threat. Now I’m going to go get Ned a good meal and you’d damned well better do everything Fargo told you to.”
She reached over and took Fargo’s hand. “Now I know that Ned’s got at least one good friend besides me. Thank you.”
Fargo scowled at Cain and walked out into the night.
The plate was filled with sliced potatoes, three thick slices of beef, beets. There was a deep cup of black coffee and there was a piece of apple cake in a paper napkin. A silver fork moved around on top of the feast, stopping first at the beef and then at the potatoes. Then the fork was set down on the coarse gray woolen blanket covering the cell cot and the hand reached for the cup of coffee.
Lenihan brought the coffee to his mouth, inhaled the steam. “This is good, Amy. Thanks.”
Amy had never been in a jail cell before. She had had no idea how claustrophobic it was—and she would be able to leave. Then there were the smells. She didn’t like to think about what had caused them. She could smell the sudsy cleaner somebody had mopped the floor with but that only added to the assault on her senses. And finally there was the laughter up front, on the other side of the heavy, closed door. She wondered if Cain had invited people in just so he could laugh with them and tease Ned and her. It would be like him. She had decided not to tell Ned that Cain had hit her. It would just make him angrier and more miserable.
Seeing that Ned hadn’t touched his food, she said, “You need to eat, Ned.”
“I wish I was hungry. But all I want is this cigarette and coffee.” He’d forgotten his pipe but fortunately he’d brought along his makings.
“You don’t know when you’ll have your next meal.”
Cain had let her bring a lantern into the cell. In the flickering light of it Ned appeared to be recovering from some injury or wound that had stunned him into deep shock. He spoke but the words were hollow. He saw her but he appeared to see something beyond her too. Some nightmare.
She took the plate from his lap and then picked up the knife and fork. She began to cut the beef as she once had for her little children. Tiny bites so they wouldn’t choke. These were twice that size but still they might intimidate him less than large cuts of the meat.
She made a joke of it. When she’d cut several pieces she left the cot she’d been sitting on and seated herself next to him. “Now, my sweetheart, open wide.”
“Oh, c’mon, Amy!”
“Open wide!”
The ridiculousness of the situation must have amused him because he actually smiled. And opened his mouth.
“Now chew.”
“You are crazy.”
“There’s one bite. Open up again because here comes another one.”
And so she fed him. He didn’t eat all of it but he made a good dent in it. She thought it was endearing that he wolfed down the cake. He had a sweet tooth. Like a boy. All the time she was doing this, laughing and hearing him laugh, she was able to keep her sadness at bay. But when Ned was done with the meal and she had seated herself across from him again, the sorrow seized her. And she knew he recognized it in her eyes.
“I think Fargo’s with me on this. I can see why he brought me in. I’ve been thinking about that. If I was a deputy I’d do the same thing. But I think he’s got a lot of doubts, Amy, and I think that Cain’s afraid of him. Fargo’s not afraid to kill a man and I get the sense that he wouldn’t mind killing Cain anytime the chance came up.”
“I liked him, too, Ned. But I worry about Cain. Fargo can’t be here to watch him all the time. I just hope that Cain decides it’s not worth taking the chance to do anything to you.”
“Well, Pete’s around a lot of the time.”
Mention of Pete Rule made her feel better. “That’s right. I think he’s on our side, too. That’s what I’ve been told anyway. He stands up for you when people make accusations.”
“That’s what I mean.”
But she could tell that he was more hopeful than actually convinced that Pete Rule could stop Cain.
The door opened. Laughter and smoke rolled into the shadows of the jail cells. Cain was outlined in the door with a glass of beer in his hand. His own laugh was as hearty as a pirate’s.
Rubbing it in, she thought. Showing his contempt. She was glad she’d raked him across the cheek. She wished she’d done more damage. Except for protecting the lives of her children, Amy Peters had never had many violent thoughts. But she had them now. She felt she could cut Cain’s throat and feel no remorse at all.
He ambled back, continuing his theatrical laugh. “I’m sorry you folks can’t come up and join us. Well, I should say—that Ned can’t come up and join us. Amy isn’t a prisoner. She could come up but I doubt she’d want to. And it might not be safe. Four men with a lot of alcohol in them—”
He reached Lenihan’s cell and put his face near the bars.
“What do you want?” Ned snapped.
“What I wanted and what I got seem to be two entirely different things, wouldn’t you say, Ned? I tried to convince this lady that she’d be better off with me. And given how things have turned out, I’d say maybe I was right, wouldn’t you, Amy?”
“Fargo’s going to find out who’s really behind all this,” Amy said. “And I’m pretty sure he’ll find out that it’s you.”
“Ah, yes, Fargo. I’d watch him, Ned. I can hear it in Amy’s voice already. She’s smitten with the man. That’s how it usually goes with Fargo. You just can’t trust him around women.”
“I asked you what you want, Cain.”
“Well, Ned, since you’re so insistent—what I want is to tell you and Amy that visiting hours are over. I didn’t have to let her back here to see you in the first place. Let alone let her bring you a fine meal. But now the time’s up.”
“I want you to let her out the back door.”
“Now why would I do that, Ned?”
“Because I don’t want her raped.”
“You sure don’t have much faith in me.”
“I don’t give a damn what you do to me, Cain. But let her out the back door.”
“I hope you’re touched by this, Amy. Your little friend here has gone noble on us. I don’t know about you but I’m deeply moved by this. I didn’t think the little man had it in him.”
Amy swept up the plate and her purse and stalked to the door. “I don’t know when or how, Cain, but I’m going to kill you with my own hands when this is all over.”
“Then I take it this is the wrong time to ask you to marry me?”
Amy looked back at Ned. “I love you, Ned. I’ll be back in the morning.”
“Just to show you what a law-abiding lawman I am, Ned, I’m letting her out the back door. Even after she threatened to kill me. Now you be sure and tell Fargo what an upstanding lawman I am, will you?”
He laughed the whole time he lifted the heavy bolt off the door and let her out into the alley.
13
Pushing through the batwings Fargo saw how crowded the Gold Mine saloon was. The long bar was packed as were the tables. On the surface this might have been nothing more than one of those nights when a large number of men decided to spend a little time drinking before going home to their families and supper. But that would have meant a jovial mood among most of the drinkers and the mood here was anything but jovial. The sure sign of this was how none of the drinkers paid any attention to any of the saloon girls. Usually they’d be joshing with them or flirting with them. A few of them would be going upstairs to partake of their services.
But not tonight. Tonight there would be only one topic of conversation. And that would be Ned Lenihan.
When the bartender saw Fargo, he shouted, “Here’s the man who brought him in!”
A few dozen shouts went up in the smoky air. A couple of men near Fargo patted him on the back. Admiration and appreciation shone in every eye. Fargo was the man of the hour.
