Trail of the Hanged Man

by Steve Hayes

  ‘What else?’

  ‘I don’t know. Raven didn’t hear anymore. By then, they had gone inside.’

  Lawless dropped the half-eaten chicken leg into the basket and wiped the grease from his mouth and fingers. ‘Reckon it’s time I got out of here.’

  ‘How can I help?’ Ingrid asked.

  ‘You can’t.’

  ‘Why not? You stood up to Stadtlander for us when you didn’t have to—’

  ‘That’s different. I don’t have a daughter to look after. Ingrid,’ he added as she started to protest, ‘I appreciate the offer. But there’s no way in hell I’m letting you get involved in this.’

  ‘Dammit, Ben, I’m already involved. Or have you forgotten I just buried my husband?’

  ‘I haven’t forgotten anything,’ Lawless said grimly. ‘But Sven was the only friend I ever had. And I’ll gladly hang before I let his wife risk going to jail for helping me escape.’

  Ingrid sighed and shook her head. ‘I should have listened to Raven. She said that’s what you’d say. Guess she knows you better than I do.’

  ‘Maybe one day, when enough time’s passed, we can change that,’ Lawless said.

  He waited for her to answer, to offer him words of hope. But she just stood there, hands gripping the bars, lost in thought. Finally she said, ‘That’s very sweet of you, Ben. But I doubt if I’ll ever care for another man again. Not the way I cared for Sven.’

  ‘I wouldn’t expect you to,’ Lawless said. ‘No man can take another man’s place. Nor should he want to. His needs are different, his hopes are different … his love is different. All he can do is love a woman his way and hope that she will love him for his differences.’

  Ingrid smiled, touched. ‘You should’ve been a poet, Ben. That was beautiful.’

  ‘I just wanted you to know how I feel, that’s all.’ He gently pressed his hands over hers. For the second time since he’d met her, it felt like he was holding sunshine.

  For a moment Ingrid seemed to feel the same way. Then, as if afraid of her own feelings, she withdrew her hands, said: ‘I’m sorry, Ben. It’s too soon.’

  Before Lawless could reply, a key turned in the lock and the deputy looked in. ‘Time’s up, Mrs Bjorkman. Sheriff said I was to only let you stay for ten minutes and—’

  ‘It’s all right, Deputy, I’m just leaving.’ Ingrid turned to Lawless. ‘Goodbye.’

  He nodded goodbye. Then, as she reached the door, ‘Ingrid.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘I’m a patient man.’

  She gave him a quick, sad smile and left.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  It was after midnight. The stores were closed, the streets almost empty. Except for the rowdies whooping it up in the Copper Palace and the Las Flores, everything was quiet in Santa Rosa.

  Lawless lay on his cot in the cell, unable to sleep, a desert wind blowing in through the barred window refreshingly cool on his face.

  Presently, he heard the door in the adjoining office open. Boots stomped in from outside. Voices and laughter followed. He guessed it was Deputies Lacey and McGowan returning from their last patrol around town. He listened intently. Shortly, he heard the higher-pitched voice of Lacey say goodnight; then a brief silence; then Deputy McGowan closing the front door and sliding the bolt into place. His boots clumped across the plank flooring. A key unlocked the door to the cells. Lawless closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep as the deputy looked in.

  Satisfied all was well, Deputy McGowan locked the door. Lawless heard him cross to the stove, pour himself a cup of coffee and flop in the chair behind the sheriff’s desk. Lawless smiled. McGowan enjoyed ordering folks around and Lawless guessed by now he had his boots up on the desk and was imagining how it would feel to be sheriff. A long silence followed. Lawless wondered if the deputy had dozed off. If he had, now was as good a time as any to try to break out.

  Rising, Lawless quietly slid the cot over to the window, stood on it and peered out through the bars. There was a dirt alley running between the back of the jail and a large adobe-brick building that he guessed was some kind of storehouse. He tested the bars. They were buried in the lower and upper walls of the window and when he tugged on them, they didn’t budge. Even if he had a knife he doubted if he could dig them loose by morning.

  Stepping down, he slid the cot back against the wall and checked the lock in the cell door. It was a large, uncomplicated lock stamped with the manufacturer’s name: Sargent & Greenleaf. Lawless remembered the key was big and fitted so snugly Sheriff Thorpe had had trouble inserting it and removing it when he first locked Lawless up. The key also grated when it turned, suggesting the lock might be rusted inside. Still, Lawless thought, it was worth a try. Removing his belt, he held the buckle flat and inserted the metal prong into the lock. He gently twisted it around. It snagged against the mechanism, but was not stout enough to turn anything. After several tries, Lawless gave up and slipped the belt back through the loops on his jeans.

  Escape was hopeless, he knew, unless he could trick the deputy into moving close enough to the bars so Lawless could grab him. But Deputy McGowan, though young and cocky, was no fool. In the few times he had entered the cell room, he had never come within arms’ length of the bars.

  Glum, Lawless sat on his cot, took out the makings and built a smoke. Striking the match on the wall he held it up for a moment, using the flame to illuminate his surroundings. Nothing but bars, walls, stone floor and a flat adobe ceiling that was out of reach and probably several feet thick. Frustrated, Lawless lit his cigarette from the sputtering flame and leaned back against the wall.

  After all that life had thrown at him, he wondered, could he now really be doomed to hang – a second time? Was fate really that heartless? And what about the citizens of Santa Rosa – would they actually stand by and say nothing while an innocent man was hanged? If Stadtlander had anything to say about it, the answer was most definitely yes.

  Damn, Lawless thought. If only Joey hadn’t shot his horse, he’d be in Arizona by now and—

  Voices interrupted his thinking. Someone outside on the boardwalk was talking through the front door to the deputy. Lawless couldn’t make out everything that was being said but he recognized the speaker’s voice. It was Deputy James Lacey’s and it sounded like he was asking McGowan to open the door.

  ‘Goddammit, Jim,’ Lawless heard Deputy McGowan reply, ‘what in tarnation did you forget this time?’

  Rising, Lawless went to the bars and listened. He heard McGowan’s boots clumping to the door, then the scrape of the bolt being slid back – then the door opening – then a moment of silence followed immediately by the sound of a brief scuffle – and finally two bodies collapsing on the floor.

  Before Lawless could figure out what was happening, a key unlocked the door to the cells. A man stepped in, a man who except for a full black beard and the trail dust caking his clothes, could have been Lawless’s double.

  ‘Well, if it ain’t my favorite cousin,’ Will Lawless said. He stepped close to the bars, whiskey fouling his breath, and grinned at Ben Lawless. ‘Surprised to see me?’

  ‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Lawless said grimly.

  ‘My, my, sounds like you’re still holding a grudge, hombre.’

  ‘Not so long as you’re holding those keys.’

  Will chuckled, ‘You always did know which side your biscuit was buttered on,’ and unlocked the cell.

  ‘Around you I had to,’ Lawless said, adding: ‘How’d you know I was here?’

  ‘I told him,’ a man said from the doorway. Dark-haired and bronzed by the sun, Gabriel Moonlight was even taller than Lawless and had the kind of ice-blue eyes that pierced right through to a person’s soul. ‘Cally told me yesterday at the hideout and I got word to Will, here. Figured since you were kin, he might want to help us cheat Stadtlander out of a hanging.’

  ‘Thanks, Gabe. I owe you,’ Lawless said.

  ‘C’mon, you jabbernuts,’ someone yelled fr
om the office. ‘Hurry it up. The horses are falling asleep!’

  ‘Christawmighty,’ said Lawless, recognizing the voice. ‘Just like old times.’

  The three of them pushed out into the office where two bodies lay sprawled on the floor. One was Deputy Lacey. By the unnatural way his head was turned Lawless knew his neck was broken. The other man, Deputy McGowan, was unconscious and had blood seeping from two gashes on his temple.

  Perched on the desk beside him, his dangling legs too short to reach the floor, was Latigo Rawlins. The dapper little gunman winked at Lawless and then pointed his carbine at Deputy McGown. ‘Dumb bastard started coming around, so I had to give him another tap.’

  ‘Better tie him up,’ Gabriel said, ‘or we’ll have a posse breathing down our necks.’

  ‘Why waste good rope?’ Will Lawless said. Before they could stop him, he whipped out a boot knife and sliced the unconscious deputy’s throat. ‘Reckon now we got all the time we need.’

  ‘Goddamn you!’ Lawless raged. ‘Now I’m on the hook for two killings.’

  ‘What of it?’ Will said. ‘They was going to hang you anyways.’ Wiping his knife clean on the deputy’s shirt, he stuck it in his boot and walked out.

  ‘Ain’t he a daisy?’ Latigo said.

  ‘I should’ve let the bastard drown,’ Lawless said grimly. Then, as the others looked at him questioningly, ‘When we were growing up, we were always fighting and one day he tried to push me down his old man’s well. Will was stronger than me, but I was quicker. I wrestled loose and hit him. He went stumbling back, lost his balance and next thing I knew he’d fallen into the well.’

  ‘And you were bone-headed enough to pull him out?’

  Lawless shrugged. ‘He was my cousin.’

  ‘What of it?’ Latigo said coldly. ‘Just ’cause you’re kin don’t mean you can’t kill each other.’

  ‘So you would’ve let him drown?’

  ‘Not me,’ Latigo said. ‘I would’ve shot the sonofabitch as he was swimming around.’ Jumping off the desk, he carefully stepped over the corpses and walked out.

  Gabriel Moonlight shook his head in disgust. ‘And goodness and mercy shall follow them for the rest of their lives.’

  ‘Amen,’ Lawless said. They left, closing the door behind them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  On their way to the border they stopped at the Bjorkman ranch to pick up Lawless’s gun.

  Despite the late hour a light glowed in the window. Guessing Ingrid was up for some reason and not wanting her anywhere near his cousin, Lawless reined up outside the gate and told Gabriel, Will and Latigo to wait for him. Dismounting, he handed the reins to Gabriel.

  Instantly he had to jump back as the irascible all-black Morgan tried to bite him.

  ‘When you going to teach that damn horse some manners?’ Lawless cursed.

  ‘I’ve tried teaching him,’ Gabriel said. ‘Sonuvagun’s too mule-headed to learn.’

  ‘Maybe you should’ve stoled another horse,’ Will said.

  ‘I didn’t steal Brandy,’ Gabriel said. ‘I keep telling you that. I won him fair and square, aces and eights.’

  ‘Yeah, but I heard you dealt yourself the second ace from the bottom of the deck.’

  ‘That’s a damn lie – and everyone at the table knows it.’

  ‘Then how come Stadtlander’s got men out looking for you?’

  ‘’Cause the old man can’t stand losing – at anything.’

  ‘If we’re going to cross the border afore sunup,’ Latigo reminded them, ‘we best make tracks.’

  ‘Be right back,’ Lawless said. He ducked between the bars of the gate and hurried to the house. No one answered his first knock. He knocked again, slightly louder.

  ‘Who is it?’ Ingrid asked.

  ‘Ben – open up.’

  The door opened and Ingrid, framed by lamplight, stared at him in shock.

  ‘I don’t have time to explain,’ Lawless said, ‘but I need my gun.’

  She reached behind the door and handed him his gunbelt. Looking tired and close to defeat, she asked him if he was all right.

  He nodded. ‘You’re going to hear a lot of ugly stories about me tomorrow – about how I killed two deputies while breaking out of jail.’

  ‘Nonsense!’ She shivered despite the robe pulled tightly around her. ‘You’re many things, Ben, but I’ll never believe you’re a murderer.’

  ‘What you believe won’t matter. Not once they find the bodies. But I wanted you to hear the truth from me: I did not kill them.’

  ‘I would’ve gone to my grave believing that anyway. But I’m still glad you told me.’

  In the darkness beyond the gate a horse whinnied and stamped its hoof impatiently on the ground.

  Ingrid looked questioningly at Lawless.

  ‘Some men I’m with,’ he said.

  ‘If they need to water their horses—’

  ‘No. I don’t want you to see them or know who they are. That way, you don’t have to lie when the sheriff questions you.’

  ‘I thank you for that.’

  ‘You’re up late?’

  ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

  ‘If it’ll help … I’ll stay a while.’

  ‘Goodness no! This will be the first place they look.’ She managed a tight thin smile. ‘I’ll be all right. Promise.’

  ‘Sure you will. Just takes time is all.’

  She looked off at the darkness, said distantly, ‘It’s not … I mean I’m not really afraid … though Raven says I am … it’s just … all so new … you know, being alone … the two of us … out here … without Sven or, or you to … to … well … it can be a little unsettling.’

  One of the men whistled.

  ‘You’d better go,’ she said.

  Lawless nodded but didn’t move.

  ‘Will I ever see you again?’

  ‘Of course,’ he lied. ‘Might be a spell, but.…’

  Ingrid nodded, understanding. ‘I’ll miss you.’

  ‘Just don’t forget me.’

  ‘Do you really think I could?’

  ‘I’ll never forget you. Any of you.’

  Ingrid smiled sadly. ‘Life,’ she said, ‘why does it have to be so complicated?’

  A second whistle, more impatient than the first, pierced the darkness.

  ‘Take care of yourself, Ben.’

  ‘You do the same.’

  ‘I will.’

  He wanted to say more, to tell her how he really felt about her, how that being with her and Sven and Raven was the best thing that had ever happened to him, but couldn’t find the words.

  Sensing his struggle, she leaned close and kissed his cheek. ‘God speed, Ben Lawless.’

  The urge to hold her, to feel her warm and soft and comforting against him was overwhelming. But he restrained himself, touched his hat and forced himself to walk away.

  Never had he felt as empty.

  Suddenly a slim boyish figure in a flannel nightgown pushed past her mother and caught up to Lawless.

  ‘I trusted you,’ Raven said angrily, ‘and you weren’t even going to say goodbye.’

  He gathered her up, lifting her off her feet, and bear-hugged her. ‘I wanted to, sprout. But I didn’t have the guts.’

  ‘Hah! You expect me to believe that?’

  ‘Why would I lie?’

  ‘’Cause it’s what grownups do when they let you down.’

  ‘Trust.…’ he reminded. ‘It’s a—’

  ‘I know, I know,’ Raven grumbled, ‘“a notion you can live by”.’

  ‘And build on. Always remember that.’

  She sighed. He felt her relax as her anger faded.

  ‘All right,’ she said grudgingly, ‘I believe you. So, there.’

  Pleased, he set her down.

  She stood there in the darkness, looking up at him with her large, black, expressive eyes. ‘I love you,’ she said.

  He smiled, knowing he felt the same way about her.

/>   ‘Ain’t you going to say you love me?’

  ‘You already know that.’

  ‘Then say it. Say: I love you.’

  ‘Damn, if you aren’t the pushiest girl I ever met.’

  ‘Only when I want something and right now I want you to say you love me.’

  ‘God help me and the men that come after me,’ Lawless said. He hunkered down and looked deep into her shining eyes. ‘I love you, sprout. I always will.’ The words sounded strange coming out of his mouth but he knew he meant them. Kissing her on the forehead, he spun her around and gave her a gentle push in the direction of the house. ‘Look after your mother for me. She’s going to need you.’

  He turned toward the gate and walked off into the darkness.

  Behind him he heard Raven say, ‘I told him I loved him, Momma.’

  ‘I know, sweetheart. I heard you.’

  ‘Said he loved me back.’

  ‘Yes, I know.’

  ‘You love him too, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Ingrid said.

  ‘Like you loved Pa?’

  ‘No, sweetheart. Not like that. But in a very special way.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  It was shortly before sunup when the four of them crossed the border into Mexico. They crossed where there was no fence, only endless miles of pale lemony scrubland and rocks, and rode westward toward Las Palomas.

  There was no moon but plenty of coyotes. They sang in mournful chorus all around them.

  ‘Once, when I was holed up in the Mimbres,’ Gabriel said as they followed Will into a sandy gully, ‘I ate nothing but coyote meat for three weeks.’

  ‘What’d it taste like?’ Latigo asked.

  ‘Dog. Only tougher … stringier.’

  ‘You’ve ate dog?’

  ‘Uh-uh.’

  ‘Then how do you know what it tastes like?’

  ‘’Paches told me. They eat dog all the time.’

  ‘’Paches’ll eat anything,’ Will said disgustedly, ‘just so it’s breathing and sometimes even if it ain’t. Makes no matter to them.’

  No one said anything.

  They rode on in the cool darkness. They were deep in the gully now and on both sides of them the steep, rock-strewn banks rose up like small cliffs. It was the perfect place for an ambush and to a man, they were glad it wasn’t ten years ago or behind each rock would have been an Apache.