Once again Charley shook hands with Clem Bowden and smiled. The thought of the fifty crisp dollars in his shirt enticed him and he was eager to get off this property and back to town. The old man seemed equally so to be to be rid of him.
‘Remember anything I can do.’ Charley said as the gunman who had stopped him earlier led him back to his horse.
Clem Bowden watched them go and then shook his head.
He looked at the night sky and a single star in particular as he thought of his late wife and the son they between them had produced. He had lost a good man in Steve McCraw . If his own son had been more like his ranch foreman then maybe none of this would have happened.
If it was Masters who had killed Steve, which seemed the most likely explanation then there was no telling where this could all go.
‘Damn you.’ He said, cursing his wife who had died and left him with this son he had never known how to handle.
Sam came out of the house. Only a moment ago he had been in his nightshirt but now he was fully dressed. He had his guns slung over his shoulder and he stood there besides his father while he strapped the holster on.
‘Where are you thinking of going?’ The old man asked. He hugged his coat around him against the cold. ‘I asked you a question.’ He said to prompt Sam who was simply staring at him, open-mouthed.
‘Into Squaw,’ Sam said as if it was plainly obvious. ‘I’m going to find Masters and make him pay for Steve.’
‘Inside.’ Clem said, noticing that several of his men had emerged from the bunkhouse now that the news had gotten about. They too would be eager to get after Masters and exact revenge for their departed foreman.
‘But—’ Sam stood there, mouth agape. He looked deep into his father’s eyes and knew there was no use arguing. When the old man made his mind up there was no altering it.
‘Inside.’ This time more firmly. The old man pushed his son back inside the house and closed the door. He stood on the step and then turned to face the men outside the bunkhouse. ‘I want two of you men to saddle up the horses and be ready to ride into Squaw with me. The rest of you go back to sleep.’
‘Is it true about Steve?’ Dan Oakley asked.
‘It’s true,’ Clem said, matter of factly and turned on his feet and went back into the house.
~*~
Jessie hadn’t slept all night and she had been relieved when the dawn triumphed over the darkness that seemed to cling on as if not wanting to relinquish the night to the day. Several times during the night she had heard sounds outside and had been convinced they had come looking for Cole but no one had and now she started to feel a little easier.
She wondered if the fact that no one had come yet meant that Cole had been captured in the night but she doubted that. Somehow she knew that wasn’t the case. It was as if there was some bond between them and she would know instantly if anything happened to him.
She dressed and washed in cold water out of a bowl and then sat there for some time, putting off leaving the house for as long as possible. With each second she expected someone to come calling but no one did. Until finally she could wait no longer and she left for the schoolhouse. She had to get on with life as normal, she told herself. If she and Cole were to survive this situation then she had to stick to the daily routine, the usual grind.
There were several of Bowden’s men stood outside the jailhouse and again she wondered if they had Cole inside but again that inner knowledge told her that was not the case. It made no sense, though. There had to be a reason why they had not made a move to find Cole.
Something was keeping them under control.
She gasped when she saw what that something was.
‘Lovely morning.’ Clem Bowden came out of the jailhouse and walked towards her.
Jessie nodded and willed herself to stay calm. Was Cole inside the jailhouse? Is that what old man Bowden was doing here?
‘We’re looking for that man of yours,’ Clem Bowden said. ‘Any idea where we might find him?
Jessie knew this moment had been coming and she had rehearsed it over and over in her head during the night but now that it came to it she felt herself falter. She looked away from the old man and took a deep breath. ‘I don’t know where he is?’ She said. ‘He left during the night.’ She was aware of how false her words sounded and she was fully expecting Clem to bluntly call her a liar.
‘He didn’t tell you where he was going?’ Clem asked.
‘I was asleep,’ she said, failing to make eye contact with the old man. ‘He left a note. Said he was leaving town after what had happened.’
‘Can I see the note?’
‘No,’ Jessie said and then with all the force she could muster she looked the old man directly in the eyes and said defiantly: ‘It’s private.’
Clem smiled but it was without humor and made the crows-feet on his eyes deepen giving him an almost demonic look. ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I can’t help that.’ Jessie looked away with what she hoped appeared more like indignation than fear. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me.’ She pushed past him. She quickened her pace towards the schoolhouse.
‘Do you know Masters killed the sheriff?’ Clem Bowden shouted to her back.
Jessie ignored him.
‘That makes him an outlaw.’ Clem yelled louder but again Jessie made no reply. ‘An outlaw who’ll be hunted and gunned down like an animal.’
Jessie continued walking straight ahead, keeping her eyes trained directly in front of her. She mumbled a silent prayer beneath her breath, praying for the inner strength she needed to get her through this.
Clem spat in the street and turned and walked to the jailhouse, a plan fully fermented in his mind.
He knew what he must do and had perfected his plan through the night. The loss of Steve was regrettable but in gunning him down Cole Masters had put himself outside the law. He had gunned down a lawman and Clem knew that action had changed things considerably. He had been depending on his lawyers to get Sam off with the murder of the whore, something that wouldn’t have been too difficult, but all that had changed. Now it could be made to look as if Cole Masters had framed Sam for the whore killing, had actually done it himself, and then gunned down his replacement sheriff when his duplicity had been discovered. That was the hand Clem Bowden would play. All his life he had gambled but only when the odds favored him and he felt that fate had just dealt him a winning hand.
He stepped up onto the boardwalk and looked at his men.
‘Two of you,’ He ordered. ‘Ride out to the ranch and bring Sam to me. The rest stay close by. Relax but stay out of the saloon. I need you all clear headed.’
His men nodded and immediately set about carrying out his commands.
Clem stepped into the jailhouse and, feeling the need to be alone with his thoughts, closed the door.