On the second day, he walked into the bank in town with his saddlebags and met with the bank manager, a man by the name of Ed Galloway. He handed the bank manager all the cash in his saddlebags and his pockets and told the manager to wire the money to his bank in black creek, but he kept a few thousand dollars on him. He handed Galloway a slip of paper with all his bank information on it along with his banker’s name, Mr. Jameson.
“Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Williams?” asked Ed.
“Yeah, does the bank have any houses in town for sale?”
“We have three of them at the moment.”
“Which one is the nicest one?”
“That would be old Mrs. Wittenburg’s house,” he explained. “It’s the most expensive one also. It’s fully furnished and has a new cook stove. It’ll cost you two thousand dollars. Would you like to take out a note on it?”
“No, take it out of the cash I gave you to wire to my bank and make sure you put Jane Lacey’s name on the deed,” explained Jess.
“That’s a mighty generous thing for you to do,” exclaimed Galloway. “I’ll have someone go over there and air it out and clean it up for you. Will there be anything else?”
“Yes, I want to open an account in Jane Lacey’s name as well,” said Jess, unbuttoning the front of his shirt and pulling the two bundles of cash out he got from Walt Mercer. Galloway gave Jess the strangest look when he did that.
“I suppose you’ve got money stashed in your boots, too?” Galloway asked sarcastically.
“Nope, that’s all of it,” he grinned.
Jess finally walked out of the bank and headed for the general store and ordered everything one would need for a house. Canned goods and food supplies along with cups, plates, silverware and anything else he could think of. He paid for it all and had the store clerk arrange to have it all delivered to the Wittenburg home, which was on second street. The clerk agreed and called to his young son in the back.
Jess walked out of the store and saw Lefty Gilpin and Callen Lauter walking out of the Crooked Cork. Gilpin had on the most expensive pair of black and white boots Jess had ever saw and his head was topped off with a very nice black hat with silver studding going all the way around it. He walked over to see them.
“How do you like my new boots?” asked Gilpin, grinning from ear to ear. Jess smiled at him and quickly pulled his pistol out and pointed it at Gilpin’s right boot and Gilpin stiffened and let out a yelp that sounded like something that would have come out of an old woman.
“Just kidding,” said Jess, chuckling along with Lauter as he holstered his pistol.
“That weren’t even funny!” cried Gilpin in a hurtful tone. Lauter kept laughing and he looked at his partner.
“No, that was funny,” said Lauter. “You should have seen the look on your face when he did that. And what the hell was that little noise you made?”
“Maybe I’m gonna see the look on your face when I plug you in the foot,” warned Gilpin. Lauter tried to contain his laughter, but he wasn’t having much luck with it.
“Well, we’s leavin’ town today now that my foot is better,” said Gilpin. “Nice doin’ business with ya’ Williams.”
“Take care of that foot, Lefty,” said Jess, placing emphasis on the last word and Gilpin sneered amusingly at Jess.
Lauter and Gilpin walked down to the livery where Jubal Burch was now working after getting fired from his job as Sheriff. Burch saddled up their two horses and Gilpin threw Burch a five dollars gold piece, feeling like a rich man now. Burch caught it and smiled. The two of them climbed up in the saddle and gave Burch one more smile before riding out.
“Adios Sheriff,” exclaimed Gilpin.
“It’s just Jubal from now on,” explained Burch as the two of them rode off.
***
Jess hung around Defiance a few more days. He shared a few drinks with Brack Wright in the Crooked Cork and Wright finally rode out of town, on the trail of another wanted man. When Jess heard that Jane was up and walking around, he went to her room to see her. He knocked on her door and when she answered it, she still looked a little pale in the face.
“I’m glad to see you’re finally up and around,” said Jess, closing the door behind him.
“I thought I was going to die there for the first few days,” said Jane weakly as she sat down in the heavily padded chair. “I suppose you’re leaving town now that this is all over?”
“Yeah, probably tomorrow,” replied Jess. “But I was hoping you might decide to live in town now. I don’t think living out on the open range is a good idea for a single woman.”
“I don’t have a house or the money to buy one anyway and I certainly can’t afford this very nice hotel room you paid for, and thank you by the way for that,” said Jane, looking around at the large room. “Oh, I still have that money you gave me and I want you to take it back since I won’t need to be running from Mercer now.”
“No, you keep that money,” said Jess. “I don’t really need it. You can deposit it in the bank and live off it until you get back on your feet. Just consider it part of the twenty-five thousand dollars that Walt Mercer paid me.”
“But it’s not my money,” complained Jane.
“Hell, when you think about it, it wasn’t really my money either and besides, you’ve earned it with everything you’ve been through with Walt Mercer,” implied Jess. “I’ve paid for this room for another three days, so you can stay here until then.” Jane thought about the money and finally relented.
“I suppose I really could use the money,” agreed Jane. “I’ve got nothing else left. I’m hoping to get a job here in town, maybe working with Marta and her sister in their little eatery.”
“Well, I’ll be leaving tomorrow morning,” said Jess. “You take care of yourself and stay in this room and rest for the next few days.”
“I promise, and thank you for everything you’ve done for me,” said Jane. “You’re the only good thing that’s happened to me in a long while.” She stood up and gave him a weak hug and kissed him on his cheek.
The next morning, Jess took his things down to the livery and found Rubin Fisher shoveling manure out of a stall. Jubal Burch was rubbing down a big roan horse. Jess smiled at Rubin.
“Decided to stick around?” Jess asked Rubin.
“Yeah, I don’t have to worry about Mercer anymore, so I might as well stay here as anyplace else,” said Rubin shrugging his shoulders. Jess started to saddle up Gray and Sharps.
“I suppose you’re off to hunt down another wanted man?” asked Burch.
“Actually, I think I’m going back to Stratton, Texas, and take another few days off,” said Jess. “They’ve got a real nice hotel there with a great café and a very pretty woman running it.”
“Sounds like a man with a plan,” exclaimed Burch.
Jess finished saddling up his horses and packing his saddlebags with some supplies he had purchased at the general store earlier and when he did, he saw that he had missed some of the cash he had in them. He pulled out six hundred dollars and smiled. He turned around and handed Burch and Fisher each three hundred dollars. They were both shocked and surprised by the generous gesture.
“Why are you giving me this money?” asked Burch.
“Well, I did get you fired,” offered Jess. “And Rubin here did tell the truth about what happened and it might have cost him his life if things hadn’t worked out the way they did.”
“It must be nice being a rich man,” said a smiling Burch as he pocketed the money. Jess swung effortlessly into the saddle and smiled at the two men.
“It does have its rewards sometimes,” said Jess as he nudged Gray into a walk heading out of Defiance.
***
Three days later, Jane checked out of the large suite and walked over to the bank to deposit most of the two thousand dollars that Jess gave her. She kept out fifty dollars to rent a room at a little boarding house in town. When she walked in, the manager, Ed Galloway, quickly got
out of his chair from behind his desk and briskly walked over to her.
“I’m glad to see you up and around Ms. Lacey,” exclaimed Galloway. “What can I do for you today?”
“I’d like to open an account with the bank,” explained Jane. Galloway gave her a confused look and tilted his head.
“But you already have an account here Ms. Lacey,” said Galloway.
“What?” she asked with a strange and dubious look on her face. “I don’t understand? I came in to deposit this money that Mr. Williams let me keep.”
“Well, Mr. Williams already opened up an account for you, but I can add this money you brought in to the account if you wish,” offered Galloway. Jane handed the nineteen hundred and fifty dollars to him in an almost automated manner, still stunned by the news that she already had an account in the bank. Galloway took the money and started filling out some paperwork while he had a teller come over and take the cash. He didn’t even look up from the paperwork when he said, “I suppose you’ll be moving into your house today, too?”
The End
Read the Entire Series of Jess Williams Westerns (Listed in Order)…
THE RECKONING
BROTHER’S KEEPER
SINS OF THE FATHER
THE BURNING
THE DODGE CITY MASSACRE
HELL HATH NO FURY
THE RIVER RUNS RED
DEATH DANCE
BLOOD TRAIL
BADGE OF HONOR
LONG GUNS
WANTED
TIN MAN
RETRIBUTION
HIRED GUN
HUNTED
RESURRECTION
IN COLD BLOOD
REAGAN’S RIDERS
THE BOUNTY
WAGON TRAIN
THE KILLING
HOMBRE
BODY COUNT
HUNT DOWN
FROM THE GRAVE
BLACK RAVEN
THE BOUNTY HUNTERS
TO HELL AND BACK
MACHETE
STREETS OF LAREDO
RIDE OF REVENGE
COLD JUSTICE
GOD’S GUN
DARK CLOUD
REDEMPTION
TROUBLE IN NAVARRO
BLACK HEART
THE JOURNEY
THE TRANSPORT
COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK IN THE JESS WILLIAMS WESTERN SERIES
THE BOUNTY: Twentieth in a Series of Jess Williams Westerns (A Jess Williams Western Book 20) Page 18