“Abby?” Preacher said to Fargo.
The burly tavern keeper nodded. “Yeah. I reckon you knew she was dead when you went chasin’ out of here after those fellas. They the ones who shot her?”
“That’s right,” Preacher said. “They were aimin’ for me. Abby just happened to be in the way.”
Fargo shook his head as the men carried Abby’s body on out of the tavern. “Damned shame. She was a fine gal, for a whore. Hell, she would’ve been a fine gal even if she hadn’t been a whore.”
“Did you see the two bastards who done it?”
“Yeah, but I never paid much attention to ’em. Think I’d seen ’em somewhere before, but I ain’t sure about that. And when they ran outta here, they were movin’ so fast and everything was so confused I didn’t get a good look at ’em even then.”
Preacher bit back a curse. The two men had been close enough to him to fire at almost point-blank range, and yet they were still strangers.
Carrying his pistols, Preacher went back upstairs. Small puddles of water still lay on the floor of his room where they had splashed out of the tub during the ruckus. He grimaced at the sight of them, tossed the long black coat on the bed, and began pulling on his buckskins.
When he was dressed, he returned to the tavern’s main room and asked all the other customers about the two killers. Nobody had gotten a really good look at them, but the questioning confirmed that the taller man had been dressed in buckskins and the smaller one wore a beaver hat and a black suit that had seen better days. Those descriptions didn’t mean anything to Preacher, and they were vague enough that they might have fit almost anybody.
He had to wonder if the two men would try again to kill him. He hoped so.
Preacher was looking forward to making their acquaintance, over the barrels of his guns.
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
850 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Copyright © 2007 William W. Johnstone
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Following the death of William W. Johnstone, the Johnstone family is working with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Mr. Johnstone’s outlines and many unfinished manuscripts to create additional novels in all of his series like The Last Gunfighter, Mountain Man, and Eagles, among others. This novel was inspired by Mr. Johnstone’s superb storytelling.
PINNACLE BOOKS and the Pinnacle logo are Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN: 0-7860-1988-3
*
