Jeremiah Tucker The Gunfighter - Book Two

by James Butler

  “Aren’t you going to bury him?” Lilly said, crying.

  “Fuck him. Let the buzzards and coyotes take care of him.”

  “But he’s my brother.”

  “And Alma was my wife. They raped her and cut her up so bad it killed her. I warned you before and, if you don’t shut up, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

  Lilly fainted and fell into Jeremiah’s lap. He sat her back up straight on the seat. When he was lifting her, he saw how fragile she really was. His anger had got the best of him and he knew it. Hurting this little girl won‘t bring Alma back.“I didn’t really mean that. I could never hurt you like that.”

  Chapter 4

  Lilly’s family name was Jones. She was the only daughter of six children. Her brothers were Jack, Charlie, Dick, Ben, and Billy Bob. When Jack got out of prison, he vowed to get Jeremiah if it was the last thing he did and his brothers and sister agreed to help him.

  Jeremiah had already killed Jack, and Maggie had killed Billy Bob without really knowing about it. Jeremiah had Lilly, and Charlie, Dick and Ben were running for their lives. Luke Johnson and his men were hard on their trail.

  They were all supposed to meet up just south of the ranch, but when Billy Bob was shot and Jack and Lilly didn’t show, they knew it had gone wrong. Now, there was a whole gang of men relentlessly chasing them, not giving them a chance to rest. Even worse, down deep they knew Jeremiah Tucker was still alive and was coming for them.

  The brothers pulled up on top of a hill. In the distance, they could see the dust flying from the hooves of the horses as Luke and his men pursued them.

  “That must be a posse following us,” said Ben. “They won’t stop until we’re all dead. The best chance we have is to split up. At least, one or two of us might make it.”

  “I knew we shouldn’t have done that,” said Dick. “We were just supposed to scare her. Those men are hell bent for leather to see us hang or kill us and leave us for the buzzards. I oughta go down there and give myself up. I didn’t have anything to do with that woman.”

  “You go down there and I’ll shoot you myself,” said Ben. “I didn’t know you were such a chicken shit. I shoulda known when you wouldn’t take your turn with that woman. We can’t split up now cause our little chicken shit brother will go turn us all in.”

  ***

  Alma had gone to the door because they had been expecting guests for their wedding. The men had been clean shaven and looked decent enough. She thought they were friends of Jeremiah's and invited them in. “Have you known Jeremiah long?” she said.

  “Oh, we’ve known him so long that we share everything, especially our women.” Charlie moved toward her.

  Alma realized she’d made a horrible mistake and tried to run to the kitchen where there was a shotgun, but the men circled her, grabbed her and dragged her kicking and screaming into the bedroom. They had torn off her clothes and two of them held her down while another one raped her.

  “We were just supposed to scare her,” Dick said. “I don’t want nothing to do with this.”

  “You just stand out there and keep watch,” Ben said. Alma broke one hand loose and scratched Charlie’s face. He grabbed her hand and shoved it back down. “Goddammit, hold her down, Billy Bob.” Then he started in on pounding her in the face. After they had each taken a turn with her, Charlie pulled out his knife and slit her open. He stuck the knife between her legs and slit her all the way to her belly button.

  “You won’t ever scar my face again, you bitch.”

  They left her there to die and went out back to their horses. Charlie was moaning about how much the scratch hurt and the others were laughing. They didn’t hear Maggie and James come in the front. As they were riding off, Maggie opened fire on them with the double barreled shotgun she found in the kitchen. They rode as fast as they could to get away not knowing that she had hit Billy Bob in the back. After they were a mile or so away from the house, he died and fell from his horse. They stopped and Ben got down and checked to see if he was still alive. “Billy’s dead. We can‘t stay and look after him. They’ll be coming after us now. Jack and Lilly will have to fend for themselves.” He mounted his horse and they hightailed it.

  Chapter 5

  Jeremiah took the rope from Lilly’s neck and untied the ropes holding her to the wagon seat. Her neck had rope burns from being dragged and her wrists were red and blue, almost bleeding. Lilly watched in shock as Jeremiah rubbed her wrists, trying to get some life back into them.

  “I’m sorry I did this to you, Lilly. You didn’t have anything to do with Alma getting raped and killed. I’m no better than your brothers. I just wanted to get even. You’re free to go if you want. I can hunt down your brothers without you.”

  Lilly put her shaking hand on his and started to cry again. “I’m so sorry all of this happened to you. To me, it still seems like a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. I hate my brothers for doing this to you.” She laid her head against his chest and really bawled. Her whole body was shaking. Jeremiah sat there holding her, realizing this was no act. She really meant it. His shirt was getting wet from her tears. He just sat there holding her, letting her cry it out.

  It was getting late and the stars were starting to come out. He held her until she went to sleep and for a long time afterwards. She’s just a little girl. I shouldn’t never have treated her like that. He unhitched the horses and led them out to the grass, then he tied their legs together and left them to eat. He climbed back onto the wagon and lifted Lilly up and put her head in his lap. He sat there all night under the stars with him holding her while they slept. When morning came, he opened his eyes and she was still there, only awake and with his two pistols aimed at his head.

  “Holy shit!” He sat up straight on the seat. “What are you gonna do?”

  Lilly twirled his guns around and handed them to him. “I just wanted you to know I meant what I said last night. I really do hate my brothers for what they did. They were worse than animals. I want to help you catch them.” She was still crying a little and her eyes were red.

  “What a way to wake up,” Jeremiah said.

  He hitched up the horses and climbed up beside her. She sat beside Jeremiah and took the reins in her hands. “Giddyup,” she said and whipped their backs with the reins. “We better get a move on if we’re ever gonna catch them.” Jeremiah was shaking a little himself. No one had ever gotten the drop on him before. She could’ve killed me.

  They rode along in silence for a while then Jeremiah asked her, “What happened to you after the stagecoach?”

  “Well, they tried us in court. Jack got two years in prison, but even though I was with him and had the derringer, they only gave me six months in jail. I didn’t go to no prison. It was mainly ’cause I was a woman, I reckon. I didn’t have it as bad as my brother, but it wasn’t no easy ride neither. There wasn’t a night went by I didn’t have to fight off the sheriff and his deputies. Even the judge who sentenced me came to my cell one night. I started screaming his name out my cell window and he got out of there fast.”

  “What about when they let you go?”

  “I went back home to mother’s in Arkansas. We all just stayed there and waited for Jack to get out. When he came home, he was really mad. He didn’t like prison one bit. They held him down and used him for a woman, I heard him tell the others. That’s when they decided to come after you. I didn’t want to come, but they talked me into it saying we was family and all. They didn’t know about your woman until we got to Coffeyville.” She started to cry again. Jeremiah took the reins and she laid her head against his shoulder and held on to his arm. “I don’t know why they did that to her. I’m so sorry. I should’ve stayed in Arkansas, but I let them talk me into coming.”

  Chapter 6

  Luke and his men had chased the Jones brothers all the way to Independence, Kansas, a two day ride from Jeremiah’s ranch, but once they got there, they had no way of identifying them. Luke left his men there just in case the Jo
nes brothers might show themselves in town or in a saloon. He had no idea what their names were or that they were brothers. He hoped that maybe, while drinking, they might brag about what they’d done. He headed back to Coffeyville where he met up with Jeremiah and Lilly.

  “My God, Jeremiah, if you’re here, Alma must have...” He stopped. He couldn‘t utter the word.

  “Alma died in the night, Luke. I appreciate what you and your men did. I don‘t know how I‘ll ever repay you.”

  “I know you’d have done the same for me, Jeremiah. We tracked them to Independence, but then we lost them in the town. I left my hands there on the off chance they might show themselves. They were all tuckered out and needed some food and rest. I was coming back in hopes of finding you. He stopped talking and looked at Lilly. He took his hat off. “Excuse me, ma’am. I was so intent on finding Jeremiah I didn’t see you there.”

  “This is Miss Lilly. I brought her along cause she knows these men and can identify them.” Jeremiah gave Luke some biscuits and water and thanked him for tracking them down. “You go on back home now, Luke. If I see your men, I’ll send them home. This is something I have to do myself.”

  “How does she know those men?” Luke whispered.

  “They’re her brothers.”

  “Her brothers? And she’s gonna help you find them?”

  “That’s right, Luke, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone you saw us. I killed one of them in the jail and broke Lilly out. The sheriff will be looking for me. He probably wants to hang me for what I did. He doesn’t understand.”

  “You killed her brother and broke her out of jail? He’ll not hear nothin’ from me. Thanks for the water and biscuits and good day to you, Miss Lilly.” He left them and headed back to Coffeyville. Jeremiah climbed back onto the wagon and sat down beside her. “Are you sure you’re up to this, Lilly?”

  She took his arm and moved closer to him. “After what they did, they’re not my brothers anymore. I’ll not only help you find them, I’ll shoot them myself if you don’t.”

  Jeremiah picked up the reins and the horses started off. “I heard what you told that man about breaking me out of jail and killing Jack. You’ll be wanted by the law just like me. If we make it out alive, I’ll take you back to the mountains of Arkansas with me. We can live there for the rest of our lives and nobody will ever know what we did.”

  Jeremiah looked at her in surprise.

  “What? You think I’m a little girl? I may be little, but under this dress, there’s a full growed woman. I’ll be twenty-seven my next birthday.” Jeremiah didn’t know what to say. “I know you just lost your wife and I’ve lost two of my brothers, and it won’t be long before the others are dead. We’ve got to stick together and help each other stay alive. You may not take to me right away, but in time, I’ll show you I’m a good woman.”

  Jeremiah was afraid to say no. If he did, he‘d lose his only chance of finding Alma’s killers. His opinion of Lilly had changed from what he had first thought of her, but now he thought she was completely crazy. She had gone from one extreme to another. Her tears were real enough and she could’ve shot me back there, but then she wouldn’t have me to help her find her brothers. Maybe this has been too much for her to cope with or maybe she’s laying a trap.

  She was right about one thing: They were both wanted by the law. They drove into Independence and Jeremiah rented a room at the hotel. Lilly undressed and got into bed as soon as they closed the door. Jeremiah sat in a chair and took his boots off. Lilly lay there watching him and then she sat up in the bed. She was right about another thing: There is a full growed woman under that dress. He looked at her sitting there in bed with only her legs covered. She was small, but there was no mistake, she was all woman. Her blue eyes and black hair set off her face, but Jeremiah couldn’t keep his eyes off all the other things she had.

  “You don’t have to make love to me. I do want you, but I’m not completely heartless. You could come and lay beside me and just hold me.” She laughed. “If you’ve got the guts.”

  Jeremiah got up and turned out the light. She heard him drop his clothes on the floor. “You can forget about that. You may not be completely heartless, but if you think I’m going to sleep with you, you’re completely crazy.” He sat in the chair and tried to go to sleep, but he couldn’t get his mind off Lilly. There was just enough moonlight coming through the window that he could see Lilly tossing and turning completely uncovered. It was hard, very hard, but finally, he managed to fall asleep.

  Chapter 7

  Lilly’s brothers got to Independence and blended into the crowd. There were over four hundred people and it wasn’t hard to disappear. They stayed away from the hotel and the saloons or anywhere they might be expected to go. They planned to rest and eat and then get back to Arkansas.

  In the morning, Jeremiah and Lilly went down to the lobby and asked the hotel owner about breakfast. “We have an agreement with the boarding house down the street. Mrs. Miller serves all of our guests three meals a day for only ten cents a meal. You can take a bath for a nickel. It’s right down the street.” He walked Jeremiah to the door and pointed to the boarding house.

  “Did you get any sleep last night, Jeremiah?” Lilly asked.

  “I slept like a baby,” he said.

  “You don’t have to lie to me,” she laughed. “I saw you looking.” After breakfast, they went to separate bath houses for a bath. There were three tubs in each bath house and only one was empty. Jeremiah laid back in the tub and closed his eyes, remembering Alma and their kiss before he went to town.

  “Which one of you assholes is Jeremiah Tucker?” someone said. Jeremiah opened his eyes. He could see a slight resemblance in the man to Jack and knew it was one of the brothers.

  “Well, that would be me. And who might you be?”

  The man saw Jeremiah’s clothes and a holstered pistol hanging off the back of a chair. He reached down in his boot and pulled out a skinning knife. The other two men in the tubs jumped out and grabbed their clothes, running outside trying to pull their pants on while they ran.

  “I’m Ben, the brother of Jack Jones. The man you had arrested and sent to prison.”

  “Oh, you must mean that little chicken shit I killed in the Coffeyville jail. And you’d be one of the lowlife bastards that raped and killed my wife.”

  “We didn’t start out to fuck her, but she wanted it so bad. She couldn’t get enough. You shoulda heard her begging us not to stop. We had to cut her open to shut her up.” He started walking toward the tub and Jeremiah raised his pistol and fired. He saw the startled look on Ben’s face as he grabbed what was left of his balls and fell to the floor vomiting.

  “You Joneses must be the stupidest family in Arkansas.” He climbed out of the tub and dried off. He reached down and picked up Ben’s knife and, while he screamed, Jeremiah cut off one of his ears. “I promised myself I’d bring back a piece of each one of you for my wife.” Ben tried to go for his gun, but Jeremiah shoved the knife in his nose and then kicked it all the way in with his knee. “That makes three of you.”

  He heard a woman screaming and knew it was Lilly. He threw the ear in the chair and stepped outside with only a towel wrapped around him. He saw Lilly being dragged away by some man. He fired a shot trying not to hit Lilly and the man let go and ran away. Jeremiah ran to her as she fell to the ground. He picked her up and carried her into the boarding house. Her mouth was bleeding. She put up a fight.

  He went back to the bath house and dressed, then went back in to Lilly.“They saw us go into the boarding house, Jeremiah. I didn’t tell them nothin’.”

  Chapter 8

  Sheriff Hunter had known Jeremiah from when they were boys. He knew what Jeremiah was going through and felt sorry for him, but he had vowed to uphold the law and even though Jeremiah was doing the same as he would do, he had to bring him in. After all, Jeremiah was a gunfighter even though he had never been convicted of any crime. The sheriff had a knot on
the back of his head and a dead prisoner in his jail who was missing a lip and another prisoner had disappeared. Jeremiah was the last person he saw in the jail so it had to be him, but the sheriff had no witness and couldn’t prove that Jeremiah was responsible.

  “I’ve got to go after him,” he told his deputy. “As much as I know he was right to kill those bastards, I’ve still got to go get him.”

  “Luke Johnson just came back to town,” said the deputy. “He was the one who chased after those men who killed Alma. If anybody knows where Jeremiah is, it would be Luke.”

  ***

  “You go after Jeremiah for killing those sorry bastards,” Luke told the sheriff, “and I’ll see to it that you never hold an office in this town again. Didn’t you see poor Alma after those fuckers got through with her. You should be after them, not Jeremiah. I’m not sure you should be a sheriff. You don’t know who the real killers are here. You get a little bump on the back of your head and you start thinking all crazy.”

  “You’re right,” said Sheriff Hunter. “For all I know, those bastards came in and hit me over the head and killed that lipless fucker, then took Jeremiah and the girl. At least, that’s the story I’m sticking to. I sure hope Jeremiah gets them all. He’s probably out of my jurisdiction anyway.” He looked at Luke for an acknowledgment. Luke didn’t respond.

  “You should deputize Jeremiah right now, even though he ain’t here, and put out a wire to all the sheriffs around that he’s your deputy and they should give him all the help he needs in bringing those fuckers to justice. The way I see it, he did us all a favor by killing Jack and saving us the trouble and the expense of doing it ourselves.”