Winter's Refuge

Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven

LOM

I heard a cry from Wayne and left Heyes' letter on the table near my chair. My boy was fussing so I changed his diaper and put him back in the crib while I made up a bottle of formula. But I thought about the letter…and Heyes walking into Shaw's lair. I know he still panics and wants to hide in his mind. I know he loses his words at times. I wanted to get back to his letter. I'm worried about him. Before prison broke him, he would have pulled this off easily. But he's changed. I know in some ways he's still broken, especially without the Kid by his side. But he's doing this for his family and he sent the letter, so I know he made it through.

I fed my baby and put him back in his cradle, dreaming deeply. Then I went and continued reading.

HEYES' LETTER

Despite my confident words, I was scared. But I buried my fear deep inside and put on the persona I needed tonight. The man led me out the back door and to a tent. As he lifted the tent, I looked around quickly. The Kid says always know your surroundings, you never know what might happen. There wasn't much in this tent. A table was used as a desk. A plank balanced on whiskey barrels held whiskey bottles, dirty glasses, guns, and bullets.

As I entered, the man I knew as Skunk Shawford stood to greet me. "Well, if it isn't Hannibal Heyes. Welcome. Come in."

He held out his hand and I shook it.

"Mr. Shaw?" I asked with a small grin and a tilt of my head.

Looking at the man who showed me in, he dismissed him. "That's all for tonight, Dave. Go enjoy yourself."

Then he turned back to me. "Skylar Shaw actually. I think it has some class about it. What do you think, Heyes?"

I laughed. "Certainly more class than Skunk Shawford."

"Too many wanted posters out with that name."

He motioned and I sat down. I still had the same glass of whiskey in my hand, so he poured one for himself.

"I knew our paths would cross again. Didn't quite believe all the talk of amnesty. Who's Hannibal Heyes if he isn't robbing banks and trains? You are really something, you know. The leader of the most successful outlaw gang the west has ever known."

"Well, the amnesty had a lot of strings. Didn't work out for me."

"What about the Kid? I always wanted to meet Kid Curry," Shaw said, leaning forward and I knew my reputation still impressed him. "He as fast as they say?"

"Not anymore. We went our separate ways years ago. He wanted to try to live with all those strings of amnesty confining him. Lost touch."

He stood up and went to the door of the tent. I followed him. Looking at the back door of Shaw's Star, he said, "Always dreamed of owning a saloon where outlaws felt free to come and go. She don't look like much, but she's mine, bought and paid for."

"Good start. A lot of work to do though. Money come from your last robbery?"

We sat down again. He chuckled. "No, last robbery was the Bank of Three Birds. Although the bank president there really 'gave' us the money. That's the name of this town. This money came from a train up near Colorado Springs. Sixty-thousand-dollar government payroll. Used some to buy this place, the rest is in a safe at a farm I bought north of here," he told me.

I had him talking and trying to impress me. This is the Skunk Shawford I remember, easily impressed, proud, sly but not all that clever, and I wasn't going to forget volatile and violent. Sitting on the hard chair, I concentrated on looking relaxed and smiling.

"Nice. Rode past a sheriff's office. He in your pocket?"

"No, he may be the sheriff, but I'm the law. This little town was so easy to fleece. Sheriff ain't even been around since I got here."

Sounds of a fight came from the saloon. He ran over and I followed. Four men were fighting. One of the few poker tables broke as a man was thrown into it.

"Well, that's certainly not good for business," I said.

He looked at me like he hadn't considered that before. We watched as Dave, Herc, and two others broke up the fight. The fighters each received a hard punch on the jaw; I heard the crunches as they broke. Then they were tossed out the front door where they immediately started wrestling again in the dirt.

As we watched this, two girls came over and rubbed our shoulders. "Got a free room, stranger," a very young brunette, in a low-cut blue dress that was too big for her, told me.

"Evelyn, go find someone else. Me and this man got business to discuss," Shaw said.

"We do?" I asked him.

"We do, Heyes. I been waiting for just the right partner."

I raised my glass as if to toast. "Always open to the right opportunity."

Back in his tent, he got right to the point. "I need a partner. Someone like you with a good outlaw reputation that people respect and gets things done."

I saw he was serious, so I held in my smile. This was always going to be my plan. To ask him to be my partner. To let me in on the deal he had here. But he beat me to it. This worked even better. "Haven't had a partner since I got out of prison."

"Think how good we'd be together. You could plan the robberies and we'd escape here after."

"Skunk…"

"It's Shaw."

"Yeah, sorry, I forgot. This ain't a place to hide. Even if you control the town, lawmen and them damned bounty hunters would flock here. It's out in the open. Too many roads in and out. So many outlaws and drifters here now they might be aware of it already. 'Sides, I think you've gotten everything out of this podunk town you can."

"You do?" he asked.

"Said you robbed the bank and you're the law here. You want to spend all your time breaking up fights like that one?"

"Err, no."

It was time to strike. "I know a place north of Laramie. City backs up to the mountains…and some cave nobody knows about that leads to a green valley."

"I'd have to sell Shaw's Star?"

"Yeah, is that a problem?" I asked. I knew I was nervous and said that too fast, but he didn't notice.

"Don't think anyone around here could afford to buy it. Guess I could just let it go…"

"No, maybe not. I think I know someone; he's not always exactly on the honest side of the law, you understand," I said, grinning.

I saw him brighten. "How long would it take you to find out if he's interested?"

And I knew I had him.

"Don't want to trust a telegram. Rather do it in person."

"Good." He smiled. "Because this town ain't got a telegraph operator anymore. He tried to be a hero, so I killed him." His smile grew larger. "Don't hold with heroes in my town."

I gave him a hard outlaw stare before I spoke. "You know me and the Kid never held with killing. If we're going to partner up…"

A panic look crossed his face but was quickly controlled. He laid his hand on his gun on the table. "That's going to be a problem. Only way I know to keep men in line."

I'd read his wanted posters. Most were wanted dead or alive for murder. "How about I show you how we did it so good. We were the most successful gang in the West, you know."

His hand moved away from the gun. I turned to look at the flap of the tent to hide the look of relief on my face. I can't control emotions like that as good anymore.

"Okay, we'll try it your way, but if it don't work, I know my way works."

You got a stage line here?" I asked, knowing they did and tomorrow was one of the two days a month that it came through here.

"Leaves tomorrow morning at seven."

"Excellent!" I exclaimed with false happiness. "I'll be on it. Let's get down to business. You need to fix this place up if you want him to buy it. Saw the burnt place down the street. Looked like most of the bar was intact. Maybe you can ask the previous owner if you can have it."

He laughed a cruel laugh. "I don't ask ANYONE for permission to do anything in this town."

"Well then, let's write a list of things you need to do when I'm away. Shouldn't be gone long so get it done."

So, Lom, I stayed up all night talking to Shaw. Hadn't thought where I was going to sleep when I started this. And I have no interest in spending it in a saloon girl's bed. I spun a tale of the life ahead of us and he bought every word. I was careful not to go too far remembering his violent temper. I caught the stage the next morning, but only went as far as the third stop. I rented a horse and rode away from Three Birds, in case Shaw had me followed. After a couple of hours, I knew I wasn't followed. He wasn't that smart to think of that. From a little town northeast of Three Birds, I sent some telegrams and rode hard to get back to Three Birds just after dusk. I went in the secret way through the storm doors to the doctor's office and reported what had happened to the Kid.

"Glad you're back and alright, Heyes. Been worried. Well, the part where you wanted Shaw to fix up his saloon is workin'. He's taken a lot from the ashes of the Three Birds Saloon. Turns out there was a lot just scorched lightly. All of it stinks of smoke. From what I can hear, he's proudly tellin' his men it was all his idea. Don't think many of them like the hard work, though."

"Good. At least when he leaves, Three Birds will have a decent place to drink and play cards again, courtesy of Skunk. You been watching out the window all the time?"

"Pretty much. He walks up and down the main street. Each mornin' before sunrise, I see more people, good people, leavin'. He's been in Frank's office. It's his now. Look on the table over there," he said.

"The wanted posters!"

"Gabe got them before Shaw took over the sheriff's office."

There was quite a few, Lom. You might remember some of them. Saw ones for Savage Skunk Shawford, a couple for Skylar Shaw, and even ones for Hercules Lowry and Dusty Dave Denim. There were a couple of others, too, that Gabe thought fit the description of some of the men he had seen come to Three Birds.

I looked out the window and saw that Shaw's Star was busier than ever. The outside had been painted and the batwing doors stained a dark brown, and the start of a sidewalk out in front. They even dragged the two outhouses from the burnt saloon to the back of Shaw's Star.

I smiled at the Kid. "Think it's time we start part two of this thing."

The Kid checked his gun for the third time. "How long do you think this will take?"

"Not long. I got to be back to Shaw's Star later tonight. Let's just hope what what we need is safe."

LOM

I thought I knew where Curry and Heyes were going, to that ranch where Shaw lives. But he's not there. He'll be in that saloon of his. From Heyes' description of him, he's gloating over all the improvements from the burnt saloon. I checked on Wayne. I do it often. It always fills me with love. Don't know how I couldn't have understood that at first.

The names Dusty Dave and Herc Lowry sounded familiar. I remember reading their wanted posters. I don't remember their descriptions but do remember they were wanted for robbery and murder. I hope Heyes knows what he's doing.

HEYES' LETTER

We went out the secret exit and me and the Kid rode to the Pokora Farm...not the Shaw Farm. We don't know how many men Shaw has guarding the place and I wished I had my gun.

The Kid shook his head. "No, you don't, Heyes. No way of knowin' if you can shoot straight under pressure. Rely on your silver tongue. It's been good, so far. You know, Heyes, I been thinkin' about this. Reminds me of that friend of yours in Wickenburg 'cept he did it right. No violence, just keep buyin' up the town until he owned most everythin'."

"Jim Plummer ain't no friend of mine…and some of that money he spent to buy Wickenburg was my money!"

You know, Lom, sometimes the Kid is good at breaking my tension. And that's what he did here, and my mind was off comparing Skunk Shawford to Jim Plummer. Skunk wasn't coming out of the winning side in anything.

We weren't there to steal really, but I needed to know if I was right about what was in that safe. There was only one guard. We had anticipated more. There could be some we're not seeing. Shaw confided in me he had a fancy safe installed in the main bedroom he used. That was our objective. It went well at first. We found an open window in the back bedroom and climbed in. Then worked our way quietly to the main bedroom. Whatever guards there were stayed outside the house, not inside. The Kid kept the door open a sliver and kept watch while I opened the safe.

I have to admit Lom, opening up that safe was fun. It took me almost ten minutes, but she gave me all her secrets. And with the Kid watching my back, it felt like old times. Except that it felt wrong. This time I was scared. But I was doing this to protect our family at Phoenix. And that's where my fear came from. Before, we had each other, and we were carefree and both taking the chance. But things have changed. We have families now.

There were two bags of money in there, just what I was looking for. And he hadn't combined them. Looked like they were just pushed in there quickly. The bills in the bigger bag were branded National Bank of San Francisco. That had to have been from the train robbery. I took one bill from that bag. The second just had money stuffed inside it. I counted out what I would need for my plan and resisted the urge to put the rest of the cash in neater stacks. I pushed the bags back inside and closed the door quietly. The dial had been on the third number of the combination, so I made sure that's where it rested now.

I led the way out while the Kid looked around behind us for any guards. I climbed out the same window we used to enter.

As my feet hit the ground, I heard a voice, "Hands up, mister. Nobody steals from Mr. Shaw while I guard his property. Knew I didn't remember that window being open."

I raised my hands high over my head and spoke loudly, hoping the Kid would hear me, "I didn't take anything. Search me if you want. I'm a friend of Mr. Shaw's. I knocked and when no one answered, I found a way in to check if he was okay. Wanted to warn him that I saw a bounty hunter in Three Birds tonight."

"Uh huh, sure you did. Keep your hands raised," he sneered.

I was happy I hadn't worn my gun and even happier the Kid had. I could tell he was beating himself up for leaving the window open after we climbed in. He's out of practice robbing. That's a good thing.

"Mister, I think you're the one that should put your hands up…now!" The Kid's voice was emotionless and cold. I knew if I looked at him those blue eyes would be gray. "Get his gun and tie his hands."

"We can't just leave him here, even tied up," I said.

"I know where we'll keep him."

We took his horse from the stables and while we were there I saw Black Swan. She is truly a magnificent horse. I hoped that after this trauma she was still pregnant. She looked unharmed and was very grateful for the few strokes I could give her. "Can't take you now, girl, but soon," I told her.

"Is that what this is about? That horse? Take her. She's a lot of work. Mr. Shaw treats her like she was a princess or something," the now captured guard said.

We said nothing but helped him onto his horse, tying his hands to the saddle horn. And headed back toward Three Birds. We had to gag him after a few minutes because he wouldn't shut up…mostly about all the things he had to do for Black Swan.

"You sure you got a plan what to do with him, Kid?" I asked again.

He nodded.

Reassured, that was all I had to know. We rode in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. My thoughts were of those at home…and then I focused on Skunk Shawford.

Keeping to a wooded line until we were in back of the houses of the Three Birde brothers, I really wondered if Kid knew what he was doing. When we were in back of Sheriff Frank's house, he made a beeline for his stable.

"He's out of town," I whispered to the Kid.

"Don't need him. You'll see."

The Kid knocked softly on the kitchen door. The housekeeper peeked through the curtains. Her expression relaxed when she recognized my partner. We heard the door unlock.

The Kid stepped outside to let me and the prisoner go in first and surveyed our surroundings one last time before he followed. "Ma'am, Frank showed me once but would you come with me to get the key?"

"THE key?" she asked, looking at our prisoner.

Nodding, the Kid handed me his gun. "Watch him, Heyes. Shoot him if he tries anything','' he growled.

Striding out of the kitchen and further into the big house, he was trailed by the housekeeper running to keep up.

I looked at our prisoner. "You heard him. Sit in that chair and don't move."

"You're Hannibal Heyes? You're Mr. Shaw's partner."

"Well, we are working on that partnership," I answered.

"I thought you were intruders."

"We told you we were trying to warn Shaw about a bounty hunter," I reminded him. "If you check out with Shaw, we'll let you go tomorrow."

I looked down the hall where the Kid had disappeared and wondered what he meant by THE key.

We heard noise from the basement. Our prisoner's face showed alarm. "What's down there?" he asked. "Shaw ain't going like it if you hurt me. Known him a long time."

"I don't know what's down there. You from Shaw's gang?" I tried to sound casual, but his answer would change some things in my plan.

He chuckled. "Wasn't Shaw's gang. He was just a member. We was robbing a train near Colorado Springs. Shaw was watching the horses."

"He said he has the stolen money."

"He does. Well, it's our money. There's four of us. When we was leavin', we ran for the horses. Our leader threw the money bag over his horse. But as he went to mount, Shaw shot him. Left him there for the lawmen to find with two bullets in him. Some of the men had already left but the four of us - me, Shaw, Dusty Dave and Herc Lowry - rode in the opposite direction with the money. We hid real good and saw the posse find the man Shaw shot. He must have been dead because they left him there and followed the trail left by the others. Then we just laid low for a couple of weeks and Shaw hatched this plan. Working well."

"Once he got set up, you really expected Shaw to share that money with you?" I asked.

"With the four of us, we're partners," he said, but I heard some doubt in his voice.

"Shaw asked me to be his partner. Didn't say nothing about the rest of you," I tried to keep my voice flat. I stopped talking. I had all the information I needed. And I needed to get out of here and to Shaw soon.

Returning without the housekeeper, the Kid stuck his head into the kitchen. "Let's go."

He took his gun and pushed the man in front of him. I followed behind, curious.

"Down those stairs," the Kid ordered, using his gun to point at an open door.

I walked down about six stairs to the landing and had to stop myself from shaking. Frank has two dark cells in his basement. Although it was lit with one lantern now, I could imagine the darkness below me. I looked up, not down, and saw that there were windows; they were just covered by black curtains.

The Kid forced the man into the cell and locked the door. "Lift your hands up here," he said. And he untied the man's hands. The cell was stark, no bed but a stack of blankets. There was a bucket of fresh water and a metal chamber pot in the corner. And that was all. Four sides of thick metal bars enclosed the sides and the top was the same. The floor was concrete. Memories made me shake more violently.

"Heyes, get out of here. Get our horses ready," the Kid ordered when he saw me. But my feet wouldn't climb back up the stairs.

I wasn't looking at the Kid. I was looking in my mind.

"Heyes'll talk to Shaw tomorrow. If he confirms who you are, we'll apologize, and let you out," the Kid finished to Rafferty.

I heard the prisoner growl.

Then the Kid was behind me, supporting me, silently pushing me up the stairs. When we were back in the hall, he closed the door to the basement and locked it.

"Heyes, didn't want you to follow me down there. You going to be alright to go to Shaw's tonight?" he asked, concerned.

I leaned my hands on the Kid's shoulders and took several deep breaths. I looked up into his face and felt his strength.

"Yes, let me sit for a moment and I get over to the Shaw's Star and talk to him. Got to be tonight. Our 'buyer' is coming in tomorrow."

He tipped his head and gave me a quizzical look.

I smiled. "Don't worry, you'll recognize him. And by the way, our prisoner's going to fit right into our plans."

"You can be expecting some company coming into the doc's house tomorrow by that secret way. I sent telegrams. Not exactly sure who will show up."

LOM

I could hear the wind blowing around the house. Wayne was sleeping calmly. I went around and checked that all the windows and doors were locked securely. I have two where the latches are broken. Going to bring them with me the next time I go to Three Birds, but I wasn't planning on going there anytime soon.

By the time I got to the end of the letter, I started making plans to get to Phoenix quickly.