One of the simplest tests of a man’s character is to know how he shoots a man, from the front or from behind. Mind you, that may be no more than a crude way of measuring his treachery. The next thing you have to know is, if he shoots him from the front, whether he gives you an even break.
Cam Brennan always shot his victims from the front. He never gave them an even break. He shot them from the front because he liked to see the expression of supreme surprise on their faces.
He was able to do this because he was very, very fast with a gun and he seldom gave warning that he intended to draw it. He was smart-seldom did he kill a man who was not holding a gun in his hand when Brennan’s bullet ploughed into him. This gave the whole business an air of legality. Brennan would not hang if the other man had a gun in his hand. A convenient arrangement. Men could hold the opinion that he was a mad-dog killer – sticks and stones and all that stuff – but there were no grounds for them to believe that he was hired to do the job.
The fact of the matter was that, so far as the records go – and they most probably do not go far enough – Brennan had killed twelve men fair and square. In the small cow- country town of Black Horse, he marked his thirteenth victim. Whether the number thirteen was unlucky for Cam Brennan or for his victim you will only know if you stay with me.
This thirteenth man was named Lennie Wallach. He was fifty-five years of age, a newspaperman from the top of his still black hair to the soles of his neat, small feet. He was literate, learned and a Jew. He was also fearless – or maybe to be nearer the truth, he had too much character to give way to his fear; which, when you come to think of it, is rather more commendable than being so insensitive that you are incapable of the emotion.
He had a nice sense of humor, he had friends all over, he did not drink, but he smoked cigars endlessly. He was a widower of many years and he had a daughter. He was also a close friend of Remington McAllister.
Maybe if he had gone to McAllister when he first smelled danger, there would be no story to tell. But he did not, for reasons best known to himself. McAllister always suspected it was because whoever was threatening Lennie had also threatened that if he went to the law, his daughter would suffer. This suspicion certainly made some kind of sense.
Now, Lennie may have had friends all over, but, being a man who did not easily give way to fear, his newspaper reporting was pretty frank and straightforward. If he heard something newsworthy, he printed it, no matter how powerful or influential the man or woman concerned. What he printed may not always have been the truth, but if there was any truth about, he never failed to publish it.
Lennie Wallach was the main means by which McAllister was voted sheriff of Black Horse County with a runaway majority.
‘Lennie,’ McAllister protested once, ‘you’re partisan and anybody reading that rag of yours can see it.’
‘Be blind if they couldn’t,’ Lennie replied. ‘What the hell? It’ll make them vote for you, Rem.’
‘Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to be sheriff?’
‘Want? What’s want got to do with it? The county needs you.’
So that was that. McAllister never made a speech, never kissed a baby and never shook a hand in his effort to become sheriff.
It was Wally Chugg who brought the information to Lennie Wallach in the little untidy office of the Black Horse Clarion, that somebody intended to kill him.
Most people would not have believed Wally. After all, who is inclined to believe a mean-eyed, unwashed and not- quite-honest little drunk who had never risen higher in the world than to be a swamper at the Last Chance Saloon? The world would never have known, even after Lennie’s death, that Wally had warned him, if it had not been for Deborah, Lennie’s daughter.
Lennie’s daughter was generally described by the sundry cowboys, wild-horse hunters, clerks and storekeepers who looked upon her, some with yearning and some with lecherous eyes, as a peacheroo. The term may not have been too poetic, but it sincerely expressed their appreciation. Let it be said, for the record, that their appreciation was not misplaced. For beauty, wit and intelligence, Deborah could have held her own anywhere. She was just nineteen and fancy free, as they say. She cooked, cleaned house, kept books, wrote copy and set type for her father. If you could work up any kind of dislike for that girl, you should have a doctor to look you over.
You do not have to be told that her father thought she was about the best thing that had ever happened to him.
Wally must have been watching the office. He slipped inside when Deborah had crossed the street and entered the milliner’s, and Lennie was alone. When he sidled up close to the newspaperman, the smell of him nearly turned Lennie’s stomach. He smelled of stale beer and whiskey (he drank the dregs of other men’s glasses all day and night), of sweat and other items which I will refrain from detailing. Lennie turned off the press so that he could hear what he was saying from a distance.
‘Stay right there, Wally,’ he said, ‘and say your piece.’ Wally did not look at him, but fixed his wayward attention on a spot a foot or so to Lennie’s right.
‘You ain’t going to like this, Mr Wallach,’ he said, his shifty eyes shifting. ‘Maybe you ain’t even going to believe it.’
‘Try me.’
‘Feller come up to me in the saloon and he told me something that scared the living daylights out of me.’
Lennie regarded him over the top of his steel-rimmed spectacles. ‘He offered you a drink?’
The little drunk actually fixed his gaze on him for a second. But for no longer. He said: ‘This ain’t nothing to joke about, Mr Wallach. Having a feller tell you he’s a-going to kill you ain’t something to josh about.’
Lennie wondered if Wally was putting an unorthodox touch on him. Or maybe his brain had finally given way under the drink.
‘Why should anybody want to kill you, Wally?’ He realized now that the man was genuinely scared.
‘Me? Aw, for crissake, Mr Wallach. Not me. You.’
‘Me?’
It meant little or nothing to Lennie then. It had been years since anybody had taken Wally seriously.
‘All right, then. Why would anybody want to kill me?’
‘How should I know?’ There was complaint in Wally’s voice. ‘But you better believe me, Mr Wallach.’
The stranger had insisted that Lennie must be convinced that his life was in danger. More, that his daughter’s life was too.
Lennie had not believed Wally yet. He said: ‘My life’s been threatened a good many times, Wally. I’m still here.’ His voice was kindly, half-jocular.
‘The man said you wouldn’t believe me at first, but I had to make certain sure you did.’
Maybe now Lennie had his first flutter of worry. Maybe he heard a real warning note in the little man’s voice.
‘What did this man look like, Wally? Did you catch his name?’
‘I never saw him before, Mr Wallach. Honest.’
‘His name?’
‘He didn’t say.’
‘What did he look like?’
Wally hesitated as if he was trying to remember. ‘Er – he was a short feller. Stout with a big belly. And red hair.’
Lennie thought he was lying. Just the same, he was starting to believe Wally about the threat. The little man was not bright enough to dream this up without some help. Possibly somebody was putting him on.
‘Was this in the saloon?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Let’s take a walk over there and you can point him out to me.’ Lennie rose.
‘No.’ Wally looked lost and scared for a moment, then he hurriedly explained. ‘He said he was leaving town right that minute. I saw him go off on his horse.’
‘What color horse?’
Hesitation – ‘Sorrel.’
Lennie sat down again. ‘How much did he give you to deliver this message?’
‘Nothing.’ That was a lie and Lennie could see it was. It was proven a lie when Wally hastily said, as he did always when he lied: ‘Honest to God, Mr Wallach.’ The man had given him five dollars. A fortune to Wally. He would shortly fall down drunk after the spending of it.
Lennie watched him for a full minute, and he grew uneasy under the steady gaze. He seemed almost relieved when Lennie asked: ‘What else did he tell you to tell me, Wally?’ The man rolled up his eyes and showed the bloodshot whites as he thought. ‘He said if you went to the law, Miz Wallach would get it, too.’
Lennie Wallach felt himself go cold. He had to gain control of himself before he said: ‘I’ll ask you again, Wally – why?’
‘Aw, Jesus … See here, Mr Wallach … something you wrote in your paper, I reckon.’
‘Or something I might write?’
That was nearly too much for Wally’s poor sodden brain. He mumbled: ‘Could be, maybe. This feller talked a whole lot of stuff I didn’t savvy, Mr Wallach. Christ -1 mean, what the hell do I know about this kind of thing, Mr Wallach?’ With a show of calm he did not feel, Lennie said: ‘All right, Wally, thanks for telling me. You going to buy yourself a drink now?’
Wally said with a wry grin: ‘You bet.’ It was not until he reached the door that he realized that he had betrayed himself. He looked back reproachfully at Lennie. He opened the street door, but he was not through yet. He turned back again and said: ‘Mr Wallach, do you have a gun?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘Can you use it?’
‘Tolerably.’
Wally studied on that a while, then wandered out on to the street, wove across it uncertainly and disappeared into the saloon. Lennie stayed still for a moment, thinking, before he rose and walked to his desk. Opening a lower drawer, he produced a Smith and Wesson revolver of some age. It was, in fact, one of the first guns to be manufactured to take brass cartridges. It had the year 1857 stamped on it. He checked the chambers and found them empty. After a search through the drawers, he came up with a box of cartridges and loaded the gun. This done, he slipped the weapon into his jacket pocket. He wondered if he had retained the ability to shoot a belt-gun. After all, it was over ten years since he had fired one.
Had Wally been telling the truth?
Whether he had been or not, Lennie knew that he could not afford to take any risks. The mention of Deborah had unnerved him.
He stood thinking about the gun in his pocket, wondering what earthly good the weapon could do him. A good marksman could pick him off with a rifle at a safe distance almost any time of the day or night he wished.
He thought: If I die, how will Debbie make out?