by Neil Webb
When he entered the law office, Barr was pleased to see him. The burly deputy stretched and yawned, then hitched up his sagging gunbelts.
‘The sheriff will be in about nine,’ he said. ‘There’ll be someone across from the restaurant with grub for the prisoners. The keys to the cells are in this top drawer.’
‘Has the one with the busted hand said anymore?’ Latimer asked.
‘No, and I don’t think he will either. Well, I’m off. I want some breakfast, then I’ll hit the sack until noon.’
‘See you later then,’ said Latimer. ‘You know Stott is riding in at noon.’
‘Yeah. Walsh said we are to stand by for trouble. Stott always brings in a dozen riders for protection. See you at noon.’
Barr departed. Latimer went through into the cells and looked at the prisoners. They were still asleep. He went back to the sheriff’s desk and sat down. There were various papers littering the desk and he stiffened when he found a pile of ‘Wanted’ notices. Looking through them carefully he was relieved to find that his face was not among them. He sat lazing away the time, until a drumming of hooves attracted his attention. He stiffened and went to the door to peer along the street. A rider was approaching, coming straight to the jail. The man hauled his mount to a slithering halt, and Latimer recognized the rider as the man he had arrested out at KS the previous day.
‘You took a long time getting here,’ Latimer said sharply. He noticed that the gunman was not carrying weapons. ‘You were told to come in last night.’
‘I got lost in the dark.’ The man came on to the sidewalk. ‘Rand told me to come in and surrender myself, but he didn’t say when. I figured I’d come up before the Judge later today, so there was no need to hurry.’
The gunman entered the office and Latimer took out a bunch of keys from the right-hand drawer of the desk. He led the man into the cell block and locked him into a cell. When he returned to the office, Walsh and Walker were there.
‘Who was that, and what was it all about?’ the sheriff asked.
‘A gunman I arrested yesterday. He was told to come in and surrender himself. The charge is obstructing a lawman in the execution of his duty.’
‘Well that beats all!’ Walsh said, taking off his hat. The old lawman wrinkled his nose. ‘I figure it’s going to be a tough day today, so we’d all better be on our toes.’
Walker nodded. ‘What’s the deal, sheriff,’ he asked.
‘I want Latimer to remain in this office all the time Stott and his men are in town. Buffalo Springs will be like a keg of gun powder today. I don’t want any fire to start things popping. There will be some KS riders who feel they should avenge the deaths of the men you killed, Latimer. Stott will likely bring these men into town with him, just for the hell of seeing if they can handle you.’
‘Well I promised to see Stott at noon in the hotel,’ Latimer said. ‘You know, I’m inclined to believe the story Glory told me about her father being duped by Rand. I’m going to try and talk some cold sense into Stott. I’ll wait inside the hotel for him to show, and come straight back here afterwards. That suit you, sheriff?’
‘Yeah, though I don’t like it. You wouldn’t have a chance if they set up a gun trap for you. They’d cut you down if they caught you dead to rights.’
‘I’ll watch it. I’m just thinking of the advantages of getting Stott to open his eyes. If he can see exactly what is going on under his nose that’ll be something.’
‘I’d like to think you can do it.’ The sheriff shook his head slowly. ‘But I doubt it. If Rand has poisoned Stott’s mind against his neighbours it will take more than talk to straighten him out.’
‘I wonder if Stott did fire those riders before they attacked the Porter place,’ Latimer mused. ‘If he did then his eyes should be halfway opened already. Glory Stott is real close to her old man. He thinks the world of her, so it stands to reason that he would take notice of what she said. Maybe I should try and talk to her to get her to do some of our work.’
‘Yeah, have another talk with her,’ Walsh ordered. ‘It would be a good thing if we could make a friend of someone on Stott side.’
‘Is there anything else you want me to do?’ Latimer demanded.
‘Not at the moment. You’ll have to be in court today to give evidence of how those gunmen died out at the Porter place. You’ll say it was self defence, and Aggie Porter will corroborate that. You say you arranged to see Stott at noon?’
‘Yes. I’ll come straight back here after seeing him.’
The sheriff nodded slowly. ‘The Judge will open court at two-thirty this afternoon. It will be a tricky time with KS gunnies in town.’
‘Why not deputize a dozen townsmen for the day?’ Latimer queried. ‘It’s been done before when a town has faced a crisis, and it’s worked quite well.’
‘I don’t think it would work with Stott’s men. I think a trick like that would bring the fight out into the open, and I don’t want townsmen getting killed. The best way is to find a method of calming down Stott without resorting to gunplay.’
‘I’m with you there,’ Latimer said. ‘I wouldn’t give wild goose for our chances if a shooting war started. The townsfolk aren’t exactly behind the law in Buffalo Springs. So we’ve got to play it some other way. I think Glory Stott will prove an ace. She’s kind of taken a shine to me. Now if I was to butter her up a little it might help some.’
‘I’d be very careful of that one, was I you,’ Walsh warned. ‘She’s a chip off the old block. There’s half a dozen gunmen on Stott’s payroll who would come right into this office and plug me sitting here if she wished it; they’re that crazy about her. If you play her and made a wrong move, she’d have your life out of plain cussedness.’
‘I ain’t afraid of Kenton Stott,’ Latimer said. ‘So I’m not letting his daughter scare me.’
‘Just step lightly all around her, that’s all I ask.’ Walsh spoke harshly.
‘Yeah.’ Latimer grinned at Walker. ‘Be seeing you. I’ll be on hand in case there’s any trouble. I’ll be watching the town until Stott and his KS men turn up.’
SIX
Latimer was watching the main street from his hotel window just before noon when Kenton Stott, Colley Rand, and half a dozen gunmen rode into town. Stott and Rand were in a buggy, and it drew to a halt in front of the hotel and the two men alighted. They entered the hotel, while the gunmen removed the buggy and then went on to the saloon. Latimer left his room, sneaked out of the hotel by the back door, and walked along an alley to the street. Then he walked openly towards the hotel. As he was passing a millinery shop, the door opened and Glory Stott appeared. She exclaimed in surprise and pleasure at sight of Latimer, and took his arm and continued the walk to the hotel with him. They entered and went up to the room that Kenton Stott always used when in town.
Kenton Stott was comfortably ensconced in the best room of the hotel when Latimer escorted Glory into it. Colley Rand was with the obese rancher and he made little effort to greet Latimer affably. Latimer saw Rand’s eyes travel intimately over Glory’s figure.
‘Are you alright?’ Rand demanded. ‘No one in town has been getting out of line with you, have they, Glory?’
‘Of course not,’ Glory snapped. ‘And if they had I expect the reason will be that I associate with polecats and sidewinders. Mr Latimer took very good care of me. I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in years.’
Latimer returned Rand’s almost hostile glance with a cool gaze. He felt something die inside him. Nothing caused trouble faster between men than a woman. Was Glory doing this deliberately? Latimer wondered at that. The girl could be professing to love him to get her way and work some insidious evil. He wondered if there was anything to Aggie’s story of Glory. But this girl did not look evil. Latimer had to admit to himself that Glory looked nothing if not beautiful. But beauty was not skin deep. What was going on in the brain behind the girl’s lovely face?
‘Rand, take Glory out to the sidewalk until I come
. I want to have a few words with Latimer.’ Stott barked the order.
Rand turned obediently to the door and held it open for her. Glory gave Latimer a significant stare before striding out with Rand at her heels.
He’s not fit to lick her boots, Latimer thought. He waited until the door closed before he looked at the rancher. Stott had loosened his stiff white collar. His voluminous jacket hung over the back of the wicker bottomed chair in which he was seated. Stott looked like a man in the last stages of exhaustion. He poured himself a drink of water from a large jug standing on the table at his elbow.
‘See here, Latimer, I’m not going to mince matters. I want you on my payroll. You are much too good a man to stand against me. You see, from my angle, there are only two ways to deal with you. One is to make you a friend; that is, to employ you. The other is not to make you an enemy, and the only way I can do that is by having you killed. But that could prove costly. I lost six good riders on account of you being so fast with a gun, so I can’t afford to have you against me. Now what do you say? Will you come and work for me at fifty dollars a month?’
‘That’s a lot of money!’ Latimer ejaculated. ‘What would I have to do for that, rob a bank? That’s an awful lot of money. I would think you have got some unlawful venture on hand to be offering that kind of wage.’
‘I figure you’ll be worth it. I don’t want you against me. And there’s my daughter to consider. She hates Rand. So I must have another man for her. She seems to have taken a liking to you, so I figure you could take care of her. You’ve already proved that you can take care of yourself.’
‘Don’t you think Rand can handle me? He’s your top gunhand. It’s his job to put me away if you say so.’
Stott glanced at the closed door. He lowered his hoarse voice to a raspy whisper.
‘I think Rand is playing some deep game of his own. Those six men I fired; the ones you killed at the Porter place, wouldn’t have carried out that raid without orders from someone.’
‘That figures,’ Latimer said quietly. ‘I’ve been hearing some interesting things along the same lines. I’ve heard that Rand has been playing you against the rest of the County. It could be true at that. Rand could be pulling a hide over your eyes.’
‘Thinking back,’ Stott mused, ‘all the things that happened which were supposed to be the work of the other ranchers could have been rigged by Rand. That means he’s after KS.’
‘And he’s going to make his try through your daughter.’
‘Well he won’t get far with her.’ Stott laughed and the noise was a deep rumble in his chest. ‘Glory hates his guts.’
‘Why don’t you fire him?’
‘I don’t know about that.’ Stott shook his head. ‘I need him to run things. Men think twice about causing trouble when there’s a gunman of Rand’s calibre on the payroll.’
‘Is that why you want me as well? Or are you hoping that Rand will turn jealous over Glory and call me out?’
‘Are you faster than Rand?’
‘I don’t know, and neither does Rand. The only way we can find out is by fighting, and that means the slower of the two will never know. I’m not prepared to stake my life on the assumption that I am faster than Rand. I don’t want to risk it for fifty a month. I’ve got plenty of money.’ Latimer grinned. ‘I’ve always found money easy to come by.’
‘But you’re risking it for the law for about half of what I am offering you.’
‘That’s different. There’s another reason for that which means more to me than money. I mean to see that innocent people don’t suffer in all this trouble. There’s been some brutal killings round here, and it’s been done either on your say so, or by men acting on Rand’s orders; men paid by you. I’m going to find out, if I should live so long, and help put a rope around the necks of the men responsible.’
‘I hope you will, for I can assure you, Latimer, that I had nothing to do with the killings. It all came as a surprise to me. If I were responsible I wouldn’t have come into town today with just a handful of men. I would have brought the whole crew and ridden roughshod over everything. Go ahead and find out who is ordering the violence. I tell you it is Rand. You’ve got to stop him. I don’t want him getting ideas about Glory. No cheap crook is going to marry her to get his hands on my ranch.’
‘I’m glad to hear that.’ Latimer nodded slowly, conjuring up an image of Glory in his mind. He wondered if the girl could sway her father when she told him of her love for Link Latimer, the outlaw. Father and daughter were both of the same obstinate nature. It would be some fight to witness. But whatever happened, Kenton Stott was going up off his seat endwise when Glory informed him that his future son-in-law was an outlaw.
‘I’ve always had big plans for Glory,’ Stott growled deep in his chest. ‘I should have sent her East to some of the cities a long time ago. A girl like her ought to have some of the comforts a more civilized life has to offer. Money is no object to me. But this trouble came up and I didn’t dare leave the range.’
‘What sort of trouble started?’ Latimer demanded.
‘Fences cut and cattle run off. Nothing big, but it was a nuisance, and I treated it as a warning of what was to come. A lot of new neighbours were settling in and, as you know, many of these nesters make a start by rustling from their big neighbour. I’ve never been a hard man, although folk round here wouldn’t admit to it now — they’ve got short memories. But rustling must always be stamped out. If a rustler gets away with one cow he’ll come back for more and more.’
‘That’s so. But couldn’t that sort of thing have been done by Rand and his line riders?’
‘This all started a long time before they appeared on the scene. That’s why I can’t believe that Rand is snaking on me.’
‘That’s an old dodge,’ Latimer remarked. ‘Rand and his gunmen could have been rigging the play around here for six months before they showed themselves. Then all Rand had to do was ride in, offer to stop your trouble, and get straight to work on the smaller ranchers, making you believe that they were responsible. It’s a desperate game, but the stakes are high. It’s been done before. But you appearing in Court today should delay Rand’s plans. The last thing he’ll want is publicity. The only thing you can do now is watch for his next move. He’ll have to do something quickly because his whole plan will die out if he lets tempers mend. This sort of thing has to be kept boiling.’
‘I’ll watch him alright,’ Stott promised. ‘But what do I do if I catch him out? I’m not afraid of any man, but Rand is lightning fast with a gun.’
‘You brought him into the County, so you’ll have to get rid of him. But play it close to the belly, Stott. He’ll kill you the minute he suspects you’re wise to him.’
‘Can’t I induce you to join my crew?’ Stott pleaded.
‘Not for a hundred dollars a week,’ Latimer said firmly. ‘But you’ve got no reason to fear me if you’re not responsible for all the killings. That’s the only thing I’m interested in around here. I’m an outlaw as well as a lawman, and on both sides of the law the only thing I cannot stomach is cold-blooded murder. If Rand is the man behind it, then you won’t have to hire me; I’ll come for him. So play a waiting game and save yourself money.’
‘You’re right,’ Stott muttered. ‘And if I hired you it might tip my hand to Rand. Can we keep in touch somehow?’
‘I would like that,’ Latimer said quickly. ‘But before we go into it I’ll give you a couple of tips that would help the local folk to start trusting you. Take off your armed line riders and get rid of some of your gunmen. But don’t let Rand select the men you pay off. Do it yourself. Push off some of his men and try to keep those who may be loyal to you. That way you’ll cut down your opposition without gunplay.’
‘I’ll consider it,’ Stott promised. ‘I feel certain now that my neighbours aren’t to blame for my troubles. So if I can do without all the gunnies I pay then I’ll get rid of them. And, as you say, it could prove my good faith to
the townsfolk.’
‘Now it’s time to eat,’ Latimer said. We’ve got to be in Court early this afternoon. If you get rid of your line riders, Stott, I’ll come out and see you from time to time. But I wouldn’t want Rand to see me, so we must arrange a signal or something so that I can slip into your house unseen.’
‘Well you know where my study is. Supposing you come out on a certain evening each week? I will leave open the big window in my study and you could enter at a specific time.’
‘Say Thursday then,’ said Latimer. ‘I’ll keep clear of your range until sundown. Then I wouldn’t reach your place until about ten. It would mean staying no longer than an hour, and a long ride back to town before dawn. I’ll make the trip every Thursday until this trouble is over. But get your riders away from your fence or they’ll pick me off.’
‘The way will be clear,’ Stott said grimly. ‘Now we’d better break it off or Rand will get suspicious. I shan’t talk to you again before I leave town. So until Thursday around ten in the evening.’ Stott heaved himself up out of his seat and held out his hand. Latimer hesitated a moment then clasped the podgy fingers. He wiped his hand distastefully.
‘You might tell your daughter that I’m coming out on Thursday, and that I would like to talk to her after I’ve seen you,’ Latimer said. ‘I shan’t get another chance to speak to her before you ride out.’
Stott nodded. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it. Latimer wiped his forehead of sweat as he left the room and went down to the sidewalk. Glory and Rand were seated on the bench in front of the hotel when Latimer emerged from the building. The girl got up and left the gunman, coming to Latimer with a ready smile.
‘What did my father have to talk about?’ she demanded.
‘He offered me a job.’ Latimer’s eyes flickered past the girl and studied Rand who was coming towards them. The gunman was carrying his Colt thrust inside the waistband of his pants, and Rand’s hand eased the weapon as he came on. Latimer’s lips thinned against his teeth.
