Stay Away From That City . . . They Call It Cheyenne (Code of the West) (4 page)

“In her prime? Don’t you ever let Savannah know she’s not in her prime.”

“You think she wouldn’t handle that too well?”

“I think,” Pepper flashed, “that I would wind up a widow too.”

The window had been completely replaced by the time Tap got back to the jail. Baltimore sat at the marshal’s desk feasting on a plate of chops and cabbage. His ten-year-old daughter sat across the room holding a large empty basket in her lap, watching him eat.

“I had Angelita bring my dinner.”

Tap tipped his hat at the scrubbed-clean young girl in the faded green dress. “You look quite pretty today, Miss Angelita.”

“And you look very handsome, Mr. Andrews.” She grinned and then looked down at her worn black lace-up shoes.

Tap glanced back at Baltimore’s wide smile. “How about the prisoner? Did you feed him?”

“I tried to, but I don’t think he ate much. I figure maybe he’s too tuckered out to eat.”

“Tuckered out?”

“Yep. He spent nearly an hour cursin’ the day of your birth.”

“Then Hager’s awake?”

“Says he has a terrible headache and doesn’t remember an
ything about the shootin’. Wants to know if it’s legal to hang a man who doesn’t recall what he did.”

“How did he remember we wanted to hang him?”

“I never thought of that.”

“I’m takin’ Hager with me for a few days until things cool off. You, Carbine, and Merced will have to look after things until I get back.”

“So you’re not takin’ him to Ft. Russell?”

“Nope.” Tap glanced over at Angelita. “I was thinkin’ about buryin’ him in a prairie dog hole.” He winked at her.

“Obviously, Mr. Andrews does not want me to hear where he’s taking the man who viciously murdered Pappy,” she pouted. “In that case I’ll just go home and come back for the dishes later, no matter how much burden and extra work that brings into my already toilsome life.”

“You’re not mad at me, are you? I’d be miserable for three days if you were,” Tap teased.

Her dark brown eyes sparkled. She brushed her black hair over her shoulder. “So you’re goin’ to be gone three days? In that length of time you could take him to Denver or Rawlins or Ft. Laramie, or even Salt Lake City if you rode the train.”

Tap waved his hands at her. “Out of here. Go on .
 . . shoo. We’ve got marshalin’ to do.”

“You have got to stop bullying young ladies,” she lectured.

“And you, young lady, have got to stop selling worthless mining stock to every greenhorn who gets off the train.”

“How did I know the stocks were worthless? I’ve never been to the Black Hills. Besides, I’m a child.”

“Only in size.”

“Very well, I’ll go. .
 . . Poor Mrs. Andrews. I really don’t know how she puts up with the likes of you day after day.”

“Angelita,” Baltimore scolded. “You shouldn’t talk about Tap like that.”

“Oh, Papa, Mr. Andrews knows I’m teasing him. We understand each other. He and I are very much alike, you know.” She bounded out the door and down the steps.

“She is a very—eh, ambitious girl,” Baltimore apologized. “I think she will probably own a gold mine before she’s twenty-five.”

Tap smiled. “I figure she’ll own one before she’s sixteen. I’m carting Hager back to the loading docks. I’m goin’ to slip him out of town in a freight wagon. No reason to let the drovers or the bummers know which way I’m taking him.”

“You need me to ride guard with you up to Swan’s stoc
kade?”

“How did you know?”

Baltimore dropped his fork and scratched behind his ear. “Dad gum it, Parker down at the telegraph office mentioned that the mayor had some hush business with Swan over at the Cheyenne Club. I guess I figured it out. But I didn’t tell nobody. Shoot, I didn’t even tell Angelita.”

If Baltimore figured it out, everyone in town knows.

Simp Merced pushed his way into the office and looked startled to see Tap. “It’s spreadin’ around town that you’re hidin' the prisoner in a freight wagon. There’s talk of a lynchin’ down across the tracks. They don’t aim to let you get him to Swan’s.”

“Now, how do you suppose they know what I’m doin’?”

“Strappler down at DelGatto’s said it was all over town.”

“Why don’t I just parade Hager up and down the streets like bait? Sooner or later someone will shoot him,” Tap fumed.

“Or you,” Baltimore added. “There’s drovers in this town that think Hager was juiced up and suckered into a gunfight.”

“This town is crammed with drovers on the prod,” Merced put in. “The bummers are just tryin’ to keep from gettin’ shot.”

Baltimore Gomez shrugged and turned to Tap. “What are you goin’ to do now?”

Tap paced the office. He pulled a .44 bullet from his belt and twisted it in his fingers as he pried through the small window in the door that led to the cells. Then he spun on his heels and faced the other two deputies.

“Simp, you go back to the row and keep watch over the bummers. If you can stall them a while, it will give me some time.”

“I ain’t goin’ to try to back down a whole legion of them,” Merced insisted. “I don’t intend to put my life on the line for the likes of Jerome Hager.”

“No, I don’t want you to do anything that would jeopardize your safety,” Tap sneered. “After all, lawmen shouldn’t have to risk gettin’ shot, should they?”

Simp moved his right hand on the pearl handle of his r
evolver and looked intently at Tap. Finally he turned and left the office.

“I thought maybe he was goin’ to draw on you.”

“Simp wouldn’t draw on anyone face to face. But I probably shouldn’t have pressed him like that. I’m not sure gunmen always make good lawmen.” Tap took a deep breath. “Baltimore, I need you to work twenty-four hours straight. Can you do that?”

“Long as I get my meals.” He grinned. “What are you goin’ to do?”

“This time I tell no one. Stack Lowery is supposed to bring around a freight wagon to the loading dock behind the courthouse in about half an hour. Keep an eye out for him. Tell him we’re goin’ ahead with the plan.”

“What plan?”

“I haven’t quite decided yet.”

Tap burst out the door and strode down the street. On 16th he stopped to rent Chang Lee’s white sideboard deli
very van. Then he swung by the house. Pepper, dressed in a long brown dress and matching hat, her cape across her shoulders and a satchel in her hand, was just leaving the house.

“You movin’ out?” he teased.

“Tap, what are you doin’ still in town? Savannah asked me to stay at her place while you’re gone. So I gathered up a few things. Is that all right?”

“I was about to suggest the very same thing.”

“You were?”

“This thing of protectin’ a prisoner is snowballin’, darlin’. I’ve changed plans about where to take Hager.”

“Where will you keep him?”

“Here at our house.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep. Don’t tell anyone—especially Savannah.”

“How could I? I don’t know what’s going on. But don’t worry. I’m good at keepin’ secrets. Did you know I once convinced this driftin’ Arizona gunslinger that I was a proper lady from back east?”

“You mean some dumb guy actually fell for that?”

“Like a rock in a cistern.” She winked. “Shall I stay there until you tell me it’s safe to come home?”

“Yep.”

“Do you know what you’re doing?”

“Nope.”

“At least I’m glad you’re not going out of town.”

“I didn’t say that.”

Pepper's eyes held an empty gaze. “I’m totally confused.”

“Good. I’ll check with you tomorrow.” He gave her a squeeze and returned to the laundry van.

“I’m not even goin’ to ask what you’re doing with Chang Lee’s wagon.”

He tipped his hat at her and drove off toward the jail. The few scattered clouds of early morning had drifted west, and the breeze was slightly cool. The air tasted like springtime. Tap thought of green grass on hillsides, creeks running high with snowmelt, and calves playing under the watchful eyes of their mothers.

Lord, Pepper’s right. There’s got to be a ranch for us out there somewhere. Someplace where life is slower . . . and safer than in Cheyenne.

He pulled the laundry wagon up right in front of the cour
thouse. Hiking back to the jail, he packed two empty six-foot-long canvas laundry bags under his arm. His eyes surveyed each person on the sidewalk, wondering which were Hager’s friends and which were his enemies.

Baltimore stood looking out the newly replaced window as Tap came up the stairs.

“You goin’ into business with the Chinese?” he prodded.

“Only for an hour. Help me get Hager into this laundry bag.”

“Are you plum crazy?”

“Probably. But I’m goin’ to do it anyway.”

Jerome Hager was still chained to the bars of his cell. “You’ve got to take these irons off my hands. It ain’t comfortable,” he protested.

“I’m not going to take those off you, but I aim to give you a di
fferent view.”

“You can’t hang me until I see a judge. You promised I’d be safe and get me a trial. I got your warranty on that.”

Tap unlocked the irons and refastened them behind Hager’s back. “Jerome, I’m workin’ awful hard to keep you alive. But if you want to survive the night, you’ll just have to crawl into the laundry sack and keep real quiet. I’ve got to sneak you out of town.”

“I ain’t goin’ to crawl into no sack.”

“Then I reckon I’ll just have to coldcock you again. Hope you don’t take it personal.” Tap raised his Colt .44 above Hager’s head.

“Wait. Wait a minute. I don’t need another blue lump on my skull. I’m still throbbin’ from last time. Are you sure you know what you’re doin’?” He scrunched down as Baltimore pulled the canvas bag over him.

“Don’t worry. I do know what I’m doin’. ’Course, I don’t know if it will work.”

“Andrews! You .
 . .”

“Now, Jerome, don’t you go and blaspheme. I need you to keep real still. If we can make folks believe you’re a bundle of laundry, you might live to see another day.

“Baltimore, in about ten minutes Stack will pull up behind the courthouse. I’m going to load that other sack into his rig and ride shotgun north. As far as anyone is concerned, Hager is on that freight wagon.

“Those who are interested will sneak along watching us leave town. About fifteen minutes after we leave, no one will be watching the jail anymore. I want you to tote Hager out in the sack and toss him into the laundry van. Then drive over to my house. Park the rig in the alley. Take Hager to the back room and lock him to the brass bed. Chang Lee will pick the van up in an hour or so.”

“We’re goin’ to keep him in your house?”

“Yep. Nobody’s goin’ to look for him there. Guard him just like he was in jail. Pepper’s gone, so you’ll have the place to yourself. Help yourself to some grub and see that Jerome gets fed. I need you to guard him until I show up to relieve you. It might be the middle of the night or mornin’ before I get back. If nobody follows me out of town, I’ll circle back.”

“Well, I’ll be. You’re goin’ to bait them into followin’ you.”

“I surely hope to find out exactly who’s tryin’ to bust Hager out and maybe who’s trying to hang him. Maybe I can get to the core of this feud.”

Baltimore rubbed the stubble of his week-old beard. “Andrews, I never knowed anyone who liked being shot at more than you.”

When Stack rolled up behind the Laramie County Cour
thouse, Tap waited with a six-foot laundry bag full of jail blankets and bricks. He struggled and hoisted it onto the top of the freight wagon.

“How did you get him in there?” Stack asked as he slapped the r
eins of the six-up team of mules and pulled back into the street. “Hager looks as lifeless as a sack of rocks.”

Tap grinned. “Actually, there’s just jail blankets and bricks in there. I’m hopin’ the boys that come after us don’t figure that out too soon.”

Stack whistled. “So you’re not takin’ Hager to Swan’s stockade?”

“Nope. But everybody in town thinks I am.”

“So we ride out there and take the potshots?”

“Sort of.”

“Where’s Hager? Back at the jail?”

“Nope. I moved him to safe quarters.”

“In Cheyenne?”

“Trust me.”

“Tap, are you sure that
hombre malo
is worth all this trouble?”

“That’s what everyone keeps askin’.”

They rumbled several blocks to the sounds of mules’ hooves and squeaking axles. Tap cradled his rifle across his knees and surveyed the street.

“What’s the plan, Mr. Arizona gunslinger? You reckon they’re fo
llowin’ us already?”

“Maybe.” Tap pulled off his hat and scratched his head. His hair felt oily, dirty. “But they won’t try anything until we’re out of the city.”