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Cassidy burst in through the law office door, but the room was deserted. The door into the jailhouse was open, confirming the report he’d been given by a passerby about a group of men charging out of the office.
He still hurried on to the door and checked inside. As the cell doors were open and the prisoners had gone he turned around and tried to figure out what they had done with his deputy.
He was starting to think that they had taken him hostage when he noticed that a chair had been wedged against a cabinet door in the corner. He moved over to the corner and when he swept the chair away the door swung open and Wright toppled out.
He’d been bound and gagged before being crammed inside, but his eyes were open and the moment Cassidy removed his gag he started explaining what had happened. By the time Cassidy had unbound him and was drawing him to his feet he was up-to-date on what had happened.
Wright had seen someone loitering around outside and he’d gone to find out what he’d wanted, only to find that the man had slipped out of sight. He’d gone back inside, but as he was closing the door the man had creeped up on him and accosted him from behind.
After a brief tussle he’d been knocked cold, awaking to find himself in the cabinet. He’d not seen his assailant clearly and he’d heard only brief snippets of a conversation going on in the jailhouse when he’d been trying to regain consciousness so he didn’t know whether the plan had been to free Jim, Patrick or both.
“We’ll keep an open mind on this situation,” Cassidy said when Wright had finished.
“But not that open,” Wright said with a rueful rub of his head. “The jailbreaker assaulted me, Patrick probably killed Gilmore and Jim assaulted Pierre and possibly Benjamin, too. Now all three men are at large.”
“I agree about that. I just meant we’ll keep an open mind as to whether all three were in cahoots all along.” Cassidy patted Wright’s back. “Now, are you feeling well enough to move on?”
Wright rolled his shoulders and then winced. “I sure don’t, but that’s not going to stop me helping you track down those varmints.”
“They were seen leaving town, but they have a good lead on us so we’re not following them.” Cassidy raised a hand when Wright started to object. “I reckon that the ones who are trying to restart an old feud won’t go far and we’ll be better served staying close to the Jennisons, the men most in danger from them.”
“That’s a lot of folks to protect. We can’t stay close to them all.”
“This afternoon we can. Benjamin Jennison has organized a meeting in the Golden Star for all the people who were on our lists to discuss what they should do next.” Cassidy turned away and headed to the door. “We need to be there to make sure they talk themselves into being sensible.”
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“Are you sure this is a good place to hole up?” Patrick asked when Harmon bade them all to draw their horses to a halt.
“It’s been good enough for the last month,” Harmon said.
“I didn’t know you’d been here that long!”
“Which was the point I thought I’d made.”
Harmon gave a rare smile as he dismounted and then led his horse down into the hollow. At the bottom there was a large, angular boulder that leaned to one side to provide some shelter beneath, and when Jim followed him down he noted that other than the hill ahead most of the surrounding terrain wasn’t visible.
“We should be safe here,” he said, speaking for the first time since they’d left the jailhouse.
“Me and Patrick will be,” Harmon said. “You’ve yet to explain why you’re here.”
Jim patted a saddlebag, indicating the bulge of rations.
“I’m the only one with the foresight to make sure we had food before we left.”
“I left food here.” Harmon patted his gun. “So you’d have been better served if you’d had the foresight to get yourself armed before we left. Now answer the question.”
“Patrick here is my friend so his problems are my problems. Either way, Pierre Dulaine has got my property and he’s the one who brought the brand into town that—”
“So that’s his name,” Harmon snapped. He paced around the area before sitting down beneath the boulder. “He disturbed me out here and I dropped the brand. When he left he’d taken it with him.”
“Then you followed him to town and claimed it back,” Jim said.
When Harmon nodded he sat down beside him and leaned back with his hands locked behind his head to give the impression that he was relaxing because the discussion of whether he would be allowed to stay had been concluded. Patrick helped to change the subject by sitting with him and pointing at the hill and then initiating a conversation about working out the direction of the town.
By the time they’d orientated themselves, Harmon was no longer looking as concerned as before. Patrick turned to him.
“I reckon I can fill in the rest of the story, but tell me if I’m wrong,” he said. “You’ve spent a month out here searching until you found seven bodies along with a brand that had probably been used when they’d been killed. Then you covered up the bodies.”
“That’s right as far as it goes,” Harmon said. “It misses out the part where I learned something interesting about our father and then spent a year working out the full truth.”
“I assume that you picked up that information when you were last in jail?” Patrick smiled and Harmon replied with a quick grin. “It didn’t take me that long to find out he was once a ranch hand at the O’Reilly ranch, which is all I wanted to know and ever want to know.”
“There’s plenty more.”
“I’m sure there is and I have wondered if he got caught up in the feud and was killed, but even if he was it won’t make me get so angry at the Jennisons and those connected to them that I’ll want to take revenge. If one of them did wrong by him, he should be dealt with by the law.”
“Which means it won’t do no harm for you to hear the truth.” Harmon leaned forward. “Our father was no ranch hand. He was a gunslinger who was hired by the O’Reillys to frighten off the Jennisons.”
“I can’t believe that.”
“It’s true. Everyone knows there was a gunslinger, but few seem to know his name.”
Patrick gulped. “I’ve heard about him, too. He shot up a Jennison, but then changed sides and massacred all those folks you dug up, thereby ending the feud.”
“That sums up what happened.”
“Then why do you want to make the Jennisons pay when he was the one who. . . ?” Patrick trailed off and put a hand to his brow as the answer to his question appeared to come to him.
“He then disappeared, never to be seen again. I reckon the Jennisons got scared about what a man like him could do and overcame him.”
“So you don’t know that for sure.”
“I didn’t. I do now. Gilmore Jennison told me the truth.”
Patrick winced. “That would be just before you rammed that brand down on his chest so hard it killed him?”
Harmon leaned back and rummaged in the loose dirt near to the base of the leaning boulder. He emerged clutching a brand, which Jim presumed was the object that had caused so much consternation recently.
“It sure was.” Harmon ran his fingers over the head and then thrust it down to the ground and held it there while grinning. “He told me everything to save his skin, not that it helped.”
“But he wasn’t even around at the time. Only Benjamin was there and he—”
“And he lied, just like they all do,” Harmon snapped, gesturing at Patrick with the brand. “I’ve now got the name of a man who was involved in bushwhacking our father and another two who knew what was happening and did nothing to stop it. Then there’s the rest who came along later, but didn’t care about the truth. They’re just as guilty as the others.”
“The way you’re talking, it sounds to me as if you plan to kill every single Jennison.”
Harmon gave a harsh chuckle. “It’s taken a while, but you’ve finally understood. Now, are you going to willingly avenge our father or do I have to force you to help me?”
“I’ll help you, willingly.” Patrick waited until Harmon nodded and then pointed at him. “Then, once I’ve heard the truth with my own ears and have proof, I’ll let the law deal with the—”
“You won’t. You’re a stable boy who got a star pinned on him for a few hours before you got yourself arrested, but before that you were a Milligan.”
The two men faced each other with Harmon’s gaze firm and Patrick’s uncertain. Jim figured that now they all knew the full situation and the battle lines had been drawn this confrontation was likely to turn bad.
“I reckon we all need to think about what you’ve told us,” he said, hoping to calm the situation down, but his intervention only made Harmon round on him.
“This is a matter between me and Patrick, so I haven’t yet figured out why it concerns you.” Harmon raised a hand when Jim started to reply. “And don’t tell me again that Patrick’s your friend because our mission is likely to get real messy and that’s more than any friendship is worth.”
Jim thought quickly as he had been about to mention their friendship again.
“Patrick is the only one with proof that Pierre Dulaine stole my property, except now that he’s an outlaw he’s in no position to do anything about it. It’s in my interests to keep him alive and if that means joining him on this mission to right a wrong, I will. Just don’t expect me to brand anyone.”
Harmon thought this through and then gave a curt nod.
“I don’t, but I will expect you to do whatever I tell you to do and, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, I don’t take kindly to being double-crossed.”