behind his saddle.
“You got somebody to walk these horses out, Matt?” Jason asked. He’d be damned if he’d ridden clear out here on some fool’s errand only to end up with a colicky horse for his trouble. And come to think of it . . . “I think we could all use a drink, too.”
“Best idea I heard all night,” said Rafe. And after he roared, “Get a hot walker up here, now!” down toward the barn, he added, “Y’know, I believe I could use a couple’a whiskeys, too. I’m pretty dadgum parched! Chasin’ ghost Apache wears me out. Don’t it wear you right down to a nub, Matt?”
He handed his reins to Curly, climbed up on the porch, and put his hand on Matt’s arm, like Matt was his new best friend. “I heard rumors in town that you’re purty well-stocked out here, Matt. Hope they were right!” And he proceeded to lead a confused Matt inside the house.
Jason and Curly just looked at each other until Curly shrugged and took Jason’s reins from him. “Man wants a hot walker, he gets a hot walker. Steve!” he shouted toward the barn. “Come up here and get these horses!”
To Jason, he said, “Have one for me while you’re in there. Y’know, I don’t believe I’m ever gonna understand him so long as I live.”
Careful to avoid the dead snake, Jason stepped up on the porch. “You’re in good company, Curly,” he said, then turned and followed Rafe and Matthew into the house.
Two hours later, a drunken Rafe and an only slightly more sober Jason threw wide the door to Matt’s house, and stepped out on the porch (or, as Matthew liked to call it, his veranda) and took a couple of good, deep breaths of the night-chilled desert air. Jason came away from the experience still thinking that Matt was an asshole of the first order. He didn’t know what Rafe thought. He was one tough fellow to read.
Their horses had been properly walked out, then watered, and stood tied to the porch railing, dozing. Rafe said, “Let’s walk or jog ’em back, all right?”
“Good idea.”
They both checked their girth straps and their bridles, and mounted up, while Jason puzzled over what had just happened. And then, out of nowhere, Rafe said, “He’s sure one peckerwood box’a tricks, ain’t he?”
Jason laughed out loud. “That he is,” he said when he could. “That he is. Just never heard it put quite that way before. The only reason we didn’t get a bigger crowd at the house was that everybody else owes him money.”
“Oh, yeah. He owns the bank, don’t he?”
“Yup.”
“And his sister, Miss Megan?”
“She runs it for him. Does a damn good job of it, too!” Jason was proud of Megan, and sniffed at people who thought women should stay out of business. He knew that Matt sure couldn’t do the job!
Rafe nodded. “I think she told me that. Strange job for a female, but if you’re good at somethin’, you ought’a do it, I figure.” He rolled himself a cigarette as they rode along, which put Jason in the mood. He pulled out his fixings bag, too.
When they were both smoking, Jason asked, “Rafe, how’d you get started on your so-called life’a crime, anyhow?”
Rafe shrugged. “That thing with my daddy, I reckon. That was the first. And once there was paper out on me, it seemed like there was some dumb cluck hidin’ behind every tree tryin’ to kill me for the bounty. Didn’t seem fair, somehow.” And then he paused for a half second. “Shit. My smoke went out.”
As he dug into his pocket for a new match, he said, “After I killed a couple of bounty-happy kids in self-defense, I got to thinkin’ what I just told you. Y’know, if you’re good at somethin’, do it. So I hired myself out to a rancher who was havin’ troubles with cattle thieves.” He stopped again, to light his cigarette.
“What happened?” Jason asked him.
“The trouble with the rustlers stopped. They don’t get put on wanted posters, y’know, unless they’re on ’em already. I mean, unless they get tagged for doin’ some other crime. My boys were fairly new to the trade, I reckon. That, or fairly good at not gettin’ caught.”
“How many?”
“Three. Killed the bossman and his ramrod, sat down with the kid helpin’ ’em and threatened to castrate him if I ever caught him thievin’ cattle again.” Rafe smiled. “He agreed, and I let him go. You ain’t never seen such a quick exit in your life as that kid made!” He broke out into laughter again, just picturing it.
Jason smiled, his head shaking. If he’d been that kid, he would have beat it, too!
The rest of the ride into town proved uneventful, except that by the time they came in sight of Fury, they had both sobered up to a large extent. Several of the people who’d been at the house came up while Rafe was putting his gelding away, asking if there’d been any Apache, and all received the same answer.
When Rafe had seen to his horse, he walked along back to Jason’s house, where Jason put his palomino up alongside Jenny’s.
“
Jason shrugged. “Well, Jenny needed a horse, and she’d always admired Cleo, so . . . I thought I’d keep it in the family, y’know?”
“So, what Jenny wants, Jenny gets, right?”
Jason nodded and laughed. “That’s about right. Now, if we don’t get up there and demand dessert pretty damn fast, there’s gonna be hell to pay. At least for me. You get to run off and hole up down at the saloon, but I have to live here!”
They found the girls in the living room, playing checkers.
“Well, it’s about time!” Jenny said before Jason had time to open his mouth.
