“About forty dollars.”
“So you killed a man over forty dollars?”
“No. I killed him because he was trying to kill me. Mr. Deckert, Lenny, and the young lady are tellin’ the truth,” Pearlie said. “Billy Ray came after me. I didn’t have any choice.”
“It’s easy enough for you to get a couple of friends to lie for you,” the Marshal said.
“What?” Pearlie looked over toward Lenny. “Lenny is not my friend. I’ve never even met him before. And the only reason I know Mr. Deckert is because he was sittin’ at the table with us, watching the game.”
“Then how did you know York’s name?”
“York? I thought it was Lenny,” Pearlie said.
“It’s Lenny York,” the marshal replied. “Anyone else in here want to back up what York and Deckert just said? How about you, Evans?” he asked the bartender. “You got ’nything to say?”
“Tell you the truth, Marshal Dawson, when the shootin’ started, I ducked down behind the bar,” Evans said.
“Who shot first?” Pearlie asked.
“I don’t know, mister,” the bartender answered. “It happened so fast that it seemed to me like it all started at the same time.”
“Anybody else got ’nything to add?” Marshal Dawson asked.
“Yeah, I do,” Kelly said. “This here fella started it.” He pointed at Pearlie.
“Was you playin’ cards with ’em?” Dawson asked.
“No, but you might take a look in that spittoon there,” Kelly suggested.
“Now, why the hell would I want to do that?” Dawson replied.
“Because this fella dropped Billy Ray’s pistol into it.”
“Is that right?” Dawson asked Pearlie. “Did you actually drop Billy Ray’s pistol into the spittoon?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Why did you do that?”
“We were playing cards, and Billy Ray got a little upset. I thought if I took the gun away from him, it might keep him from using it to shoot me.”
“Didn’t you stop to think that might make Billy Ray mad?”
“Like I said, he was already mad at me. I just figured the best thing I could do is put his pistol where he couldn’t get to it so easy.”
“How’d you get his pistol in the first place?”
“I took it from him when he tried to draw on me,” Pearlie said.
“You took it from him?”
“Yes.”
“Billy Ray don’t seem like the kind of person you could just take a pistol away from.”
“I hit him over the head with my gun and knocked him out before I took it. You can ask Mr. Deckert here. He saw it all.”
“That’s right, Marshal,” Deckert said. “Like I told you, Billy Ray got mad at the way Pearlie won the pot.”
“But you say he wasn’t cheatin’?”
“No, he wasn’t cheatin’. He bluffed Billy Ray out of the hand. Also, I guess you could say he bought the pot.”
“He bought the pot? From Billy Ray Quentin? How the hell could anyone buy a pot from Billy Ray Quentin?” The marshal looked back at Pearlie. “Are you rich, mister?”
“No.”
“Well, the Quentins is rich. So you want to tell me how you could buy the pot from Billy Ray Quentin?”
“I raised the pot to more money than Billy Ray had brought to the table with him,” Pearlie explained.
“And you wouldn’t let him go get anymore?” the marshal asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I figured he probably had a better hand than I did. I was playing cards to win, Marshal, not to be a good sport.”
“Mister, the more you talk, the deeper you are getting yourself into trouble.”
“I’m just tellin’ you the truth,” Pearlie said.
“Put the shackles on him, Wilson.”
“Yes, sir, Marshal,” the deputy replied enthusiastically, as if this was the first time he had ever been involved in
