Fugitive's Trail

by Robert J Conley

  “Yeah,” I said. “Matter a fact, it is. How come you to ask me that?”

  “Did you kill a man named Hook a while back?” she said.

  “How’d you know about that?” I said. I was astonished.

  “Did you do it?” she asked me again. She wouldn’t answer none a my questions. She just kept on a asking her own questions to me.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I did. I come in on him and my sweetheart. Well, I thought she was my sweetheart, but I guess she weren’t really. She was just no good. Anyhow, I wanted her to go away with me, and I didn’t even get mad when I seed her with him, I just only told her to get ready to go away with me, but he got mad as hell, and he jumped right up outa bed nekkid and grabbed his gun and was about to shoot me, so I just shot him first is all. Then she went to screaming and all like that, and I got the hell outa town. That’s all they was to it.”

  “Well,” she said, “he had a brother and a cousin, and they’re in town looking for you. They was asking around if anyone knew you. I thought maybe it was you, but I didn’t say nothing about it.”

  “How’d you happen to hear about all this?” I said.

  “Well, you know,” she said, giving a little shrug of her pretty nekkid shoulders, “I hear lots of things in my line of work. But I like you, Kid, and I thought I’d best tell you about them.”

  I thought about ole Sherry Chute and how she had turned on me in a real crucial time in my young life, and then I just went real soft on ole Red for looking out for me. Right then I learned that just because women is whores don’t mean they’re all alike. It come to me that if it had a been ole Red in that bed ’stead a Sherry when I killed that Hook, ole Red would a run off with me. I believe she woulda.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I surely do appreciate that, Red. Them two fellas, is both their names Hook?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Clell and Asa Hook. Be careful, Kid. They’re mean ones.”

  Well, that set me up, I can tell you. Clell and Asa. So they was looking for me. Well, by God, I was a looking for them too. This here was shaping up to be a showdown to my liking. Yes sir. I jumped right up outa bed then and started in to pulling on my britches, and I guess ole Red tuck it the wrong way.

  “I can help you sneak out the back way,” she said.

  “Hell,” I said, “I ain’t sneaking nowhere. Them’s the same two what beat up my ole pardner and robbed him a all his money. They don’t want me near as bad as I want them. I done spent all day till I come in here to you a looking for them two. Are they still in town, do you reckon?”

  “I think so,” she said. “I think they’re just down the hall. Not in the same room, though. They each come up a while back with one of the girls.”

  “Do you know what rooms they’d be in?” I asked her.

  “No,” she said. “I don’t know.”

  I finished pulling on all my clothes and then I strapped on my fine Colt. I was ready for them. I was craving some action. For the first time since I had busted that ole Pigg with a ax handle, I was really wanting to kill someone. I wanted to kill them two, not ‘cause they was Hooks and was after me, but I wanted to kill them ’cause of what they had did to ole Zeb, and I guess just a little bit ’cause of the way they had laughed at ole Zeb and at me and that being after they had done beat him up. I was in a killing mood, I can tell you. I was a wanting to make their blood run. I was a smelling blood. Well, I stuck my hat on my head and went for the door, but ole Red kinda stopped me.

  “What’re you fixing to do, Kid?” she said.

  “I’m fixing to find them two bastards,” I said, “and when I find them, I mean to kill them deader’n hell.”

  “You can’t just bust into all the rooms looking for them,” she said.

  “The hell I can’t,” I said.

  “Wait,” she said. “Listen to me.”

  I stopped and turned around to look at her.

  “What?” I said.

  “Wait for me,” she said. “I’ll get dressed, and we can go downstairs. Whenever they get done up here, they’ll come back down the stairs into the saloon. Likely they won’t both come down at the same time. We’ll see them one at a time when they come down. We know who they are, but they don’t know you.”

  I puzzled over that for a bit.

  “Okay,” I said. “That sounds like a pretty good plan. Go on and get dressed then. But while I’m a waiting for you, I’ll step out in the hall and watch, just in case one of them bastards should come out right away.”

  I opened the door and sidled on out there. I looked up and down the hall, and it was mostly dark and it was empty, ’cept only for just me. By and by, ole Red come out of the room all dressed, and me and her walked together down to the end a the hall and then on down the stairs. I got us a bottle and two glasses from the barkeep and found us a table where we set down together and had us a good view. Both of us just stared at that stairway while we sipped whiskey. I had finished me one snort and was getting some impatient. I picked up the bottle to pour me another one when ole Red put a hand on my arm. I looked up then and seed him right up there at the top of the stairs. He was sure a looking smug too.

  “Be careful, Kid,” she said.

  I put down the bottle and stood up. I hitched my britches a bit and then walked on over to the foot of the stairway, real casual like. I stood right there at the bottom step like as if I was blocking his path, which I woulda been if he had come on down, and I looked up at him. He seed me all right.

  “Asa Hook,” I said.

  “That’s me,” he said. “Who might you be?”

  “From what I hear,” I said, “you been a looking for me. You and your cousin Clell.”

  “What’s your name?” he said, and now he was looking real curious.

  “What you don’t know,” I said, “is that I been a looking for you too. I been a looking for you ’cause you and Clell stomped on my partner, ole Zeb Pike, and robbed him a all his money. You likely thought you’d killed him, or maybe you just thought that he never seed you out there in the dark alley, but he seed you all right. It takes a couple a sneaking cowards to beat up a old man like that.”

  “I remember you now,” he said. “So you’re that old fool’s pardner, huh? Well, sonny, we never touched him. If he said that, he’s a crazy old coot. Go to the law and see if you can prove anything on us. Better yet, be smart and just forget the whole thing.”

  “You done forgot one thing,” I said. “I told you that I heared you was looking for me.”

  “Who are you?” he said.

  “Some folks has called me a regular Billy the Kid,” I said. “I’m knowed as Kid Parmlee, and I kilt ole Harley Hook while he was nekkid as a mole.”

  Well, that done it all right. Asa Hook went for his shooter just as fast as he could, but it weren’t fast enough. I whupped out my Colt just as slick as you please, and I got off the first shot. Shooting up high at an angle like that, I weren’t near as accurate as I usual was. If he had been down on the floor and level with me, I’d a got him in the chest, but shooting up the stairs like that, my bullet caught him right under the chin, and when it come out the back a his head, it brought a bunch a his brains out with it.

  His finger went ahead and squeezed the trigger, but the shot went down harmless into one a the steps. His knees buckled a bit, but he didn’t fall right off. He just sort a sort a stood there with his head a wobbling on his shoulders, and then a kind a shudder went all through his body, and fin’ly he pitched head first down onto the stairway. Then he just laid there still. He was dead all right. I felt some satisfaction, but mostly I just wanted to shoot the other’n.

  “Asa went for his gun first,” ole Red cried out, and then there was some other voices that joined hers and agreed with what she had said. I figgered I was okay. I reloaded the empty chamber in my Colt, holstered my gun and walked back over to set down again with ole Red and wait for Clell to come down. I figgered that maybe the shot woulda brought him out, but it never.


  “Someone go get the sheriff,” the barkeep said.

  I never bothered to look, but I guess that someone did, ’cause in just a little bit, the sheriff come in. He was carrying a sawed-off shotgun. He didn’t mean to take no chances. I seed him stop by the bar, and the barkeep said something to him and motioned to the corpus up there on the stairway, and then he nodded at me. The sheriff come a sauntering over to where I was setting there with ole Red.

  “What’s your name?” he said to me.

  “They call me Kid Parmlee,” I said.

  “Did you just kill that man up there?” he asked.

  “I surely did,” I said.

  “What was it all about?” he said.

  “Well,” I said, “it was two things. First of all, him and his cousin beat up my ole pardner and robbed him. I was a looking for them for that. Then I come to find out that they was a looking for me all along, ’cause I had killed a kin a theirs down at Ass Grove.”

  “You mean Ash Grove,” he said.

  “That’s the place,” I said.

  “What was the name of the man you killed down there?” he said.

  “Harley Hook,” I said.

  “I heard about that,” he said. “There was some down there wanted to charge you with murder, but Hook, naked as he was, had a gun in his hand.”

  “That’s right,” I said. “I never kilt a man that weren’t trying to kill me first.”

  He nodded to the bloody body on the stairway.

  “Who was that?” he said.

  “His name was Asa Hook,” I said. “He was after me ’cause of Harley.”

  “Asa went for his gun first,” ole Red said, jumping right into the conversation. She sure was a whole world different from that ole Sherry. I was proud to have her a setting there beside me.

  “That’s right,” said a man at the next table. “I seen it all.”

  Then again, several other voices agreed.

  “Why don’t you do me a favor, Kid?” the sheriff said. “Why don’t you do your best to keep out of any more gunfights while you’re in town? I got a mess to clean up here and a bunch of paperwork to do.”

  I give a shrug.

  “I promise you I won’t start nothing, Sheriff,” I said.

  “Hell,” he said, “I guess that’s the best I can hope for.”

  “Sheriff,” I said, “if that man’s got any money on him, it belongs to my pardner, ole Zeb Pike. Him and his cousin beat ole Zeb up and robbed him.”

  I told him where ole Zeb was laid up, and he said that he’d see about it. I couldn’t see why he couldn’t just take the money out a the dead bastard’s pockets and go on and give it back to Zeb, but he told me that things just didn’t work that way. There weren’t nothing I could do about it, so I just let it go. All the while this was a going on, me and ole Red both kept a looking up them stairs wondering when Clell would come out and show hisself. We never seed him. Fin’ly the sheriff left the place, and after that someone come and dragged the body on down the stairs and hauled it out a the saloon. There still weren’t no sign of Clell.

  Then one a the gals come down, and she spotted ole Red and come right on over to where we was at. She set down beside Red and sidled up to her. She acted a bit nervous the whole time. Then she said, “What happened down here, honey?”

  “You mean the shooting?” Red said.

  “Yeah,” the other one said. “I was up there at work, you know, with Clell Hook, and when we heard the shot, Clell pulled on his britches and sneaked out the door to take a look. When he come back in the room, he got dressed real fast. He never even tucked his shirttail in. He grabbed up his boots and his hat and climbed out the window. I told him it was a long drop down there, but he just went on and jumped out into the street. What happened?”

  “His cousin got killed,” Red said.

  “I done it,” I said. “I was waiting here for Clell to come down too, but he outsmarted me, I guess.”

  I tossed down the rest of my whiskey, but I shouldn’t a did that, ’cause it made me somewhat dizzy. I had got to where I could drink some whiskey all right, but if I drunk too much or drunk it down too fast, I’d still get real woozy. I stood on up anyhow.

  “Where you going, Kid?” Red asked me.

  “I got to find Clell,” I said.

  She must of seed how I was a bit wobbly from tossing down that drink, ’cause she said, “You can’t face him like that, Kid. Sit down.”

  My head was kinda spinning then, and I knowed that she was right. I set back down. Damn it, I thought, if only ole Clell had come on out ’stead a jumping out the damn winder, and that before I had tossed down that whiskey, I could a tuck keer a him too. Now there weren’t no telling where the bastard had gone to or when I’d get another chance to come up on him. Woozy,as I was, I poured myself another drink. Hell, I told myself, at least I got one of them. I knowed I’d get another chance at Clell. I’d get him one of these days. But I sure did wish that I had got my shot at him that night. I wished that I could go over and tell ole Zeb that I had kilt the two of them for him.

  Well, I sipped at that next glass full real slow, and after I had done drunk it all down and calmed down some, I asked Red if she’d walk with me on over to the room so I could tell ole Zeb what I had did for him that night. She agreed, and me and her left the saloon together. She was a holding my arm, and likely she kept me from falling over. She was sure a fine gal. I thought again, if it had a been Red in that room when I shot ole Harley Hook ’stead of Sherry, why, ole Red would a left town with me for sure. She’d a stuck with me just like ole Farty would of. But somehow things never seems to work out right. You know?

  Chapter Ten

  “I kilt that Asa Hook, Zeb,” I said. “He was one of them two what robbed you and beat you up. I shot him right under his chin and blowed some brains out the back a his head.”

  “Good,” Zeb said, but sideways he eyed ole Red real suspicious like. “Who’s she?” he asked me.

  “Oh,” I said. “Zeb, this here is a friend of mine. She helped me out a watching for them Hookses. They call her Red. Red, this is my pardner, ole Zeb Pike.”

  Zeb and Red kinda shuck hands, and then Zeb looked back at me. “How’d you do it?” he asked me: “I mean, was it legal and all?”

  “He went for his gun first,” I said, “and there was all kinds a witnesses. I done had me a talk with the sheriff. ’Course, he wants me to leave town anyhow.”

  “What the hell for?” Zeb protested. “It was self defense, weren’t it?”

  “Aw, hell, Zeb,” I said, “it don’t matter, ’cause the other’n, ole Clell Hook, he got away, and I think he’s done skipped town, so I got to leave anyhow to track him down and kill him. It ain’t just for you, ole pardner. Come to find out, these is the brothers or cousins or something of the Hook I killed back in Ass Grove. Hell, they was hunting me meaning to kill me. So it was self-defense two different ways.”

  “Yeah,” Zeb said. “Any way you look at it.”

  “So I got to leave town, Pard, and get after Clell,” I said. “I hate to leave you all stove up like this, but, well, here.”

  I shoved my hand deep down in my britches pocket and come up with almost all a my cash, and I had a fair amount too. I still had most a my money from my last cowboying job along with the extry what ole Sandy had give me whenever he told me to get the hell out a town, and I had my half a the gold money what me and ole Zeb had split up too. So I sure weren’t leaving him strapped. I wouldn’t do that if I could help it. I figgered with that much money, he’d get tuck keer of real good all right. Well, I made sure he had plenty a whiskey for the night, and then I tuck ole Red and we left out a there. I figgered even that ole sheriff wouldn’t make a man ride out a town with night coming on, so I went back to Red’s room with her.

  I kinda figgered that we owed one another a real good farewell, and she seemed to agree with me, so we really and truly did have us a grand ole fling that lasted most all night long. In the morning I rea
lly didn’t feel like hitting the trail, but I figgered that my welcome in town was done wore out, at least with that damn sheriff.

  “What’s his name anyhow?” I asked Red.

  “Jim Chastain,” she said. “Ever hear of him?”

  “He’s got a kinda reputation,” I said. “Yeah, I heared of him, all right.”

  I give ole Red most of the little cash what I had kept, and I asked her to check up on ole Zeb for me now and then. She promised me that she would do that, and then she made me promise that if ever I was to come back through them parts again, I would for certain come and see her, and I assured her that I would do just that very thing. Hell, it wouldn’t of tuck no swearing to make me want to see her again. She was just about the nicest thing that I had ever knowed, ’cept for ole Farty and ole Zeb, a course.

  I didn’t bother going to see Zeb again to tell him good-bye ’cause I had did that the night before, and besides, I reckoned that he would still be asleep what with all the whiskey I had left with him. I paid for my room, and then I went on down to the stables and paid out my ole horse. I told that stable man that the burro and the two extry horses in there belonged to ole Zeb and to take good keer of them, and he promised me that he would. I sure felt like I was riding away from a whole bunch of unfinished business whenever I rid out a that town, but then there just didn’t seem to be nothing for it but to just go on and get.

  I had also asked that stable man about ole Clell, what he was riding on and which way he had rid out, but if he knowed anything, well, he played dumb and said he didn’t know. I figgered the shit had rode north, so I headed thataway. I had done been down south of there anyhow and didn’t really see no sense in going back. On my way outa town, I seed a little kid playing with a stick.

  “Say, boy,” I said, “you don’t happen to know who ole Clell Hook is, do you?”

  He said that he reckoned as how he did, and then he said, “You the man that shot his brother dead?”

  “Yeah,” I said, “but he went for his gun first.”

  “I know that,” he said. “Ever’one in town’s talking about it. They say you’re a regular Billy the Kid.”