The ride back across the state line into Missouri was mostly uneventful. When they stopped at the occasional town or trading post, Pete gathered the supplies he needed while Frank had a word with anyone he could find who might know a thing or two about what Pescaterro had been up to. It came as no surprise to anyone that the few bits of information he did collect were nothing more than wild stories about a wilder man.
As they rode away from a mining camp ensconced in the rolling hills of western Missouri, Nate asked, “Find anything useful this time?”
“Pescaterro passed through these parts not too long ago,” Frank replied. “Other than that, no.”
“Well that’s somethin’,” Pete said.
“You know what’s something?” Deaugrey asked. “This knife!” With a flourish, he produced a thin blade that had been tucked up into the sleeve of his secondhand coat.
“Where’d you get that?” Nate asked.
“Stole it from one of them miners.”
“Can’t take you anywhere,” Nate said, shaking his head.
Frank looked back and forth between the two as if he couldn’t decide which of them deserved more of his disgust. “We’re thieves now?”
“After all we’ve done when riding together, stealing a knife is what ruffles your feathers the most?” Nate asked incredulously.
“Maybe not the most, but—”
“Remember when we were at the saloon where Pete was being held at that poker game?” Deaugrey asked.
“Yes.”
“Remember how I managed to deal with a few of those gunmen before they killed you or anyone else?”
“Yes,” Frank sighed, obviously regretting he’d opened his mouth on the subject.
“I stole that knife too.”
“He’s got a collection,” Nate said.
“Does he now?” Frank muttered.
“I can think of worse hobbies. Especially for a man who spends so much time in insane asylums.”
“Since nobody asked, I’ll tell you why this knife is something so special,” Deaugrey announced. “It was supposed to have been dropped by Dog Ear himself or one of the men riding with him.”
“And when were you going to mention that?” Nate asked.
“Just a few moments ago. Weren’t you listening?”
Pete brought his horse up close to Deaugrey’s mule and extended his hand. “Give that blade here.”
The way Deaugrey flipped the knife to grip it by the blade, he may have wanted to throw it at Pete with the intent of sticking him with it. Although he twitched as if to make that very move, he kept hold of the blade and stretched out his arm to slap the knife’s handle into Pete’s waiting hand. To his credit, Pete didn’t flinch at Deaugrey’s posturing. He merely took the knife in hand to examine it closer.
“Pescaterro doesn’t have many blood relations,” Nate said. “At least, none that will admit to being related to him. When he’s been free in the past, he’s holed up with a bunch of vagrants and outlaws in the hills northeast of here. They’ve taken him in as one of their own, so that tells you plenty about their state of mind.”
“Meaning they’ve got no minds at all,” Deaugrey said. “I know plenty like that.”
“This knife was Pescaterro’s, all right,” Pete announced.
All three men turned in their saddles to look at him. “You sure about that?” Nate asked.
“The blade is high grade steel and the handle was made by a real craftsman. It’d fetch a real high price in any store.”
“In that case, hand it back over,” Deaugrey said. He retracted his hand when he saw the scolding look from Frank.
“What makes you think it’s connected to Pescaterro?” Nate asked.
“There’s a hint of blood smeared on the blade and something caught between it and the guard. Most anyone who would pay whatever price was being asked for this knife wouldn’t risk getting it scraped up or chipped by putting it to use like that.”
“Mining camps can be tough places,” Frank said.
“Sure, but this is just the sort of thing Pescaterro would steal when he storms through some store. Men like him don’t rob to get rich. They want the thrill. The things they take are the sort of things that would appeal to a greedy kid. This knife is pretty and would have caught his eye. The fact that he left it behind after using it once or maybe twice seems even more like something he’d do.”
“Could have been used for anything,” Nate offered. “I’m not doubting you, I just want to make certain we’re on the right track.”
“We are,” Pete told him with absolute certainty. “This knife was used to kill a man. At the very least, it put someone into a whole world of hurt.”
“I suppose you can smell death on the sharpened steel?” Deaugrey asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
Pete flipped the knife in the air, caught it by the blade and snapped his arm forward as if to throw the knife right into the crazy man’s face. The only difference between his motion and the one performed by Deaugrey a minute ago was that his caused its target to flinch. Taking no outward pleasure from his small victory, Pete held the knife so it was within inches of the other man’s eyes.
“See what’s snagged under that guard?” Pete asked. “That’s a piece of clothing. It’s also stained with blood. Most likely,” he said while flipping the knife again to take it by the handle and tap the tip of the blade against Deaugrey’s gut, “it was stuck here. Or here,” he added while poking Deaugrey’s chest. “And it went in so hard that it took a piece of someone’s shirt along with it when it was ripped back out again.”
“Could’ve been a fight between miners,” Deaugrey said with much less arrogance than had been in his voice before. “Shouldn’t we be certain before we waste time and effort chasing our tails?”
“My gut tells me this was used by Pescaterro,” Pete said as he took the knife back.
“Mine too,” Nate said. “Should we turn back around and find the miner Grey stole that knife from?”
Pete shook his head. “Dog Ear’s not there anymore. All we’ll get from them miners is more stories.” He lifted his chin as if he were pulling the fragrant wind all the way into his lungs. “Where was that prison he broke out of?”
“Due south of here, not far from the state line.”
“And the hills where he’ll be headed?”
“East,” Nate replied. “Wish I had more direction to give you than that.”
“That’s good enough for now,” Pete said. He reined his horse to a stop and brought it around to face north. “We head this way. Ride for about . . . ten . . . maybe twenty miles. I’ll know more when I get to the trail I’m after.”
Deaugrey was about to protest, but Nate kept him quiet with a quickly raised hand and a sharp glare. To Pete, he said, “We’re all in this together, Pete. Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Pete’s dark brown eyes shifted in their sockets to fix on Nate. The wind picked up to send his thick mane of hair around his face, making him look like a stallion that was just biding its time before throwing its rider. “Maybe I should wait until we’re all sitting around a fire when it suits me better?”
“You know how I do things, Pete,” Nate said. “I never offer a job until every man’s in the proper frame of mind to know what he’s getting in to.”
Grudgingly, Pete pointed his fierce gaze in another direction. “Like I said before, this ain’t just any knife. It was made by an expert. There’s a maker’s mark carved into the handle, the way the steel was sharpened, plenty of things most would plumb overlook.”
“And I suppose you saw what none of us did?” Deaugrey asked.
Without hesitation, Nate said, “That’s why I wanted him along. Unless you’ve got something to say that’s a help, keep your damn mouth shut for a change.”
“The way this knife was made,” Pete said as he continued to turn the weapon over so he could study it from every angle. “It’s distinctive. I think I know where to find the man who put it together.”
“Where?”
“He works out of a town called Nagle along the river north of here, but south of the prison where Pescaterro broke out. He would have come to Nagle before getting to that mining camp we found.”
“If he went there before the camp,” Deaugrey said, “wouldn’t the tracks be fresher at the spot where the knife wound up than where it was taken from?”
Nate would have snapped at Deaugrey again if he’d thought Deaugrey hadn’t brought up a valid point.
“We can always go back to that camp,” Pete said. “But if we know somewhere else that Pescaterro was, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t check there as well. Someone might have seen what horse he was riding. There could be cleaner tracks to be found. Hell, there could be any number of things that the knife maker saw that could be a help. Any piece I can find will help me find Pescaterro. Tracking is what I do, so let me do it!”
Nate flicked his reins to steer his horse between Pete and Deaugrey. “Enough!” he said. “I know it’s been a while since you two have ridden together, and the pair of you never did see eye to eye.”
“Ain’t nobody sees eye to eye with that lunatic,” Pete snarled.
Before Deaugrey could retort, Nate said, “Be that as it may, I brought you both together because I needed what you’ve got to offer. And I waited to offer the job until I could get a look at how the two of you reacted when I put you in sight of each other again. I wouldn’t have made the offer unless I was certain you could refrain from snapping each other’s necks. You both have your talents and I’ve got mine. Reading dangerous souls is what I do. If you don’t trust that, then take your horses and your petty goddamn squabbling, pick a direction and ride it straight outta my sight!”
Rather than stare daggers at each other, Pete and Deaugrey looked over at Nate. His face was impossible to read, whether he was looking over the barrel of his Remington or placing a bet at a card table. Anyone who rode with him more than once knew the futility of trying to guess when he might be bluffing.
“Now that you stopped to take a breath,” Nate continued, “perhaps you’ll hear me out. I say we split up and cover both the knife maker and that mining camp. Deaugrey, you’re coming with me. Show me where to find the fella you pickpocketed and we’ll ask around to see if anyone has anything else to say where Pescaterro is concerned. Pete, you and Frank go to that river town to see what you can see. How’s that for a plan?”
“Plans are what you do,” Deaugrey said cheerily. “I don’t mind going back to that camp. Had my eye on a soiled dove that was working there. At least, I think she was soiled.”
Pete merely nodded and flicked his reins to start his ride to that river town.
“Do me a favor, Nate,” Frank said. “Try not to kill him while I’m away.”
Watching as Deaugrey tapped his heels against his mule’s sides to get the animal rushing back along the trail to the mining camp, Nate said, “I’m not about to make promises I can’t keep.”