Slocum and the Glitter Girls at Gravel Gulch (9781101619513) (11 page)

“Hmm,” Slocum murmured.

“What can it mean?” Laurie asked.

“I’d be curious to know if that wagon is still parked behind the hotel. I’ll add that to my list of things to do tonight.”

Both Harvey and Laurie looked hard at Slocum. His face was a mask, divulging not a trace of his thoughts.

“What are you going to do tonight?” Laurie asked.

“I want Canby,” he said. “But from what I’ve seen, he’s like the heart of an artichoke.”

“What do you mean, John?” Laurie asked.

“You have to peel away all the leaves to get to the heart. Canby is surrounded by gunmen.”

“So? What do you plan to do, John?” Harvey asked.

“Peel away those leaves, Harvey,” Slocum said. “One by one until only Canby is left.”

“You mean kill all his men?” Harvey said.

“If necessary,” Slocum said.

Laurie shuddered as if from a sudden chill.

“You mean,” she said, “in cold blood?”

“I’m not going to backshoot any of them if that’s what you’re driving at,” he said.

“From what I saw in Abilene, sis, Slocum meets his enemies face to face. He’s not a backshooter.”

“I didn’t mean that,” she said. “I just wondered if you were going to shoot his men down, one by one.”

“We’ll see,” Slocum said.

“How?” she asked.

“They’ll have a choice,” Slocum said.

“What kind of choice?” Laurie said, visibly upset at the thought of Slocum as a gunman who would shoot and kill men, for whatever reasons.

“Whether they want to live or die,” Slocum said, and he looked at the sky. There were no more puffs of smoke, only a blue expanse devoid of clouds.

Then he looked at Laurie and smiled.

She shuddered again and looked away.

Harvey stood there as if struck dumb. He remembered Slocum in Abilene. Calm, cool, deliberate in the face of death.

He hadn’t backed down then, and Harvey was sure Slocum was more than a match for Canby’s men.

But he was badly outnumbered.

There was no telling how many men Canby had under his command. Slocum was facing a tough and ruthless enemy. And there was not a man who worked for Canby who would hesitate to shoot Slocum in the back.

Slocum might not even see the man who raised a gun against him.

“Is Canby that important, John?” Harvey asked. “Shouldn’t you let the law take care of him? Why risk your own life?”

“There seems to be no law here,” Slocum said. “Canby’s already shown his true colors by framing an innocent man and hanging him. And he was about to hang another innocent man, Wallace Hornaday.”

“But you’re not the law, John,” Laurie said.

“Where there is no law,” Slocum said, “it’s sometimes up to the law-abiding to take the law into their own hands.”

“Nobody’s stood up to Canby here in Deadfall,” Harvey said. “Even I would hesitate to buck him.”

“Not every law-abiding citizen can combat evil,” Slocum said.

“But you appoint yourself as judge, jury, and executioner,” Laurie said, plainly upset.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Slocum said.

“What would you say, then?” Harvey asked.

“When I see a town like Deadfall, with no law and a tyrant running things, it angers me,” Slocum said.

“That’s still no excuse to start killing,” Laurie said.

“Some people are rabbits,” Slocum said. “When there’s danger, they freeze or hide.”

“And you, what are you, John?”

“Maybe a wolf,” he said with a slow curl of his lips into a half smile.

“Well, Canby’s a wolf, too, then,” Laurie said. “And you would descend to his level.”

“There are good wolves and bad wolves,” Slocum said, the smile widening.

“Oh, you men,” Laurie said. “You just do what you want to do and to hell with everyone else.”

“I said I’d give Canby’s men a chance,” Slocum said. “And if it’s possible, I want to capture Canby alive and take him back to Dodge to face justice.”

“All very noble and admirable,” Laurie said, still upset. “And you might get yourself killed.”

“And if I don’t face off with these men,” Slocum said, “more innocent men might die here.”

Laurie clamped her mouth shut to keep from protesting further.

Harvey looked at Slocum with fresh eyes.

“He makes a point, sis. I wish I could stand up to Canby for what he did to Harlan and what he was about to do to Wallace.”

He looked apologetically at Slocum.

Laurie drew in a deep breath and brushed her hair away from her face with the back of her hand.

“I—I don’t know what to say,” she said.

Slocum gave her a moment to compose herself.

“Sometimes,” he said, “you can’t sweep a problem under the rug. As long as Deadfall tolerates such a man as Canby, he’ll take more and more from them. The best way to solve a problem is to face it head on. Win or lose.”

“You might lose, John,” she said. “I would hate to see that.”

“She’s right, John,” Harvey said. “You’re taking on a dangerous task to go up against any one of the men who work for Canby. And there’s several of them.”

“We’ll just have to see how it all works out,” Slocum said.

“You sound sure of yourself,” Harvey said.

“But he doesn’t know how dangerous Canby is,” she said.

“Time will tell,” Slocum said and turned to walk away.

Laurie ran after him. She grabbed him by the sleeve and tugged at his arm.

“Will you promise me one thing, John?” she said.

“If I can,” he said.

“Stay with me tonight.”

“I’m going hunting tonight,” he said.

“So long,” Harvey called. “Take care, John.”

Laurie and Slocum turned and waved good-bye to Harvey.

He waved back.

“After you’re through hunting,” she said as they continued to walk along the creek, “just promise me you’ll come back to my cabin. I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

“It would be a pleasure,” he said. She leaned close to him and he smelled the perfume in her hair.

“If I come back,” he said.

She squeezed his arm and her touch felt good to him.

He didn’t know how far he would get with his mission that night, but he was going to try and confront as many of Canby’s men as he could.

And he wanted to check on the two women, Bonnie and Renata. If his hunch was right, they were already in Canby’s clutches.

That was one more item on Slocum’s list.

Orson Canby sat in a large chair in the center of his hotel suite.

To Johnny Crowell, who was shaking in his boots, he looked like a bloated bullfrog on a lily pad.

Hack and Boze flanked Steve Beck on the large plush couch made of Moroccan leather. Johnny had heard it all from Beck, as had Canby, and now he knew the whole story of the jailbreak.

Beck was on the hot seat, Johnny knew. Canby’s criticism of the jailer was scathing.

“You little twerp,” Canby said to Beck. “You are paid to guard prisoners. You let yourself be bushwhacked by this Slocum bastard. Can you give me one good reason why you shouldn’t be thrashed for your dereliction?”

“Boss, that Slocum feller caught me by surprise. He was on me before I could do anything. He grabbed my scattergun and I thought he was goin’ to shoot me dead.”

“Beck, you make me want to puke,” Canby said.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Canby said in a loud tone of voice.

Two men entered the living quarters.

Both seemed out of breath.

Roddie Nehring and Earl Cassaway clumped across the rug. Canby waved them to single chairs near the divan.

“He ain’t left town,” Earl said.

“Leastways, his horse is still in a stall at the livery,” Roddie said as both men sat down.

“This is a fine kettle of fish,” Canby said as he looked at his four henchmen.

“He just don’t seem to be nowhere,” Hack ventured.

“Shut up, Hack,” Canby said.

Orson rubbed four fingers and his thumb, bringing them together on his forehead as if he were summoning thought and, perhaps, wisdom.

“Sorry,” Hack said, then clamped his mouth shut.

“Well, he’s somewhere,” Canby said. “And you’re all out of ideas. And he’s got that bastard Hornaday with him. Hornaday’s due to be hanged, and by God, he’s going to hang. Slocum, too, if we can find him. Jailbreaking is a crime no matter where it happens. That right, Beck?”

Beck appeared flustered.

“If you say so, Orson,” Beck said.

“Well, here’s what you’re going to do, boys, and you pass the word along to Rodrigo and Salazar. You cover both ends of Main Street this afternoon. One man at each corner. Got that?”

The four gunmen nodded.

“Hack, you get Rodrigo on one corner. I want you to find a dark corner in the Wild Horse and sit there until it closes. Don’t get drunk. Just sit there like you was a stump.”

“Got it, Orson,” Hack said.

“Bose, you put Salazar on a corner opposite Rodrigo
and you prowl Main Street. Check Mrs. Hobbs’s boardinghouse every so often, and the hotel here. Slocum’s got to light somewhere.”

Boze squirmed on the divan.

“Orson. Maybe Slocum took Hornaday out of town on foot.”

“His saddlebags and rifles ain’t in the livery,” Earl said. “His saddle and bridle are there.”

“I’m damned tired of hearing where Slocum and Hornaday ain’t,” Orson said. “Find them.”

“You want ’em alive, or do we shoot them?” Hack asked.

“Shoot ’em if you have to, but if you can wrestle ’em down and hog-tie ’em, I’d like to see their necks stretched on the gallows,” Orson said.

The four gunmen left the room, leaving only Steve Beck and Johnny Crowell still there.

“Johnny,” Orson said, “go on back to your job at the livery.”

“Sure, boss,” Johnny said and walked quickly out the door.

“Steve, I got a little job for you,” Orson said.

“Yes, sir.”

“I want you to find Ruben Machado for me. You know where he lives?”

“Sure do, Orson,” Beck said.

“Tell him to hightail it over here quick as possible. You got that?”

Beck rose from his seat and donned his hat.

“I’ll get him here, Orson.”

“Then you better buy another lock for that jail. With your own money.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll do that, too.”

“Get a good one this time,” Orson said.

Beck left the hotel room and Orson rose from his chair and walked to the window. He paced back and forth, glancing at the face of a butte some distance away.

Less than a half hour later, there was a knock at his door.

“Come in,” he said, and turned to walk back to his chair.

He stood behind the big chair as the door opened and Ruben Machado walked in, his stubble-flocked face shadowed by the brim of his dark hat.

Orson sat down.

“Come on in, Ruben,” he said.

Ruben took off his hat and walked over to where Orson sat.

“You ready, Ruben?” Orson said.

“I am ready,” Ruben said, half bowing to emphasize his obedience to Canby.

“Tomorrow, you and Paco haul that wagon out to Sunrise Mesa. You know where it is?”

“I do,” Ruben said.

“When you deliver the guns, you tell Chief Blue Wolf to wait for my order.”

“Your order?” Ruben said.

“He will know what I mean, Ruben. You just tell him that.”

“What do we do after we deliver the guns to Blue Wolf?” Ruben asked.

“You and Paco come back here, drive the wagon to the middle of Gravel Gulch, and leave it there. Then, you boys put up the draft horses, saddle up, and hightail it for Tucson.”

“Yes,” Ruben said.

“I will meet you there in a few days with more money. Got that?”

“Yes, Paco and I will do what you say, Orson,” Ruben said.

“On your way out, stop by Mr. Jennings’s office and tell him I want to see him right away.”

“Tomorrow, we go,” Ruben said.

“Perfect, Ruben.
Vaya con Dios
.”

Ruben bowed, put his hat back on, and hurried from the room.

Orson listened for his footsteps out in the hall. Matt Jennings was his accountant and had an office on the mezzanine of the hotel.

Orson waited for him, a fresh cigar in his mouth. He reached for a match on a nearby end table and picked up the box.

By the time he’d trimmed the end of the cigar and lit it, Jennings came through the door.

Jennings never knocked when Orson sent for him. He carried a ledger in one hand and a pencil and tablet in the other.

“Sit down, Matt,” Orson said. “At the table there.”

“You’re in a bright mood, Orson,” Jennings said.

“I got my reasons,” Orson said.

Jennings sat down at the round table inset with various wood designs. He set down the ledger and opened the tablet. He positioned the pencil over the tablet and seemed prepared to write.

“I see you brought the books, Matt,” Orson said.

“Yes. In case you wanted to go over the figures.”

Jennings did not smile. He was all business.

“And how are we doing?” Orson asked.

“Very well, Orson,” Jennings said. “And if you take over that mine once owned by Devlin and Hornaday, I expect you’ll do even better. The assay was quite favorable.”

“I know,” Orson said. “Richest mine so far. But soon, we’ll have all the mines here in Deadfall.”

Orson puffed on his cigar, and let the smoke leak out of the sides of his mouth.

“Oh?” Jennings said. “How will that come to be, and why all the mines?”

“By week’s end, you and I will be on our way to Tucson. A band of Apaches will raze this damned town to ashes and kill everyone in it.”

“That seems rather drastic,” Jennings said. “Wholesale murder, in fact.”

“Can’t be helped. I knew this day would come and now it’s here.”

“What day is that, Orson?” Jennings asked.

“The day my past catches up with me. A man came into town this morning with some horses I bought from him. He broke Hornaday out of jail this morning. That got me to thinking.”

“Got you to thinking, Orson? About what?”

“About Dodge City,” Orson said.

Jennings’s face turned pale as it drained of blood.

He seemed to choke to get the words out.

“I—I thought that was behind us, Orson. For good.”