Slocum at Hangdog

by Jake Logan

  Back down the trail, Speer and Stumpy heard the shots. “It’s started,” Speer said. “Let’s go.” He kicked his horse in the sides and it leaped ahead. Stumpy did the same.

  A little farther back, Margaret and Mix heard the shots as well. They looked at one another. “We may be too late,” Margaret said.

  “Let’s get up there,” said Mix.

  Slocum was moving through the woods on the side of the hill. He knew that someone was shooting, but he had no idea who it was. All it meant to Slocum was that there was no longer any need for silence on his part. He went up higher on the hillside, and at last he spotted Cowley down below. He saw no reason to give any of these dirty bastards any warning. He raised his Colt and took aim, and just then, the rocky ground under his feet seemed to give way. He slipped and went tumbling. The noise alerted Cowley, who turned quickly. It took him a minute to locate the source of the noise. When he spotted Slocum, Slocum was scrambling back to his feet. Cowley raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired. Slocum threw himself to one side and went rolling again. The shot had missed him. Cowley cranked another round into the chamber and raised the rifle again, but Slocum was back on his feet, Colt in hand. Slocum fired. The bullet smacked Cowley in the chest sending him falling backward down the hillside. He was stopped by a tree trunk. He lay still. Slocum figured he was dead. At any rate, he was surely incapacitated, and Slocum did not feel like he had any time to waste on the son of a bitch. He hurried on.

  Brenda could not handle the rifle with her hands tied behind her back, and the six-gun was empty. She dropped both of them in a bush. She did not know what to do now. She only hoped that she had warned Slocum in time. Something made her turn around and look back toward the shack. She saw that Beebe was sitting up and holding his head. She decided to move a little farther into the woods. Then she saw Rowland. Luckily, he did not see her. He came out of the woods a little farther down, and he ran toward the shack. Fascinated, she watched.

  Rowland made it to the shack. He stepped up to the wretched Beebe. He looked inside. The place was empty. Turning on Beebe, he said, “Where’s the girl?”

  “She broke my nose,” Beebe whined.

  “Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t even see.”

  “You stupid shit,” said Rowland. He had heard shots all around, and he figured that things were falling apart. He raised his six-gun and fired into Beebe’s head. Then he rushed around behind the shack to find his horse. He mounted up and rode out fast in the opposite direction from all the action.

  Brenda turned around to head deeper into the woods, and she ran right into Slocum. Startled, she let out a little cry.

  “It’s okay, Brenda,” Slocum said. “It’s just me.”

  “Oh, God,” she said, “I was afraid they might’ve killed you.”

  “I was worried about you,” he said. “Here. Let me get those ropes off of you.”

  He untied her and rubbed her hands and wrists. Things were quiet again.

  “I got two of them,” Slocum said, “but there’s still two more.”

  “No,” she said. “One of them’s over there in front of the shack. Rowland killed him. Then he rode out that way.”

  She nodded in the direction Rowland had run.

  “I’ve got to catch him,” said Slocum. “I’ve got to find out who hired him. My horse is back this way.” He indicated the direction down the trail from which he had come.

  “There’s horses behind the shack,” Brenda said.

  They walked toward the shack, just as Speer and Stumpy came riding down the trail. Each man had a gun in his hand.

  “You can put them away, boys,” Slocum said. “It’s all over here.” He filled them in on the details as he continued on his way to the horses.

  Margaret figured she was close enough to the action. She wanted Mix to be found at the site of the shootings. She did not know if Rowland and the others had gotten Slocum or not. Either way, if Mix was found dead nearby, he would be implicated. She slowed her horse just enough to allow Mix to get ahead. Then she pulled out her six-gun. “Dave,” she yelled. “Slow down. There’s something over here.” She stopped her horse. Mix stopped his, turned, and rode back to her. She leveled the gun at him.

  “What’s this, Margaret?” he said. “You?”

  “It’s been me all along, Dave,” she said. “Now this is the end of the road for you.”

  “Margaret, why?”

  “It’s all for James,” she said. “He was always too wishy-washy. We’re going to own this whole valley.”

  She cocked the revolver. Just then her husband came riding up behind her. “Margaret,” he shouted. “What are you doing?”

  “Dave’s been behind all this,” she said. “I’m going to kill him.”

  “Don’t, Margaret.”

  From the other direction, Slocum, Brenda, Speer, and Stumpy came riding.

  “What’s going on here?” shouted Speer.

  “I’ve got to kill Dave,” said Margaret. “It’s been him all along.”

  Ritchie jerked out his revolver and fired. His bullet hit Margaret between the shoulder blades. She jerked. She tried to fire, but her hand went limp. She slid sideways off her horse and fell to the ground. Ritchie rushed to her side. He jumped off his horse and knelt beside her. She was not dead.

  “Margaret,” he said. By then, Speer was standing right behind him. Slocum and the others had ridden up close. “Why?” said Ritchie. “Why?”

  “It was all for you, James,” she said. “I had to do it. You were just too soft.” Then her eyes closed and her breathing stopped. She was dead.

  20

  The girl would identify him, Rowland knew. He did not know if his last two men had killed Slocum or not. Slocum might have killed them for all he knew. He only knew that he had to get the hell out of the territory, but he needed more cash to go on. He meant to slip back into town without being seen, look in on Mrs. Ritchie, and demand more money. If she refused him, he would threaten to expose her. He had to have the money. The day was coming to an end, and darkness would aid him in sneaking around. He would be very careful.

  Slocum had tried to track Rowland, but he’d had no luck. He rode back to town with the others. They all went into Brenda’s Place, where Brenda got rid of the leftover, untouched meals and fixed them all some fresh food and poured coffee all around. They all sat down together. “It don’t seem right letting you do all this for us after what you been through,” said Speer.

  “It’s all right,” Brenda said. “I need something to do.”

  “It was real brave, what you done out there,” Stumpy said.

  “I had to do something.”

  Ritchie was not with them. He had told Mix that he would sell out to him and leave the country. Mix had argued with him, but Ritchie had insisted. He couldn’t hang around after what Margaret had done. He had to go somewhere else and start over. It was the only way. They had checked Cowley and Zeb Naylor and found them both dead. It was all over except for Rowland, and Slocum planned to go after him at daylight. Mix had apologized to Slocum.

  “That’s all right,” Slocum had said. “A man has to defend his wife. And besides, you come after me when the chips was down. I won’t forget that.”

  When they had finished eating, Mix excused himself to get back to the ranch. Speer also decided to leave. Stumpy said, “I got to get me some shut-eye too. It’s been a long day.”

  When they had all left, Brenda looked at Slocum. “Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked.

  They lay side by side in Brenda’s bed naked. Slocum knew that she needed gentle love. He entered her slow and easy. He kissed her and fondled her breasts while he slowly moved in and out.

  “You’re wonderful,” he said.

  “Oh, Slocum,” she said. She held him tightly as he continued to move in her body.

  Rowland arrived in Hangdog in the wee hours of the morning. He had taken the long way around to avoid being seen. He rode in beh
ind the buildings, and he slipped in the back door of the hotel. He made his way to the Ritchies’ apartment and tried the door. It was locked. He had to have that money. He shoved the door. It did not budge. He bashed his shoulder against it. Inside, Ritchie heard the noise. He got up, picked up his six-gun, and went to the door.

  “Who’s there?” he said.

  “It’s me. Rowland. I got to see your wife.”

  Ritchie thought for a moment. Rowland had run away from the scene of the conflict early. He did not know the outcome. He must think that Margaret was still alive. Margaret had hired Rowland. Ritchie knew that now. He did not hate Margaret, but he hated Rowland. It was illogical, but he still hated the son of a bitch.

  “Just a minute,” he said. “I’ll get her.”

  He walked away from the door and cocked his six-gun. Then he walked back and opened the door. Rowland found himself staring into the barrel of a gun.

  “Wait,” he said. “Don’t—”

  But Ritchie pulled the trigger, shattering the silence of the night, and splattering Rowland’s brains against the wall on the other side of the hallway.

  Watch for SLOCUM AND THE TONTO BASIN WAR

  335th novel in the exciting SLOCUM series

  from Jove

  Coming in January!