Chapter 2

In which the brothers learn more of their extended family and

of their uncle's murder

After stabling their horses in the livery barn, the Jackson brothers checked into the Black Deck Hotel and settled into their rooms.

"What do we do first, Johnny?" Sean asked Johnny.

"First I'm gonna get me somethin' to eat," Ian answered for his brother. "I'm about as hungry as a bear wakin' up after hibernation."

The other three agreed with Ian and went down to the saloon and sat down at one of the tables. A few seconds later a pretty pig-tailed girl came over. "What can I get for you gentlemen?" she asked most politely. It wasn't every day she got to wait on four handsomest men.

"What's the special?" Van asked looking around haughtily for a menu of some kind.

"We'll all have whatever you got handy," said Sean.

"And pie," cried Ian. "You got any pie?"

"Yes sir. Apple pie's just come out of the oven."

"Bring us some of that too, please," Ian said licking his lips.

The girl hurried away and Van turned on his brother. "What's the idea, Sean, ordering like that?"

"Van," Johnny said slowly. "For the last time, you eat what they got or you don't eat at all. There aren't any special stuff out here." Van sat back in his chair with a huff.

A few minutes later the girl came back with four steaming plates of steaks and beans and a hot apple pie. Van watched in disgust as his three brothers dug right in and started fairly wolfing their food down. Unlike Ian, he still couldn't get used to the manners out here.

After a while though, his stomach started making some awful noises and he cautiously picked up his fork and tried a bite of beans. To his surprise they were actually quite good so he tried the steak. Within minutes he was eating just as fast as the others and soon had started in on the apple pie.

"Hey, slow down, Van," Ian laughed. "Leave some of that for the rest of us."

When they had finished the meal, the four sat back in their chairs rubbing their stomachs and sipping coffee. After finishing with a couple other customers, the girl came back to their table. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" she asked.

"Maybe," Sean said. "What all do you know of Buck and Brett Jackson?"

"Why only that they've lived here ever since I can remember. I've always been told that together the two of them built this town up themselves and made it what it is today. It's a terrible shame both of them had to die so close together. Now their sister's all alone."

"Sister?" Johnny spoke to her for the first time.

"Olivia Lee. She and Brett were probably gonna get the ranch and saloon but I don't know what's gonna happen now that Mr. Brett's been murdered."

"So you do think he was murdered?" Ian questioned.

"Oh yes. His sister and her husband probably had him done in so they could get it all. "

"Well, there's two suspects for us to go on," said Van.

"What's her husband's name?" Johnny asked.

"Westin. We all call him Wes."

"When are they having the reading of the wills?" asked Sean.

"I heard it's to be tomorrow mornin'."

Johnny thanked the girl and gave her a large tip. "Well, Johnny," Sean said after she'd gone. "What do we do now?"

"I guess the best thing to do is get a good night's sleep for tomorrow," his brother answered. And so the four finished off their coffee and went back upstairs to their rooms.

The next morning Johnny was up bright and early. Without waking Sean he got dressed, pulled on his guns, and slipped out of the hotel and into the street. It was so early that not one person was up that he could tell. He decided to ride back up into the mountains.

He saddled his horse and rode out of the town just as Swin Baker woke up. The sheriff had almost chosen to run out after him but then decided against it. His brothers were still probably in the hotel, he thought and he had a feeling Johnny was not the kind to run off on his companions.

Johnny started out at a walk but after a few minutes moved up to a trot and then a canter. Even though his gelding had only been on the trail once he remembered it like the smell of oats and didn't stumble once. It took less than half an hour to get back to the place where they'd found their uncle's body.

He stopped his horse a few feet away so as not to disturb anything and dismounted to have another look around. The tracks were a little faded but still legible. He had no doubt that Ian was correct in his assumptions about the body but he was looking for something else.

He remembered that when they'd found the body he'd been lying face up, his head pointed in the direction of the town. He'd obviously been on his way up somewhere when shot. The ambusher, or ambushers, had shot him twice in his chest just as he'd come around the corner. The man had then apparently come up closer and shot him twice more in the head.

After deducing all of this, Johnny began looking around for the place the ambusher had lain in wait. He soon found it about twenty yards from the trail. It was a perfect spot, nestled between two boulders, with a clear view of the trial. Without disturbing anything Johnny examined the tracks. There was only one set so it apparently had been a lone gunman; a very small gunman by the size of his shoes, which were a good two inches smaller than Johnny's own boots. Johnny estimated the man to be about five foot seven, lean and thin. He could construe little else.

Thinking of nothing else to do, Johnny remounted his horse and headed back to town. He rode in just as his brothers were coming out of the hotel.

"Where have you been, Johnny?" Van asked at once.

"Up in the mountains," his brother replied, slowly descending from the horse. "Learned a few more things about Uncle Brett's death."

"What?" Ian cried.

"Well, he was on his way back from the mountains."

"Wonder what he was after up there," Sean mused.

"And it was only one man who shot at him. A small man, probably even small than you, Ian."

"Well, that narrows it down," Van muttered.

They had no time to talk further before Swin Baker came up to them a hard look in his eye. "You're back Mr. Jackson," he said to Johnny. "What were you doin' out there?"

"Tryin' to clear up a murder, Sheriff," Johnny replied.

"Say, when are we gonna get to hear what Dad left us?" asked Ian.

"We're gonna read both wills at noon today."

"But we're his sons," Van protested.

"Sorry, you'll just have to wait like everyone else."