Bodie 9

by Neil Hunter

  Bodie felt weary after his speech. Even talking was hard work at the moment.

  ‘Fellers who hauled you back here said Gibbs and his daughter had been shot in the back. They were both dead. So are the three mustangers. Trappers found fresh horse tracks leading away north from the spread. Looks like Trask took a couple of horses.’

  ‘He’s picking up his trail again,’ Bodie said. ‘Going for the border.’

  ‘Leaving dead people behind him,’ Pointer said. ‘I have a feeling he’s going to get away this time.’

  Bodie stayed silent for a while, working on the fragments of memory that were floating around inside his head.

  ‘Marshal—Ezra—I have an notion I want to share with you.’

  ‘You wish me to leave you alone with the Marshal?’ Meerschaum said.

  ‘No. I need sensible heads on this. Because I don’t want you thinking I’m talking like a crazy man.’

  ‘Go ahead,’ Pointer said.

  ‘Linus Dorn.’

  ‘What’s he got to do with anything?’

  ‘Bushwhacked me before I found the Gibbs place,’ Bodie said. ‘Only he didn’t make it.’

  ‘Dorn? Why would he try to kill you?’

  ‘So you knew him?’

  ‘He was known around Colton,’ Pointer said. ‘Mostly in the saloons. No good way to tell it but the truth. He was a drunk. A barfly. Spent his time begging for enough cash for his next bottle. Took any job he could to earn a few dollars. You’re telling me he tried to shoot you?’

  ‘Yeah. He took money to follow me and take me down.’

  ‘He tell you who pay him to do this?’ Meerschaum said.

  ‘Lucinda Montefiore,’ Bodie said without hesitation.

  ‘As in Monty’s Restaurant?’ Pointer said.

  ‘The same.’

  Pointer looked across at Meerschaum. The Doctor returned his gaze and the pair of them stood considering what Bodie had just said.

  ‘You know, Bodie, since you came to Colton, things have been happening,’ Pointer said, ‘but this is the strangest.’

  ‘I ain’t making it up. As soon as I mentioned I was after Trask at the mustangers’ camp they jumped me. Tessler pushes me into a gunfight. Now that restaurant woman hires someone to shoot me. I’ll agree there’s something odd going on. I just wish I could figure out the connection to it all.’

  ‘Maybe the connection is Cabot and this Monty woman,’ Meerschaum said.

  Bodie rolled his head on the pillow and stared at the doctor. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘Cabot and the woman they are, what you would say, more in command. All the others follow. Cabot’s hired help. This man Dorn. Am I right?’

  ‘If we accept that,’ Pointer said, ‘what is Sam Trask to them?’

  ‘Maybe family,’ Bodie said. ‘There has to be a close tie for them to do the things they have.’ He turned to Meerschaum. ‘Doc, was it dark when I was brought in?’

  ‘Ja.’

  ‘Those fellers who helped me. They still around?’

  The doctor shook his head. ‘When they left you with me we talked and they agreed they would ride back to the Gibbs’ place to bury the dead.’

  ‘They came to see me,’ Pointer added. ‘Said it was the Christian thing to do. I know those men. They’ll do the right thing. Why’d you want to know?’

  ‘If that’s so and they rode out, likely the Monty woman doesn’t know I’m back in town.’

  ‘What you planning, Bodie?’

  ‘First a good night’s sleep. Come tomorrow it might be we can help things along.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Will Cabot came into town quietly, easing his horse along the back lots until he reached the rear of Monty’s Restaurant. It was full dark, late, the way in shadow as he eased out of the saddle and stepped up to the kitchen door that stood partway open. A light still showed inside. Monty would be cashing up, the staff gone for the night. She did this every night after the close of business. Cabot paused on the top step, looking into the kitchen and saw her at the kitchen table, bending over the paperwork.

  ‘Never adds up the way you expect,’ he said.

  The woman glanced up, lamplight creating shadow across one side of her face as she moved. Any surprise she might have had vanished quickly.

  ‘You can say that about life in general. Now what are you doing here? Did anyone see you?’

  ‘I came in from the far side of town. Never showed myself on the street.’

  Monty pushed aside her paperwork and stood. She crossed to the big cooking stove where a pot of coffee gently steamed. She poured into a pair of china mugs from the side, handing him one.

  ‘I ran into three trappers on the trail. They’d called in by the Gibbs’ place. They found Charbonneau, Roster and Kellin. All dead. Looked like a set to. I sent them to deal with that Bodie feller only it hadn’t worked out. They found Gibbs and his daughter backshot in the house. There was also Bodie, shot as well. And there were tracks heading away from the place. Single rider leading a spare horse. Heading north…’

  ‘Will, I sent Linus Dorn out to…’

  ‘That barfly. Christ, Monty, that was a damn stupid thing to do.’

  ‘Your three boys don’t seem to have done any better.’

  ‘Yeah, well, it’s done now.’

  ‘If Bodie hadn’t shown up in Colton none of this might have happened. Well at least he’s out of the way now.’

  Cabot shook his head. ‘But he ain’t. Still alive. Those trappers brought him to town and left him with Meerschaum. I met up with ‘em on their way back to Gibbs place. They were going to bury the dead.’

  ‘Bodie’s here in town? If he tangled with Linus Dorn maybe he knows I sent him. Damn, Will, what do we do now?’

  ‘Tolerable late to be asking me that now.’

  Monty stared at him, anger in her eyes. ‘Will, I don’t know how to deal with this on my own.’

  ‘Then we admit we’re in a mess. And see that Sam is running wild. Out of control. All the killing. The thieving. It’s our damn fault…we should have done something years ago.’

  ‘Done what?’ Monty slammed he coffee mug down on the table, spilling the hot liquid. ‘Had him locked away in a lunatic asylum?’

  ‘Thinking back that’s just what we should have done. He’s sick, Monty. More sick than we’ve ever admitted. Goddamn it we’ve always known that. We was wrong leaving him free…’

  ‘Will, he’s our son,’ Monty screamed, losing control. ‘Our son.’

  ‘I’ve let you use that over the years. Allowed you to cover for him. Done it myself to back you. Monty, we’re as responsible as he is.’

  ‘No. He doesn’t even understand himself what he does is wrong. He just…goes a little wild sometimes.’

  ‘Wild? Damnit, Monty, he goes more than just wild. Look what he’s done? What we’ve pretended hasn’t happened. It has to end. Here. I won’t allow Sam to cause any more misery the way he already has.’

  ‘No, Will.’ She caught the expression on his face. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Tell Ezra Pointer the truth. That we know all about Sam. What he’s done. It’s time to put things right. Like we should have done years ago.’

  Monty stared at him, realization dawning on her as his words sank in. A cry of anguish rose in her throat. She let out a shrill wail. Stared around her, lost, seeking some kind of comfort and when she failed, she reached for one of the cook knives in the drainage board beside the sink. Cabot saw what she was doing and moved to stop her. Yet she moved faster than he anticipated and lashed out with the heavy blade.

  ‘Damn you, Will, I won’t let you help them take my son … I can’t … not my boy … ’

  Her first lunge caught Cabot across his left hand, the keen edge of the knife slicing a deep, raw gash in his palm. Blood surged from the wound and Cabot drew back, a hiss of pain bursting from his lips. As he pulled back his hand blood flew in a bright spray.

  ‘Jesus, Monty, not th
is way…’

  Cabot’s plea was lost on the woman. It was as if he was talking to a shadow as she lunged again, reason lost in the sheer panic brought on by the chance of losing her son forever. Her onslaught was all the more frightening when he saw the bright, unreasoning gleam in her eyes, the lips peeled back from her teeth in a grimace devoid of any feeling. His concentration lost for the moment Cabot failed to avoid the increasingly wild slashes from the knife in her hand. He felt the cold slice as it caught his cheek, laying open a deep cut that sent blood streaming down his face. Now she was screaming in an unending stream. Cabot took more cuts to his hands as he raised them in defense and when he tried to grasp her knife hand she slashed at his arms, cutting through his shirt with frenzied strength. Cabot fell back, dislodging pots and pans from the work space behind him. Above the clatter of iron implements he could hear Monty’s cries of rage, a sound that cut through him as deeply as the knife cut through his flesh.

  Cabot stumbled, as much from the wounds as from the shock of her raging attack. On his knees, despite his physical strength, he felt helpless under the rage of Monty’s onslaught. It was a primal and unstoppable rage. The instinct of a mother desperate to defend her child, no matter how badly he had acted. No matter the terrible things he had done.

  The bloodied knife descended, cutting a deep gash across the exposed back of his neck and Cabot had no more strength to resist. He slumped forward, oblivious now to the pain. To the blood pouring from the mass of wounds, and offered no more resistance as the knife rose and fell again and again, accompanied by the shrieking cries of the woman…

  Chapter Fourteen

  When Ezra Pointer had come to Bodie’s room to tell him what had happened the manhunter had insisted on joining him at the restaurant. By the time Bodie made his slow way across the street, a crowd had gathered outside. Even though it was still dark enough people had been alerted by the screams coming from Monty’s Restaurant. What they found had been enough to make them step back and stare.

  Pointer had taken charge, preventing anyone from going in once he had herded the onlookers out. When Bodie followed him inside and through to the kitchen he found Meerschaum already doing what he could for Cabot. Bodie noticed the woman, Monty, sitting on a chair in the dining room a blanket around her and being attended by Pointer’s wife. Monty sat as if in a trance. The hands clutching the blanket were streaked with blood and some had splashed onto her pale face. Jen Pointer caught Bodie’s eye. Shaking her head slowly.

  In the kitchen Will Cabot lay in a wide pool of blood. He was also bleeding from numerous knife gashes to his arms, hands and face. When Bodie moved closer Meerschaum glanced up. His sleeves were pushed back and his hands were red. He held Bodie’s gaze for a few seconds before shaking his head.

  ‘Too much,’ he said in a quiet voice. ‘Is too much.’

  Cabot’s eyes focused on Bodie.

  ‘It came to this,’ he said, forcing out the words through bloody lips. ‘I should have let you go after him, Bodie. If I had maybe Gibbs and his daughter would still be alive…now…I was trying to protect my boy…’

  ‘Trask is the connection,’ Pointer said. ‘He’s their son. Damnit, Bodie, they were trying to help him. For all the wrong reasons.’

  ‘You should rest,’ Meerschaum said, bending over Cabot..

  ‘Doc, I’ll have plenty of rest when I’m dead.’

  ‘Why did this happen now?’ Bodie asked.

  ‘I rode in to tell Monty what happened over to Gibbs place. She just went crazy. Scared she was going to lose Sam when I said I had to tell Ezra. But I had to do it. He’s so out of control now and good people have died…no more…no more…’

  Bodie turned away and went back through to the restaurant.

  Pointer’s wife left Monty and faced him.

  ‘She hasn’t said a word since we found her.’

  ‘I’d guess she doesn’t even know what happened herself.’

  ‘When Ezra went in he said she was just standing there with the knife in her hand. Looking down at Will Cabot as if she had no idea what she had done. Mr. Bodie, nothing like this has ever happened in Colton before.’

  ‘Dare say you’re right, ma’am.’

  ‘It will take a long time to get over.’ Jen Pointer shook her head, lost for any more words until she said, ‘What will you do, Mr. Bodie?’

  ‘What I was on my way to do when I came here. Find Sam Trask and bring him in.’

  ‘Dead or alive?’

  Her words were cold, devoid of any emotion.

  ‘Ma’am, that will be down to Trask.’

  ~*~

  Will Cabot died before he could be moved from the restaurant.

  Marshal Pointer locked Monty in one of his cells. He sent someone to the nearest telegraph point to summon a US Marshal. The killing was far beyond anything he felt he could handle, and Monty needed looking after by professional help.

  After a restless few hours’ sleep Bodie organized himself. He topped up his supplies and made sure the chestnut was saddled and ready. He walked her down the street to the jail and tied the mare to the post. He stepped up on the boardwalk, feeling every move he made. The bullet wound was giving him some nagging pain but he was damned if he would let himself be stopped by it. He pushed open the door and went in. Pointer glanced up from paperwork on his desk and indicated for Bodie to sit. The lawman poured coffee. Handed Bodie a mug

  ‘Bodie, we’re reaping the whirlwind here,’ he said. ‘I don’t even have anyone I can send with you. No offence, but you’re not exactly in the best of health right now.’

  ‘You have a nice way of pointing out the obvious.’

  ‘Trask has a hell of a start on you.’

  ‘That too, but I don’t have any other way of dealing with this.’

  ‘He might believe you’re dead.’

  ‘I can’t wait for the day I prove him wrong.’

  ‘Bodie, how do people end up in such a bind?’

  ‘Got me there.’ Bodie downed a mouthful of coffee. ‘I’m going to miss this coffee.’

  ‘Jen brings me fresh refills all the time.’ Then Pointer said, ‘Monty talked to me a while back. Only for few minutes. Clear as fresh dew. Then she went back to just staring at the wall…’

  …as Lucinda Trask she had met Will Cabot when she was eighteen. Two young people on a lonely mountain and they fell for each other. She had a wild streak and when he suggested they set up home together she agreed because it was better than having nothing. They set up home to the east of Colton, which was little more than a trading post back then. Will had his dream of becoming a mustanger and setting up his own outfit. He was young and full of dreams and Lucinda wanted nothing more than to be with him and starting a family. At first it all worked out. Will built his horse ranch, drew in a crew and they ranged across the Dakota territory, seeking out the free roaming wild herds. They caught their mustangs, corralled them and broke them in, selling to the plentiful markets. The demand for horseflesh was strong. Cabot’s name grew. His reputation too. He drove his horses and sold them to the Army and the distant spreads. And then Lucinda fell pregnant. She had a boy. They called him Sam and for a time life was good.

  The cracks began to appear before the boy was twenty years old. A rebellious streak that grew and developed. Sam refused to take Cabot’s name. He was Sam Trask. It was about that time when his errant behavior began to show. He fought everyone and everything. He treated people badly. Especially women. There were incidents. Too many, and any attempt by Cabot to deal with then led to violent outbursts. The younger man simply became too much for them to handle and just after his twenty-second birthday a final confrontation erupted and after they fought Sam rode out and vanished. It was the end of Lucinda and Will’s relationship. It broke them up. She rode all the way to Colton, took a job waitressing in the new restaurant, where she soon became involved with Roman Montefiore. She married him and became known as Monty, working alongside him in the restaurant.

  Sam
began to make a name for himself—a bad name. He was linked with a number of crimes, though never caught, and he moved around, always one step ahead of the law.

  Will Cabot threw himself into his business, roaming the Dakota hills and the surrounding territory with his crew and chasing the wild mustangs.

  When Roman died suddenly, leaving Lucinda alone, she dedicated her life to the restaurant. Her relationship with Will took up again, but only as a bridge between her and the estranged son who she saw on occasions when he snuck into town to see her. Will Cabot understood her need to see Sam. He covered for her, making sure she was able to maintain a discreet link. He carried a shadow of guilt that he had not done enough to help the younger Sam, and it was because of that he made the effort to dissuade Bodie when the manhunter showed up at the Mustangers’ camp even though Sam was a wanted man, accused of rape and murder.

  It all began to go wrong after that.

  Bodie did not back off.

  Tessler forced a gunfight and Bodie killed him.

  Monty’s hiring of Linus Dorn failed and when three of Cabot’s men braced Bodie at the Gibbs’ place they died.

  Sam lost all reason and killed Gibbs and his daughter and even gunned down Bodie before he headed out for Canada.

  When Cabot told Monty he was about to confess to Ezra Pointer, Monty cracked and lashed out at him for what she saw as the betrayal of their son…

  ‘…and that’s how she told it. Doc believes she’ll have a hard time coming to face what she did. May never.’ Pointer stared down into his empty mug, shaking his head. ‘Damned if I can understand half of this, Bodie. Give me a drunken cowboy at the weekend I’m fine. This is out of my reach. Which is why I put out a call for a US Marshal. They got one coming over. Lucky to have one in the area. The service is spread pretty thin out here. It’s a big area and there are only a few men to go round right now.’