Death Devil (9781101559666) (15 page)

“Her?” Fargo said.

“Who do you think?” Orville said, and opened the back door.

Mabel and the other women quietly filed in.

“Damn it, Orville,” Fargo said. “All she did was try to help you.”

“We didn't want her help,” Orville said. “We made that plain as plain could be. She should have listened.”

“That she should have,” said a new voice, and out of the dark strolled Charles T. Dogood, his hands thrust in his pockets.

“This is your doing,” Fargo said.

Dogood smiled. “I might have persuaded them that having her around does me no favors. And I do, after all, have their best interests at heart.”

Fargo looked at Orville. “Don't do this.”

“It's already been decided.” Orville snapped his fingers and more of his clan appeared. They were carrying two rails and a bucket that reeked of sulfurous fumes.

“You son of a bitch,” Fargo said.

Orville punched him in the gut.

Fargo's stomach exploded and he doubled over. He almost collapsed.

Abner and Clyde laughed. “Serves you right, mister,” the former said. “The airs you put on.”

Orville wrapped a huge hand around Fargo's throat and bent so they were eye to eye. “I'd be real careful what I say from here on out if I were you. I've put up with a lot, mister, but it ends, here and now. We are doin' it and that is all there is to it.” He shoved Fargo against the wall. “It will be up to you whether we do it easy or hard.”

Fargo fought the pain and said through clenched teeth, “You do this, you step over a line.”

“What line are you talkin' about?”

“No return.”

Abner snorted. “What in hell is he talkin' about, cousin? I don't see no line.”

“It's there,” Fargo said.

“He's trying to confuse you, gentlemen,” Dogood said. “Stick to your guns.”

“Speakin' of which,” Orville said to Clyde, and handed Fargo's Colt over to him. “Tie him good and tight.”

Several men came forward, one with a rope.

“Like hell,” Fargo said. He unleashed an uppercut that sent the man with the rope toppling. Spinning, he drove his fist into a jaw, shifted, and clipped another McWhertle on the cheek. An opening appeared and he tried to dart through it but a foot hooked his leg and he tripped and came down on his hands and knees. Immediately, four of them were on him, seeking to pin him. He fought in a fury. He bucked. He punched. He kicked. They hit him but he didn't care. He connected with a nose and the weight was off him. Pushing to his feet, he took a step toward the Ovaro but they were on him again, more of them, seven or eight, and he went down under their crushing numbers.

He was stripped to the waist and his arms were wrenched behind his back and his wrists were bound tight. His ankles were bound, too. A gag was forced into his mouth and he bit at the fingers. A blow to his jaw dazed him enough that they were able to shove the gag in, but he spat it back out.

They stepped back, some of them bleeding, two of them limping.

“Hellfire, he fights like a wildcat,” one said.

“I'd surely love to stomp his brains out,” said another.

Orville came over. “We're not a bunch of red savages. We do this proper. And we do it quick and quiet so no one hears us. Remember, she has friends.”

At the word “she,” the screen door opened and out came the women. Mabel had hold of Belinda Jackson. They had tied her wrists.

“Can you believe it?” Mabel said to Orville. “She didn't resist. Just kept askin' us to come to our senses and see that this is wrong.”

“It is,” Belinda said quietly.

“Puny cow,” Abner mocked her.

“Please,” Belinda appealed to Orville. “They look up to you. Ultimately, this is on your shoulders. Say the word and they'll go home and I'll forget this ever happened.”

“Listen to her,” Clyde said, and chortled.

“We warned you,” Orville said.

“And what about Harold and Edna and Abigail? I might be able to treat them, I tell you.”

Mabel's mouth twisted in scorn. “No need, missy. We took care of that our own selves.”

“How?”

“How do you think?” Mabel said.

Belinda stared at their faces. Her own slowly registered disbelief and then horror. “You didn't,” she gasped.

Orville nodded. “We couldn't have them goin' around bitin' folks so we put them out of their misery.”

“You
killed
them?”

Orville nodded again. “We were humane about it. We shot Harold in the back of the head while he was sleepin'. Edna didn't ever come around and was hardly breathin' so it was nothin' to smother her with a pillow.”

“And Abigail?” Belinda said.

“I took care of her,” Mabel said. “Stuck her head in a bucket of water and drowned her like I would kittens we didn't want.” She chuckled. “That girl sure kicked up a fuss but it was over pretty quick.”

“Oh God,” Belinda said.

“Enough of her mewin',” Mabel said angrily. “Someone gag this bitch so we can get to it.”

“That we better,” Orville said, gazing along the backs of the houses. “There shouldn't be anyone out and about at this hour but you never know.”

Belinda looked about her in shock. “What kind of people are you that you can do these things?”

“Don't you lecture us,” Mabel said. “We do what we have to to protect our own. Always have. Always will.” She slapped Belinda, not once but three times.

Belinda stood there and let her. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

“Look at her,” Abner said in disgust.

“Figures,” Clyde said. “That's city folks for you.”

They grabbed Belinda and lowered her to the ground and held her while Mabel tied her ankles.

“Bring the rails,” Orville commanded.

Two men brought one each and laid them out next to Fargo and Belinda.

“Let me do the bitch,” Mabel said. Squatting, she slammed Belinda's wrists against the rail and began to tie her to it.

“No need to be so rough,” Orville remarked.

“Sure there is,” Mabel said. “Her always treatin' us like we were ignorant. Well, this will show the bitch.” She slapped Belinda across the face. “We want her to get it through her thick head that she's not wanted here, don't we? Nothin' like a little hurt to convince a person.”

“I agree,” Abner said. Without warning, he stepped up to Fargo and kicked him in the ribs.

Another explosion of pain nearly blacked Fargo out. Sucking in air through his nose, he waited for the waves of agony to subside.

“Enough of that, I say,” Orville said. “Other folks hereabouts won't raise a fuss about us runnin' these two out. But if we hurt them, they will.”

“What do we care?” Mabel said.

“We live here. We have to get along with them best we can. No more smackin' and kickin'.”

“Aw, hell,” Abner said. “I was just gettin' started.”

Fargo was barely aware of being tied to the rail. He struggled to regain his senses. They cleared just as two brawny men laid hands on both ends of the rail and jerked it into the air. His body sagged, compliments of gravity, his shoulders protesting the strain.

Belinda was being similarly raised.

Clyde giggled. “They sort of remind me of hogs trussed for slaughter.”

Dogood materialized at Fargo's shoulder. “I do so hope there won't be any hard feelings. After all, you brought this on yourself.”

“Bring the tar,” Orville commanded.

The reeking bucket was placed on the ground under Fargo.

Orville was handed a ladle used for stew and the like. He dipped it and stirred. “We heated it good and proper before we came but it's cooled some.”

“Should we heat it again?” Abner asked. “The hotter it is, the more misery they'll be in.”

“No time,” Orville said. “It will be light in an hour or so. We'll do it as is.”

“You are no fun sometimes, cousin,” Abner said.

Orville raised the ladle and tilted it and black sludge dripped over the rim.

All Fargo could do was glare. A warm sensation spread across his chest and over his stomach as the gooey tar slowly spread. The stink made him crinkle his nose.

Mabel was doing the same to Belinda, and commented, “I still say we should have stripped her.”

“It wouldn't be decent,” Orville said.

“But it's not the same, tarrin' and featherin' her nightdress.”

“She won't ever get the tar out,” Orville said. “She'll never be able to wear it again.”

“That's no kind of punishment. She deserves worse.”

“While I tend to agree,” Charlie Dogood interjected, “I suppose your husband has a point, my dear. We should be civil about this.”

The tar covered Fargo's shoulders. There was some on his hips and legs.

“This is fun,” Mabel said, upending her ladle over Belinda's head.

Orville bent and dipped the ladle in the bucket and held it over Fargo's. “I hear tell you'll have to cut your hair plumb off.”

Clyde did more giggling.

“You're right, Mabel,” Orville said. “This is kind of fun.” And he started to turn the ladle.

The slam of a back door down the street caused the McWhertles to glance up.

“What the dickens is goin' on over there?” a man shouted. “Folks are tryin' to sleep and all we hear is your jabber.”

“Mind your own business,” Abner hollered.

The man wasn't intimidated. “How about I fetch my shotgun and come mind yours?”

“I'd like to see you try,” Abner said.

“Hush up,” Orville told him, “or you'll wake half the town.”

As if to prove him right, a window on a house across the way slid open and a woman's head poked out. “What in tarnation is all the ruckus about over there? Who are you people and what are you doin' at Doc Jackson's?”

Abner went to yell but Orville wagged the ladle at him and said, “When I tell you to hush, you damn well better hush.”

To the woman he replied, “One of our kin is sick, ma'am. The doc is tendin' to him.”

The man down the street yelled, “Well keep it down, damn you. People are tryin' to sleep.”

The back door slammed and the window across the way slid down and the night was quiet again.

“Let's finish with the tar and tote them off like we were fixin' to do,” Clyde said.

“No,” Orville said. He put the ladle in the bucket and handed the bucket to another McWhertle. “We're leavin' this minute. Get the horses.”

“But why?” Abner protested. “They ain't hardly covered with goo.”

Orville gestured at the houses. “You heard those two. We might have woke others and some yak will take it into his head to come for a look-see. We don't want the whole town turnin' out against us.”

“Hell,” a scruffy cousin said. “We can lick 'em.”

Mabel rose. “I am disappointed in you, husband. I thought you had more gumption.”

“You want to see gumption?” Orville said. Taking a stride, he cuffed her across the face, a backhand that sent her tottering. She lost her grip on her ladle and it clattered to the ground. “Mouth off to me again in front of our kin and I'll bust you good.”

Mabel had a hand to her cheek and was struggling to control her temper.

“I can't hear you,” Orville said.

“Sorry,” Mabel spat. “It won't happen again.”

“It sure as hell better not.” Orville rounded on the others. “Anyone else want to give me lip?”

No one spoke.

“I want the horses. I want the horses now. Move your asses, by God.”

They scrambled to obey.

Fargo looked at Belinda. Tar covered half her hair and had dripped down the left side of her face. Only her right eye, her nose and cheek and her mouth were free of it. Her nightdress a mess. “How are you holding up?”

Her eye glistened. “All I ever wanted to do was help them.”

“No talkin', you two,” Abner growled.

Fargo stared at him.

“Why are you lookin' at me like that?”

Fargo went on staring.

“Stop it, you hear?” Abner said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “It's like you've givin' me the evil eye or somethin'.”

“Or something,” Fargo said.

The horses were brought and everyone quietly mounted except for the four men picked to carry the rails. One by one the clan filed out the gate and down the side street and, by a roundabout route of more side streets, soon reached the edge of Ketchum Falls.

In the wee hour before dawn the town was as still as a cemetery. No one was out and about. No one demanded to know who they were and what they were up to.

Fargo swayed with every step his bearers took. His shoulders became sore as hell.

A horse swung in alongside the rail he was tied to, and who should be in the saddle but Charles T. Dogood. He smirked and said, “It's a shame we were interrupted. I once saw a man covered with tar from head to toe. They had to peel it off him after it dried. Took off most of his skin, too.”

“You brought this on them,” Fargo said.

Dogood glanced down sharply. “Brought what, friend? I'm not sure I understand.”

“One thing we'll never be,” Fargo said, “is friends.”