“You killed him!” she screamed. “You killed him for no reason!”
“I thought—” he said. “Bartenders usually have a shotgun behind the bar. I thought he was—”
“You didn’t think,” she said. “You just reacted the way a killer reacts. You’re a killer, just like Decker said.”
“Decker!” Brand shouted. “And what do you think Decker is? A saint?”
“He’s an honorable man. He knows what he is and what he does and he doesn’t try to hide it. He doesn’t go off and kill and then come back and hide behind a woman.”
“Is that what you think?” he said. “That I was hiding behind you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I think you’re a coward, Brand—or Baron, or whatever you call yourself! A coward, damn you!” she shouted, and she started crying.
Brand thought she was crying for the bartender or for Decker or for herself. It never occurred to him that she might be crying for him, for the man she had thought he was.
“All right,” he said, looking at his rifle. “All right, then.”
As if on cue, from outside came Decker’s voice.
“Brand! You in there, Brand? Or did you duck out the back door?”
“I’m here,” Brand called out, looking at Josephine. “I’m coming out, Decker.”
Josephine looked up at him then, her face streaked with tears, and said, “Don’t’—”
“Don’t kill him?” he asked. “That’s just what I’m going to do, Josephine. I’m going to kill him!”
As Brand went out the batwing doors, Josephine said in a low voice, “No, I mean…don’t go.”
Decker waited out in the street for Brand.
So, it would end this way after all.
BLAM!
Josephine knew that was no rifle, that could only have been a shotgun.
“Once,” she said to the dead Potts. “He fired once, just like you said.”
When Decker rode into the logging camp trailing a horse with a body slung over it, he drew a lot of attention. Dani Boone came out to meet him, as did Frenchie.
He did not see Jeff Reno.
“Decker, welcome back,” Frenchie said heartily. He looked pointedly at the body on the horse and asked, “Get what you were after?”
“I did,” Decker said, dismounting.
Looking anxious, Dani said, “Did he kill my father?”
“To be honest, Dani, he died before I could ask him.”
She compressed her lips and then said tightly, “You mean you killed him before you could ask him.”
“That’s true,” Decker said, “but I don’t believe he did it.”
“How can you—” she started, but Frenchie put his hand on her shoulder.
“Let the man talk, honey.”
“Are you missing any men?” Decker asked.
“Yeah,” Frenchie said, “as a matter of fact we’re missing two. I understand there’s also a man miss ing from one of the other camps. Why?”
“They trailed me and tried to kill me.”
“Why would they do that?” Dani asked.
“Because they were paid to.”
“By who?”
“By the man who killed your father and then tried to pin it on a professional killer called the Baron.”
“Who are you talking about?” Frenchie asked.
“Who first brought up the Baron’s name?”
Decker knew the answer, and as he watched Frenchie he saw the truth dawn on him, also.
“Reno.”
“Jeff Reno?” Dani said. “But why?”
“Maybe he figured he’d take over once your father was dead,” Decker said.
“But he didn’t. I came along. Why not try to kill me?”
“He couldn’t,” Decker said. “He had to first find out if I was dead or if I had reached the Baron. He couldn’t kill you and blame the Baron if the killer had been caught or killed himself.”
“Reno,” Frenchie said from between clenched teeth.
“Where is he?” Decker asked.
Dani looked at Frenchie.
“He’s on the south slope,” Frenchie said.
“Show me—” Decker said.
“Wait,” Frenchie said. “He won’t have a gun there, Decker. Let me handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
Frenchie smiled a terrible smile and said, “I’m very sure.”
He walked off, and a bunch of men trotted after him, not wanting to miss the fight that was sure to follow.
“Dani, Reno’s pretty big—”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “Frenchie’s never been beaten, and he won’t be beaten by Jeff Reno.”
“Still—”
“Come inside and have a cup of coffee,” she said. “Do you want to spend the night?”
He looked at her face, but she had asked the question in total innocence, unaware of how it had sounded.
“I guess,” Decker said. “I’ll have to get started early in the morning, though. Do you want me to take Reno with me?”
“We heard that the marshal will be here at the beginning of the week,” Dani said. “We can hold Reno until then.”
A man took both horses from Decker, and he followed Dani to her cabin.
“Tell the marshal I’ll be glad to come back if he needs me.”
She stopped at the door, and before opening it, turned and said, “How about if I need you?”
He wondered if that had been said with the same innocence as her previous remark.
Decker pulled his horse up in front of the sheriff’s office in Douglas, Wyoming. He dismounted and tied off the horse that was hauling the Baron’s body.
The bounty hunter mounted the boardwalk and pounded on the door. Moments later Sheriff Calder came rushing out.
