Later that night, after Luke and Red had stuffed their bellies with the finest cuts of beef prepared in Stormy’s kitchen, they made their way back to the nameless stable across town. The man who answered the door when Luke knocked had a bit more meat on his bones than the skinny stable man from before, but not much.
“You two ain’t them boys from earlier, are you?” the man asked.
“We are,” Luke told him.
“Then you’ll be on your way. I got a scattergun and I ain’t afraid to put it to work!”
“We don’t want any trouble. We’re just here for Carlo Procci.”
“I was told that’s what started the trouble last time.”
“Just a misunderstanding,” Red said. “It’s been sorted out.”
“In case you people haven’t noticed, this ain’t a hotel me and my brother are runnin’,” the man explained. “It’s a stable. For horses.”
Luke extended a hand with two silver dollars in it. “That’s for your trouble. Go on and take it.”
After taking the money and examining it, the man hooked a thumb toward the stable. “He’s inside. Don’t think you bought yourself any space in there unless you’ve got a horse to put up for the night.”
“I know. Stable, not a hotel.”
“You got that right.”
Both of the young men entered the stable. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Red gave Luke a backhanded swat and said, “What’d you pay him any money for? He wasn’t gonna be any trouble.”
“It’s to keep from making waves. Just take a breath and forget about it.”
Carlo was in his stall, only he wasn’t sleeping under a bunch of hay and a blanket. His horse stood next to its trough with its eyes closed and its head hanging low. “What are you two doing here?” he asked. He wore a fresh set of clothes and was in the process of folding the dirty ones up to put them into his saddlebags. “You got your money for Stormy.”
“She’s all paid up,” Luke said. “And we appreciate the help in getting it.”
“I’ll take any chance to gouge that skinflint Bickle I can find. Still didn’t answer my question, though. What are you doing here?”
“Tell me about Captain Granger.”
Pausing just long enough to look over at them, Carlo said, “I was only fooling about taking you under my wing. Now move along before you get yourselves hurt.”
“I just want to know if he’s any relation to Bose Granger,” Luke said.
Carlo’s eyes narrowed and his gaze focused on Luke as if it had been drawn by a magnet. “Where’d you hear that name?” he asked.
“We’re from a town called Maconville.”
“Never heard of it.”
“A man came through there and killed a bunch of folks,” Luke said in a voice that was cold and unfaltering. “He mentioned someone named Bose Granger was behind it.”
“What was this man’s name?” Carlo asked. “The one that passed through your town.”
“Scott.”
“Emory Scott?”
“All I heard anyone call him was Scott. He came to Maconville looking for something.”
“What was he looking for?”
“I don’t know that either.”
After studying him for a few long seconds, Carlo got back to packing up his things. “Could be Emory, I suppose,” he said. “Although I’m not sure if anyone’s seen him lately. So why do you want to know about Captain Bose Granger?”
“That man he sent killed my family.”
Once again, Carlo stopped what he was doing. “Sorry to hear about that. Sounds like Emory all right. That one’s as cold as they come. If you know what’s good for you, you’d count yourself lucky you didn’t get in his way.”
“Was Emory Scott a friend of yours?” Red asked.
Carlo chuckled and shook his head. “Men like Emory Scott don’t have friends.”
“Granger sent him to Maconville,” Luke said. “And I’m hunting him down.”
“Now, that,” Carlo said, “is a foolish idea. Most folks don’t even know where to find Captain Granger at any given time. He moves around a lot and has a knack for knowing when people are sniffing around after him. Those people aren’t normally heard from again.”
“I know where to find him.”
Letting out another half chuckle, Carlo shook his head. “Whatever you heard, it’s probably just some lie spread by Granger himself. Do yourself a favor and forget about finding him. Men like that will get what’s coming to them.”
“I don’t think it’s a lie,” Luke said. “What I heard came from a good source.”
“What source is that?”
“I heard it from Scott.”
Having finished packing his saddlebag, Carlo cinched it shut and diverted all of his attention to Luke. “You spoke to Scott?”
“No. I heard him speaking to my stepfather before Scott gunned him and my mother down.”
“And who was your stepfather?”
“Kyle Sobell. You know who he is?”
Carlo nodded slowly. “Yeah. I knew Kyle. I heard him mention some family he had in Kansas, but he never mentioned their names or what town they were in. He’s dead?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would Scott kill him and your mother?”
“Because he wanted to keep us all quiet,” Luke said as if he no longer felt any attachment to the matter. “I got away. The rest of my family . . . didn’t.”
“Did Scott find what he was looking for?”
“I don’t know,” Luke said with a straight face. “All I recall from that night is blood and gunshots.”
“So, where did he say Granger was at?” Carlo asked. When he didn’t get an answer right away, he stormed toward Luke and grabbed hold of his shirt before either of the young men knew what was going on. “I asked you a question, kid! Where did he say Granger was at?” Carlo was interrupted by the unmistakable click of a pistol’s hammer being thumbed back. When he looked in the direction from which the sound had come, he found Red standing there with Smith & Wesson in hand.
“Let him go,” Red said. “I won’t ask twice.”
Carlo let him go. “The best thing I could do for you two is keep you from getting anywhere near Granger,” he said. “Tell me where he’s at and I can bring him down myself.”
“So both Grangers we mentioned are the same man?” Luke asked.
“They are. Bose is a name he’s called by some of the men under his command.”
“He’s really an army captain?” Red asked.
“Most definitely,” Carlo told him.
“What’s your business with him?” Luke asked.
Looking at both of them to make it clear he didn’t care whether they were armed or not, Carlo said, “That’s my business, which means it’s none of yours.”
Red started to inch forward to assert himself even more, but Luke stepped in and said, “All that matters is that we both have business with him. I imagine we can get everything squared away faster if we throw in together.”
“You do, huh?” Carlo scoffed. “You want to know why you think that? Because you don’t know any better. You were lucky to have gotten away from that little town of yours when Scott went on his tear. It’s plain to see that you barely know your way around a gun. Hell, you two had your hands full in running down a fat shopkeeper.”
“But we did it,” Luke reminded him. “And we can do a whole lot better than that if we get the chance.”
“It’s not my duty to give boys like you chances to kill themselves. You’ll tend to that well enough on your own.”
“You don’t know where to find Granger. I do.”
“I’ll be able to find him,” Carlo said.
“Can you do that before he moves on again?”
“Yeah,” Red added. “And can you do that before he sends more gunmen to hunt you down for swindling him outta his money?”
“I didn’t swindle anyone!” Carlo said. “That fat man we chased down today spent it on candlesticks and . . . Lord knows what else.”
“But does Granger know that?” Red asked. “And even if he did, do you think he’d care? You carry yourself like a gunfighter, but you’re hiding out in a horse stall sleeping in a pile of hay. I reckon that means you need to find Granger even worse than we do.”
“I’ll find him.”
“And then what?” Luke asked. “Put a gun to his head and convince him to forgive you? Whatever it is you paid Granger to do must have been important or you wouldn’t be so interested in finding him at all.”
“And it must be expensive too,” Red said. “Judging by all the candlesticks and whatnot your money bought and paid for.”
“Maybe you’re right about us all having business with Granger,” Carlo admitted. “But I also know I’m right when I say the both of you will get yourselves killed right quick if you keep trying to use those guns of yours.”
“Then show me what I’m doing wrong,” Luke said. “Tell me how I can better defend myself.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” Carlo said, “you’re too eager for it. And you,” he said while looking over to Red. “You’ve got just enough of a temper to be more dangerous to yourself than to anyone else. I’ve got nothing to gain by helping you boys. Nothing but a guilty conscience, that is.”
“We’re going to meet Granger whether you help or not,” Luke said. “I say we’ve all got something to gain by making the ride together.”
“Is that a fact?” Carlo asked.
“Yes, sir. How much money do you owe?”
“To Granger or everyone in general?”
“Granger.”
Placing his hands on his hips and staring at Luke as if he were about to deliver a knockout punch, Carlo said, “Three thousand.”
Red let out a low whistle.
“What if I could get that money for you?” Luke asked.
Shaking his head as if he already knew the answer to his own question, Carlo muttered, “How could you do something like that?”
“It doesn’t matter how. What if I could? Would that be enough to convince you to ride with us to face Granger together?”
“That’s the part I’m trying to keep you from, kid.”
“Stop calling me that,” Luke demanded. “I’m no kid.”
“I don’t know anything else to call you,” Carlo said. “It ain’t as if you properly introduced yourselves.”
“I’m Luke Croft and that’s Red.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Carlo said. “And now that we have that out of the way . . . we can part company. Nice meeting you both.”
“I’m being serious.”
“So am I. The two of you have been lucky so far. If you want to spit in the face of someone like Granger, you’ll need more than luck on your side.”
“That’s right,” Luke admitted. “Which is why the three of us stand a better chance.”
“Look, as much as I’d like to keep going round and round about this, I’m pretty sure I’ll have a busy day tomorrow tying to wrangle that shopkeeper again to get a portion of the money he stole. After that . . . well . . . you two don’t need to concern yourselves with after that. Run along now.”
Spitting a disgusted breath while turning his back to the stall, Red said, “I say we leave this vagrant where he is. We don’t need the stink of him fouling our air anyhow.”
Although Red was all too willing to leave the stable, Luke stayed behind.
“What are you waiting for?” Carlo asked. “Don’t you have a tantrum of your own to throw?”
“I think if you were in our place, you’d be angry too.”
“Could be.”
“What sort of thing were you paying Granger for anyway?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’d like to know what I’m getting into when I face him.”
“You’re a smart fella,” Carlo said. “The best thing for you to do is not face Granger at all. Even if you think you stand a chance against him, you wouldn’t be facing him alone. And even if you think you could figure out a way to get to him when he is alone, you’d never make it back alive.”
“I’m not worried about that last part,” Luke said in an icy tone.
Carlo laughed under his breath while shaking his head. “I know you’ve probably heard this from plenty of others, but I know exactly what you’re thinking. I used to think the same thing, you know.”
“And what am I thinking?”
“Well, right at the moment you’re thinking I’m just another sack of wind trying to sound like he knows what he’s talking about.”
Luke shrugged. “Good guess.”
“You’re also thinking you’re immortal. Not right at this exact moment perhaps, but it’s in there. Strangely enough, that goes hand in hand with thinking that you’re all settled up with dying.”
Although Luke had been doing a good job of keeping his poker face intact this far, he couldn’t help twitching when he heard that.
Carlo nodded to acknowledge that he knew he was on the right track. “Some big part of you thinks it’s seen all there is to see or that you’ve seen so much that you don’t want to see no more. A kid your age—and I’m sorry if that rubs you the wrong way but you are still a kid to me—he gets a notion in his head that he can walk right up to death and tell him to wait until he’s ready. Me? I used to go around tellin’ everyone I wouldn’t live to be any older than my pappy was when he died. Know how old he was?”
Luke tried to look as though he didn’t care.
“He was twenty-six,” Carlo said. “I was certain I wouldn’t see one day past that number. The part that makes no sense is that I also thought I was somehow safe until then. That’s why I had no fear of God or man when I took up a knife and swung it at anyone that looked at me cross-eyed. When I was bested by someone who was better with a blade than me, I picked up a gun and put that to work.”
“Seems like you handled yourself pretty well,” Luke said. “You’re alive and I’d wager you’re older than twenty-six.”
“Sure. I’m also on the run and sleeping in a horse stall. The only reason I’ve got that much is that I thought harder about another trail to follow because the one I was on led nowhere.”
“I know what trail I’m on,” Luke said. “Until I get to have a talk with this Captain Granger, there isn’t another one for me.”
“There’s always another one, Luke.”
“Do you want to ride with me and Red or not?”
“I can find Granger on my own,” Carlo said.
“But you’ll get there quicker if you know where he is.”
“What sort of help do you think I can offer anyways?”
“You’re good with a gun,” Luke replied while ticking his answers off on his fingers. “You know Granger better than I do, so you know what we’ll be up against when we get there. And if things take a turn for the worse, it can only help to have more guns on our side.”
“Doesn’t it bother you to drag your friend into this when you could both wind up dead?”
“I didn’t drag him anywhere. He does what he pleases.”
“He’s a good friend. Don’t treat him like he’s got nowhere else to be other than where you need him.”
“You’re just plumb full of advice,” Luke grumbled.
“I’ll save my breath, then. To be honest, what I said wouldn’t have made a dent in me either when I was your age. As far as your offer goes, I’ll pass.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah.”
Luke started walking away. “If you change your mind, we’ll be at Stormy’s for another day.”
“Don’t worry, kid. I won’t change a thing.”