Dan Shaye finally decided that the one place Doucette and his men could not avoid forever was the Renegade Saloon.
The next day he managed to locate most of Doucette’s men. Three of them got rooms in a local rooming house, while the other three found lodging in various hotels. The only one in the same hotel as Doucette was a big Swede named Nils.
Two of Doucette’s men made it easy. They went into the Renegade, got into a poker game—not with Kingdom—and then got into a fight with some of the other players. Shaye, who had been on the lookout for trouble, immediately got the drop on them and took them into custody.
“You can’t put us in here for fightin’!” one of them shouted as he locked their cells.
“Fightin’s against the law in this county,” Shaye told them.
“How long we gonna be in here?” the other one asked.
“That depends,” Shaye said, but he didn’t bother telling them on what. He went out and closed the cell block door, even while they were still hollerin’.
Mayor Snow rushed into the sheriff’s office. Shaye was surprised to see the man outside his house or his own office.
“What’s on your mind, Mayor?”
“Is that your plan?” Snow asked. “Lock up Doucette’s men. That still leaves him free to kill me.”
“I thought you believed him when he told you that he didn’t want to kill you?”
“Well, no,” Snow groused, “you talked me out of that.”
“Then why ain’t you home where it’s safe?”
The mayor drew himself up to his full medium height and said, “I can’t hide forever. What kind of message does that send to the town about their mayor?”
“That he’s smart?”
“That he’s a coward!” the mayor snapped. “I may be a coward, but I don’t want the townspeople knowing that.”
“Mayor,” Shaye said, “it ain’t cowardly to know your limitations. You’re on watch for Doucette if he comes after you. Therefore, the best thing for you to do is to stay outta sight.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“Well,” the mayor said, “since it’s your idea, Sheriff, I’ll do that. I’ll stay out of sight. If you need me, I’ll either be at my house, or city hall.”
“Okay,” Shaye said, “if I need you, that’s where I’ll look.”
As the mayor opened the door to go out, Tate Kingdom appeared. The gunman allowed the mayor to leave, the two men looking each other over, and then entered himself.
“Who’s that?” Kingdom asked.
“That’s our illustrious mayor.”
“He’s what this is all about?”
“He is,” Shaye said. “What are you doin’ here?”
“I was takin’ a break from my game and heard you nabbed two of Doucette’s men.”
“I did,” Shaye said. “They’re in cells.”
“Sorry I wasn’t there for back-up.”
“That’s okay,” Shaye said. “I was able to handle two.”
“What do you think Doucette will do when he hears?”
“He might come and have a talk,” Shaye said, “but there ain’t much he can do, unless he and his other men wanna break them out.”
“Want me to hang around here a while?” Kingdom asked.
“No,” Shaye said, “I don’t want Doucette to know that you’re backing me, yet. Let’s keep him guessin’.”
“That’ll keep his confidence up,” Kingdom said, “unless you can jail more of his men.”
“Don’t worry,” Shaye said. “They’ll get themselves into trouble. The problem with Doucette’s plan, whatever it is, is that he’s givin’ them time to shoot themselves in the foot.”
“Well, okay,” Kingdom said, “but I’ll be ready to jump in when the time is right—or when things get too hot.”
“Appreciate that, Kingdom.”
The gunman touched his hat and left the office.
Cole Doucette had found himself a smaller saloon than the Renegade to hang his hat. He was sitting at a table in the Yellow Rose when Sam Hawko and Paul Tayback came in.
“Boss, Sheriff Shaye just locked up two of our boys,” Hawko said.
“That so?”
“Whataya wanna do about it, boss?” Paul Tayback asked.
“Relax, boys,” Doucette said, “I’ve got this covered. Have a beer.”
They went to the bar, got a beer each, then came back and sat down.
“We just gonna leave ’em there?” Hawko asked.
“Who are they?”
“Chet and Roscoe.”
“They’re stupid,” Doucette said, “if I get them out, they’ll just get themselves tossed back in again.”
“But boss, whatabout—” Tayback started, but Doucette cut him off.
“I’ll go and have a talk with the sheriff,” he said. “Don’t you boys worry about it.”
“There’s somethin’ else,” Hawko said.
“What?”
“We just saw Tate Kingdom comin’ outta the sheriff’s office.”
“Again?”
When Doucette had sent Hawko to find out who the man with Shaye was, it had been Kingdom. Now the gunman was in there again.
“What do we do about him?” Tayback asked. “If he decides to take sides—”
“You boys are tryin’ to do too much thinkin’,” Doucette said. “That’s my job. Just take it easy, stay out of trouble, and wait for my signal.”
The two men nodded.
“And go,” Doucette added. “Sit somewhere else. I wanna be by myself.”
“Sure, boss,” Hawko said.
The two men stood up, and then Tayback turned back. “Uh, boss, what’s the signal?”
“You’ll know when you see it, Tayback,” Doucette said. “Now beat it.”