"Cindy?"
"Yes, Beauregard?"
"When can I go home?"
"I already explained that, Beauregard. You have to stay here until your daddy comes to get you."
"But why?"
"Because. It's time for you to go to sleep."
"That's not an answer." That remark came out as a whine, but Beau didn't care. He was tired and hungry and needed a bath, and he didn't like any of the people here. As a matter of fact, he was afraid of the one that Cindy called 'Jess.' He was just downright mean.
"It's the only answer you're gonna get, bucko," Rob said as he walked past the bed.
From the far corner, Kincaid called out to Cindy, "Put the kid to bed already."
"He's in a mood," Rob explained. "You better do as he says. And for God's sake, keep him quiet."
Beauregard was tired of being the good boy and everyone telling him to be quiet, and in protest he let out a blood-curdling scream. Everything ground to an immediate halt, until Beau asked quietly, "Why do I have to stay here?"
"Why did you do that, Beauregard? Kincaid ain't happy."
The mean man that Cindy called Kincaid got up and slowly walked over to the bed. His remark was aimed directly at the child and no one else. "You do that again and I'll cut your tongue out." He walked outside to wait for Al's return, no longer willing to deal with a temperamental four-year-old.
The verbal altercation with Beauregard left Kincaid in an even worse frame of mind than he'd been in before. After all the time they'd spent and all the hard work everyone put in, it looked like it was falling apart. Nothing was working the way it should be after all the weeks they'd spent plotting and planning, observing and waiting. Maverick didn't have the money everyone thought he had, and Jess was forced to change the focus of the ransom plot from the parents to the grandmother. The kid was a pain to deal with, and being in such close proximity to the other gang members over an extended period of time was wearing his nerves thin. So Jess was already in a foul mood when Al Hammond rode up quite so casually and dismounted.
"How'd it go?" Jess queried.
"Alright," came the slow reply.
"Any problems?"
"Nope, not one."
"Did you cover your tracks?"
That question stopped Al cold. He'd been so concerned about being seen that he'd forgotten to hide his trail on the way back. So he did the only thing he could do – he lied. "Of course I did."
"You're lyin' to me, Al."
"I ain't. I swear, Jess."
"We been through this before, Hammond. You know how I hate lyin'."
"Jess, nobody saw me. Nobody followed me. Ain't nobody out there lookin' for us. You're worried about nothin'."
"Worried about nothin', huh? Last time this happened I told you no more. You ain't been payin' real close attention to me." Kincaid was yelling now, having lost his temper a few minutes back. "We almost got caught the last time you lied."
"I told you I wouldn't do that again, and I kept my word. I ain't some dog you can kick around whenever you feel the need to do so. Get off my back." Al started to take his horse around back when Kincaid's temper got the better of him, and he pulled his gun. Hammond saw the flash of the barrel, and in just a moment his hand was full of Remington. Jess shot first and hit what he was aiming at; Al's gun fired erratically into the air as he fell.
Hearing Al's voice, Cindy came to the door of the cabin just in time to see her man dropped by Kincaid's bullet. She screamed and ran out to try and save him, but it was too late. Al Hammond was dead, right along with Cindy Elwood's dream of being his wife. Danny appeared from nowhere and pulled his sister away from the body, and she ripped herself from his grasp and ran to Kincaid, where she slapped her ex-lover as hard as she could. Kincaid slapped her back.
"Get outta here, Cindy, before I shoot you, too. I told him to quit lyin' to me, told him more than once. You don't pay any attention to me, you gotta pay the price."
"Cindy!" Beauregard cried out for the only person that he knew, and she ran back inside and picked him up. "You're crying. Are you hurt?"
"No, Beauregard, I'm not hurt. But my friend is. And now I have to keep you safe." The tears ran down her face and she made a solemn vow that no harm would come to the little boy she held in her arms, no matter what.
Danny was outside when the shooting occurred; he picked up a shovel and started digging a grave. . . Rob headed out to help. He paused for a moment next to Jess to ask a question. "Was that really necessary?"
Kincaid didn't hesitate. "Damn right it was. He was gonna get us killed one of these days, lyin' about whether he'd done somethin' or not. For all we know somebody could be followin' his trail right now. We're runnin' outta time."
"We'll get outta here tonight. With or without the money."
Kincaid shook his head. "I ain't leavin' without payday. When you're done out there, take Danny into town and find Maude Donovan. See what you can get from her. We gotta get somethin' out of this."
Within the hour Rob and Danny were saddled up and on their way into Little Bend. Bret and Bart were determined that now was the time to rescue Beauregard and take him home where he belonged; the arrival of Dave Parker and his deputies reinforced their resolve.
.