“Later today, I imagine. You’ll have to talk to the doctor to find out for sure.”
“I’ll pass along the message to Marshal Coleman,” Sam promised. “Has the prisoner regained consciousness?”
“Yes, but he lost so much blood that he’s weak as a kitten, like poor Mike Loomis. He’s no real danger to us, I suppose, but we still don’t want him here.”
“I’ll see that it’s tended to,” Sam told her. He tugged on the brim of his black hat. “Good morning, ma’am.”
As the three men turned and went back down the walk to the street, Grady yawned again and said, “I think I’m going to get some breakfast and turn in.”
“Breakfast sounds good before I hit the trail,” Matt said. “Where’s the best place to get some flapjacks and bacon and strong black coffee in this town?”
Grady smiled. “Probably the hotel. Why don’t we go down there together?”
Matt nodded. “All right.”
“Leaving town, are you?”
“Yeah, I thought I’d ride back out to the Harlow place.” Matt glanced at the gambler. “I don’t reckon you’ve heard about what happened out there yesterday.”
Grady’s eyebrows rose in interest. “More trouble? Tell me about it. I know the Harlows fairly well. Good people. And that girl Frankie is beautiful, even if she is a bit of a hellion.”
“You’re right about that,” Matt agreed, “both parts of it. And as for the trouble, some of Cimarron Kane’s bunch attacked the place. I happened to be there, and I helped the Harlows send ’em packin’.”
“Well, that was a stroke of luck.”
“Yeah. You’ve had some of those corn squeezin’s the Harlows brew?”
Grady licked his lips like he was tasting something good. “Yes, indeed.”
“Kane wants to take over the moonshining business around here,” Matt went on. “He knows he can’t ever do that unless he gets rid of the Harlows first.”
“Definitely not.”
“I plan on helping them deal with Kane.”
“I’m sure they’re grateful for that.” Grady looked over at Sam, who hadn’t said anything for a couple of minutes. “Wait a minute. You’re a deputy now, Mr. Two Wolves, and yet you know about the Harlows and their moonshine business. In fact, you know about Ike Loomis’s secret saloon.”
Sam sighed. “Yeah. And it’s a dilemma, too. Not the way the Harlows are brewing that stuff, so much, because that happens outside the town limits and Marshal Coleman doesn’t have any authority over it. But they sell the whiskey to Ike Loomis, and
“And you don’t know whether to tell the marshal about it or not,” Grady guessed.
“That’s the problem I’m wrestling with, all right,” Sam admitted. “I like Mr. Loomis, and his son may have saved my life last night, and I think that liquor law is a foolish one…but it’s still the law, which I swore to uphold.”
Grady frowned as he thought it over, then said, “You know, Sam—can I call you Sam?—if I was you, I think I’d turn in my badge, resign that deputy’s job, and ride out of Cottonwood. Just put it all behind you.” He looked over at Matt. “You should go, too, Matt. There’s just going to be more trouble if the two of you stay around here.”
“You mean run out on the Harlows and let Cimarron Kane wipe out their business, and maybe them, too?” Matt shook his head without hesitation. “No, sir. That’s not gonna happen.”
“And I can’t abandon Marshal Coleman, either,” Sam said. “I’ll stay here and figure it all out…somehow.”
Grady shrugged. “I was just thinking about what might be best for you gents, not for everybody else. To tell you the truth, I’m glad you’re staying around here.” He grinned again. “You make life interesting.”
“Maybe so,” Matt said, “if you count gettin’ shot at way too often as interestin’.”
Chapter 33
By the time the three men finished eating breakfast in the hotel dining room and came back out onto the street, the temperature had risen even more. Sweat broke out in beads on a man’s forehead just from him moving around, and the sky was a washed-out silver blue, Matt saw when he glanced up at it. The ride out to the Harlow farm would be a hot one, he thought.
“Well, I’m going to toddle off to bed,” Grady announced. “Good day to you, gentlemen.” He went off down the street toward whatever whore’s crib he was sharing.
“You really have to go?” Sam asked his blood brother when Grady was gone.
“I do,” Matt said. “There’s no tellin’ what Kane will try next, and I want to be there to help the Harlows when he does.”
“All right,” Sam said. He stuck out his hand. “Thanks for showing up when you did last night. That made a real difference.”
The blood brothers shook hands with an odd formality. Matt said, “We’re back on opposite sides now, is that it?”
“Not opposite sides, really,” Sam said. “Just different trails right now.”
Matt nodded. He swung up into the saddle and said, “Trails have a way of comin’ back together.”
