“Short-barreled guns like that aren’t very accurate,” Bo said.
“You’re four feet away! I can’t miss at this range.”
Bo knew that was true. Sue Beth could kill him and Martha in a heartbeat. He was a little surprised she hadn’t already done so.
But he smiled faintly as he realized why she hadn’t pulled the trigger. “A gunshot right now will spoil your little ambush, won’t it?” he asked. “You want Bardwell and the rest of your hired killers to wipe out the posse from Deadwood.”
Sue Beth’s lips were faintly blue from the cold. They pulled back from her teeth in a grimace as she said, “Why wouldn’t I want them dead? The whole town could burn to the ground with everybody in it and I wouldn’t shed a tear. I haven’t cried since the day they came and told me my husband was dead.”
“That’s not the town’s fault.”
“No, but it was the mine’s fault, and the town wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for the mines!”
Bo wanted to keep her talking. As long as she was venting her rage and hatred in words, she wouldn’t be pulling the trigger.
“So you decided to ruin the mines, and you used Black Tom Bardwell to do it.”
“That’s right. He showed up in Deadwood looking for his brother, but he stopped at the Red Top for a meal first. I could tell that he was a hard, violent man, even though I didn’t know at the time he was an outlaw. I had a hunch he was the sort of man who could help me. I didn’t know how right I was, but I found out the next morning, after he’d spent the night at my place. He told me who he was and that his gang was hiding outside of town. They were the ones who had been pulling those stagecoach robberies. That’s when I laid out my plan and invited Tom to join forces with me. I was able to help him with information.” She sneered. “Everybody in Deadwood comes into my cafe, and you’d be surprised what people will let slip over pie and coffee!”
That was the way the picture had sprung into Bo’s mind as soon as he saw the gun in Sue Beth’s hands. When he had considered who had a reason for wanting to hurt the mines around Deadwood, he hadn’t even thought about her, but he knew now he should have. What better motive for revenge than the death of a loved one?
She had fooled everybody, including him and Scratch. That knowledge made a sour, bitter taste well up under Bo’s tongue. Usually he and Scratch were pretty good judges of character, but not this time. Not by a long shot.
“Bardwell and the others didn’t take you hostage after that bank robbery yesterday,” he said. “You wanted to come along. That was your way of getting out of Deadwood without anybody knowing what you’ve done. Bardwell wanted to take the gold and move on, and even though you hadn’t caused enough trouble to make the mines shut down yet, like you planned, you know you couldn’t keep going without him and the rest of the gang. So you
“She happened to be in the cafe, and Tom thought he might need a real hostage before this was all over.” Sue Beth shrugged. “I kept the pose going up until now, just in case this bitch somehow got away. I don’t want the law after me. Which means, as soon as Tom and the others have taken care of the posse, both of you will have to die, too. In fact, I think I’ll just go ahead and kill you as soon as the shooting starts.”
Martha was still staring at the older woman. In a voice that trembled with emotion, she said, “I . . . I thought you were my friend.”
“Maybe I would have been,” Sue Beth said, “if it hadn’t been for the lust for gold that fills all of you mine owners.”
“But I never did anything to hurt you! I was sorry when your husband died—”
“Sorry’s not good enough! Sorry won’t bring him back!”
Bo said, “Neither will killing anybody else.”
Sue Beth’s face twisted. Maybe somewhere deep inside her, she knew that what she had done was wrong. Maybe there was a constant struggle going on between the woman she had been and the woman she had become. Bo didn’t know.
All he knew was that time had run out, because Sue Beth extended her arms, pointing the gun right at his head, and her finger started to tighten on the trigger.
Before the hammer could fall, Martha Sutton suddenly lunged toward Sue Beth and lashed out with arms that were bound together at the wrists. She hit Sue Beth’s arms and drove them upward just as the little revolver exploded with a wicked snap. Martha kept moving, lowering her shoulder and barreling into Sue Beth with enough force to knock the older woman over backward.
The posse had to be close now. Close enough for the plan to work, Bo hoped. But he no longer had any choice about whether to wait.
The time had come to fight.
As Martha and Sue Beth struggled, Bo surged to his feet and whirled toward Wolf Head Rock and the Deadwood Devils. The shot had alerted them that something was wrong, and several of them spun around as Bo palmed his Colt from its holster. The gun roared and bucked in his hand as he fired.
Shots blasted from the rifles held by the outlaws. Bo felt the heat of a bullet as it whipped past his ear. Crouching, he fired again and saw one of the Devils double over as the slug punched into his midsection. Clutching his belly, the man staggered backward and took one step too many. With a scream, he toppled off the edge of Wolf Head Rock and plummeted toward the trail below.
More shots rang out from the ledge above the camp as Scratch and Chloride joined in the fight. The Devils had thought they held the high ground, but now they saw they were wrong about that. They scattered and sought cover among the rocks.
From the corner of his eye Bo saw Martha slam clubbed fists across Sue Beth’s face. The older woman sagged, obviously stunned. Bo triggered another shot, then bent to grab Martha’s arm and haul her to her feet. At the same time, he kicked away the little revolver Sue Beth had dropped.
“Get behind the trees!” Bo told Martha as he pushed her in that direction. He snapped a fourth shot toward the
