I backed up and Eamon came into the suite. I could smell liquor on his breath, but he wasn't drunk. He'd had just enough to give him courage. "Put the gun down, Eamon," was the first thing I said.
"Nope, Mr. I've-Got-a-Plan. The only plan you've got is to steal Ally right out from under my nose, then get me killed while you're tryin' to 'protect' me."
"That's not true, Eamon. We're really tryin' to help you."
He closed the door behind him, but where the gun was pointed never wavered. "Sure. Tryin' to protect me. How does havin' Ally up here in your room protect me? What'd you have planned for her, huh? Gonna worm your way into her heart, then her bed, then when I was gone you'd have her? Is that your plan?"
"Eamon, no!" Ally cried out. "Put the gun down. I'm going to marry Bart."
"Gonna marry . . . no! You can't! You're my girl, Ally, you always have been. I don't have fancy clothes or a fancy brother, but you're mine. Not Bart High-and-Mighty Mavericks! Mine!"
So Bret was right all along. Eamon Garrity thought that Ally O'Rourke was his girl, and I had no right to be in love with her.
Ally, bless her heart, stood her ground. "I'm not your girl, Eamon. I never have been. Bart's asked me to marry him, and I've accepted." What she didn't realize was that she was making things worse, not better.
"Nooooooooo!" he wailed. "You can't marry a dead man, and I'm gonna kill him!" There was something goin' on here besides a fight over Ailish, and I needed to find out what it was – if I had any hope of coming out of this alive.
"Eamon, put the gun down and let's talk about this. If you kill me you still won't have Ally, and you'll have to deal with Morgan by yourself." I didn't know if he'd even listen to me at this point, but I was sure gonna try to talk my way out of this, whatever it had become.
"Ha! That's where you're wrong. Morgan knows all about the Mavericks plan to bring him to his knees, and he gave me a choice – kill the sheriff or kill you and your brother. I pick – you!"
"Why don't you leave my brother out of this? He hasn't done anything but try to help you. You don't have to kill Bret, too." Maybe I could convince him that one Maverick murder was enough?
"Because he knows. He knows. He knows everything you know. If I kill both of you, then I'll be a hero. I'll tell the sheriff it was all a cover, for the two of you to take over the town and run it. And he won't be able to lay his dirty Maverick paws on my sister again. Nope, gotta be both of you."
Ally started to walk towards him, but I pulled her back. The liquored-up man standing in front of her was not the sweet, gentle Irish boy she'd known for most of her life. "No, Ally, stay out of it."
"Where's your gun belt?" Eamon barked.
"In my room," I answered back.
"Ally, go get his gun belt. And don't try anything cute, because if you do, I'll shoot him right where he stands."
I shifted my gaze back to Ally and nodded. "Do as he says, lass. And be careful. Don't give him any reason to shoot."
She slowly made her way into my room and came back out carrying the requested object. She walked towards Eamon and dropped it at his feet, quickly backing away as if it was a snake about to bite her. He squatted down and removed the gun from its holster, then straightened up and held out the empty belt. "Put this on," he ordered, and I did as I was told.
"What did you tell Morgan?" I asked him while tying down the holster.
"The truth," he answered surprisingly. "That you and your brother were lyin' to him, that you'd sworn to help me out of my debt to him, and you all were workin' on a plan to get him arrested and locked up for a long time. He wasn't happy, to say the least. He really liked you, Maverick. Thought you were cut from the same cloth as him. So he gave me a choice – and told me my debt was paid either way."
"The other night in the alley?"
"You saw that, huh? Nate thought you might have, but he wasn't sure. We argued about who got to kill you and your brother. Finally, I won."
"What happened to Big Ed?"
"Big Ed? Nothin', why?"
"Have you seen him since that night?"
"Uh, no. Why?"
Just as I thought. "Because Ed caught me, but I convinced him he hadn't. If he said somethin' to Morgan or Nate, Big Ed is no longer in the picture."
Eamon shrugged. "Not my problem. All I have to do is get rid of you and your brother. Ally, you stay here. I don't want you involved in this."
She tried one more time. "You can't do this. You know it's wrong. Do you think I could ever live with you if you kill Bart and Bret? I'll hate you until the day I die, Eamon Garrity."
"No, you won't. Deep down you love me. You know you do. In time, you'll understand." He waved his gun at me. "Let's go, Maverick."
Ally grabbed my arm and I shrugged her off. "Stay here, Ailish. Stay safe. Please. I couldn't stand it if you were hurt."
With big tears running down her cheeks, she nodded. "I love you, Bart."
It was the first time she'd said it, and it made me smile. I couldn't help it. The look on Eamon's face? Pure hatred. He backed up and opened the door to our suite, then motioned me out with the gun. I went, willing to bide my time until I could gain an advantage. He stayed right behind me, with the barrel in my back, all the way down the stairs. The lobby of the hotel was empty, but I could hear rain and thunder outside. The monsoon was again in full swing.
I looked out the front door before I pulled it open. Through the pouring rain and the occasional flash of lightning I could see figures across the street, standing under the dry overhang of the barber shop roof. The one on the left was Nate Turner, and he had a gun in one hand and Nora in the other. In front and to the right was my brother, and I could see no gun in his holster, either. What was Eamon's intention? To shoot us down in the street like dogs? And where was everyone? Even with the torrential rain there should be someone out – but there was no one in sight. Only the three people I saw, soon to be joined by two more – me and Garrity.
The gun jammed into my back and I opened the door and walked out under the overhang on our side of the street. Bret saw me and there was an imperceptible nod. Nora stood stock still, a look of sheer terror frozen on her face. Eamon's gun shoved me forward, out into the mud and the street, and within seconds I was soaked through. I couldn't see much with the hammering down of the water, but I heard Ally come running down the stairs and follow Eamon out onto the sidewalk and beg him to stop this insanity. He was beyond reasoning, and shoved her carelessly out into the street with me.
I grabbed her and pushed her through the downpour to the other side of the street, over with Nora and Bret, and she began screaming and crying. Bret got his hands on her and kept her from running back out into the storm. "No, Eamon, no!" she yelled, but the Irishman ignored her. That's when he did something unexpected – he tossed me my Colt.
"Holster it!" he yelled, and against my better judgment I did. I was numb by the time I did that – I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning a gunfight. Bret always jokes about him being the second slowest gun in the west – but guess who he can outdraw? Once I got it out I was a pretty good shot, but getting it out was the problem. To make matters worse, Garrity had a hat on to keep the rain out of his eyes – I was bareheaded.
He kept his gun pointed at me until he got to the middle of the street, then quickly slipped it inside his holster. "Kill me, Maverick, and your brother lives," he shouted at me, and before I had time to think, he drew and fired.
I felt the bullet hit my shoulder, and the impact threw me to the ground as I pulled my gun and shot in his general direction. By the grace of God and sheer luck I hit him, and the last thing I saw before I crashed to the ground was the look of complete surprise on his face as the bullet ripped through his chest.
I couldn't move. I just lay there in the street, in the rain and the mud, wounded by the man that I'd just killed, and bled. I could still hear Ally screaming, and Bret trying to hold onto her and calm her down. When he finally let go of her she ran straight to Eamon, and only when she was certain he was dead did she come to me.
"You're hurt!" she cried, as if she hadn't seen his bullet hit me and knock me down. In that moment I knew I'd lost her – I'd lost her to a dead man.