“Why do you get the bunk?” Bud Gorman complained.
“Because I’m the boss, that’s why,” Frankie the Kid said. He was lying flat on his back on the solitary bunk in the cell. It wasn’t much. Just a rough wooden frame and a straw filled mattress. The fabric was dirty and dingy. It smelled musty. “Besides, my back hurts like crazy.”
“You mean from where that girl beat you up?” Bud said, leaning his back against the barred cell door.
“How many times, I gotta tell you,” Frankie whined. “No girl beat me up. She fell off her horse and landed on me. She was just lucky is all.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Garth Peters said from the next cell. Only a steel barred partition separated them. He was sitting on the solitary bunk in that cell. Pete was sitting next to him, his legs outstretched in front of him with his ankles crossed. He was leaning back in a half reclining position with the back of his head against the wall. “You’ve told us that a million times.”
“Well that’s the way it happened.” Frankie snapped angrily and started to rise, but pain shot through his bruised spine. He groaned and sank back onto the mattress.
“We believe you, Kid,” Garth said. “Maybe you wouldn’t get so mad if you believed it yourself.”
“Just shut up,” Frankie said, staring at the ceiling, ignoring everything but his pain. He didn’t hear the outer office door open and the deputy greeting someone. It wasn’t until the new comer strode into the cell area that Frankie turned his head and saw Matt Starr approaching.
“Comfy, gentlemen?” Matt mocked as he passed up the two cells and on to the third.
Dandy Jim Butler and Jeremy Carlin occupied this cell. Both of them had protested against being housed in the same cage as any of the juvenile outlaws and Deputy Sims saw the advantage of giving them their request. Butler had been gazing out the barred window that faced out to an alley behind the jail. Jeremy was lying on the bunk.
Jeremy sat bolt upright when he saw the lawman and Butler turned away from the window at the sudden movement.
“You come to get me out of here, Marshal?” Dandy Jim said as he stepped up to the bars, facing Matt on the other side.
“No. Not yet,” Matt said. “Tomorrow. There’s another stage out in the morning. We’ll be on it.”
“Matt! What about me?” Jeremy jumped to his feet and rushed up.
“I don’t know, kid,” Matt said, sounding deeply concerned. His brow furrowed.
Jeremy stepped back. His eyes flared with anger. “I told Kitty, we could never trust you. You’re just another law dog like all the rest.”
“Before you get too excited, Jeremy, there’s a few things, we need to get straight. Then maybe I can see what I can do.”
“You can’t do nothing,” Jeremy scoffed. “You said so yourself. You’re leaving tomorrow. What chance will I have then, with Price and Trask calling the tune?”
“We’ll see,” Matt said in a quiet voice “Come close to the bars. We need to talk.” He nodded his head toward the other cells indicating he didn‘t want their conversation to be overheard.
Jeremy stared at the lawman, his face still flushed with anger.
“I’m telling you, boy,” Matt pleaded. “We’ve got to talk. Now come here.”
Jeremy thought about it for a moment, then shuffled forward toward the bars.
“Jeremy,” Matt said. “Did you and the others rob the bank?”
“We told you a million times. Of course we didn’t.” His voice rose in anger.
Matt raised his palms signaling Jeremy to lower his voice. “Not so loud,” he said. “Just settle down and tell me where you got the money from.”
“There were five other guys. Dressed like us, so they could put the blame on us. We saw them coming out of the bank. Sure, we was there to rob the bank ourselves, but they beat us to it. We tracked them down and took the money away from them.”
“How much money was there.?” Matt asked.
“I don’t know,” Jeremy said. He thought a moment. “We never did take time to count it.”
“Was there more than one bag?”
“No, just the one. Why?’
“Price said there was twenty thousand stolen.”
“Twenty thousand! “Jeremy exclaimed, his voice booming with excitement. Heads turned in the other two cells,
“Keep it down,” Matt urged, keeping his own voice low.
“Sorry,” Jeremy said, lowering his voice and noticing the piqued interest of the teenage prisoners. “It’s just that we had no idea.” His voice was almost a whisper now.
“There wasn’t quite eight thousand dollars in that bag when I opened it. What happened to the rest of it?”
“I don’t know,” Jeremy said. “All I know is, that’s all there was.”
“Now Jeremy, if there was a copycat gang……”
“There was. There was.” Jeremy interrupted. “I swear there was.”
“Take it easy, boy,” Matt said calmly. “I believe you. But are you sure you got all of the loot from them?”
“Of course. We searched the men, the camp and all the saddles. We got all they had.”
“Then what happened to the rest of the twenty thousand?”
“I don’t know. How would I know?”
“Of course you wouldn’t, Jeremy. I’m just asking myself questions out loud.” Matt thought for a moment. “Maybe there never was twenty thousand to begin with. Maybe Price inflated the amount.”
“You think he staged the robbery to blame it on us and he’s keeping the money for himself?”
“Could be,” Matt mused.
“But it’s his bank. His money,” Jeremy said.
“No. It’s depositor’s money. He has to be able to account to them and there are always bank examiners keeping watch. I wonder if that’s a possibility. What better way to hide missing funds than to stage a robbery. And blaming it on the Wildcat gang would be icing on the cake.”
“Why that low down skunk,” Jeremy exclaimed. “You going to arrest him?”
“I can’t. There’s no proof of anything. As far as anyone is concerned your sister, Cyclone and the others are wanted for the crime.”
“Then what are you going to do, then?” Jeremy demanded.
“I don’t know,” Matt answered. “There’s really nothing I can do until I get back from Tucson in a couple of weeks.”
“What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
“Just hang on, kid. Hang on and hope for the best.”
“Hope for the best? Price will have me strung up before you get back.”
“Cyclone and Kitty won’t let that happen.”
“Maybe that’s what Price is counting on. Maybe I’m bait. Maybe he’ll get us all. Have you thought of that?”
“Yes,” Matt said grimly and sighed. “Yes, I have.”
“Starr’s over at the jail, right now,” Peso Martin said. He was standing in Simon Price’s office with his back against the closed door. Price was sitting behind his desk and Flo lounged lazily in the overstuffed chair in the corner as usual. Harvey Trask leaned against a filing cabinet on the other side of the room. “He made a beeline for it, right after he left your office. What happened in here, anyhow?”
“He opened the bag of money from the robbery right in front of me. He knows there wasn’t twenty thousand there,” Price said rapidly. He swiveled nervously in his chair.
“So? You say the Wildcats still have it,” Peso said. “Nothing’s changed. You can still pull this off.”
“That’s what I told him, you fool,” Price retorted. Peso didn’t like being called a fool, but he let it go this time.
“But, you don’t think he believed you, do you?”
“Of course not. He’s suspicious all right and you can bet he’s over at the jail right now to find out from Jeremy about the money.”
“Jeremy Carlin is an outlaw,” Peso said. “Who’s going to believe anything he says.”
“You’re forgetting Matt Star
r is sweet on Kitty Carlin. Oh, he’ll believe him all right,” Price whined. He jumped up from his chair a started to pace about. He thrust his fisted hands into his pants pockets and fanned them outward. He was rattling coins together within the confines of the fabric.
“Yeah, but Starr’s got to leave town with that gambler soon,” Trask said. “Once he’s gone, we should have clear sailing.”
Price glared at the lawman. “Clear sailing? You say?”
“I was just thinking……..” Trask started.
“Best you leave the thinking to me, you bone head. We still got Kitty Carlin and her gang to worry about. If Starr’s figured out what’s happening, Jeremy will know it too.”
“So what?” Trask persisted. “Jeremy’s in jail. There’s nothing he can do about it.”
“Between Starr and Jeremy, the Wildcats are bound to find out. They’ll be after my hide for sure.” Simon whirled on his feet, pulling his hand from his pocket and shaking his fist.
“So? We kill them all,” Peso put in nonchalantly. “Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
“Yes,” Simon growled thrusting his pudgy face close to Martin’s. “But it’s not that easy. We have to get to them first.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Peso said turning his head to the side as if the banker had bad breath. “They’ll be coming to get Jeremy. When they do, we gun them down.”
“Peso Martin, you haven’t got the brains of a jackass. Kitty Carlin and her granddad aren’t going to do that. You know why?” Price didn’t wait for an answer. He supplied it himself. “Because, they know we would expect them to do that, so they won’t.”
“Then what will they do?” Trask asked.
Simon whirled toward the lawman. “I don’t know!” He shouted. “But they’ll do something.”
Peso shot a furtive glance toward Flo. She shrugged with annoyance. They both knew Simon was coming unglued. Simon turned and caught the exchange.
“What?” Price demanded. “You think I’m running scared? I’ll tell you I don’t scare that easy.”
“Then what’s all this blustering about, Simon?” Flo said as if she were bored.
“I’m not blustering,” Price protested. “I’m just thinking out loud.”
Peso wanted to say, ”Sure, boss.” But refrained.
“And I’m thinking right now of a plan that will keep the Carlins from finding out anything.” He glanced to each of his associates. A wry smile began to curl his lips.
“Matt Starr will be out of town. He won’t be talking to anyone. And with Jeremy dead, he won’t be talking either.”
“But Jeremy’s not dead,” Trask interjected. “He’s in jail.”
“I know that,” Price answered. “”Now he’s in jail, but he’s going to be dead when he tries to break out.”
“You mean, we shoot him escaping? But how’s he going to do that?’
“You idiot, Trask,” Price fumed. “He’s going to have help with that.”
“”You mean when the gang comes to get him out? You just said, they ain’t gonna do that.”
“No, you nitwit.” Price was in the lawman’s face now. “They’re not going to do it. We are.”
“We are?” Trask still couldn’t seem to make sense of it.
“Yes and we’re going to do it tonight.”
“Tonight?” Peso went on guard with that. “Matt Starr’s still here. Why not wait until he’s gone?”
“Because,” Price said making his words slow and deliberate. “We can’t risk the Carlin’s getting to Jeremy before the bank examiner gets here. Besides, I want that boy dead anyhow. One less Carlin to deal with. That will serve Kitty Carlin right. She‘ll be sorry she ever messed with Simon Price.”
“I’ll bet you’re sorry, you ever messed with Kitty Carlin,” Peso Martin thought to himself.
Then he said, “Are you sure you’re thinking straight, boss? Sounds like you’re thinking more about revenge than anything else.”
“Don’t you dare question my motives,” Price snapped. “I know what I’m doing.”
“I just thought…..” Peso started.
“Now you don’t start that too. Like I told Trask I do the thinking around here.”
Peso glanced again toward Flo. Again she shrugged.
“Now that we’re all agreed who is boss and who is doing the thinking, I’m going to tell you my plan. I have a job for each one of you to do. Trask,” he started. “I want you to keep out of sight for a while.” Then to Peso and Flo. “And you two……” He outlined the rest of his plan.
When he finished, Peso said. “What about Matt Starr, if anything goes wrong.?”
“Then, I guess you’ll just have to kill him. Won’t you.” Simon Price grinned with anticipated satisfaction.
Chapter Seventeen
Wildcat Kitty and the Cyclone Kid Page 18