The Gunsmith 420 Page 8

  “You were away all day,” she said. “I thought the men were gonna take turns at me.”

  “And if they had?” he asked. “You woulda loved it. You can’t get enough, woman!”

  “From you,” she said. “Not from them. They’re filthy, and ugly.”

  “I didn’t hire them for their looks,” he said, wiping grease from his face with the back of his hand.

  “What were you doin’?” she asked.

  “Nothin’,” he said. “Absolutely nothin’. A huge waste of time.”

  “So what are you gonna do next?”

  He put the chicken leg down and looked across at her. He wiped his hands on his hairy chest, making it glisten from the gravy.

  “I’m gonna make a name for myself, Millie.”

  “You already have a name for yourself,” she said. “Everyone knows Frank Lomax.”

  “Not everybody,” he said, eyeing the chicken for another likely piece. “But when I’m done here, they will.”

  Twenty-Eight

  “Frank Lomax?” Clint asked. “Your husbands were Frank Lomax’s brother?”

  “You know him?”

  “I’ve heard of him,” Clint said. “Him and his gang.”

  “His gang,” she said. “That sounds so ... old fashioned.”

  “It is,” Clint said. “There was a time the West was overrun with gangs. Four or five men. These days when you run into a gang it’s more of a unit. A dozen men or more.”

  “You’ve run into gangs like that?”

  “Oh, yes. I’ve had my run ins.”

  “And you survived,” she said. “See? That’s why we need you to protect us.”

  She fed him the last of the stew and put the bowl down.

  “So you think Frank is going to come looking for his brothers?”

  “He already has.”

  “And?”

  “We told him that they left,” she said. “He didn’t believe us.”

  “What did he do then?”

  “He threatened us. But for some reason, he didn’t kill us. Instead, he went to town and talked to the sheriff.”

  “What did the sheriff so?”

  “He came out and talked to us, then told Frank there was nothin’ he could do. Frank told him to arrest us, and the sheriff refused. Frank went around town sayin’ how we had killed his brothers, but he didn’t get any sympathy.”

  “Wait a minute,” he said. “Are you telling me Frank Lomax and his gang cleaned out the town—out of revenge?”

  She nodded.

  “They killed the sheriff, and some others, destroyed some of the shops, saloons, and people started leaving town. Before long, they were all gone.”

  “And where’s Frank Lomax?”

  “He came back out and told Loretta what he did to the town,” she said. “Then he said he’d be back for the three of us. Only we’d never know when he was comin’.”

  “I knew somebody was watchin’ us the past couple of days.”

  “Loretta thinks it’s Frank,” she said. “That means he’ll be here any time, with his gang. There ain’t no way we’ll be able to defend ourselves.”

  “So you want me to defend you.”

  “We didn’t think of that until we found out who you were.”

  “But you were planning on keeping me here before that, weren’t you?”

  “Well, yeah ... but only for a little while.”

  “But you wouldn’t have warned me about the Lomax gang.”

  She lowered her head, ashamed.

  “We’ve done everythin’ wrong, ain’t we?”

  “You have,” he said. “If I was just a man the three of you found and kidnapped, I’d get killed with the rest of you when Lomax got here.” He yanked on the handcuffs. “I still might.”

  “Not if you agree to help us.”

  “You want me to stand alone against Lomax and his gang?” he asked.

  “Not alone,” she said. “We’d be with you. The four of us.”

  “Can you shoot?”

  “Oh yeah,” she said. “That was one of the reasons the Lomax brothers picked us. They liked that we could take care of ourselves. It made them feel better about themselves when they ... brutalized us.”

  “Why did you marry them?”

  “Loretta said we had to,” she said. “I mean ... according to her, we had to marry somebody.”

  “And then you had to kill them.”

  “Yeah.”

  Clint reached over and got the glass of lemonade himself, drank half of it and put it down.

  “Well, Loretta’s going to have to ask me.”

  “What?” Teresa asked.

  “Loretta will have to come in here, take these handcuffs off, and ask me to defend the three of you against Frank Lomax and his gang.”

  “You’ll do it?” Teresa asked.

  “You tell Loretta what I said,” he replied, “and we’ll see.”

  She stood up and grabbed the bowl, started to reach for the lemonade.

  “Leave the glass,” he said. “And bring me a cup of coffee in a little while.”

  “All right,” she said, meekly. “I’ll talk to Loretta.”

  She walked to the door, opened it, but he spoke again before she could leave the room.

  “Make sure you tell her not to take too long,” Clint told her. “Who knows when they’ll decide to ride in here.”

  She stared at him for a moment, then nodded, went out, closing the door gently behind her.

  Now Clint had the time to make up his mind. If and when Loretta did come in and ask for his help, would he give it to them?

  Twenty-Nine

  “He said what?”

  Once again the sisters were seated together at the dining room table.

  “He wants you to ask him to help us,” Teresa said. “And he wants you to take the handcuffs off when you do it.”

  “I’m not askin’ him anythin’!” she snapped.

  “You gotta, Loretta!” Belinda said.

  “We don’t need his help,” she said.

  “What do we do when Frank gets here?” Teresa asked.

  “We took care of his brothers,” Loretta said, “we can take care of him.”

  “We took care of his brothers because they were naked and not expectin’ it,” Teresa said. “And what about his gang? How are we gonna take care of them?”

  “What’s Clint gonna do against a whole gang?” Loretta asked. “One man.”

  “That one man is the Gunsmith, Loretta,” Teresa said. “He’s done this before.”

  Loretta stared straight ahead without speaking.

  “Loretta,” Belinda said.

  “All right!” She snapped. “I’ll ask him.”

  “When?” Belinda asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Like he said,” Teresa added, “we better not wait too long.”

  Loretta glared at Teresa.

  “He wants a cup of coffee,” Teresa said. “Why don’t you take it up to him?”

  “Yeah,” Loretta said, “fine.”

  ~*~

  When the door opened again, Clint wasn’t sure who to expect, but when he saw Loretta carrying what he assumed was a mug of coffee, he was satisfied.

  “Well, well,” he said, “Hello, Loretta. Nice to see you.”

  “You said you wanted coffee,” she said, approaching the bed. She handed him the mug.

  “Thank you,” he said, accepting it.

  She stood there and watched him drink.

  “Was there something else?” he asked. “Something you wanted to ask me?”

  “Well—”

  ”Or maybe there was something you wanted to do first?” He yanked on the handcuffs.

  “Yeah,” she said, “right.” She reached into her pocket for a key, stepped forward and unlocked the handcuffs.

  Clint reclaimed his left hand, set the coffee cup down and massaged his wrist.

  She backed away, put her hand behind her back and came out with a
gun.

  “You won’t need that.” Clint swung his feet to the floor, grabbed the coffee mug again.

  “Just in case you had some idea.”

  “Of what?”

  “Revenge,” she said. “Ain’t that what drives men?”

  “Not all men,” he said. “Teresa explained to me why you did what you did. I don’t have any desire for revenge. Now, if I’d been here for days, instead of hours ... who knows?”

  She thought about it, then lowered the gun.

  “Now,” he said, “did you have something you wanted to ask me?”

  “Like Loretta said,” she told him, “we need help. Frank Lomax is comin’—and if you’re right, and we’re bein’ watched, it won’t be long.”

  “Have any of you met Frank before?”

  “No,” she said. “We were supposed to, but ...”

  “It never happened” Clint said.

  “Right.”

  He stood up. She tensed, but did not raise the gun.

  “I’m going to need my gun,” he said. “And my boots.”

  ~*~

  When Clint came downstairs with Loretta he had his boots and gun on. Loretta had tucked her gun back into her belt.

  Teresa and Belinda looked at them from the table. Teresa smiled and Belinda got up and ran to him.

  “Clint!” She hugged him.

  “Take it easy, Belinda,” Loretta said. “He hasn’t agreed to help us yet.”

  Belinda stepped back, looking puzzled.

  “But you let him go,” she said.

  “He’s free to leave, or stay,” Loretta said. “It’s up to him.”

  “What will you do if I leave?” Clint asked.

  “We’ll do the best we can,” Loretta said. “That’s what we always do.”

  “Sounds like you did okay with your husbands,” he commented.

  “That had to be done,” Loretta said. “We didn’t have a choice. They woulda killed Belinda.”

  “If Lomax and his gang come,” Teresa said, “they’ll kill all three of us. You can’t let that happen, Clint.”

  Belinda looked up at his face and said with confidence, “He won’t.”

  Clint took a deep breath and said, “No, I won’t.”

  Thirty

  It was late, but when the women went to bed, Clint stayed downstairs. He’d spent enough time in the bed all day.

  He sat in the living room, once again considering his options. Stuck now that he’d agreed to stay and help—“Not defend,” he’d told them, “but help you defend yourselves”—he had to figure out a plan. He had no way of knowing how many men Lomax had in his gang. It could have been a dozen, or more.

  “What are you thinkin’?”

  He turned and saw Belinda standing there.

  “Lots of things.”

  She came over and sat next to him on the sofa, wearing a cotton nightgown.

  “Like what?”

  “We need a plan,” he said. “I wish I knew how many men Frank had. Did your husbands ever talk about his gang?”

  “They talked about him,” she said. “They were real proud of him. He was the older brother. But they never mentioned his havin’ a gang.”

  “None of them ever rode with him?”

  “No,” she answered, “not that they ever said.”

  “Well, all I know about him is what I’ve heard,” Clint said.

  “And what have you heard?”

  “He’s bad,” Clint said, “very, bad. And what he did to Corazon proves it. But he couldn’t have done that with a gang of five or six. Had to be more.”

  “Maybe,” she said, “he won’t come here with his whole gang. After all, for all he knows it’s just us here—me, Teresa and Loretta.”

  “Not if he’s watching, or if he’s had someone watching,” Clint said.

  “Then how would you find out how many men he has?”

  “There’s only one way,” she said.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’ll have to ask.”

  ~*~

  He had sent Belinda off to her own bed for the night, and when he finally returned to his room he locked the door. He didn’t need one of the women crawling into his bed. He needed to be alone so he could think. By the time he’d decided what he had to do the next day, he was tired enough to drift off to sleep, even though he’d spent most of the day in that damned bed.

  ~*~

  The next morning, at breakfast, he told the three women he had a plan.

  “What is it?” Loretta asked.

  “That’s not for you to worry about,” he said. “I’m going to go out for a while, and when I come back I should have some information.”

  “And how are you gonna get it?” Teresa asked.

  He put his napkin down on his empty plate, stood up, and said, “You’ll see.”

  The girls all exchanged a glance, and then Belinda said, “He told me he was gonna ask.”

  “Ask who?” Loretta said.

  Belinda shrugged.

  ~*~

  The girls found Clint in the living room, checking his gun to make sure it was in proper working order. After all, it had been out of his possession for most of a day.

  “If we’re bein’ watched, how are you gonna go out?” Teresa asked.

  “Easy,” he said. “I’m not going to use the front door.”

  “And how do we know when you leave you’ll even come back?” Loretta asked.

  “Because I’ll be on foot,” he said. “My horse will be in your barn, and I’m not going anywhere without him.”

  He walked through the house to the back door in the kitchen.

  “But what if they’re watchin’ the back, too?” Belinda asked.

  “I’ll figure that out before I do anything,” he said, turning to face them. “Now look, the three of you have to act naturally. Just go about your business as you would every day.”

  “And when will you be back?” Belinda asked.

  “Hopefully,” Clint said, “not long. But I have to warn you, what I do today might hurry things along a bit.”

  “You mean bring Frank here sooner?” Loretta asked.

  “I mean get him to react,” Clint said. “And yes, probably by coming here.”

  “Well,” Loretta said, “at least the waitin’ would be over.”

  “You all have guns, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Make sure they’re clean, and working, by the time I get back.”

  “But—” Loretta started, but before she could get any further, Clint was out the door.

  Thirty-One

  It only took several moments for Clint to determine that the back of the house was not being watched. Now all he needed to figure out was where the front of the house was being watched from.

  On several occasions he’d stood on the porch and stared out at the horizon in front. Now he closed his eyes, trying to see it again. Where would he choose to watch the house from? Certainly from a high point, so he could look down and not be seen.

  There was a bluff that loomed over the house. That would be the point he’d choose. Now all he had to do was circle around and get up there without being seen. Hopefully he’d find somebody there.

  ~*~

  Lomax came out of the cabin after a fuck and breakfast, leaving Millie in bed with a sore backside.

  He walked around camp, found Skinner crouched by a fire, eating breakfast.

  “Who’s watchin’ the house?” he asked.

  “Pierce.”

  “Who’s Pierce.”

  “He was with us yesterday,” Skinner said. “Miller, Holby—”

  “—and Pierce. Got it. Does he know exactly what I want him to do?”

  “Yeah,” Skinner said, “at the first sign of Clint Adams he’s to come back here and tell you. He’s not to try and take the Gunsmith alone.”

  “Right.”

  “And he’s not idiotic enough to even think about it,” Skinner added.

  “And when doe
s he get relieved?”

  “In three hours, by Holby.”

  “Make sure he knows the same thing.”

  “Right.”

  “At the first sign of the Gunsmith, we’re goin’ in,” Lomax said.

  “And if we don’t see him?”

  “We’re goin’ in, anyway,” Lomax said. “It’s time to settle up with my brothers’ murderers.”

  “I understand.”

  Lomax turned and headed back to his cabin.

  When he was out of earshot, Skinner said aloud, “It’s about time.”

  ~*~

  “Do you see him?” Belinda asked Teresa, who was looking out the front window.

  “No,” she said, “and I can’t tell if anyone is watchin’ us.”

  “Get away from that window, the both of you!” Loretta snapped, entering the room.

  “We’re just worried about Clint,” Belinda said, stepping away quickly.

  “Well, if someone sees you lookin’ out there it’s not gonna do him any good,” Loretta said. “We just have to do what he told us to do.”

  “Act normal?” Belinda asked. “How can we do that?”

  “Teresa goes out and takes care of her chores,” Loretta said. “You do the same.”

  “Go out back?” Belinda asked. “Alone?”

  “That’s what you’d normally do,” Loretta said. “Go care for the animals.”

  “Well, yes, but—”

  “Then go and do it,” Loretta said, cutting her off.

  “Come on, Belinda,” Teresa said, “let’s get to work, like it was just another day. That’s what Clint wanted us to do.”

  “Well,” Belinda said, “all right.” But her tone said she wasn’t so sure it was the right thing.

  ~*~

  Clint worked his way around to the back of the bluff so he could ascend without being seen. The first thing he saw were the tracks. Several horses back and forth recently. The next thing he saw was a single horse tied to a tree. And then he saw the man.

  He had crawled to the crest of the bluff, and was lying on his stomach, presumably looking down at the house. There was a rifle lying on the ground next to him, and a gunbelt around his waist. He wondered if the man was just watching, or if he was waiting to be able to take a shot.

  Clint backed up, went over to the house, and took a look in the saddlebags, careful not to irritate the animal. There wasn’t much in the bags, certainly nothing to identify the man, or who he worked for.