Johnny McCabe (The McCabes Book 6)

by Brad Dennison

  Johnny reached to his right-hand gun and kept it loose in the holster. His left gun was tucked down a little tighter. Wouldn’t do for it to fall out if he had to run, but he wanted the right gun ready in case he needed it in a hurry.

  Matt fell into place behind him and was followed by Luke. Behind them was Joe, walking with his rifle ready. Joe was in buckskin boots and had a second knife tucked into one of them.

  Johnny stopped after a moment and heard one more footstep behind him.

  He looked back to Matt and said, “When I stop, you stop.”

  Matt said, “I did stop.”

  “You took one more step.”

  Joe said, “When the man up front stops, you all stop dead in your tracks. Not one more step.”

  Matt said, “Did you see something?”

  “If I did, with all this talking, it wouldn’t matter. Sometimes you just have to stop and listen. Look around you. See what might be there.”

  Johnny started forward again, and the others fell into place behind him.

  It had actually been a lot more than three years since Johnny had seen this section of woods. He and his brothers hadn’t been to Pirates Cave since Johnny was twelve. The woods had changed a lot. A stand of pine was taller now. An old pine had fallen and three young birches were growing about it. He stopped a moment to gain his bearings. It wouldn’t do to have come all this way and not be able to find the place.

  An old oak should be within sight, he thought, but it was not. Then he spied a long lump covered with leaves and realized it must be the oak, fallen and returning to the earth.

  He stopped at the base of a hill. Toward the top, bedrock was visible. The brothers broke formation and gathered beside him.

  “There it is,” Matt said.

  Luke said, “Where? Up there?”

  Johnny said, “Keep your voices down.”

  Matt said, keeping to barely more than a whisper, “See that line of cedars up there? Just beyond that ledge? Right behind the cedars, that’s where the cave is.”

  “If he’s there now,” Johnny said, “he’s going to have a clear field of fire at us as we climb the hill.”

  “So,” Luke said, “what are we going to do?”

  “You’re going to wait here.”

  Luke was going to protest, but Johnny cut him off. “This is serious business, boy. You don’t have any experience at this, and if worse comes to worse, I want at least one of Ma’s boys left alive.”

  “What do you want us to do?” Matt said.

  “We’ll spread out, maybe fifty feet apart, and then climb the hill. Keep your gun’s ready.”

  Johnny drew his right-hand gun. Matt’s Navy Colt was in his belt, and he drew it and moved away a little further along the base of the hill. Joe held his rifle with both hands and got into position.

  Johnny nodded to them both and started up the hill. It wasn’t steep, about the same slope as a flight of stairs. Johnny’s boots slipped a couple of times on dried, damp leaves, but Joe’s buckskin boots did just fine.

  There was no gunfire. Matt and Joe met Johnny at the top of the hill, at the line of cedars.

  Johnny said, “Let’s go in. We’ll rush him. If he’s there and shoots back, we cut him to pieces.”

  Matt nodded.

  Joe said, “Let’s go.”

  They charged through. Johnny came to a stop beyond the cedars, his revolver out at arm’s length and the hammer cocked. Matt held his revolver the same way, and Joe had his rifle up to his shoulder.

  The man they were looking for wasn’t there.

  The cave looked much like it had. Except it struck Johnny as looking somehow smaller. Maybe because he had grown a lot since the last time he was here.

  In front of the cave were the ashen remains of a campfire. Scattered around on the ground were empty cans of beans.

  “He’s been here,” Joe said.

  “We don’t know who it was,” Matt said. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. It could have been anyone up here.”

  Johnny said, “How many people do you know who come all the way up here to camp? Whoever was up here, he was here for a few days.”

  Joe shook his head. “He was here the whole time Dugas and his posse were hunting him.”

  “Been here and gone. Those ashes are at least a day old. Maybe two.”

  Matt went to the edge of the hill and waved Luke up while Johnny and Joe went to cut for sign. But they found nothing. It had rained the night before, and the entire day before that.

  “Any trail he left,” Johnny said, “has been washed clean away.”

  “That’s just it?” Joe said. “He’s got clean away?”

  Johnny shook his head. “We’ll find him.”

  “So, where do we go next?”

  Matt said, “Town. We tell Constable Dugas what we found.”

  Johnny and Matt found Dugas sitting at his desk.

  “What are you doing here?” Johnny said. “Why aren’t you out with your men?”

  Matt said, “We figured you would be out with the search parties. We had planned on leaving you a note.”

  Dugas held up his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I had to call off the search, boys.”

  “You called it off?” Johnny’s voice could roar when he wanted it to, just like Pa’s. Ma’s temper, Pa’s voice. This was one of those times.

  Matt laid a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, Johnny.”

  “Boys,” Dugas said, rising to his feet, “I’ve been searching for six days. I asked around town, and some folks remember a boy meeting the description you gave. They remember seeing him here and there in town a couple of days before the shooting. No one knew who he was or had ever seen him before. Since then, it’s like he dropped off the face of the Earth. But constables on both sides of the state line have his description. He’s bound to turn up.”

  Matt said, “We have something that may be of use to you.”

  He told Dugas about the cave, and the remains of the campfire, and the old, empty cans.

  Dugas said, “You think he was there?”

  Johnny said, “I know it.”

  Dugas nodded. “All right. I’ll go check it out.”

  “Check it out?”

  “It sounds like it’s over in the next county. I’ll ride out there and talk to the sheriff.”

  Johnny’s hands were on his hips, and he shook his head and looked away.

  Dugas said, “What would you have me do?”

  “The whole time you and your men were searching for him, he was hiding almost right under your noses.”

  “What else could I have done?”

  “You should have let us join the search. We would have had him by now. Maybe it’s time we went and did your job for you.”

  Johnny turned and started for the door.

  Dugas pointed his finger at Johnny’s back. “Don’t you go doing anything foolish. You go home and keep your nose out of this investigation, or I’ll run you in for interfering with the law.”

  Johnny slammed the door behind him.

  Johnny got as far as the saloon. He was leaning both elbows on the bar with a glass in front of him when Matt walked in.

  Matt said to the bartender, “I’ll take one of those, too.”

  The man set a glass in front of Matt and poured a splash of scotch into it.

  “Come on,” Matt said. “Be generous.”

  The bartender complied.

  Johnny said, “Leave the bottle.”

  Matt took a gulp of scotch.

  He said, “I had a little talk with Dugas after you left. He’s not angry with you. He told me if it had been his father who was shot, he would feel the same way. But he meant what he said. If any of us interferes with the investigation, he’ll lock us up.”

  “I meant what I said, too. I’m going after the man who killed Pa.”

  Johnny drained the glass, then grabbed the bottle and refilled it.

  “All right,” Matt said. “But tell me this. How do you kno
w for sure the man we’re after was the one out at the cave? Sure, it looks like it probably was. But that’s what they call circumstantial evidence. How do you know for sure?”

  “Gut feeling. Pa said sometimes that’s all you have. He said trust your gut because it’s the only thing you can really count on. Your eyes can be deceived, and you can talk yourself out of a good idea if you try hard enough. But your gut will never lie to you.”

  Matt nodded. “Pa did say that, didn’t he.”

  “More’n once.”

  Matt took another sip of scotch, and then stood the glass on the bar.

  He took a few moments, tossing it all around in his head. Then he said, “All right. I guess that’s good enough for me.”

  Johnny stood his glass on the bar. He said, “How many cans did you count on the ground, out at the cave?”

  Matt shrugged his shoulders. “Eight. Maybe ten.”

  Johnny nodded. “The day he shot Pa, I got a real good look at him. He didn’t have any pack with him. Just the clothes on his back and the gun in his hand. So where did those cans come from?”

  Matt nodded his head. “All right. Let’s say you’re right. He set up camp there at the cave, then went into town. He was planning on a robbery. Do you think he knows the area, or he just happened onto the cave by accident?”

  “That cave’s too far out of the way for a stranger scouting the town to have found it by accident. He either knows the area, or knows someone who does.”

  Matt brought his glass up for a drink, but then held it in front of him while he thought.

  “Let’s think about this logically. If you had just shot a man, and then you went out to the cave and laid low a few days, where do you go from there?”

  “He had provisions with him that he left at the cave. He must have had access to more. He might know someone in the area.”

  “Or he could just break into another store and steal some.”

  “He’s prepared. As scared as he looked, he seems not to be making stupid mistakes. Maybe he was panicking when we saw him, but then he pulled himself together. If I was in his place, I would assume every constable in the nearby towns would be watching for me. What I’d do is go west. Stay to the woods and the fields. Travel by night. Get to Ohio. Find a horse and start using a different name. Beyond that’s Indiana and eventually Missouri. Some wide open country there, and a lot of remote areas.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “Ride in the direction I think he would probably go. Stop at every farm on the way. Every town. Ask about him. Someone’s bound to see have seen him.”

  “He got only ten dollars from Mister Drummond’s cash register, and sooner or later any supply of provisions he might have is bound to wear out. We should ask about any robberies. Any stores that were robbed, or farmhouses that were broken into. He’s going to need food.”

  “So are you saying you’re coming around to my way of thinking?”

  Matt shrugged. “At least your ideas are better than searching blind, like Dugas was doing. And I can’t let you ride off alone. If you’re right, and you do find him, you might need help.”

  “We’ll find him,” Johnny said.

  “And I have a feeling we won’t be bringing him back to stand trial.”

  Johnny looked at Matt. “Do you really want to bring him back for trial? I know you feel we should, and maybe that’s what the law says. But is that what you really want?”

  Matt found himself saying, “No.”

  29

  Thad stayed over for supper. After Ma had turned in for the night, the boys sat in front of the fire in the parlor.

  Johnny stood, leaning with one hand against the mantel. Matt and Luke were on the sofa, and Thad had taken the rocking chair. Joe was pacing about.

  Johnny hadn’t thought much about it over the years, but as he had listened to Thad throughout dinner telling stories of his Army escapades or expounding on his political positions, Johnny realized he didn’t like his cousin very much.

  Uncle Jake had never been one to say more than needed, often preferring silence to filling the air with pointless words. Much like the men of the West Johnny had met. But Thad, somehow, didn’t take after his father much.

  “Unbelievable tragedies,” Thad was saying as he sat in the rocker. “The loss of two great pillars to this community. I don’t think the lives of any of us in Sheffield or the surrounding area will ever be the same.”

  Johnny said, “The time for words has passed.”

  Matt nodded his head. “I agree.”

  Thad looked from Johnny to Matt. He had no idea what they were talking about.

  Johnny said, “We’re going to go find him.”

  Thad said, “But where will you look?”

  Johnny wasn’t really in the mood for talking, and Joe was even more silent than usual this evening. Johnny figured it was a combination of losing Pa and the annoyance of having to spend an evening listening to Thad. So it fell to Matt to explain Johnny’s idea.

  “Were going to ride west, checking every town and farm we happen upon. Ohio. Indiana, if we don’t find him in Ohio. Illinois, if we have to go that far. All the way to Missouri, if it comes to that. But I don’t think it will.”

  “But,” Thad said, “what’ll you do if you find him?”

  Time for Johnny to speak. He said, “Whatever it takes.”

  Thad said, “You’re all going?”

  Matt nodded. “We leave at sun-up.”

  Thad was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Your father was my uncle. My father’s brother. Count me in.”

  Well, Johnny thought. Maybe the boy has some substance, after all.

  Luke was hearing most of this for the first time.

  He said, “I’m coming, too.”

  Johnny shook his head. “No, Luke. Like it or not, you’re too young.”

  “I’m only three years younger than you were when you rode off to join the Army,” he said.

  Johnny nodded. “But those are three big years.”

  Matt said, “Somebody has to stay behind with Ma. We can’t leave her alone.”

  Joe spoke. First time tonight, as far as Johnny could remember. He said, “We’ve all been through this kind of thing. You haven’t.”

  Luke said, “I can learn.”

  “You can. But not this time. This won’t be a time for learnin’. This is a time for doin’.”

  Matt said, “Stay behind with Ma. Take care of her. We’re counting on you.”

  Luke looked away. Johnny figured Luke was caught between the boy’s pride of being told he was not man enough for a job, and the man’s understanding that they were right.

  “So it’s settled,” Johnny said, looking from Matt to Joe to Thad. “We leave at first light.”

  Johnny, Joe and Luke headed upstairs, and Thad went home. Matt sat a while longer in the parlor, watching the fire dwindle down. Then he climbed the stairs.

  Ma spoke from her bedroom door. “Matthew?”

  He stepped into her doorway. “Ma?”

  She was sitting up on the edge of her bed.

  She said, “Thank you for not letting Luke go with you.”

  “You heard? We thought you were up here asleep.”

  “It’s a mother’s job to know what’s going on in her household.”

  “We were going to tell you in the morning, before we left.”

  She said, “I knew sooner or later you three would leave to find the man. You are all too much like your father. Even you, who tries so hard to think first and act second. Your father was a man who faced a problem head-on. In your place, he would be doing the same thing you’re going to do.”

  She got to her feet. Matt had noticed how much the past week had taken out of her. It was like she had aged ten years. She walked toward him, taking each step carefully. Like an older person might do.

  She said, “I knew John and Josiah would be leaving to go back West, anyway. And you would probably go back to sea. I could see it
in you. A restlessness that hadn’t been there, before. You had gone out and seen different parts of the world, and those places took ahold of your heart.”

  It struck Matt that he and his brothers were being selfish.

  He said, “Maybe we shouldn’t be leaving, Ma. With Pa barely gone, you’ll need us here.”

  “Don’t you worry about me. I’m going to miss your father whether you are here or not. And I have my faith to get me through. I want you three to do what you need to do. Go try to find that man. And when you’re done, then go to sea if you need to. I want John and Josiah to go West, if that’s where they feel they need to be. I want you all to build the lives you need to.”

  “You’ll be okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m a survivor. My grandparents survived the famine in Ireland. My parents came here to build a life, and they survived drought and other hardships. You’re from hardy stock, on both sides. And I’ll have Luke here. He’s almost a man, and we’ll put in a crop next spring. Right on schedule.”

  Matt had always been filled with pride over his McCabe heritage. But he realized there was a lot to be proud of on his mother’s side, too. The O’Briens.

  “Promise me one thing,” Ma said. “You have the calmest head of the three of you. If you should find the man you are searching for, don’t kill him unless you have to in self-defense. And don’t let your brothers kill him. If all your father believed in and what he and I taught you is to mean anything, then that man has to be brought here and he has to stand trial. It can’t be any other way.”

  “I understand, Ma. I promise.”

  “And promise me one other thing. When you get where you’re going, write to your ma.”

  He smiled. “I will.”

  “Now, give me a hug and get to bed. Sunrise will come early, tomorrow.”

  30

  When Johnny woke up, it was still dark outside, and Matt was asleep across the room.

  Johnny had never seemed to need anyone to wake him. He knew when he needed to be awake, and he seemed to wake up on schedule.

  Downstairs, the grandfather clock chimed four times. About time to be getting up, he figured. And he realized he could smell bacon and coffee.