“Tuck, is that really you?” Tim and Jed gave one another a knowing glance, feeling not the least neglected that her first attentions went to the handsome young drover.
“Yes, it’s really me, Danny,” Tuck said. “I was just pushing a short herd to the holding pens when I heard what had happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t here in time to lend a hand, especially once I heard the Gragos were part of it. Damn, you gave us all a scare.”
“Dunc’s dead, Tuck. This was his brother and some other outlaws.”
“They told me about Dunc,” said Tuck, nodding toward Tim and Jed.
She looked over at Tim and Jed, who stood bandaged and bruised two feet back from the bed. “I expect you know by now that these two scarecrows are my brothers, Tim and Jed.” She offered the twins a smile as Dr. Lannahan looked her over, carefully making sure the blanket covering her stayed up close to her chin, hiding her breasts.
“Yep,” said Tuck. “They told me everything.”
“Everything?” Danielle gave Tim and Jed a look, asking them in a guarded manner.
Tim cut in, saying, “Yep, we told him you’re our older brother. Told him how we’ve all been searching for our pa’s killers.”
“Good.” Danielle sighed. Then she turned to Tuck. “You told me on the trail that you’re interested in a young woman named Ilene.”
“Yep, that’s right,” Tuck said, “why do you ask?”
“Because as soon as I get out of this bed, we need to go someplace and talk. Now that I’m coming off this vengeance trail, I’ve got something I need to tell you.”
“Really?” Tuck asked, looking curious at the serious manner she’d used. “Is it something important? Because if it is—”
Jed cut him off, saying, “It’ll have to wait. Not to be rude, but Jed and I really need to talk to our brother alone for a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”
Tuck Carlyle looked back and forth between them, then said, “Sure. Family business. I understand.” He looked back down at Danielle. “We’ll talk later then, Danny. I’ll be in town a couple of days till the train arrives and loads these steers for St. Louis. Meanwhile, you take it easy.” He raised his hat in his hands, nodded to Tim and Jed, and stepped back to the door. “Glad you’re doing well, amigo.”
Danielle smiled, lifting a hand toward him as he turned and stepped out the door. She knew something was up from the way Tim had acted. She waited until she heard the outer door close behind Tuck Carlyle, then she turned her face back to her brothers, asking Tim, “What was that all about? What’s going on?”
Tim and Jed hesitated, looking down at the floor for a second before Tim finally said, “I was afraid you were about to tell him you’re really a woman, Danielle. We couldn’t let you do that without first making sure you really wanted him to know.”
“Why not?” she asked. “This whole mess is over now. I’m free to get back to living my own life.” She looked at their grim expressions, then added, “Ain’t I?”
Jed spoke now, in a quiet voice, saying, “Some drovers found Merlin Haas lying alongside the trail three days ago. They brought him here and he asked for you before he died. We told him the shape you were in, so he told us instead.” Jed paused, then went on, “He said the man who shot and robbed him was Saul Delmano.”
Danielle looked away. A silence passed as she let the news sink in, feeling the familiar tightness once again growing inside her. When she looked back at her brothers, she asked, “How’s Sundown and the bays doing?”
Jed and Tim looked at one another. “They’re all three fine. The bays are filling out in the flanks now that they’ve been on steady grain for the past few days. What are you thinking, Danielle?”
She felt her eyes grow moist, but she struggled against her emotions, and swallowed a knot in her throat. “You already know what I’m thinking.” She looked at each of them in turn, adding, “I’m thinking you best keep calling me Danny Duggin.”
“You don’t have to go, Danielle—I mean, Danny,” said Jed, correcting himself. “Me and Tim can finish up from here. You’ve more than done your part.”
“I made a vow standing beside Pa’s grave,” she said. “It’s not even a choice I can make. I’ll be there when Saul Delmano dies, or else I’ll die in the trying.”
“I told you so,” Tim said to Jed in a lowered voice. He looked back at Danielle, asking, “What about this Tuck Carlyle? We saw how you looked at him. It ain’t right, you having to deny yourself this way.”
Danielle didn’t answer. Instead, she turned to Dr. Lannahan, asking, “How soon can I ride, Doctor?”
“It all depends,” he said, cutting a glance to Tim and Jed, trying to get a feel for what they wanted him to say. “A week maybe? Two weeks if you don’t get your strength back the way you should.”
Danielle gave him a solemn stare, saying, “My strength is coming back right now. Don’t stall me, Doc. Tell me the truth—when can I ride?”
He shrugged, and offered a slight smile. “In that case, as soon as you pay your bill.”
Danielle returned his smile and struggled up onto the side of the bed. “Tim, go get the horses. Jed, go into my saddlebags, get some money and pay the doctor. Are you both able to ride?” she asked in afterthought.
“Yep,” Tim said, taking a step back. “But there’s something else we need to tell you. There’s a bounty hunter named Bob Dennard. He was also there when they brought Haas in. He says he knows you. Said you and him had some trouble back near Fort Smith.”
“That’s right, we did. What about him?” asked Danielle, taking the freshly washed but bullet-riddled shirt Dr. Lannahan handed her and stiffly putting an arm into it.
“He says he wants to forget the trouble between you. Said if we go after this Saul Delmano, he wants to go with us. He knows a lot about Saul Delmano, says Delmano will duck into Mexico where he has lots of friends and connections. Dennard says we’ll be outgunned if we face Delmano down there.”
“Dennard’s not riding with us,” Danielle said with finality. She slipped the shirt the rest of the way on and stood up on weak legs, reaching for her clean trousers as the doctor draped them across the foot of the bed. “He’s only in it for the blood money.” She paused, considering it, then said, “There’s a big difference between him and us.” She pulled on her trousers, stepped into her boots, and reached for the gun belt and the pair of matched Colts hanging on a ladder-back chair beside the bed. Strapping on the gun belt, she looked from Tim to Jed, saying, “The three of us are riders of judgment.”
1 “The Boys” was a name commonly given to the original members of the James-Younger Gang.
2 Hanging Judge was a name given to Judge Charles Isaac Parker.
3 George Maledon was the hangman for Judge Charles Isaac Parker.
4 Greasy sack outfit was a term for an outfit with no chuck wagon. Such outfits carried their provisions in flour sacks and canvas bags.
5 Dowds was a term for bulls past their prime; breech-loaded, a term for uncut bulls.
6 Mysterious Dave Mather was a young gunman known to work both sides of the law, friend of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and other notables. † Bill Longley was a young Texan who killed a black lawman at the age of fifteen, and spent the rest of his life as a gunman and outlaw.
7 Gandy dancers was a term for men who worked in a rail-laying crew.
The Shadow of a Noose Page 27
