'Not him again.' She says.
'Again? Doesn't he normally bring deputies with him when he visits?'
'He always used to come alone. But he hasn't been here for a long while.'
Perhaps the missing deputy is making everyone nervous, Humby included. That would explain the unusual escort. Either that or the escort is a ruse to get him to give something away about the McLaren house. But then why bring him here? Does this injured man have anything to do with it?
'Maybe you do need to tell me how he got hurt after all.'
There's a groan from the bed and some movement.
'He's waking up. Please, take your badge off before he sees it.'
Her hands fidget, pulling at each other like fighting cats. In her eyes is the crazy anxiety he saw in the hallway. He steps away from her, worried by how unpredictable she seems. Keeping the gun aimed at the floor between them, he unhooks the badge with his other hand and tucks it in his shirt.
He takes a glance out of the window. Wilson has rounded the corner and is out of sight.
'Who are you?' asks the man in the bed. He coughs painfully.
'I'm a friend of Miss Nixon's' he says, hoping it isn't too much of a lie.
'Why are you here?' he gasps, his eyes streaming from the effort of the coughing.
'Calm down Billy, it's going to be alright.' She rushes to kneel at his bedside and mops his brow. 'He don't mean us any harm. You don't do you, Mister?' she says, turning to Logan.
'No Billy. I'm hoping I might even be able to help.' Weasel words. Lies to make him talk. He's not thinking of anyone's welfare but his own. Why should he care about this kid, and he does seem just a kid, suffering here in his bed, when only moments ago he was convinced the kid was going to shoot him from under his blanket.
'I don't need no help.' Billy says, pushing his nurse to one side. 'And I certainly don't need no help from you, whoever you are.'
Wilson appears again around the corner of the house. He seems to be walking circles round the building. Logan steps back from the window.
'Right now there's a deputy patrolling round the outside of this house.' He pauses a moment to let the information sink in. 'Now why do you think he might be doing that?'
'Dammit.' Billy struggles to wrestle free of the blankets. 'He won't get me, he mustn't get me. Where's my gun?'
'He won't get you Billy,' Logan says calmly, 'because he doesn't seem to know that you're in here. So let's stay calm and quiet and try to keep it that way because I can see that you haven't got the strength to get as far as the door. Relax.'
'Where's my gun? If any deputy comes in here I'll shoot him, I will.'
'You've no need for a gun. There's no surer way of shortening your life than shooting at a deputy. Even if you kill him all sorts of hell will be raining down on you.'
The look they both gave him made the bottom of his stomach drop out.
'You damned fool kid.' He mutters shaking his head.
'He shot me first.' Billy insists.
'Don't make it any more right. Any judge is gonna think that he had reason to be shooting at you.' So that's why they were so scared. They both know that Billy has something to do with the missing deputy and they're terrified that another deputy is going to come along and dangle him from the end of a rope. He has a feeling that a judge wouldn't look too favorably on her either.
Did the sheriff and Humby know that Billy was here and know about what happened to the other deputy? It would make some sense of why they had come here. Humby's romance as a smokescreen while they sought out the deputy's killer. But why not tell him what was going on? If that was the plan then they were clearly hoping in some way to link him and Billy and get their hangings advertised on the same bill posters.
'You two need to keep quiet, and you need to think of some story that explains his wounds so that a doctor would believe you. Tell people he was gored by a bull, or fell onto a fence nail or something. Anything but a bullet.'
They nod in unison, looking grateful for the advice. They're little more than children, both of them. No wonder they're so scared. If he can protect them maybe it'll keep his own head out of the noose. Maybe not, but at least if they ever try to pin the missing deputy on him, he knows where to find the real culprit.
'Did you kill him? Will he be able to identify you?'
'I think I got him.' Billy says quietly, sounding a little ashamed now, the pride and confidence evaporated.
'Well, lets hope you did.'
Wilson is making another circuit.
It's taking him a while to get round the house. There's a stand of trees and bushes just beyond the corral. He could probably run that far before Wilson got back round again. Hell, he could probably walk that far. Would Humby or Emily see him go? He hopes they're too preoccupied to be looking. He pauses for a moment with distaste at the thought of her with another man but puts it out of his head.
'That's the deputy making his patrol again. I don't want him to find me with you. You don't need to be attracting his attention like that.' More self-serving lies. 'I'm going to jump out of this window once he's out of sight and make a run for it. I want you,' he turns to the girl, 'to shut the window behind me as quietly as you can and then both of you keep out of sight until Humby and the deputy have gone. Do you understand me?'
The kids both nod.
He holsters the gun and raises the sash as smoothly as he can. It's big drop to the ground but he tries not to think about it and throws himself from the windowsill. He lands heavily and feels a sharp pain in his ankle.
Tentatively he tries to walk on. It hurts, but his ankle still works. He sets off at a limping run towards the trees. Looking back he sees the girl closing the window sash and waving some sort of signal to him. Wilson is nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER TWELVE
'I still don't understand why you came here.' Emily says.
'What more do you want me to say? Isn't it enough that I want you to marry me?' Humby persists in the same argument that has made him no progress for half an hour.
'I know you don't really mean that. Let's cut the pretense. I have a ranch, a successful ranch, and you can't bear to see anyone other than you in Walkers Creek being successful. So you want the ranch. I'm not going to sell it to you and I'm not going to marry you. You're not going to get it.'
She still has the rifle across her lap. She realizes that she wouldn't be able to use it if he rushed at her in that small room, but having it there as a barrier between them gives her some comfort. He gets up from his chair and starts striding about the room.
'Your father was going to sell me the ranch.' He says.
'Don't bring my father into this.'
'No? Perhaps you've forgotten that he agreed that you and I should wed?'
'That's nonsense and you know it. I loved my father and I won't have his memory sullied by your lies.' She is close to tears but determined that he shouldn't have the satisfaction of having made her cry.
'Maybe we should ask your brother. I'm quite sure he remembers it.'
'Leave him out of this too.'
'No, really I think we should go and ask him. What do think he'd say? I've always got the impression he quite liked me, haven't you?'
'You fooled yourself into thinking that I liked you. I wouldn't put too much store in your ability to judge people.'
'I'm getting tired of this, Emily. I'm going to ask you once more to come with me.'
'And then what? You'll get your henchmen to carry me into town. I don't see them here any more.'
'They'll come when I call them.'
'Really?' She has seen Logan making off through the trees. She chooses not to mention it.
'You want me to call them now?' Humby heads over to the window to call out to the deputies.
