Vengeance Creek Read online

  Shaye looked at the girl in question and saw a slender, pretty blonde about eighteen or nineteen.

  “You don’t know who that is?” he asked Thomas.

  “A teller at the bank,” Thomas said. “That’s all I know.”

  “That’s the mayor’s daughter,” Shaye said, “sittin’ with the mayor’s wife.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” Thomas said. “I guess I ain’t never paid much attention to the mayor’s family.”

  They hurried to catch up and sit with James, who had been careful to take a seat where he could look across the room at the mayor’s daughter—although even he was not aware of her true identity.

  Shaye wondered what the mayor would think if he knew that James was sweet on his daughter.

  All three of them ordered steak and eggs, and Thomas added a stack of flapjacks. Shaye remembered having breakfast with all three of his sons and seeing Matthew pack away more food than the three of them put together. Recently he’d wondered if Thomas was trying to eat for Matthew as well. He noticed that his older son had put on some weight during the past year, but he was solid rather than fat. At six-two, he was four or five inches shorter than Matthew had been, and probably fifty pounds lighter.

  Shaye was never able to stop thinking about his wife and his middle son, but he usually tried to push the memory somewhere, to the back of his mind, so it wouldn’t interfere with his everyday life. At best, the grief made him numb, and at its worst it was unbearable. He tried not to let it show when he was with Thomas and James, and he knew it was the same with them.

  “What were you two whisperin’ about?” James asked when they had their food.

  “Nothin’,” Thomas said. He finished his first excellent cup of coffee quickly and poured a second one.

  “Musta been somethin’,” James said, eyeing his brother suspiciously. He looked longingly across the room at the mayor’s daughter, then back at his brother, narrowing his eyes.

  “Okay, so I tol’ Pa about your teller gal.”

  “Thomas—”

  “James,” Shaye said, “that’s the mayor’s daughter.”

  “What?”

  “I think her name is—”

  “Nancy,” James said. “Her name’s Nancy. You sure she’s the mayor’s daughter?”

  “I’m sure,” Shaye said. “He must’ve got her the job in the bank.”

  “She’s a right good teller, Pa,” James said. “I don’t think she would have needed her pa to get her the job.”

  “Maybe not,” Shaye said, stuffing some steak and eggs into his mouth.

  “Better think twice about this one, little brother,” Thomas said with a grin.

  James frowned across the table at his brother. “You sayin’ I ain’t good enough for her?”

  “I’m not sayin’ that at all,” Thomas said, “but considerin’ this is the mayor we’re talkin’ about, somebody might say it.”

  “Thomas, what the—”

  “That’s enough, boys,” Shaye said. “James, your brother just wants you to be careful. You know the kind of man the mayor is.”

  “But, Pa, you’re the sheriff—”

  “Mayor Timmerman just sees us as employees of the town, James,” Shaye said, “and that’s what we are. He don’t see us as bein’ on his level.”

  “He ain’t so much,” James muttered.

  “Well, I agree with you there, son,” Shaye said. “And I ain’t tellin’ you not to follow your heart. I’m just sayin’ be ready for her to maybe have the same outlook her father does.”

  “She ain’t like that,” James said. “She’s nice, Pa…she’s right nice.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, James,” Shaye said, “because you deserve a right nice girl…don’t he, Thomas?”

  “Huh?” Thomas looked up from his flapjacks. “Oh, yeah, right, Pa. He sure does.”

  8

  After breakfast the three of them started walking toward the office together. Thomas happened to look across the street just as Ben Cardwell came out of the hotel.

  “I’ll see you at the office,” he said to his father and brother.

  Shaye looked across the street to see what had caught Thomas’s attention. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Just a stranger I met last night,” Thomas said. “No big deal. I just want to talk to him.”

  “I’ll come with you—” James started, but Thomas cut him off.

  “That’s okay, James,” he said. “It’s just one man. We’re just gonna talk.”

  “Okay, Thomas,” Shaye said. “Just watch yourself.”

  “Always, Pa.”

  Thomas started across the street as Shaye and James continued on to the sheriff’s office.

  Cardwell left Sean Davis snoring in the room and went downstairs for breakfast. He decided to walk around town to look for a place to eat rather than settling for the hotel dining room. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw the sheriff and the two deputies across the street. After a few moments, the deputy from the night before stepped into the street and started across. Cardwell thought that he and this deputy were probably destined to clash. He decided to wait where he was and let the man come to him. As the lawman got closer Cardwell could see that he was wearing his badge today.

  Thomas knew the man was letting him come closer, and that suited him. He wondered where the other one was, and opened the conversation by asking.

  “He’s still asleep,” Cardwell said. “When we’re off the trail and in a real bed, he’s a late riser.”

  “And what would be the late riser’s name?”

  “Davis, Sean Davis,” Cardwell said. “You won’t find his name on any posters.”

  “What about yours?”

  “Ben Cardwell,” the man said. “No paper on me either. We’re just a couple of law abiding citizens.”

  “You law abidin’ citizens figure on stayin’ around town a little longer?” Thomas asked.

  “We’re not sure,” Cardwell said.

  “Headin’ someplace?”

  “We’re not sure.”

  “What are you sure of?”

  “Not much,” Cardwell said. “That’s how we like it. We just take it a day at a time.”

  “Well,” Thomas said, “just keep a tight rein on your friend and there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

  “I’m all for no trouble, Deputy,” Cardwell said, “but you should know that we’re always ready to…defend ourselves.”

  “Shouldn’t be anything in town for you to defend yourselves against,” Thomas said.

  “Then it sounds like we won’t have any trouble at all.”

  “Keep that in mind, then.”

  Thomas turned to leave, and Cardwell asked, “You got a name?”

  “Shaye,” Thomas said. “Thomas Shaye.”

  Cardwell frowned. “Ain’t the sheriff’s name Shaye?”

  “He’s my father,” Thomas said. “You heard of him?”

  “I might have heard somethin’.”

  “Maybe you heard he’s got less patience that I have.”

  “Naw…that wasn’t it. What about the other deputy? The young one?”

  “My brother.”

  “You fellas keep it all in the family, huh?”

  “That’s right,” Thomas said. “We’re closer than most lawmen, and we really watch each other’s backs.”

  “Nobody watchin’ your back now, are they?”

  Thomas looked Cardwell in the eye and said, “I don’t need anybody watchin’ my back now, do I?”

  “I guess not,” Cardwell said, raising his hands to shoulder level and spreading them. He even wiggled his fingers. “There’s no danger here, Deputy.”

  “I hope it stays that way.”

  A block away Dan and James Shaye had stopped. They were watching Thomas and the other man talk in front of the hotel.

  “Somethin’ happened last night at the saloon,” James said, “but I don’t know what.”

  “Which saloon?”

  �
�The Road House.”

  Shaye did not take his eyes from the two men a block away, but he wanted to look at James.

  “What was Thomas doin’ at that end of town?”

  “I don’t know, Pa.”

  “Okay,” Shaye said, “that part doesn’t really matter now.”

  “What part does, Pa?”

  “I want to find out what happened last night,” Shaye said. “I’ll go and talk to Al Baker, he owns the Road House—”

  “I can do that, Pa,” James said.

  Thomas turned to walk away from the other man, then turned back.

  “All right, James,” Shaye said. “Go and do that.” Shaye told his son where Baker lived. “He stays open late, so he’ll be asleep now.”

  “I’ll wake him up.”

  “You do that.”

  James didn’t move.

  “Do it now, James.”

  “Yes, Pa.”

  9

  Shaye got back to the sheriff’s office well before Thomas. He knew he could ask his son what had happened at the Road House Saloon the night before, but if Thomas was going to places like that and not telling anyone, there had to be a reason. He’d leave it to James to find out what that reason was.

  Thomas entered the office and walked right to the stove to put on a pot of coffee, which they kept going all day.

  “How did it go?”

  Thomas turned and looked at his father. “You ought to know,” he said. “You watched the whole time.”

  “Just watching your back, Thomas,” Shaye said. “It doesn’t mean I don’t trust you, it just means that I like to keep my deputies alive.”

  “If it was a deputy who wasn’t your son, would you feel the same?” Thomas asked.

  “Exactly the same.”

  “Then fine,” the younger man said. “Then we don’t have a problem, do we?”

  “I never thought we did,” Shaye said. “So what did you find out about the stranger?”

  “Strangers,” Thomas said. “There’s two of them, and they’re just…drifting, or so this one says.”

  “You get their names?”

  “Yes.” He gave the names to his father, who reached for his stack of wanted flyers. “Cardwell said there was no paper on either of them.”

  “He’s probably right,” Shaye said, “if he gave you their real names.”

  “Well, if he gave me phony names, then we can only go by the likeness of the posters,” Thomas said. “That means I should look through them.”

  “Be my guest.”

  Thomas sat opposite his father and pulled the stack of flyers into his lap. “Where’s James?”

  “He said he had to run an errand.”

  Thomas smirked. “At the bank, I’ll bet.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  While going through the flyers Thomas asked, “You gonna talk to the mayor?”

  “About what?”

  “About his daughter and James.”

  “Thomas,” Shaye said, “has James even talked to the girl beyond bank business?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Then I don’t think there’s a relationship there worth talkin’ to the mayor about, do you?”

  “No, sir,” Thomas said, “I guess you’re right.”

  The water on the stove began to boil, so Shaye went over to drop the coffee in while Thomas continued to go through the flyers.

  James knew that Al Baker lived right above the Road House. There was a stairway on the side of the building leading up to a door, which James first knocked on, then pounded on.

  “All right, all right!” an annoyed voice came from inside. “I’m comin’!”

  The door swung open and Al Baker squinted out at James from beneath heavy, puffy eyelids.

  “What the hell—”

  “Deputy Shaye, Mr. Baker,” James said. “That’s James Shaye.”

  “Whataya want?”

  “Just a few questions about last night,” James said. “Can I come in?”

  “Nothin’ happened last night,” Baker said. “I never even called for the law.”

  “Somethin’ happened between my brother and two men,” James said. “I want to know what that was.”

  “Why don’t you ask your brother?”

  “Because I’m askin’ you.”

  Baker scowled and said, “Okay, come on in.”

  He backed away from the door to let James enter. Baker lived in one large room, and in the corner was a bed with a naked blond woman asleep. She was lying with her back to the men, and James caught himself admiring her shapely backside before he caught himself and looked away.

  “I won’t keep you long,” he said to Baker, trying to hide the fact that he was flustered.

  “That’s just one of the girls,” Baker said, scratching his head. He was wearing a pair of soiled long johns, and the room itself matched him. James wondered if the man ever cleaned it, but from the smell, he doubted it. He didn’t know how any woman could stand it. “Does she bother you? I can cover her up.”

  “I just want you to tell me what happened last night.”

  Briefly, Baker told James about Thomas’s run-in with one man, and how the other man had stepped in to defuse the situation.

  “I tried to tell them your brother was a deputy, but he stopped me,” Baker said.

  “He wasn’t wearin’ his badge?”

  “No,” Baker said, “he never wears it when he comes in.”

  James tried to remember if his brother was wearing his badge when he saw him, but couldn’t.

  “Al…” the woman called plaintively from the bed.

  James looked over as the woman rolled onto her back, revealing her large breasts. She reached down between her thighs and started to scratch herself.

  “I’m comin’, sweetie,” Baker said. “Are we done, Deputy?”

  James averted his eyes once again, but could hear the woman’s nails on her skin. He started for the door.

  “What did the two men do after Thomas and I were gone?” he asked Baker, standing outside with the door open.

  “They just had a few more beers and then left,” Baker said with a shrug. “See? Nothin’ really happened.”

  “Okay, Mr. Baker,” James said, then thought of one more question. “How many times a week does my brother come into your place, without his badge?”

  Baker shrugged and said, “A couple, sometimes three. Not more than that.”

  “Had there ever been trouble before?”

  “No,” Baker said. “Mostly he nurses one beer and then leaves.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  From inside they both heard the woman called, “Alllllll!”

  “Gotta go,” Baker said, and closed the door.

  James hurried down the stairs because he didn’t want to hear what was going on in that room.

  10

  Thomas was out doing morning rounds when James returned to the office.

  “What did you find out?” Shaye asked.

  James took a moment to pour a cup of coffee, then relayed everything he’d learned to his father while seated with his feet up on the desk.

  “Doesn’t sound like much,” Shaye said.

  “I guess not,” James said. “Coulda been more, though, if that other man hadn’t stepped in.”

  “Cardwell and Davis,” his father said. “We don’t know if that’s their real names.”

  “What about posters?”

  “Thomas checked,” Shaye said. “He didn’t recognize their likeness on any of them.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “Nothing,” Shaye said. “They haven’t broken any laws here. Let’s just keep an eye on them.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes,” Shaye said, “you.”

  “What about Thomas?”

  “I’ll talk to Thomas,” Shaye said. “Maybe we should just all stay on the job at the same time while they’re in town.”

  “Okay with me.”

  “Then g
et your boots off my desk and get out there.”

  James dropped his feet to the floor and said, “Yes, sir.”

  Ben Cardwell kicked the bed and shouted at his partner, “Time to get up, goddamn it!”

  Davis leaped into a sitting position, staring around him wildly. He went for his gun, but Cardwell had wisely removed it from the holster hanging on the bed post.

  “Lookin’ for this?” he asked, holding the gun out. “I coulda put a bullet in you while you slept. Might as well have, you sleep like the dead, anyway.”

  Davis looked around, then asked, “We bring any whores back here with us last night?”

  “Not a one.”

  “Damn!”

  He rubbed his hands over his face, and suddenly his eyes focused and he was awake.

  “Whatsamatter?” he asked.

  Cardwell tossed his gun onto the bed and said, “Time to get up, is all.”

  “Breakfast?”

  “I had breakfast,” Cardwell said. “More like lunch, for you.”

  “You been out, already?” Davis swung his feet to the floor, let his hands hang between his knees for a moment. He was wearing off-white long johns which at one time had been white. His legs were long and skinny, his knees knobby.

  “Out and back,” Cardwell said. “Had me a conversation with the law.”

  “The sheriff?” Davis looked surprised.

  “The deputy,” Cardwell said.

  “The one from last night?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What did that bastard want?”

  “Just some questions about what we’re doin’ in town.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “Not much,” Cardwell said, “but they’re probably gonna be watchin’ us.”

  “So are we callin’ off the job?”

  “No,” Cardwell said, “we’re goin’ ahead with the job. In fact, them watchin’ us is probably gonna help us with the job.”

  “Howzat gonna help?” Davis asked.

  “Get yourself dressed and meet me downstairs,” Cardwell said, heading for the door, “and I’ll tell you.”

  11

  Cardwell and Davis spent the day sitting out in front of the hotel. James spent the day across the street watching them. Other strangers rode into town, but James didn’t pay them any mind. His job was to keep an eye on these two men. The fact that they hardly moved all afternoon was boring to him, but hardly significant.