Brian frowned.
“I mean pay him something,” Brent said. “He did a good job.”
“All right,” Brian said. He was relieved that he wasn’t going to have to argue his brother out of killing the doctor. “Let me wake him up and untie him.”
“He’s asleep. The man’s got a lot of guts.”
“I know.”
Brian went over to where the doctor was seated on the floor and shook him awake. After he untied him, the doctor stood up and moaned.
“Stiff,” he said, stretching.
“Sorry about that, Doc,” Brent called out, “but my brother’s the cautious type.”
“I can see that. How are you feeling this morning?”
“Fine. You did a great job. Pay the man, Brian, and see if you can’t buy me one of his shirts so we can get going.”
“I’ll get you a shirt, no charge,” Petrie said, “but you really shouldn’t be moving.”
“Just give us some extra bandages, Doc, and we’ll get out of your life,” Brent said.
Petrie gathered some bandages and put them into a sack, then went into the other room.
“Brian,” Brent said a moment later, buttoning the shirt the doctor had gotten for him, “why don’t you get the horses while I settle up with the doctor.”
Brian frowned at his brother.
“I’m fine, Brian. The doc’s not gonna try anything, are you, Doc?”
“Not after I saved your life.”
“See?”
“All right. I put the horses around back last night after I tied up the doctor. I’ll wait for you out there.”
“You’d better tie him up again before you go. Somebody’ll find him soon.”
Brian retied and gagged the doctor, who didn’t bother resisting.
“I’ll be right along,” Brent said, still working on the shirt buttons. “I want to ask the doctor a couple of things.”
Brian nodded and went out the back way to get the horses ready.
Brent finished buttoning the shirt and tucked it in, wincing as he did so.
“You taped me up pretty good and tight, Doc. I appreciate that.”
The doctor nodded.
“Remember what I told you about my brother being real cautious, Doc?” Brent asked, going over to the doctor’s bag. “Well, sometimes he just ain’t cautious enough.” He took out a bottle of alcohol, looked at it, and put it back. “Sometimes,” he said, finding what he wanted, “I got to be cautious enough for the both of us.”
He turned away from the doctor’s bag and Petrie saw the sharp instrument in his hand.
“Sorry about this, Doc,” Brent said, leaning over the doctor, “but I got too much at stake, you know?”
The doctor’s eyes widened as he realized what Brent was going to do, and he tried yelling to no avail. The gag was good and tight and muffled his voice, totally.
Brent grabbed the doctor by the hair and pulled his head back so that his neck was exposed. He took the knife and cut the doctor’s throat in one swift, clean motion, then pulled his hand right away real quick and jumped back to avoid getting blood on the nice clean shirt he’d borrowed from the doctor.
Well, actually the doctor had sort of
“How much did you leave him?”
“A hundred dollars,” Brent lied. “I figured that would keep him from talking.”
“Good idea. Come on, I’ll help you get on your horse.”
Once Brent was in the saddle, Brian mounted up.
“Okay?”
“I’m fine,” Brent assured him. “Hey, Brian.”
“What?”
“I wanna thank you for bringing me to the doctor, even though I was stubborn about it.”
“That’s okay, Brent. That’s what I’m here for. To take care of you.”
“Yeah,” Brent said. “You usually know best.”
Chapter XXVIII
As they rode into Stillwell, Decker felt his instincts acting up again. The town was calm, just coming to life for the early part of the day, but he felt as if something was very wrong.
“It happened again,” Decker said as they rode into Stillwell.
“What?” Felicia asked.
“Something’s wrong.”
Felicia and Rebecca exchanged glances and both of them shrugged. They were getting along a lot better since they’d had their talk last night, and all of a sudden they were acting like sisters. That was okay with Decker, though, because now they were talking to each other and leaving him alone.
They rode directly to the sheriff’s office and Decker dismounted. In deference to Felicia, Rebecca volunteered to stay with the horses.
“Why don’t you both stay with the horses?” Decker suggested, and to his surprise they agreed.
Decker walked into the sheriff’s office and decided to play it straight. The lawman was just coming out of the back room, where Decker assumed the cells were. He was of a type that Decker had seen many times before, a type that had been in the job so long that he had grown fat and satisfied. This one’s belly hung over his gunbelt.
“Sheriff?”
“That’s right.”
“My name’s Decker.” Decker approached the man and took out the poster he had on Brian Foxx. He handed it to the sheriff.
“I’m looking for this man.”
“Brian Foxx,” the sheriff said, proving that he could read—or at least that he had recognized the drawing. “Everybody’s looking for him, especially since they raised the price on his head.”
“To what?”
“Twenty-five hundred. You a bounty hunter?”
“That’s right.”
The sheriff shrugged. It was no skin off his nose how somebody made his living. He handed the poster back.
“I haven’t seen him.”
“At all, or recently?”
“At all.”
“If you had, would you tell me?”
“Sure, why not?” the man said, shrugging. “It’s nothing Tome either way.”
Decker was folding the poster, wondering if his instincts had been off about there being something wrong. At that moment a man came rushing into the sheriff’s office. He was out of breath and looked scared out of his wits.
“Sheriff, ya gotta come quick.”
“What’s the matter, Nick?”
“Ya gotta come quick!”
“Tell me what’s happened, man!”
“Somebody’s killed the doc.”
