Fargo looked but didn’t see the burro. “Where did you come from?” He regretted it each time he opened his mouth; the reek was worse.
“Now you see me, now you don’t.”
“How can you breathe?” Fargo marveled.
“Easy.” Badger sucked a breath deep into his lungs and exhaled, smiling the while. “I’ve been doing it since I was in diapers. Comes natural by now.”
“You are a card.”
“Thought I was a thorn?”
Fargo nodded at the Sharps. “Don’t point that at me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Badger rejoined, and held out the Ovaro’s reins. “You take these and I’ll take your six-gun.”
“You don’t want to do this.”
“Sure I do. This makes twice I’ve got the better of you.”
“It’s no game,” Fargo said.
“Never thought it was.” The prospector backed off and gestured with the Sharps toward the mesa. “Walk that way. You’ll know when to stop.”
“Lower that rifle and we’ll forget this ever happened.”
“Listen to you. I’m the one can blow you to hell if you so much as move wrong.” Badger’s voice hardened. “Do as I told you and walk.”
A dozen yards, and Fargo came on a another, smaller, basin. It was empty except for Gladys, who stood at the bottom dozing. “So this was where.”
“I knew someone was following me. Caught sight of you when you came out of the cliffs.” Badger made a
“Now what?” Fargo asked.
The prospector raised the Sharps to his shoulder. “Do you really need to ask?”
14
Skye Fargo had learned long ago never to take anyone as they appeared to be. A stranger might smile and be sociable, and the moment Fargo turned his back, plunge a knife into it and steal his poke. A painted warrior bristling with weapons might appear ready to slay any white he came across, yet turn out to be from a friendly tribe. Yet knowing that, Fargo still found the habit hard to break. He’d taken for granted that the old prospector was harmless and now the old man was about to blow out his wick.
“Any last words?” Badger asked.
“You’re not the one I’m after. Why shoot me when you don’t have to?”
“I like the bonnets and the dresses,” Badger said. “I like to fondle them at night.”
“You can get them at any dress shop or most any general store,” Fargo stalled. His right hand was low at his side and he inched it higher.
“I don’t like people, remember? I don’t like towns. Every time I go into one, people poke fun at me. Laugh at me behind my back. And now the folks in Haven went and threw me in jail.” Badger was growing agitated as he talked and his mouth began to twitch.
“It’s stupid to die over a bonnet.” Fargo’s fingers brushed the bottom of his holster.
“You shouldn’t have followed me,” Badger said.
“I told you about the missing women.” Fargo cupped his right hand around the middle of his holster and his left hand around his hip.
“They don’t mean anything to me.”
Fargo nodded at the charnel pit. “You don’t care that he chops them up when he’s done with them?”
“Why should I? I didn’t know any of those folks. To me they’re just body parts.”
Fargo sighed and slid his right hand up to the grips on his Colt.
“I don’t care about the women. I don’t care about you. I don’t care about anyone but me,” Badger said.
“I’ll ask you one last time to lower the Sharps.” Fargo tensed for the draw. He would sidestep as he shot in case the rifle went off.
“All I care about is gold.”
The idea that popped into Fargo’s head almost made him smile. Keeping his voice casual he asked, “Have you looked up there?” He nodded toward the black mesa.
Badger looked. The Sharps dipped a couple of inches and he replied, “Why would I want to do that?”
“That’s where the townsfolk in Haven say some was found.”
“What are you talking about?” Badger asked suspiciously.
“I heard about it from the marshal. There was a man called Wells who found nuggets. He told everyone it was a big strike and he bought provisions and went back out but they never saw him again.”
“I never heard of any desert rat named Wells.”
“He worked at the livery. Prospected in his spare time. He disappeared about the same time as the first of the women.”
Badger blinked and said, “Why, it could have been him who did it.”
“The Ghoul?”
Badger nodded. “You saw what’s down in that pit. He’s killed men before. I bet he killed Wells.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Because you ain’t clever like me.” Badger lowered the Sharps and turned and stared at the mesa. “So that’s why he’s up there. It’s not the women. It’s the gold. He wants it for himself.”
Fargo took his hand off the Colt. “That’s where the Ghoul is?”
“You’re awful slow,” Badger said. “He has a secret place. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I’ve seen him rubbing the women. He likes to rub and rub as if he can’t get enough.”
“You’ll show me where it is?”
“Find him yourself. All I want is the gold, damn it.” Badger walked down to Gladys and snagged the lead rope. “I can’t believe I never thought to look up there. All the times I’ve walked past it, and the times I snuck on up to spy on that fella you’re after.” He tugged on the rope and led Gladys up the other side. “We never see the nose on our own face.”
Fargo was quick to take the Ovaro’s reins and hurry after him. It didn’t nettle his conscience that he’d lied. It was either that or shoot the old prospector dead. “Wait up.”
Badger was pulling the burro as fast as he could walk. “Gold, you said. Nuggets. I wonder did he chip them from a vein or did he find them lying loose?”
“Can you at least tell me where you saw the Ghoul?” Fargo asked. “What part of the mesa?” It would help to narrow it down. The mesa had to be half a mile long and a quarter of mile wide.
“Up it a ways.”
“How far up? And on which side? The north? The south? The east? The west?”
“This is the one,” Badger said.
“What is?”
“I’m getting too old for this. I need a big strike so I can buy me a cabin somewhere and spend the rest of my days taking it easy in a rocking chair.”
Since Fargo had already made up a whopper of a story, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to add to it. “I’ll make a deal with you.”
“Keep your horse. I wouldn’t swap Gladys for anything.”
“Not that kind of deal,” Fargo said. “If you’ll tell me exactly where you saw the Ghoul, I’ll tell you the rest about Wells.”
Badger stopped. “There’s more?”
“Wells let drop a hint about where he came across the nuggets,” Fargo fibbed. “There’s a landmark he mentioned. It might help you find them.”
