“Oh!” Sheriff Meeker suddenly gasped. He stepped back from Falcon and his eyes grew wide with fear. “I’ve ... I’ve got paper on you!”
Falcon chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. That paper is very old. I’m not wanted by anyone now. You can send a wire back to the sheriff that issued that warrant on me, if you want to.”
“No, no,” Sheriff Meeker said quickly, obviously not wanting to get into any argument with Falcon MacCallister. He had read too much about the deadly gunfighter to want to have to face him down.
“So, back to my original question, Sheriff Meeker. What can you tell me about these two people who were killed?”
“Other than who they are, I can’t tell you much,” Sheriff Meeker said. “Some of Suzie’s neighbors reported hearing gunshots this morning, around sunup.”
“Did they look into it?”
“No, not at first,” Meeker said.
“Why not?”
“Gunshots ain’t all that unusual around here,” Meeker said. “Most of the time it’s just a rancher, or maybe a miner, who stayed in town all night. Nobody figured this was any different.”
“When did you find out it was something different?”
“Well, sir, the undertaker lives in the back of the hardware store and when he went back to the privy first thing this mornin’, why, he noticed that Miss Suzie’s door was open. He stepped up onto her stoop to tell her about it, and that’s when he seen ’em. They was both lyin’ there in Miss Suzie’s bed. Nekkid as jaybirds, both of’em was.”
“Do you know who did it?”
“No, not yet. But in case you don’t know it, Miss Suzie was a soiled dove. So what some of us has figured out, it was probably someone who got jealous or something.”
“Maybe,” Falcon said. “But it could’ve also been Fargo Ford and his gang.”
“What? No! Didn’t I tell you? Miss Suzie was Fargo Ford’s own sister. I don’t think a body, even someone as evil as Fargo, would kill his own sister.”
“Unless she got in the way of money Fargo figures is his,” Falcon said.
“Well, I’ll be damn,” Sheriff Meeker said. “I never thought of that.”
“Fargo is from Mesquite, isn’t he? So, if he came into town recently, someone might have seen him who recognized him?”
“If he came into town and somebody saw him, yes, they would have recognized him,” Meeker admitted.
“Then, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll ask a few questions around town to see what I can find out.”
“No,” Sheriff Meeker said. “No, I don’t mind at all. If fact, I’ll go with you and help you out. If people see me with you, why, they might be a little more willin’ to talk to you.”
“Good idea,” Falcon agreed.
The two men started at the saloon. Falcon, who had eaten nothing but trail food for the last several days, had a meal of spiced beef, beans, and rolled tortillas. He sat at a table in the back of the room while Meeker, with great fanfare, called people over, one at a time, to ask if any of them had seen Fargo Ford.
“Yeah, I seen him a few days ago,” one of the men said.
“You seen him, Billy?” Sheriff Meeker asked.
“Yes.”
“Come on over here. Billy Cates, this here is my friend Falcon MacCallister,” Sheriff Meeker said. “I reckon you have heard of Falcon MacCallister, haven’t you?”
“I reckon I have,” Billy answered.
“Where did you see him?” Falcon asked, looking up from his meal.
“He come in here with three other men. They was all talkin’ to Frederica and Ava, but I don’t know what they was talkin’ about. I was too far away to hear ’em.”
“Did he say anything to you?” Falcon asked.
“To me? No, sir.” Billy Cates cleared his throat. “Look, this here ain’t somethin’ I’m very proud of, but I used to ride some with Ford. Me’n Ponci Elliot and Les Wilson. But that was a long time ago and I’ve been on the up and up ever since then. Why, you can ask the sheriff about that.”
“Billy’s tellin’ you the truth,” Sheriff Meeker said. “He’s rode the straight and narrow for a long time now.”
“I believe him,” Falcon said.
Billy looked relieved. “If you want, I’ll send Frederica and Ava over so’s you can talk to them. Maybe they can tell you what they was talkin’ about.”
A moment later the two bar girls stood in front of the table looking with admiration at the tall, handsome man who was asking so many questions.
“I know nothing about them,” Frederica said. “I know only that they asked for Suzie.”
“Suzie?”
“Fargo Ford’s sister,” Sheriff Meeker said.
