“Actually, no one can prove anything one way or another,” started Burch. “The way things looked when I went out to her place and found Jethro dead in her barn, well, I think Jethro had his way with her and she killed him for it.” Burch stuck the stubby cigar back between his teeth.
“Then why the bounty on her head?”
“That’s Walt Mercer’s doing,” continued Burch. “He’s all grieved up with hate and anger over losing his only son. The man’s got more money than the whole state of Texas I think. He pretty much owns this town and just about everything in it.”
“Does that include the law, too?” Jess asked cynically. Burch glowered slightly at that.
“I suppose it does, although I ain’t exactly proud of it,” admitted Burch, glancing back at the poster behind him. “So, change your mind about the woman yet?” Jess looked at the sketch of Jane Lacey again and shook his head.
“No, it says she’s wanted alive and I don’t exactly work that way,” explained Jess almost in a whisper. “Besides, if it happened the way you said you thought it did, I don’t see any reason to hunt her down.”
“Well, no matter,” said Burch almost regretfully. “The other bounty hunters who are looking for her don’t give a rat’s ass about the right or wrong of it; they just care about the twenty-five thousand dollars she’s worth.”
“I think the whole thing smells,” implied Jess, as he continued to stare at the likeness of Jane Lacey. Jess shook off the disturbed feeling that was knocking around in his head and pulled his gaze away from the poster.
“Anyway, back to Cawley, where does he do his drinking when he’s in town?” inquired Jess.
“Crooked Cork over on North Street,” answered Burch. “The place is rife with gamblers and gunslingers and whores. If you go in there, you watch your back real good.”
“I always do,” said Jess as he stood up to leave. Before he turned around to walk out, his gaze settled on the sketch of Jane again and Burch saw it.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars makin’ you think twice?” implied Burch.
“Not really, I made over two hundred thousand dollars just last month,” Jess said softly. Burch spat his cigar out onto the desk.
“Say what?” Burch exclaimed loudly.
“Never mind,” said Jess, not going into detail about the money he had taken off Captain Lance Reagan and his partner Virgil Hall or the wire he received from Sheriff John Bodine. The wire explained that over half the money couldn’t be returned to any rightful owners and that the Stratton Bank and Trust had deposited over two hundred thousand dollars into an account with Jess’ name on it.
Jess walked out of Sheriff Burch’s office and headed for the little café in the hotel where he ordered some food and sat there eating it and thinking about the woman on the wanted poster. As he ate, he watched two heavily-armed men ride into town. As they rode past the café, Jess recognized them.
Callen Lauter had two Colt Peacemakers strapped to his waist and he carried a sawed off twelve-gauge across his lap. Riding next to him was Lefty Gilpin, a short slim man with a bowler hat on his head and a Navy Colt strapped to his left leg. He had a Spenser repeating rifle across his lap. Jess knew both men well. They were experienced bounty hunters who were mean as hell and usually caught whoever they were hunting. The two men rode straight up to the jail and dismounted and walked inside. A bad feeling washed over him as he took another swallow of coffee to wash his food down. Not for himself, but for woman on the poster.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jess finished his meal and walked outside to see Lauter and Gilpin sauntering out of Sheriff Burch’s office and as soon as they spotted him, they exchanged glances and then walked straight to where he was standing in front of the hotel. Jess simply stood there and waited for them.
“I figured a bounty that big would draw you in,” Lauter snapped smartly.
“I ain’t hunting the woman,” replied Jess pointblank. Lauter and Gilpin exchanged amusing looks.
“You ain’t after the twenty-five thousand?” Gilpin asked nosily.
“Nope.”
“Really?” furthered Lauter.
“That’s what I said.”
“Why not?” demanded Gilpin suspiciously.
“Because I don’t think she’s guilty.”
“We don’t care if she’s guilty or not, we just care about gettin’ that money,” crowed Lauter.
“You two do know that the bounty ain’t a legally authorized bounty issued by the law,” said Jess, realizing the irony of it before he finished the words.
“Why should we give two shits about legal?” asked Gilpin, a curious look on his face. “The man’s gonna pay twenty-five thousand dollars just the same the way I see it.”
“I figured you two would see it that way.”
“So, you’re really not going after her?” Lauter asked again, a cunning look washing over his face.
“Like I told you, I don’t think she’s guilty,” finished Jess, as he turned and walked down the boardwalk toward the Crooked Cork.
“Well then, that’s good news,” exclaimed Lauter grinning at his partner Gilpin. “Looks like we’s gonna finally make us some serious money for a change.”
The Crooked Cork was a smoky, smelly and noisy place with a dozen men gambling at several tables and a dozen more drinking and carrying on with the whores working the place. There were two barkeeps working, one behind the bar and one running around the saloon serving the card players and the other men sitting at tables drinking beer and rotgut whiskey. The barkeep behind the bar was a slim man of moderate build and a neatly trimmed beard and moustache. Jess made his way through the crowd until he finally found a spot at the one end of the bar. The barkeep walked over and wiped down the bar and picked up an empty glass.
“Whiskey or beer?” asked the barkeep.
“Whiskey, and pour the good stuff.”
The barkeep walked into the back room to get a bottle and when he returned, the wanted poster with Raif Cawley’s face on it was lying on top of the bar with a ten dollar gold piece on it. The barkeep poured the whiskey into a glass and looked at the poster and then at the ten dollar gold piece.
“You know this man?” Jess asked above the din in the saloon.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Whether or not you need change,” suggested the barkeep smiling. Jess pulled out another ten dollar gold piece and placed it right next to the other one.
“Don’t need any change,” implied Jess. The barkeep quickly pocketed the two coins and turned the wanted poster back around.
“He comes in here late at night to see Jenna over there,” explained the barkeep, pointing to a rough looking heavyset woman with a heavily-painted face sitting on a man’s lap. “He waits until later because he knows the Sheriff won’t come in that late, not that our fat-assed cigar chewing bought off bastard of a Sheriff would do anything anyway.”
“Good to know,” said Jess thankfully.
“Watch out for Jenna though,” warned the barkeep. “She’s pretty fast and loose with that little derringer she keeps strapped to her right arm. She’s done shot two men in the last month just for not paying.”
“Also good to know,” said Jess directly.
Jess stood there for the next few hours nursing his whiskey slowly, watching the goings on in the saloon. There were three fistfights that came about due to disputes over who had the winning hand in the poker games. Jenna serviced four customers, each time taking her customer upstairs to a room above the saloon and always returning shortly after.
It was close to midnight when Jess finally saw Cawley push through the batwing doors. His clothing looked tattered and dirty, but he was wearing a very nice holster with a pearled handled Navy Colt in it and it was tied down tight and low on his right leg. Cawley eyed the crowd, exchanging edgy glances with a few men who quickly looked away from his hard gaze. Jess tucked his hat down slightly, slipped his hammer strap off, and turned his bod
y so that Cawley wouldn’t see the handle of his large bore shotgun strapped to his back.
Jenna noticed Cawley immediately and walked over to him and took his hand and led him over to a table. Jenna quickly grabbed a bottle of whiskey and two glasses from the bar and went back over to his table and poured the whiskey. Cawley picked up the glass and threw his head back and downed it. She poured another one and Cawley downed it just as quickly.
The saloon was still quite busy and Jess didn’t want any exchange of gunfire that might kill an innocent person, so he patiently waited until Cawley and Jenna stood up and headed for the stairway leading to the upstairs rooms in the saloon. Jenna was leading the way and when Cawley was about halfway up the stairs, Jess lifted his head up and looked straight at him.
“You’ll never make it to the top of those steps, Cawley!” hollered Jess above the noise, which quickly ratcheted down once everyone in the place realized what was happening. Cawley glared down at Jess and then sneered arrogantly at him.
“You itchin’ to catch some hot lead asshole?” snarled Cawley.
“No, but I do plan on collecting two thousand dollars in bounty money once I deliver your dead body to the Sheriff in town.”
“I killed the last two bounty hunters that came at me,” barked Cawley, putting his right hand down by the butt of his pearl handled Navy Colt.
“Well, the good news is, I’m the last bounty hunter you’ll have to deal with,” implied Jess with a knowing look.
“Cocky sumbitch, ain’t ya?”
“You’re not the first one to tell me that,” replied Jess flatly. Jenna was two steps up from Cawley and he watched her deftly move her left hand toward her right arm.
“I don’t want to shoot a woman, but if you bring that right arm up with that little derringer you’re wearing, I will put a bullet in you,” warned Jess. Jenna moved her left hand away from her right arm. Cawley looked at her and smiled.
“You go on up sugar,” Cawley told her. “I’ll be up after I deal with this sumbitch.”
Jenna hesitated for a moment, but she finally walked up the steps and into her room. Cawley steadied himself on the steps and looked around the saloon. The loud noise that had filled the place only moments ago, was quickly replaced with quiet whispers and probing eyes, all of them on Jess and Cawley.
“So, you wanna die over two thousand dollars?”
“Don’t plan on dying.”
“You will if you plan on slappin’ leather against me,” insisted Cawley. “I ain’t ever been beat.”
“Always a first time for everything.”
“Why don’t you go and hunt that woman down,” snapped Cawley. “She’s worth a lot more than me.”
“I ain’t looking for the woman. I’m here for you.”
“You’re gonna be sorry you found me.”
“You let me worry about that,” offered Jess.
Cawley loosened his right hand, clenching and unclenching it several times while glaring at Jess, trying to read him. Jess stood there and read Cawley like a book, seeing the look in his eyes a split second before his right hand made its movement. Cawley jerked his gun out and threw a shot in Jess’ direction, but his shot was thrown wide from the slug from Jess’ pistol that slammed him against the back railing of the stairway.
Cawley rolled backward over the railing and landed on the saloon floor with a loud thump. The men in the saloon quickly moved out of the way after seeing Jess holster his pistol and pull his large bore shotgun out of his back sling.
Cawley felt the wet spot on his left shoulder and grimaced in pain. He saw his pistol on the floor and he grabbed it and thumbed the hammer back and rose up and loosed another slug through the slats in the railing just as Jess pulled one trigger on the shotgun. Cawley’s slug slammed into the wall behind Jess, but the slugs and buckshot from the large bore shotgun slammed into the stairway and into Cawley’s face, knocking him backward onto the floor again.
Jess walked around the stairway, always keeping Cawley in his sight, while shooting quick glances up at the top of the steps watching for Jenna. Cawley was squirming around on the floor and holding his face, which had taken three slugs from the shotgun’s barrel. Cawley tried to speak, but the blood in his throat kept him from talking. He glared up at Jess with hateful eyes. Jess watched as the life slowly drained out of Cawley’s eyes; his hands dropping to the floor; twitching a few times before he lay dead.
Jess heard a loud scream at the top of the stairway and saw Jenna start to reach for her derringer and Jess slicked his pistol out and cocked it and gave her a demanding look while shaking his head.
“Don’t make me do it,” warned Jess. She glared back at him and shook her head in disgust as she ran down the steps and over to Cawley. She slumped down into one of the chairs and put her hands up to her face and cried. Sheriff Burch came walking in carrying a sawed off. He walked over to where Jess was standing over Cawley’s dead body.
“You don’t waste any time do you?” Sheriff Burch asked plainly.
“I suppose not.”
“Well, he’s worth two thousand dollars,” Burch stated. “I can have your money ready for you in the morning. I’d suggest you turn in for the night before Jenna tries to use that little derringer on your ass.” Jess gave him a funny look.
“Does everybody know about that?”
“She’s prone to shootin’ instead of talkin’.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
In the morning, Jess had breakfast in the café and as soon as he finished, he gathered his things up and headed for the livery to saddle up his horses. When he finished, he paid the livery owner and walked his horses down to the jail to see Sheriff Burch about his bounty money. When he walked inside, Lauter and Gilpin were sitting in the two chairs across from Burch’s desk. Sheriff Burch reached inside his desk drawer and pulled out an envelope.
“Here’s your money for Cawley,” said Burch, throwing the envelope to Jess. Jess took the money out of the envelope and folded it up and stuck it into his front pocket.
“Nice doing business with you,” Jess said grinning.
“We’s gonna make ten times as much when we bring in that woman,” exclaimed Lauter, looking at the wanted poster hanging up behind Sheriff Burch.
“Yeah, and we’s gonna have some fun with her when we find her,” added Gilpin. Sheriff Burch had a frown on his face, which Jess thought odd.
“Walt Mercer wants her brought in alive and unharmed,” suggested Burch, a little tension showing itself in his voice.
“She’ll be in one piece,” snapped Lauter. “We’ll just give her a ride or two first.”
“I don’t think that’s what Mercer had in mind,” offered Jess, noticing the strain on Sheriff Burch’s face.
“Hell, Mercer is paying twenty-five thousand dollars for one woman to be brought in,” groused Gilpin. “He ain’t payin’ that much money to have a talk with her. I’m bettin’ he plans on hanging her or worse, so I don’t think he’ll care about her being a little used up.” Jess gave them both a harsh look and shook his head.
“You two are quite the pair,” Jess inferred cuttingly.
“You sure you won’t change your mind about the woman?” Sheriff Burch asked Jess, a slightly pleading look in his eyes that Jess wondered about. Lauter and Gilpin both shot Jess a worrisome look. Jess looked at the wanted poster on Jane Lacey and frowned.
“No, I’m heading up to Ranklin and look for Bucktooth Brown,” Jess replied plainly.
“Just make sure he don’t come at you with those big ass front teeth of his,” Gilpin laughed.
“Yeah, he likes to gnaw on his women while he’s raping ‘em,” added Lauter.
“Maybe we’ll give Miss Jane a nibble or two ourselves,” laughed Lauter. Jess gave Sheriff Burch a pained expression and turned and walked out and climbed up in the saddle. Burch walked outside onto the front porch of the jail.
“You sure you won’t change your mind about the woman?” Burch asked uneasily. Jess leaned fo
rward in the saddle, placing both of his hands on the saddle horn.
“Sheriff, why do I get the feeling that you ain’t too happy about this Jane Lacey business?” Sheriff Burch pulled the stubby fat cigar from between his teeth.
“The truth of it is, Jane is a right nice woman and she doesn’t deserve any of this,” explained Burch. “I was hoping we’d find Rubin Fisher first so he could explain what really happened out at the Lacey spread. Maybe if it happened the way I think it did, maybe that would keep Walt Mercer from doing whatever he plans on doing with Jane.”
“Who is Rubin Fisher?”
“I think he was out there with Jethro when he got himself killed,” explained Burch. “He’s run off and hasn’t been seen since.”
“Then go and find him.”
“I’ve been trying, but Mercer wants everyone to spend most of their effort on finding Jane,” suggested Burch. “Truth is I don’t think Mercer really wants Fisher found. I think he’s so full of hate over his boy that he just wants revenge for it.”
“I find that a little interesting,” said Jess, almost in a whisper.
“What do you mean, interesting?” asked a slightly confused Burch.
“You keep calling her by her first name,” implied Jess, grinning as he turned his horses around and rode out of town to the east just as thunder rolled along the landscape. He looked at the darkening skies that were rolling toward him and he reached into his saddlebags and pulled out his rain slicker and put it on.
“Looks like we’re getting a free bath, Gray,” Jess told his horse, patting him on his neck. Gray shook his head and snorted. Sharps snickered from behind.
***
Jane was tired, cold and hungry when she finally rode back to the well-hidden cave that had served as her base camp since she had been forced to run from the only thing she had left in life; her home. She had played in the cave many times when she was just a young girl. The cave couldn’t be spotted from the two trails that rode alongside the hills it was located in because it was situated on the back side of one of the dozens of hills that were grouped together. A person would have to ride over the hill to be able to spot it. The opening was large enough to allow a horse to enter, but the cave quickly opened up into a large cavernous opening with a ceiling that reached up a good thirty feet in the air.
THE BOUNTY: Twentieth in a Series of Jess Williams Westerns (A Jess Williams Western Book 20) Page 4
