back.
“Then where is he?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Short said, “but we’re going to find him.”
They looked at each other.
“Newman?” Butler asked.
“Newman,” Short said, with a nod.
They went back down the stairs and away from the docks, where they could find a cab.
Sutherland watched as Butler and Luke Short entered the Anchor, and a couple of dockworkers came running out, slammed the doors behind them, and locked them from the outside. Then he waited and when he heard the first shot knew that things had gone wrong.
Later, when he heard the second shot, he assumed the bartender had gone for the shotgun he kept beneath the bar. The bald, earring-wearing man had told Sutherland, “Worse comes to worse I’ll just use my greener shotgun on both of ’em.”
Yeah, right…
After the second shot he watched as Butler and Luke Short came out and went up the stairs to his room. Butler kicked in the door and Short went in while Butler kept watch outside.
While they were standing in his doorway talking, probably discussing their next move, Sutherland was pretty sure he knew what it would be. He left his hiding place and hurried away, determined to get there ahead of them.
This whole business was going to come to an end today, one way or another.
CHAPTER 56
As Butler and Luke Short approached the Newman home, they noticed a curtain in one of the front windows move. Someone was watching them.
“Okay,” Short said, “so where would we expect to find Sutherland right now?”
“Here?” Butler asked.
“Why not? We came running straight here from the Anchor. What if he was outside, watching?”
“Then he knew that things didn’t go the way he planned,” Butler said.
“We go knocking on that door now he could start shooting right through it.”
“You honestly think Newman would go along with that?” Butler asked.
“Honestly?” Short asked. “That’s an odd word to use in this situation. Newman’s been anything but honest with us. You know he had to have tipped Sutherland off that we’d be in that saloon, otherwise why would there have been a reception party for us?”
They stood together, staring at the house a few moments.
“I guess one of us could go around the back,” Butler said, “and we could go in both ways at the same time.”
“And if he’s not in there, we’ll scare Newman’s wife half to death.”
“What other options do we have?” Butler asked.
Short stared at the house and tried to think of an answer.
Sutherland watched the two men through the front window, saw them stop short of approaching the house. He’d been hoping they’d just come right up to the door and knock. He turned and looked at Al Newman and his wife, sitting on the sofa in their living room.
“Shouldn’t be too much longer, folks,” he told them.
While Sutherland continued to watch out the front window, Helen Newman leaned over and hissed at her husband angrily.
“How could you get us mixed up in something like this?”
“Helen,” he said, “it was dealing with men like Sutherland that bought us this house.”
“I don’t care, Albert,” she said. “Does that mean we have to let him in our home? Be threatened to our faces? At gunpoint.”
“The sheriff should be here soon.”
“A lot of good he’s going to do us if we’re dead,” she said. “What does this man want?”
“He wants Luke Short,” Newman said, “but he’s got to get rid of Butler to get to him.”
“Luke Short? Butler? Why do we care about any of them?”
“Because they’re professional gamblers.”
She waited, and when he didn’t say anything else she said, “And?”
How could he explain to her how humiliating it was to stand in that White Horse Saloon week after week and watch lesser men be invited into Luke Short’s games. A woman wouldn’t understand. Especially a woman like Helen Newman would never understand.
Before he could try and explain his thinking to her, Sutherland said from the window, “Here comes the law.” He turned and looked at Al Newman. “Now let’s see if your plan works.”
Helen Newman looked at her husband and repeated, “Your plan?”
He sighed. There was no point in continuing to pretend that he was sitting with her on the sofa because he was being threatened. He stood up.
“Helen, just be still,” he said, and walked over to stand by Sutherland and look out the window.
“Butler!”
Butler and Luke Short turned at the sound of the voice, saw Sheriff Jim Courtwright approaching with two deputies in tow.
“What do you want, Courtwright?” Short asked.
“Shut your mouth, Luke,” Courtwright said. “For a change I’m not lookin’ for you this time.” He pointed a finger at Butler. “I want him.”
“What can I do for you, Sheriff?”
“You can give me your gun and come with me,” Sheriff Courtwright said. “You’re under arrest.”
“For what?”
“Suspicion of murder.”
“And who am I supposed to have murdered?”
“We’ll talk about that in my office.”
Courtwright reached for Butler’s gun, but the gambler backed away.
“Don’t make me use force, Butler.”
“Sheriff,” Butler said, “the man who killed Ed Cramer and the bartender, Zeke, is almost certainly in that house.” He pointed.
“Al Newman’s house?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s he doing in there?”
“Waitin’ for us,” Short said.
“One man alone is waitin’ to face the two of you?” he said, laughing. “That’s rich. I’ve heard a lot of things about Sutherland, but I never heard that he had a death wish.”
Butler and Short exchanged a glance.
“Who said anything about Sutherland?” Short asked.
“What?”
“We never mentioned Sutherland’s name.”
Courtwright looked confused, then trapped.
“Never mind that,” he said. “Butler has to come with me.”
“No,” Butler said.
“You better go,” Short said. “I can handle this. I’ll come to the jail later with a lawyer.”
“Luke, don’t you see? This is what they want, to split us up. It’s a plan.” Butler looked at Courtwright. “A plan
