“Where would a man most likely be scratched if he was attackin’ a woman?”
“Oh, I don’t know, face maybe. Or neck. If they tried ta defend probably the arms. Is that what you was thinkin’?”
I patted Ruth Ann, as if sayin’ goodbye. “Thanks, Doc. You’ve been a big help.”
CHAPTER 32
I went home and grabbed a lamp and my Colt. My keys ta the office hadn’t been confiscated so I ran down and got a badge outta the drawer and clipped it on my chest. I guessed half the town had heard I’d been let go. Which meant half the town hadn’t heard.
I ran out ta Gunner’s. Bout ten boys there. I walked round slowly. I looked at the arms and the necks and the faces. I saw Doolin sittin’ there. I walked up ta him.
“Pull down your collar,” I said.
“Seekuze me?”
“Pull down your collar, Mr. Doolin.”
He looked at me a bit and then pulled it down. It was clean. Gunner was behind the bar and I walked up ta him and pulled his collar down and checked his arms. He thought I’d lost my mind. Then I went out ta the town.
I went straight for the mayor’s house. The lights were off. I hesitated fore knockin’ but when I did knock he came right down. Sleep was still in his eyes and his hair was messy, a stink a absinthe and alcohol emanatin’ from him. I glanced down ta his neck which was clean. So was his face.
“I need ta see your arms, Tom.”
“You’re drunk, Jesse. I can smell the booze on you. Just home and get some—”
I grabbed his sleeves and dragged them up. I pulled down his shirt and checked his chest. Nothin’.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doin’?”
I left without sayin’ anythin’, leavin’ him on the porch yellin’ at me.
I musta checked ten houses and nother ten men on the street. It was too slow. At this pace it’d take me days ta check the whole town and by then word might get back ta this man and he could hightail it outta here. I needed some help.
I thought bout gettin’ Dr. Haywood but she was leavin’ tomorrow and I didn’t think some a the boys here would take rightly ta a woman orderin’ em round. I stood outta the rain underneath the front entrance ta the general store and thought.
Andy could help.
He was the sheriff now. He had more a reason ta wanna catch this sumbitch now than I did. He would help me. I ran down ta the office and it was closed up. His house was on the other side a town. I went back ta the stables and got Lucille, Betty’s horse. I rode through the town at a quick pace but not fast nuff that I’d run over some drunk fool in the road.
Andy lived by himself in an old house with two floors. It used ta belong ta his ma and he lived with her until the end when she died a black lung, somethin’ she was sufferin’ from fore she ever got out here.
I knocked and he didn’t answer. I knocked again and again and shouted for him. “Andy! Get your ass up. Andy!”
Eventually I started goin’ round back cause I knew there was a winda there that wouldn’t close all the way but I heard the door open. I ran back ta the front.
“We gotta go,” I said.
“Where we goin’?”
“I know how we can find this man.”
“How?”
“I’ll explain on the way. Get dressed.”
“It’s rainin’.”
“Andy, I need your help. Please.”
“All right. Let me get some clothes on.”
Andy shut the door most a the way and I figured he didn’t want me seein’ his particulars. But the rain was pourin’ down and I thought he wouldn’t mind me standin’ in right in front a the door. I went inside and saw his back as he took off his shirt and went inta his bedroom.
I was anxious. I wanted ta get goin’ and even a few minutes delay was difficult for me. So I looked round ta occupy my mind. He had a lotta things left over from his ma and never changed the appearance a the house. Personally, and I’d met his ma several times, I thought she was a beast of a woman. Cruel ta the point that you wouldn’t wanna be anywhere near her. But Andy seemed ta care bout her. He sure as hell did everythin’ she said anyhow. She died two years ago.
I took off my hat and patted the rain off. There was a mirror on a dresser in the front room set up across from the bedroom and I walked over and looked at myself. I looked wet and drunk. The badge was dim on my chest and I’d forgotten it was there. As I looked at it, I could see Andy’s reflection from behind me. He was nude and pullin’ up his pants.
Fore I could look away, I noticed his neck.
He had three red marks goin’ from his chin down ta the base a the neck.
“So what’s the plan, Sheriff…Sheriff? You listenin’?”
“Yeah?” I said. My heart was beatin’ so hard in my ears I couldn’t hear him.
“What’s the plan?”
“Um, you the sheriff now, Andy. No need ta call me that.” I pulled out my Colt. “Come on out here a minute so I can tell ya.”
“Hold your horses.”
He slipped on his shirt and then sat on the bed and pulled on his boots fore comin’ out. He had a silly grin on his face but when he saw my pistol the grin slowly faded away.
“Somethin’ the matter, Jesse?” he said.
“Why don’t you go ahead and sit on down right there for me, Andy,” I said. Pointin’ with my chin ta a chair, not takin’ my eyes off a him.
He looked out the winda. “Rain’s stoppin’.”
“Andy, I need you ta sit down for me.”
“Why? You look like somethin’s troublin’ you, Jesse. It couldn’t be that pretty little wife a yours now could it? Boy I did seriously consider comin’ over to your house one night and payin’ her a visit.”
I lifted my weapon and fired. He dove inta the bedroom and slammed the door. I ran over and then fell ta the floor as I heard the hammer comin’ back on the shotgun and a spray came out, splinterin’ wood over the front room. I rolled away and was on my back and pointin’ the pistol at the door. I rolled over again and got ta my knees. I pulled the chair up and hid behind it.
“No need for this, Andy,” I shouted. “Just come on out and let’s talk. Let’s just talk.”
I quieted my breathin’ and listened. I didn’t hear nothin’. Gettin’ up off the chair, I went ta the wall and started slidin’ over ta the bedroom. I peeked my head round the corner really quick and looked in through the hole the spray a buckshot had left. Didn’t see nothin’ inside. I slid over some more and twisted the knob and opened the door and crouched down low. I didn’t see him.
I walked in. There weren’t nothin’ but a bed and some clothes and a door leadin’ outside. On the bed, on the four posts, were some rope. Like someone had been tied down. I went ta the door and stood off ta the side behind the wall as I opened it and looked out. It led right back ta the stables. I heard the womp a horse’s feet gainst the dirt.
I ran out and saw Andy on a horse with a woman in front a him, tied up with somethin’ round her mouth. It was Dr. Haywood.
I took aim but couldn’t risk firin’ without hittin’ her. I ran after em. I ran till my legs felt like they was on fire and I had no more breath left in my body. But a course I couldn’t keep up. I was shoutin’ for help, but no one came out.
I took aim again as they headed off the town property. I fired two shots, both goin’ wide, and then collapsed onta the dirt.
CHAPTER 33
I laid there till I caught my breath. I sat up and began walkin’ over ta Lucille. When I found her, I rode her hard all the way ta the mayor’s house.
Tom answered again but this time he had a pistol with him.
“Jesse, I dare say you’re harassing me. Now get the hell off my property.”
“It was Andy,” I said outta breath.
“What?”
“Andy killed em girls. He killed Ruth Ann.”
“Why the hell would he do that? How do you know?”
“Cause he just tried ta take my h
ead off with his mama’s shotgun, Tom. He just rode outta town with Dr. Haywood. I chased him, but…”
He stood there silent a long while. “I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“We’re goin’ after him, right? I’m comin’ with you.”
“Tom, no offense, but you—”
“I’m no soldier but I’m familiar with the gun. I’m coming. End of story.”
He ran back inta the house and ta a different room. To get dressed I suppose. He came back out buttonin’ up a shirt and then opened a drawer on a side table. He took out my badge and looked at it fore lookin’ at me. He tossed it ta me and I caught it.
We ran outside and went ta a neighbor’s and knocked on the door and told them he was takin’ one a their horses. The neighbor got dressed and ran out ta help him saddle up. Every second we had ta wait was agony. It dawned on me I hadn’t told Betty a thing. I got back on Lucille and was bout ta ride off when the mayor came out. He had a certain way a ridin’. Inexperienced I guess. He wasn’t goin’ ta be nuff. I needed somebody else with me.
“There’s a man we need ta hire,” I said.
“Who?”
“Bounty hunter.”
“All the bounty hunters left.”
“Not this man. He didn’t think we’d caught the right man and he stuck round.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s stayin’ over at Gunner’s. I want authorization ta hire him.”
“You have it. Hurry back.”
I rode over through the muddy streets, droplets a dirty water splashin’ up inta my face. I had ta slow down cause I was worried bout Lucille breakin’ one a her legs. I kept her ta a light trot as we came cross Gunner’s and I dismounted and ran inside. Gunner was closin’ up for the night.
“Where’s that man that I was talkin’ ta earlier? Doolin?”
“In his room I’d figure. Upstairs on the right, first door.”
I bounded up em stairs and knocked on his door. He answered. He didn’t look sleepy at all. Like he’d been expectin’ me somehow. He looked me in the eyes and fore I even said a word he said, “It’s a thousand dollars.”
“You came here for five hundred.”
“No, I came here for a thousand. I just needed to wait for it.”
“It’s Andy. My deputy.”
He nodded as he turned round and started gatherin’ his things. “Don’t nothin’ surprise me nomore.” He noticed me pin the badge ta my chest. “Looks like you got your job back.”
“There ain’t no one else.”
“So you can authorize a thousand dollars to catch this man?”
“I guess I could. Though I think we spent our surplus budget on the last two men. We’ll talk ta the mayor, see what we can do.”
He walked out and shut the door behind him. He had two pistols on his hip and a rifle slung cross his back. I couldn’t tell what make or model it was and it looked almost like he’d made it at home.
We walked down and outside. “Meet me over down yonder. I’m goin’ ta stop at home quick.”
I rode off and through town. The rain had completely stopped but the town was cold and wet. Like it’d just been through some damnable illness. I came ta the house and ran inside. Betty weren’t up so I took the stairs and had ta stop a minute as pain shot through my shoulder and I wondered if that was somethin’ that was just with me now. An unwanted companion.
I got ta the bedroom and she was asleep, layin’ on her side on the pillow. I stood at the doorway a while and just watched her fore comin’ and sittin’ on the bed. I watched her for a bit longer fore she opened her eyes and smiled at me. She reached over and held my hand.
“I have ta go,” I said softly.
“I know.”
“Don’t know when I’ll be back. A day or two I suppose. Good news though, I’m the sheriff again. Suppose it’s good news.”
“Who’s going with you?”
“Bounty hunter named Doolin and the mayor himself. I swear Betty, watchin’ him ride a horse is damn near one a the funniest things I ever did see. Looks like he has hemorrhoids.”
She smiled. “Be nice to him, Jesse. I feel pity for that man.”
“Pity for what?”
“He’s very lonely.”
I squeezed her hand and bent down and kissed her. I stayed there just a while and smelled her hair and her skin fore I kissed her again, and then left.
CHAPTER 34
Doolin had caught up with the mayor out there near his house. They was debatin’ whether others should accompany us.
“I work alone,” Doolin said.
“I’m paying you a thousand dollars,” the mayor said. “That makes this my excursion.”
“Your excursion but it’ll be my bullet in his head. That makes him mine. No one else. I’ll take the sheriff and that’s it.”
“I’ll be damned if I sit here while that rotten son of a bitch rides outta my territory.”
Doolin eyed him over. “You ever hunted a man, Mayor? Ever killed one? It’s easy to do and much harder to live with.”
“I’m comin’.”
He shrugged. “All right. We’ll need five days provisions. Have your assistant get that for us.”
“Five days?” I said. “You think we’ll be out that long?”
“He’s got a start ahead a us and he’s smart. I can track him, but with the rain it’s gonna be more difficult. Five days is a good guess.”
I sat and looked back at my house as the provisions was gathered for us. Food, ammunition, two additional rifles and three pistols. Food for the horses, mostly just nuts and rotted apples, and, the heaviest and deadliest thing ta carry with you, water.
“I thought you was fraid a the desert, Sheriff?” Doolin said.
“I’m not lettin’ him get away.”
He grinned.
Once we was loaded, we headed out. It was early mornin’ and I wondered exactly when we would sleep. Probably just minutes here and minutes there. As we got ta the edge a town I looked back once and questioned what in the hell exactly I was doin’ out here.
This early in the morning the desert was cold and quiet. You couldn’t see any animals out but you could hear em. Just out there in the dark, somewhere under your feet, you’d hear em scurry bout when you came by. I pictured snakes and scorpions and spiders the size a my head ready ta drag me down ta hell with em. But really it probably weren’t nothin’ more than lizards and a few desert rodents.
We didn’t talk. Doolin was up front and he’d stop ever’ once in a while and look at the tracks we was followin’. No one had left town since Andy so it was easy ta see which was the freshest horse tracks and follow em. But also, the horse was weighed down with two bodies on there so the tracks was deeper than all the others.
We trotted along till the sun came up. It painted the sky orange and gold and as it rose it began ta warm us and I could feel the heat comin’ off the sand.
“All this time,” the mayor said, “and we didn’t have an inkling.”
I didn’t say nothin’ ta that and we just kept ridin’.
Bout three hours in we stopped for the horses and let em rest a bit under some trees near a waterin’ hole. I sat down too and had a few sips a water as Doolin scanned the desert in front a us.
“He’s movin’ fast,” he said. “Real fast.”
“Are we ever going to catch him?” Tom said.
“You can’t drive a horse like he is with that much weight. He’s not stoppin’ now but he’ll have to soon.”
“He’s headin’ ta Coalville,” I said.
“How do you know?”
“That’s where I’d go. Bigger town, train station, he could go anywheres after that.”
“How far is Coalville?”
“Bout a hundred’n twenty miles.”
The mayor blurted out, “I want him.” We looked ta him. “When we find him. I want him. No arrest, Sheriff. No trial.”
“Well I don’t suspect he’s gonna go
quiet so you’ll get your chance.”
We started off again and the day grew so hot I started dabbin’ water on my neck and face. Thing was bout the desert that you couldn’t take off your clothin’ cause the skin burned so easy. So you were stuck in clothes with a hat ridin’ a horse that gave off warmth and the heat was comin’ up from the ground and the sun beatin’ down on you from above. It was a miserable state a affairs.
Seemed like we rode all day, only stoppin’ once ta eat and feed the horses a small amount a food. My lips was cracked as evenin’ fell but we kept goin’ till Doolin felt like it was too difficult ta keep followin’ the tracks at night.
We stopped in an open space a sand and set up our camp which was nothin’ really other than a fire pit and a place ta hitch the horses ta some small trees.
We cooked beans and had jerky and drank water outta canteens. I leaned gainst a rock and stared inta the flames, watchin’ em flicker in the dark. Doolin was quiet and watched the flames too but Tom was talkin’. Didn’t seem like he cared if we was listenin’ or not, he just felt like talkin’ and we let him.
After a while he stopped and all three a us just sat there quietly. I tipped my hat down and used my jacket as a pillow. I rubbernecked up at the night sky as I dozed off ta sleep, wonderin’ what Betty was doin’ right now.
CHAPTER 35
In the mornin’ we had coffee and some kinda hard biscuits and then rode nother half a day fore we came upon some rock formations nearby. I had never been out this far from town. I looked round and all I could see was more rocks. No sign a civilization anywheres.
Doolin dismounted and went out front and bent down over the dirt. He spit and stood up and walked back ta us.
“Tracks stop here.”
“Where?” Tom said. “There’s nothing out here.”
Doolin scanned the rocks. “He’s hidin’ somewhere here.”
I said, “Could he a covered his tracks?”
“If he abandoned his horse but only a fool’d do that.” He looked round in ever’ direction. “We need to search these rocks.”
Black Sky (A Mystery-Thriller) Page 13
