“Then you don’t deny he’s an outlaw?”
“Why should I? Sheriff Manning already knows about it. He’s seen the wanted poster on Tom. I never lied about it to anybody who was man enough to come up and ask me.” Bardwell’s lip curled in a sneer. “Most people would rather just sneak around and spread gossip, though.”
“Just how sure are you that Tom Bardwell is dead?”
The ridge above Reese Bardwell’s eyes became even more prominent as he frowned. “I heard that he was badly wounded when a posse chased down him and his gang. He dropped out of sight after that, and everybody figured he was dead . . .”
“But you don’t know that for certain,” Bo said when Bardwell’s voice trailed off. “I saw him with my own eyes this afternoon. He matches the description and the drawing on the wanted poster, right down to the missing finger on his left hand.”
Bardwell grimaced. “You know how he lost that finger?”
“I don’t have any idea,” Bo said.
“I cut it off with an ax. I didn’t mean to. We were just kids, and I was trying to split some wood for the fireplace. I was havin’ trouble with it, so Tom went to grab the chunk of wood and steady it. The ax slipped . . . Lord, I never will forget seeing that finger go flyin’ in the air . . .”
“Put your gun away, Creel,” Sheriff Manning said. “I believe Bardwell. Maybe his brother
Bo lowered the Colt but didn’t holster it. “You’re betting a lot on a hunch, Sheriff.”
“Don’t you do the same thing sometimes?” Manning snapped.
Bo had to admit that he did.
Phillip Ramsey spoke up, saying, “Far be it from me to defend the man, but if you’d seen how he was carrying on when he heard that Marty had been taken prisoner, you’d believe him, Mr. Creel.”
Bardwell’s head snapped toward Ramsey. “I’ve got just as much right to be worried about her as you do, Ramsey. What are
Bo and Scratch glanced at each other in surprise. What they had just heard in that exchange was the unmistakable sound of two men who both were in love with the same woman. So Bardwell and Ramsey, both employees of Martha Sutton’s biggest rival, wanted to court her?
Romance usually didn’t pay any attention to business or much of anything else, Bo reminded himself. A fella’s heart did what it wanted, sometimes to his great regret.
Ramsey was saying, “I have just as much right to call her Marty as you do, Bardwell. A woman like that needs a man with culture and intelligence.”
“I’m smart enough to run a blasted mine, and not sit around all day scribbling numbers in a book,” Bardwell shot back with a sneer.
Chloride moved his horse over next to Bo and Scratch and said, “It’s mighty good to see you boys again. I reckon you’ve figured out by now them two are both moonin’ over the same gal.”
“Yeah, and it don’t seem likely Bardwell would feel like that if he was mixed up with his brother robbin’ the gold wagons,” Scratch said.
Bardwell looked at them and said, “I know we haven’t gotten along, but I give you my word, this is the first I’ve heard about Tom being anywhere in this part of the country. I was in Deadwood this morning, but I didn’t see the robbery take place. Even if I had, I might not have recognized him since he was masked. It’s been years since we’ve seen each other.”
Scratch looked over at Bo and asked, “Are we gonna believe him?”
Bo slid his revolver back in its holster. “I reckon. We ought to let the horses rest for a few minutes longer. While we’re waiting, how about somebody telling us exactly what happened in town this morning ?”
“We’ve already wasted enough time,” Ramsey objected. “I think we should push on after them right now.”
Manning shook his head. “Creel’s right. We’ve ridden hard all the way from Deadwood. I don’t like letting them get any farther ahead of us than you do, Ramsey, but if we kill these horses, the bastards will get away, and there’s no doubt about that.”
“What about the robbery?” Bo prodded as they all dismounted.
“They must have gotten into town just before dawn and broken into the bank somehow. The first anyone knew something was going on was when they blew the door off the vault. There was no way to hide that. I was in my office when I heard the blast. I grabbed a shotgun and headed toward the bank. Figured that was where the explosion had to come from.”
“I was in my room at the boarding house,” Ramsey said. “I heard the explosion, too, and came out to see what was going on. I had to dive for cover a minute later, because when the outlaws came out of the bank, they came out shooting.”
“How’d they wind up with the women?” Scratch asked.
Manning said, “Some of them must have gone across the street to the Red Top earlier to grab some hostages. I had taken cover behind a parked wagon and was trading shots with them by then, but I had to hold my fire when they came out dragging Mrs. Pendleton and Miss Sutton.”
One of Reese Bardwell’s hands clenched into a massive fist. “I saw that, too,” he said. “I rode into town last night to talk to Mr. Nicholson, and it was so late when we finished up, I spent the night on a cot in the back room of the office. The explosion and the shooting woke me up. I wasn’t armed then, so there was nothing I could do, but when I saw they had Marty, I wanted to charge them anyway.”
“How gallant,” Ramsey said with a sneer.
Bardwell turned toward him and might have swung that big fist if Manning hadn’t stepped between them.
