Lee (The Landon Saga Book 6) (10 page)

Chapter thirty-one

I spotted Jeremiah behind the bar as we went downstairs. He spotted us at the same time, and he looked uncomfortable.

Ross stood by the stairs, and he shot me a warning look as I walked by.

But I ignored him. I stopped beside the bar when I was even with Jeremiah, but I kept my eyes pointed forward.

“April keeps her job,” I said in a quiet and stern voice.

“I never thought otherwise,” Jeremiah insisted.

“If you mistreat her,” I warned. “I’ll kill you.”

“I have no intentions of mistreating her,” he sounded surprised. “I’m not like that.”

“Don’t forget it,” I said, and then I walked towards the door.

“Lee,” Jeremiah called out. “I’m sorry how this all turned out.”

I paused at the door and looked back at him.

“No you’re not,” I said.

***

We went to the livery stable, saddled our horses, and stuffed our belongings into our saddlebags. We led our horses out into the street, and I spotted Jessica Tussle walking up the sidewalk. 

“I’ll be right back,” I told Brian.

I looped my reins around the hitching post and walked towards her. Jessica spotted me, and her body stiffened.

“Jessica,” I offered a difficult smile of apology as I stopped in front of her. “I’d like to explain.”

She lifted her chin and crossed her arms.

“All right.”

I took in a big breath and launched into the story. Afterwards, I watched her face closely for signs of understanding.

There were none. Instead, she gave me a cold, contemptuous look.

“I
trusted
you with all that money.”

“Yes, ma’am, you did.”

“And you threw it away in one poker game.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“That money was all I had,” she muttered. “Didn’t you know that?”

“I feel terrible, Jessica. I really do.”

“Yancy told me once that you were no good, but I ignored him,” Jessica declared, and I got the feeling that she was talking more to herself than to me. “I should have listened. Yancy may not be much of a talker, but at least he’s honest and straightforward.”

I felt my neck getting hot.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Jessica turned dark, cold eyes on me and said evenly, “Lee Mattingly, long as I live, I never want to see you again.”

Her words stung. I couldn’t speak, so I hung my head and nodded. 

Without another word, she turned and walked away briskly. I watched her until she had disappeared into a hotel down the street, and she never looked back.

Chapter thirty-two

Brian and I rode north in stunned silence. We had things to say, but first we needed time to think on what had just happened.

There was a creek about a mile from town, and we turned and followed it. We found a nice sheltered spot, and we dismounted, picketed our horses, and made camp.

Brian built a fire while I filled our coffee pot with water from the creek, and then we sat around the fire and watched the coffee boil. Soon as it was ready we filled our cups and leaned back.

We still didn’t talk. Instead, we just sat there and drank coffee with brooding faces.

Brian finally looked at me and cleared his throat.

“Well, I sure didn’t see that coming.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Are you all right?” Brian studied me.

“I’m just enjoying my usual twilight sadness, is all.”

Brian smiled faintly. He took a swig of coffee and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

“Well, do you remember what Jessica looks like now?”

The image of her glare flashed in my memory.

“Yes. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon neither.”

“She sure was mad.”

“She had a right to be. We lost her hotel.”

Brian nodded slowly.

“Everything happened so fast,” he said wistfully.

“It did,” I nodded.

“Almost like it was planned.”

“I think it was,” I replied slowly.

“How’s that?”

“Ike, Jeremiah, Amos; they were all in it together,” I declared.

“How do you know?”

“I just do,” I grumbled.

“What about April?”

For some reason, the mere mention of her name gave me an odd homesick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“What about her?”

“Do you think she was in on it too?”

“Of course not,” I glared at him. “What gave you that idea?”

“You said they were all in on it.”

“Well not her,” I frowned. “Everybody else
but
her. Mebbe Ross too, although he sure didn’t help us any.”

“What could he do? Everything was legal.”

I grunted in response.

“Too bad about Jeremiah,” Brian said. “He didn’t seem like all that bad a feller. I sorta liked him.”

“He cheated us,” I retorted.

“Mebbe so, but at least he was nice about it.”

I grunted again and shook my head.

“Are we going to drift on like Ike suggested?” Brian changed the subject.

“Only a guilty man runs,” I replied stubbornly, and added, “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“But Ike said-.”

“I don’t care what Ike said,” I interrupted.

“So what are we going to do?”

I listened to the question, and it was silent as I pondered it. I turned it around in my head, studied it from all angles, and decided.

“We’re going to get our hotel back,” I announced.

Brian looked up, surprised.

“How?”

“Easy,” I laughed, but not humorously. “We’ll just shoot everybody that deserves it.”

“That won’t get our hotel back,” Brian pointed out.

“Mebbe not, but it’ll sure make me feel better.”

Brian looked thoughtful as he took another swig of coffee. Meanwhile, I refilled my cup and leaned back. Several minutes passed, and I looked at Brian and grinned wolfishly.

“Well, it can’t possibly get any worse,” I said. “We have nothing else to lose.”

“We’re still alive, ain’t we?” Brian disagreed.

“For now,” I agreed.

Chapter thirty-three

Brock didn’t like having to stay at the ranch, and he was anxious to do something.

Ike and the others rode in midafternoon, and Butch told him and Amos about going to Bronc.

Brock was pleased. He talked it over with Amos, and they agreed to leave now. They packed two mules with the rifles, saddled their horses, and packed a few belongings. 

It was late afternoon when they rode out, and Brock figured they could travel at least four or five miles before they had to make camp.

Brock led one of the mules, and Amos led the other one. They found a cow trail that went north, and they followed it in a slow trot.

The country was open, with small rolling hills. They made good time, even with the mules.

Brock’s mule started limping about an hour before dark. They went a bit further, but then he started limping even worse.

They dismounted, and already Brock could see the swelling in the back ankle. He cursed softly as he thought the situation over.

“That mule isn’t making this trip,” Amos commented as he peered down at the ankle. 

Brock nodded sourly.

“Are we going back to the ranch?” Amos asked.

“No, we’d lose too much time.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Brock gestured to some cliffs that were to the west.

“There’s a run down little ranch on the other side of those cliffs. It’s run by a bunch of Mexicans. They should have a mule.”

“Do you think they’ll trade for a crippled mule?” Amos looked doubtful.

Brock didn’t answer. Instead, he just grinned wolfishly. 

Chapter thirty-four

We woke with the bright sun shining in our faces. It was late, long after sunup, but we didn’t mind. We were in no hurry to go anywhere.

We rolled up our bedrolls, and then we stirred the coals, boiled some coffee, and sat around the fire.

Even after a night’s sleep I still felt drained and discouraged, and I could tell that Brian felt the same way.

We just sat there until late morning.

I had just built the fire back up when we heard a noise. It was the sound of a horse, and it was coming closer.

I glanced at Brian. Without a word, he grabbed his rifle while I drew my Colt. We backed into some bushes and waited.

“Hello the camp!” A yell sounded out.

“Who’s out there?” I replied.

“Ross Stewart. Can I come in?”

I frowned distastefully. I wanted to say no, but instead I yelled, “Come on in if you want.”

Brian and I returned to the fire, and we watched quietly as Ross rode in.

He looked timid and nervous. He flashed us a shaky grin, but neither Brian nor I returned it.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in a gruff voice.

“Looking for you,” Ross replied. “I figured you would camp by the creek, so I’ve been following it.”

“Why find us?” I asked.

Ross didn’t reply. Instead, he sat on his horse and studied us.

“You’re both upset,” he finally commented.

“Is it obvious?”

“I don’t blame you,” Ross said. “And I feel bad. I really do. But you know how Ike is. Everything appeared legal. My hands were tied.”

“You rode all the way out here just to say that?” I scowled.

“Partly,” he replied. “I’ve also got some news.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Do you know Miguel Ortiz?”

I thought for a moment.

“Sure. He lives to the north.”

“He rode into town this morning all upset. He says two men stole one of his mules last night.”

“Why does this concern us?”

“Miguel said that it was two big men, and one of them had red hair. They rode up to the corrals with a lame mule. One of them covered the house with his rifle while the other one switched out the mules. They left the crippled mule in the corral.”

I frowned thoughtfully.

“You think it was Brock and Amos?”

“The description fits.”

“Are you going after them?”

“No, I’ve got to stay in town,” Ross replied. “But, I thought you two might be interested.”

“We are,” I said, and I glanced at Brian. He nodded, so I looked back at Ross. “We’ll go take a look.”

“That’ll be fine.”

It fell silent then, and Ross looked uncomfortable.

“I’d better get back to town,” he finally said.

We nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” Ross tried again. “If I could have done something, I would have. I hope you know that.”

We nodded again, and Ross frowned and kicked up his horse.

We didn’t say anything as we watched him ride out.  

Chapter thirty-five

We packed up camp, saddled our horses, and headed north. It was only a few miles to Miguel’s ranch, and we arrived early afternoon.

The ranch headquarters was old and run down. We met Miguel at the barn, and he was still upset and excited. We had to listen as he told us the story again, and he led us to the corrals and showed us the tracks.

I dismounted and studied the ground. After a moment I was able to confirm that there had been two of them, and the tracks left out going northwest.

“Do you think it’s them?” Brian asked me.

“Only one way to find out,” I replied. I stepped back into the saddle and looked at Miguel. “We’ll find your mule, amigo.”

He thanked us, and we left out. The tracks were easy to follow, and we trotted in a brisk trot.

We went a few miles, and then we rode up to where they had camped. We looked around a bit and pushed on.

“Those mules are slowing them down some,” I said as I studied the tracks. “We should catch them tonight.”

“What will we do then?” Brian wanted to know.

“We’ll get some answers.”

Brian frowned thoughtfully and nodded in response.   

***

By late afternoon the tracks started getting fresh, and they turned to the north a bit. There was a steep cliff up ahead, and we slowed our pace as we climbed it.

We could see a long ways from the top of the cliff, so we pulled up and studied the landscape.

The country in front of us flattened out. There were a few trees scattered about, but other than that there wasn’t much cover.

I turned in the saddle, dug in my saddlebags, and pulled out my eyeglass. I took my time as I studied the skyline.

Suddenly, I sat up straight in the saddle.

“I see them,” I said softly as I squinted through the eyeglass. “I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like they’re making camp.”

“Can you tell if its Brock and Amos?”

“No, they’re too far out.”

“So what’s the plan?”

I pinched my face in thought.

“It’d be to our advantage if we could surprise them.”

“Probably so,” Brian agreed.

“It’s too open down there,” I reasoned, and then I glanced at the sun. “It’ll be dark soon, so we’ll wait and ride up closer. Then we’ll walk up on foot.”

Brian nodded, and it fell silent.

We dismounted and sat in some shade. I smoked a cigar to pass the time, and for some reason I kept thinking about April. That made me irritable, and by dark I was restless and ready to move.

We climbed into the saddle and nudged our horses forward. We went about a mile, and we spotted the glow of a campfire in the distance.

“There they are,” I pointed.

Brian nodded, and we rode on.

We finally came to some trees that were scattered around an old lakebed. We dismounted and tied our horses in amongst the trees, and then we checked our weapons. We both had Colts, but Brian also carried his Henry rifle.

“You ready?” I asked softly.

Brian nodded, so we walked towards the camp.

“When the shooting starts, I’ll take Brock and you take Amos,” I said.

“You watch Brock,” Brian warned. “He’s really good with that Colt of his.”

“I’m good too,” I reminded, “but you’re just used to me.”