Leaving Epitaph Read online

  They had finished the bottle of whiskey and started on another one. Morales was the only one in the room who knew that the brothers’ capacity for liquor knew no bounds. The others thought the two of them would get so drunk they wouldn’t be able to tally until tomorrow. In fact, Branch had sent one of Ethan’s men out to get them hotel rooms. Now it was pitch-black out and they were all still there, with two men sitting outside.

  At least, the deputy on watch across the street had been pulled off, Morales thought. Now the brothers had their heads together across the table and no one could hear them.

  “Tell me what’s botherin’ you, Ethan,” Aaron said. “You look like you ain’t slept in days.”

  Ethan tried to match his brother’s glare, but as usual, he was unable to. “Aaron—”

  “We ain’t leavin’ this saloon tonight until I find out what’s goin’ on,” Aaron said. “You killed Petry! That’s crazy. What else have you done?”

  Ethan stared at Aaron, wet his lips and said, “I went to see Vincent.”

  “So you got the sheriff to pull his men in and wait?” Shaye asked. “That was good work.”

  “It wasn’t hard, Pa,” Thomas said. “He really doesn’t know what to do.”

  They had listened to what Thomas had to say and then broke camp and headed for Salina. Shaye was riding alongside Thomas, with James and Matthew behind them.

  “He’s only got two deputies.”

  “Maybe he can round up some more men when we get there,” Shaye said.

  “Yeah,” James said from behind him, “maybe the people in Salina care more than the people in Epitaph did.”

  Shaye found that a remarkably bitter statement to be coming from his youngest son.

  “I guess we’ll find out when we get there,” he said.

  They rode into town as quietly as they could, with Thomas leading them around back behind the sheriff’s office. They dismounted and knocked on the back door.

  One of the deputies let them in. “This way,” he said, and led them through the cell block to the office, where two more men with badges were waiting for them.

  “Sheriff,” Thomas said, “this is my father, Sheriff Shaye. Pa, that’s Sheriff Holcomb.”

  Holcomb came across the room to shake hands with Shaye. “Pleased to meet you,” he said. “Your son seems to have a lot of faith in you.”

  “Well,” Shaye said, “I hope it’s well-placed.”

  “So do I,” Sheriff Holcomb said. “These are my deputies, Ray and Will.”

  “My other sons, James and Matthew.”

  The men shook hands all around.

  “Are they still in the saloon?” Shaye asked.

  “The saloon’s down the street but you can see it from here,” Holcomb said, moving to the window. “They haven’t moved.”

  “You’d think they’d have done their tally and split by now,” Shaye said, standing beside Holcomb and peering out. “Is there a back way in?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s dark,” Shaye said, “but looks like they have two men sitting out front.”

  “Ever since they got here,” Holcomb said, “except for when your boy rode into town.”

  Shaye turned away from the window.

  “How do you want to play this?” Holcomb asked.

  “It’s your town,” Shaye said. “Can you get some more men?”

  “This time of night I’d say no,” Holcomb said. “Actually, any time of day I’d say no. The whole town knows that these men rode in today, and they got off the streets fast.”

  “So they figure this is your job, huh?”

  “That’s right.”

  “What do we do, Pa?” Matthew asked.

  “Making a move at night could be good for us, Pa,” Thomas said. “We can use the dark.”

  “Anybody else got any ideas?” Shaye asked.

  “Your boy here said you’d know what to do, Sheriff Shaye,” Holcomb said, and then stopped and stared at Shaye for a moment. “Wait a minute.”

  “What is it?” Shaye asked, but he thought he knew.

  “Shaye?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Aren’t you…Shay Daniels?”

  “It’s Sheriff Dan Shaye.”

  “I know you!”

  “Sheriff—”

  “Shay Daniels!” Holcomb turned to his two deputies. “You fellas know the name Shay Daniels, right?”

  “Sounds familiar,” Will said, but Ray shook his head and asked, “Who is he?”

  “He’s Shay Daniels,” Holcomb said, looking back at Shaye.

  “Sheriff,” Shaye said, “there was a time in my life when that was my name, but that really doesn’t matter now, does it?”

  “It sure does,” Holcomb said. “I wasn’t sure what your boy meant when he said we had somethin’ they didn’t—meanin’ you—but now I do.” He turned and looked at his deputies. “Boys, we got a real Kansas legend on our hands, here. Back in the seventies there wasn’t no one quicker with a gun in these parts—hell, Missouri neither—than Shay Daniels.”

  Thomas, James, and Matthew stared at their father. If what Sheriff Holcomb was saying was true, then he hadn’t been quite as truthful with them as he indicated.

  “Now, wait,” Shaye said, “that stuff is just reputation. You can’t believe everything you hear—”

  “I saw you!” Holcomb said suddenly, pointing at Shaye. “I just remembered, I saw you in St. Joe. You outdrew three men in the street, and they was pretty good gun hands. Wait, I’ll remember who they were….”

  “Never happened,” Shaye said. “You’re mixing me up with someone else, or you’re remembering wrong. Can we get back to what we’re supposed to be doing here?”

  “Okay,” Holcomb said, “but it’ll come to me. Okay, you take the lead, Daniels, and we’ll follow.”

  “It’s Dan,” Shaye said, “or Sheriff. Don’t call me Daniels!”

  His three sons were shocked at their father’s vehemence, as were the local lawmen.

  “Okay, okay,” Holcomb said, moving his hands in a placating gesture. “Sorry. But you call the tune…Sheriff Shaye…and we’ll dance to it.”

  51

  “A dream?” Aaron asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “A bad dream?”

  “Yeah.”

  Ethan was waiting for the humiliation. The sooner it started, the sooner it would be over and they could get to the tally.

  “About the woman?”

  “Yeah, Aaron,” Ethan said, “about the woman.”

  “What is she doin’?” Aaron asked. “In the dream, I mean.”

  “Screamin’.”

  Aaron sat back and stared across the table at his brother. The others in the room drank, or ate, or sighed, or just plain waited. No one had the nerve to ask any questions.

  Ethan sat and waited for his brother’s abuse.

  “And you thought you could talk to Vincent about this, and not me?” Aaron asked.

  “Uh…” This was not the question Ethan had anticipated. He’d expected a lot of others, but not that one.

  Aaron looked around the room, and everyone he looked at contrived to be looking somewhere else.

  “Morales!”

  Morales came over, carrying a beer. “Jefe?”

  “Keep everyone here,” Aaron said. “My brother and I are gonna go and talk in a room upstairs.”

  “Should I hold onto the money?” Morales asked.

  “No,” Aaron said, “we’ll be taking that with us. I just don’t want anyone goin’ anywhere. Understand?”

  “Sí.”

  Ethan didn’t understand, but he never questioned his brother either—not when he was looking this serious.

  “Branch?”

  “Yeah, boss.”

  Ethan turned his head and looked at his segundo, leaning against the bar. “Come over here.”

  “Oh, sure boss.” Branch came over.

  “Aaron and I are goin’ to a room upstairs to tal
k,” Ethan said. “Keep the men here.”

  “Right. Gonna do the tally upstairs?”

  Ethan ignored the question. “Just keep everyone here.”

  “Okay, boss.”

  Aaron and Ethan picked up their saddlebags and went upstairs to look over the rooms.

  “First,” Shaye said to Holcomb, “do you have any more deputy badges?”

  “Two more.”

  “Give them to two of my sons,” Shaye said.

  “What for?”

  “Cover,” Shaye said, “in case they’re seen. I don’t want them walking around with Texas badges on.”

  Holcomb handed two of his badges to James and Matthew, who removed theirs and replaced them with the local ones. They put their own badges in their shirt pockets. Thomas had removed his earlier, and Shaye removed his now.

  “Now what?” Holcomb asked.

  “We should make a move while they’re all in one place,” Shaye said. “If we do this right, we should be able to get the drop on them and surround them.”

  “The seven of us,” Holcomb asked, “surround nineteen men?”

  “It can be done,” Shaye said. “We just have to time it right. Have your deputies used their guns?”

  “Yes.”

  “On other men?”

  “A time or two, yes,” Holcomb said.

  “Killed anyone?”

  “No.”

  “Okay,” Shaye said, “my boys haven’t either, so this might be a first for them.”

  “Not for me,” the sheriff said, “or you either.”

  “No.”

  They both looked at the other young men in the room.

  “Is everybody ready for this?” Holcomb asked.

  “I’m ready,” Will said.

  “Me too,” Ray echoed.

  “Your boys?” Holcomb asked Shaye.

  “I don’t have to ask them,” Shaye said. “They’re ready.”

  “So how do we go about this?”

  “Tell me about the saloon,” Shaye said. “You already told me about the back door. What other ways in and out…”

  When they chose a room with a couple of poker tables instead of beds, Ethan closed the door, turned and walked into his brother’s right fist. He went flying over one of the tables, his saddlebags of cash falling to the floor. Aaron picked them up and tossed them onto the other table with his bags, then walked over to his fallen brother.

  “Wha—” Ethan said, but Aaron didn’t let him get the question out. He hauled him to his feet and held him there a moment.

  “That was for pickin’ Vincent over me,” he said.

  “Aaron—”

  His brother silenced him by hitting him again, but he held the front of his shirt with his other hand to keep him from falling.

  “That’s for killin’ that woman when you didn’t have to,” he said. “You’ll probably bring a posse down on us for that.”

  “I didn’t—”

  Aaron hit him again, and let him fall. When Ethan hit the floor, he lay still, but was still conscious.

  “And that’s for bein’ a damned baby about killin’ the woman and havin’ bad dreams about it,” Aaron said, leaning over Ethan. “I should hit you twice for that, but I’m lumpin’ them together.”

  Ethan’s eyes fluttered but stayed open. Eventually he focused on Aaron’s face.

  “Did you hear me?” Aaron asked.

  “I heard you,” Ethan said. He extended his arm. “Help me up, damn it.”

  Aaron reached down, grabbed his brother’s hand, and pulled him to his feet. As Ethan came up, he balled up his left fist and hit Aaron in the face with it.

  Downstairs, the men heard the commotion above them, and looked at Morales and Branch to see if they should do anything. Both men simply stood at the bar drinking their beer.

  “Think Ethan is fightin’ back?” Branch asked.

  Morales swallowed the last of his beer before answering, put the mug on the bar for the bartender to refill. “If he is, it’ll be the first time in his life.”

  “Would Aaron kill him for that?”

  Morales accepted the full mug from the barman and drank a third of it before answering.

  “He would probably respect him for it,” he said, “and that would also be a first.”

  52

  The seven men left the sheriff’s office by the back door. Shaye and his sons were armed with rifles they’d removed from their saddles. The local lawmen had shotguns from the office gun rack. Thomas went with Sheriff Holcomb to take care of the two men who were still sitting out in front of the saloon. Deputy Ray Winston paired up with Matthew to go around to the back door and get into the saloon that way. Deputy Will Strunk and James were going to go around to one side of the saloon and get in through a window, while Shaye went alone to the other side to do the same.

  Thomas had to go completely around the building to come at the two men in front of the saloon without being seen by them. The sheriff, who would approach them more directly, gave him five minutes to do that. Thomas actually passed his brother and Will Strunk while they were working on a first floor window.

  When he got to his assigned spot, he was able to see the sheriff approaching from the other side. The men there were supposed to be on watch, but they weren’t watching very well. From what Thomas could hear, they were bitching that they’d had to sit inside or outside this saloon all day long, and what the hell was the matter with those two damned brothers?

  The sheriff sidled up on them before they knew it and spoke to them, getting their attention.

  “Nice night to be sittin’ outside, ain’t it?”

  Both men, startled, began to go for their guns.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Thomas said from behind them.

  Both men froze. Thomas already had his gun out, and now Holcomb produced his.

  “You fellas don’t know what you’re doin’,” one of the men said.

  “Hopefully,” Holcomb said, “we’ll figure it out along the way. Right now I’m just gonna take your guns, so stand easy so my friend there doesn’t have to shoot you.”

  It was the first time Thomas had ever held his gun on another man.

  James and Will Strunk got the window open and slipped quietly inside the saloon. They found themselves in an office. Outside the office door, they could hear men talking.

  Now they just had to wait.

  Meanwhile, Matthew and Ray Winston slipped the back door open and entered. They found themselves in a hallway that led to a curtained doorway. Beyond that doorway was the saloon.

  Aaron shook off the punch from Ethan, which didn’t have much sting behind it, but as Morales had predicted, brought forth a look of respect.

  “You ready to tally?” Aaron asked.

  Ethan wiped blood from his face with his sleeve and said, “Yeah.”

  Aaron went outside and shouted downstairs, “Morales and Branch, come on up.”

  There was a low roof on the other side of the building, and Shaye was able to climb up onto it and gain access to a window. He managed to slide it open and climb in, finding himself in a room with a bed.

  He didn’t know that in the room right next to him four men were counting money out onto a poker table.

  Shaye opened the door to the room as quietly as he could and stepped out. He was on a balcony overlooking the saloon. There were easily a dozen men or more downstairs. He couldn’t get a clear count. He hoped the entire gang was all there.

  He waited for the first move to be made.

  James cracked the door to the office open and peered out. He also could see many men, but could not count. No one had any way of knowing if all the men were present.

  He and Will waited.

  Matthew and Ray peered through the curtain. They could see plenty of men with guns, but could not get a count. They waited impatiently to make their move.

  The first move was to come from Thomas and Sheriff Holcomb. They had relieved the two men of their guns, and now they turned
them to face the bat-wing doors. They intended to use their prisoners as cover as they entered the saloon.

  “If one of you fellas moves wrong,” Holcomb said, “we’ll put a bullet in both your backs? Got it?”

  “We got it,” one of them said, “but you’re gonna be sorry. There’s a lot of men with guns in there.”

  “How many men?” Holcomb asked.

  “You’ll find out.”

  “If they open fire, you’ll be the first to go,” Thomas said.

  Holcomb looked at Thomas, who nodded and said, “Let’s do this.”

  53

  Holcomb and Thomas each pushed their man through the bat-wing doors, then entered right behind them.

  “This is the sheriff!” Holcomb shouted. “Keep your hands away from your guns.”

  The thirteen men in the room froze momentarily. The four men they would have taken orders from were not there. As a result, they had to make their own individual decisions.

  At the sound of Holcomb’s voice, the others made their moves.

  James and Deputy Strunk opened the office door and stepped out, guns in their hands. James’s heart was pounding, and he tried to ignore it.

  Matthew and Deputy Winston stepped through the curtained doorway with their guns out. Matthew’s mouth was dry. He still wasn’t sure that he was with his father and brothers on what they were going to do, but this seemed okay to him. After all, they were acting with the local law.

  Shaye stood up straight and pointed his gun at the men on the first floor.

  “Play it smart and lay down your guns,” he called out. “You’re surrounded!”

  Red Hackett looked up and saw Shaye looking down on them with his gun out. He didn’t recognize the man, or any of the others, but he knew two things—they were lawmen, and he and his compadres outnumbered them.

  “Surrounded, my ass!” he shouted, and went for his gun.

  That was all the others needed. They all went for their weapons, and the shooting started….

  “What the hell!” Ethan said.

  He started for the door with Ben Branch in tow. Morales looked at Aaron, who shook his head. From the sounds outside the room, all hell had broken loose.

  “Ethan, wait!” Aaron shouted.

  “What for?”

  “The law’s made their move.”