Tanglewood Desperadoes

by Paul Lederer

  ‘Did they tell you how long it might take to resolve all of this?’ Trace asked, still obviously agitated.

  ‘It will be a while, since Colorado and Arizona are both involved. They’ll have to communicate and settle matters of jurisdiction. I couldn’t give you a good guess as to how long it will actually take.’

  ‘All we have to do is keep ourselves from being hanged in the meantime and we might come out of this all right,’ Trace said with a hint of sarcasm.

  ‘It’s more hope than we had before, Trace,’ Curt reminded him.

  ‘Yes – we’ve advanced from none to slim.’

  ‘What do you think we can do, Laredo?’ Curt asked the visitor.

  ‘I can’t see anything but what you’ve been doing – hole up until this is done with, one way or the other.’

  ‘Doomed to life in the Tanglewood,’ Trace said.

  ‘It’s a life. Where there’s life, there’s hope. Isn’t that what they say?’

  ‘That all depends on what kind of life you have,’ Trace muttered, and he spun on his heel and stalked away.

  ‘I don’t think the man has much faith in the authorities,’ Laredo said.

  ‘Would you?’ Curt asked. ‘After what we’ve been through?’

  ‘I guess not,’ Laredo had to admit. He got to his feet now and told Curt, ‘I have to have the loot – to return it to the bank. It’s part of the deal I made for you men. Our job is to recover bank funds that are stolen and punish those who take them. I have no authority to make an arrest in Colorado, as I’ve already told you, but still I have an obligation to recover the money in any way that I can.’

  ‘I’d have to talk to Trace,’ Curt answered slowly. After all, they did not really know who Laredo was. Maybe he was just a smooth-talking con man.

  ‘Do that,’ Laredo said, resting his hand on his stag-handled revolver. ‘But try to convince him that it’s easier for everyone if I take it into Lordsberg. You don’t need it to bargain with now. You’ve got them,’ he said, inclining his head toward Cole and Blakely.

  ‘Why don’t you free us, too?’ Blakely asked with a sense of desperation. Laredo didn’t even bother to answer.

  ‘I’ve got Johnny Johnson’s cut – now I need the rest of it, Curt. It will make things easier on all of you and speed up the process.’

  ‘I’ll tell Trace.’

  ‘I’ll also need a pack animal to carry the gold.’

  ‘Take his horse,’ Curt said, his eyes drifting savagely to Blakely. ‘He won’t be needing it.’

  ‘Where will you be when I get back?’ Laredo asked.

  ‘In a different camp. But why ask? You seem to be able to find us no matter where we are.’

  ‘That’s a part of my job,’ Laredo said with a faint smile. ‘You should hope that the men looking for you don’t have a really good Indian tracker with them.’

  Now Curt glanced at the leader of the Clinch Mountain boys, but Cole’s face was unreadable. Lockhart said in an icy voice: ‘They’ll find me sooner or later, Wagner; you can bet on that, and when our situations are reversed, I’ll show you some Clinch Mountain justice.’

  Laredo had stepped away to prepare his buckskin horse for travel once more. He had no need to hear the men exchanging threats. They were always the same. His only concern was the legalities involved. His new boss, Deacon Cody, who had taken over from an ailing Jack Royle, had told him that things would go smoother all around and probably easier on the Tanglewood gang if he could get them to surrender the stolen money.

  Laredo saddled Prince Blakely’s unremarkable bay horse which seemed to be a retired army mount, probably purchased on the cheap. Prince didn’t do or want to do much riding. Having the saddle on made it easier to tote the burlap bags which could be tied to the saddle horn. The sacks containing the gold were heavy, but nothing a moderately healthy horse would be severely burdened by.

  Curt had returned to watch Laredo as he finished loading the horse.

  Laredo glanced at the tall man and asked, ‘Did you talk to Trace?’

  ‘I did,’ Curt said a little unhappily.

  ‘And?’

  ‘He said, “Take it and be damned”.’

  ‘I wouldn’t expect him to say much else. You men risked a lot to get it. But tell Trace for me that this is the right thing to do. It will make it easier for the law to sort things out and might save you all some prison time.’

  ‘I guess we’ll have to trust you, Laredo,’ Curt responded. ‘The money wasn’t doing us any good sitting around here, anyway. The robbery was just another idea gone wrong.’

  ‘You understand, Curt,’ Laredo said, tying a knot in his saddle rope. ‘That’s the point of it – you men didn’t flee with the money when you could have. You never meant to spend it at all. An honest judge might be able to understand your motivation when all the facts are revealed.’

  ‘I hope so,’ Curt said, turning away. Then he asked, ‘You say you met Johnny Johnson on the trail in?’

  ‘I did. He’s all right – waiting to see if he can get his horse ranch back.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it. I always liked the kid, till he pulled that stunt.’ Curt walked away through the shadows of the Tanglewood.

  Laredo lingered long enough to refill his canteens at the creek. Then he crossed the camp again and swung heavily into leather. His spurs chinked slightly as he touched them to the buckskin’s flanks with just enough force to let the big horse know that it was time to move on.

  Laredo found the head of the trail easily enough and though the road itself was a labyrinth, it had been ridden enough lately that he could easily follow it by using the tracks he saw. Curt was right about it being time to move their camp. They had been marking the trail in too distinctly.

  If a day can be hot and cool at the same time, this one was. In the shadows the wind rolling down from off of the Rockies was chilling, but in the areas sheltered from the wind where the sun shone, the high sun was hot on Laredo’s back. It was, although Laredo did not know it, typical Tanglewood weather.

  Following the switchbacks of the trail through head-high brush, he eventually emerged on to the flats. Clearing the chaparral, he saw two riders far ahead of him angling toward Lordsberg. He recognized their horses even at that distance. Dan Sumner and Kate Cousins. Now what were those two doing riding toward town?

  This was no time for unexpected complications. Worriedly, Laredo rode on as the sun glared down and the long wind blew across the plains.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The bank was already open for business when Laredo reached Lordsberg, leading Blakely’s laden horse, but there was little activity. The teller, in fact, was standing in shirt sleeves, arms crossed, in the sunlit doorway. Laredo called out to him.

  ‘You! Do you work here?’ He got a surly nod in response. Laredo said, ‘Call Storm Ross out for me, would you? We’ve some business to conduct.’

  ‘You could go in yourself,’ the man said, with some truculence.

  ‘No, I can’t,’ Laredo said. ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave all this gold out on the street.’

  ‘What gold?’ the man asked, approaching slowly, his eye narrowed.

  ‘The bank’s money!’ Laredo said, his irritation with the teller now showing. ‘Just get Ross and tell him I’ve brought back the stolen money.’

  ‘Maybe I’d better get the marshal,’ the man said.

  ‘Maybe you’d just better get Ross,’ Laredo replied, and now his growing anger was clear enough.

  The sullen man disappeared into the bank and a minute later Storm Ross himself appeared, his face a mixture of expressions: doubt, disbelief, hope, fear. At his shoulder stood a large bearded man. One of the Clinch Mountain boys, Laredo guessed.

  ‘What’s this about you having the bank’s money?’ Ross asked.

  ‘It’s there, tied on to the bay.’

  ‘That’s Prince Blakely’s horse!’ Ross said, growing excited.

  ‘Yes, it is. I borrowed it from him.
’

  ‘You’re one of them, then – one of the Tanglewood bunch,’ Ross said, and the man beside him unbuttoned his coat, revealing a businesslike Colt revolver.

  ‘No, I’m not,’ Laredo said. ‘Do you want this gold and currency or not? I don’t like conducting business in the street.’

  ‘Swing down; come in. Let’s get the bags inside, Leo.’

  The big man, Leo, went to the side of the bay horse and began untying the heavy sacks.

  ‘Are all of our documents in there too?’ Ross wanted to know.

  ‘Most of them,’ Laredo said, getting down from the saddle. ‘Except the ones I gave to the Bank Examiner’s office.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Ross asked, paling a little. ‘Which papers?’

  ‘A few disputed land claims, a few foreclosure papers.’

  Ross’s eyes narrowed further. ‘Who are you?’ he asked squinting into the brilliant sunlight.

  ‘I told you that I don’t like doing business in the street. If we can go into your office, I’ll tell you, and we can discuss matters.’

  Ross looked around confused, then he called to his teller, ‘Tipton, come out here and help Leo unload this horse and bring everything into the bank!’

  They walked past the tellers’ cages, Ross running a harried hand over his head. They entered a small, cool office where Ross offered Laredo a chair but did not sit down himself. The little man’s mind was obviously furiously at work, speculating on what all of this meant.

  ‘All right, then,’ the banker said, leaning against the wall and folding his arms which he apparently thought was adopting a casual stance but which only made him look more nervous than ever, ‘let’s hear what you have to say.’

  Behind Laredo heavy steps approached and the burlap bags, one by one, were dropped on to the floor of Ross’s office. Glancing that way Laredo saw that the teller, Tipton, had scurried away, but Leo lingered near the door.

  Laredo leaned back in his leather chair and began. He told Storm Ross who he was, what authority he had and did not have, and some of what he had done to recover the money.

  ‘Is this some sort of blackmail scheme!’ Ross demanded after Laredo had summed up. ‘Are you trying to buy the freedom of the Tanglewood outlaws?’

  ‘No. My mandate is only to return stolen bank property. The rest is up to the legal people. You aren’t in a much better position right now than the Tanglewood crowd is, you know.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Ross was growing angrier, more frustrated.

  ‘Once my superiors and the people from Denver have had their meeting, someone will be coming to examine your books very closely.’

  ‘Ask him where the Tanglewood gang is hiding out,’ Leo growled from the doorway. ‘He knows. How else could he have gotten the money back along with Blakely’s horse.’

  Ross ignored the bearded man for the moment. His brow was furrowed with concern. He knew full well that he and Blakely had hijacked the property they now held – half of the Wakapee Valley – and that their methods had been outside the law. It could be that he was watching everything he owned trickle away. He tried another ploy.

  ‘I should have you arrested,’ he said to Laredo.

  ‘For returning the bank’s money?’ Laredo asked innocently.

  ‘For conspiring with criminals, withholding information in a criminal inquiry, for—’

  ‘Go ahead,’ Laredo said. By now he was used to being threatened. He was no lawyer himself, but his powers and limits to them were carefully and precisely outlined. He worked for the Bank Examiner’s office; his responsibility began and ended with protecting the banks in his region. No one expected him to charge headlong into a battle with a bunch of desperadoes, not when there was the more reasonable approach of simply asking them to return the stolen goods which they had never intended to keep in the first place.

  Laredo told Ross, ‘It would just bring my boss and his accountants up from Tucson more quickly.’ He added, ‘Then, of course, I would have to bring a charge of false accusations against you.’

  ‘There must be a way out of this,’ Ross said as if he himself were approaching the idea of blackmail.

  ‘Sure there is. Relinquish your claims to the Wakapee Valley land you’ve confiscated, give Gentry Cousins’s saloon back to him and try running an honest bank for the people of Lordsberg.’

  ‘You don’t understand! Blakely—’

  ‘I do understand. Blakely is a land pirate. You got yourself tied up with the wrong man. Maybe you got a little too greedy, I don’t know, but it’s not too late to cut loose and run your business as you know it’s supposed to be run.’

  ‘I want to know where the Tanglewood bunch is hidden out,’ Leo persisted, his one-track mind determined. ‘You’ve got Cole Lockhart up there, too, don’t you? I don’t know how you managed to take him, but I know you have him.’

  ‘I don’t have anybody captive anywhere,’ Laredo answered. ‘You’ll have to find him yourself, if he’s there.’

  ‘You’ll tell me, damnit!’ Leo flared, and to Ross’s surprise and to Laredo’s, the big man decided to make a move. He grabbed Laredo’s collar and tried to pull him bodily out of the chair he was sitting in.

  Laredo slapped the meaty hand away, came to his feet and braced himself. Like ninety per cent of the street brawlers in the world, Leo’s idea was to land a solid right-hand punch and knock Laredo down if not out. Laredo blocked it easily and drove his own right hand into Leo’s flabby waist just above his belt buckle. Leo staggered back, bent over, struggling for breath.

  ‘That won’t get you far, Leo,’ Laredo warned the big man as he crouched, bunching his fists, and started to come in again. Storm Ross made a small squeaking sound as Leo again tried to drive his huge right fist against Laredo’s jaw, again had it blocked, again took an answering blow from Laredo’s right, this one on his ear which began to bleed. Leo backed away as Laredo set his shoulders and began peppering the man’s face with left jabs. Three in a row caught Leo on the nose, on his right eye. Ross squeaked again and Laredo glanced at the banker to assure himself that the little man had no idea of joining in. He did not.

  And it seemed that Leo had about had enough. His back went up the wall beside the doorframe with a heavy thump and Laredo saw his hand move toward his holstered revolver. He warned Leo, ‘That won’t get you far either, Leo,’ and Laredo’s hand flicked down and slicked his stag-handled Colt from its oiled holster, his thumb ratcheting back the curved steel hammer of the weapon.

  The hardened outlaw seemed stunned. His hands flinched as if he meant to raise his arms, but his pride gave him second thoughts. He looked as if he wanted to go for his pistol again, but he was looking down the barrel of a cocked and leveled .44 revolver, and even Leo knew that he had no chance in that situation.

  ‘I told you before, if you want Cole Lockhart, you’ll have to find him yourself,’ Laredo said, ‘but I’m warning you – there are twenty men up in the Tanglewood who are tougher than I am.’

  ‘This isn’t the end of this,’ the outlaw said in that sullen way that men use when they mean that it is the end, but need just a bit of pride to cling to. Then he turned heavily toward the front door of the bank, leaving Laredo and Ross alone again.

  Looking steadily at the banker, Laredo told him, ‘I don’t have much more to say to you, Ross, but you need to think about changing the way you do business.’

  The small man said quietly. ‘I have been. I’ve been thinking about things for a long time. I was with Blakely because – well, he knows how to shake the money tree. But things have gotten out of hand.’

  ‘Is there any way you can call off the Clinch Mountain boys?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Ross said, sagging into his chair. ‘I’m the one who called them in, but Blakely is the one who’s paid them. If only the Tanglewood gang hadn’t kidnapped Cole Lockhart! That complicates matters. Believe it or not, Cole is an intelligent man and not hard to deal with. He doesn’t have a personal stake i
n this. He works for money. I could buy him off if he were here. He would rather have his pockets full of cash than risk getting half of his crew shot up. But Cole isn’t here,’ Ross sighed. ‘The rest of the boys are unpredictable, like Leo. They might feel that there’s a point of honor involved and they need to rescue Cole or be viewed as quitters. I don’t know.…’ Ross rubbed his face with the palms of both hands. ‘I’ll try talking to them. We’ll see. I’m afraid that things may only get worse from here on, not better.’

  ‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell me before I go?’ Laredo asked.

  ‘I suppose I’d better,’ Ross who was now a defeated man answered. ‘Marshal Standish is laying a trap for Dan Sumner at Gentry Cousins’s house. The idea is something I proposed out of desperation. He is going to promise Dan amnesty in exchange for the location of the Tanglewood gang’s camp.’

  ‘What makes you think Sumner would turn on his friends?’ Laredo asked sourly.

  ‘Kate Cousins,’ Ross answered, raising his defeated eyes to meet Laredo’s.

  Ross and Marshal Kaylin Standish had approached Gentry Cousins earlier. Cousins had narrowed his eyes at the sight of the crooked banker and his jaw had clamped tightly shut. He greeted them on his porch with the terse, ‘Thought of something else you can do to ruin me?’

  ‘It’s not that, Gentry,’ the lantern-jawed marshal said, trying to use a tone of reasonableness, something he was not good at. Kaylin Standish was not a born politician.

  ‘We’ve come to offer you a way out,’ Ross said. ‘Out of all your troubles.’

  Gentry Cousins was scowling. He didn’t believe a word these two said, but mere was a glimmer of hope flickering in the back of his mind. As things now stood, he was ruined and he knew it. It could do no harm at least to listen.

  ‘You might as well come in,’ Gentry said. The two men crossed the sill while a third, the bulky deputy named Jake Fromm, watched their horses. Gentry stood before the cold fireplace, hands behind his back. The others remained standing as well, facing him. ‘Let’s get right to it – what do you have in mind?’ Gentry wanted to know.

  ‘We have in mind letting you retain ownership of the Wabash Saloon,’ Ross said. ‘And getting your daughter away from those outlaws she’s been riding with. That can only get worse, you know, Gentry. There will be fighting up in the Tanglewood and people hurt. Even if she doesn’t get injured or killed, she’ll have no course to follow except riding the outlaw trail herself.’