Jack got to his feet. “Ma’am?”
She said, “You Jack McCabe?”
He nodded. It occurred to him that he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn’t quite remember where.
“I come with a message from Two-Finger Walker. He says he’s comin’ tomorrow at noon for the man you’re holdin’ in the cell.”
Now Jack remembered where he had seen her. At Falcone’s camp outside of Cheyenne, when he and Marshal Kincaid had ridden in to fetch Jessica.
White-Eye called out. “Flossy? That you?”
“Yeah, White-Eye. You okay?”
“You tell Walker they done beat me somethin’ fierce, and now they’re starvin’ me.”
Jack said, “He didn’t get the beating he deserves, I promise you that.”
She said to him, “Look, I don’t want no trouble. I’m just deliverin’ a message for Walker. He says if this White-Eye isn’t on a horse, saddled and waitin’ for him, then he’s gonna burn this town to the ground.”
“So, he sent you to town to tell me that?”
She nodded. “Look, McCabe. You don’t seem like a bad sort. But you can’t stand up to the kind of man Walker is. He’s a killer. And he means what he says. You don’t turn White-Eye free, he’s gonna kill you and everyone else here.”
47
“Flossy,” Jack said, “is that your name? Where’s his camp?”
“You think I’m gonna tell you that?”
“I think you should. Considering what he and his men have done to Jessica, and are probably doing to you. Considering they are killers and robbers, and will probably continue to kill and rob. Also, think about this. There’s probably a reward on them. At least on Walker. That money could be yours if you turn them in.”
White-Eye was at the jail cell window. “Don’t you do that, Flossy. Walker finds out you tried to turn him in, he’ll kill you. You know that. This here boy won’t be able to help you. Not at all.”
Jack said, “Shut up, White-Eye, or I’ll tell everyone you were arrested by a sixteen year old girl.”
Flossy’s eyes lit up with a smile. “That true?”
Jack nodded. “My sister. She almost blinded him and emasculated him. Good thing he caught her in a good mood.”
Jessica came running in, or as close to a hobbling run as she could manage with her broken ribs. Darby was with her.
“Flossy,” she said. “I thought it was you. We were sitting in front of the hotel and saw you ride up.”
“Jessica,” Flossy said.
They looked at each other for a moment, then took each other in a hug.
Flossy said, “You cleaned up right nice.”
Jessica nodded. “They’re taking good care of me here.”
Flossy touched a hand to the side of Jessica’s face. Almost motherly. “I’d like to stay and talk, but I have to get back. Walker said to come in and tell McCabe what I had to, and then to come on back.”
Jack didn’t want to let her leave. He needed information on Walker and his little gang. As much as he could get. He had to think fast.
He said, “You’re not going anywhere. You’re under arrest.”
She raised her brows puzzledly. “What for?”
“I’ll think of something. Vagrancy, maybe.”
He couldn’t really arrest her for vagrancy because there were no town ordinances, but he thought she might not know that.
“So, you gonna lock me up?”
He shook his head. “Not with White-Eye. It wouldn’t be decent. And we don’t have any separate cell for a woman. Instead, we’ll take you over to Hunter’s for a meal and then figure something.”
Jack grabbed his Winchester and he stepped to the doorway, and with a hand motioned for Flossy to come along.
Outside, he said to Darby, “Go back to that bench in front of the hotel and position yourself there. Watch this building like a hawk. If anyone comes near it, call out to me.”
“Where are you going to be?”
“In Hunter’s, questioning the prisoner. Jessica, I’m going to need your help.”
She gave Darby a long look and a little smile, sort of saying, Don’t worry, I’ll be all right. Jack figured if he was in Darby’s place, he wouldn’t want Jessica associating with the very people she had run away from any longer than necessary. Jack gave Darby a nod, and he and Jessica escorted Flossy into Hunter’s.
Darby returned to the bench he and Jessica had been sitting on, and fixed his gaze on the marshal’s office.
In the barroom, chairs were all upside down on the tables. Jack righted three of them, and held two as the women sat down. The air was filled with the aroma of venison stew, something Chen had made more than once and as far as Jack was concerned, he could make it as much as he wanted. The very smell sent Jack’s mouth to watering.
“Mister Chen,” Jack said. “Do you have enough stew for the three of us?”
Chen nodded. “I always make extra, just in case.”
“Well, I’d appreciate if you could serve up three bowls. This is marshal business. I’ll square it up with Hunter later.”
Jack sat down, and leaned the rifle against the edge of the table. Chen took a ladle and scooped stew into three bowls, and set them down in front of Jack and the women. The stew was brownish, with chunks of venison floating in it.
Flossy took a spoon and gave a tentative taste, then began slurping one spoonful after another.
Jessica said, “Living with those men, you don’t eat regular. We did a little better when Vic was in charge, but after Walker drove him out, we were lucky to get one meal a day. And we ate after the men did, getting whatever left-overs there were."
Jack shook his head. “Absolutely barbaric.”
“A ten-dollar word, but it hits the nail right on the head.”
“Why did you stay? Why did you tolerate that kind of treatment?”
Jessica shrugged. She was about to say something, but Flossy cut her off. “There weren’t no place else to go. What’re we gonna do? Whore it up in a saloon some place? Twenty or thirty customers on a Saturday night? Sleep in beds filled with lice and bed bugs? At least with these men, it was the same regular customers. And they didn’t treat us too bad. In a saloon, you don’t know just who you’re servin’. He might be the kind who likes to beat on you.”
“They beat on Jessica pretty bad.”
“That was because she said she wanted to leave.”
Jessica said, “Flossy, you don’t have to go back.”
Flossy nodded. “Yes, Sweetie, I do. They’ll kill me if I don’t. Walker made that clear when he sent me down here. He said what you got would be nothin’ to what I would get if I tried to run out on them.”
Flossy took another deep spoonful of venison stew. “Jessica, get out of town. I was serious what I said. Walker intends to burn this place to the ground. He’ll do it if White-Eye isn’t turned free, and he’ll probably do it anyway. He’ll kill anyone he finds here.”
“Why?” Jack said. The more he could learn about Walker, the better.
“He has a powerful hate for your father. He knows it would be suicide to ride on your family’s ranch. Vic proved that last summer. So instead, he intended to kidnap your sister and then kill your father when he came for her. That didn’t work. It just got White-Eye arrested. So now he’s just gonna burn the town and kill anyone here. That’ll draw him out.”
Jack shook his head. “My father isn’t even here. He rode out weeks ago. We don’t expect to see him until next spring sometime.”
That caught Flossy by surprise. “I don’t think Walker knows that. I doubt it’ll stop him, though.”
Chen had drifted over. “Who these men?”
“Killers,” Jack said. “Raiders. They take what they want, killing anyone who gets in the way. Robbing stages and way stations and farms or ranches. They ride away into the mountains, and there’s not enough law out here to chase after ‘em.”
Chen said, “There are men like that in China,
too.”
“How do you deal with them there?”
“The army hunts them and kills them.”
“That’s about what’s gonna happen here, too.”
Flossy shook her head. “You’re a good man, McCabe. And you mean well. But it’s just you and that city slicker to stand against these men. They’re professional killers. How many men have you killed?”
Jack had to admit, until this summer he had never killed any.
She said, “That’s what I thought. A man like Two-Finger, he can’t count the number he’s killed. He and his men are gonna ride over this town, and they ain’t gonna leave nothin’ behind.”
Word moved quickly through town. Fred rode into Hunter’s for an afternoon beer and rode back to the ranch with the news. Brewster and his son pulled up in front of Franklin’s with their wagon to buy supplies, and they heard the entire story from Franklin.
Hunter found Jack in his office. Hunter said, “You and Darby aren’t standing alone against these men. I’ll be standing with you. I may not be a gunhawk, but I stood alongside your Pa more’n once against Indian raiders, and rustlers.”
Jack wanted to say no, it wasn’t Hunter’s job to do this. Jack was here wearing this tin star so the townspeople wouldn’t have to be at risk. But he knew Flossy was right. He and Darby alone wouldn’t be able to stop Walker and his men. Jack’s brothers were too far away to get back in time to be of any help.
“Thank you,” Jack said. “That means a lot to me. But I hope it doesn’t get you killed.”
“So, do you have any thoughts about how to defend this town? Maybe Darby could be on the roof of the hotel with a rifle.”
Jack shook his head. “Darby couldn’t hit the side of a wall if he was standing ten feet from it. But I do have a couple of ideas. First, though, I want everyone cleared from town. Miss Alisha and her girls. Everyone. I want every building deserted. I’d like you to coordinate it. I want everyone out by sunset.”
Hunter nodded. “I’ll get right on it.”
Miss Alisha currently had five women in her employ, and they rode up to the McCabe ranch in a wagon with Hunter driving. Aunt Ginny stood on the front porch and watched Hunter pull the team to a stop in front of her.
“They can stay in the bunkhouse,” Ginny said. “I’ll have Fred move the men out. They can sleep in bedrolls outside. And Alisha?”
“Yes, ma’am?” Alisha said. She was sitting on the wagon seat with Hunter.
“You and your employees are guests here, but you’re not working. Not even for free. Do you get my meaning?” Ginny fixed her with the Gaze.
Alisha dropped her eyes and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Hunter smiled. The law had spoken. He turned the team around and headed them down to the bunkhouse.
Temperance stepped out of the house to stand beside Aunt Ginny.
“Temperance, we have guests for dinner. A lot of them. We’ll have to prepare more food.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Where’s Bree?”
Temperance said, “I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“Well, find her.”
Bree was out back, a lariat in her hand. The house was three hundred feet behind her as she walked toward a chocolate brown gelding. She wore gloves so the rope wouldn’t rough-up her hand. Fred did this barehanded every day – she didn’t know how he managed it.
She had waited by the kitchen and watched while Hunter drove Miss Alisha and her girls to the bunkhouse, and then she saw Hunter leave again for town. It was then that Bree headed out back to the remuda. She didn’t need anyone seeing her and telling Aunt Ginny where she was. Then Aunt Ginny would call to her, and Bree didn’t need the bother of the argument that would ensue.
“Easy, boy,” Bree said, walking up to the gelding. His head was down and he was munching on some grass. Mountain horses weren’t tall, and this one was just barely fourteen hands. But like most mountain-bred horses, he could run hard and all day.
Bree twirled the loop and dropped it on the gelding. First try. She could handle a rope as well as any man on this ranch. After all, she was Pa’s daughter. The boys weren’t the only ones living in that man’s shadow.
The horse lifted his head suddenly as the loop slipped down his neck, as if to say, Hey, I was eating.
Bree slipped a hackamore over the horse’s head, and said, “Come on, boy.”
The horse twitched an ear at her, then reluctantly started following along.
She led the horse into the barn and a stall, where her saddle waited for her. She had already hauled it in from the tack room. A Winchester was tucked in the saddle boot; she had seen to that.
She fixed a bridle in place, and then dropped a blanket over the horse’s back. Then she grabbed the saddle with one hand on the horn, and hefted. It was heavy, but she was stronger than she looked, and dropped the saddle onto the horse’s back.
That was when the barn door opened and Temperance walked in. “Bree. There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Well, here I am.” She went to work tightening the cinch. Or the girth, as Pa always called it. Pa was forever falling into Texas talk.
“What’re you doing” Temperance said. “We got a lot of mouths to feed tonight. Aunt Ginny’s going to need help.”
“You’ll have to do it without me. I’m riding into town.”
Temperance stood silently for a moment. Then she said, “Aunt Ginny’s not going to like that.”
Bree stopped working with the saddle and turned to face Temperance. “That’s why you’re not going to tell her. I fetched this horse myself so Fred wouldn’t have to do it, so I wouldn’t have to deal with him. I don’t want anyone knowing.”
“But...what am I going to say?”
“Tell her you couldn’t find me.”
“I can’t lie to that woman, Bree. She can cut me in half just by looking at me.”
Bree nodded. “Okay. Then just wait here until I’m gone.”
Temperance was relieved. “I can do that.”
Bree led the horse out of the barn and stepped up and into the saddle.
Temperance said, “It’s gonna be dark in a few hours.”
“It’s okay. I won’t be coming back tonight.”
Temperance gave her a little frown. She wasn’t sure just what Bree had in mind.
Bree said, “Take care of things while I’m gone.”
And she turned her horse across the grassy meadow and toward the small trail that would come out behind Hunter’s.
Temperance shook her head. She had come to love Bree like a sister, but sometimes didn’t know just what was going on in that girl’s head. She turned back toward the house and saw Aunt Ginny standing on the front porch. At first she felt a small wave of panic begin to rise, but then realized Bree had told her she didn’t have to lie. She walked toward the house and climbed the steps to the porch.
Temperance said, “I told her we needed her help, but she told me you and I would have to handle things ourselves.”
Ginny was looking off toward Bree, who was already tiny in the distance.
Temperance said, “She said she’s going off to town, and won’t be back tonight. I declare, I sometimes have no idea what she’s thinking.”
Ginny said, “I do. She’s being her father’s daughter.”
Emily Harding, or more properly Emily Carter, stepped into the cabin to find Carter buckling on his gunbelt. The one Jack McCabe had taken from the outlaws, back on the trail.
“Carter,” she said, “what are you doing?”
He said, “Going into town.”
“What on Earth for? You know what’s going on there?”
Abel and Age Brewster had just come by on their way home from town, and had told them all about it.
“I can’t let that boy stand against those men alone.”
“Carter.”
He pulled the pistol and checked the loads, and as he slapped the pistol back into the holster, Nina stepped
in.
She said, “Father, what’s going on?
Emily said, “Your father is going into town, to help Jack McCabe face down those outlaws.”
“Father? No. You can’t.”
He nodded. “I have to. I can’t let him face them men alone. Just him and that city slicker.”
Emily said, “One minute you hate that boy, and the next you’re willing to do this?”
“I never hated him.” Carter grabbed his floppy, wide-brimmed hat. “I just didn’t want Nina to build a life with a man like that.”
He looked at Nina. “But maybe I was wrong. That man’s the same kind of man I am, and I did okay by you and your mother.”
Nina was standing wide-eyed. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t even breathe.
Emily stepped in front of her husband. “Carter, you could get yourself killed.”
He said, “Part of bein’ the kind of man him and me are.”
He stepped around her, then stopped and gave his daughter a peck on the cheek, and then was out the door.
Jeb Arthur had a wagon hitched. Flossy was already sitting in back.
“Jeb,” Jack said, “I want you to take the women out to the ranch. And stay there yourself until this is over.”
Jeb nodded.
Jessica stood beside the wagon, looking first to Jack and then to Darby.
She said to Darby, “I don’t want to go.”
He said, “You have to.”
“Then, come with me. You don’t have to stand here and face these men.”
He nodded. “Don’t you see? I have to, if I’m going to be the kind of man who’s worthy of being by your side.”
“That’s nonsense. You’ll get yourself killed.”
“No, it’s not nonsense. Jack explained it to me a couple different times over the years. It all seemed fun, hearing this talk of western bravado. But now I think I understand it. In a land like this, a man has to stand as a man.”
“Darby..,”
She had tears forming, and so he pulled her in for a hug. He said, “When it’s over, I’ll come out and get you.”
One Man's Shadow (The McCabes Book 2) Page 41