Man From Boot Hill (3 page)

Even though he’d seen the sky shift from one color to another and could feel the air growing cooler by the minute, Nick was surprised at just how quickly the light had been sucked away.

Rasa had had a busy day, and so Nick saddled up his other horse and snapped the reins. Kazys was a bit younger, but had spent the better part of two years pulling a wagon. Nick’s concerns about the horse’s speed were put to rest as he soon felt the wind rushing against his face.

He rode with one hand gripping the reins and the other hand upon his holstered pistol. Nick got through town without incident and quickly saw the flicker of lanterns behind windows fade away. That left the wide expanse of land beyond Ocean, which was now as black as sackcloth.

The door to the small office swung open and smacked loudly against the wall, causing the two men inside to sit bolt upright behind their desks.
When they saw Catherine storming inside, they jumped to their feet.

“Sheriff Stilson, you need to go to the Van Meter place,” she said.

“What’s the matter?” asked the first man to reach Catherine’s side. In his mid-forties, he had a full head of light brown hair and sideburns that extended down to his chin. His features were angular. The hands he placed on Catherine’s shoulders were thick and beefy.

“There’s men riding out there,” she said, twisting out of the man’s grasp. “They shot at my husband.”

Both men’s eyes darted to Catherine’s left hand, but neither one of them saw a ring on her finger. Suddenly, Stilson nodded. “Oh, you’re the undertaker’s wife.”

“Yes, I am.”

“He’s been shot?”

“Yes!”

“What happened?”

Catherine sucked in a deep breath. From the corner of her eye, she could see Stilson’s deputy studying her closely. The man was at least fifteen years younger than the sheriff and had a bushy mustache. His bulky arms were propped on his hips and his eyes were practically glued to Catherine’s bosom.

Placing one hand flat against her chest to cover herself, she pretended to be out of breath as she said, “My husband’s gone to help Mister Van Me
ter. From what he told me, you should do the same. There’s a bunch of men headed out there to rob him or…”

“Or what?”

Catherine didn’t like the tone in the lawman’s voice. “I told you my husband’s been shot,” she said sternly. “He went off to lend a hand where it’s needed and I thought he was wrong not to come here first. Maybe he wasn’t so wrong after all.”

“Where did he see these men?” the sheriff asked.

“At the graveyard. They rode through and then some came back to shoot him.”

“And you’re certain they were going to the Van Meter place?”

She nodded. “That’s where he went when he should have gone to the doctor about his wound.”

“I’ll ride out there to see to it myself,” Stilson said.

“You may need more men. Nick said there were—”

“I’ll round up another deputy or two along the way,” the sheriff interrupted, “but I need to leave Ben here at the office in case something else comes up.”

Catherine’s first impulse was not to believe what the sheriff said. Then again, she’d found it was healthier not to believe what most folks said when they started the conversation eyeing her like she was a slab of meat. “I’ll come with you,” she offered.

“That won’t be necessary, ma’am. You should go on home and wait for your husband.” Stilson didn’t even try to hide his distaste. “If he comes back early, I’m sure you’ll want to know about it.”

“Fine.” With that, she turned her back to the lawmen and headed out the door. Sheriff Stilson followed behind her, mounted his horse, and rode down the street. Catherine watched to make certain the lawman was headed in the direction of Van Meter’s ranch. After that, there wasn’t much else for her to do. She walked home before the deputy with the wandering eyes offered his services as an escort.

The Van Meter ranch sat five miles south of Ocean. Kazys began straining and wheezing halfway there, but Nick knew the animal could push on a little farther. If those killers figured he was dead, there was no reason for them to run their horses to death to get where they were going.

Then again, those killers also had a head start and, undoubtedly, much younger horses.

The shadows had taken over the landscape and the pale glow of the half-moon wasn’t nearly enough to chase them away. Even after Nick’s eyes had adjusted to the dark, he was wary of riding at a full gallop. The trail was dangerous. Anything from snakes, rocks, or rodent holes could be lying under the cover of darkness. Any one of those things could break the horse’s leg or possibly snap Nick’s neck in a fall.

Nick weighed what he’d learned about those gunmen and thought about the rancher they were out to meet. On the other hand, he couldn’t do anyone any good if he was lying hurt or lost his horse in the middle of this open stretch of land.

Nick swore under his breath and pulled back on his reins. Kazys maintained as best he could.

“You know what the best thing is about owning land?” Joseph Van Meter said as he stretched out his legs and sank into the large porch swing.

The woman next to Joseph was curled up with her legs tucked underneath her body. Shoulder-length blonde hair fell in tight curls around her face as she tried to find the spot in the distance that had captured her husband’s attention. “I give up,” she said. “What is it?”

“Enjoying the quiet nights with nobody around to mess them up.”

“You mean nobody except for me and the kids?”

“You three don’t count.”

She leaned away from him and gave Joseph a good smack on the chest with the flat of her hand. “We don’t count?”

Joseph put on a grin that was almost hidden by the beard on his face. “You know what I mean. You don’t count when I’m talking about other folks.”

“Is that good or bad?”

Joseph snaked one arm around her waist and muscled her onto his lap. He easily positioned her so she was lying across his lap and one of his hands could work its way beneath her skirts. “That’s a good thing, Anne. It means you and the kids aren’t like the idiots in town or all those loud cowboys who storm through here like a pack of dogs.”

“If I remember correctly,” she said, squirming and trying halfheartedly to keep his hand from getting much farther, “you were one of those cowboys not too long ago. In fact, I thought you were handsome back then.”

“Just back then?”

Anne took her hand away from his roaming touch and used it to brush her fingers along Joseph’s chin. “You know what I mean,” she said, adjusting herself so her husband could get a good feel of whatever he liked. “That’s a good thing.”

Running his hand along her thigh, Joseph leaned in and kissed her powerfully on the lips. Soon, they were shifting to new positions on the swing until they were a tangle of limbs and twisted clothes. Joseph was wedged in the corner of the swing with one arm pinned beneath him. Anne hung halfway off the edge with one foot on the porch to keep from falling off. After they realized how they’d wound up, both of them started to laugh.

“This was supposed to be romantic,” Joseph grunted.

Anne winced and stretched her leg. “I hope you think it’s romantic when we fall off of this contraption, because that’s what’s about to happen.”

Joseph adjusted his hold around his wife and strained to set them both upright. Although the swing almost got away from them a couple of times, they somehow managed to keep from hitting the floor. When they were both sitting up properly, Joseph leaned back and let out a long breath.

“That was fun,” he said. “Maybe we should move somewhere else.”

Smirking and lifting one hand to the buttons of her dress, Anne was starting to lean in closer to him when she heard the squeak of the front door’s hinges.

Reluctantly, Joseph took his eyes away from his wife and put on a quick smile. “Oh, hello there, Sam. What are you doing up?”

An eight-year-old boy stood in the doorway. He was small for his age, but had an intelligent glint in his eyes that was hard to miss. Actually, now that he was half asleep, it was a little easier to miss than normal. “Are we moving?” Sam asked.

“What? Oh, no,” Joseph replied. “That was just talk. Why don’t you go on back to bed?” Just as he got his son to turn around and head back into the house, Joseph saw his other child come right out behind him. “Laurie, you should be in bed, too,” he said in a sterner tone of voice. “It’s late.”

Laurie was four years older than her brother.
She had her mother’s features and soft hair, which was currently a mess due to her rolling out of bed. There was a toughness in her face, however, that had undeniably come from her father. “It’s hard to sleep with all the noise you two are making,” she said. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing,” Anne said, after straightening her dress and checking her buttons. “Now go back to bed, the both of you.”

Laurie smirked and took hold of her brother by his shoulders. “Ma and Pa want us to leave them alone. Why do you think that is?”

“Laurie!” Anne snapped.

Sam shrugged and pulled away from his sister so he could get back into the house. That left Laurie standing in place with her arms crossed and the same mischievous grin on her face. “You two were kissing, weren’t you?” she asked sternly.

“So what if we were?” Joseph retorted.

“That’s just…” After thinking about it for a second, Laurie shuddered and walked over to the swing. Without asking permission, she forced herself between them and sat with her arms folded across her chest. “I can’t sleep, anyways.”

“Well,” Joseph said, “maybe you should try harder.” It didn’t take long for him to see that the girl wasn’t intending on going anywhere. He could also see her head lolling back and her eyelids starting to droop. He draped his arm along the back of the swing so he could envelop his wife and daughter as they rocked back and forth.

Feeling the sway of the swing and the subtle movements of his daughter beside him, Joseph leaned his head back and let out another slow breath. Being a rancher with workers on his payroll and plenty to keep him busy, he was dead tired nearly every night. Because of that, he rarely got the chance to savor quiet moments such as these. Now, he drank in the coolness of the air as well as the sight of the blanket of stars spread out over his head. Each one glistened perfectly to form more shapes than he could ever remember. Rather than look at them as separate constellations, Joseph saw a giant work of art that changed each time he looked up. “It’s a nice night,” he said.

Anne looked over at him with a warm smile on her face and replied, “It sure is.”

“Who’s that, Pa?”

Joseph looked over at Anne first, but only got a puzzled shrug in response. “Who’s…who?” he asked.

“Someone’s coming,” the girl stated. “I can hear horses.”

When he looked down at his daughter, he saw the intensity on the girl’s face as she listened carefully with her eyes shut tightly. Since he knew better than to second-guess her right away, Joseph closed his eyes and did his best to follow Laurie’s example.

“I think I hear them, too,” Anne said.

Joseph felt like he was cheating when he opened one eye to glance over at his wife. “Really?”

“I…think so.”

“There’s horses coming, Mother. I can hear them.”

“Oh, well, sorry,” Anne said, responding to the scolding tone in Laurie’s voice. “I didn’t mean to doubt you.”

“It’s all right.”

As he sat on his porch, Joseph couldn’t open his eyes all the way or even take too deep of a breath. Something in the back of his mind told him that he needed to keep listening for those horses. Laurie was known for waking up at the first chirp of a bird and hadn’t told a fib since she’d gotten a scolding for it before Sam was born.

There were plenty of cattle out there, but Laurie had grown up on a ranch and would never mistake steers for horses. Besides, if there were cattle coming, it would more than likely be a stampede and would be impossible to miss. Joseph forced those things out of his mind and focused on the slow stirring of the breeze and the occasional bark of a coyote.

Finally, he heard it.

On a cloudy night, the rumble of horses’ hooves might have been easily mistaken for distant thunder. His first suspicion was that some of the ranch hands were making their way back from town. But there were more horses out there than the number of hands he’d hired, and they wouldn’t have been in such a hurry.

Joseph couldn’t put his finger on it, but some
thing just didn’t set right with him. “You two get inside,” he said.

Anne’s eyes snapped open and she looked over at him. “Why?”

“Yeah, Pa. This is nice out here.”

“Just, both of you do as I say and get inside!”

Both Anne and Laurie looked at Joseph with similar, shocked expressions.

Joseph forced a calmer tone into his voice. “I didn’t mean to snap,” he said while smiling and getting to his feet. “It’s just getting cold and there might be coyotes out here.”

“There’s always coyotes out here,” Laurie pointed out.

“There, you see? Now go inside and get to bed.”

The girl moaned under her breath, but dropped down from the swing without much fuss. She stepped in front of Joseph, rose onto her tiptoes and grabbed hold of the front of his shirt. “Kiss me good night,” she said, pulling her father down to her own level.

Joseph gladly obliged and even gave her a second quick kiss on the cheek as Laurie was turning toward the door.

Watching her husband and daughter, Anne couldn’t help but grin at both of them. That faded a bit when she saw the grim shadow that fell over Joseph’s face after Laurie went into the house. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“Those are horses and they’re getting closer.”

“You think it’s someone from town?” Her face brightened a bit and she added, “I’ll bet it’s just some of the boys coming home after drinking.”

“When the boys go out drinking, they sneak home like they think I’m going to scold them. Those horses sure as hell aren’t sneaking.”

“Then maybe they’re just passing by,” Anne said as she moved in closer to place her hands around the back of her husband’s neck. “Why are you so worried?”

“I don’t know. Please, just get inside and wait there for me to come get you. If you hear trouble, don’t try to come out. Just take the kids, get the rifle and hide.”

Some of the color drained from her face. “Now, you’re really starting to scare me, Joseph. Do you think there could be—”

“I don’t know,” he interrupted. “That’s what bothers me.” Taking his wife by the hand, he led her to the front door and stepped inside. He grabbed one of the shotguns from the rack on the wall. He headed outside again.

Anne stopped at the threshold. “If there is…” Glancing back to the rooms where her children slept, she winced and then continued in a voice that she hoped her daughter couldn’t hear. “If there is trouble, maybe you should fetch Sheriff Stilson.”

Opening the shotgun and fitting in a few fresh shells, he said, “The sheriff’s too far away.”

“Then at least go to the bunkhouse. If it’s empty,
you’ll know it’s the boys out having some fun. If it’s not, at least get a few of them to come with you to check on those noises.”

Joseph nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

Seeing the calm returning to her husband’s face, Anne reached out to place her hand on his cheek. “Of course it’s a good idea. It sure beats running out there with a loaded gun to spook someone else who might also be carrying a gun.”

“I’ll check the bunkhouse first. Now please, just stay in here and watch over those kids.”

“I will.” Anne leaned forward to press her lips against Joseph’s. The hand that had been on his cheek slipped around to the back of his head so she could ruffle his hair while holding him close and prolonging their kiss. She opened her mouth just a bit so she could nibble on his bottom lip before easing away. “Hurry back,” she whispered. “I’ve got plans for you.”

“Me, too, darlin’.”

Joseph stepped out and started to close the door. Before shutting it all the way, he stayed just long enough to see her step to the rack and reach for the second gun on the wall. Only then did he close the door tightly and put the house behind him.

The thunder of those horses was impossible to miss. Before, it had been a subtle grind in the distance, but now it had grown into a low roar. Joseph’s hands reflexively tensed around his shotgun as he ran for the nearby stables. He pulled open one of the main doors and made a quick count of
the animals inside. Most of them were gone. After fitting the reins around his own horse’s neck, Joseph climbed onto its bare back and rode it outside.

His regular workers kept their horses in the stable, but some of the less-established ones preferred to tie them up outside the bunkhouse where they could see them. As Joseph rode up to the bunkhouse, he saw no animals there. Then he swung down and ran up to the door.

“Hey!” he shouted while knocking. “Anyone in there?”

He waited for a few more seconds before knocking again. There was no reply, so he opened the door and stepped inside.

It was empty.

According to his wife, that was a good sign. Joseph, on the other hand, wasn’t so quick to be appeased. He climbed back onto his horse and rode straight toward the sound of approaching thunder.