Clint turned his attention to the man who had just spoken.“Maybe the robberies and murder aren’t connected.”
Russ shook his head.“They have to be.We’ve never had trouble like this before, not since the war, when we sent those Rebel raiders running.I don’t believe in coincidence.”
Clint was silent for a moment.Neither did he believe in coincidences.The murder could, of course, have been unintended.A dispute between two miners.A drifter coming upon opportunity.But somehow he didn’t think so.Still, he knew that none of his friends would have shot a man in the back.That left Jack Randall.
Yet he’d been watching Randall, and his boss seemed as shocked as anyone at the news.
Clint glanced down at Kate, then up at her father again.“What do you intend to do?”
“Jack’s right about these mountains being full of hiding places.I’m going to ride into Casey Springs tomorrow and see whether there’ve been any other, similar robberies in the area.I’ll ride back with the stagecoach.”
Randall, who hadn’t smiled during the evening, visibly relaxed.“Then I’ll send my payroll that way.I’ll give you authorization to pick it up.”
Clint hid his concern.The last thing he wanted was Kate’s father riding shotgun on the coach.He wondered whether he could persuade Rafe to pass this one up and knew immediately he couldn’t.Everything hinged on depriving Randall of cash.He must be down to rock bottom now, and he’d already sold off the spring herd.He would have to sell more of his breeding stock to raise cash to pay his hands or resort to something else.
Or perhaps he already had?Perhaps Randall had found a new source of revenue in the vulnerable miners?
He looked toward Randall, studied his face, and all he saw was the same indecision and frustration he saw on the other faces.
The small group started to break up, one of the men captured by his wife, and Kate looked at Clint expectantly.Damn, but she was pretty.
He offered his arm, trying to concentrate on her.He was not a good dancer, never having had much practice, and he had to work at the waltz.He felt terribly clumsy, saved from disaster only by her own grace and agility in avoiding his missteps.It didn’t help that he was disconcerted by the way she looked at him, as if he were someone special, and the thought of the trip up into the mountains the next morning.
Chapter 10
The seven men helping Rafe all appeared around noon the next day.Clint and Ben Edwards, Johnny Green, Bill Smith, Carey Thompson, Simon Ford, and Skinny Ware.
Shea Randall was locked securely in the cabin, the one window closed.She wouldn’t see any more of his men.
Through sheer force of will, Rafe had remained distant and cool toward Shea Randall the night before and the next morning.She hadn’t mentioned making the dawn trip to the pool again, and he hadn’t offered.He had ignored her searching look when he’d locked her in the cabin for the evening after opening several cans of food for her.He’d taken several for himself along with a few crackers for Abner and a dried apple for the horse, and sought refuge in the barn with creatures he understood.
He sure as hell didn’t understand her.Or himself.
He needed all his concentration for the meeting.The next strike against Randall.He couldn’t be thinking of a woman.Particularlythatwoman.
But he did, dammit.Damnhim.
Clint arrived first, a tense, worried look on his face.He dismounted and approached Rafe, who was working with the bay.
Rafe cocked his head slightly.Clint usually was even-natured, easygoing.
“A miner was killed two nights ago,” Clint said.“It’s being blamed on the same riders who held up the stage.”
Rafe stared at him without speaking.
“And there’s more.You mentioned a McClary.He showed up at the ranch several days ago.He’d been here before, but for some reason I didn’t recognize the name when you first said it.Perhaps because we didn’t see much of him, and what we did see, we didn’t like.”
“Sam McClary?”
“Yep.Tall, thin as a rail, yellow hair.”
Rafe nodded, waiting for more.
“He was also gone the night the miner was killed.”
“How do you know?”
“I asked around the bunkhouse whether anyone had taken out a horse.A man remembered McClary because he’d ordered the hand to unsaddle and rub down the animal when he came in near dawn.Everyone else takes care of their own horses, even Randall, but Randall told us McClary was a guest, that we should do what he said.Didn’t sound happy about it.”
