Clash of Mountains

by Chloe Garner

  He pressed his mouth.

  “You can only push us so hard,” he said. “We had to do something.”

  She nodded.

  “You got anything else I need to hear?”

  His mouth pressed three or four more times.

  “You aren’t going to do anything about it, are you?”

  “I ain’t made up my mind,” she told him. “You know Thomas’ skin is in the game, too?”

  He frowned.

  “Thomas didn’t hurt anyone.”

  “He stood by.”

  The man shook his head emphatically.

  “He was there. He took care of us when no one else cared what was going to happen. He didn’t stand by. He was the only one who did anything.”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Thank you. If there’s nothin’ else…?”

  He shook his head, standin’.

  “You aren’t going to do anything to the psychopaths, and you’re going to punish Thomas to make an example. Because that’s just how our lives work.”

  Sarah pressed her mouth.

  “Y’all came out here lookin’ for a change of luck. Can’t hardly be surprised it didn’t change for all you.”

  “Cold,” he said. She shrugged.

  “Welcome to Lawrence.”

  She stood, watchin’ him go out the door, then went to look out, seein’ that there were a few more men standin’ around, but none of ‘em thinkin’ serious about comin’ to talk to her.

  “Anyone else?” she asked Granger.

  “You get anything useful?” Granger asked.

  “Not much,” Sarah admitted. “Had a story I believed, comin’ in, and ain’t nobody told me nothin’ different.”

  “Well, that’s somethin’,” Granger said. She looked over, and he gave her a sympathetic look she were just willin’ to take. “You gotta go against Lawsons over this,” he said. “You ready for that?”

  “I whipped Peter Lawson, didn’t I?”

  “You been waitin’ your whole life for a shot at that boy,” Granger said. “Ain’t sayin’ you done wrong, doin’ what you did. He killed a man out of his own foolishness. But you can’t look at it the same as this.”

  “You think I like Wade and Rich better than Little Peter?” Sarah asked, eyebrow up. He lifted his chin.

  “This ain’t about a brawl in the street, is it? It’s about Lawsons and Lawrence, now.”

  She shook her head, startin’ an ease toward the door.

  “It’s always about Lawsons and Lawrence.”

  --------

  Every man on the list turned up.

  She could hardly be surprised about it, but at the same time, she’d expected to have to wrangle at least one of ‘em ‘fore they headed up to the house.

  Peter showed up on time with the cart and the men loaded into it. Peter reeked of whiskey, but weren’t anybody to send but him. They’d talked about Rhoda doin’ it, but she were a half a shade worse than Peter, on account of bein’ a woman.

  World turned the same every day.

  Wade, Rich, and Thomas’d stay out of sight for the night. Kayla and Rhoda would be finishin’ off meals just now, in time to get plates cleared and the table re-set for the summit.

  Jimmy actually called it that.

  Seven men. Different builds among ‘em, but most were on the big end. Hard to tell age, what with Perpeto, but readin’ their eyes, Sarah got a sense that they was among the oldest of the boys, but still young by Lawson standards. Couple might have been Thomas’ age.

  One.

  Ezra.

  Ezra had a decade on the rest of ‘em. He didn’t jostle for space in the back of the cart, and he didn’t have to. Lot of pushin’, subtle-like, among the rest. Rivals. But Ezra would have his pick of men, Sarah could see it on him, and he’d shut the door to the rest when he saw fit.

  He had a rough feel to him, a sense that he’d broken noses and fingers, and she respected it, though he was no Jimmy Lawson. Jimmy had a deep-down violent streak, but he was powerful enough that that weren’t his identity on the outside.

  She rode alongside the little mare, givin’ her cues to keep her on line when Peter’s hands drifted on the reins.

  “You gonna tell us what this is about?” one of the men back in the cart asked.

  “Ain’t my invitation,” Sarah said.

  “Going to finish us all off?” someone else asked. “Get us all together in one place and just take us out?”

  Sarah looked back.

  A lot of eyes watchin’ the answer to that one.

  “Seriously?” she asked. “You think the man with all the money and all the guns feels the groin-deep need to put bullets to the likes of you? Jimmy Lawson needs the town to have leaders. Needs the laborers to have leaders. Y’all are structural to the future of Lawrence. Not you as individuals, but as a group. Ain’t no sense in offin’ you, when you’re doin’ somethin’ he ain’t got the energy or time to see to.”

  Peter sniffed loudly and Sarah sat forward again, touchin’ her hat to set it straight and puttin’ her head to the horizon.

  Sun’d go down before the meal was over. She didn’t know whether Jimmy intended to put ‘em up or if he’d send ‘em back in the dark. Threat of bandits were low enough the trip weren’t as risky as it’d once been, but the desert at night weren’t a safe place by a stretch.

  Too easy to get off a line and end up nowhere.

  “How are the sick men?” another voice asked. Sarah turned back, findin’ Ezra with his head at a bent to let her know he’d spoke.

  “Ain’t heard since last night,” Sarah said.

  “We haven’t heard anything at all,” someone else said. Ed, perhaps. She’d dealt with him before. It was actually a surprise she was just meetin’ Ezra for the first, now.

  She nodded, lettin’ Gremlin ease back so she could ride alongside the buckboard for a moment.

  “They got sandworm,” she said. “Known illness in Lawrence, mostly prevented by proper installation of waterworks. Wells in town don’t often get ‘em, homestead houses got ‘em run off, at this point, but the shelter let ‘em in in number big enough to get the men they got. Pill’ll fix the sandworms, so the men what weren’t that sick to begin will be right again soon enough. Rest, you’d have to check with Doc. You tell him I sent you, and he’ll let you see ‘em.”

  Ezra nodded to her, and she looked ‘round the back of the wagon again.

  They were nervous. She’d taken it for posturin’, headed out, but as they settled, she could see it on ‘em. Well, weren’t wrong. She put Gremlin back to his spot next to the little mare and rode the rest of the way up to the house from there.

  The sun was beginnin’ to drop behind the mountains as they turned up the hill toward the Lawson house, findin’ Jimmy standin’ on the front porch. The whole family was inside, save Lise and Sunny, hunkered down in case of a fight. Sarah knew Jimmy had sent Rhoda down to try to talk Lise into comin’ back, but she’d turned her down. Didn’t want nothin’ to do with the Lawsons, did Lise.

  Sarah got down and held the mare’s head while the men rocked the buckboard about, gettin’ down. Jimmy waited until the stableboy had gone runnin’ off with the mare and Gremlin had begun his evening’s wander around the house to come down the porch steps to address the men.

  Ellie would be upstairs with Rhoda.

  It wasn’t that she was a secret, but they weren’t lookin’ to make her an awareness, either.

  “Welcome,” Jimmy said, standin’ just uphill of the men. “This is the Lawson house. My mother and my father built it when they were first married. My father was Peter Lawson, the first claim enforcer in Lawrence, and my mother was Elaine Lawrence, daughter of Eli Lawrence, founder of Lawrence. I know that the last few weeks have been very hard for you, but I want you to know that this family is invested in this town and its citizens, and right now, that means you.”

  “That’s a great pedigree,” Torque said, jumpin’ in as Jimmy drew breath. “But from w
here we’re standing, it looks like money talking to need.”

  Jimmy tipped his chin up at Torque, lookin’ at him for several moments, then noddin’.

  “Yes. It is. My family wealth is no secret, and most of you probably have an idea how we have come by much of it.”

  “Protection racket,” somebody coughed, and Jimmy smiled, no teeth, canine.

  “Our food is at this moment prepared, so I don’t want to spend all night standing out here, but let me very briefly explain the difference between protection and a racket. In the case of protection, a man comes and stands between you and a threat. He risks his life because you aren’t able to keep yours. Simple. In a racket, that man says that he is the threat to you and he expects payment, not to risk his life, but to not take yours. The Lawsons sell protection. This is absolutely not a racket. There are men up in those hills,” he said, pointing, “who will slit your throat for an opportunity to go through your pockets. We keep them at bay.”

  He lifted his head again.

  “If you please, you may leave your jackets in the front room, if you would like to. The dining room is straight ahead.”

  Sarah followed the men into the house, leavin’ her hat and coat on the hook at the door and goin’ through to the dinin’ room to stand behind her chair.

  Jimmy stood at the head of the table as the seven men shuffled in, Ezra takin’ the seat across from Sarah and next to Jimmy, Torque takin’ the opposite end of the table from Jimmy. One by one, the rest of them selected chairs, leavin’ the one next to Sarah empty, and then they sat at Jimmy’s cue. The staff came in with plates, serving a hearty meal to Sarah’s tastes and leavin’ quick and quiet. The men gave ‘em looks like they ain’t been served in memory, but no one said nothin’ about it until the kitchen door swung closed again.

  “What are you going to do about what happened up at the building?” Ezra asked Jimmy.

  “Sarah is conducting an investigation into what happened,” Jimmy said. “She has a long history of doing what’s right for the town and the circumstances.”

  “So you mean sweep it all under the rug,” Torque said.

  Sarah looked down the table at the skinny man with the wide blonde streak in his brown hair. He met her eye fearlessly.

  “I have the witnesses from the men what came forward,” Sarah said. “I’m willin’ to hear what any of you have to say about what happened and what you reckon needs done about it.”

  “They say you hang people, out here,” one of the other men said, and Sarah nodded low.

  “True enough. Don’t often have need - most the men I need done with, I’m shootin’ at, from a distance - but I’ve hung a handful of men in my time.”

  “Then you need to hang those two,” another of the men said.

  “On what ground?” Sarah asked.

  “They murdered Mack, for one,” Torque said.

  “You touchy ‘bout him cause you see him as a peer?” Sarah asked. “Makin’ him more important than the others?”

  “Most of the others, they weren’t exactly stable people,” Ed said. “But Mack wasn’t going to suddenly do something stupid.”

  “No, he was gonna take his time, plot somethin’ up proper, and see to it he won the fight with the twins,” Sarah said. There was a silence at the table and she shrugged, cuttin’ into her steak and holdin’ it out with her fork.

  “Y’all ain’t been a part of a trial like this before,” she said. “Ain’t nobody to push back at any story you tell me but me, so that’s what I do. You tell me the truth and I believe it, we’re sound, but I got a responsibility to make sure what I’m believe in is actual true.”

  “We all know you aren’t going to do anything to your husband’s brothers,” Torque said. “You just aren’t.”

  “No,” Ezra said. Sarah chewed thoughtfully at her steak as the table turned to look at him. “No, she’s not going to let them skate. Doesn’t anyone else see it? The tension between her and the rest of the family? Look at the way she’s dressed. She’s not one of them, and if I make my guess, they don’t welcome here as a part of the family.” He looked at Jimmy. “I could make some other guesses about the relationships around here, but I don’t see any profit in it. No, she’s looking forward to taking her pound of flesh off of those boys, just to prove that she’s the pants. But she isn’t going to hang them. She needs the manpower to keep us down.”

  “Not the lot of you I’m concerned about,” Sarah said. He raised an eyebrow and she swallowed, puttin’ her fork down and motionin’ her head toward him. “You look round this table and tell me which of the people here carry a gun each and every day.”

  Ezra took her invitation, looking each man in the face, including Jimmy. Jimmy met his eye, expressionless, and Ezra nodded.

  “Only one I know for sure is you. Next most likely is Torque, down there, and then Mr. Lawson, here.”

  Sarah nodded, tuckin’ away his read on Torque as interestin’.

  “Jimmy Lawson is never unarmed. Take it straight, he ain’t. And neither am I. The men I’m worried about, they carry guns just the same as us. Y’all are important, true enough, but that’s ‘cause you’re gonna keep the boys in town from gettin’ themselves all dead before the claims get workin’ and we stand use of their labor.”

  Ezra nodded.

  “So we’re tools, in your eyes?”

  She nodded without regret or concern.

  “Man who knows his use to another is a man who can trust the other, so long as he meets his use,” Sarah said. Ezra smiled. Jimmy was chewing, watching the two of ‘em and their dance.

  “So, I was right about the rest?” Ezra asked.

  “I ain’t settled on what I’m gonna do with ‘em. Jimmy’s gonna tell me I can’t hang ‘em, ‘cause they ain’t done nothin’ to deserve it, but the reason he’s gonna say it is ‘cause we need ‘em and ‘cause they’re his brothers. Gave him my word I’d hear him out, but I reckon the dead got the right to have someone speak on their behalf, too. You ain’t got nothin’ more to say about what happened, I’m listenin’, what you think ought happen next.”

  “Hang ‘em high,” Torque said, pointin’ at her with his knife. She took him in, lookin’ to Jimmy out the corner of her eye as she heard noises ‘round the table indicatin’ that the twins had made some enemies what weren’t ever gonna forgive ‘em.

  Sarah looked to Ezra again as he chewed his steak.

  “You really expect us to believe that you’ll take our opinions into account and not just use them to mark us out for or against you?” he asked.

  “Ever since I was born, what the Lawsons said, went, in this town,” Sarah said. “But just under a decade ago, now, they left. Weren’t no law, and a storm of men came down on Lawrence to strip it of what little it had left. We fought ‘em off, but tempers were hot and men were fightin’ in the streets, dyin’. Weren’t nobody left but me to keep ‘em in line, keep ‘em on that side of the line, you take me. Now Jimmy comes back, he wants to know what I’m plannin’ on doin’, ‘fore I tell anyone else, so he gets his moment to argue, one ain’t nobody else gonna get, ‘cause once I’ve laid my sentence, it’s set. He reckons he can do it, ‘cause he’s Jimmy and ‘cause I share his bed, but it ain’t the way of justice. He wants to tell me what he thinks, so do you. Fair is fair.”

  “Hang ‘em high,” Torque said, and Sarah looked down the table.

  “What they done warrants takin’ extra lives?” she asked.

  “Men with guns,” Torque said slowly, as if she were doltish, “came into locked rooms, and shot unarmed men.”

  She could see the reason to that, and she let him know it.

  “It would go a long way with the boys, believing that justice is a real thing here,” one of the other men said, and Sarah shook her head.

  “No. Ain’t nothin’ I do, to do with how it looks, when it comes to punishin’ what’s been done already. Don’t care what nobody thinks of what I do, so long as I think I done right.”

 
; “The boys were there to keep everyone there taken care of,” Jimmy said. “They honestly and reasonably thought that the men they killed were an imminent threat to their ability to do that. It was in defense of the rest that the killed the ones they did.”

  Sarah gave him the same motion she’d given Torque. It was a valid point.

  “They crossed the line,” Ed said.

  “I’ll allow they did,” Sarah said. “But was it murder worth hangin’ for?”

  Ed pursed his lips.

  “I’m not going to say it wouldn’t gladden my heart to see a Lawson swinging. But what Peter did, back last year, it was at least as bad as what they did at the shelter. At the shelter…” He nodded. “They weren’t killing because they were enjoying it, and they weren’t killing to advance their own interests.”

  “Like hell,” someone else said. “They were doing it because they liked the rush.”

  “You got proof of that?” Sarah asked. “You know they killed someone without knowin’ anything about ‘em?”

  “What?” the man asked. “I’m advocating you hang ‘em. That makes me a threat to them. You going to stand up and shoot me and call it justified?”

  She gave him a point for that, and moved on.

  “You can’t hang them,” Ezra said. She shifted in her chair to direct her shoulders at him as he put his fork down.

  “I’m listening,” she said.

  “Your Lawsons rely on authority to do what they do,” he said. “If they aren’t able to use it, they don’t have it. Every one of us benefits from the perception of authority that they have.”

  “But they killed unarmed men,” Torque said. “Unarmed. What part of that are you people forgetting?”

  Sarah nodded.

  “If nobody got any more to add than that, Jimmy’s the one what brought you up here,” she said, turnin’ to look at him. He shook his head at her, just a fraction, enough for her to know what it meant, but not so much most of the rest’d even see it. She’d hijacked his summit and made it about killin’ Lawsons.

  She answered him with a fraction of a shrug, puttin’ her legs out straight along his chair and crossin’ ‘em at the ankle.

  He sucked his canine, mouth pursed, then turned away to address the table.