Chapter 12

Jarrod and Sheriff Madden left his office just as Nick and Heath were pulling up to the mercantile about half a block down the street. Sheriff Madden said, "I'm gonna go check Big Annie's and see if Eaves might be there."

"If you wait a second, we can go with you," Jarrod said, heading toward his brothers. "Do you know what Eaves looks like?"

"No," the sheriff admitted.

Jarrod said, "Heath does."

The sheriff went along with Jarrod, and they caught up to Nick and Heath as they were hitching up the wagon. "What's the word?" Nick asked.

"We got Archer off the hook," Jarrod said. "Pauly Eaves is on it, but we can't find him. I don't know if he's found out he's in trouble, or he's just here in town on an unauthorized leave. Heath, we need you to help see if we can spot him here in town. The rest of us don't know what he looks like."

"Little guy, wiry, left-handed, wears a dark hat," Heath said.

"We're gonna check out Big Annie's," Sheriff Madden said. "Can you come along?"

"We can get the supplies later," Nick said.

The Barkley brothers all followed Sheriff Madden to the edge of town where Big Annie's place of business was located. As the people inside noticed the sheriff was coming, a few men spilled out the back door. Heath took a look but shook his head. Pauly Eaves wasn't one of them.

The four of them went inside together. Big Annie was there in the parlor with three of her girls. Big Annie had a big smile for the sheriff.

"Hello, Sheriff," she said. "What brings you here today?"

"Relax, Annie, I'm not after you," Sheriff Madden said. "Looking for a man named Pauly Eaves."

"Well," Annie said, "you know I don't insist on knowing a man's name when he comes in here."

"Young guy, little and scrawny and left-handed," Heath said. "He may have raped a young girl."

Annie looked concerned now. She considered, and then she said, "He's upstairs. Ought to be down any time. I'd appreciate it if you wait until he leaves here before you talk to him."

Sheriff Madden nodded. "We'll be outside."

The men all left, but once outside, the sheriff said, "Heath and I will take the front. Jarrod, you and Nick take the back and sing out if somebody who looks like Eaves comes out that way. We'll escort him out back if he comes out this way, so we can have a private chat with him in the alley."

Jarrod nodded and went around to the back door with Nick. Once they had parked themselves there, Jarrod checked his revolver to make sure it was loaded. "Expecting trouble?" Nick asked.

"I always do," Jarrod said. "Keeping ready always worked well for Dakota."

Nick chuckled a little.

"What's that about?" Jarrod asked.

"Just wondering how much of Dakota you're going to keep once you reinvent Jarrod Barkley. I kinda like the guy."

It was Jarrod's turn to chuckle. "Yeah, I kinda like him, too."

A man came sneaking out the back, but Nick recognized him. "Hi, there, Stanley," he said to the man who ran the freight depot.

"Oh – " the man said, startled. "Hi, Nick."

"Just move on, Stanley. We're not after you."

"See you around," Stanley said and hurried down the alley.

A couple minutes later, a scrawny young man wearing his gun on the left came out of the back door. He stopped dead when he saw the Barkley brothers.

"Hey, there, Pauly Eaves!" Jarrod said, loudly enough for Heath and the sheriff to hear him.

"Hey," Eaves said. "How do you know me?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," Jarrod said. "Holes in my memory and that sort of thing. But we did want to talk to you for a few minutes."

Eaves looked from Jarrod to Nick and then at the sheriff and Heath as they came around the corner from the front of the building. "What about?" he asked, moving slightly to his left, away from the men trying to gather around him.

"Bonnie Henderson," Sheriff Madden said. "I had a chat with her this morning – "

Eaves bolted, dashing off to his left. Nick made a grab for him, but the boy was fast and Nick missed and stumbled. He cursed and started to run after him, as Heath ran past him.

But the boy was really fast, dashing around the edge of Big Annie's and across the street, into another alley.

Even Heath couldn't keep up with him. Nick had recovered his balance and wasn't far behind Heath, and Jarrod was only a few paces behind them.

They spotted Eaves running like mad, dashing around the corner of a building across the street. They went after him and spotted him in the alley, cornering yet another building and heading back out into the street. In a second he was running down the boardwalk heading back the way he'd come, out of town.

When the Barkleys made it around the corner after him, they heard screaming and saw him pushing everyone he came across out of his way, man and woman and child alike. The Barkleys took to the street itself, avoiding the people. A bigger but older man, the sheriff came running more slowly behind them, yelling for everyone to get down.

Eaves ran into Harry's saloon and dashed for the back door, but Harry was coming through that door and got in his way. Eaves pushed him down, but Harry, being a very heavy man, blocked the door when he fell. Eaves turned and tried to run back out the front, but it was too late.

Nick and Heath started in through the front doors, but ducked when Eaves began to fire at them. Heath landed flat on his stomach on the floor, his gun skidding away from him, just as Jarrod came in through the doors. Nick fired at Eaves, but Eaves had ducked behind the bar. Jarrod dove on the floor near Heath, scrambling to where he could see behind the bar and firing on Eaves before Eaves could get a shot off at him. Jarrod's improved accuracy paid off. Eaves rolled over, his gun going off twice into the bottles behind the bar before he lay still.

Nick hustled over to him, keeping low and on the other side of the bar until he rounded the end. Eaves lay still on the floor there. Nick kicked his gun away, but Eaves did not move. Nick turned his attention to Harry, to help him get up.

"You okay, Harry?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harry said as Nick helped him to his feet.

"Nick!" Heath called, his voice somewhat soft. He was with Jarrod on the floor at the other end of the bar.

Nick ran over. "You hit?" he asked Heath.

Heath shook his head, but then he looked down at Jarrod.