Cletus looked around the shack. 'I don't take shit off nobody. Now, where's this kid's old man? An' where's my ten thousand dollars?'
'Morgan is here. He's already taken down a few of our men,' Ned said. 'Then we gave him a little dose of his own bitter medicine.'
'He surely ain't out in this snowstorm?'
'He's found himself a hidin' place. Seems like he's got a partner too. There was this rifle shot from up on the valley rim while Morgan was down here.'
'Where's Morgan now?'
' Skeeter swears he got him with a rifle shot in the back a few days ago,' Victor said, inclining his head toward the man called Skeeter.
'How in the hell am I gonna get my money if the son of a bitch is dead?' Cletus demanded.
'He ain't dead. Skeeter found blood, an' tracks in the snow. Two sets of tracks, so we know his partner, whoever the sumbitch is, helped him hide from us.'
'I ain't gonna wait here all spring to get my money, Vic. You said ten thousand dollars for bringin' the kid out of Trinidad to this valley. By God, that's what I've got comin' to me an' you know it.'
'We'll find Morgan,' Ned promised. 'You know damn well he's got the money, much as he cares for this snot-nosed sissy kid of his.'
'I ain't gonna wait long,' Cletus said. 'I damn near froze my ass off gettin' him up here. This wasn't no easy place to find on that map you give me.'
'It won't be long,' Victor said. 'As soon as this snow lets up we'll start lookin' for him and whoever his partner might be. He won't get away from us. There was a helluva lot of blood on that snow where Skeeter got him.'
Cletus walked over to the fireplace, warming his hands above the flames. 'Pass me one of them jugs of whiskey. An' some of them beans in this here pot. I'm half starved, half froze, an' damn sure thirsty.'
He noticed that the kid was shivering. The bandanna covering his missing ear tip was covered with frozen blood. 'You might oughta feed this skinny bastard too, so's we can keep him alive until Morgan comes up with the money.'
Ned handed Cletus a bottle of Old Rocking Chair. 'This'll help warm your innards until this damn spring storm lets up a bit.'
Cletus pulled the cork and took a big swallow.
'How come you had to kill Diego?' Victor asked.
'He was gettin' on my nerves,' was all Cletus said, drinking again. 'Somebody fix me some of them leftover beans. An' put them horses outside in the shed. We rode 'em mighty hard to get here.'
One of Ned's gunmen picked up a tin plate to fill it with beans. Another cowboy left by the front door to take care of the horses. But for the moment all eyes were on Cletus.
'Morgan better have that money,' he said, gulping down more whiskey to warm his insides.
'He'll have it,' Victor said. 'He's worth a ton of money, an' this kid is all he's got. He wouldn't have rode all this way without it.'
'I've heard about Morgan,' Cletus said, taking the plate of beans, resting the bottle on the hearth. 'He was supposed to be fast with a gun some years back. Smart too.'
'We've got his kid. It changes things,' Ned said as he came over to the fire.
'Maybe,' Cletus said, filling his mouth with spicy red beans and chunks of salt pork. He glanced at Conrad. 'Better feed the little bastard. He ain't got much meat on his bones. If Morgan has the money we'll give him the boy. If he don't, I'll kill the boy and his daddy myself.'
Cletus walked over to a window of the shack. 'I seen half a dozen Injuns on my way down into the valley. What the hell are they doin' here?'
Ned shrugged. 'They don't bother nobody.'
'What breed are they?'
'We ain't rightly sure. Some ol' geezer we talked to claims they's ghosts.'
'The ones I saw damn sure wasn't ghosts,' Cletus said around a mouthful of beans. 'Besides, there ain't no such things as ghosts anyhow. One funny thing I remember about 'em ... they didn't have rifles. They just sat there on skinny Injun ponies an' watched us ride down.'
'Don't pay 'em no heed,' Ned said.
Cletus left the window to retrieve the bottle while he forced more beans into his mouth. 'All I care about's that damn cash money for bringin' the kid. Injuns or no Injuns, I'd damn sure better get paid.'
'You'll get your money,' Victor said. 'Morgan will try to take back his boy without payin', but we're ready for that if it happens. Besides that, he's wounded now. We got him right where we want him.'
'You want me to untie this kid?' Skeeter asked, holding a tin plate of beans.
Ned gave the boy a glance. 'Yeah. Untie him so he can eat. He damn sure won't be goin' no place.'
Skeeter chuckled and put the plate down to begin untying the rope.
Conrad spoke, his teeth chattering. 'My father won't pay a dime to have you release me,' he said. 'He left me and my mother before I was born. He doesn't care what happens to me. You've all wasted your time.'
