by Art Isberg
‘I agree, Mr Miller. We can have a more expansive conversation once we reach the railhead and my personal car, without having to shout at each other. Enjoy the ride, it’s free on me!’
Two days later, F.W. sat in his padded chair, smoking a cigar, while Judd sat across from him, carefully going over the events of the last few months in detail. When he finished, Thurston let out a long sigh of displeasure.
‘So, what you’re telling me is I’m sitting here listening to all this from a wanted man with a price on his head,’ he paused. ‘Am I correct?’
‘You are, and I am. But from what you’ve already told me, I now know Cyrus Toomey had to have a hand in what happened to my brother and me. He knew about your plans, and tried to have us both killed, to get his hands on our ranch. Some of what I’ve done after I fled from my place, I had no choice in doing. I had to defend myself, or die. It was just that simple. Yeah, I’ve used this six-gun more times than maybe I wanted to, but it was me or the men I had to face. I won’t make any excuses for that.’
F.W. stroked his beard, taking a small sip from his brandy snifter, before speaking. ‘I’ve always thought of myself to be a good judge of character. I’ve had to be, to deal with the men I know in the business world. Your story sounds so improbable, I’m compelled to believe it. I don’t think anyone could make it up. This means that any prior dealings I had with Cyrus Toomey are over. He’s far more than a mayor. He may even be subject to a criminal investigation for murder. Come over to my map table.’ Thurston got to his feet, beckoning Miller to follow.
The large map spread out noted the date and progress of the rail-laying crew, plus a dotted line for the way ahead and the progress expected to be met. F.W. put a finger down tracing the route he’d take when it reached the first high country at Red Bluffs. ‘Here is where I must begin the climb up and over the mountains. Does any of this look familiar to you?’
Judd leaned closer, pointing out his ranch property. ‘That’s my place.’ He looked over at Thurston.
‘And that is exactly the piece of land I was trying to negotiate with your mayor. I now also know all you’ve told me is the truth. The only question left is, what you mean to do about it?’
Judd replied, ‘The first thing I have to find out is if Toomey or any of his cronies have tried to take my property away from me. He owns the few officials that Red Bluffs has, so he can get away with practically anything. If I can prove the land is still mine, will you deal with me on a sale for your right of way?’
‘I will, but exactly how do you intend to accomplish that?’
‘I’ll have to ride out of here back to my friends and come up with something on the way. How long before you think you’ll reach Red Bluffs?’
‘At our current rate of laying steel, I’d say it should take another two and a half weeks. Once I get there, I’ll either offer a contract to you, or be forced to change plans to take another route into the high country. That choice would be prohibitively costly, and I know my investors would not look favourably upon my doing so. I’d much prefer we can conclude a deal, and for more than just the money end, after what you’ve told me about all that’s happened to you and your brother. There has to be some sense of justice introduced into all this. If you can flush out this mayor of yours for what you believe he might have done, I’ll instruct my attorneys to defend you in any sort of legal proceedings about what has happened to you. You know what a good lawyer is worth, don’t you?’
‘No, I can’t say I do.’
‘A good lawyer is worth ten men with shotguns. Don’t forget that.’
‘I appreciate that offer. I’ll probably need all the legal help I can get before all this is over. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks, in Red Bluffs.’
Both men shook hands, and Thurston walked Judd to the door of his railcar, watching him saddle up and start away. F.W. stroked his beard, while puffing on a thick cigar, and whispered to himself as he turned away to close the door: ‘I hope God is riding with you, cowboy. Because no one else will be, and you’ll need all the help you can get!’
Miller pushed the tired horse steadily west, reaching the first foothills in four days. Three more brought him to the wagon camp on the ridge, arriving minutes before sundown. Lacey heard the horse coming in first, while Moses sat on the tailgate of his wagon, still nursing the savage dragging he’d taken at the hands of Jared Bass.
‘Moses, he’s back!’ Lacey dropped the armload of firewood she was carrying, as Judd rode in, pulling to a stop with a tired smile on his face. As he eased himself down out of the saddle, she ran up and wrapped both arms around him, burying her head in his chest. ‘I’m so glad you’re home safe. I couldn’t stop worrying about you!’ She fought back tears.
The preacher got to his feet with a grunt of pain, a smile spreading across his thin gaunt face, as he came up. ‘I prayed hard for you, boy. I knew the Good Lord would watch over you, I knew it.’ He clamped both hands around Judd’s shoulders.
That evening, eating dinner over a small campfire, Judd explained all he’d learned in his meeting with F.W. Thurston. ‘I’ve got to see if my land deed is still in my name, after all this time, or whether Toomey and his pals have changed it.’
‘But how are you going to do that?’ Lacey wondered out loud. ‘If you show your face in town, they’ll have you arrested and thrown in jail, or worse.’
‘I’ve had plenty of time to think about that on my way back here. I’m convinced the only way is for me to go into town at night.’
‘That sounds dangerous to me, too.’ Moses slowly shook his head.
‘It is, but it’s the only way I can do what I have to, if I can get some help doing it.’
‘Help? Who is going to help a wanted man? The whole town would like to get their hands on that reward money.’ The worry in Lacey’s voice was obvious.
‘The kind of help I’m talking about won’t have any choice. Toomey uses a local judge, Westin Carlyle, for all his legal dealings. If anyone knows about my land deed, it’s Carlyle. I mean to use him, too.’
‘Why would he help you?’ Moses questioned.
‘He won’t have any choice. I’m shall go into town tomorrow night and convince him.’
The ghostly glow of a half moon lit the large, two-storey Carlyle house and the expensive, wrought-iron fence surrounding it, showing up the dark shadow of Judd Miller as he eased over the backyard fence and quietly made his way up to the tall building. A wooden latticework stood against the house, woven with thick climbing vines. Miller tested it for steadiness, before carefully beginning a slow climb up to the second-floor balcony.
Reaching it, he climbed over the porch rail, stopping a moment to catch his breath, surveying double doors leading inside. At the door he tested the knob with a firm twist. It did not budge. He tried a second time with both hands. Still it did not give. Lifting his six-gun from its holster, he gripped it by the barrel and used the pistol grip as a hammer, striking the door glass in short, quick strokes until it broke. Reaching inside, he found the key still in the lock. One twist and he stepped inside.
Instead of the bedroom he expected, he found himself in a large study and office. Crossing the room to a second door, he eased it slowly open, revealing a large bedroom with a four-poster bed against the far wall. Covered in thick blankets up to his neck lay Westin Carlyle, snoring peacefully in his fancy nightcap, his silver white hair sticking out from under the cap. Judd stepped to the bed, the pistol still in his hands, levelling the cold steel barrel against Carlyle’s exposed neck.
‘Wake up!’ he whispered in a low, firm voice.
Carlyle mumbled something, trying to push away the annoying object pressing against his neck.
‘I said, wake up!’ Miller yanked the cap off Carlyle’s head, grabbing him by his nightshirt and pulling him upright into a sitting position, his eyes still closed, struggling to realize what was happening to him.
‘What . . . who . . . is it?’ He rubbed his eyes open, trying to focus
in the dimly lit room.
‘Listen to me, you old crook. You’re going with me downtown to your office. Wake up and get some clothes on, or I’ll drag you there in your nightshirt!’
Westin blinked hard, trying to make some sense of what was happening to him, and who was doing it. Judd pulled him closer, face to face, until he realized who it was.
‘Miller . . . I thought you were . . . dead. Have you gone crazy? They’ll hang you for this, too.’
‘I said, get up and get some clothes on!’ He dragged the old man to his feet. ‘You and I are going to take a close look at my land deed. Get moving!’
‘You mean the deed to your property?’
‘That’s exactly what I mean. Start dressing.’
‘We don’t have to go to my office down town.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘I keep things like that right here in my home, in the next room.’
Judd lit the coal oil lamp and sat it on the office desk, while Carlyle knelt in front of a big black wheel-safe, slowly twisting the combination on its dial until the tumblers clicked and the heavy steel door swung open. He brought up a large, flat steel box, and laid it on the desk. Opening the lid, he shuffled through a sheaf of papers, finally coming up with the Miller land deed, reading it a moment before handing it to Judd.
‘I’m afraid . . . you don’t own this piece of property any more,’ he hesitated, staring at Judd with fear in his eyes.
‘What do you mean, I don’t own my own ranchland?’
He shoved Carlyle into a chair behind the desk, reading it for himself. His name and his brother Randall had been crossed out on the title, and Cyprus Toomey’s name was handwritten in above it. Judd looked up with fire in his eyes.
‘You get a piece of paper and that pen and inkwell. You’re going to write down that the original land deed is valid, and Toomey’s name is a fraud, put there by you. Date it today, so there’s no question when you amended it.’
Westin stared back, swallowing just once as his face dropped and his mouth opened to speak. ‘But . . . I could be jailed for forgery and fraud, tampering with an official document like this. I’d lose my judgeship . . . I’d be disbarred.’
Judd levelled the six-gun, pushing the barrel hard against Carlyle’s chest, as he leaned down face to face with the white-haired man. ‘You’ll never get that far, if you don’t start writing right now. I’ve killed more than one man. One more won’t make any difference now.’
Westin picked up the pen and dipped it in the inkwell, but his hand was shaking so badly he couldn’t begin to write. ‘I need a drink of bourbon, to steady myself.’ He nodded towards a fancy glass decanter on the end of the desk, next to a silver glass holder. Judd pulled it over and watched as Carlyle poured bourbon into the stubby glass to the rim, and tipped it up in one quick motion.
‘All right, now that you’ve got yourself some backbone, start writing,’ Miller ordered.
The judge carefully wrote in the new addendum to the deed, all the while beads of nervous perspiration breaking out on his lined face. When he had finished, he sank back in the chair, a defeated man who knew that his career, position and wealth had been suddenly ended, and by his own hand.
‘I suppose you know that what I’ve done here means I’m going to end up in jail?’ He looked up at Judd’s stare. ‘I’m too old to serve time. I’d die in a prison.’
‘You should have thought of that before you threw in with Toomey. You knew what he was, just like everyone else around here. If you’re looking for sympathy, forget it. I lost my brother because of you and him. I’m taking Toomey and Bass down next.’
‘I had nothing to do with that killing.’
‘The hell you didn’t. This land swindle you helped start was exactly why Randall was killed, and you helped pull the trigger. If they hang you along with the others, I couldn’t care less. Now you can go run to him and tell him what you’ve done here. But he won’t be your partner for two seconds, when you do. He’ll cut you loose to fend for yourself, or have Bass come in here and take care of you his way. Whatever happens, you’ve earned it.’
Judd rolled up the deed in a tight cylinder, slipping it inside his jacket and holstering his six-gun. Crossing the room he opened the double doors, disappearing down the trellis, leaving Westin Carlyle sitting at his desk. He turned out the lamp and lowered his head into both hands, wondering what to do next.
Jared Bass was finally back on his feet, as he stepped into Cyrus Toomey’s office, ready to go back to work and do his boss’s bidding.
‘I’m glad to see you up and around,’ Toomey greeted him as he approached his desk. ‘The first thing I want you to do, is get over to Carlyle’s house and tell him I want the Miller land deed he keeps in his safe. The railroad should be coming closer by now, and I want it in my hands to start dealing with this F.W. Thurston, who runs the whole thing.’
Just twenty minutes later, Bass burst back into Toomey’s office. ‘You ain’t gonna believe this!’ he almost shouted.
‘Believe what?’
‘The judge has hung himself! He’s dead! I found him strung up from a roof beam in his bedroom, and this note was tucked into his pyjama pocket!’ He handed it to Toomey, who was too stunned even to speak for a moment, as he unfolded the small piece of paper and began reading it:
Cyrus. This dangerous game we’ve been playing is over. Judd Miller knows all about it. I won’t be put in a jail cell to rot what few years I have left to me. You’re on your own, now. Goodbye.
‘Miller is back here in town!’ The mayor’s voice suddenly rose to a sinister shout, as he jumped up from behind his desk. ‘You find him and kill him! Not like the last time when you thought the desert did the job for you! And now you don’t have to wonder any more who bushwhacked you and horse dragged you up and down the street, either. Get out of here and do what I say, or we’ll all swing together!’
CHAPTER NINE
Back in the ridgeline camp, Judd pulled the deed out of his jacket and showed it to Lacey and Moses, without opening it.
‘You sure got what you needed, to flush out this mayor and his pals,’ Moses nodded with a thin smile.
‘Yes, but it also did one other thing,’ Judd admitted.
‘What’s that?’ Lacey asked.
‘Toomey and his friends now know I’m back here, and that means they’ll be riding all over the country trying to find me. Sooner or later they’ll show up here, and that puts you two in real danger. I can’t let that happen. I want both of you to pack and leave here early tomorrow morning. I’ll draw you a map of how to get down out of this country into the prairie, and directions to Thurston’s track-laying crews.’
‘No, I won’t go. Don’t ask me to do that, Judd!’ Lacey’s sudden outburst of emotion caught both men off guard. ‘I’m not going to see another man I love taken away from me. I won’t do it!’ She shook with emotion.
Judd grabbed her by both shoulders, pulling her face to face. ‘Listen to me, Lacey. You have to go. You and Moses must get this deed to Thurston. He’ll buy my property. He’s already told me so. And there’s one other thing I wasn’t going to tell you, but now I have to. I had Carlyle put your name on the deed next to mine. If something does happen to me, at least I’ll know you’ll be able to sell it to the railroad, and make some real money from it. You’d be able to do anything you want, go anyplace you’d like to. You can’t do that by staying here. Everything I’ve done would be for nothing. Now do you understand why you have to go?’
She pushed her head into Judd’s chest, her eyes brimming with hot tears, trying to choke out a question. ‘What good would all this do . . . if I didn’t have you to do it with?’
‘At least I’d know you had the land, and no one else could ever get their hands on it. That’s everything to me.’ Judd looked to Moses, standing near by. ‘You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?’
The preacher nodded before speaking. ‘I don’t like the idea of you taking on Toom
ey and his men by yourself. I know how good you are with that cross-draw six-gun, but that’s long odds, Judd. I’d like to stay and help out, you have to know that. All I can do is pray for you if we leave. It worked pretty well before, so maybe it will again, if I haven’t worn out my welcome with the Lord.’
‘I want both of you out of here first thing in the morning. When I’m finished with Toomey and anyone else, I’ll ride for the railhead, and meet you there. I just don’t know how long that might take.’
Judd knew his words were a tall promise he might not be able to keep. But for Lacey’s sake he hoped it sounded positive. The look on Moses’ face said that he understood that too, without saying so.
Dawn was only a thin grey slash in the eastern sky when the wagon started away down the ridge, with Lacey leaning out looking back, waving goodbye. Judd raised his hand, a thin smile on his lips. Once the wagon went out of sight, he scattered the fire-pit stones, cleaning up the camp of any debris that might show how recently they’d been there. He expected Jared Bass would be the deputy that Toomey would use to try and find him, plus any other gun hands the mayor might be able to hire. Miller knew Moses was right, when he said long odds were against him. But he also knew that the best way to reduce those odds was by taking on Toomey’s men under the cover of darkness. Night-time was now his friend: it helped even the score. He’d use every minute of it to his advantage, until dawn lit the land again and he faded out of sight like a disappearing shadow.
Late that afternoon a forbidding, blood-red sun sank into a crimson-backed sky, as if foretelling that death was coming to someone in Red Bluffs, once again. Judd had stayed out of town all that day, hiding in the hills, but by night he could still see the distant glow of street lamps and the dark contour of buildings. As he watched, a sudden flare of lit torches danced like so many fireflies, while riders gathered on the street under orders from Jared Bass, to search for him. A few moments later, the posse rode out of town until their flaming clubs were lost from sight in thick timber.
