Chapter Nine

"Slim!"

Up until this point, Slim had let the horse underneath him remain slow, keeping the pace with the one that carried double beside him. Now at the sight of Laramie's lawman, he picked up the pace, the hooves pounding hard until he met up with the man that had called out his name.

"Mort." Slim's eyes roved only long enough to realize that his friend was riding alone. Considering Slim's own ride while wearing the star was a lonely one, he shouldn't be surprised, yet seeing the lack of volunteers with him, Slim felt the familiar sting all over again. "How'd you get out here so quickly?"

"Mose ran the stage so fast that he busted two wheels in the last turn. He said there was blood on Daisy's bed."

"I'm all right, Sheriff," Daisy said, helping Mike tug on the reins of Jess' mount when they caught up to where Slim and Mort's horses stood. "It's nothing much, really."

"You're still going to see the doc." Slim put his mouth in its firmest line when her mouth opened to protest. "You're going."

"All right, Slim," Daisy answered, her tousled head in a slight shake. "I'm too tired to argue anyway."

Mort's hand sought the iron at his side when he realized the one his eyes were seeking was truly absent. "Where's Jess?"

Slim's breath hitched in his lungs, the smart rising fast to his eyes as he turned toward the cave's faraway position. "With Davies. He might already be dead."

"No!" Daisy and Mike cried together. "He's not."

Slim's voice lowered so far even Mort had to strain to hear. "He might. We don't know."

"Well, we're only a couple of miles from it. The four of us will go on back to Laramie, get Daisy to Doctor Sweeney's and start over again."

Slim's hand was reluctant to leave Daisy's waist as he led her up the stairs to the doctor's office. But he knew he had to let go. He had taken a look at the cut when his strong arms lifted her into Jess' saddle, and where stitches would no longer be a necessity, it still had to be cleaned out thoroughly. Slim cringed when he thought of the type of liquid that would flow over Daisy's leg. But knowing Daisy, she likely wouldn't flinch at all.

Pulling his hand away when Doctor Sweeney held out his own, Slim stepped back. "Take it easy, Daisy."

"I'll be fine, Slim. Just get back to Jess."

"I will." Slim nodded with enough determination that his belly bobbed along with his head. Or was that pure gut-wrenching fear? With Mike's eyes staring up at him and Daisy's soft hue also attached to his, until he was back on the trail, Slim had to keep that part of his being held back. He put a little bit of light in his eyes. "I got a room for you at the hotel. Stay there until you hear from me directly that it's all right to come home."

As soon as the door swung shut behind Daisy, Slim turned toward the street's center. Mort was bellowing at a kind of degree that Slim had never heard. But still it wasn't moving the men of Laramie to mount their horses. None of them wanted to return in a coffin. Or even if their fears weren't aligned that far southward, no one wanted to be shot, burned, or whatever other tricks Hector Davies had up his sleeve.

Slim was more than willing, and his boots smacked the road's surface so hard that dust could kick up. And no one had forgotten how hard it had rained in the night.

"I'm ready to go, Mort. If we wait any longer for someone to raise their hand, I just might start hogtieing men and drag them along."

"Well you sure know how to scatter them, all right," Mort said, arms coming away from their fold against his chest. "I'm ready too, Slim. I guess we can ride quieter with just the two of us anyhow."

Slim's hand brushed against his vest. "Do I get to put the badge back on my chest?"

"I'm surprised that you ever took it off."

"It didn't feel right having it pinned there when I was in a perpetual line to the outhouse. And then when we rode out after Daisy and Mike, well, that felt too personal to wear it."

"Isn't it still?"

With Jess so close to death that he might already be in his grave? Yes.

Slim could barely nod. "But if I need to shoot someone today, I'd rather do it on the right side than the wrong."

"Well, get it in place, then I can talk to you as sheriff to deputy."

Slim's eyes didn't leave Mort's as he secured the star over his heart. "You've learned something important?"

"I'll say. I sent a wire to Branch McGary, wanting to find out if there's anything about Davies that we need to know. There isn't, at least not on Hector. But Donovan Davies, that's something else entirely."

"Donovan," Slim echoed the name, its familiarity tickling his mind so hard that it spread to his eyes, making him squint. That was when he knew it had been in print. His fingers snapped. "The Bible. The older brother?"

"Exactly. Even their old man was behind bars at one time."

"And Donovan?"

"He was seen near the Colorado border less than a week before the first robbery. McGary's source says he was riding this way."

"So all this time there's been two of them?"

"Well, my assumptions were wrong before, so don't put a lot of stock in my words, but right now, I'd say that's a good possibility. And what's worse is that Donovan's got enough killings attached to his name that he could swing in several different states."

"No, what's worse is that he could be alone with Jess."

Mort nodded, the fear among the two men equally shared.

Slim's foot was so quick to enter his stirrup that it appeared that his entire body leapt into its leather seat. "Let's go."

.:.

He was an outlaw, with enough killings in his background that he never even flinched at death anymore. Well, there was a pair that proved this statement as wrong. His entire body had recoiled at the sight of his sister-in-law and nephew, drowned in blood so fresh that it hadn't been stilled yet.

But despite how hard his gut fried at that sight, death that didn't belong to family was something he didn't even cock his eyebrow over. What he was about to see beyond the cave's front door wouldn't bother him at all. In fact, he might relish in it. To stand with his brother as conquerors like he used to do with his pa, that would be a mighty good thing.

But as he entered, there wasn't a drop of fresh blood to be found. He saw some smears that had dried sometime in the night, but death here was vacant. He couldn't stop his eyebrows from doing a puzzled jump when Hec waved his arm his way, an introduction on his tongue.

"Well I see you got Harper," Donovan said, craning his head toward the darkest portion of the cave. "Where's the woman and boy?"

Hec swallowed first, realizing for the first time how difficult this was to convey to the only one that ranked above him. "I let them go."

"Why?" Donovan's eyes absorbed Harper, not feeling any surprise that he didn't have a devilish appearance. Trust in his brother was rapidly draining. "I thought you wanted to pay him back good."

"I will." Hec looked down at the cave's floor, spotting the line of blood that belonged to Mrs. Cooper. "But I couldn't do it that way."

"So now they're free, in a straight path to the law, most like."

Hec shrugged. That he really didn't know, but his brother's guess could possibly be spot-on strong. Especially since Sherman was the woman and boy's escort out. His shoulders rose a little higher. "We'll be gone when the law finally gets their act together."

"And does that include Harper? Being gone, I mean."

"Yes," Hec snapped, feeling the hatred resurface to his head, not that it had dropped too far, and its boiling point was quick to reach. "Harper will die for what he's done. Of that there is no question."

Donovan's mouth sprang to life with a smirk. "I thought he'd be dead already."

Jess had thought the same. But he definitely didn't find his fate a subject to be laughed over. Yet no matter how much he wanted to bark back in retaliation, Jess kept his entire frame stilled. His mouth would be best to follow. It had been obvious from the moment Jess could attach his eyes to Hector Davies that he hated him and wanted him dead. By the same simplistic scrutiny Jess could also see that Donovan didn't hold that kind of disgust toward him. But Donovan didn't need hatred spurring his gun into action. He looked like the kind of outlaw that would shoot his guts to smithereens just to celebrate the sun going down. And by the tinge of color in the western sky, it must have been close to that very hour.

The air sucked silently, yet heavily, into Jess' chest. If Hec really couldn't turn into a murderer, this other man already was.

"You're the one that hit the stagecoach, where the driver and shotgun were killed," Jess said, clearly stating the fact instead of turning it into a question.

"I am." Donovan nodded toward his brother. "Hec was in a bad spot, so I came along to help with raiding."

"And killing."

"If someone gets in the way of a bullet or breaks a neck in a fall, that's their problem."

"And the man, dressed up like the both of you at Hec's farm, I suppose that was his problem, also."

"Now that was deserved. You saw what he did to my sister-in-law and nephew. And so we're clear, he was already dressed in black. It shouldn't come to a shock to someone that wears a badge, but in case you were unaware, a lot of men on our side of things wear this kind of garb all the time. As a matter of fact, Harper, I see that your hat's the same shade. You one of us?"

"Used to be. But I gave up that life a long time ago."

Donovan smiled, but there wasn't anything about it that was kind. "To be a do-gooder, I suppose."

"Better than being what you are."

"You sure don't care who you talk back to," Donovan said, his gun tapping the air over Jess' frame. "Hec, tell me again why you haven't gunned him yet? He's beyond tolerable."

Hec shifted the rifle in his hands, just in case his brother was getting itchy fingered. "I was waiting for you to get here."

"So I can do more of your killing for you?"

"No," Hec shouted, an argument so close on his tongue that his cheeks spit just as much fire. "Harper's mine!"

"Easy, now. I don't think it'd do us any good to go to brawling in front of Harper. Might get his hopes up for an escape route."

Jess felt the flame in his middle quickly die. He had been hoping just that.

"All right, all right." Hec licked his lips, but he doubted anything would tame the color in his cheeks. "Well, since you brought up the subject. The other bounty hunter, is he…?"

"He's dead. I caught up with him near the junction, riding like the devil was screaming his name." Donovan's smile spread to a full chuckle. "Maybe he was, at that. Wanna know who he was?"

"I don't care what their names are. Killers is good enough for me."

"That they were, Hec," Donovan's hand reached into a pocket, putting a wallet into his clasp. "Rowan Carlyle was the one that took me on a chase. The one I left at your farm was Thad Lemming. At one time during the last month, it was my poster they were holding onto. So putting them out of the way was a victory, two times over. See this? They left a couple of twenties to add to your collection."

"You think you're ever gonna get to spend it?"

The way both men spun their heads in Jess' direction, a body would swear they had forgotten Jess was even in the cave with them. Hec's gape quickly closed, replaced with a visual glare, but Donovan's response to Jess' question would go much further. Spinning the rifle so that the butt was now outward, Donovan smacked it across Jess' belly. It was the second jab over the back of Jess' head that knocked him to the ground.

Jess put his hand against the growing lump and winced. He would have rather gone out cold. At least then the pain wouldn't be wracking his entire hide, even if it would be reserved for later.

Donovan seemed to tower over Jess' lowered frame. "What makes you think the money won't be spent?"

Jess brought his chin upward a notch, the solidity of it showing his strength to not go under even if the rest of his body was begging him to. "'Cause you'll be dead."

The rifle's end still facing Jess, it rose to the ceiling, the crash that would come brutal, but it didn't make it to Jess' skull.

Hec's steps were quick to reach his brother, his outstretched hand even quicker as it held onto the offending iron. "Donovan, don't."

"Whatever for?"

"You seem to forget who Harper belongs to here."

Donovan nodded. "I guess I did. But that quirk of his mouth is so irritating that I just wanted to bash it off."

"He does have that quality about him," Hec said, giving Harper's expression his own intense stare. "But he'll lose it soon enough."

"When? The way you're going about it, Harper's gonna still be staring down your iron at Christmastime."

"No, but even if there was something that delayed me that long, nothing will have stifled my hatred for him by then. In fact, I bet it'll only continue to grow."

"Yeah? He's kind of growing on me that way, too. Especially since he thinks you and I are gonna die." Donovan lowered his frame so that he was eyelevel with Jess, although the darts his pupils were throwing would have been accurate no matter the distance. "Who'll do us in anyway?"

Normally he would have said Slim, with its release ringing with pride. But Jess didn't want to paint a bulls-eye right over his partner's face. It was bad enough that Hec knew of their friendship, and the possibility of it being shared between the brothers was strong, but the biggest killer here didn't need to know Slim's name. But in reality he didn't have to speak Slim's name to put a dose of fear in a glass and make Donovan take it down in one swig. Anybody that believed in the law could be their end. Even somebody just like them could pull the trigger someday. Maybe not today, but for Jess, tomorrow would do.

"Dunno who it'll be right now, but there ain't nobody that gets away with killing. You'll get caught. And you'll swing."

"Then I guess when I reach hell, I'll let you know if you were right."

"Oh, Donovan," Hec said, jabbing his brother with his elbow. "Harper thinks he's gonna go to heaven."

"Him, on a cloud with a halo and a harp?" Donovan's neck stretched so that the man's face was direct with what was above him. And then his lips parted with a roar, so hearty that the contagions spread and Hec joined with him. The echo had its own raucous report, going around and around until it seemed as if the cave itself was divulging in hilarity. The only one to not crack a smile was Jess, not even when Donovan's sides stopped shaking with a snort. "You know what, Hec? I'm actually glad you haven't killed him yet, I haven't had a laugh like this in a long time."

"But all good things must come to an end, right?" Hec turned toward the cave's opening, fully dark on its other side. If they were going to slip away into the night, the deciding trigger had to be pulled. "Like right now."

"Just a minute, Hec." Donovan stilled the hand that was aligning the rifle to Jess' heart. "I thought you wanted to make Harper suffer?"

"I did. But I threw that card away, remember?"

"Hec, there are other ways to peel a man's hide back. Remember what Pa did to Sheriff Sanderson all those years ago?"

"That the one that jumped to his death?" Hec waited for his brother's nod of affirmation before letting the smile that was tickling both corners of his mouth to raise it far enough to show his teeth. "Yeah. I think there's still room for pleasure in this. Why make Harper die easy when he can still go out screaming?"

"Exactly, little brother. Exactly."