When they got to the jailhouse, they relieved Harvey Ludlow, a man who did odd jobs in town. When the saloon needed swamping, or the livery stable needed sweeping, or the jail needed to be watched, Harvey was your man.
As they entered, Harvey stood up. He was six-and-a-half feet tall and couldn’t have weighed more than 130 pounds soaking wet.
“Okay, thanks for givin’ me a break, Harvey,” Shaye said.
“Sure, Sheriff,” Harvey said. “Any time.”
“Any trouble?”
“No, sir,” Harvey said. “Your prisoners were real quiet.”
“Go to the café. I arranged for them to give you breakfast. They won’t charge you.”
The young man smiled broadly and said, “Thanks, Sheriff! See you, boys.”
“ ’Bye, Harvey,” James said.
Harvey left, and Shaye sat behind his desk.
“Okay, you boys go out and do your mornin’ rounds,” Shaye said. “I’ll wait for Katrina to get here with the prisoners’ breakfasts.”
“She’s gonna be real disappointed not to find Thomas here,” James said, with a grin. “That girl’s got her sights set on you. How about a spring weddin’? Sound good?”
“Shut up, James,” Thomas said.
“Go!” Shaye said. “Fight outside.”
Thomas and James went out the door, still bickering. Only when the door closed behind them did their father smile.
Red Fleming sat at the campfire and drank his coffee. Around him, his men were breaking camp, dousing their fires and saddling their horses.
“We’re almost ready, Red,” Dan Cannaday told him. Everyone called him “Candy.” Even on his wanted poster it said Dan “Candy” Cannaday.
Red dumped the remainder of his coffee into the fire, said to Candy, “Have somebody douse that one,” and handed him the cup.
“Bentley,” Candy shouted, “douse this fire!”
“Right!”
Candy turned and followed Red, who walked to his horse and began to saddle it.
“We gettin’ this done today?” Candy asked.
“We are.”
Red, at thirty-five, was about eight years older than Candy, who recognized not only Red’s ability with a gun, but his leadership qualities. He had no problem being Number Two to the older man . . . for now.
“What about the town?” Candy asked.
“What about it?” Red asked.
“What do we do to it after we get your brother out of jail?”
Red dropped his blanket onto his horse’s back, then turned to face Candy. He had black hair and black stubble on his face. “Red” was not a nickname, it was what his parents named him.
“What are you talkin’ about?” he demanded. “You wanna burn the town down after? Loot it? Rape the women?”
“All of it,” Candy said, licking his lips.
Red looked around at the other five men in camp.
“They feel the same way?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s not why I’m goin’ to Vengeance Creek,” Red told him. “Never was.”
“I know,” Candy said. “You’re goin’ to get your brother out of jail. Keep him from hangin’.”
“That’s right. I ain’t no town-burner, Candy.”
He bent over, lifted his saddle and tossed it up onto his horse’s back.
“So then, what’s in it for us?” Candy asked. “The rest of us? You said you’d make it worth our while to help you break your brother out.”
“And I will,” Red said. “Me and my brother, we both will. But you burn down that town, and we’ll be runnin’ for the rest of our lives. Especially if you rape the women and kill all the men. The law has a way of not forgettin’ about things like that.”
“But this way you and your brother are gonna make it worth stickin’ our necks out,” Candy said. “None of it’s legal, is it?”
“No.”
“So the law will still be after us.”
“Maybe,” Red said, “but it ain’t gonna be for mass murder.”
“Mass murder?”
“That’s what they’d call it.”
“So whatta you gonna do? Break your brother out and kill a lawman?”
“Just one,” Red said. “The one who put him in there.”
“Ain’t that murder?”
Red turned to face Candy again.
“Not if it’s a fair fight, my friend,” Red said. “Right out in the center of the street.”
“You think you’re Wild Bill Hickok, don’t ya?” Candy asked.
“Not Hickok,” Red said, “just me, Red Fleming. Now, you better get saddled up.”
“Okay,” Candy said, “but I ain’t convinced about this, and I don’t know if the others will be, either.”
“Well,” Red said, putting his left hand on Candy’s shoulder and looking him square in the eye, “I’ll just have to convince you, and then you and me, we’ll convince them.”
“I been to Vengeance Creek once or twice before, ya know,” Candy said.
“So?”
“That town would burn real good,” Candy said, shaking his head. “Real good.”
“Well then,” Red Fleming said, “another time, maybe.”