“So we’re conceivably looking at anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty men.”
“Or more,” Pete added.
Smoke paced the office in silence, deep in thought. Finally, he stopped and faced his deputies. “He’s got to try to destroy the town. That’s his only option. Killing me alone won’t stop the movement now. He can’t let Sally’s people start up this proposed bank. That would bring the state and, in some cases, the federal government into it ... if anything were to happen to it.”
“Maybe there’s another way to look at that, Smoke,” Sal pointed out. “Maybe Max wants the bank to start up. Rob the bank, destroy the town, and haul his ashes out of the area and start up somewheres else. You can bet that he has someone in this town feedin’ him information.”
“Who?” Jim asked.
Sal shook his head. “That I don’t know. It could be anybody. The swamper over at the saloon. The bartender, a store clerk ... anybody who’s hard up for money.”
“Hell, that could be any one of a hundred people,” Pete said. “Lemme tell you about Max. He’s sneaky. He has one ear to the ground all the time. He hears about somebody seein’ somebody else’s wife, he holds that over their head. He finds out about somebody bein’ wanted, say, back in Ohio, he uses that for leverage. Max can be smooth. He might have loaned someone in this town money when he first come here. Money’s tight right now. M aybe they couldn’t repay him like they said they would. Man, he could have half-a-dozen people in this town feedin’ him information.”
Smoke turned and looked out the window. It might be Jerry at the saddle shop. Lucy at the hotel. The boy down at the stable. One of the farmers scattered around this end of the county. One of Joe Walsh’s hands. Then it came to Smoke; but he kept his suspicions to himself, hoping they would not prove true.
He left the office and walked over to the hotel. He sat with Sally for a long time in their suite, talking, exchanging ideas. At first she tought his suspicions to be perfectly horrible. Then, gradually, she began to agree. When Smoke left, both he and Sally wore long faces.
Smoke walked the streets, looking hard into the face of every man and women he passed. Had to be, he thought. I didn’t see it at first because I wasn’t looking for it. But as he spoke and waved to another citizen, heading out of town, the family resemblance was just too strong to ignore.
There it was, staring him right in the face and saying good morning to him.
“You have to be joking!” Judge Garrison said, recoiling back in his chair.
“No. I’m ninety-nine percent certain. It has to be, Judge. Look at the person.”
The judge drummed his fingertips on his desk. He shook his head and sighed. “Now that you mention it, I can see it. My God. I would have never put it together. It was all a sham on this person’s part.”
“It had to be, Judge. Looking back, it all went down too smoothly, with no arguments.”
“And you propose to do what about it at this time?”
“I don’t know. From all I’ve learned by association, this individual does not appear to be a bad person. Rather likable, actually. Let’s just sit on this for the time being, Judge. See what develops.”
“Just between us?”
“You, me, and Sally are the only three in town who know or who suspect.”
“You think it’s just this one person?”
Smoke sighed. “I hope so. But how can we be sure?”
“We can’t.”
Smoke stood up and put on his hat. He told the judge about Sal’s suspicions as to when an attack to free the prisoners might take place.
The judge nodded his head in agreement. “I think he’s right. They wouldn’t want to attack the prisoner wagon from the territorial prison; that might bring the state militia down on their heads. They’ll strike here, Smoke. Bet on it. We’ll just have to be ready for it.”
“We’ll be ready,” Smoke assured him. “I’m going to deputize all of Joe Walsh’s hands and Brown and Gatewood and the other farmers in that area just in case Max tries a diversion to pull me out of town.”
“That’s a good idea. If trouble comes—and it would be a diversion—north of town, Brown and his friends could then legally handle it. Same with trouble south of town. I’ll draw up papers making them full deputies. That will make it official and part of the record.”
“The trial going to be in the new civic building?”
“Yes. I expect a large crowd to attend. Oh, by the way, the Marblys’ dog had puppies about six weeks ago. Mrs. Marbly said to tell you to stop by and pick one out for Lisa Turner.”
“I’ll do that right now. See you, Judge.”
Marbly grinned at Smoke. “I’m afraid they’re mutts, Marshal. But they sure are cute. Come on, I’ll show them to you.”
“Mutts is right,” Smoke said, squatting down by the squirming, yelping litter. “That one,” he said, pointing. “The one with the patch around his eye.”
“Her eye,” Mrs. Marbly corrected.
“Whatever. I like that one.”
“Lisa will love it. Tell Mrs. Turner she’s paper-trained and completely weaned.”
“Victoria will love that, I’m sure.” Smoke picked up the puppy, who promptly peed all down his shirt from excitement and then licked his face to apologize, and carried the squirming mass of energy over to Dr. Turner’s house.
