One Went to Denver and the Other Went Wrong (Code of the West) (19 page)

  The sun lodged between the eastern Colorado prairie and the clouds created a purple and orange sunrise as they drove southwest out of Denver. The wagon pulled in at an old stone house tucked off the road next to a cluster of leafless trees. Broken windows, several boarded over, greeted them.

  Half a dozen horses stood as sentinels in front, their breath fogging in front of them. Pardee helped Pepper to the ground.

  “You ain’t said nothin’. You ain’t tried nothin’. If I was you, I reckon I’d be mighty worried about what Dillard might do.”

  He led Pepper into the stone house. The other man stayed outside with the carriage.

  Daylight beamed through the broken windows to reveal Carter Dillard. He sat at a dust-covered table talking to several men. Jumping to his feet, he stormed toward Pepper. He grabbed her arm and yanked her close to himself.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t have Pardee shoot you on sight. Don’t you ever, ever think you can run away from me again. Now you listen, and you listen good. You and I are going back to the governor’s office, and you’ll stand at my side and smile when I sign that railroad agreement. Then we’ll walk out of there, and Junior will take you back out to McCurley’s. Have you got that clear?”

  Dillard shook her with both hands. “Do you understand?”

  “She ain’t talkin’, Dillard. She’s touched in the head.”

  “Pardee, what did you do to her?” Dillard shouted.

  “I ain’t done nothin’ . . . yet. She’s touched, I tell ya. She didn’t say one word all the way out here.”

  “Pepper,” Dillard shouted. “Don’t you give me this silent routine. Pepper!”

  Her mouth hung halfway open as she stared at a black-haired woman lying on the dirt floor in the corner of the room.

  “She’s just sleepin’,” Pardee explained. He waved his hand only a few inches from Pepper’s face. Without blinking, she continued to stare blankly. “See what I mean? Her head got busted, I tell ya.”

  Dillard released his grip on her shoulders and turned back toward the men at the table. “Junior, you take her outside. I’ll be right there.”

  Pardee led Pepper to the doorway, then stopped, and turned to listen to Dillard.

  “You understand?” Dillard was explaining. “After you bury the girl, you head out after Barranca. He’ll try to get to Cheyenne to pick up that money. You plant him under, and it will mean $250 each.”

  “That ain’t much for goin’ against a guy like Barranca.”

  “There’s four of you. He’s not that good.”

  “We’ll go after Barranca, but we ain’t buryin’ no woman. We didn’t shoot her. We ain’t goin’ to bury her.” The others nodded agreement.

  “Barranca used her for a shield. I didn’t see any other choice,” Dillard explained. “If you four hadn’t been up all night at some dance hall, you’d have been out here in time to see that he didn’t escape.”

  “When do we get paid?”

  “When the work’s done. Now get on up the trail.”

  Pardee pushed Pepper outside to allow the four men to exit. They mounted and rode north.

  “Junior, I’ll take Pepper to the governor’s office and sign the papers. You and Milt bury this girl, whoever she is. Then meet me in town at the stage depot. I’ll need to get to San Francisco and talk to Crocker and Stanford. Then you two can . . . you know, take Pepper with you.”

  “Back to McCurley’s?”

  “Preferably not.”

  She didn’t protest.

  She didn’t acknowledge their presence.

  She didn’t blink.

  The cloud cover kept the morning bitter cold, but Pepper didn’t bother pulling a blanket over her lap or even tugging the hood of her coat over her head.

  Lord, he was my hope.

  My only chance to be different.

  It’s not fair. I’ve spent my life around men who treated me mean. I just wanted one to love me. Only me. I wanted his thoughts to be on me when he gets up in the morning and on me when he comes to bed at night.

  I wanted him to work hard to build our life together, dream about the future, and be able to forgive me for the past. I wanted to count on him like a rock . . . like a rock, Lord.

  Dillard spoke to her, but it was like a man outside a building shouting in. She didn’t hear.

  She started to cry.

  But with no tears.

  I don’t know what to do, Lord. I really don’t. I have nowhere to go. That girl in the stone house was lucky. Nobody can betray her now. No one can treat her mean. Dillard will kill me too. Or he’ll have Pardee do it. After they’re through with me. I just don’t care.

  I don’t want to try again, Lord. I don’t have the strength. I give up. Heaven’s got to be better than this.

  And Hell can’t be much worse.

  She had no idea what time of the morning it was when they pulled up to the governor’s office—maybe a couple of hours after daylight. Dillard had been threatening her about something.

  What a jerk. If you’re goin’ to kill someone anyway, what good is a threat? Maybe I should just whip out a gun in the governor’s office and shoot Dillard.

  Pardee had returned her bag, but she could tell it was too light to contain her revolver.

  Was Tap my special one? It don’t matter. It’s over between us. For good. Forever. I couldn’t trust him. I can’t trust any man.

  Dillard led her into an anteroom outside the governor’s office. He whispered something, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying. They stood there for what seemed like a long time. Dillard made her pace the floor with him. Finally he stopped and rapped at the tall oak door.

  The governor appeared.

  “Sorry to keep you out so long, Carter. Oh, Mrs. Dillard, so glad to see you. I was afraid you might have gotten lost on our dark Denver streets. I assure you that will change soon. Yes, ma’am, the day is going to come when it’s safe for a woman to walk in the dark on any street in Denver.

  “I’m finally finishing up this hanging matter. We’ve caught the real culprit, and now I can pardon Eagleman.”

  “You what?” Dillard gasped. “You caught the real killer?”

  “We haven’t apprehended him yet, but we just received some convincing evidence. I’ve dispatched the sheriff to double the effort to capture him. It points to a despicable character, a hired gun by the name of Victor Barranca out of New Mexico. Or is it Mexico? Anyway, it’s not Eagleman. I, for one, am delighted to get him out of jail. Yes, I believe it was Barranca and some others perhaps. But enough of that. Mr. Whitney has the preliminary railroad contract papers spread across my desk. Shall we proceed to sign them?”

  Dillard gripped Pepper’s arm and strode into the office. She heard the governor say, “There are some folks here I’d like you to meet.”

  Tap tied Brownie off behind the wagon and crawled up next to Rena and Stack. Although they were only a couple of blocks away from the governor’s office, he rested his hand on the walnut grip of his Colt .44.

  “Keep an eye out on that side of the street, Stack.”

  “That fella Barranca surely has a mess of friends.”

  Rena clutched the top of her coat closed with her gloved right hand. “Not really. They’d happily shoot Barranca if someone offered enough money.”

  Stack parked the wagon in front of a half-built construction project diagonally across from the governor’s office. The project looked like it had been abandoned until spring.

  “Think I’ll just keep an eye on things from here,” he offered.

  “You’ll freeze,” Tap warned. “You’re welcome to come in with us.”

  “Not me. Talkin’ to politicians and such ain’t my style.”

  The governor was shuffling papers on his desk and talking to a heavy-set man wearing a dark suit and badge when Mr. Whitney led them in.

  “Oh,” Tap stammered, “look, if you’re busy, sir, we can wait until—”

  “No, Mr. Andrews, we were waiting for you. This is Sheriff Branger.”

  Tap tipped his hat.

  The sheriff nodded. “Andrews? I think I heard of an Andrews down in New Mexico. Or was it Arizona?”

  “This Mr. Andrews is a rancher from up in the Medicine Bows.” He turned to Tap. “I’m afraid we haven’t been able to apprehend this Barranca fellow yet. Did you find anything that will help us?”

  “Yes, sir, I think we did.” He pulled the small engraved handgun out of his pocket and laid it on the governor’s desk.

  The sheriff picked up the gun and studied the engraving. “This looks like Billingsly’s.” He handed it to the governor. “It was the one Stanford gave him. Where did you get this?”

  “In Barranca’s valise.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “Only this.” Tap handed the wrinkled telegram to the -governor.

  “One thousand dollars in Cheyenne? I don’t understand.”

  Tap pointed to the date. “The day after Billingsly was killed, someone put a one thousand dollar line of credit in a Cheyenne bank in Barranca’s name.”

  “Looks like someone hired him.” The sheriff held the telegram at arm’s length so he could read it.

  “Victor Barranca’s not the type to shoot someone for a wallet and a pocket watch.”

  “The two of you will need to sign a statement certifying that you found these items among Mr. Barranca’s personal effects.”

  “Yes, we will," Rena replied.

  The governor slammed a fist on the oak desk. “We’ve got him now. This is quite incriminating.”

  “Barranca is worried. He’s sent more than one man to kill me in the past few hours.”

  “What?” the governor gasped.

  “You’ve got a body over in the west side livery, Sheriff. Two men tried to jump me there. And another tried in front of the Rio Grande.”

  “My word.” The governor shook his head.

  “Are you sure Barranca’s behind all that?” the sheriff asked.

  “Yep. The word in the saloons is that Barranca will give any man one hundred dollars for killin’ me.”

  “We have to apprehend this Barranca with utmost dispatch. Sheriff, will you take over this search immediately?”

  “If he’s in this county, we’ll have him by nightfall. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He pulled his dark felt derby back on.

  “Tell your men to be careful. Barranca will draw against you. And he’s good,” Tap cautioned. “He wears that .45 on his left side and has a cross-body draw.”

  The sheriff looked Tap up and down. “You know a lot about shootin’ for a cattleman.”

  “I went up against him in the Pearly Gate last night. It’s fresh on my mind.”

  The sheriff exited through nine-foot doors on the window side of the office.

  Tap turned back to the governor. “What about Wade Eagleman? Can he be released yet?”

  “Mr. Whitney?”

  “Technically he can only be released by a pardon from you, Governor.”

  “By all means, get the papers. Let’s get this matter settled.”

  “It’s not that easy, Governor. With a pardon, it means Eagleman remains convicted of the crime. A pardon doesn’t change that conviction. Therefore, we can’t try the man Barranca for a crime that has already produced a conviction.”

  “Hang the formalities,” the governor huffed. “I’m giving him a pardon. Let the attorneys figure out how to try this Barranca fellow. Maybe we’ll get him to confess. Then we don’t need a trial. My word, Whitney, this is Colorado, not New York.”

  “Yes, sir—”

  “And the statements for them to sign.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  When all the paperwork was completed, the governor turned and shook Tap’s hand.

  “Mr. Andrews, the state of Colorado certainly owes you a great thanks for keeping us from hanging an innocent man.”

  “Wade’s a friend of mine. It’s the kind of things friends do for each other.” Tap shrugged.

  “Your loyalty is admirable.”

  “Why, Governor, you sound like it’s an election year,” Rena softly chided.

  “Mrs. Andrews, politicians are always running for office. It’s in our blood, I suppose.”

  Tap winked at Rena. “Actually, sir, Miss Rena is not—”

  A heavy rap at the door interrupted them.

  “Oh .
 . . I forgot. I have an important appointment. Go ahead and process those papers, Whitney. I’ll get the door.”

  Tap couldn’t tell who was in the hall, but it sounded as if the governor was greeting old friends. The governor popped back into his office. Nodding at Tap, he beamed. “I’ve got some folks here I’d like for you to meet.”

  The couple advanced through the doorway.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Dillard,” the governor announced, “this is Mr. and Mrs. Andrews.”

9

P
epper?”

“Tap!”

“Oh, splendid,” The governor smiled. “I see you all know each other. Carter, let’s step to the desk and finalize the railroad matters.” He pulled Dillard into the office.