Trackdown (9781101619384) (32 page)

“I understand that Tom here plans to ride into Redemption tomorrow.”

“Not just Tom,” Gentry said. “We’re all goin’. Ever’ one of us. We’re gonna see to it that gal listens to reason. If she don’t…well, she’s comin’ back here anyway. A wife’s place is with her husband.”

“Even when he’s done what your boy did to her?”

“I’m sorry about that,” Tom said, speaking for the first time. “You don’t know how sorry I am, Deputy. But Virgie isn’t innocent in all this. You know that.”

“Blast it, you’re movin’ too quick!” Mordecai burst out. “Maybe you can convince her that you really are sorry, but you got to give her some time.”

Tom shook his head.

“I’ve waited long enough. I want to put this behind us.”

“What you want don’t matter to Walt Shelton. He’s brought in Jack Roland and a handful of other men just like him.”

“Roland!” Burk Gentry said. “I’ve heard of him. You’ll have to do something about him, Deputy. Can’t have men like that causin’ trouble in your town.”

Mordecai felt frustration building inside him. He said, “If you and your boys will just steer clear of Redemption, Gentry, there won’t be no trouble.”

“We can’t do that,” Tom said. “I’m going to have my wife back, no matter what it takes. And you don’t have any right to interfere with that, Deputy.”

Gentry gave Mordecai a sly smile and said, “Fact of the matter is, it’s your job to see to it that nobody interferes with us goin’ about our lawful business. Ain’t no law that says a fella can’t go see his wife, is there?”

Mordecai bit back a curse. He was trapped as neatly as you please. The Gentrys were certainly within their legal rights to ride into town, and if Tom went to the Shelton house to see Virginia, there was nothing unlawful about that, either, as Burk Gentry had just said.

But if that happened, Jack Roland would be waiting there to kill Tom, and the other gunslingers would take care of the rest of the Gentry bunch when they tried to come to Tom’s defense. It was liable to be a bloodbath, with men dying on both sides.

“I can’t talk you out of this?” Mordecai asked, expecting the same sort of response he had gotten from Walter Shelton.

“My mind’s made up,” Tom said. “I’m going to save my marrige, whatever it takes.”

What he was going to do was get himself killed, Mordecai thought.

“You want to stay for supper, Deputy?” Gentry asked. “You’d be welcome.”

“Thanks, but I got to be gettin’ back to town,” Mordecai said.

He had to figure out how he was going to keep the streets of Redemption from running red with blood, and he didn’t have much time to do it, either.

“Will we make it back to Redemption today?” Eden asked as she rode alongside Bill.

“We ought to,” he replied with a nod. “Ought to make it by midday. It was sort of hard to stop last night and make camp instead of pushin’ on, but there was still too far to go. I didn’t want to take a chance on us gettin’ lost in the dark, either.”

Eden sighed.

“I’m just anxious to get home, take a bath, and sleep in a real bed for a change,” she said.

All that sounded good to Bill, too, especially the bed part. Out on the trail, surrounded by the members of a posse, was no place for a proper reunion between husband and wife. They had been able to talk in private enough for him to know that none of the outlaws had molested her, and he was thankful for that. He would have continued to love her anyway, no matter what, but now he wouldn’t have to convince her of that. More important, she hadn’t had to suffer through that ordeal.

All the men were anxious to get back home, so it hadn’t been a problem maintaining a good pace. They had been able
to round up most of the horses at the hideout, so they were able to keep fresh mounts underneath them most of the time.

Now, as they rode through a beautiful autumn morning, Jesse Overstreet said, “When we get back, I’d best get outfitted and head for Texas before winter sets in. I wouldn’t want to get stuck and not be able to get home.”

“You’re goin’ back to Texas?” Bill said. “I was thinking you might want to stay around Redemption for a while.”

“And do what? I’m a cowboy, not a store clerk.”

Hartnett said, “There are several ranches in the area that might be able to use a good man.”

“At this time of year?” Overstreet shook his head. “Not likely. Maybe if it was spring.”

“Well, maybe you could do something else until then. I might be able to talk the town council into hiring another deputy for the marshal.”

Overstreet stared at Hartnett for a second, then said, “Me? A lawman?”

“You’ve been a good member of this posse. Isn’t that right, Bill?”

“Don’t reckon we could’ve rescued Eden and cleaned out that nest of robbers without your help, Jesse,” Bill said. “I’m not sure there’s enough law business in Redemption for a second deputy, though. It’s a peaceful place most of the time.”

“Anyway, I’m hankerin’ to get back to Texas,” Overstreet said. “But I appreciate the thought, Josiah.”

They rode on south, keeping the horses moving at a brisk pace. Bill felt his anticipation growing. It wouldn’t be long now before they were home.

And that made him think that less than a year earlier, he had regarded Texas as home, just like Jesse Overstreet, and he had never even given any thought to living anywhere else. But things changed, he thought as he glanced over at Eden.

Sometimes they even changed for the better.

The damn fools never even checked their back trail, Caleb Tatum thought as he rode about a mile behind the posse. Of course, one rider probably didn’t kick up enough dust to be
noticed, but it was the principle of the thing. They thought they had wiped out all their enemies, and that there was no one left behind them to threaten them.

They were wrong about that, and as soon as Tatum got the chance, he was going to show them how wrong.

Back in the badlands, he had rushed out of the cabin to pursue Eden and the man who had come to rescue her, probably the marshal. Then he had traded shots with the rest of the posse as they invaded the hideout.

But as the other outlaws who hadn’t fallen in the first exchange of bullets had retreated into the cabins, Tatum had veered off to the side of the bowl, using the cover of darkness to make his escape. He didn’t view his actions as cowardly. His plan had been to circle around behind the posse and catch them in a crossfire.

He hadn’t had a chance to do that. Things had gone against the gang too quickly. And then he had seen Hannah die.

Her death affected him more than he ever thought it would. True, he had grown tired of her, especially her jealousy and her anger, and he had been ready to throw her aside for Eden.

But when he saw her fall with that bastard’s bullet in her, he had realized that he still loved her, and ever since, the need to avenge her death had burned brightly within him. Those fires of hatred had kept him going as he followed the posse south.

The first night on the trail, he had considered charging into their camp on horseback and taking them by surprise. He knew he could kill several of them before they shot him out of the saddle.

That would deliver only a small measure of satisfaction, and he would wind up dead. He had no doubt about that.

So he had decided to hang back and follow them all the way to Redemption. Once they got there, they would be more convinced than ever that they were safe. He didn’t really care about the other members of the posse. He wanted to kill the marshal, and he intended to kill Eden, too…but not until he was finished with her.

Mordecai looked around at the men gathered in the marshal’s office. Roy Fleming, Perry Monroe, Charley Hobbs, Leo Kellogg, the newspaper owner Phillip Ramsey, and walrus-mustached Gunnar Nilsson from the café were all good men, and they were willing to stand up and fight when it was necessary.

But none of them would be any match for Jack Roland and his band of gun wolves, and they couldn’t even stand up to that tough bunch of Gentrys.

“I appreciate all of you comin’ here this mornin’ and offerin’ to help,” Mordecai said, “but there ain’t really anything you can do.”

“We can turn Burk Gentry and his men away at the edge of town,” Monroe said. “If they don’t ride in, they can’t start a shoot-out with those gunmen.”

That was a halfway decent idea, Mordecai thought, but he knew it would end up with some of the townsmen getting hurt or even killed…and in the end it wouldn’t stop the Gentrys from forcing a showdown with Shelton’s hired guns.

“This is my job,” Mordecai insisted. “What I want you fellas to do is make sure that everybody’s off the street come
the noon hour. I’ll deal with the Gentrys. They got to understand that they can’t go against the law.”

The words sounded hollow to Mordecai even as he spoke them. Burk Gentry didn’t care about the law, and neither did his sons. And Walter Shelton sure as hell didn’t.

“This is our town, too,” Monroe insisted. “We’ve learned how to fight for it.”

“The Gentrys don’t have anything against Redemption,” Mordecai said. “Neither do Roland and his bunch. This is a private matter, not like a raid by owlhoots or Indians. Like I told you, keep people off the street until the trouble’s come and gone, and with any luck no innocent folks will be hurt.”

“What about you?” Fleming asked. “If you get between those two bunches, you’re liable to get killed.”

“It’s my job to get between ’em.” Mordecai was able to summon up a chuckle. “Anyway, I ain’t all that innocent.”

The citizens continued to argue, but Mordecai was adamant and they finally gave up. With a sigh, Fleming said, “We’ll spread the word that everyone needs to stay off the street for a while around noon. How will they know when it’s safe to come out again?”

“I reckon they’ll know when the trouble’s all over,” Mordecai said. “Just wait until there’s no more shootin’.”

The men left. Mordecai leaned back in the chair behind the desk. He slid his left arm from the sling and moved it gingerly. Glenn Morley said that it was healing nicely, and some of the strength had returned to it. Mordecai glanced up at the gun rack on the wall. He was going to need both hands to use a shotgun, so he took the sling from around his neck and set it aside.

Anyway, there was a good chance he wouldn’t have to worry about his arm after today, he thought.

From time to time he glanced at the clock on the wall of the marshal’s office. When the hour stood at half past eleven, he stood up, took one of the scatterguns from the rack, and broke it open. There were shells in the desk drawer. Mordecai slid one into each barrel and closed the shotgun. He put a handful of extra shells in his shirt pocket.

Taking the shotgun with him, he stepped out onto the
boardwalk. He looked both directions along the street, and the only thing he saw moving was a dog trotting into an alley. Redemption might as well have been a ghost town.

The Gentrys would probably enter the town from the west. Stopping them before they ever reached the Shelton house was a good idea. That was what Mordecai intended on trying to do. If he could persuade them somehow to turn around and go back to the ranch, maybe Jack Roland and his men would leave Redemption, too. Shelton wanted a showdown, and the Gentrys were playing right into his hands with Tom’s demand to see Virginia. If he could head that off, Mordecai thought, then maybe Shelton wouldn’t send his hired guns after his son-in-law’s family. That would be little better than murder, after all, and Shelton still had to live here.