Collection 2008 - Big Medicine (v5.0) Read online

  Silence hung heavily in the wake of the shots. Into that silence Laredo Shad spoke. “Hold it, Sloan!” He stepped through the door, taking no glance at the fallen man. “The other one won’t hang, either,” he said. “They were both inside.”

  The two men drew aside, Sloan’s face gray and sick. He had never killed a man before, and wanted never to again. He tried to roll a smoke, but his fingers trembled. Shad took the paper and tobacco from him and rolled it. The farmer looked up shamefacedly. “Guess I’m yaller,” he said. “That sort of got me.”

  The Texan looked at him gloomily. “Let’s hope it always does,” he said. He handed him the cigarette. “Try this,” he told him. “It will make you feel better. Wonder how Kedrick’s comin’?”

  “Ain’t heard nothin’!”

  Pit Laine stood in a door across the street. “Everythin’ all right?” he called.

  “Yeah,” the other farmer called back, “on’y you don’t hafta look for the Mixus boys no more! They ain’t gonna be around.”

  Captain Tom Kedrick had walked up the street and turned into the door of the St. James Hotel. The wide lobby was still, a hollow shell smelling faintly of old tobacco fumes and leather. The wrinkled clerk looked up and shook his head. “Quiet today,” he said. “Nobody around. Ain’t been no shootin’ in days.”

  Guns thundered from down the street, then again and again, then silence, and the two solid blasts of the shotgun. Both men listened, and no further sound came. A moment later Pit Laine called out and the farmer answered. The clerk nodded. “Same town,” he said. “Last couple of days I been wonderin’ if I wasn’t back in Ohio. Awful quiet lately,” he said, “awful quiet.”

  Tom Kedrick walked down the hall and out the back door. He went down the weathered steps and stopped on the grass behind the building. There was an old, rusty pump there, and the sun was hot on the backs of the buildings. He walked over to the pump and worked the handle. It protested, whining and groaning at the unaccustomed work, and finally, despairing of rest, threw up a thick core of water that splashed in the wooden tub. When he had pumped for several minutes, Kedrick held the gourd dipper under the pump and let it fill. The water was clear and very cold. He drank greedily, rested, then drank again.

  Far up the backs of the buildings at the opposite end of town, a man was swinging an axe. Kedrick could see the flash of light on the blade, and see the axe strike home, and a moment later the sound would come to him. He watched, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, and started along in back of the buildings toward the Mustang.

  He moved with extreme care, going steadily, yet with every sense alert. He wore his .44 Russians and liked the feel of them, ready in his hands. The back door of the Mustang was long unpainted and blistered by many hot suns. He glanced at the hinges and saw they were rusty. The door would squeak. Then he saw the outside stair leading to the second floor, and, turning, he mounted the stairs on tiptoe, easing through that door, and walking down the hall.

  In the saloon below, Fessenden had eliminated half a bottle of whiskey without destroying the deadening sense of futility that had come over him. He picked up a stack of cards and riffled them skillfully through his fingers, and there was no lack of deftness there. What ever effect the whiskey had had, it was not on his hands. Irritated, he slammed the cards down and stared at the bartender. “Wish Dornie’d get back,” he said for the tenth time. “I want to leave this town. She don’t feel right today.”

  He had heard the shots down the street, but had not moved from the bar. “Some drunk cowhand,” he said irritably.

  “You better look” the bartender suggested, hoping for no fights in the saloon. “It might be some of your outfit.”

  “I got no outfit,” Fess replied shortly. “I’m fed up. That stunt out there to Yeller Butte drove me off that range. I’ll have no more of it.”

  He heard the footsteps coming down the hall from upstairs and listened to their even cadence. He glanced up, grinning. “Sounds like an Army man. Listen!”

  Realization of what he had said came over him, and the grin left his face. He straightened, resting his palms on the bar. For a long moment, he stared into the bartender’s eyes. “I knew it! I knew that hombre would….” He tossed off his drink. “Aw, I didn’t want to leave town, anyway!”

  He turned, moving back from the bar. He stood, spraddle-legged, like a huge grizzly, his big hands swinging at his hips, his eyes glinting upward at the balcony and the hall that gave onto it. The steps ceased, and Tom Kedrick stood there, staring down at him.

  Neither man spoke for a full minute, while suspense gripped the watchers, and then it was Fessenden who broke the silence. “You lookin’ for me, Kedrick?”

  “For any of your crowd. Where’s Shaw? And Keith?”

  “Keith’s dead. Shaw killed him back up on the Salt after you whipped us in the cañon. I dunno where he is now.”

  Silence fell once more and the two men studied each other. “You were among them at Chimney Rock, Fessenden,” Kedrick said. “That was an ambush... dry-gulcher’s stunt, Fess.” Kedrick took another step forward, then side-stepped down the first step of the stairs which ran along the back wall until about six steps from the bottom, then, after crossing the landing, came down facing the room.

  Fessenden stood there, swaying slightly on his thick, muscular legs, his brutal jaw and head thrust forward. “Aw, hell!” he said, and grabbed iron.

  His guns fairly leaped from their holsters, spouting flame. A bullet smashed the top of the newel post at the head of the stairs, then ricocheted into the wall; another punctured a hole just behind Kedrick’s shoulder. Tom Kedrick stepped down another step, then fired. His bullet turned Fessenden, and Kedrick ran lightly down four steps while Fessenden smashed two shots at him.

  Kedrick dove headlong for the landing, brought up hard against the wall, and smashed another shot at the big man. It knocked a leg from under him, and he rolled over on his feet, colliding with the bar.

  He had been hit twice, but he was cold sober and deadly. He braced himself and, with his left hand clinging to the bar, lifted his right and thumbed back the hammer. Kedrick fired two quick shots with his left gun. One ripped a furrow down the bar and hit Fessenden below the breast bone, a jagged, tearing piece of metal when it struck.

  Fessenden fired again, but the bullet went wild, and his sixth shot was fired in desperation as he swung up his left hand gun, dropping the right into his holster. Taking his time, feeling his life’s blood running out of him, he braced himself there and took the gun over into his right hand. He was deliberate and calm. “Pour me a drink,” he said.

  The bartender, lying flat on his face behind the bar, made no move. Tom Kedrick stood on the edge of the landing now, staring at Fessenden. The big gunman had been hit three times, through the shoulder, the leg, and the chest, and he still stood there, gun in hand, ponderous and invulnerable.

  The gun came up and Fessenden seemed to lean forward with it. “I wish you was Dornie,” he said.

  Kedrick triggered. The shot nailed Fessenden through the chest again. The big man took a fast step back, then another. His gun slipped from his hand, and he grabbed a glass standing on the bar. “Gimme a drink!” he demanded. Blood bubbled at his lips.

  Tom Kedrick came down the steps, his gun ready in his hand, and walked toward Fessenden. Holding his gun level and low down with his right hand, Kedrick picked up the bottle with his left and filled the empty glass. Then he pulled over another empty glass and poured one for himself.

  Fessenden stared at him. “You’re a good man, Kedrick,” he said, shaping the words patiently. “I’m a good man, too... on the wrong side.”

  “I’ll drink to that.” Kedrick lifted his glass, they clicked them, and Fessenden grinned crookedly over his.

  “You watch that Dornie,” he advised, “he’s a rattler... mean.” The words stumbled from his mouth and he frowned, lifting the glass. He downed his drink, choked on it, and started to hold out a big hand t
o Kedrick, then fell flat on his face. Holstering his gun, Tom Kedrick leaned over and gripped the big right hand. Fessenden grinned and died.

  XV

  Connie Duane headed for Mustang only a short time after the survivors of the fight at Yellow Butte began to arrive. Restless, after leaving the men who were returning to the squatters’ town, she had begun to think of what lay ahead, of Fred Ransome and the impending investigation, and of her uncle’s part in it. All his papers as well as many of her own remained under lock in the gray stone house in Mustang, but if she was to get her own money back from Burwick, or was to clear any part of the blame from her uncle, she knew it must be done with those papers. She struck the old Mormon Trail and headed south. She was on that trail when the sun lifted, and she heard the distant sound of shots.

  Turning from the trail, she reined her horse into the bed of Salt Creek and rode south, passing the point where only a short time later Loren Keith was to meet his death at the hands of Dornie Shaw. Once in Mustang she believed she would be safe, and she doubted if anyone would be in the stone house unless it was Burwick, and she knew that he rarely left his chair.

  Arriving in Mustang, she rode quickly up the street, then cut over behind the stone house and dismounted. She went into the house through the back door and went very quietly. Actually she need not have bothered, for Alton Burwick was not there. Making her way up the old stairs, she unlocked the door to the apartment she had shared with her uncle, and closed the door behind her.

  Nothing seemed to have been disturbed. The blinds were drawn as she had left them and the room was still. A little dust had collected, and the light filtering in around the blinds showed it to her. Going to her trunk, she opened it and got out the ironbound box in which she carried her own papers. It was intact, and showed no evidence of having been tampered with. From the bottom of the trunk she took an old purse in which there were two dozen gold eagles, and these she changed to the purse she was now carrying.

  Among other things there was an old pistol there, a huge, cumbersome thing. This she got out and laid on the table beside her. Then she found a Derringer seven-shot .22 caliber pistol her father had given her several years before he died, and she put it in the pocket of her dress.

  Hurrying across the room, she went into the next room and began to go through her uncle’s desk, working swiftly and surely. Most of his papers were readily available, and apparently nobody had made any effort to go through them, probably believing they contained nothing of consequence or that there would be plenty of time later. She was busy at this when she heard a horse walk by the house and stop near the back steps.

  Instantly she stopped what she was doing and stood erect. The window here was partly open and she could hear the saddle creak very gently as whoever it was swung down. Then a spur jingled, and there was a step below, then silence.

  “So? It’s you.”

  Startled by the voice, Connie turned. Sue Laine stood behind her, staring with wide eyes. “Yes,” Connie replied, “I came for some things of mine. You’re Sue, aren’t you?”

  Without replying to the question, the girl nodded her head toward the window. “Who was that? Did you see?”

  “No. It was a man.”

  “Maybe Loren has come back.” Sue studied her, unsmiling. “How are they out there? Are they all right? I mean... did you see Pit?”

  “Yes. He’s unhappy about you.”

  Sue Laine flushed, but her chin lifted proudly. “I suppose he is, but what did he expect? That I was going to live all my life out there in that awful desert? I’m sick of it! Sick of it, I tell you!”

  Connie smiled. “That’s strange. I love it. I love it, and every minute I’m there, I love it more. I’d like to spend my life here, and I believe I will.”

  “With Tom Kedrick?”

  Sue’s jealousy flashed in her eyes, yet there was curiosity, too. Connie noticed how the other girl studied her clothes, her face.

  “Why…I... where did you ever get idea?” “From looking at him. What girl wouldn’t want him? Anyway, he’s the best of the lot.”

  “I thought you liked Colonel Keith?”

  Sue’s face flushed again. “I... I... thought I did, too. Only part of it was because Tom Kedrick wouldn’t notice me... and because I wanted to get away from here, from the desert. But since then... I guess Pit hates me.”

  “No brother really hates his sister, I think. He’d be glad to see you back with him.”

  “You don’t know him. If it had been anybody but someone associated with Alton Burwick, why…”

  “You mean, you knew Burwick before?” “Knew him?” Sue stared at her. “Didn’t you know? Didn’t he tell you? He was our stepfather.”

  “Alton Burwick?” Connie stared in amazement. “Yes, and we always suspected that he had killed our father. We never knew, but my mother suspected later, too, for she took us and ran away from him. He came after us. We never knew what happened to mother. She went off one night for something and never came back, and we were reared by a family who just took us in.”

  A board creaked in the hall, and both girls were suddenly still, listening.

  Guns thundered from the street of the town, and both girls stared at each other, holding their breath. There was a brief silence, then a further spattering of shots. Then the door opened very gently and Dornie Shaw stood there, facing the two girls.

  He seemed startled at finding the girls together, and looked from one to the other, his brown eyes bright, but now confused. Then he centered his eyes on Sue Laine. “You better get out,” he said. “Keith’s dead.”

  “Dead?” Sue gasped. “They…they killed him?” “No, I did. Up on the Salt. He drew on me.” “Keith... dead.” Sue was shocked.

  “What about the others? Where are they?” Connie asked quickly.

  Dornie turned his head sharply around and looked hard at her, a curious, prying gaze as if he did not quite know what to make of her. “Some of ’em are dead,” he said matter-of-factly. “They whupped us. It was that Kedrick”—he spoke without emotion or shadow of prejudice as though completely indifferent—“he had ’em set for us an’ they mowed us down.” He jerked his head toward the street. “I guess they are finishin’ up now. The Mixus boys an’ Fessenden are down there.”

  “They’ll be coming here,” Connie said with conviction. “This is the next place.”

  “I reckon.” He seemed indifferent to that, too. “Kedrick’ll be the first one. Maybe”—he smiled—“the last one.” He dug out the makings, glancing around the room, then back at Sue. “You git out. I want to talk to Connie.”

  Sue did not move. “You can talk to us both. I like it here.”

  As he touched his tongue to the paper, his eyes lifted and met hers. They were flat, expressionless. “You heard me,” he said. “I’d hate to treat you rough.”

  “You haven’t the nerve!” Sue flashed back. “You know what would happen to you if you laid hands on a woman in this country! You can get away with killing me, but this country won’t stand for having their women bothered, even by a ratty little killer like you!”

  Connie Duane was remembering the Derringer in her pocket and lowered her hand to her hip within easy grasp of the gun.

  A sudden cannonade sounded, then a scattering of more shots. At that moment Kedrick was finally shooting it out with Fessenden. Dornie Shaw cocked an inquisitive ear toward the sound. “Gettin’ closer,” he said. “I ain’t really in no hurry until Kedrick gets here.”

  “You’d better be gone before he does come.” Connie was surprised at the confidence in her voice. “He’s too much for you, and he’s not half frightened like these others are. He’ll kill you, Dornie.”

  He stared at her, then chuckled without humor. “Him? Bah! The man doesn’t live who can outdraw Dornie Shaw! I’ve tried ’em all! Fess? He’s supposed to be good, but he don’t fool with Dornie! I’d shoot his ears off.”

  Calmly Connie dropped her right hand into her pocket and clutched th
e Derringer. The feel of it gave her confidence. “You had better go,” she said quietly. “You were not invited here and we don’t want you.”

  He did not move. “Still playin’ it high an’ mighty, are you? You’ve got to get over that. Come on, you’re coming with me.”

  “Are you leaving?” Connie’s eyes flashed. “I’ll not ask you again!”

  Shaw started to speak, but what ever it was he planned to say never formed into words, for Connie had her hand on the Derringer, and she fired from her pocket. Ordinarily she was a good shot, but had never fired the gun from that position. The first bullet burned a furrow along Dornie Shaw’s ear, notching it at the top, the second shot stung him along the ribs, and the third plowed into the table beside him.

  With a growl of surprise, he dove through the door into the hall. Sue was staring at Connie. “Well, I never!” Her eyes dropped to the tiny gun that Connie had now drawn from her pocket. “Dornie Shaw! And with that! Oh, just wait until this gets around!” Her laughter rang out merrily, and despite herself Connie was laughing, too.

  Downstairs, near the door, Dornie Shaw clutched his bloody ear and panted as though he had been running, his face twisting as he stared at his blood. Amazed, he scarcely noticed when Kedrick came up the steps, but, as the door pushed open, he saw him. For a fatal instant, he froze, then he grabbed for his gun, but he had lost his chance. In that split second of hesitation, Kedrick jumped. His right hand grasped Dornie’s gun wrist, and Kedrick swung the gunman bodily around, hurling him into the wall. Shaw’s body hit with a crash and he rebounded into a wicked right to the wind.

  Shaw was no fighter with his hands, and the power of that blow would have wrecked many a bigger man. As it was, it knocked every bit of wind from the gunman’s body, and then Kedrick shoved him back against the wall. “You asked me what I’d do, once, with a faster man. Watch this, Dornie!”