“Well now, Harley, lookie here,” the sheriff said as Smoke stepped inside. “This is the fella I was tellin’ you about, the one that shot the gun out of Dawes’ hand.”
Deputy Harley Beard looked up from the coffeepot. “Is that true? Did you really intend to shoot the gun out of Dawes’ hand? Or is that just the way it happened?”
“Both,” Smoke answered.
“What do you mean, both?”
“I intended to shoot the gun out of his hand, and that’s the way it happened.”
Harley laughed.
“What can I do for you, Jensen?” Sheriff Wallace asked.
“I’d like to see the prisoner you are planning on hanging,” Smoke said.
Wallace shook his head. “Ain’t no need for you to do that. You want to see him, you can see him Friday mornin', same as ever’ one else.”
“I need to see him now,” Smoke said. “That is, if the reward is going to be paid.”
“What reward are you talking about?” Wallace asked.
Smoke pulled an envelope from his pocket. Inside the envelope was the document he had asked Curly Latham to print for him.
$5,000.00 REWARD
Bobby Lee Cabot
DEAD OR ALIVE
Contact: Sheriff Monte Carson
“I’m talking about this reward,” Smoke said, showing the document to Sheriff Wallace. “If I wait until Friday, it’ll be too late to collect.”
Wallace chuckled. “Seems to me that’s your worry, not mine. Why should I care whether or not you collect a reward?”
“You don’t understand, Sheriff,” Smoke said. “I can’t collect the reward anyway.” Smoke showed Wallace the deputy sheriff’s badge he was carrying. “In Colorado, law officers can’t accept a reward. You are the one who will be missing out on the reward.”
“What do you mean? You just said that law officers can’t collect a reward.”
“Colorado law officers can’t collect a reward. But you aren’t a Colorado law officer. You are a sheriff in Nevada.”
“Hmm,” Wallace said, stroking his chin. “You may have a point there.”
“Sheriff, what about them three passengers that actually brought him in?” Harley asked.
“What about ‘em?” Wallace asked.
“Ain’t they the ones that should be gettin’ the reward if there is one?”
“Harley, have you ever heard the sayin', ‘Possession is nine tenths of the law'?”
“No. What’s that mean?”
“That means Bobby Lee Cabot is a prisoner in my jail and them passengers ain’t got nothin’ to do with it. Ain’t that the way you look at it, Jensen?”
“That’s right,” Smoke said. “It all depends on where the prisoner is.”
Sheriff Wallace smiled. Then the expression changed to one of concern. “Look here, Jensen, you ain’t tryin’ to tell me that I have to turn this fella over to you in order to get the reward, are you? ‘Cause what with him already bein’ found guilty and sentenced an’ all, I don’t think I can do that.”
“No, I’m not saying you have to turn him over to me,” Smoke said. “You can go ahead and hang him as far as I’m concerned. But you do have to let me see him. I have to make certain that the prisoner you have here is really Bobby Lee Cabot.”
“Oh, it’s Bobby Lee Cabot all right,” Sheriff Wallace said. “You can take my word on that.”
“Sorry, Sheriff, I wish I could,” Smoke said. “But if I’m going to have Sheriff Carson back in Colorado authorize the reward payment, I’m going to have to see the prisoner for myself.”
“So he’s wanted in Colorado, is he? I knew it,” Wallace said. “And here he was trying to make arrangements with me to trap Frank Dodd.”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying that he was trying to make arrangements with you? I heard you tell Doc Baker and the others that there were no arrangements discussed.”
“Yeah, well, why complicate things?” Sheriff Wallace asked. “If Baker, Nabors, and the whore knew he actually had talked to me, they never would believe that he is guilty. He did try and tell me something about me being in the express car, but I knew all along that something was wrong. For all I knew, he might have been trying to set a trap for me. Anyway, you just proved my point by showing me this dodger sayin’ he’s wanted in Colorado.” Wallace stroked his chin as he looked at the reward poster. Then he nodded, and handed the reward poster back to Smoke. “All right, you can see him.”
“Thanks.”
“Take Deputy Jensen back to the jail cells, Harley.”
Harley nodded, then opened a door that led into the back of the building. He motioned for Smoke to follow
