. He’s probably drunk by now.”

  “What’s drunk, Becky?” asked Hannah.

  “Um, well, it means he’s had too much whiskey,” she explained.

  “What’s whiskey?” the little girl asked.

  “It’s bad stuff that people sometimes drink to make themselves feel better.”

  “If it’s bad why would it make them feel better?” asked David.

  While Becky was answering David, Jake noticed Hannah was inching closer and closer to the horses. She loved animals but he couldn’t let her see those men.

  “Hannah, what are you doing?” asked Jake, his tone curious but not threatening.

  She stopped and looked down at her feet. “I just want to pet the horseys, Uncle Jake.”

  “What did I tell you?”

  “To stay back away from the horseys.”

  “So why are you not listening to me?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know how much you like the horses, sweetie, but this time you have to stay far away from them. Trust your Uncle Jake on this.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t for your own good, darlin’.” He picked her up and walked over to the camp stools by the fire. “I love you and want you to be safe. Those horses are carrying bad men and I don’t want you to see them. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” She leaned back against his chest and put her thumb into her mouth.

  He gently pulled her thumb out. “That’s no reason to suck your thumb. Now you be a big girl and play here by the tents, okay?”

  She nodded. “Uncle Jake, will you let me pet the horses when there ain’t bad men on them?”

  He was amazed at her insight. She knew that he was going to get rid of the men. He almost didn’t have the heart to tell her that he wouldn’t be bringing back the horses.

  “Sweetie, the horses are going to be staying in town, too. But I tell you what. When Becky comes by with Buster again, you can pet him. How’s that?”

  “Yup.” She climbed down off his lap and went to play by the side of the tent. The discussion was clearly at an end, at least as far as Hannah was concerned. Liam had made a little area for her, surrounded it with the empty flour and sugar barrels, so she had a little house of sorts to play in.

  Jake got up and rejoined his brothers and Becky.

  David gave up on getting to see the dead men and took his fishing pole down to the river. He’d gotten superb at pulling trout out of the clear water. There were a couple of deep holes he was partial to. He said the big ones lived there and to prove himself right, he’d caught a couple of really nice ones that he’d given to Jake and Becky.

  “We best get going. No telling how long it’s going to take to get these men taken care of and the horses and saddles sold,” Jake said.

  Liam held his hand out to Becky.

  She looked at him quizzically, but took his hand.

  “Thank you for saving Jake’s life. I owe you.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t owe me nothing.” Then she smiled, “Jake owes me.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” said Jake. “I owe you my life and I will repay you. I just don’t know how yet.”

  She walked back to the horses, released
them from the hobble and took up the reins of both. “I can do this by myself,” she said to Jake when he reached for the reins to the big roan.

  “I know you can, but you don’t have to. I’m going with you.”

  They turned, and waved goodbye to Zach and Liam.

  The trail they traveled wound its way along the river into Deadwood. They passed numerous claims with men in the water working their pans just like Jake and Becky should be doing with theirs. Mostly, the men barely acknowledged their passing; only a couple of the newer claim owners nodded in greeting as they passed. They saw the dead men tied over the saddles and though they were probably curious none decided to question them about the dead bodies. After all, what if they took exception?

  When they reached Deadwood, Jake and Becky walked straight through the encampment to the East end where the Celestials had their town and Doc Cochran had his office.

  They stopped in front of the small wood cabin. It looked like it was one of the original buildings, made from logs with mud in between to keep it together. Jake hoped the good doctor was in because he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with these bodies if he couldn’t give them to the doctor. Drop them at his door? Luck was on his side. Doc was in his office and answered when Jake knocked on the door.

  “What is it that you’d be pounding on my door? A simple knock would do,” said the Doc irritably, fingers rubbing his temples.

  “Hiya, Doc,” said Becky. “Got a couple of bodies for you. Do you want them here? They both died of gunshot wounds.”

  “Received through your courtesy, Miss Finnegan?” asked the doc, eyebrow cocked.

  “Yes, sir. They tried to kill me and Jake here. We killed ’em first.”

  “Can you take them up to Mr. Blake, the undertaker?” asked Doc.

  “You bet. We just thought you might want to see them first.”

  “I’ve no need to examine them further. I can see their wounds just fine and trust that they died as you said.”