“Oh, for Christ’s sake, shut up,” Nick said. “Just tell me what you know about where Barrett is buried.”
Lester blinked a few times as hope began to show within his watering eyes. “My cousins found the spot.”
“How?”
When Lester spoke, his words spilled out of him like water from a broken dam. “Two of them were supposed to meet up with Cobb after that last robbery with them jewels. They heard the shooting and went to see if they could help. One of them saw you two riding off, but couldn’t keep up. They caught up with you a while later, but you were carrying a body across the back of your horse. They followed you until they figured you were probably about to bury the body and then waited for you to leave the area.”
As he listened to Lester’s account, Nick thought back to the way things had actually happened. Barrett had always been a fast talker and had almost convinced Nick to join him on that one final job. But Nick had known there would never be a final job where Barrett was concerned. Barrett wouldn’t stop robbing, just as surely as a fish wouldn’t stop swimming. When Nick had gone along with him, he’d done so just to make certain his friend didn’t get himself killed.
Perhaps there had been other reasons at the time, but that was the only one that stuck out in Nick’s mind anymore. When the job was done, Barrett’s plan had proven to be as good as any of his others. They’d gotten the jewels and Barrett was ready for the next job. The only difference was that this time, Nick wasn’t.
It wasn’t the first time the friends had fought, but this would turn out to be the last. Nick’s hand was forced and he fired a shot that still echoed within his nightmares to this very day. To make amends, Nick had buried his friend with his precious jewels. He’d gone over the incident a thousand times since he’d first set out from Ocean, and the absurdity of it was still enough to strike him squarely in the face.
Nick shook the ghosts from his head and realized that Lester was still talking.
“There wasn’t anyone around when I buried him,” Nick said. “I made sure of it.”
“They never knew exactly where the spot was,” Lester replied. “But they had a pretty good idea.”
“So you or your cousins are some of the assholes looking to dig him up.”
Lester thought long and hard about how he should answer that. Even though he knew his life could very well depend on what he said next, he couldn’t come up with anything more profound than, “Not me. It was my cousins.”
“You’re here to meet up with them?”
Lester nodded.
Nick nodded as well. With a grin that sent a chill down Lester’s spine, Nick said, “Then we’d best not disappoint them.”
NINETEEN
As Nick rode from one trail to another, he kept a close eye on his newfound partner. He didn’t trust Lester any farther than he could throw him. Then again, Nick figured he might be able to throw Lester quite a distance. He might even be able to test that theory if the little rat proved to be even slimier than he seemed.
Lester didn’t sit still for one second. During the entire ride, he was constantly squirming in the saddle, shifting from one side to another, nervously glancing at various points on the horizon. His jumpy reflexes were getting quite a test, since there was no shortage of things scurrying about on the edges of his field of sight. Critters scampered across the trail, going about their lives as the two horses ambled by.
The last time Nick had been to the Badlands was when Barrett was with him. He didn’t remember things quite the way that Lester had described, but the two accounts were close enough to make Nick glad he’d jumped off that train when he did. Otherwise, he might not have been able to cross paths with one of the grave robbers he’d been hoping to catch.
As Nick led the way deeper into the Badlands, each ridge and every rock seemed familiar. While all of these lands had already been claimed by one tribe or another, the rocky patch that Nick now rode through was too rough for any Indian in his right mind to live on.
For every flat stretch of trail, there were twice as many spots where a horse or man could slip and crack their skull against a rock.
For every spot that could make a nice little campsite, there were three patches of sand that were being watched by anything from a nest of poisonous spiders to wild coyotes. Like any other sort of prey, Lester could sense that he was in over his head. And, like any self-respecting predator, Nick strode confidently into the heart of the Badlands.
As he drew closer to the spot where he knew he would find Barrett’s final resting place, Nick felt a calm settle over him. Even Lester felt it and he allowed the breath he’d been holding to finally seep out of his mouth.
“This is as far as you go,” Nick said as he drew Kazys to a stop.
Snapping his eyes wide open, Lester asked, “We’re not there yet?”
“We’re close, but not quite there. What did you think? Just because you got as close as you did, I’d just lead you in the rest of the way?”
Judging by the expression on Lester’s face, that was almost exactly what he’d thought. Now that he realized the error of his assumption, Lester suddenly felt more isolated than if he’d been stranded in the middle of a desert. Even the small animals that had been scurrying about seemed to have chosen this moment to run back into their holes.
“Just so you know,” Nick announced, “the moment I see anyone riding toward me who I don’t recognize, I’m shooting them first and you second.” After letting that sink in for a second or two, he added, “Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?”
At first, Lester kept perfectly still.
Then, as the thoughts churned through his mind and his imagination wreaked its havoc, Lester started to twitch. Just the corners of his eyes twitched at the start, but then the tremors worked through his face until he was almost shaking.
“There’s someone else coming,” Lester spat out. “He made me swear not to tell you.”
“Then why are you telling me?”
“Because I don’t think he’s gonna hold up his end of our deal. He was supposed to cut me in on a percentage of whatever we found in that grave, but then he saw you and wanted to cash you in for the price that’s on your head.”
Nick nodded and looked around as he said, “A bounty hunter.”
“That’s right.” Dropping his voice to a harsh whisper, Lester added, “And he could be anywhere. He could be watching us right now.”
“What was your plan?”
“I was supposed to get in close and keep you occupied until he could get a shot. For all I know, he’s got us both in his sights right now.”
“He doesn’t,” Nick said confidently.
“How the hell can you be so sure?”
“Because he would have killed you before you spilled so much about what was really going on. That either means he’s not close enough to hear us, or you’re making this up to save your skin.”
Lester’s eyes widened to the size of saucers as he shook his head violently. “I didn’t make it up! I swear to God!”
Oddly enough, Nick believed him. He had taken enough twists and turns while riding to this spot that he would have noticed if anyone else had been following him. For all the ridges, gullies and trenches in the area, there were plenty of spots to hide in, but not a lot of ways to move silently from one spot to another. There were too many loose rocks and nervous critters around for a man to go unnoticed for long. Nick knew that much from firsthand experience.
