Brother's Keeper (16 page)

“When are you going to quit blaming me about him getting loose? I thought we were supposed to share in everything? That means it’s half your fault he got the drop on us,” Carl complained, a little too loudly. Before Murry was able to respond, the man at the bar, who was obviously disturbed by the loud outburst, turned around and glared at Carl.
“Why don’t you shut yer yap and let a man drink in peace!”
Carl and Murry looked at each other trying to decipher from each other’s look as to what to say. The man sat his glass down and poured himself another drink without taking his glare off both of them. He put the bottle down next to the glass. Carl and Murry were both standing now and shuffling back and forth. They hardly noticed that Jess had slowly risen and walked up to the bar about ten feet from the man at the bar. The man had noticed it but seemed too focused on Carl and Murry to be distracted. Carl and Murry had both noticed it, however, and they looked over at Jess with confusion on their faces. The man, Curley Simms, noticed them looking at Jess. It was then that Curley Simms recognized the two men.
“Hey, I remember you two eye-ballers,” said Simms, “I thought I left you two for the buzzards to pick your bones.”
Carl looked at Jess again and Jess simply smiled back as if to say—what are you bounty hunters going to do now? Carl looked at Murry and Murry looked at Jess and saw the same grin and then Carl and Murry looked at each other seemingly trying to figure out what the other one was thinking. They both looked at Curley who had downed his whiskey and refilled his glass again. He took off his hat and slowly set it down on the bar as if that was a sign that he was about to get serious. Then Carl said what Jess thought was about the dumbest thing he had ever heard. When Carl said it, Jess shook his head slowly.
“Curley Simms, we are taking you into custody…again. Give us your gun so we can tie you up and then we are taking you in for the reward money and we ain’t letting you rob us again either.” Carl tried to say it with all the conviction he could muster but he would not have even convinced the most cowardly man in the saloon. Curley paused for a moment and then he burst out laughing. Murry shot Carl a glare that would have stopped a train. Carl glared back at him.
“Well…you weren’t saying nothing!” Carl defended.
“I sure would have come up with something better than give us your gun so we can tie you up! Where in the hell did that come from?” Murry looked back at Jess and then he looked at Curley Simms who had now finished laughing and was now glaring at Carl.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Simms. “Why don’t you boys just come on over here and see if you can tie me up again?” Carl looked at Jess again.
“Why do you keep looking over at him?” asked Simms. “Ain’t anybody in this bar going to mess with Curley Simms. Besides, it would take a man to try me on, not some kid. Besides, I owe you one. I got rope burns on my wrists from you tying me up. Lucky for me I always keeps me a knife in my boot. I can’t believe you was dumb enough not to look for it,” Curley said as he looked at his right wrist. “I don’t think its bad enough to slow me down any on the draw though. Why don’t we find out for sure? Why don’t you see if you can outdraw Curley Simms? Then, after that, I can try on your partner there; if he’s a mind to,” said Curley in a sneering voice.
Jess figured this little confrontation had gone on long enough to hopefully teach Carl and Murry a lesson— maybe. It was one thing to talk about taking down a man in a gunfight but it was quite a different thing to actually experience it. “That won’t be necessary, Curley. My two partners have asked that you give up your gun and I think you should listen to them,” said Jess as he stood away from the bar and looked straight down at Curley. “What did you say the bounty on Mr. Simms was, Murry?” asked Jess, not taking his eyes off Curley who seemed to be agitated by this interruption.
“The bounty was supposed to be five hundred dollars for cattle rustling and horse thievery. We tried to collect it from the sheriff in town here, but he wouldn’t even take Mr. Simms into custody,” Murry said.
“I understand. I met the sheriff earlier. I don’t think he will be of much help in this matter.”
“Well, we could still take him to Abilene like we were trying to do before.”
“Yeah, but I bet he won’t get the drop on you again,” replied Jess with a hint in his voice that he knew something that Murry and Carl didn’t. Curley had been listening to this conversation between this young man and Murry and he was getting more agitated by the moment.
“Ain’t nobody taking me anywhere for anything! You two tenderfoots couldn’t keep me before and this young pup ain’t gonna help you none. I’m Curly Simms and I’m meaner than all three of you put together.” Curley was now paying more attention to Jess than Carl or Murry. Jess kept his stare straight at Curley.
“Murry, did the poster say dead or alive?” asked Jess.
“I think so. Let me look. I kept the poster in my back pocket.” Murry took out the piece of paper and unfolded it. He read it aloud. “Yep, it says right here: Wanted, dead or alive, Curley Simms, cattle-rustler and horse thief, Five hundred dollars. Jess smiled.
“Mr. Simms, I usually don’t shoot horse thieves or cattle rustlers so I will ask you to give up your gun willingly and allow my two partners to take you into custody to be taken to Abilene for the bounty on your head. I will warn you though, I won’t ask you twice.”
Curley’s anger heightened instantly. “You think you and that fancy lookin’ pistol is enough to take on Curley Simms? I’ll send you hoppin’ over hot coals in hell if’n you try me!”
“I’m going to give you about ten seconds to drop that gun belt,” replied Jess. Murry and Carl were really sweating now and neither one of them knew what they should do. They just stood there, Carl looking back and forth between Curley and Jess. Murry still held the piece of paper in his hand. Jess scanned the room again and saw no other threat except for Curley.
“You’re down to five seconds,” said Jess, in a voice that was calm and nonchalant and yet firm.
“I’m gonna’ fill you so full o’ holes you won’t float in brine,” Curley replied, with a snicker on his lips. “Then, I’m gonna take care of your two partners.”
“Times up,” Jess said.
Curley went for his gun. Curley Simms was indeed pretty fast with a pistol. He actually got to pull his pistol halfway out of its holster. He was thinking how good he was going to feel when he stood over the dead body of this young man who had the nerve to challenge him. What he felt though, was a burning sensation in his chest as Jess’ bullet hit its mark. The force made Curley stagger back and lean against the bar, his gun in his hand, which was now down at his side, but not yet cocked. Curley placed his left hand over the oozing wound in his chest trying to stop the flow of blood. He looked at his chest as if he couldn’t believe what had happened. His look changed from one of surprise to one of contempt as he glared at Jess.
“You son of a…” He never got to finish his words. He cocked his pistol and began to raise it but he never got it high enough to shoot anything but the floor. Jess fanned two more shots into Curley and Curley hit the floor with a loud thud. No one in the saloon moved, not even Murry or Carl. They both kept looking at Curley’s body and the growing pool of crimson red blood on the floor. After a moment or two Murry looked over at Jess.
“I…I don’t think I even saw you draw. How can anyone be that fast on the draw?”
“Practice, Murry, lots and lots of practice, replied Jess.”
“Hell,” Carl said, “we wouldn’t have been any help to you, that’s for sure.”
Jess grinned at them both. “I don’t suppose so. Especially since neither one of you removed your hammer straps from your pistols,” replied Jess, almost sarcastically. Carl and Murry both checked their pistols at the same time and then simultaneously hung their heads in shame. “You two sure are something else and that’s a fact. Well, the least you two can do is haul him down to the undertaker until we can leave town. His dead carcass is worth five hundred dollars.”
“Yeah,” replied Carl, “and we will be glad to split it with you.” Murry shook his head and Jess simply smiled.
“That’s mighty nice of you, Carl, since I did all the work. I’ll meet you two back here in the morning for some breakfast.”
“Sorry,” Carl replied, realizing what he had said.
“I swear by Jesus, Carl, I’m going to have your mouth stitched shut,” Murry complained.
“What? I said I was sorry. Why is it always me?”
“Because it is always you, you sorry ass!” Carl put his hands up in the air in frustration. Then they carried Curley Simms’ body down to the undertaker. Jess finished up his beer and headed over to the hotel for the night.

ESS AWOKE BEFORE DAYLIGHT
and headed to the livery and checked on Gray and his packhorse. He tried to think of a name for the new

packhorse but couldn’t think of one yet. He began to think about all the extra things he could carry now and that gave him another idea. He went to meet his two new partners for breakfast at the saloon. Both Carl and Murry had already ordered meals and were about halfway finished when Jess entered the saloon. There weren’t many people in the saloon. Jess ordered and sat down to a hot cup of strong coffee.

“You two sleep good last night?”
“Pretty good,” replied Carl. Murry simply nodded, not able to answer because of the wad of biscuit he had stuffed in his jaws.
“Good. Listen up, here is the plan,” explained Jess. “As soon as you can get the money from the bank, go to the livery. I spotted a good mule there this morning and we can use him to carry Mr. Simms’ carcass with us since it’s worth five hundred dollars. Then, we will head over to this town of Holten and look for this Lloyd Aker. If we can find him, I’ll put him down and then we can collect the reward on him. Then, I can send you two on the train back home, alive I hope. That sound okay with you two?”
Murry finally swallowed his mouthful of biscuits. “When you say, put him down, do you mean like what you did last night?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you ever take one in alive?” Carl asked.
“No.”
“Well, we ain’t going to question your methods. They seem to work quite well,” added Carl.
“You can be sure of one thing,” said Jess, “Curley Simms won’t be robbing you or anyone again.”
“I don’t suppose so,” added Murry, “we found most of our money still on Mr. Simms last night. That should pay for the mule and more supplies we might need. I found my horse and saddle in the livery last night also but he must have sold Carl’s horse or let him go.”
“My guess is he let him go,” replied Jess. “Men like that travel light and keep only what they need. Anything else they need, they usually steal. Anyway, I have to go and get a few more supplies at the general store and I will meet you two at the livery. Make sure you strap Simms down good enough. Once that body starts to stink, you won’t want to pick it back up and tie it down on the mule again.” Jess headed over to the general store. He walked in and there was a pencil thin man with spectacles behind the counter.
“Morning, young man. What can I get for you today?”
“I need another skillet and five pounds of coffee and I’ll take a few dozen 12-gauge shells.” The old man went to getting what Jess wanted and Jess was looking behind the counter when he spotted a heavy looking, long barreled rifle. The man came back to the counter with the things Jess ordered.
“Could I take a look at that rifle you have back there?” The man looked over his shoulder.
“Oh, I bet you’re talking ‘bout the Sharps. That’s one damn good rifle. I don’t sell very many of them though, in this godforsaken town. I get buffalo hunters now and then who buy ‘em. They swear by ‘em though. They call it the ‘Big Fifty’ and some say it’s the straightest shooting rifle ever made.” The old man gave the rifle to Jess. Jess looked it over for a few minutes. The rifle was much heavier than his Winchester and the barrel was quite long and octagonal instead of round. The rifle had long-range sites on it.
“What kind of ammunition does this thing use?” The man reached down below the counter and brought up a box of cartridges and placed it on the counter.
“This one shoots the .50 caliber cartridge. Some of the hunters I’ve talked to claim it can kill a buffalo at a thousand yards, although that would be a small miracle if you ask me. It does shoot pretty far though. I took it out back once just to see for myself. I shot it straight out and the dust it kicked up when it finally hit the ground was a pretty good distance. The buffalo hunters I talked to say that for long distance shots, you have to learn to use those sights on it, and you have to cut a tree branch with a fork in it to rest the rifle on. One of ‘em showed me how he tied up three sticks with leather to make a rest for the rifle.”
“How many cartridges do you have for it?” The clerk looked under the counter and brought up three boxes of ammo for the rifle.
“This is all I have right now. I don’t get that much call for them. I can order you more but it would take about a week to get here.”
“Don’t order them on my account. I’m leaving this morning for Holten. Add the rifle and the ammo to my bill.
The clerk figured out the bill and Jess paid the man. The clerk informed Jess about the general store in Holten and that they would carry a lot more ammo for his new rifle. The clerk also told him what direction to head in to get to Holten. Jess also purchased a nice leather scabbard for the rifle. When he met Carl and Murry at the livery, they were sitting around the front of the livery with the man who ran it.
“What the hell you got there?” asked Carl.
“A new Sharps long gun that buffalo hunters use for long shots.”
“You going to start buffalo hunting?” asked Murry.
“No.”
“Then what are you going to use it for?” asked Carl.
“To shoot men.” replied Jess, as he tied it down to his packhorse. As he was doing so, a thought came to him. “I got it,” he said to himself out loud.
“Got what?” asked Murry.
“The name for my packhorse. I’ve been trying to think of a name for him and I’ve decided to call him Sharps.” Neither Carl nor Murry understood why there was any need to name a horse but they simply nodded and walked their horses out of the livery. Jess had fixed a long line to his packhorse with a fairly heavy rope. As they mounted their horses, Jess asked Carl and Murry which way to head out for Holten. Carl and Murry looked at each other and then at Jess with a dumb look on their faces. Jess simply shook his head and grinned. He gave Gray a little prod and headed out into the street.
“Come on you two bounty hunters,” Jess said, sarcastically. “Holten is this way.” Carl and Murry fell in behind Jess quietly arguing about who should have found out how to get to Holten.
It took about two days for them to get to Holten. On the first day, Jess stopped at noon and tried out his new Sharps rifle. They were in a large flat area and Jess fired off about a dozen rounds straight out and he was surprised to see how far off the round hit in the dusty ground. Then, he tried a few rounds with the barrel raised up about six inches and again, he was surprised. He made a decision to begin practicing on long distance shots once he was finished with his business with Carl and Murry.
Holten, while certainly a larger town than Baxter had been, wasn’t all that big, but the railroad ran through it, and that made it a busier town than some. There were a couple of hotels, several saloons and a few supply stores. The livery in town was fairly large and the man who met the three of them when they arrived was a large rotund man with a smile that never seemed to leave his face.
“Welcome to Holten, men. My name is Rusty and I’d be glad to take care of your horses for you. They will get the best feed and care right here and I have a man who works the place until the wee hours of the night so there is almost always someone here. That mule with the stinker on it will have to stay outside though.” Jess, Carl, and Murry all dismounted and the man led their horses into the livery. He helped the three of them take off the saddles and stable the four horses. Carl went around back and tied up the mule.
“So, what you boys in town for? You cattlemen, or maybe buffalo hunters?” he asked, as he watched Jess remove the new Sharps rifle from its scabbard.
“Actually, we are bounty hunters and looking for a man,” replied Carl.
“Really?” the man replied, as he changed his glance from Carl to Murry and then to Jess. “Now that young man looks like a bounty hunter but you two…well…you don’t seem like the type to hunt men. You men looking for someone particular?” Carl and Murry both seemed to be too hurt by Rusty’s comment so Jess took over the conversation.
“I’m…we’re looking for a man by the name of Lloyd Akers. He’s wanted for several crimes but mostly for murdering some woman on a train that he robbed.” Jess showed Rusty the poster with the sketch of Aker on it. Rusty looked at it.
“I wouldn’t know his face because I never saw him before, but I sure know the son of a bitch. The woman he murdered was Lee Connor. She was one of the nicest women I ever met. She lived in the house down at the end of the street with Mr. Heath Connor. He is part owner of the train that comes through town here. He hasn’t been out much since it happened. He took it real hard when she was killed. He put up most of the reward for Aker. He wants him dead real bad. Says that if someone brings him in alive, he will personally pay any man another thousand dollars to hang him. That man really loved that woman. It’s a hard thing to lose something that you love that much.”
Jess hung his head a little. “I know exactly how he feels. If you see him, tell him that we will try to make it right for him.”
“The only way to make it right for Mr. Connor is to bring that murderer in strapped over a mule just like this one,” replied Rusty, nodding at Curley Simms’ corpse.
Jess looked Rusty straight in the eyes. “You tell him for me that if we find him, we will bring him in exactly like this one.”
“What is your name so that I can tell him who said that?”
“You tell him that Jess Williams said it.”
Rusty looked at Jess and then looked down to his pistol and then back up to Jess. “So you are that young man people are beginning to talk about. I should’ve known by that fancy pistol you got there. You’re the one who put down Nevada Jackson and Blake Taggert and a few more. I’ll be damned. I thought you were just a made up story and didn’t really exist.”
“I’m real, I can promise you that.”
“You have to go and see Mr. Connor yourself. I know that he would want to talk to you personally about finding Lloyd Aker.”
“We heard from someone in Baxter that he was last seen here around Holten.”
“That was partially true. They figured that he hid out in the hills for a few days or so but they never found him even though they had thirty men combing those hills. They found one campsite but never saw so much as a shadow of Aker. He robbed the train just a few miles out of town to the east and that’s when he killed Mrs. Connor. The train came back to town and Mr. Connor sent out the posse immediately, but they never found him.” Murry and Carl had been listening to all of this in silence.
“Show me where Mr. Connor lives,” said Jess.
“Well, if you go down the main street, it’s the third house on the left after the barber shop. It’s a big white house with a large porch. Most likely Mr. Connor will be sitting on the porch.” Jess thanked Rusty and motioned to Carl and Murry to follow him.
“We going to see Mr. Connor?” asked Murry.
“You’re pretty sharp for an easterner.”
“We didn’t know you was famous and all,” added Carl.
“That comes as much of a surprise to me as you two. I guess talk travels pretty fast, especially when it’s about one man killing another.”
“So, all those men you killed, they were all pretty fast?”
“Not fast enough,” Jess replied.
They walked down the street until they came to the big white house. No one was sitting on the porch so Jess walked up the three steps and knocked on the door. He heard some rustling around in the house and then a tall lanky man dressed in a light blue suit came to the door.
“I’ve already told everyone in town that I’m not hiring any men right now.”
“We’re not looking for a job.”
“Then what are you here for?”
“We are here to talk to you about Lloyd Aker. Rusty over at the livery told us we should speak to you,” replied Jess. Connor’s attitude changed at once and he opened the door and let the three men in. Connor motioned for them to sit down in the dining area and he got out a bottle of brandy and placed four glasses on the table and filled them. Then he sat down.
“I want Aker dead and I will pay good money to any man who does the job. There is already a five thousanddollar reward out for him. I put up three of that and the train company put up the other two. I will personally pay another thousand dollars to the man who brings me his body—dead so that I can personally see the deed is done.”
“That’s a lot of money for one man,” said Carl.
“I got a lot of hate for that man. He took the one thing that meant the world to me. I’m a rich man in the sense of money and power but none of that matters each day when I get up in the morning knowing that murderer is still breathing the same air I am. I will not rest until he is dead.”
“We will try to see that you get your wish, Mr. Connor,” Jess replied.
“I hope you men are good. Aker is fast with a pistol and meaner than a rattler who’s been cornered. He doesn’t play by any rules either. If he don’t like you, he’ll plug you and without so much as a warning. You sure you can take him?”
Jess looked him square in the eyes with a look that made you believe. “If I can find him, I can kill him.”
Connor looked into Jess’ eyes and saw something there. It was something that you couldn’t put a finger on but something that you could feel. It was a feeling of confidence and a complete lack of fear. He also saw the dark side to Jess and that made him wonder about this young man and who he was.
“What is your name?” asked Connor.
“My name is Jess Williams and this is Carl and…”
Connor cut Jess off in mid-sentence. “Did you say Jess Williams?”
“Yes.”
“I know of you. You were that kid who had his family murdered. You hunted the men down and killed all three of them. They say you can’t be beat on the draw and that you give no quarter in a fight. They say you are the bounty hunter who never brings his man in alive.”
“Most of that is true. If a man tries to kill me, I put him down. If he is wanted for murder, I bring him in dead.” Heath Connor felt as though destiny had thrown him a miracle when he needed it the most. The only thing he wanted in life anymore was to see the killer of his beloved wife brought to justice and that didn’t mean a trial. Now, here he was, sitting in his dining room with the one bounty hunter that could make sure his wish came true. Finally, a spark of hope engulfed him.
“Mr. Williams, if you can bring me the dead body of Lloyd Aker right here to my front door, I will be indebted to you for life. I would give you everything I own if you could do that for me.”
“Mr. Connor, that won’t be necessary. The reward and the bonus you offered is enough payment for one man. The truth is I would do it even if there weren’t a reward for him. This Aker is just like the men who killed my family and I have made a vow to myself that I would hunt down and kill such men, reward or not.”
“You’ll get the reward and as a matter-of-fact, I’m going to throw in an extra thousand dollars bonus just for you.”
“That is mighty generous of you, but you don’t have to do that.” Carl and Murry shot a look over at Jess and Jess shot a look back at them and they both picked up their glasses and took another sip of the fine brandy.
“I know, but I want to give you every incentive to find Aker and kill him.”