have less money but he is definitely worse off. His arm will never be the same again. Knowing that Emily tried to cheat him, tried to have him killed, hurts worse than the physical pain from the wound. This town has not been good for him. He plans to leave as soon as he can.
The door of his room is ajar. He stops in the corridor and looks at it.
He has just walked through the hotel lobby and up the stairs and has no idea how many people are downstairs and who they are. There could be a man stood behind him with a gun pointing at his back and he'd be completely unaware of it. He chides himself for being so sloppy. Falling asleep on sentry duty and then walking love-sick into danger. He smiles at the thought that he is 'love-sick'. He hasn't thought of himself as in love. That thought surprises him. He wants to see Emily again before he leaves.
He unholsters his gun and cocks it. Creeping forward toward the door, he keeps close to the wall and checks behind him.
There is a murmuring noise in the room. Someone talking?
No, that's not talking, that's someone singing. A man, singing quietly to himself. Not loud enough to hear the words and not tuneful enough to make out the song, but definitely singing.
Curious, he pushes open the door with the barrel of the gun.
Renault, the hotel owner, is rummaging through his bags. Happily singing to himself as he is going through Logan's personal belongings. What does this ridiculous little man think he is doing?
Logan coughs loudly to attract his attention.
'Ah, Mr. Tanner! So good to see you sir. We hadn't seen you for a few days and thought perhaps you weren't coming back.'
'So you thought you'd go through my things?'
'Well, sir, you see, now, I'm sure you'll understand, but there's the small matter of the room fee you see, and we'd need to recoup that somehow if you weren't coming back.'
'You were going to sell my stuff?'
Renault nods, looking embarrassed.
'Well, there's no need for that now.' He puts the gun back in the holster. 'If you can help me pack away these things and get my horses then I'll settle up right now.'
'Help you?' Renault seems keen to get out of the room and edges toward the door.
'I have a problem with my arm.'
'Perhaps you should see a doctor?'
'I need your help to pack my bags. I have an injury that makes it difficult to do it myself. I don't know how to make it any clearer for you. Would it help if I said I have a problem with my arm that will make it difficult for me to get my money out? You do want paying don't you?'
'Your money?'
Logan is losing patience. Repacking the bags and getting the horses saddled is far more than he can manage with only one arm. He draws the gun again.
'Now, sir, there's no need for that, I was, well, only I'm not perhaps the best to, you know, the bags, perhaps I can get a porter for you.'
'You didn't seem to think you needed a porter to help you steal from my bags, so you can pack them and carry them for me or so help me I'll stick a bullet in your butt to hurry you along.'
Renault returns to the bags and fiddles with the things laid out on the bed without making any progress at packing them, stealing a glance from time to time at the gun pointing at him.
'I really think, sir,' he summons up the courage to say, 'that you really shouldn't treat me like this. The sheriff is a regular customer here and he wouldn't be very happy at all, no sir, not one bit, if he knew you were pointing that there gun at me like this.'
Logan holsters the gun and thrusts his hand into his pocket.
'You won't need to bother waiting for the sheriff,' he says, showing the deputy badge to the hotelier, 'You already have a deputy in the room with you and he seems to think that your stealing from customer's luggage is the biggest crime that's happened here. Should I be telling the sheriff about that?'
The little man shakes his head and starts stuffing things into the saddlebags with speed.
When Renault leads the way down the back stairs to the stable the horses nuzzle Logan, pleased to see him. He is pleased not to have left them behind. It would have been tough to find a pair of horses as good as these.
He checks all his unused mining equipment is stowed securely on the pack horse and then checks the girth after Renault has fitted his saddle.
'What I don't understand,' Renault speaks for the first time since they were in the hotel room, 'is why you're in such a hurry to leave. If you're a deputy, and you say you are and who am I to doubt that, I don't mean to suggest that you're not, but well, being a deputy and all, shouldn't you be staying?'
'It's no business of yours where I go.' Logan says stepping over to the pack horse so suddenly that Renault takes a frightened step backwards. 'And I might not be leaving town. I'm just not staying in a hotel that's run by a thief. I'm sure that's easy for you to understand.'
Renault nods and helps to untie the horses.
Logan has no intention of staying in Walkers Creek. He wants to see Emily again, maybe even to persuade her to leave with him, but even she won't be able to persuade him to stay.
CHAPTER TWENTY
She runs in through the door of the hotel, hoping to find Logan still there in the lobby but there is nobody at all near the door. Even the obsequious little man who normally greets the customers is missing. She steps into the lounge and all the polished wood and brass makes her acutely aware of her dirtiness. She would never normally come here in her working clothes, always in a nice dress and certainly never having slept outside by a fire.
'Miss Nixon!'
She turns to the voice and sees Humby rising from his seat at his usual table. He has been sat alone. The table has an almost empty bottle of whiskey on it. She doesn't respond to him but stands her ground.
'It's so good to see you. I'd heard that something terrible had happened to you.'
'You heard wrong. The only terrible thing that has happened to me was you. Have you been sat here telling yourself you should have taken more care to keep me locked away? Maybe I'd have been okay if you'd just managed to keep me safe?'
'You really don't understand me at all do you?'
'Oh, I understand you. You want to buy the whole town, everything in it, and my ranch was just too tempting for you. Well, you know what, you can buy it now. I'll sell it to you. Why don't we make our way over to the bank and you can pay me for it now?'
Humby shakes his head, swaying a little on his feet.
'You really don't understand me,' he says again.
'What is there to understand? You wanted the ranch so badly you kidnapped me. Are you going to tell me now that you didn't want the ranch after all? Oh, I get it, it isn't that you don't want the ranch, it's that you don't want to pay for it? Is that it?'
Humby takes a step forward and supports himself by leaning against the table. All his aggression and boldness seems to have been dissolved by the whiskey. He still looks her in the eye as he speaks but his tone of voice is pleading.
'Just think back will you? I didn't want to hurt you. I regret what I did, it was bold and stupid but you need to understand me. I love you Emily.'
She laughs. What a ridiculous thing for him to be coming out with. He has no idea what love can feel like.
'Don't laugh at me. I know I don't have the best way of showing it, but I really do love you. I don't care about the ranch. Keep the ranch, just don't take away the possibility of you and me.'
She stops laughing. It seems cruel to laugh at this man exposing his heart. She would normally doubt him and his motives but in his drunken state he seems vulnerable and maybe even honest.
