“Don’t rightly know. It was him shot me with that arrow and I saw him runnin’ for it, I just gave chase. Don’t know why. Lookin’ back on it now it was stupid. There coulda been ten Apache waitin’ for me round that corner. But I didn’t care. Gut instinct I guess.”
“I think you haven’t gotten as rid of that war as you think.”
We were hobblin’ down the street and a few people saw me over near Gunner’s and waved and I waved back. I didn’t know what ta say ta her. She was right, a course. You don’t leave war. Ever. No matter where you go afterward it’s always there with you. You close your eyes and you see it painted on your eyelids. You hear a noise and your guts tighten up like you’ve been shot. There ain’t no gettin’ away from it. Every soldier, whether they make it back or not, dies in the war they fight.
“I think I’m gonna stop at Gunner’s and get a beer.”
“With a hole in your shoulder? You certainly are not.”
“For the pain woman.” I smiled at her. I cannot say it felt bad ta have someone care so much bout me. I kissed her and told her I was fine and that I would be home in a bit and then we’d have a few days a rest, me and her.
I walked inta Gunner’s and it was startin’ ta get busy. He served food too, though I never knew how anybody could eat it. He certainly wasn’t no cook. I walked up ta the bar and Gunner came over ta me as I sat on a stool. I lifted my arm and felt the pain and lowered it again.
“The hell happened to you, Jesse?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told ya. Gunner I sure can use a beer right now.”
“Comin’ right up.”
He poured me a mug and brought it over. I drank down a good quarter a it and wiped my lips on my sleeve.
“So you gonna tell me?”
“Apache used me for target practice apparently.”
He whistled through his teeth. “Round here?”
“Out by the fields.”
“I lived here fifteen years ain’t never heard a no Apache comin’ that close to us unless they tradin’.”
“I know it.”
“What you think they was doin’ this far in?”
“I don’t know.”
“So you went out there by yourself?”
“Yes, sir.”
He gave me an odd look. “What?”
“Nothin’.”
“Don’t be a child, Gunner, tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Well, everyone knows you afraid a the desert. Just odd that you went off by yourself.”
“Afraid a the desert? Who in the hell told you that?”
“Well everyone knows, Jesse. Ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of. I nearly shat myself when I see a good sized rattler.”
“Who told you I was fraid a the desert?”
“I dunno, someone. They said you afraid of the open space or somethin’. I don’t know.”
“I live in the desert when I don’t got ta. Why would I do that if I was fraid a the desert?”
“Easy, I’m just sayin’ what I heard.”
I drank my beer as he tended ta someone else. He was right and I hated that he was. The desert was vast, open, and went on seemingly ta Kingdom Come. Somethin’ bout it struck me when I looked out over it. Especially at night. It was like bein’ lost out at sea.
I finished my beer and headed home. Betty had already whipped up a meal and was settin’ the table. I sat down and waited till she was done. When Amanda disappeared, for almost a year afterward, Betty would set the table for three. She would do it ever’ night and though I know she didn’t say it, she expected her ta come walkin’ through that door.
I always looked at that empty space and then had ta look away.
“Did you tell people I was fraid a the desert?”
“You are afraid of the desert.”
“I know but that’s not somethin’ people need ta know.”
“These people are our friends, Jesse. Nobody cares.”
We supped and I ate very little. Truth was my stomach was in all kinds a knots and I couldn’t eat but I couldn’t let her food go ta waste neither. After I ate she brought me a cigar and a glass a milk instead a my whiskey and we went and sat out on the porch. The sun was wanin’ and givin’ way ta the night sky and I heard a cai-yote outside a town howlin’ away.
“They gonna be after Mrs. Duff’s chickens again. She’s gonna come out shootin’ that shotgun a hers and get buckshot inta the buildin’ next door, Ted’s barber. Then they’s gonna come over ta me hollerin’ bout who’s gonna pay for damages.”
Betty smiled as she sipped her tea. “You act like you don’t like it but I know you do. That people come to you to solve their problems.”
She reached out and touched my hand and I couldn’t help but smile.
CHAPTER 8
I slept but it wasn’t a good sleep. I kept wakin’ up with pain in my shoulder that made my neck hurt and gave me an awful headache. So when I rose I was groggy and in the netherworld that you get inta when you can’t sleep and you wake up too early. I did have a dream though: I was on a vast plain surrounded by men dyin’. I could smell gunpowder and blood and people was screamin’ so loud it hurt my ears. I heard a woman off behind me. She was cryin’ and screamin’.
I had this dream twice and it woke me twice.
By the time the sun was burnin’ the sky, I’d already been up for hours and so I got outta bed and went ta the winda. A crowd was gatherin’ up the street. Weren’t far and I thought I dress and walk down and see what the fuss was bout. I went downstairs after puttin’ on my trousers and Betty had breakfast ready.
“Commotion outside.”
“I didn’t want to get you involved,” she said.
“You know what’s goin’ on?”
“Now Jesse you just sit right down and have breakfast. This ain’t none a your concern and Andy’s out there makin’ sure it’s fair.”
“What’s fair? What’s goin’ on?”
“There’s gonna be a duel.”
“A duel? Tween who?”
“The Jeffries boy, the oldest, Tim, and Ned’s son Billie. Now I don’t want you gettin’ involved with that arm a yours. You just eat your breakfast and march on up and get some more sleep.”
“What they duelin’ over?”
“What else?”
“A girl I reckon.”
She spoon some eggs onta my plate. “Damn fool boys. Gonna kill each other over a girl they ain’t gonna even know in a couple years.”
“Which girl?”
“Suzie.”
It struck me just then that I hadn’t talked ta Suzie bout what she knew bout Missy. She’d never come ta the office and I never followed up on it.
“Well I can’t just sit here and let them young men kill each other.”
“Andy’s over there, he can handle it.”
“Andy’ll let em kill each other.”
“It’s a fair duel. Both of them agree to fighting. If you stop it they’ll just go outta town and do it there.”
I walked to the front room.
“Jesse, you—”
“I’m just goin’ ta the porch ta watch.”
Betty walked me out the door and we sat down in the rockers. I didn’t have the best view on account a the crowd, but I could see clearly nuff. Tim and Billie both stood on either side of the street like they was gunslingers. The damn fools had their backs ta the stores and woulda shot em all up. A few men turned em around so they was in the center a the street with their backs ta open road and then folks huddled near the stores.
The boys faced each other in the hot sun and they had their hands down by their sides, each a em with a holstered pistol. I could see sweat comin’ in ta Tim’s eyes cause he kept wipin’ at it with the back a his hand. Billie was standin’ up straight as a corpse and even from this far I could see his hand tremblin’.
“Betty, I cannot sit here as sheriff and watch these two idiots murder themselves.” I rose and she didn’t try and stop me. Which wa
s good cause I weren’t sure I had the strength ta pull away from her.
I walked over, holdin’ my bad arm ta my chest, pain blazin’ through me with each step, and then I stopped and went inside the house and got my sling. I came back out and started walkin’ toward the crowd and the boys hadn’t moved none and I came up and saw Andy standin’ there leanin’ gainst a post.
“You just gonna let em kill each other?”
“Fair fight, Sheriff. They each agreed. Who are we to get in the middle of a fair contract?”
“Andy I am not gonna sit here and watch these boys’ brains splash all over my dirt roads. Stop em.”
He sighed. He’d been itchin’ for a good duel I reckon. “You’re the sheriff.”
Just as he stepped inta the road and yelled out, Billie got this look in his eyes. It was utter terror. I don’t think they knew how a duel worked. When Andy had shouted at em, Billie thought it was a damn signal.
He pulled out his weapon and fired. The crowd gasped. Tim managed ta fumble for a second and then got out his pistol and fired back. He dove ta the ground and fired twice and Billie kept shootin’ at him, kickin’ up clouds a dirt near him. Tim stood up and ran over ta the other side of the street and fired twice. Billie stood frozen like a statue but kept shootin’.
They shot and shot, and then it went quiet. The faint smell a gunsmoke on the breeze waftin’ over us. The damn fools had missed ever’ time.
Tim threw his pistol down and sprinted for the other boy. Billie dropped his weapon and put up his fists like he was some prize-fighter. He swung just as Tim got near and missed and Tim tackled him at the waist. They went down hard and I could hear the breath knocked outta em as they groaned.
Tim was on top and landin’ punch after punch. He musta hit bone cause he yelped like a baby and held his hand as Billie pulled him down and began hittin’ him in the side a the head.
“That’s nuff, Andy,” I said.
Andy walked over ta em and lifted Tim like he was a toy and threw him off a the other boy. He lifted Billie by his shirt collar and grabbed em both and began walkin’ over ta the office. They’d be put in a cell together till they cooled off.
I walked back ta the house and sat in the chair and shook my head. Betty was smilin’.
“What?”
“Remind you a someone?”
I knew she meant me. There was a time when I had a temper as if I had peppers in my rear. I would fight at the drop of a hat and no insult would go unpunished.
“How long will you hold em in jail?”
“Just the night I think. Give em some time ta talk.”
“Jesse?”
“Hm.” I looked over and saw she was lookin’ at my shoulder. I glanced down and it was bleedin’ through the sling.
“Damn it.”
She helped me inside and took me upstairs. Layin’ me down on the bed and undressin’ me. She took off the bandage and brought out a fresh one. She cleaned the wound with water and a handtowel and then bandaged it up again.
“Get some rest,” she said, bendin’ down and kissin’ me on the forehead.
I was so tired I didn’t even hear her shut the door as I fell inta the arms a sleep.
CHAPTER 9
I vomited inta the trash Betty had set on the side a the bed. It’d been two days I did nothin’ but lay here and stare at the ceiling. I’d grown weaker and sick and Betty would have ta bring my meals here, though I couldn’t eat much more than crusted bread or crackers.
Doc Stevens came in with Betty behind him. He had his little worn leather bag with him and he went ta work evaluatin’ the wound.
“It’s infected,” he said.
I was sweatin’ somethin’ like I’d never experienced. My clothes and the bedsheets was soaked through and I kept havin’ dreams. The same dream where I was on that plain and watchin’ those men die in front a me and a woman was screamin’. And I couldn’t do nothin’ for em. Past the plain was an empty grayness. Not quite smoke but not fog neither. I couldn’t see past it. It was a veil coverin’ my eyes and I couldn’t see what there were behind it. I started walkin’ toward the veil. Bodies was lain out fore me and I had ta step over em. I tried helpin’ some a em up, but they just tried ta pull me down ta the ground with em. So I kept walkin’. When I was close ta the veil, I felt a pain like I hadn’t felt since comin’ inta the world and I screamed.
I looked over and the Doc had shoved a thick needle directly inta the wound. He was injectin’ somethin’ in there and it felt like he’d hit bone. His one hand was on my other arm and I couldn’t move it, though he was the weaker man. But right now I didn’t have no strength. Not even nuff ta tell him ta pull the needle out.
But he did pull it out and then put some clear salve on it and then bandaged it fore he turned ta Betty.
“You gotta clean the wound every day. No exceptions. Give him this twice a day.”
I saw him hand a bottle that said, LOUDEN & COMPANY on it over ta Betty.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A tonic that’ll help with the fever. Make sure he gets plenty a fluids and don’t let him exert himself none. I mean none. Not even walkin’ around.”
She nodded.
“I’ll be back in the mornin’ ta check on him.”
As he left, Betty came and sat on the bed and held my hand. I looked ta her, the fever makin’ my eyes even burn hot.
“Don’t rightly suppose you in the mood right now, is ya?” I said, the words barely able ta come out.
She smiled. “You can barely handle me healthy old man.”
I squeezed her hand tight and felt the sleep comin’ over me again so I closed my eyes and let it take me.
When I woke, it was mornin’ the next day. I felt a spoon in my mouth and tasted the most awful thing I’d ever tasted, and I’d once had ta eat cow dung outta necessity. I drank it down and felt Betty changin’ my clothes and my sheets. I looked at her and she was surrounded by mist, hazy and gray. I looked round the room but couldn’t focus on anythin’ and then my eyes just closed and I went back ta sleep. I heard Betty say somethin’ like, “Sleep tight.”
It was somewhere round midnight when I heard the knock at the door and my heart dropped. Betty got up and went downstairs. I wanted ta tell her not ta. Ta just let me get my Colt and let me go, but I couldn’t get the words out fast nuff. I was soaked in sweat but Betty had been feedin’ me the tonic the past couple days and that seemed ta help with the fever.
I heard her speakin’ ta someone downstairs and I forced myself ta sit up. I was naked so I took the blanket and wrapped it round my shoulders. My mouth and eyes and nose and genitals felt like they was on fire. I took some water outta the bin and put it over my face and genitals. I hobbled outta the room and went down the stairs and saw Andy standin’ there at the door. I heard him say, “I thought he should know.”
“Know what?” I said.
They both looked at me like they’d seen a ghost come back ta life. Neither one of em said anything as I walked down.
“Know what?” I said again.
“There’s been another killin’, Jesse.”
CHAPTER 10
I stood there dumbfounded. Truth be told I couldn’t think clearly nuff ta know what exactly that meant. But I used the banister and came on down. Betty took my arm and held me up without me askin’ so.
“Who?” I said.
“You look like hell, Jesse,” he said. “Why don’t you just go on and get some sleep and I’ll—”
“I ain’t no schoolboy gettin’ a free sick day damn it so just tell me who.”
“Rebecca Wools.”
“Damn,” I said, lookin’ down at the floor. It may have appeared I was doin’ so cause I was distraught but really I couldn’t hold my neck up without pain. “She weren’t but fifteen.”
“I know.”
I was bout ta say somethin’ when I felt my knees buckle and Betty grabbed me with both arms and Andy did the same. Without a word, they carried me back u
pstairs. I was mumblin’ the entire time but hell if I know bout what.
They lay me down in bed and I heard em speakin’ out in the hall.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” Betty said. “You know how he is.”
“He’s the sheriff, Betty. What was I pose to do?”
“He kept you on as deputy so you could help him. So help him.”
“How’s he doin’?”
“The fever comes and goes. He talks a lot in his sleep. Dreams and whatnot.”
“Do you need anything?”
“Just for you to take care a this town while he rests.”
“Will do. I won’t be back. Sorry for the bother.”
I heard boots goin’ down the stairs as I blacked out inta a dreamless sleep.
Don’t know what time it was when I woke or even what day it was but I guessed I’d been asleep probably a full day. It was twilight out and darkness was just startin’ ta fall over the town. I sat up in bed and felt the sweat sting my eyes. The bucket next ta me was full a day-old vomit and it made me heave though nothin’ came out. I took the bucket and went downstairs and didn’t see Betty anywhere. So I walked out ta the back and dumped out the vomit and poured a little water over it so it don’t stink so much. I went back inside and wondered if Andy comin’ over was a dream. I couldn’t remember. I went upstairs again and got dressed and had ta sit down on the bed a bit ta recover. Then I got up and went downstairs and outside.
Couple drunks were stumblin’ round Gunner’s but other than that weren’t nobody out. I began ta walk and within a few steps I stopped and leaned gainst a post. I walked again and then had ta lean again. I did this all the way down ta Doc’s place and when there weren’t no posts ta lean against I just sat down right there in the dirt road. Hell, they were the cleanest roads in New Mexico as I figured it. Tom Ford did a few things right.
I got ta the door and tried ta open it. Far as I knew, Doc never locked his doors. I knocked and had ta sit down till his wife answered the door.
“Sheriff? What you doin’ here this hour?”
Black Sky (A Mystery-Thriller) Page 4
