The Wrong Side of the Law

by Robert J. Randisi

  She started walking and he turned to follow. At the same time, he gave Atlee a signal he hoped the younger man would read properly.

  Lily led him across the busy saloon floor to a stairway, and he followed her swaying hips up. When they reached the upstairs hallway, the noise from downstairs became muffled. Palmer drew his gun and grabbed Lily’s arm as she stopped in front of a room.

  “Is he inside?” he asked.

  “What? Well, no— Hey, what’s the gun for?”

  “Stand aside,” he told her as Atlee appeared at the end of the hall. He kept his voice down as he told Atlee, “Keep an eye on the stairs.”

  “Right.”

  He looked at Lily, saw her take a deep breath.

  “If you scream, he’ll get shot and so will you,” he told her.

  She stopped in midbreath.

  Gun in hand, Palmer lifted his foot and kicked out at the door. As it snapped open, he sprang into the room with his gun held out. The man lounging on the bed sat up quickly, eyes wide, then started for his gun, which was hanging on the bedpost.

  “Don’t do it!” Palmer shouted.

  The man froze. Palmer could see the livid scar that ran down his face.

  “Who the hell’re you?” he growled.

  “My name’s Abe Cassidy.”

  “I don’t know you.”

  Palmer took the badge from his pocket and held it out.

  “Maybe this’ll help.”

  Jack Dancy squinted his eyes.

  “You’re the marshal from Integrity?”

  “That’s right.”

  “You got no official standing here,” Dancy said.

  “I’m taking you back with me, anyway, Dancy,” Palmer said.

  “My boys are downstairs,” Dancy said. “You’ll never get me to the door.”

  “I’m sure they’re having a good time,” Palmer said. “They won’t notice us taking you out the back door.”

  Dancy frowned and Palmer could see him considering going for the gun.

  He cocked the hammer on his gun.

  “Roll off the bed to your right, Dancy,” Palmer said since the gun was hanging on the left post.

  Dancy hesitated, then rolled off the bed to his feet. Palmer walked to the bedpost and plucked the gun from the holster. He stuck it in his belt, then gestured with his gun.

  “We’re going to walk to the other end of the hall,” he said, hoping he would find a customary back way out there.

  “When they miss me,” Dancy said, “my boys will come lookin’.”

  “Hopefully we’ll be long gone by then.”

  “In the dark?” Dancy asked.

  “We’ll be real careful.”

  As they came out of the room, Lily said, “Jack, I’m sorry—”

  Dancy backhanded her across the face, almost knocking her down. She slumped against the wall, her hand to her face.

  “Stupid bitch, you brought him up here?”

  “I thought—”

  “You ain’t supposed to think!”

  Her face grew red.

  “I hope they hang you!”

  Palmer looked down the hall.

  “Steve, let’s go.”

  Atlee came trotting down the hall.

  “Put her in the room,” he told him.

  “Should I tie her up?”

  Lily still had her hand to her face, a murderous expression on her beautiful face.

  “I don’t think so,” Palmer said. She looked angry enough to let them take Dancy out the back. Later she might regret it, but one way or another, Dancy’s boys would come after them. Tying her up might alleviate her anger toward Dancy and instead make her mad at Palmer and Atlee. “I don’t think he should’ve hit that beautiful face.”

  “I don’t think so, either,” she said.

  “Come on, ma’am,” Atlee said, walking her into the room. “Now you just sit there a while.”

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “You can have ’im.”

  When they got to the far end of the hall, they found another staircase going down.

  “You go ahead of us and bring the horses around back,” Palmer said.

  “What about his horse?” Atlee asked. “We don’t know which one it is.”

  Lily stuck her head out of her room and said, “It’s a roan.”

  “Shut up, bitch!” Dancy snapped.

  She smiled and withdrew her head.

  “Grab the roan,” Palmer said to Atlee.

  “Right.”

  Atlee ran down the steps ahead of them.

  “Walk easy, Dancy,” Palmer said. “I won’t mind putting a bullet in your back. The lady you shot was a friend of mine.”

  “That bastard Henderson’s wife?” Dancy said. “She just got in the way. Too bad, she wasn’t bad-lookin’.”

  “Well, that lady’s going to put you away, Dancy, when she testifies.”

  “She ain’t dead?”

  “No, she’s not.”

  They reached the bottom and were in a hallway with a door at the far end.

  “Keep walking,” Palmer said. “First move you make to get away, you’re dead.”

  “I got time,” Dancy said. “It’s a long way back to Integrity.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  When Palmer got out back with Dancy, Atlee was there, mounted on his horse and holding the reins of two others.

  “Get on the roan,” Palmer told Dancy.

  Atlee drew his gun and covered Dancy while Palmer mounted his gelding. When they were all mounted, Palmer tied Dancy’s hands in front of him. If he tied them behind the man, he might fall out of the saddle.

  “If you try to ride off, you’ll be dead before you get ten feet. Got it?”

  “I got it,” Dancy said. “I just have to wait for my boys to set me free.”

  “If they come after us, I’ll take them in, too,” Palmer said.

  Dancy laughed and said, “We’ll see.”

  “Yeah, we will,” Palmer said. “Steve, you take the lead. Let’s get out of town.”

  “Right.”

  * * *

  * * *

  They rode hard out of town, but when they had left the lights behind, they slowed.

  “I can’t ride in the dark hog-tied like this,” Dancy complained.

  “Do the best you can,” Palmer said. “At least I didn’t tie your hands behind your back.” He looked at Atlee. “We need a place to camp.”

  “I can ride up ahead,” Atlee said.

  “Good. Find something out of sight, or we’ll have to make a cold camp. And it’s cold enough.”

  “Right.”

  As Atlee rode on ahead, Dancy started talking.

  “Why would you come all this way to take me back?” he asked. “Your badge is no good here.”

  “Maybe not,” Palmer said, “but my gun will still do the trick.”

  “Against all my boys?” Dancy said. “There are four of them, you know.”

  “Three,” Palmer said. “Pike’s already on his way back.”

  “Oh, you caught Pike, huh?” Dancy said.

  “And he wasn’t very happy about being left behind,” Palmer said. “He’s going to do a lot of talking.”

  “That’s okay,” Dancy said. “He don’t know nothin’.”

  “Oh, we’ll take what little he does know,” Palmer said, “and put it together with what Belle Henderson tells us. That’ll be enough to build a case against you and get you hanged.”

  “You ain’t gonna hang me, Marshal,” Dancy said.

  Palmer took his badge from his pocket and pinned it on.

  “We’ll see,” he said.

  They heard a horse approaching them from ahead, and Palmer reined in. There was enough moonlight for him to see Atl
ee.

  “I found a spot,” he said.

  “Lead on.”

  They followed Atlee to a clearing that was surrounded by rocks.

  “We can make a fire here that won’t be seen from far off,” Atlee said.

  “Good,” Palmer said. “I’ll build the fire. You take care of the horses.”

  “And him?”

  “We’ll tie his hands behind him,” Palmer said.

  “How am I supposed to eat that way?” Dancy asked.

  “Who says you’re gonna eat?” Palmer asked.

  He got the fire going, put on a pot of coffee for them to have with their beef jerky. They had restocked at a small-town mercantile along the way, but just coffee and jerky. Nothing to slow them down.

  Atlee picketed the horses and came to the fire. Palmer handed him a cup of coffee and a hunk of jerky.

  “Hey!” Dancy called. “I’m hungry, and I’m cold.”

  They had set him down away from the fire and the warmth of it, but within the glow of it so they could watch him.

  “That cold you feel is comin’ from inside you,” Atlee said. “From your heart.”

  “Yeah, yeah . . .” Dancy said. “At least let me have some coffee.”

  “Just shut up,” Palmer said. “You killed an innocent man and shot his wife. You don’t deserve any consideration.”

  Dancy started to laugh.

  “Innocent?” he asked. “You think Eddie Dickson was innocent?”

  “Dickson?” Palmer asked. “You killed Ken Henderson.”

  “Henderson, that’s the name he took to live in Integrity,” Dancy said. “But when we were partners, he was Eddie Dickson.”

  “He was your partner?”

  “For ten years,” Dancy said. “Until we pulled a job that was big enough for him to turn on me. It took me years to find him in Integrity, where he used the money to open a business and get married. But he was a liar and a phony. Had the people of Integrity totally fooled.”

  Palmer stared at Dancy, for a moment thinking the killer could have been talking about him.

  “He was worse than I was when we were partners,” Dancy went on. “If anythin’, he made me what I am today.”

  “Whatever was between the two of you,” Palmer said, “you killed a citizen of Integrity, and I’m taking you back.”

  “That coffee smells good,” Dancy said. “One cup and I’ll shut up.”

  Atlee looked at Palmer, who nodded. They tied Dancy’s hands in front again and gave him a cup of coffee. He sipped from it gratefully.

  “You think he’s tellin’ the truth?” Atlee asked as they sat by the fire. “About Henderson?”

  “I don’t know,” Palmer said. “Maybe Belle does. We can ask her when we get back.”

  “If she’s alive,” Atlee said.

  “She’ll be alive,” Palmer said.

  They finished their coffee and a meal of jerky, took the cup away from Dancy, and tied his hands behind him again.

  “You’re gonna make me sleep like this?” the killer asked. “I can’t.”

  “Give it a try,” Palmer told him. “Steve, I’ll take the first watch.”

  “Fine with me,” Atlee said. “I can use some shut-eye.”

  Atlee rolled himself up in his blanket and bedroll. Palmer hunkered down by the fire, holding his rifle across his knees and a cup of coffee in his hand.

  He thought about what Dancy had said about Ken Henderson being a liar and a phony. The words hit home. But maybe if he managed to get Dancy back to Integrity to pay for what he’d done, he’d be less of a phony.

  He wondered if Dancy was right about his men. Would the three remaining try to catch up to them and free him? Or would they be glad he was gone? Dancy probably didn’t treat his men any better than he treated his woman.

  Palmer poured himself another cup of coffee and kept a sharp eye on their back trail.

  * * *

  * * *

  Palmer came awake abruptly as Steve Atlee shook him.

  “Time to get up, Marshal.”

  Palmer came out of his bedroll quickly, got to his feet, and looked around. He was relieved when he saw Dancy still there and still hog-tied.

  “Here,” Atlee said, and handed Palmer a cup of coffee.

  “That’s it,” Palmer said. “Just coffee and then let’s move.”

  “Coffee for Dancy?” Atlee asked.

  “No,” Palmer said. “Let’s just get him ready to move.”

  While Atlee did that, Palmer climbed up on some rocks so he could get a good look behind them. As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of Dancy’s men. Palmer dropped down to the ground and told Atlee they were clear.

  “Sure,” Dancy said with a grin, “for now.”

  Between them they got Dancy on his horse and then mounted up themselves.

  “You want me to scout ahead today,” Atlee asked, “or keep an eye on our back trail?”

  “Back trail,” Palmer said. “If they come at us, it’s going to be from behind, not from ahead.”

  “Right.”

  “It’s at least three days from here to Integrity,” Dancy told them. “In that much time, anything can happen.”

  “You’d just better be wrong,” Palmer said, “because if something does happen, the first thing I’m going to do is put a bullet in your brain.”

  Dancy laughed.

  “You ain’t gonna get me hung that way!” he snapped.

  “Maybe not,” Palmer said, “but I’ll be just as happy to leave you dead by the side of the road.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Two days of traveling were uneventful.

  On the third day Atlee came riding in from checking their back trail.

  “They’re comin’,” he said.

  “I told you,” Dancy said, smiling. “They’re good boys.”

  Palmer ignored the man.

  “How many?”

  “Three, like he said.”

  Actually, Dancy had said four, but Palmer had reminded him that Pike had already been caught.

  “How far behind us are they?”

  “About an hour.”

  “They must have been making good time.”

  Palmer had stopped to rest the horses. Now Palmer said to Atlee, “All right, you go on ahead with him. I’ll take care of them.”

  “All three?” Atlee asked. “Why don’t we tie him to a tree or somethin’, and we’ll both handle ’em.”

  “Just do it my way, Steve,” Palmer said.

  “Okay, yeah, you’re the boss.”

  He grabbed the reins of Dancy’s horse and started off with the outlaw in tow.

  Palmer mounted up and started riding back.

  * * *

  * * *

  When Palmer spotted the three riders in the distance, he reined in, dismounted, and found some high ground. His original plan was to bushwhack the three men, kill them, and then head back to Integrity. But now he realized there was no way he could be sure these were Dancy’s men. What if they were just three riders riding this way coincidentally? He couldn’t kill them without finding out for sure they were killers.

  He hid his horse, tied it to a tree, and climbed up atop an outcropping of rocks that would give him the drop on them.

  And he waited.

  * * *

  * * *

  The three men were riding at a brisk pace, which was probably why they had gotten this close. Palmer sighted down the barrel of his rifle, waiting until they got closer, feeling sure these were Dancy’s men, but not sure enough to pull the trigger. Finally, they were below him and he shouted, “That’s far enough!”

  They reined in and began looking around with their hands on their guns.

  “Just stand easy,” Palmer said. “Don’t go for you
r guns. You’re covered.”

  The three men looked up toward his voice.

  “You’re Dancy’s men,” Palmer said.

  The three men stared at him, then at one another. Finally one of them said, “Where is he?”

  “Oh, he’s on his way back to Integrity to hang.”

  “We can’t let ya take ’im,” another said.

  “Well, actually, I mean to take all of you back,” Palmer told them. “You’re all involved in the murder of Ken Henderson.”

  “Naw, naw,” the third said, “that was all Dancy. He told us we was robbin’ the place. Then we go in and he shoots that fella and his wife.”

  “And you didn’t know anything about it?” Palmer said.

  “That’s right,” the man said.

  “So tell me,” Palmer said, “why are you tracking us? Why do you want Dancy?”

  “He’s the boss,” one said.

  Another shrugged and said, “What else should we do?”

  “Forget him,” Palmer said. “Go your separate ways. Start over.”

  They exchanged glances.

  “You’d let us do that?”

  “I’m just saying that’s what you should’ve done. Now that we’re all here, I’ve got to take you in.”

  “We can’t let ya do that,” one repeated.

  “You don’t have a choice.”

  They all smiled.

  “All we got to do is skin our hoglegs and start shooting. It’s three against one.”

  “But I’ve already got you covered,” Palmer pointed out. “I’ll kill two of you before you get your guns out. Then me and the third one’ll dance, and we’ll see what happens.”

  “You seem pretty sure.”

  “I’ve been in situations like this before,” Palmer told them. “I know how they turn out.”

  The three men looked at one another again.

  “Now all you’ve got to do is drop your pistols and rifles to the ground, and come quietly.”

  “You think you can get us all back to Integrity?” one asked.

  “I think I sure can try.”

  The three exchanged still another look, and then Palmer saw one nod.

  “Don’t—,” he started, but they all went for their guns.