A Gideon Johann Boxed Set Book 1 - 4 (A Gideon Johann Western 0)

by Duane Boehm

  Zack was unusually talkative at dinner, chatting more than Abby had ever heard him speak since she had first met him. She suspected that Ethan had given him some manly advice on being more assertive. The change in him since last night made it all that she could do not to chuckle. She was glad that she liked Zack a lot since it was apparent that she had a budding romance on her hands.

  After the dishes were cleared, Zack asked Joann if she would like to go for a walk.

  “Sure, if Abs doesn’t care,” Joann said.

  “That’s fine. Don’t get lost in the dark,” Abby replied.

  “Can I go?” Winnie asked.

  “You stay here with me. We can play some checkers,” Abby told her.

  “I like this cabin. I could get used to living here,” Zack said once they were outside.

  “It is a nice place. It’s kind of cozy,” Joann said.

  “Have you thought anymore about when you are going back to Wyoming?” Zack asked.

  “I won’t leave until after Gideon and Abs get married. I wouldn’t want to miss that and they haven’t set a date yet,” Joann said.

  “I hope you stay long enough that we get to know each other,” Zack said.

  Joann decided to match bold with bold. She moved against Zack, wrapping her arms around his waist and standing on her tiptoes to kiss him. “Me too,” she said after the kiss.

  Gideon rode to the cabin to check in and see how things were going. Finding Abby and Winnie playing checkers, he asked, “Where are Zack and Joann?”

  “Well, hello to you too,” Abby said. “They went for a walk.”

  “It’s getting kind of dark for a walk. I warned Zack last night about things,” Gideon said, clearly agitated.

  “Come over here and sit by me. You need to have a little trust in those two. Your threats are not going to stop whatever happens anyway. You should know that,” Abby said, patting her hand on a chair next to her.

  “You’re awfully calm about the situation,” Gideon said as he sat.

  “I have a little more experience in this parenting thing than you do. You learn that some things are out of your control,” Abby said.

  “I suppose,” Gideon said begrudgingly.

  Abby patted Gideon’s leg. “You make me want to laugh. See all the fun that you’ve missed,” she said.

  “How are things going,” Gideon asked, ignoring her remark.

  “It’s been interesting, but so far everyone has survived, but just barely,” Abby said nodding towards her daughter.

  Oblivious to the conversation, Winnie looked up from the checkerboard and made eye contact with Gideon. “Mr. Gideon, my sister asked me to be nice to you because you are her daddy. I’m going to do it for her,” she said matter–of–factly.

  Gideon held out his hand to shake with Winnie. “It’s a start that I can live with,” he said.

  “What’s your dog’s name?” Winnie asked as she shook Gideon’s hand.

  “I haven’t gotten around to naming him yet. Why don’t you come up with something?” Gideon said.

  “How about Red?” Winnie asked.

  “Red it is,” he said.

  Chapter 25

  Gideon paced around his office, perplexed by the note he held in his hand. He had received another threatening letter from Pueblo and it was postmarked after John Roe had arrived in Last Stand. Roe had been in town for almost two weeks and had done little in that time besides frequent the two saloons, making small talk with the locals. He had not engaged Mary in any more conversations and seemed to make a point of avoiding Gideon.

  Gideon walked down the alley and into the back room of the Last Chance. Mary was seated at the table working on the books when he entered. She looked up in surprise at seeing him come in the back way.

  “What’s got you coming in the back door?” she asked.

  “I got another letter from Pueblo postmarked since John Roe has been staying here,” he said.

  “Really? He must have arranged to have it sent after he got here. I tell you Gideon, he is the one,” Mary said emphatically.

  “I don’t know anymore. I thought that he would be trying to get under my skin if it were him. He avoids me,” Gideon said.

  “Gideon, I’ve been quizzing the regulars and he tries to work you and Abby into his conversations with them. He knows about her. Why else would he ask if it were not him?” she said.

  “He loves messing with me then. Damn, I would love to get this over with,” he said.

  “Maybe you should just confront him then. Force his hand. He is sitting at a table now,” Mary said.

  “I think that is probably what he wants. He would just act surprised as if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. This must be some kind of game for him to make me suffer until he is ready to make a move. I need to make sure where he is when Winnie gets out of school each day,” Gideon said.

  “I doubt that he would be able to figure out which child she is, especially since she is back going to the country school. Just tell Blackie to come get you if he gets his horse out of the stable. You can trust Blackie to keep his mouth shut,” she said.

  “You’re right. I am letting him get under my skin. I need to think things through,” he said.

  “How is Abby holding up?” Mary asked.

  “I took her horses out there the other night so that she and Joann can at least ride or go see Sarah. She was getting cabin fever bad,” Gideon said.

  “I would imagine so. She’ll be shooting John Roe for you if it goes on much longer,” she said.

  “Are you making any money?” Gideon asked, nodding towards the books.

  “Yes, I am. Thank goodness that Mr. Vander let me help with things. I would be lost otherwise. That humorless banker, Mr. Druthers, is even starting to be friendly with me when I make my deposits. That must mean I’m successful,” Mary said.

  “That’s for sure. That man looks like he lives on persimmons,” Gideon joked.

  “So what are you going to do?” she asked.

  “I think that I’m going to walk around to the front and see if I can get under our Mr. Roe’s skin a little too. I’ll let you know how it goes,” he said.

  Gideon walked back out through the alley and entered the front door. Roe was sitting at a table by himself, drinking whiskey from a glass. The bottle by his hand was a third empty. Dropping into a chair at Roe’s table, Gideon motioned for Delta to bring him a beer.

  “Hope you don’t mind some company. I hate to see a man drink alone,” Gideon said.

  “Hello, Sheriff. What can I do for you?” Roe said.

  “Not a thing. I just felt like a beer. So how are you liking our little town?” Gideon said.

  “I like it and the people seem nice. I might stay around awhile,” Roe said.

  “Glad to hear it. Are you rich enough to live in the hotel forever?” Gideon inquired.

  Roe chuckled. “No, I never stay anywhere long enough to run out of money,” he said.

  “I suppose that there is always a new range war or somebody needing a gun that causes you to move on,” Gideon said before taking a drink of the beer that Delta had delivered.

  “What makes you say that?” Roe asked.

  “You just look like a hired gun to me and since you won’t talk about yourself and I don’t have any posters on you, what else could you be?” Gideon said.

  Roe chuckled again and held up his glass, looking at the whiskey’s clarity. “Have you ever been scared of dying?” he asked.

  “I fought in the war and any man there that wasn’t scared of dying had to have a death wish,” Gideon answered.

  “Very true. I fought for the Union. How about you?” Roe said.

  “I fought for the Second Colorado Cavalry – in Missouri mostly. Why did you ask about being scared?” Gideon answered.

  “It’s always good to know if a man is smart enough to be scared,” Roe said.

  “Good point. I’ve been getting some unsigned letters from somebody up in Pueblo threat
ening me. I figure that they are a chicken–shit or they would sign it. They best be scared of dying because I will kill the son of a bitch when I figure out who it is. One of the advantages of being sheriff is that you can make most anything look like it was in the line of duty,” Gideon said and then drained his beer, sitting it down on the table with a thud. “You have a good day, Mr. Roe.”

  Gideon left the saloon coiled tighter than a clock. He marched to the general store owned by the mayor of Last Stand, Hiram Howard. The mayor was stocking shelves when Gideon found him. “Hiram, have you and the council decided whether I can have a part–time deputy or not?” Gideon demanded to know.

  “We’ve discussed it, but we haven’t put it to a vote yet. There is considerable resistance to it with the reasoning being that Sheriff Fuller never needed one,” the mayor answered.

  “Yes, Sheriff Fuller did need one. He just let the council bully him into living without one. If you want me to be sheriff for the long haul, you had better let me hire a deputy. I’m not going to live in that damn jail every time I have a prisoner. I’ve wasted enough of my life without spending the rest of it sleeping in a jail half the time,” Gideon said.

  “Calm down, Gideon. I’m not your enemy and the council is happy with the job that you have done. I will do my best to make it happen. You have my word,” Hiram said.

  “Thank you, Hiram. Let me know as soon as you have an answer,” Gideon said and left.

  He walked to the livery stable to get Buck. “Blackie, I need Buck,” Gideon said, looking around to see if anybody else was in listening distance.

  “I’ll have him right out,” Blackie said.

  “Before you go, I need to talk to you about something. You know that fellow named John Roe that showed up here a couple of weeks ago? You have his horse in here,” Gideon said.

  “Sure, I know him. I reshod his horse a couple of days ago. He’s kind of a cocky fellow,” Blackie said.

  “Yeah, that’s him. I wonder if he plans to travel since he had his horse reshod. Anyway, if he comes for his horse, I need you to come find me immediately. This is law business and you can’t tell a soul. Can I count on you?” Gideon said.

  “Sure, Gideon. I’ll do it,” Blackie said.

  Gideon headed north out of town in a trot. He needed to get out of town for a while and talk to Ethan. Once he was out of sight of Last Stand, he cut to the northeast towards Ethan’s place. Falling into a rhythm with Buck, he lost himself in the pleasure of riding out in the open countryside. The horse was frisky from being cooped up in a stall too long and Gideon had to hold him back to keep the animal from running himself out.

  He found Ethan and Zack driving some of the herd onto the new land that Ethan had purchased. The land had not been grazed since before the death of Frank DeVille and the grass was tall and lush. The cattle had stopped once they came upon the new grass and the two were not having any success driving them farther. Ethan had wanted to push them closer to the water, but gave up and decided to let the herd work their way to it on their own accord.

  “What brings you out here?” Ethan asked as Gideon rode up.

  “I needed to get out of town for a while and I thought that your smiling face would be the answer,” Gideon said.

  “Not much smiling here with these hardheaded cattle,” Ethan said and climbed down from his horse. “Let’s go kick back under that tree. And thanks again for taking Benjamin fishing the other day. You brightened him up considerable even though I could never get him to tell me about finding that dog.”

  “Gideon smiled and rubbed his hand across his mouth. “Me and Benjamin have to have a few secrets and you don’t need to know everything. Let’s just say that it was a bonding experience for us and leave it at that,” he said.

  “Alright. You two can have your secrets then. At least you had to take the dog this time,” Ethan said.

  Gideon nodded an acknowledgement and then turned to Zack. “Zack, I let the mayor know in no uncertain terms that he better let me hire a deputy. We’ll see if it does any good. It’s not so bad now that I don’t have any prisoners, but when I get one, it sure would be nice to have somebody to switch out with for staying in that damn jail at night,” Gideon said as he dropped to the ground.

  “I appreciate it, sir. I know I’m better with a gun than I am with a rope and Ethan might give up on me,” Zack said.

  “You’ve come a long ways. You can rope the post most times now, and before long, we will have you roping from a horse. You’ll be putting Gideon to shame. I was always afraid he was going to accidently hang me trying to rope a steer,” Ethan said.

  “I got another letter from Pueblo. I think that John Roe fellow must have had somebody send it to mess with me. I know it’s him. I talked to him today and tried to get under his skin a little too,” Gideon said.

  “Did it work?” Ethan asked.

  “I don’t know. I left to let him stew on it,” Gideon said.

  “I’ll be glad when this is finished,” Ethan said.

  “Ethan, I know that I don’t need to ask you this, but I’m going to do it anyway to make myself feel better. If something were to happen to me, would you please look out for Abby and help her get situated?” Gideon said.

  “Gideon, why would you ask that? You know that I will, but why are you worried about it? You’ve been taking care of yourself for a long time. Why would this time be any different?” Ethan said.

  “It’s not like I’m scared or anything else, but things are a lot different now. With the land and cattle that I bought and Abby divorced, she would be in a fix if I got myself killed. I already put her through enough hell to last a lifetime,” Gideon said.

  “Don’t talk like that, Gideon. You get me to worrying. I still have eighteen years of grief stored up to give you,” Ethan said, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Life might have been miserable before, but it was a lot simpler,” Gideon remarked.

  “It’ll all be worth it in the end. Just have some faith. Have you checked on your cattle since we got them branded and driven over to your place?” Ethan said.

  “I’ve been over there once and they are doing fine. I’m glad we drove them to the old cabin. They’ve eaten it down to where it’s not so hard to walk around the yard. It will make it easier when we start building,” Gideon said.

  “I can’t wait until we get you living back there,” Ethan said.

  Gideon sat silently, his mind drifting back to John Roe. “Zack, if they let me make you a deputy and that son of a bitch gets me, make sure you find a reason to kill him,” he said, smiling sadly.

  Chapter 26

  If Gideon’s talk with John Roe had any effect on the man, he never let it show. He continued to haunt the two saloons, striking up conversations with anyone willing to talk. His horse had not been retrieved from the stable since his arrival and he seemed content to loiter around town biding his time.

  Gideon had promised Abby earlier in the week that he would spend Saturday with her and he was more than ready to get out of town. The mayor had finally talked the city council into letting him have a part–time deputy and even though he did not think that he needed anybody, he had already arranged with Ethan to let Zack be his deputy for the day just to get the city council used to the idea right from the get–go. He had finished giving Zack instructions and was ready to walk out the door when Mr. Riley came rushing into the jail.

  “Sheriff, my cattle are missing again. I’m just sure that it is rustlers this time,” Mr. Riley said.

  “That’s what you said last time and they were in that ravine. Did you check there?” Gideon said.

  “I looked there first thing and they weren’t there. I can’t find them anywhere,” Mr. Riley said.

  “Okay, Mr. Riley, you go on outside and I’m going to send my deputy to go with you to help. He’ll be out in a minute,” Gideon said.

  Gideon waited until the old man was outside before speaking. “Zack, that old fellow loses his cattle every now and t
hen. I guess ages ago, he had some rustled and now he gets in a panic every time he can’t find them. Please go out there with him and track them down before he has a stroke,” he said.

  “I’ll be glad to do it. It’ll beat sitting around here all day doing nothing. Why did you want me to work today anyway?” Zack said.

  “The sooner people get to know you as my deputy, the better it will be when I really need you. You better hurry before we have to carry him to see Doc,” Gideon said.

  Gideon waited until Mr. Riley and Zack were gone before retrieving Buck from the stable and heading out of town, careful as always not to take a direct route there even though he had come to the conclusion that Roe had no intention of following him. In fact, he was no longer sure if Roe had any intentions to do anything but laze around town. Gideon was beginning to think that Roe’s only plan was to make him suffer and worry until Roe was ready to make a move and use it to his advantage.

  Riding up to the cabin, Gideon found Abby and Joann sitting on the bench under the trees chatting away about something. Red, the dog, was sitting at their feet basking in the attention showered on him by Joann. Upon seeing her father, Joann jumped up, throwing her hands to her heart and saying loudly, “Oh, no, it’s the sheriff. Please don’t throw me in jail.”

  ‘Yeah, because the next time I see the behavior that landed you there the first time, I’m going to throw away the key,” Gideon said as he climbed off his horse.

  Joann ran up to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “How are you?” she asked.

  “I’m fine. You certainly are in a good mood. I figured you both would be ready to kill me for sticking you out here,” he said before walking over to Abby and giving her a kiss.

  “I am in a good mood. I’ve been thinking about something a lot and I need to ask you a question,” Joann said.

  Gideon looked at her and then glanced over at Abby, feeling about half–afraid of what was coming. “What is it?” he asked.

  “I was wondering how you would feel if I started calling you Daddy? I’ve been calling Abs that name way too long to ever change, but calling you Gideon just doesn’t feel right,” Joann said.