“Bill—”
Doolin stopped her, cupped her face in his hand. “Just gimme a little time. That’s all I’m askin’. Then we’re headed for California.”
“California?”
“Told you I had a plan. We’ll leave all this behind. Build ourselves a good life out there.”
She searched his eyes. “You really mean it?”
“Honest to God,” Doolin promised. “You got my word on it.”
“Oh, God, Bill, don’t let me down.”
“Honey, we’re as good as on our way.”
A preacher married them in a private ceremony that evening. By nightfall everyone in town knew that the Ellsworth girl and Bill Doolin were man and wife. Their wedding night was for her one of joy and lingering anguish.
She prayed he would keep his word.
CHAPTER 13
Tilghman rode into Guthrie the following afternoon. Yesterday, upon his return from Ingalls, he’d stopped off at the ranch and then spent the evening with Zoe. Had he located Doolin, he would have ridden straight through to the capital. But with Doolin gone, there was no rush to deliver his report. Today seemed soon enough.
On Division Street, he left his horse at a stable, then walked over to the Herriott Building. Upstairs, the hallway was crowded with people rushing in and out of the governor’s suite. So much activity was unusual, but he didn’t pause to inquire the reason. He made his way to the marshal’s office and pushed through the door. Heck Thomas turned from the window with a startled look.
“Bill!” he said loudly. “Goddamn, am I glad to see you.”
“What’s all the excitement at the governor’s office?”
“Oh, that,” Thomas said dismissively. “The president’s just authorized opening the Cherokee Strip. There’s gonna be another land rush.”
Tilghman was impressed. The Strip included the former Cherokee Outlet as well as parts of the Pawnee and Tonkawa reservations. In total, the president’s proclamation opened some eight million acres to settlement. By far the largest land rush to date, it would add more than nine thousand square miles to Oklahoma Territory.
“That’s some news,” Tilghman said. “Ought to draw lots of people.”
“Liable to be a stampede,” Thomas told him. “There’s talk it’ll pull a couple of hundred thousand settlers into the territory.”
“Have they set a date for the opening?”
“Looks to be May fifteenth. The governor called Nix down to his office to start planning. They want federal marshals to police the townsites.”
“Any idea when Nix will be back? I’ve got word on Doolin.”
Thomas gave him a strange look. “What kind of word?”
“I scouted things out,” Tilghman said. “That letter was right on the money. Doolin holes up there at a horse ranch on a regular basis. Got himself a girl in Ingalls, too.”
“When were you in Ingalls?”
“Day before yesterday. Stopped by Chandler and rode on here.”
“I’ll be damned,” Thomas mumbled. “You haven’t heard about the holdup, have you?”
“Holdup?” Tilghman said, amazed. “Doolin pulled another job?”
Thomas quickly recounted details of the Santa Fe robbery in Kansas. He went on to relate the gun battle between the Wild Bunch and the Beaver County posse. He ended with Doolin’s escape.
“But that’s old news,” he hurried on. “This morning we got the latest, and you’re not gonna believe it. Doolin’s holed up in a hotel in Ingalls.”
“Hotel?” Tilghman said skeptically. “Why would he come out in the open like that? Where’d you get this story?”
“From a preacher.” Thomas grinned, shaking his head. “Old bird was hot under the collar, too. Rode all night to get here.”
“What’s a preacher got to do with Bill Doolin?”
The preacher, according to Thomas, had been struck by a sudden fit of conscience. After the wedding ceremony, he’d become incensed that a decent girl would marry an outlaw. All the worse, he speculated that it was a shotgun wedding, the girl in a family way. He also reported that Doolin had been wounded in the foot.
“To cork it,” Thomas concluded, “Doolin brought the whole gang into town to celebrate his weddin’. I tell you that preacher was plenty pissed.”
Tilghman took a moment to digest what he’d heard. His forehead wrinkled in thought. “Doolin’s no dummy. He won’t stick around Ingalls too long. He knows the word will leak out.”
“Exact same thing I told Nix. We’ve got to hit Doolin tomorrow. Next day might be too late.”
“Does he agree?”
“We got in an argument,” Thomas said flatly. “He wants to send an army up there, and I’m against it. Too many men just get in one another’s way. A couple of good ones, maybe three, that’s all we need.”
“We’d never get Madsen here from El Reno in time.”
“There’s always you and me, Bill. I’m not one for big posses and lead flyin’ every whichaway. Just the two of us, we’d figure a way to nail Doolin.”
“How’d you leave it with Nix?”
“We were still at it hot and heavy when the governor sent for him.”
The office door opened. Evett Nix entered, his expression harried as he walked to his desk. He took a seat, nodding at Tilghman. “Has Heck filled you in?”
“We both did the honors,” Tilghman said. “I just got back from Ingalls, so it wasn’t a surprise. Doolin’s been hiding out there off and on for months.”
“Which means our outraged parson was on the mark. We have an opportunity to rid the territory of Doolin once and for all.”
“Looks that way.”
Nix’s gaze shifted to Thomas. “Have you changed your mind?”
“Nope,” Thomas said, his eyes narrowed. “You send a crowd and there’ll be hell to pay. Seen it happen time and again.”
“Heck, I know your opinion of me as a lawman. But good judgment dictates that two or three men have no chance against a gang that large. I won’t risk it.”
“Heck’s right,” Tilghman interceded. “The larger the posse, the greater the risk of failure. Let the two of us handle it and the odds improve on getting Doolin. He’s the main target, more so than his gang.”
“I disagree,” Nix said. “I want Doolin and his gang. Now, I stepped out of the meeting with the governor to settle this
