went and stood at the bar.
“Morales!” Aaron called out. “A glass.”
The Mexican turned, took a glass from the bartender and tossed it to his boss, who caught it with one hand. Aaron set the glass down and poured it full from the bottle. As Ethan sat, his brother pushed the glass toward him across the table.
“Good to see you, Ethan,” Aaron said, lifting his own glass. “You look like shit.”
“Good to see you too, Aaron.” He lifted his glass, drained it, and slapped it back down on the table.
Ben Branch came in then, leading Ethan’s men, followed by Aaron’s two who had been sitting outside.
“You look short a man or two,” Aaron said.
“I had to kill Petry.”
“Had to?”
“No choice,” Ethan said.
Aaron accepted his brother’s word without asking for an explanation. Once all the men were in the saloon, their total number was nineteen.
“We’ll have to get you a couple more men,” Aaron said, “to even our number out.”
“Whatever,” Ethan said. “We don’t have to worry about that until tomorrow. What’s with the law outside?”
“They’re keepin’ an eye on us,” Aaron said. “Now that you’re here, they’ll be keepin’ an eye on all of us.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Nothin’ to worry about?”
“Not a thing.”
Ethan scratched his chin, then rubbed his face with both hands. The last couple of nights, the woman had come back in full force, screamin’ until he woke up. Last night he had almost put his gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, but that would have been letting her win.
“Ethan?” Aaron said. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothin’,” Ethan said. “When are we gonna count?”
Aaron studied his brother and knew something was wrong. Ethan was keeping something from him, and that wouldn’t do.
“Later,” Aaron said. “Have another drink.” He poured another glass. “Let’s talk awhile.”
“About what?”
“Let’s see what we can come up with.”
47
Pushing his horse hard, Thomas Shaye reached Salina one hour after Ethan Langer and his men. He paused just outside of town, his horse blowing beneath him, removed his badge and placed it in his shirt pocket. He gave the horse a few more moments to catch its breath, then started for town at a walk.
Sheriff Holcomb was unhappy with the fact that all the strangers were in the Somerset Saloon and had been there for an hour. But at least they hadn’t gone near the bank yet. He knew they had to be planning something, though.
Over the past couple of hours, the traffic had dwindled down until the street was empty. Word had gotten around, and people had taken to the safety of their homes, expecting an explosion. He had two deputies, and at his best count there were at least eighteen gunmen in the saloon—maybe nineteen.
The fella riding down Main Street at the moment could well be making it twenty, but he didn’t seem to be in any hurry to do it.
What surprised the lawman about this man was that he rode right up to his office and stopped. Then he reined his horse in and looked down at him.
“Can I help you?” Holcomb said.
“You the sheriff?” the stranger asked.
“That’s right.” The man dropped his arms to his sides, either to get his hand near his gun or to show off the badge on his chest. “Holcomb’s the name.”
“My name’s Thomas Shaye, Sheriff,” Thomas said. He looked up and down the street. “It’s real quiet around here.”
“A town can generally feel when trouble’s abrewin’,” the lawman explained.
“You got trouble here?”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“I have an idea.”
“Your friends are in the Somerset Saloon,” Holcomb said, “if you want to join them.”
“How many?”
“Maybe twenty,” Holcomb said, “with you.”
“Nineteen, then.”
“You ain’t with them?”
Thomas was still concerned that someone was going to see them. “Can we go in your office and talk?”
“Give me one good reason.”
Thomas looked around again, then removed his badge from his pocket and showed it to the sheriff.
“Okay,” Holcomb said, getting up from his chair, “that’s a good enough reason.”
He led the way into his office.
Aaron and Ethan exchanged stories about their bank jobs, and Aaron was quite interested to hear about the woman.
“So you just rode her down?”
“The bitch stepped out in front of us, Aaron,” Ethan said. “There wasn’t any way to avoid her.”
“You never killed a woman before, Ethan,” Aaron said. “How’d you take it?”
Ethan snorted and said, “She got what she deserved.”
The bags beneath Ethan’s eyes told Aaron his younger brother had not been sleeping well. Abruptly, though, he turned his head and shouted at Rafe.
“Get back outside, we’ll want to know if that lawman is comin’ this way.”
“Right, boss.”
“Take somebody with you.”
“I’ll go,” Ben Branch said. Grabbing his beer from the bar, he followed Rafe outside, but they were too late to see Thomas going into the sheriff’s office. They both saw the horse in front, but it didn’t register with either of them as unusual. They sat down and started exchanging stories about their bosses, ignoring the deputy who was still stationed across the street.
48
“So you’ve got a posse with you?” Sheriff Holcomb asked Thomas hopefully.
“Not exactly.”
“Got one comin’ behind you.” Holcomb began to pace the length of his office.
“No,” Thomas said. “I’ve got three men waitin’ for me just outside of town. My father is the sheriff of Epitaph, me and my brothers are his deputies.”
“Sheriff Shaye?” Holcomb asked.
“That’s right.”
“So there’s only four of you?”
“That’s right.”
