with his hands tied firmly to the pommel.
'You see,' the sheriff says to Logan, 'if you'd taken being a deputy a bit more seriously you could have had the pleasure of bringing Mr. McLaren in to be hanged.'
'Hanged?'
'He killed two men. Of course we'll hang him.'
'Two?'
'Frank Lake, the man you fought with in the hotel and a man called Sanchez who used to be a friend of my father's.'
Logan takes a moment to take this in. McLaren is going to be hanged for killing the men that Logan has killed.
'How do you know he did it?'
The Sheriff bursts out laughing.
'You see,' he says, still chuckling, 'you'd really would have made a good deputy. Listen to yourself worrying about justice and fairness.'
'There are plenty of reasons to punish that man, but those murders aren't anything to do with him.'
'You really are quite slow and stupid aren't you.' The Sheriff is suddenly angry and pulls Logan away from the deputies so he can speak to him without them hearing.
Logan complains at the pain from being dragged along by his wounded arm.
'You have no right to complain to me Tanner. You just don't get it do you? Do I need to spell it out to you? Of course I know he didn't kill those men. I'm not a blind fool. You and I both know who did it.'
'Then why kill him? Your whole town is twisted.' Logan is no longer worried about what the Sheriff thinks of him. There is nothing left in the town for him, and the only person he felt any desire to protect has left. He will tell the Sheriff what he thinks of him and he doesn't care if that leaves his head in the same noose as McLaren's. 'What sort of a Sheriff are you that hangs a man you know to be innocent and makes a deputy of a man that you know is guilty? Is this all Humby's influence? Does he own you too?'
'For a man that's been protected, you're pretty ungrateful.'
'You call this protection?' he points at his bandaged arm.
'Shouldn't you be asking why anyone would want to protect you? This town has no space for traveling mercenaries and outlaws. Oh, don't look surprised, I know your background well enough. No, protecting you isn't doing the town a favor but I'm not just looking out for the town, I'm looking out for my sister too.'
Logan wonders why the Sheriff's sister has any relevance. He doubts he has even met her.
'My sister, you'll have noticed, doesn't think too highly of me and takes great care to avoid me but that doesn't stop me looking out for her. I could see she was falling for you.'
'You make as much sense as a man delirious with fever,' Logan says, interrupting, 'Who is this woman you're talking about? There's only one woman in this town that I care about--' he trails off as the pieces fall into place. The brother who offended the family so much that he was ostracized. That was no tall tale, it was the true story of her brother, the Sheriff. Emily had been trying to warn him.
'Sheriff?' one of the deputies calls out, 'We're going to put this man in the jailhouse before the townsfolk make themselves a lynching party.'
The Sheriff nods and the group moves off up the street.
Logan watches them go. The last rider is dressed in black and salutes them as he passes. It is Wilson.
'She didn't tell you did she?'
Logan cannot find the words to answer. All his ideas of the town were shifting around like colors in a kaleidoscope. Wilson is alive and well. That pleases him more than he expected. But Emily is gone and he is talking to the brother that she won't acknowledge.
'Now I see why you were finding it so hard to understand what was going on. Emily Nixon is my sister. I'm disappointed she didn't tell you that herself but I suppose I'm not surprised. I keep an eye out for her. I don't assign my deputies to watch over her because of the crimes she commits, I do it to keep her out of trouble as much as I can. I sent them to scare her into behaving herself and being a bit more careful. I didn't send you and Wilson to accompany Humby because I was worried about Humby's safety. I was worried about her. I know you care about her, even if you won't admit it.'
'If it helps, I do care about her, but she isn't here any more to be cared for. She has left us both behind.'
'Are you sure?'
'Her horse has gone. She told me she planned to leave the town for good. She knew that Sanchez was dead. She said that there was nothing here for her any more.'
'When?'
'Not long ago. If you let me go now I might be able to chase her down.'
'Let you go? I'm not stopping you going anywhere.'
Logan gestures at the gun in the Sheriff's hand.
The Sheriff shrugs and holsters the gun.
'Perhaps, if you can delay a few minutes you'd permit me to ride with you?'
'To 'protect' me?'
'To get a chance to say goodbye to my sister.'
'You really do care about her don't you?' Now that the gun isn't pointing at him any more, Logan sees behind the facade of the Sheriff's badge for the first time and sees the man. A tired man, saddened by the loss of his family. 'What on earth did you do to make her treat you like this?'
'What did I do? I became a deputy, a lawman.'
'That's it?'
'It was enough to estrange my father. He had little respect for the law and broke it frequently and flagrantly. It was probably best for both of us that he wouldn't have me at the ranch any more. I would have had to arrest him sooner or later. He was far more deserving of the noose than McLaren. Emily has always done her best to please her father and to do as he would do. I don't doubt that hiring you to blow up McLaren's house was an example of that. My only surprise is that she didn't ask you to kill him.'
'I'm pretty sure she meant me to. With what's happened since, I wish I had.'
Both men walk out into the main street, Logan leading his horses. Logan repeats his plans to leave and catch Emily on the road.
'You're not going to make much speed with that packhorse in tow.'
'I know, that's why I want to leave now.'
'Fine, you go, but when you find her will you do me the favor of getting her to wait? You don't need to tell her that it's me that's coming. I have a fast horse, I might be able to overtake you anyway.'
Logan steadies himself for the agony of hauling himself into the saddle but as he does so he sees something that makes him pause.
He isn't sure to start with but it looks so much like her. Who else would it be? But would she really, after all she has been through? No, it is definitely Emily, and she has her arm around the odious Humby.
The Sheriff turns to see what he is looking at and he too is taken aback at the sight.
Logan wants to call out to her. What will he say? What can he say? He thought she felt the same way about him as he does about her, but if she is so quick to fall into the arms of a man such as Humby then maybe he was wrong.
'Help me up,' he says to the Sheriff, determined not to stay to watch her, to see her flaunt this at him.
'No, wait here.' The sheriff walks up the street to meet Emily and Humby as they approach.
Logan watches the him walk toward his sister and considers turning away, dragging himself into the saddle and riding off but, without meaning to, he follows a few paces behind the Sheriff.
'Emily, what are you doing?' her brother asks.
'I've sold the ranch,' she says.
'I don't care about the ranch.'
'You never did, did you? Well, it's gone now and your friend has bought it.'
'And has he bought you too?'
She laughs at her brother's concern. 'Oh no, this is him being too drunk to walk without something to lean on. Here,' she untangles his arm from around her and shoves Humby toward him, 'you take him.'
