by Bill Sheehy
Standing with her back against the wall she reached around to softly close the door. With her pistol hanging down her side she waited, letting her eyes adjust. A stub of a candle sitting in a flat holder gave off weak light leaving her in the shadows. Looking closely she caught her breath. There were two mounds in the bed, two bodies lying under the thin flannel sheet. It didn’t matter. Stepping to the foot of the bed, she pointed her gun at the man’s head. ‘Mr Drazen, come awake,’ she said in a loud hard voice. ‘I want some answers.’
Not taking her eyes off the man, she didn’t notice the woman lying next to him come awake. Holding the sheet over her breasts, the woman sat up giving a soft scream.
‘Jackson,’ said the woman, staring into the darkness and seeing in the glare of the candle the round end of the gun barrel. ‘Jackson,’ she said weakly, ‘wake up.’
Drazen came awake and without thinking turned to sit up on the edge of the bed, putting his feet flat on the floor. ‘What . . . what the hell?’ he stammered just as the door behind Elizabeth burst open. Elizabeth’s finger tightened on the trigger, but before she could fire she was slammed back against the wall by the opening door.
‘Goddamn you,’ shouted Martin Baynes as he rushed into the room. Peeking around the door, Elizabeth found herself looking at Baynes’ back. Stepping to the side so she could see, her eyes went to the big revolver he was pointing at Drazen. ‘I warned you to stay away from my sister, you bastard.’
Marcy Baynes, still clutching the sheet to her chest and seeing her brother’s intention, quickly threw herself out of bed, putting herself in front of the man.
Nobody had noticed Drazen’s reaction. Only half awake and threatened he pulled the small pocket revolver from under his pillow. Seeing Martin’s gun, he brought the little short-barreled weapon up, jerking at the trigger. The loud blast of the gun going off drowned out the gasp of pain from the woman. The .31 caliber bullet caught Marcy in the back, surprising her and throwing her body forward into her brother’s arms.
‘Marcy,’ Martin screamed, clutching at her lifeless body.
Chapter 59
Unseen Elizabeth slipped around the door and stepped out into the hallway. Standing still next to the open door she waited, trying to think what to do.
‘Damn you, Jack,’ she heard Martin say, his voice weak almost weeping. ‘She was mine. We had plans. Since we were children she was my love. We were going to California. San Francisco. Start over. You didn’t have to kill her. I told you to leave her alone.’
‘Yes, you did,’ Elizabeth heard Jackson Drazen say, sounding calm now, ‘yeah, you had plans. But you damn fool, so did I.’
Martin didn’t sound as if he was listening. ‘I came to you because I thought I could trust you and asked for your help. Now look at what you’ve done.’
‘Yeah, you came to me asking for help and you got it. You wanted someone to rob the train. Well, Morgan and his gang did just that. Except you expected that money would come back to you.’ Drazen laughed. ‘What a fool. Morgan had his plans too, you know. Lot of good it did him. Why would I give you what was mine? I had to take care of Morgan, but you? Don’t make me laugh. Your plans to run off with your sister? Not when I could make her love me. Think about it, you idiot. She and I talked about a future. We’d get married and not only would I end up with the money from the train, but with both your bank and the Circle B to boot. Only thing was, you were in the way. We even talked about how to take care of you. Well, now you’ve made that easy.’ Reaching for the holstered revolver on the side table, he quickly thumbed back the hammer and shot Martin twice in the chest.
Hearing someone call out from one of the other rooms, Elizabeth shook herself and as quickly and quietly as she could ran down the hallway and down the stairs. She didn’t look back to see if anyone had seen her. What would she do now? Her husband’s killer was dead as were so many others. What would she do now?
Chapter 60
Deputy Nathan Stewart, snuggled warm in a pile of woolen blankets, had been dreaming. His visions of being beside a cool stream on a sun-filled morning vanished when he heard the sudden sound of gunfire. Grabbing his Colt and stopping only long enough to pull on pants, he quickly opened the door and stepped halfway out into the hallway.
Automatically pointing the long barrel of his handgun he hesitated at movement only half seen. Peering sleepy-eyed in the darkness he thought he saw a figure, not much more than a black shadow rushing down the stairs. He wasn’t sure but he thought it was the woman from the bank, Elizabeth. But what would she be doing here in the hotel? No. Couldn’t be. He hesitated, listening as the footsteps faded. The gunfire had sounded closer, from farther down the hall. Drazen’s room.
Slowly, keeping tight against the wall, he made his way down to the open door and stopped. Holding his revolver ready, he carefully craned his head around the door frame.
Drazen stood staring at the bodies on the floor, his Colt hanging down.
‘Don’t even think of raising that gun, Drazen,’ Stewart called out softly, his body mostly protected by the wall. ‘I’m sure it’d please a bunch of people if you were to make me shoot you.’
Frowning and shaking his head, the man simply dropped his revolver on the bed. ‘I’m done shooting, Deputy. You look this over and I think you’ll find I was only protecting myself.’
Stewart glanced down and frowned seeing Marcy Baynes half-naked body mostly wrapped up in a thin sheet. ‘Uh huh. We’ll have to see about that. Meanwhile kindly step out here into the hall.’
‘OK with you if I pull on a pair of pants?’
Stewart hadn’t noticed that all the man had on was the bottoms of his long johns. ‘Yes, but be careful. Pants and your boots. Can’t be walking you over to the jail half dressed. People would talk.’
Chapter 61
Finding a secure place to hold the lawyer turned out to be tricky. Stewart quickly learned the town didn’t have a jail. Finally simply handcuffing Drazen to his bed, Stewart climbed into his own bed for the last few hours of darkness. He went to sleep thinking he’d figure things out in the morning.
The first thing, after taking Drazen to breakfast at the hotel and then returning him to his bed, Stewart went over to the telegraph office. He’d have to let Marshal Adkins know he had arrested Drazen and had a couple of dead people on his hands.
‘No reason for you to be talking this up around town,’ Stewart warned the telegraph puncher. The man nodded, holding his lips tightly closed.
Stewart returned to the hotel and after checking to make sure his prisoner was secure, decided to go down to Mrs Cornwall’s boarding house for lunch. Maybe he’d get to walk with Elizabeth afterward.
‘Yes,’ said the woman when he invited her out, ‘there are things we must talk about.’
The deputy didn’t know if that was good or bad. As it turned out it was both.
Whatever notions Stewart had about her quick acceptance to taking a walk were quickly dispelled.
‘I was there last night,’ said the woman softly as they again stood on the bridge looking down at the fast moving water. ‘In Mr Drazen’s room. When all the shooting was going on.’
‘What? What are you talking about? Why in heavens name would you be in that man’s room?’
Quickly she explained about her husband’s death. ‘All I wanted was revenge. That’s really all I’ve been able to think about. Or,’ she hesitated, ‘at least I’ve tried to stay on that. Oh, but it’s so hard. I mean, shooting someone is easy to think about, but when I was pointing my gun at him I realized I’d never be able to pull the trigger.’
Stewart nodded. ‘I’ve had to shoot men twice. Never killed anyone, but even then, well, it don’t get no easier. So you heard them talking?’
As close as she could, she repeated what the two men had said. The deputy had to smile. Marshal Adkins had been right. Drazen had been up to no good. He’d have to make sure the woman’s words were in his report.
Chapter 62
&
nbsp; The next morning, before getting Drazen down to wait for the stage, Stewart walked over to the telegraph office. He was in luck. There was a response from Marshal Adkins.
The marshal’s message was brief and to the point. Morgan Runkle had been found dead, the marshal wrote. His body had been discovered in an abandoned cabin at the edge of town.
The deputy smiled. At least he wouldn’t be sent out to chase down the outlaw leader. Thinking about what Adkins had written, he smiled even bigger. That shooting had to take place at about the same time Jackson Drazen had been in Dodge City. Remembering what Elizabeth had told him, Drazen carried a small caliber pistol in some kind of shoulder holster. Not proof, but he was sure it had been Drazen who had killed Runkle. Getting back to the hotel, he found Drazen relaxed and securely handcuffed. He was sure he’d be able to prove the shooting of Marcy Baynes was an accident and Martin Baynes’ was self defense. After all, Martin did have a gun in his hand, didn’t he?
Stewart listened as Drazen, almost laughing as he talked, explained how any charges made against him were sure to be dismissed. The deputy didn’t respond or mention the marshal telling him about someone having shot Runkle. Drazen was slightly worried, though, when the lawman didn’t say anything, simply nodded and smiled.
What the lawyer didn’t know was the marshal’s telegram mentioned there having been a witness to Runkle’s death. Little Carly Morse, out of jail, had told the marshal how he’d been outside the cabin, listening and watching through a crack in the wall. He’d seen Jackson Drazen shoot Morgan Runkle. He’d be willing to testify, he said, if the judge would simply forget all about his part of any holdups.
Stewart smiled when Drazen explained how the deputy was making a mistake. For sure he’ll get the charges dismissed. At what point, the lawman wondered, should he tell his prisoner about the witness to Runkle’s death? Or should he let him go on thinking he was safe as houses? Yeah, best to let the man live in his dream world until they reached Dodge City. Let the marshal break the bad news.
Settling back in the corner seat of the stagecoach, keeping an eye on Drazen, Stewart thought about what else the widow had told him.
‘Deputy, I won’t be walking out with you any more,’ she’d said, looking up to watch the lawman’s face. ‘Tony Rodriquez told me a little while ago how he is the heir to the ranch he works on. He’d said once before what his intentions were but couldn’t do much ’cause he was dirt poor. I’m not sure but I really believe that now, being a ranch owner, he’s likely to propose marriage. I’m sorry, but if he does I will more than likely accept.’
Well, hell, Stewart thought. I never was thinking about marriage. I’m too young for any of that.
Chapter 63
‘Wal, ya got it figured it out yet, Clyde Collins?’ asked Amos as they sat in the morning shade watching old Dollarhide whip his six-horse hitch up to running.
‘Figure what out, ya old rummy?’
‘It weren’t so long back when those two fellas came in on the stage and now, there they go, back to the big city. Only thing is, this time one of them is wearing steel bracelets. What’d ya got to say about that?’
‘Not much. If’n y’all recall I said when they clumb down into the street back then, there was some changes coming. And there was, wasn’t they?’
Harry Brogan snorted. ‘I reckon y’all be telling us next you could see both them Baynes twins getting shot and killed too. Like you had one of them glass balls that tells the future.’
‘Nope, wouldn’t say that. Don’t think I ever heard exactly what that shooting was all about either. But what I do know was how those federal government men who came in on Dollarhide’s coach is fixing to take over the Circle B spread. I heard them talking about it. Something called eminent domain.’
‘And what exactly is that?’ asked Harry.
‘Dunno. Believe it has something to do with opening up that range to homesteaders. Guess it’s another of them laws that get passed so the government can do what it wants.’
‘Uh huh,’ said Amos, ‘and ol’ Ivor over at the bank says somehow that federal bank from Kansas City will be coming in to take that over. He’s happy, thinking he gets to keep his job. And now that the widow woman is talking about getting hitched her own self, he’ll be back to doing all the work the bank does.’
Harry nodded. ‘Which, if there’s a passel of homesteaders coming in might be a lot more’n he’s used to.’
‘Yep,’ said Clyde after getting a fresh chaw of plug tobacco settled in his cheek, ‘just like I said once or twice before, they’s a lot of changes coming to town. Mark my words. There’ll be a lot fer us to watch out fer. It’s purely certain.’
