Jacob had had quite enough for the day and wasn’t about to keep charge of Billy Watts any more than he absolutely had to. Though it was after dark in Raton, he dragged the bound, crying kid back through the main street of the town toward the jail.
“You hush, now. Be a man and take the justice that is coming to you. I don’t want to have to gag you, but I will.”
Watts’s sobs quieted a little, though not completely.
“You go around shooting people,” Jacob continued. “What exactly did you expect would happen? You better pray and pray hard that Clifford Pierce survives that bullet you put in his belly.”
“I will. I know. I’m sorry. I know.”
“Sorry doesn’t matter now. Save it for the judge.”
Jacob had arrived in front of the Raton jail and was more relieved than he wanted to show that there was a light on inside. Cradling his injured arm to him, and with fingers of his left arm wrapped around Watts, Jacob yanked his prisoner up onto the boardwalk and through the door of the jail.
A young man seated at the desk with feet resting up on top, looked up surprised from a heavy leather-bound volume he was reading.
“What’s— Can I help you?” He stood, straightening his holster.
“Are you the sheriff?” Jacob asked.
“No, sir. Deputy Langston. What’s this now?”
“This is Billy Watts.” Jacob shoved the kid forward. He stumbled but kept his feet underneath him. “He’s wanted for robbery and my understanding is there’s a reward offered for him.”
“Of course. Right. That name sounds familiar. I think we got word of a bigger reward just today. Let me take a look at the bulletins we got.”
“You do that. Tomorrow. Right now you take this kid off my hands before I lose my temper again.”
The deputy frowned. “If you’re sure … ”
“I’m sure. I’ll be back in the morning to collect and see if you need anything else from me. Right now, I’ve gotta go back to the Rat Hole and see if this piece of trash has added murder to his list of crimes, or merely attempted murder.”
“Murder!” the deputy sputtered, as Watts’s sobbing grew louder. “In Raton?”
“You’re handling this?” Jacob asked, gesturing to the prisoner and ignoring the deputy’s question.
He nodded. “I’ve got this. We won’t let him murder nobody else.”
“All right then. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Jacob was outside the jail and had walked almost twenty feet away before he remembered the pain and injury to his arm. He paused in his walking to pay attention to his injury. If he didn’t take care of it now, no one would. The handkerchief he had been given earlier was completely soaked through now and useless. Jacob ripped a strip from the bottom of his shirt, mourning the fact that this new shirt hadn’t even made it one job before being ruined. Using the small width of fabric, he tied it around his upper arm, stopping the bleeding as much as he could.
That would do. He didn’t need it to be bandaged up completely just yet. The first thing to do was get back to the saloon to ensure Pierce had been properly taken care of.
When he walked back into the place, he was pleased to find that in the time since Jacob had torn out the door of the saloon, at least one of the men inside had acted. Pierce was still lying on the floor of the Rat Hole in a pool of blood, but he was bandaged and being tended to by an older man Jacob took to be the doctor.
The bartender hovered nearby, a concerned expression on his face, and most of the other men that had been in the saloon were now gone.
“How’s he doing, doc?” Jacob asked quietly.
The injured man opened his eyes. “Did you get him?”
Jacob nodded. “He should be sitting in a jail cell right this minute. We’re just waiting to hear if he’s got a murder charge to add.”
“No such luck.” Pierce smiled. “We’ll have to get him on just the robberies.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Speaking of robbing … I think you owe me money,” Pierce said weakly.
Jacob paused uncertainly, before realizing that the other man was smiling, joking with him. “Well, I’ve got the pot you won off him, but we’ll have to talk about any more than that. I guess you better live a little bit longer and survive this gunshot, huh?”
“I guess I better.”
“Seems like you’re in good hands, Pierce.” Jacob patted his shoulder gently. “I’m gonna let you rest up. When you make it back to Tucson look me up.”
“You got it.” Pierce closed his eyes, as though the effort of that conversation was enough to take his remaining energy.
With Pierce taken care of, the doctor turned his attention to Jacob. The bounty hunter was scolded gently for doing so much with such an injury—he had lost a lot of blood—but Jacob assured the man that he knew his limits. His arm was cleaned and bandaged in short order, with the doctor’s explicit instructions to rest as much as he could. Jacob didn’t have the heart to tell him he wouldn’t be resting much till he returned home several days from now.
Jacob exited the saloon, and went looking for the Raton hotel. One more night.
All he wanted to do now was fall asleep. The sooner he could fall asleep, the sooner the morning would arrive, and the sooner Jacob could get on the road again, back to his home and back to Bonnie.