Davis fell back into his silence.
“Oh, I get it,” James said.
“What?” Gibney asked.
James turned to face the lawman. “He was trackin’ them too,” he said. “He wants to find them as much as we do.”
“Do we know who any of these fellas are?”
“Yeah,” James said. “One of them is named Ben Cardwell. The other one might be a man named Simon Jacks.”
“Jacks?”
“Yeah,” James said. “You know him?”
“I know of him.”
“Like what?”
“Good man with a gun,” the lawman said, “good man to hire.”
“Not a leader?”
“No,” Gibney said. “From what I’ve heard, he is strictly for hire. Somebody else does the thinkin’.”
“Like this fella Cardwell,” James said.
“Probably.”
They both looked into the cell again.
“I don’t believe this one does any thinkin’,” James said. “He looks like a definite follower.”
“Yeah,” Gibney said. “I don’t even know why he was trackin’ them. A man like Simon Jacks would kill him with no problem.”
Davis removed his arm from his eyes so he could look at them, then turned and faced the wall. James signaled for the sheriff to follow him out.
“It doesn’t look like I’m gonna get anythin’ from him,” he said in the office. “I’d better just collect my men and get after the other two.”
“Whatever you say, Deputy.”
“My brother will be along later today,” James said. “Just tell him what happened and where we went.”
“All right,” Gibney said. But as James was going out the door, he called out, “But where
James found Cory and Colon at the saloon, each with a beer and hot plate of food in front of them.
“I see you fellas haven’t missed me,” he said.
“Bartender, bring out that other plate!” Cory said, then looked at James. “We thought there was no harm in havin’ some hot food before we left.”
The bartender obeyed, bringing out a third plate of food, along with a mug of beer. James sat down in front of the beer and looked around. The saloon was empty but for them. It was early, but it wasn’t that early.
“Where’s everyone else?” he asked.
“I think they thought there was gonna be trouble,” Cory said.
James hesitated with a forkful of steak halfway to his mouth. “Do you think there are others here?”
“No, I think the other two left, and the only reason we caught Davis is that his horse went lame. Did you get anything out of him?”
“No, nothing.” James took a bite of steak. It was tough, but good.
“Do you want me to try?” Cory asked.
“No,” James said, “Thomas will be along soon. He’ll have a try. We should eat and get going.”
“We need some supplies,” Colon said.
“That’ll be your job, Berto,” James said. “Just get us some beef jerky and coffee.”
“No bacon? No
“No,” James said. “We want to outfit light and move fast.”
“Sounds good,” Cory said.
Cory looked at James. The young man thought the older man might have winked at him, but it could have been his imagination.
52
When Thomas rode into Blue Mesa, the main street was empty. He found that odd. Perhaps something had happened in town that sent everyone indoors. Or the threat of something. He preferred if the answer were the latter, not the former.
There were a couple of ways he could have played this, but he decided to go at it in a straightforward manner. If something had happened, the local sheriff would know it.
He continued to ride until he saw the sheriff’s office, then reined his horse in right in front. He dismounted, tied off his horse, approached the door, then stopped to turn and survey the street. He had the feeling he was being watched from windows. He wondered if any of those people were holding a gun on him.
He turned and entered the office. A portly man with a big mustache was seated behind the desk.
“Sheriff?”
“That’s right,” the man said. “Sheriff Gibney…and you must be Deputy Shaye.”
“That’s right, Thomas Shaye. I assume my brother was here?”
“He was,” Gibney said, “he and his two men.”
“Are they all right?”
“They’re fine,” Gibney said. “They had a hot meal and went on their way, but they left somethin’ behind.”
“What’s that?”
Gibney waved his hand and said, “In my cell.”
Thomas followed, saw a man still lying with his back to the outside of the cell.
“Who is it?’
“A man named Davis,” Gibney said. “Your brother seemed to think he was part of the gang that robbed your bank.”
Thomas looked at Gibney. “Tell me about it….”
After the lawman had told him everything he knew, Thomas asked him to open the cell door.
“And then what?”
“And then leave me alone with him,” Thomas said. “I’m gonna ask him some questions.”
“Your brother tried that.”
“I’m gonna ask a little more forcefully.”
Davis turned over and looked at Thomas as he came through the open cell door….
Ben Cardwell and Simon Jacks crossed into Colorado.
“You want to tell me where we’re headed?” Jacks asked. “Where this special bank is?”
“You’ll find out,” Cardwell said. “Just know that there’s a lot of money ahead of us, Jacks. More than you could imagine.”
“That’s ahead of us,” Jacks said. “What do you think is behind us?”
“What does it matter?” Cardwell asked. “Davis, a posse. By the time they catch up to us, we’ll have a dozen guns behind us. We’ll take care of them, and then my bank.”
“Your bank?”
Cardwell looked at Jacks. “Our bank, Simon. Our bank.”
“The trail is clear from here,” Ralph Cory said.
James and Colon had remained mounted. The Mexican had long since admitted that the ex-bounty hunter was a better tracker than he was. He was there mostly for his gun, when trouble came.
It had taken them some time to relocate the trail, but once they were far enough from town that the ground wasn’t filled with tracks from town traffic, Cory had picked it up again.
