“I don’t wanna die at all!” Cordell said.
“Me neither,” Underwood said. “Look, mister, I’m just a ranch hand.”
“Then you should have stayed a ranch hand,” Clint said, “and not taken on the extra work.”
“Adams, if we talk to you, we’re dead.”
“Seems to me you’re out already,” Clint said. “You can talk to me right now and just keep on going. Nobody will ever know.”
“Y-You don’t want us to testify?” Cordell asked.
“Not with the law the way it is in Hutchinson,” Clint said. “I don’t expect to get much help from the sheriff or the judge. No, you talk to me and I’ll take care of the rest myself.”
“Tell ’im, Wes,” Underwood said. “Tell ’im, or so help me, I will.”
“You just wanna know who sent us to the mine?” Cordell asked.
“That’s it,” Clint said.
“We don’t have to give the money back?”
“Keep it,” Clint said, “and use it to get as far away from here as you can.”
“Well . . . okay,” Cordell said. “I’ll tell ya.”
“Go ahead,” Clint said. “Who paid you to sabotage shaft number one at the mine?”
“It was the foreman,” Cordell said. “It was Dennis Mahoney.”
Clint questioned the men for twenty minutes more, trying to ascertain whether or not they were telling the truth.
“Why would Mahoney hire you?” Clint asked. “He works for Ben Blanchard.”
Cordell shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said. “All I know is that he did. He paid us to collapse the number one shaft.”
“Apparently you didn’t do such a good job,” Clint said. “They got that shaft back up and running.”
“Yeah, he was mad about that,” Cordell said. “The watchman saw us, but Mahoney told us he’d take care of that.”
And he did, Clint thought. He fired the watchman without bothering to find out what he saw.
Clint looked at Haven, who had been listening the whole time. Janeway had taken a seat while he listened. The bartender was content to stand behind the bar, waiting for orders.
“What do you think?” Clint asked Haven.
“I think he’s tellin’ the truth,” Haven said. “Why wouldn’t Mahoney be the guy? Maybe he’s lookin’ to take over the mine.”
“Maybe.” Clint turned back at Cordell. “What’s Mahoney’s connection to Kendall?”
“How would I know?” Cordell asked.
“You work for Kendall.”
“We work for Kitty Lane,” Cordell said. “She works for Kendall. That man don’t even know who we are.”
Clint looked at Janeway.
“Sounds right to me,” the old man said.
Clint looked at Underwood, who hadn’t said a word.
“What do you know?”
“Only what Wes here told me. We were gettin’ paid extra money to do a little job.”
“That’s right,” Cordell said. “He only knows what I told him.”
“Goddamnit!” Clint swore.
“Can we go now?” Cordell asked.
Clint didn’t answer right away. He thought about what he’d learned, and how Ben Blanchard was going to take it. He had brought Mahoney out here from the East to work for him. He trusted him.
“Okay,” he said finally, “but if I found out you lied to me, I’ll track you down, just like we did this time.”
“We got it,” Cordell said. “Come on, Wes. Let’s get out of here.”
The two men stood up. Cordell looked over at Janeway, who gestured for them to go. They went.
“Fresh beers before you go?” Janeway asked Clint.
“I’ll take one,” Haven said.
“And a whiskey,” Clint said.
The three men walked to the bar. The bartender put a beer in front of each of them and gave Clint a shot of whiskey on the side.
“Whiskey’s good for bad news,” Janeway said. “And I’m assumin’ you got some bad news.”
“I did,” Clint said. He tossed down the shot, chased it with the beer. “I’ve got to tell my friend that his foreman is the one trying to shut him down.”
“Ouch,” Janeway said. “That is bad news.”
“Thanks for your cooperation,” Clint said.
“Ah, I’m just tryin’ to keep the peace here . . . as best I can.”
“Like a sheriff,” Haven said.
“Ouch,” Elwood Janeway said again. “You take that back, amigo.”
• • •
Clint and Haven left the saloon, mounted up, and left Janeway.
“What are you gonna do?” Haven asked as they rode out of town.
“I’m going to go back and tell Blanchard what I found out,” Clint said. “What else can I do?”
“I don’t know,” Haven said with a shrug. “Keep it to yourself?”
“I could do that,” Clint said. “Watch Mahoney, see where he takes me.”
“Unless he’s doing this for himself,” Haven said. “Maybe he is tryin’ to get the mine for himself.”
“That could be,” Clint said.
“If you tell Blanchard, he’ll fire him right away,” Haven said.
“You’re right,” Clint said. “First I’ve got to find out if he’s working for himself, or for Kendall.”
“Or for somebody else.”
“Like who?”
Haven shrugged. “Could be somebody else is involved.”
“Sure,” Clint said, “that’s all I need. A new player in the game.”